Theory: The opening auction scene takes place during Tale of the Body Thief
[Spoilers for EP 3x01 Below]
So the opening scene and the auction. First thing to note is that only two lots are being auctioned off.
Lot #1, curiously, was immediately set on fire after it was presented:
The handwritten scores, session tracks, master recordings during Lestat's time as a rockstar, and one song cycle set to poetry by Baudelaire.
All go up in a blaze of fire, bye-bye!
Wow, Louis. Don't you look very bemused by that action, which is totally something Lestat would set up / have done. You don't look surprised by it having happened at all, either. 😏
I'll come back to this...
So, why do this? Why set all those things on fire, completely destroying them?
Well, maybe because it was Lestat's music that almost caused the end of the world in the first place.
Because, look, if you know the story of Queen of the Damned, then you know Akasha is defeated by the end. But what woke Akasha up in the first place was Lestat's music.
And there might have been some people at the auction who knew that and, for their own reasons, wanted to get their hands on those complete works and recordings for who knows what reasons.
Because it is Lot #2 that tells us that the time period this takes place is for certain after the events of Queen of the Damned have happened.
The music box, which contains the only pressed vinyl recording of The Failures, and are described as --
"[...] an omniscient history of the 2025 album and supporting tour, and the consequential global catastrophes that sprung from said album and tour..."
Meaning point-blank that Lestat recorded The Failures and had them pressed into vinyl sometime after the "global catastrophe" happened, which was clearly the rise of Akasha and her plan to take rule of the world.
So again, a solid clue that this auction takes place some time after Queen of the Damned.
But it was the actions of Louis and Raglan James that had me clocking that this auction was also very likely taking place during the events of the Tale of the Body Thief.
And that Lestat was actually the one inside Raglan James' body, because --
a. Lestat is clearly not dead. That is just not even a remote possibility, given that they are already setting up TotBT, which can only take place after QotD. You can not do that story before QotD, or during it, since the events of TVL and QotD flow and entwine directly into one another.
b. How did this auction... situation... even get access to these two clearly very personal items of Lestat's? Again, they are the only two things that are being sold at this auction.
Raglan in the foreground, also not confused by the burning of Lot #1. It's hard to tell, since he's (deliberately IMO) racked out of focus, but there is a little smirk on his face.
This is the shot. This is when I knew...
Louis was trying not to smile after "Raglan" had turned to look at the woman who bought the ashes of what was burned for one euro.
"Raglan" passes by Louis as Louis gives him a glance.
"... as narrated by The Vampire Lestat himself."
As "Raglan James" stands there, having gone to the back of the room, a very Lestat-like manuver and manner about him as this is said.
So yeah. I think in this opening scene, Louis and Lestat are both working together. I think Lestat himself (with Louis's help) put together this auction. That is how this auction even has access to these things of Lestat's, especially the recordings of The Failures.
The body swap with Raglan James has already happened at this point in the opening scene. Lestat is in Raglan's body, meaning this scene must take place sometime during the events of Tale of the Body Thief.
Because no, the show is not going to be replacing Sam Reid with Justin Kirk. Kirk is a phenomenal actor, but he was not hired to take over the role of Lestat permanently (so, I don't know why I saw some people who have actually been thinking this...).
Every interview that Rolin Jones gave where he talked about Tale of the Body Thief always made it pretty clear that it would be a 1-to-1 swap between Lestat and Raglan in the version the show was doing, which is one of the reasons why Rolin said he hired Justin Kirk to play Raglan in the first place -- he wanted a skilled actor to play/mirror Sam's Lestat.
And as for Louis, I think, like in the Tale of the Body Thief book, he did refuse to turn Lestat -- now in Raglan's body -- into a vampire. However, I think, unlike the book, Louis is the one helping Lestat to get his body back, taking over David Talbot's place in that role from the book.
Now, I couldn't begin to guess why they are actually selling Lestat's Failures recordings. It could, in fact, be a fake-out, with Louis bidding to make sure Lestat, in the end, does keep those recordings and music box. That is my running theory about it at the moment, at least.
Because I do think Louis was genuinely annoyed at Armand's continued bidding on it:
Armand ... what's the story, morning glory? Why do you want those recordings? Maybe something in them you're looking for info on, or about?
At least, that's my own guess as to why you are there, and bidding on it.
And I've already speculated about why Armand might have that eye-patch here.
It's also easy to speculate that Louis lost his leg during the events of Queen of the Damned, but... I'm going to hold off on that at the moment. Simply because in my spec about Armand's eye, I actually don't think he lost it during the events of Queen of the Damned and Akasha's rise. Not directly, at any rate. So yeah, I'm going to hold off on saying that is how Louis lost his leg, for now.
But physical status-wise, this scene is very interesting when it comes to our core characters, isn't it? Armand lost his eye, Louis lost a leg, Lestat lost his whole original body, and Daniel...
Yeah, I'll save my speculation about him for now as well. (But yes, I have a theory.) 🫣
Anyway, yeah. I'm pretty convinced this opening auction scene takes place sometime during the show's adaptation of Tale of the Body Thief.
I think Louis already knows Lestat has been body-switched, and Lestat was the one who cooked up this whole auction for some reason, though it might have mainly been to publicly destroy Lot #1, i.e., all those music recordings and works of his, since it was his music that led to Akasha's rise in the first place.
And Lot #2? Who knows... maybe it was just a way for Louis to move some money to Lestat undetected in a way to help Lestat while he's stuck in Raglan's body for the time being. We may not get the full context until we finally, fully get to the Tale of the Body Thief adaptation. Which, given my current calculations, wouldn't be until sometime around Season 6 at the earliest. 😬
Yeah. Long game plan this show indeed has. And has always had.
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