Yep it was on FB. @kittyslover (one of my ARFB Deputies!) sent me the link to AR’s post from 9/24/16 [X], here’s confirmation that Armand is there:
And bc of the lengths I go to for you ppl, I read all the relevant comments and screencapped these for you (I cropped out icons so the text could be a little larger).
She also had to describe vampire shipping again. *sigh* I JUST TALKED ABOUT THIS FFS #your headcanon may vary.
Characters in PLROA:
– Old characters:
– Louis for sure:
–
New characters:
Hit the jump for more. Cut for length.
– in Great Peril:
– Amel is back:
– Viktor:
– Cyril:
NOT in PLROA:
She also answered these which didn’t fit above:
AND that this incorporated the older Atlantis novel she had been working on:
You’re right that I am not deeply involved in issues of gender, though I can understand being/growing up nonbinary/transgendered/gender-fluid/etc. in a culture that seems to only understand/reward the male/female binary would be very difficult, especially in certain parts of the world. The Armand post (about whether he might be androgynous and/or agender) got a good number of Likes, but most importantly, @jeffer-sin‘s comment (”i’m agender/genderfluid and i totally agree with this post thank you”) confirmed that I
answered it sensitively, as I always strive to do, especially with topics like these.
Re: Misgendering Eli, I feel like this is a headcanon discrepancy between us. Your points serve to convince you that she is not female, but they do not convince me. As always, #your headcanon may vary, so please do not take my opinion as law.Even an author can’t force an idea on their readers; people still ask AR whether Nicolas and Lestat were gay lovers! Some people clearly have a different headcanon than the author, but their headcanon is still valid.
This Wiki post describes the issue of Eli’s gender: “The original film ultimately leaves the character’s gender ambiguous, as the scene showing Eli’s scarred genitalia is not explained. …In the 2010 film it is quite clear that Abby was born female…”
One of your points was the “I’m not a girl" scene. ^This is the one from the original film and I interpreted that line of dialogue as meaning that Eli is not human. In context, Eli seems not to know what a “girlfriend” is, or what “going steady” entails (even though Eli is centuries-old, maybe this is feigning ignorance for Oskar), so roadblocking Oskar from a romantic (maybe sexual) relationship seems a little premature. Oskar is 12 and I don’t remember him ever pressuring her in a sexual way, again, no reason for Eli to roadblock him against a romantic/sexual relationship at this time. Once Eli has an understanding of what “going steady” means, the moment ends with Eli agreeing to “go steady” and holding Oskar’s hand as they fall asleep. This little bit of tenderness may not fall under “romantic” in the traditional sense of the word, but it seemed like a sign of love and care which had nothing to do with gender. But that’s my own interpretation.
You mention Eli’s genital mutilation, but that is not explained in the films. From what I’ve read of the book, the character is referred to with female pronouns until the ritual castration is revealed, and then the character is referred to with male pronouns. It is up to every reader’s interpretation to determine gender of the character at any point.
I’m sorry that we disagree on this, and I understand that some people might not headcanon Eli as female. This is a blog that is here to highlight a certain fandom and is focused on entertainment, and where I do my best to keep it politically-neutral, fair-minded, and civil. That is my prerogative on my own blog.
If anyone is interested in more headcanons and interpretations, check out the links below. I am sure there are many many more, but these are good for a start:
David Lowery, a blogger, has a brief but good review addressing the gender issues.
So as always, #your headcanon may vary but these are my headcanons…
Personality: She is perceived by other characters as cold and reptilian bc for the most part she refuses to go through the motions of civilized discussion, it all feels superficial to her. In not engaging that way, other characters might struggle to get to know her, but few would call her “shallow.” They know she doesn’t perform for anyone. She absolutely CAN be warm and effusive and physically affectionate when the stars align when she wants to be. She’ll crack a smile at coven gatherings! She has a sense of humor and often makes a beeline for Daniel, he always has a fresh joke ready for her. She is actually more intimidating than Lestat, and few can withstand her undivided attention for very long.
I headcanon that her Mind Gift was very strong as a fledgling, and rather than try to tune out all the mental radio waves bombarding her, escaping into untamed nature w/out anyone in it was the obvious solution. The cold never bothered her anyway.
