sophie

First of all, I was a big believer that Jasper is Marius before the Marius casting was announced, but a part of why I was so confident in it was the name Jasper.

It refers to the one of the 3 Magi (Caspar/Jasper, Melchior, Balthazar). Marius was often compared to the Magi as he would generously give out gifts of gold, but also because the fresco "Procession of the Magi" (which Marius had painted a replica of) features Lorenzo de Medici in disguise as the Magus Jasper.

However, clearly Jasper is not Marius, but this leads me to Raymond Gallant: the #1 Marius Fanboy.

Who's Raymond Gallant?

Raymond was a young British Talamasca agent from the London motherhouse who was tasked with keeping tabs on Marius. He'd kept tabs on Marius ever since he even came to Venice (following his failed situationship with Botticelli in Florence). I believe the reason why Jasper being Marius was such a popular theory is because if Jasper is Raymond, Raymond was not only a great admirer of Marius and his art (he tried to buy his paintings and had even stolen one) but he also had a bit of a parasocial relationship with him.

""Do you think I mean to kill you?" I asked gently. "No, I don't think you will do it," he said. "But you see, I have studied you so long and with such love, I can't know." "Love, is it?" I asked." - Blood and Gold

Raymond insisted for Marius to contribute to the Talamasca's libraries, but Marius tells him to leave Venice. However, as he's about to leave, Marius tracks him down to get information on Pandora, tells him to write about him in great detail and gives him a (very questionably consented) blood kiss before leaving.

Later in Blood and Gold:

After the fire at the Palazzo, Marius sends a letter to Raymond (when he must've been middle-aged, according to Marius), and in response Raymond gives Marius information on Pandora and Armand's whereabouts. Marius hides this letter from Bianca.

Eventually when Raymond is 80, Marius tells Bianca about the letter, prompting a fight between them about Marius giving up on Armand. Following this fight, Marius visits Raymond at the London Motherhouse.

After his meeting with Raymond, Marius visits Paris where he decides against saving Armand from the coven partially due to the information he'd received from Raymond.

After their meeting at the London motherhouse, Marius begins regular correspondence with Raymond until his death. (and even continued his correspondence with the Talamasca afterwards but with a woman named Elizabeth Nollis, idk if that's going to be relevant)

I'm not entirely sure about what happens to Raymond after his death, but I know that "In Prince Lestat, Raymond is a ghost, still working with the Talamasca from the shadows, having learned to achieve a physical form" according to his wiki page.

Now, to me being a vampire isn't a huge stretch from a ghost taking a physical form. It's a very easy substitute actually. Based on a quick skim through Prince Lestat, it's possible for his maker to be either Marius or Teskhamen (idk anything about Teskhamen except that he's Marius's maker and apparently (?) founded the Talamasca so do with that what you will).

I also think this burning illustrated manuscript from a part of Blood and Gold (from Episode 3 of the Talamasca) mentioning Amadeo and Pandora seems too deliberately placed:

Now that I've laid out his plot relevance in TVC, I want to go into how realistic it is for Jasper to be him.

Jasper = Raymond: The Technicalities

First of all, this whole theory could potentially mean nothing, since John Lee Hancock mentioned that "all these actors play characters that are original." (Source). But I believe this is still possible even if Jasper is Raymond.

Raymond is not a very prominent character in the world of Interview with the Vampire. He holds some degree of importance to Marius in the 16th century, yes, but it often feels distant and separate from the overall world of vampires. He's an onlooker, not someone who fits into that storyline but at times interacts with it.

That, along with him having died all the way back in the 16th century within the Vampire Chronicles makes it so that if he's a vampire, the writers behind the Talamasca have an opportunity to create an entirely original storyline for him following his turning. This also keeps his character available to be used for IWTV when needed.

Another reason why I think Jasper is Raymond is because "At first Jasper was written as a proper Englishman but then changed around William Fichtner’s casting." according to this post by howfarweseek.

Here are some descriptions of Raymond from Blood and Gold:

"He was a tall man, lean and fair of skin, an Englishman, and he was dressed in severe clothes of black." "a tall lean Englishman, young, but with pale gray hair"

Plus: "I was about to sit down when there came rushing into the room a spry elderly man with streaming gray hair in a long heavy white nightshirt who gazed at me with brilliant gray eyes, crying out: "Marius!" It was Raymond Gallant, it was Raymond in his final years"

During the SDCC panel, William Fichtner also mentioned that he found the answers to his questions about Jasper in the lore, and hinted that the London Motherhouse could be his "home". (Source)

"Ah, so, it began for you then in Venice," I said. "I have blundered." "Yes, here in Venice," he said. ''One of us saw you and wrote a letter to our Motherhouse in England, and I was dispatched to make certain of who and what you were. Once I glimpsed you in your own house I knew it to be true."

There is also this Nerdist article, mentioning that Jasper is very, very old.

How this Works in the Show Canon

Now, we know the Jasper we see right now is quite modern and very Texan. I think that part of his characterization is what makes him an original character for AMC's Talamasca. It's entirely possible for Raymond as a 500+ year old vampire to have tried to reinvent himself in Texas.

This isn't even the first instance of a vampire doing such a thing. Santino, 700 years old disappeared from the Roman coven at around 300 years old. He shows up in modern time as a well dressed man with a taste for luxury as opposed to the Santino we knew, the grimy cult leader surrounded by rats.

"For three hundred years, I was faithful to the Old Ways of Santino, even after Santino himself had disappeared. Understand, this vampire was by no means dead. He turned up in the modern era, quite healthy, strong, silent and without apology" - The Vampire Armand "Santino, did you see him?" "Yes, I saw him. He had taken to dressing in fine clothes and jewels, and he received me in a palazzo much larger than this one." - Blood and Gold

(Yes I'm also trying to subtly imply that Burton is Santino)

So to me it makes sense if Raymond had sought out a different life also, only returning to the Talamasca once all his documentation on Marius and others was lost in the fire (especially as it seems he was the main chronicler on Marius, Armand, Pandora and Bianca for the Talamasca).

