professionally depressed

Oh anon… oh sweet anon. I have a whole draft about this I haven’t had time to answer.

I LOVE Marius. His book is my second favorite in the series. He’s one of my favorite characters. I’ve fallen so deeply in love with him like the rest of the people he’s corralled, used and tossed aside like an unfinished painting. I would tie his shoes and comb his hair.

Is Marius redeemable? Is he without sin? Is he good or evil?

Unfortunately a wave of poor reading comprehension and general lack of literary tenacity has fallen upon my country of origin and new readers tend to read VC in extremes. Again I have a dissertation in my drafts about how VC has NEVER faced this type of issue before and like even ten years ago there was an understanding you can like characters while they do deplorable things. It’s a really really cool thing about being literate that you can have an immediate understanding of characterization and what the writer intended for their written work.

I’m not trying to be the XYZ label someone may FLY into my anons with, pitchforks raised. I am also not implying you are one of these people. You can HATE Marius. You can also apologize for him as much as you want for your own reasons. But I’m saying the polarizing effect of VC is brand fucking new. At least to this degree and as someone who has loved literature since I was a child I’m really really worried about the state of reading comprehension in America. Or worse, they’ve only heard about the character and became keyboard warriors because of what Marius did to Amadeo and Marius existing as a fictional character is somehow an attack of their own lived experiences.

Sorry to rant. Marius is a beautifully written, flawed, disgusting, mesmerizing and enchanting vampire. He is everything a vampire is in the traditional sense.

From Gustave Courtois' "Dante et Virgile aux Enfers"

To celebrate the @deromanuscoven Marimand week, here's our little day one fic - we hope you enjoy!

Unus