Prey: We would love to project onto her the image of an avenging angel like her son, specifically targeting men that resembled her husband, but in the end she tolerated him, she didn’t have the urge to go back to the Auvergne to get sweet vengeance on him. She felt like Lestat was wasting his time to go back and take care of his decrepit old father, but she didn’t have any moral objections to it.
Hit the jump for more, cut for length.
Since Gabrielle spends most of her time in the wilderness, I headcanon that she’s more interested in hunting large wild animals than people. She may come upon lost tribes, too, but in those situations I imagine she just takes the weak or elderly to put them out of their misery, but never children. Gabrielle is probably one of the only vampires in the coven who has never killed a child.
When she is in a more civilized place (like when she’s visiting the coven), I headcanon that she’s more of a Louis-style vampire; taking those who cross her path, more bc she just wants to get it over with than any other reason (Lestat finds this distasteful in her case bc she should know better!, but completely reasonable for Louis). Gabrielle does not enjoy toying with human prey but she loves a fight with a grizzly or a panther.
Shipping: You asked me this awhile back, and I think that answer still stands. As AU, sure, #ship all the ships!, but in my headcanon I don’t really ship Gabrielle with anyone. If I was forced to choose…
Gabrielle/Eleni would be my primary ship for her bc I think their personalities would mesh well, Eleni has a well of inner peace, really, the patience of a saint, so she wouldn’t be possessive of Gabrielle. Neither would be too demanding on each other, but they would be drawn together based on similar interests at first (SCIENCE) and find each other disarming and sweet and the love would be natural.
There’s no denying there is something intriguing about the Gabrielle/Lestat ship, and I don’t see it as completely taboo bc after she’s turned, she’s his fledgling, which (for me anyway) effectively
cancels out the fact that she was his biological mother. They will always be drawn to each other bc noone else is truly like they are, they learned how to vampire together, and relied on each other in those early years. I see it as 95% psychological and 5% bloodplay (she taught him his first bloodkiss!) and does not involve any penetrative sex. NONE AT ALL. But we can still tease him about his Oedipus complex ;]
We have to look at those words first. “Because the language of gender is still evolving, a lack of consensus on terms and definitions means it is up to the individual person to decide how to define themselves.” [X] My personal understanding of ‘agender’ is someone who is neither masculine nor feminine internally, and, to a variable extent, neither masculine nor feminine externally, either. A lack of the gender binary altogether.
‘Androgynous,’ however, I understand as being “partly male and partly female in appearance.” – more external. I see ‘androgynous’ as someone who may be perceived as both externally, or able to pass for either gender to a variable extent.
In TVA, David tells Armand “You’re sweet, boylike and pretty as a girl.” Mortal Armand is amused that potential buyers thought he was a girl, but then it pisses him off when Allesandra admires his beauty: “ ‘…a fairy’s child planted by moonlight in a milkmaid’s cradle to thrall the
world with his girlish gazeand manly whisper.’ Her flattery enraged me…”
So #your headcanon may vary, but I headcanon Armand as being capable of passing as a girl (and sometimes pushing at that envelope for his own purposes), but he’s very satisfied in his own masculinity. It doesn’t seem to be something he ever addressed or was ever confused about in canon, other than the fact that sometimes it angers him when he’s perceived as feminine, and at other times, he’s used it to his advantage.
^I guess that counts as Armand being androgynous, but not agender.
I’m so flattered that you want my headcanon *cries* So I’ll do Nicolas now, Armand in the next one ;] Previously: Louis.
Same disclaimer: #your headcanon may vary.
Nicolas is often compared to Louis, and I do see them as both being thin men, almost 6 ft tall, not huge in the muscle department, and they have similar hair color and texture (dark and wavy to their shoulders). They also both carry themselves in a fairly dignified manner, they both have long legs and yes, nice butts. But the differences are very apparent when:
A) You are within a few feet from them: Nicolas is more fidgety, often crossing and uncrossing his legs, changing positions, gesturing more when speaking. He has wider shoulders than Louis, and is small-waisted due to a high metabolism in life, he ate an enormous amount of food w/o any consequences. Not athletically inclined, just great genetics (altho I picture his dad as very barrel-shaped, which was part of why he liked to dress his son up so much, better model!). Conversely, Louis was malnourished and the quality and amount of what he was willing to eat/drink would have ended him if he hadn’t found someone else to do it first.