There's also the fact that Jasper's relationship with Guy seems to share similarities with Raymond and Marius, especially on account of the fact that Raymond was a mind reader as a human.

"I sensed that a very young mortal was watching me from the roof of the palazzo across the canal. [...] Here was a mortal spy who suspected me to be other than human. Here was a mortal spy who had been observing me for some time. [...] At this point, meaning to confront him and terrify him, I came to the very edge of the roof garden and peered across the canal at him, and there I made out his stealthy shape, and how he meant to cloak himself, and how fearful yet fascinated he was. [...] using the Mind Gift I sent a very direct message to him. This is folly. Interfere with me and you will surely die. [...] I saw him visibly startled by the message. And then to my pure shock I received a distinct mind message from him: We mean you no harm. We are scholars. We offer understanding. We offer shelter. We watch and we are always here. Then he gave way to utter fear and fled the roof." - Blood and Gold

Sounds familiar...

And then there's this:

"He drew back from me like a frightened boy." "I reached out with both hands and gently took hold of his head before he could stop me. [...] "Let me give you a gift, Raymond. Now pay attention to me. I will not kill you. I will not harm you. I want only to show you the teeth and the Blood, and if you will allow [...]" I opened my mouth so that the fang teeth were visible to him and I felt his body stiffen. [...] Then I cut my tongue with my teeth as I had done a hundred times with Amadeo. "Do you want this blood?" I asked." - Blood and Gold

GIFs by @howfarweseek

I also think this presents a very interesting opportunity to build on Raymond's character. Raymond is only one year older than Armand (his year of birth is 1479 according to his wiki, Book Armand's being 1480), which means he was around 14 when he was sent to keep track of Marius. He also watched the entirety of Marius's relationship with Armand play out, a boy around his age receiving the love of the vampire he adored. The boy who didn't seem to understand that another would give anything to be in his place— Raymond not quite understanding the predatory nature of Marius's "love".

I feel like this matches with the running theme of the Talamasca essentially grooming Helen and Guy for their greater purposes. If they were experimenting on Helen in her childhood, what's to say they placed the proper precautions in the 16th century before putting a 14 year old Raymond at risk of being discovered by a pedophilic vampire?

Though, Marius didn't interact with Raymond until he was 18-19 in the book, Raymond would've still had a very messed up, idealized view of Marius and likely some level of jealousy and disdain for Armand. He might've even felt pride that Marius was willing to keep in touch with him while having given up on Armand. Or maybe years down the line, he starts processing how messed up his situation with Marius had been and maybe even gains an understanding of Armand?

I'm not sure, but Raymond intrigued me. And if he's Jasper, I can see why he would be intrigued by another unprepared, mind-reading young boy being sent to monitor a vampire just as he once had. A boy who feels betrayed by the same organization that had let Jasper/Raymond down.

Jasper also seems to be a lower/middle class vampire who seems to care a lot about wealth inequality, and I think that circles back to why he might've chosen his name to be Jasper. Perhaps he was inspired by Marius's generous gift-giving of gold, and perhaps he'd even been gifted some gold during a time of financial struggle, causing him to idolize Marius from a young age.

Circling back to Burton

Ok. A separate (and much shorter) section here, because I thought if I'm writing about a theory on a TVC character being in AMC's Talamasca, why not just combine it into a single post? So here it is: why I think Burton is Santino.

First of all, as I mentioned before, Santino turns up again in the modern era with a luxurious, eccentric taste in things. But I also find it odd that Burton only shows up for one episode with Jason Schwartzman being a guest star, especially with him being a big name actor in Hollywood,

Don't get me wrong, the Talamasca is alright but it has nowhere near the critical acclaim of Interview with the Vampire, so to me it would make sense if he's gearing up for a bigger role in IWTV.

The description Armand gives of him in The Vampire Armand seems to align too perfectly with Burton:

He has wandered into the disasters of the modern era with all his beauty unblemished [...] huge head of black curling hair often clipped each night at sunset for the sake of anonymity perhaps, unvain, perfectly dressed in black. [...] The shadow of his beard, fixed forever into his skin, is beautiful as if always was. [...] He favors sleek but sturdy black coats lapeled in leather or fur, low-slung black cars that move at two hundred miles an hour, a golden cigarette lighter reeking of combustible fluid, which he lights over and over again just to peer in the flame. Where he actually lives, and when he will surface nobody knows."

And in Queen of the Damned:

"Santino sat to her right, finally, looking composed once more, all the dirt gone from his finely cut black velvet clothes."

He also kissed Jesse's hand in greeting (like how Burton greeted Guy) and gifted her an emerald ring (instead, Helen gifts Burton a ring).

Plus, Burton mentioned being alive for several centuries, but then says he's 384 "depending on how you gauge time". This seems to align perfectly with the timeline of Santino being born in 1325 (making him exactly 700 years old in 2025), and then abandoning the Roman coven around 100 years after the fire at Marius's Palazzo (so around 400 years ago, which might be 384 years ago more precisely).

Guy mentioned that Burton turned against his own kind and needs the Talamasca for something (protection?). Burton later tells Guy that his "previous associates" don't play nice. "They will try to bend you, and mold you, and take you." (Like what the Roman coven did to Armand?)

Plus, I don't think Santino would've enjoyed reading Interview with the Vampire either and seeing the consequences of his own actions towards Armand. Or even enjoyed being reminded of Armand's existence (especially with the frequency with which Daniel mentions his name in the book, lol).