His emotional, physical and even sexual agency is only really respected by a number of this fandom in how much it relates to making Lestat feel happy, loved or cared for. Louis’s attempts to set boundaries is considered stubbornness, pettiness, avoidance and slights that he must fix by way of chasing after Lestat to ‘prove’ his love
Louis is expected now to serve as Lestat’s friend, lover, caregiver, confidante, validator and even in some eyes, his bodyguard (look at how some people talk about wanting Louis to physically fight an older, more powerful Gabriella on his behalf)
Louis has been positioned in an act of service to Lestat by the fans. His duty now is to heal Lestat’s wounds and help him come to terms with his childhood trauma while paying little regard to his own. His worth and likability and allowance of empathy is measured in reference to and only by his emotional and physical labor towards Lestat. His only value lays in how he can serve Lestat’s narrative and help him progress as a character
That is why it’s so easy for fans to withhold grace, empathy and understanding from Louis and dehumanize him because they don’t see him as his own character and perceive him only as an add on accessory to Lestat’s narrative, life and story
Louis’s love is often called into question by fans because he doesn’t verbalize it and behaves in ways that hurt Lestat yet Lestat does verbalize his love and still goes on to mistreat Louis. He also tells Antoinette that he loves her yet the validity of his love, despite him using the words superficially to others and his and Louis’s relationship involving emotional abuse, infidelity and violence on his part, is rarely called into question
Neither really prove their love to one another in a healthy way yet only Louis’s is consider untrustworthy and inefficient
We see this double standard and unfairness glaringly when it comes to sex. Lestat wants sex but Louis is unable to perform due to his depression and eating disorder so Lestat, instead of choosing to be supportive, chooses to mock him and cheat on him and because Lestat frames this as a failing on Louis’s part and lacks empathy, so does the audience, buying into the idea that Louis’s inability to perform sex is a failing on Louis’s part and destructive to their relationship. Lestat’s decision to cheat is portrayed as him filling a gap in their relationship that Louis (or Louis’s depression) has created
The only reason people can come to these conclusions is because they don’t view Louis as a character in his own right but merely as a pathway to Lestat becoming a complete, fully formed and fulfilled character
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