I fucking love that Claudia literally made up the train story. There wasn’t any part of truth in it. I didn’t think they’d go there because of how much they’ve softened all of these characters, but they really committed.
And guess what? It didn’t change a thing about how Louis and Lestat treated her. She’s still a victim. Still a bandaid for a shitty marriage. Still a roof shingle that flew off of their house. They still doomed her to an eternity of misery.
I do think Lestat saw her the most clearly though. He saw how monstrous she could be and loved her all the more for it, not in spite of it. Stained Glass Eyes, while self-indulgent, is more about how he thinks she might react to him rather than purely his own grief. He was complicit in killing her, after all. It doesn’t mean he can’t love her. Love between vampires can be countless things.
I know people post this quote a lot, but it’s a really good one.
“And I cannot say even now that I regret Claudia... Claudia was my dark child, my love, evil of my evil. Claudia broke my heart."
