He hates Armand for Nicki. Armand kidnapped Nicki and the coven fed on him, so Lestat lied about his wounds to Nicki during his recovery, but Nicki remembered enough of what he witnessed to guess at the truth, so Lestat gaslit Nicki and further widened the rift in their relationship, then he turned Nicki and preserved Nickiās feverish state of feeling unloved and unbelieved, then out of regret for killing/turning Nicki, curiosity about vampirism, and pity for Armand, he started an affair with Armand, which only fueled Nickiās insecurities and obsessions to the point of self harm, then instead of talking Nicki back from the ledge like Lestat tried and failed to do, Armand believed that Nickiās mental state was irreversible and killed him in a way that triggered Lestatās trauma over the witches, forever linking his distraught emotions about the two events.
He hates Armand because he canāt acknowledge that he hates himself for pushing Nicki over the edge. He finds it easier to blame Armand for setting off this line of dominoes that ended with Nickiās death than to sit with the fact that there was no singular reason for Nickiās demise. He does the same with Magnus, attributing the attack to something he can handle, that Magnus was just an obsessed fan. He does the same with Claudia in season 1, attributing the problems in his relationship with Louis to Claudia and Claudia alone. When Armand found his voice among the many in 1973 and told him about Louisās attempt to walk into daylight, Lestat probably thought Armand was behind it and spent decades stewing in that suspicion, grief, and rage. He apparently doesnāt know that Armand gave Louis the opportunity to give proof of life and Louis refused.
Over and over again, he finds reasons to blame Armand for his pain. Nickiās downward spiral. Claudiaās death. Louisās self harm. He doesnāt know or care enough to question Mariusās assessment of Armand as a rotten boy. Doesnāt even seem to wonder why Armand was so adamant in his belief that Marius was dead. And in Lestatās defense, Armand doesnāt do much to persuade him otherwiseā¦at least that weāve seen.
Factor in The Queen of the Damned plot, in which Armand is not in favor of Akashaās plan that Lestat is pressured into carrying out while having enough autonomy to refuse but is too afraid to (cough) like Armand in the trial (cough), and Lestat has a major reason to want to avoid admitting to the things he is responsible for.
So what does he usually do when confronted with things going spectacularly wrong? The same thing heās done for centuries. Blame someone else. Armand must have set off this new line of dominoes that did more damage than Lestat waking the Queen. Because how else could anyone cope with the responsibility of abetting the near destruction of mankind?
To end on a real-world note, I read that AMC told them they didnāt have the budget for the original ending (one closer to the book) when they were halfway through completing production, so they had to scramble to rework things to give the season something of an ending. I wonder if this question would have been answered onscreen in the original ending episode(s), but the last-minute changes meant the writers had to push it to next season, and Rollin said this in the interview to put that question to bed once and for all among fans who take interviews as canon.
I think a lot of the questions this season left unanswered can be pinned on the studioās budgetary restrictions. Or at least, Iām willing to blame them on studio interference just like Lestat blames things on Armand and Claudia until proven otherwise!
