Ace of 💜s

my brother in christ you cannot be more wrong and I'm so tired. also if you ask a random stranger this in real life, a random stranger who's mature enough to understand the difference between fiction and reality, they will look at you like you speak gibberish.

proship stance = anti harassing real people over goddamned fiction. your kink is not my kink and that's okay. don't like don't read. there are some prompts that trigger the fuck out of me. I don't read it. I don't even like it. but I will defend its rights to exist because

1.) it is fiction

2.) no one in real life is harmed

3.) it cannot harm you unless you go searching for it, knowing it will upset or trigger you

4.) a lot of victims and survivors cope and heal through fiction, a safe and controlled environment

5.) censorship is a fascist tool. once you allow one thing to be censored because someone somewhere doesn't want it to exist, anything and everything can and will be censored.

A lovely middle finger to a certain anti-Lestat subset that falsely claims the show is "flopping." 😌

Hi! 👋🏾

So yeah, I have some... ruminating... thoughts about it. Nothing for sure, however. But I don't mind giving some of the thoughts I've had about it after we got Lestat's subconscious version of Magnus referencing it in EP 3x03.

So first, let's look at the shot in question:

Now, I know I'm not alone in thinking this is some type of hallucination/dream sequence.

Now, in EP 3x03, this is what Magnus said about it:

We eat your soul at the long table. 68 courses so far. We keep waiting for the bill, but the plates keep coming.

I think the "we" Magnus is talking about is just himself. He is eating at Lestat's soul. Which, you know, makes sense, given what Magnus did to him and the trauma Lestat still carries about it.

But another thing Lestat carries about what Magnus did to him is wondering why. Why did Magnus decide to give him the Dark Gift, instead of just letting Lestat be one of the failures -- the other blond young men that Magnus kidnapped, assaulted, and then just killed instead of turning? That is something that, in the books, Lestat also carries about it all.

And, at least from all the screeners who have seen the first six episodes, this shot above is not in the first six episodes. Meaning, the shot is very likely going to be in EP 3x07, the title of which is "The Failures." (And which is also the title of Lestat's audio album/diary about all these events.)

68 courses so far. We keep waiting for the bill, but the plates keep coming.

So what if the 68 courses are... actually the number of young blond men, before Lestat, that Magnus kidnapped, assaulted, and killed? Because remember, Lestat was with Magnus for a week before he was force-turned. And he said that during that time, Magnus kept him locked in the tower with the look-alike corpses.

Maybe... Lestat counted the number of corpses that were there with him? Though I don't know if that jibes with the line about the plates that keep coming, but...

Okay, anyway, the next reference to the long table is when Magnus names those who are sitting around it by a moniker and not their names... except for Claudia, who is the only one he outright names.

And who, if you notice, is the only one who isn't at the table. However, I do believe the empty seat to the right of Lestat is the seat that is her's. So, IMO, Claudia hasn't arrived yet, or... she's already left.

As to all the others around the table? Well, as others besides me have said, we know all of them, except for TC, appear to be Lestat's feldglings -- Gabby, Nicki, Louis, and Antoinette. And if Claudia is just not there yet, or has already left, that would mean all of his fledglings would be at that table.

Though... Claudia could be missing from the table for another reason. Maybe for a reason we've yet to see, but will in EP305 and/or EP306. I'll just say there was a spoiler given in a review before the season started about a character who is coming in this season, who hasn't shown up yet, but I do believe will soon... and who is tied to something regarding Claudia.

And so what happens with that character regarding Claudia could also maybe account for Claudia not being at the table. But that is just pure speculation at this point.

Anyway, again, TC is the one exception to the feldgling thing, at least given what we know so far. But that doesn't mean that she couldn't be turned between what eps we've seen up to this point and this moment in EP7. We have no way to know at the moment.

Though I will say, for a bit now, I've thought all the band members would get worse endings in the show than in the books.

As to why they are all gathered at the table... for some reason I feel, at least right now, it relates to Lestat feeling that he has failed each of them in some way, given the title of the episode this moment appears to be in. And Lestat is confronting and dealing with any feelings he holds about having failed them in specific ways, and trying to move forward from that.

But at the moment, that explanation feels a little too simple to me. Though it is all I've got right now. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Book-related side note, however: in Queen of the Damned, there comes a point when all the "main" vampires -- as it were -- all sit together, with Akasha, at a long table as she explains her take-over-the-world plan. And then, in the Prince Lestat Trilogy, the ruling council of the vampire court also sits at a long table together as well.

So this table above could be a foreshadowing of those two long tables that I feel certain are coming, given where the story is going, as well. In fact, Gabriella, sitting at one end, while Lestat sits at the other, kind of gives off that "dark monarch" vibe that they were discussing in EP3x04

The Monarchy of Darkness, in fact....

* * * * *

Oh, as to why Daniel's head is looking down at them all from the ceiling? Probably to emphasize the surreal, dream/hallucination nature of it, of course, which we've gotten much of this season. Anything more than that, however, I'll hold off on speculation about it for now.

* * * * *

ETA: Because I think @deadliestpieceontheboard gives a much better interpretation/reading of the "68 courses" thing Magnus says than I did:

This is the scene those freaks on X were calling 'written as consensual' and that just Sam acted as distressed.

Mind you, I have written consensual incest in the ASOIAF fandom and this ain't it, mate.

He looks deeply distressed all the way through it. And is not only the actor, is the way they shot it, the way it's presented. Not to mention the way this is after she did her monologue basically announcing how inhuman she is, to the point other vampires are unnerved at her coldness.

To quote Goth Grandma: A bad human and a bad vampire.

Bonus to add and how fucked up this is for him:

I'm going to say this with all the love in my heart. If you are someone who is especially sensitive or prone to anxiety when it comes to the outcome of DM in this show, you need to put the mid-season articles and interviews down.

At this point, four episodes down, three to go, with one that NOBODY has seen yet, these articles are saying nothing at best and are contradictory at worst. Because Rolin and the actors still cannot say SHIT about anything genuine.

It's been, what, 72 hours(?) since Devil's Minion fans got a fucking LOVE declaration, and yet now half the subfandom are freaking out about past DM because of something Rolin said in an article, that to me, barely even made sense.

Despite the fact that Eric won't stop bringing up past DM every chance he gets. Despite the fact that ROLIN HIMSELF has also said that Luke will probably be back in S4 and told those girls at the premiere that there would be more 70s DM. Despite the fact that THE TEXT ITSELF is pointing to past DM more strongly than it ever has before.

Those articles are not for us. They're for the normies and they're for marketing purposes. Stop reading them. They aren't helpful. And don't get me wrong, the obfuscation pisses me off too, because there are so many people who care SO FUCKING DEEPLY about this, and it does feel like Rolin is playing in our faces 90% of the time, but you need to hold on. There's been ONE EPISODE with them together so far.

We didn't expect a love declaration, but we got one.

I didn't expect a book accurate plane turning, but we got it.

You know what else Rolin said about DM? To be patient, because they are trying to EXCEED our expectations.