I never figured out what to put here

Armand ardently clutching his latest several hundred page journal detailing the different sounds Daniel makes while he sleeps, a tier list ranking the newest appliances Daniel bought for the house, the average amount of times Daniel blinks in a day, etc: he's alright

I spent an hour on this

Original down below if you’re uncultured

In season 2, he wants to get out of Dubai alive, AND he wants his book.

In this episode (3: Toronto), he wants Lestat's trauma-story, AND he wants it on tape, AND he wants his documentary to go to Cannes.

WHY?

Daniel's identity is linked to his capability as a journalist/storyteller. What's his trauma? Probably being kidnapped/held/tortured for a week in 1973 San Francisco by some vampires (hey, sound like Claudia's story with Bruce? does this sound like Lestat's story with Magnus?)

What gets Daniel out alive in 1973 is his belief in being a "bright young reporter with a point of view." IT SAVES HIS LIFE.

So now, every time Daniel's hurt/in pain, what does he do? He leans harder into being a reporter.

Like a vampire, he extracts other people's stories, other people's pain.

and as Lestat rightly points out: Daniel is NOT dealing with HIS OWN "transformational trauma." Instead Danny's trying to force Lestat into revealing Magnus' assault.

in lestat’s mind daniel is the one responsible for his public humiliation and anything he does, any probing question he asks is an effort to humiliate him further. so daniel isn’t someone he can be honest with but rather someone he has to outwit.

daniel on the other hand, has not only heard detailed accounts of lestat’s worst behaviour (no matter how biased or unbiased those accounts may be), he’s also experienced first hand how callous vampires can be with human life, and had his own life completely uprooted twice because of this, which I would imagine make having any kind of sympathy for lestat difficult to say the least, even if he wasn’t specifically responsible. in daniel’s mind, difficult and invasive questions is probably the least lestat deserves.