B) You take off their clothes: Nicolas’ high metabolism and hearty appetite (even in Paris, he was eating that great French bread and wine) made for muscles like a racehorse. More for savory than sweet; I don’t imagine Nicolas as having much of a preference for pastries, which he would eat only bc Lestat was something of a foodie and brought treats home now and then.
I would also imagine Nicolas is darker-skinned than Louis and Lestat, and this complexion further defines his muscles, especially when his skin is wet, all those sharp edges really shine ❤
[X] ^I couldn’t find a good human body as an example so here’s a thoroughbred. Not this dark color for his skin, example is for the muscle definition. Nicolas would not have been a horse that would let many ppl ride him, tho.
C) When you get very close to them: Nicolas has a sprinkling of birthmarks that are not mentioned in canon, which form constellations mainly on his face, neck, chest, and arms. Louis might have these too, but a lot less. Lestat liked to trace connections with his finger when they were in bed together and Nicolas secretly loved that ❤
^Kylo Ren has these facial birthmarks.
Also, differently from Louis’ blazing green eyes: I don’t think Nicolas’ eye color is mentioned in canon, EDIT: “His brown eyes were very big and trusting.”… “large sober brown eyes” I always pictured them as that great light brown w/ dark limbal rings that absorbs all the light in the area, almost gold in sunlight:
[X] He also has long eyelashes, longer than Louis’ eyelashes, and along those lines, for performances at the theatre, I headcanon that he let Lestat apply some guyliner for dramatic effect ;] Not that he needed it, but that he liked Lestat giving him that kind of special attention.
Louis spent a lot of time screaming and running away from Lestat, that’s just canon. But he always usually came back on his own ❤
[I didnt read the book in English, the line in mine translates “standing erect” in English]
^Oh wow, this may actually be the source of many ppl’s headcanon on this! We can’t expect you to disagree w/ a translator but for them to define it that way would certainly influence your headcanon…
BUT I just CANNOT ACCEPT THE IDEA that they are all walking around w/ permanent boners, as Louis would say: “I can’t. Or more truly, I will not.”
I just feel like it would have gotten alot more canon support if that were really the case. It’s referred to as being like the rest of their flesh, which is usually just compared to marble.
Let’s respect #your headcanon may vary on this topic.
I know what you mean, Louis would probably agree w/ you for similar (or the same!) reasons why he wants Lestat to stop writing any more books or authorizing his ghostwriter to do so.
[I just don’t want movies to cheapen it or represent the books in a bad light…]
^So I think Josh Boone is going to handle the material very respectfully, looking at the way he tagged up the Stand for that adaptation, he clearly is treating that book like it’s the Bible for that project *u* We’ll see how the Stand fandom (what do they call themselves? now I’m curious) reacts when that adaptation comes out, as my Dad says, “The proof is in the pudding.”
Hit the jump for more response, cut for length.
[…or for it to get overly popular-]
^It might get overly popular! We might have overly fanatic fans! But we can handle that, we already deal with having the Facebook factions of the VC fandom, some of which are pretty zealous in their loyalty to AR, and from what they ask her (like ”Is Lestat really bisexual/gay???”) I wonder how they read the same books as we did. Just bc there’s more interest in it doesn’t mean you have to participate w/ the influx.
We also had an influx when Prince Lestat came out, and they seem to be absorbing into our ranks alright.
[…or the worst scenario- for it to be associated with the vampires of today *shivers*]
^Comparisons will be made to other vampire media, reviewers will review, haters gonna hate. You can tune all that out. Boone knows it will be held to the standard of movie!IWTV, and the standard of all his fave vampire media, so I’m sure he won’t invest the time and effort into smtg he knows can’t handle that level of scrutiny.
I think everyone needs to keep in mind that everyone doesn’t share a collective mind- everyone read these books individually so everyone is going to have a different opinion on how certain plot events happened and how certain characters look. Boone is one of those people and he’s the one in control of how this film will look and develop…
#Your headcanon may vary😉
On that note, just because a new film is coming out doesn’t mean that the values of past productions, like the IWTV movie with Tom Cruise, decrease. You can still enjoy it. You can still view Tom Cruise as the “perfect” Lestat. You can still choose to ignore the new film. What the new film does mean for the fandom is possible growth. Old loves for the books series will be rekindled and people will hopefully return. New fans will emerge who enjoy the film or are curious about the books. Considering Rice has lessened her hold on fanfiction restriction, that means more fanworks will possibly be generated. Lots of good things on the way even if the film is a flop.
So all in all, stay positive, go see the film to support Rice and the series if anything and if you don’t like it then it’s a done deal and you can fall back on other VC-related works. We’ll get through this irregardless.
As always, #your headcanon may vary, but from my own reading of the books and the characters focused on (the main coven), AR does not make it clear how much power the vampires have in the world* beyond the fact that they’re rich if they want to be (like Armand and Daniel owning and running the luxurious Night Island, a lucrative hotel/entertainment/casino/art-space/etc.), or not (Louis living in a dilapidated shack w/ few physical possessions).
Santino and the Children of Darkness might have had some impact with their religious zealotry, but targeted at the world in more of a negative way, a League of Shadows sort of group. Other vampires, especially the new ones introduced in PL, we don’t know much about their interest in economic or political influence.
Speaking of Louis…
he put the Coven of the Articulate’s stance very eloquently in QOTD (my emphasis added):
“It’s their world, not ours,” he said humbly. “Surely we forfeited it when we lost our mortality. We have no
right now to interrupt their struggle. If we do we rob them of victories that have cost them too much! Even in
the last hundred years their progress has been miraculous; they have righted wrongs that mankind thought
were inevitable; they have for the first time developed a concept of the true family of man.
… Don’t interfere with them.
Even if they kill each other! Give them time to see this new vision realized; give the cities of the West,
corrupt as they may be, time to take their ideals to a suffering and blighted world.“
Cut for length, not spoilers.
*That was the issue that was brought up in QOTD, whether they had a responsibility to have political power and/or have influence the world or not. There was a council of sorts, and some heavy debate was had, mainly on the part of Lestat’s ultra feminist SJW girlfriend vs. literally everyone else except Lestat who mostly sat there terrified into silence and not taking sides, and it ended with the general agreement that they shouldn’t meddle in mortal affairs.
This is partly bc writing their involvement into actual historical events could be difficult if not impossible (What, did they fight in WWII? Which side? How would that even work, concealing their vampirism from their fellow soldiers??!), and partly bc AR herself wasn’t very political back in earlier canon.
Even now, in the later books, AR keeps her world mostly separate from the Real World; IIRC, Hurricane Katrina was never mentioned in canon, and one would think that NOLA-branch coven founders Louis and Lestat would at least comment on that obviously devastating tragedy. At least one fanfic writer did take up the challenge of weaving in Katrina, and did it very tastefully. So it’s possible, but AR hasn’t gone there.
I don’t know enough about autism to agree w/ this headcanon.
AR is always taking questions, and she decides what she wants to answer, so you can go ahead and ask her yourself! (If you’re shy, you can always make a separate FB page just for this sort of interaction).
But even her headcanon doesn’t matter. Her headcanons are not universally accepted by the fandom. If you headcanon Gabrielle as autistic, go right ahead! There’s at least one person out there who headcanons her as transgender. She could be both transgender and autistic. Such is the beauty of everyone having an imagination! But it is really special when we find ppl who share our headcanons, and maybe someone will comment on this post if they agree w/ you ❤
I think that’s different for everyone, and #your headcanon may vary, so your headcanon is as valid as any! Who knows how true to canon the new adaptation will be? It would be fine with me if they want to update his musical taste/sound, as long as it seems in character.
But canon-wise, Lestat awoke in the mid-80s, before MCR was formed. AR wrote TVL w/ the 70′s and 80′s in mind. She’s mentioned Bon Jovi was a major Lestat muse for her (she even included him on the PL dedication page).
There’s fanon that Lestat loves Bruce Springsteen, too. So I’d say he would sound like a mix of Guns ‘n Roses, Bon Jovi, and Bruce Springsteen.
When whoever was in charge chose Korn to be the sound for Lestat’s band in movie!QOTD, they weren’t aiming for canon accuracy, but it was an interesting take on it.
There’s also a Lestat band on FB you can check out, I think they officially got AR’s permission to use the name.
I-want-my-IWTV 