I always post my analyses for AMC's Interview with the Vampire under the IWTV TVC Metas tag, but I also have masterlists in the menu on my front page, where everything's listed, latest to oldest.
Louis Metas1 (S1 - S2 | S3)
General Metas2 (S1 - S2 | S3): inc. my Anne Rice books tier list | AMC / TVC Timelines | S2 & S3 episode reactions | AMC's Book/Research References for S1, S2, & xtras
Claudia / Armand Metas3 (S1 - S2 | S3)
Lestat / Gabrielle Metas4 (S1 - S2 | S3)
Over time I've had to split them into 4 parts cuz of Tumblr's hyperlink limit--they used to all be in one nice & neat post, pre-Season 2. š
Disclaimer: I'm a Black goth female who's been reading Anne Rice for 30 years. I stan AMC!Louis & AMC!Claudia. Antiblack racists & misogynists can kick bricks. š
(Lies & slander about me that I refuted with RECEIPTS: x x)
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I'll be compiling everything Lestat says is a lie in the "Du Lac-Molloy book"--inc. the monologue/rant he made about Louis' "misremembered cobwebs and f*****g bullst" in Big Bad Wolf:
1) Wolverine Blues
2) Claudia's pleated skirt
3) Harlequin, not Lelio
1) The Wolverine Blues
LOUIS ALREADY SAID HE MIGHT'VE BEEN MISTAKEN ABOUT THAT.
And THANK GOD Louis was wrong! šš Cuz I'll be darned if AMC Forrest-Gumped a French White ghostwriting music for the godfather of jazz, eff outta here! š¤£
2) Claudia's Pleated Skirt
"A week-old rotten meat shade of chartreuse, not off-white"
I'm fine with Louis misremembering the color. My bigger question is: who's POV was Tuan Pham's projections? š¤
3) Harlequin, not Lelio
Yeah, we already knew this was Armand's fanfiction.
Now, onto the episode itself.
"Mr. Du Lac's B-movie brute...a mayonnaise villain with sociopathic tendencies."
TOUR BUS
4) Stuttering Stanley
5) 1x6 Train Scene
6) Don Pasquale (1800s)
4) Stuttering Stanley
Daniel repeats this question A LOT, making it the "Did You Eat The Baby????" of the episode.
Lestat deflects with the classic "Was he there???" clapback, as if that's a NO; but if the trailers are any indication, he DID stutter as a child and even got mocked ruthlessly by his brothers for it. And one of the reviewers already spoiled that his stutter lasted from 9 - 29yo.
So it IS true that Lestat stuttered as a child, even though he's tryna make it seem like Louis LIED on him about it, wtf??? Do NOT PMO Lestat. Esp. since WE never saw Louis breathe a word to Daniel about Lestat being a stutterer--as a kid or an adult. That NEVER came up.
So IDKWTF AMC's doing having Daniel ask this out of the blue and pin it on LOUIS; and WTF Lestat's doing tryna deny he stuttered when we already know he did. š
5) 1x6 Train Scene
LOUIS never said Lestat threatened Claudia--CLAUDIA said Lestat did. And she NEVER said Lestat threatened her with RAPE, she said he MOCKED her rape, and threatened to do WORSE than "defile her pocketbook....I'll turn your BONES TO DUST." She said he threatened to KILL her.
Lestat is literally deflecting an accusation by making up a brand new accusation that wasn't even levied against him to begin with! 𤣠OF COURSE the answer to his question is NO--cuz that's NOT what she said! So now Lestat's gaslighting TF outta Daniel by lying on Claudia lying about him!? š¤¦āāļø
And the big question the fandom has anyway is whether the train scene happened at all--not about the specific threat. So until her ghost rises from the grave to admit that she lied, I'll take her diary's word for it that Lestat threatened her. (And even if she did lie, I already said IDGAF, cuz Lestat was terrible enough to her b4 and after the train to warrant her wanting him dead. š¤·āāļø)
6) Don Pasquale (1800s)
OKAY, THIS is the tea I've been wanting! Cuz it's not just Don Pasquale, it's E V E R Y T H I N G Lestat said he did in the 1800s, that made no sense.
Like I've said before (x x x), this would mean Lestat told the truth during the Trial that he was asleep until 1908, which would mean that he met Marius & drank from Akasha only 2yrs before he met Louis in 1910.
What I find HARD AF to believe is that this means LOUIS lied/misremembered every single time he said Lestat made references to 1800s Paris--both to him AND to Claudia. Again: Lestat's argument is that Louis' lies all make him look like a B-movie monster. But not every 1800 reference made Lestat look like a monster actually. š¤Ø
The ONLY two totally monstrous portrayals about Lestat in 1800s Paris are when he's torturing the Tenor in 1x2, and mocking Claudia's chess moves in 1x6.
When Lestat tells Louis about Don Pasquale, he planned a romantic date for them (as he steamrolls over Louis crying about wanting children). When he's at the poker table talking about Bon Marche, he's simultaneously flirting with Louis & using the Mind/Time Gift to convince Louis he's not a white racist and wants to help Louis--the main thing that caught Louis' interest in him! When he's bragging about meeting Viktor Hugo, that's from CLAUDIA'S diaries as she overheard her dads chatting.
They BOTH agree that Lestat told them BOTH about his time in Paris. Oh, so they're BOTH lying about him doing the same thing over & over again, decades apart?
Louis said Lestat talked about meeting Don Pasquale TWICE: to HIM, and to the Tenor. We know from the trailers that the Tenor's being revisited in his purpleshirt!hallucination; so I already doubt that will be a reliable ghost talking to Lestat about anything.
So while I can accept Lestat being asleep for 100yrs, I DO NOT accept that he never lied to Louis & Claudia about his time in the 1800s. They are WAY too consistent that he DID tell them he was awake in the 1800s, and most of the time they say he told them something, it was NOT to make him look like a monster. An romantic show-off at best, and a condescending AF mean ahole at worst.
BATHROOM & ELEVATOR
7) Shorter Hair
8) Monogrammed Handkerchief
9) Vamp Urination
10) Vamp Sex
7) Shorter Hair
I HATE that AMC is tryna use a PRODUCTION issue as a MEMORY issue. I KNEW they were gonna use Memory is a Monster as a crutch for their abundant writing errors. They know good and effing well that SAM said ROLIN wanted Lestat's hair short, and that SAM insisted on tryna grow it out since he felt Lestat SHOULD have long hair.
Now they're tryna front like Lestat's garbage hair in S1 was Louis' fault for not saying Lestat had super long hair past his shoulders IN 1910 WHEN NO CIVILIZED MAN WOULD BE CAUGHT DEAD WITH HAIR THAT LONG UNLESS HE WAS A PIONEER CATCHING DYSENTERY ON THE OREGON TRAIL, OR UNLESS HE WAS A GAY MAN IN THE PRISON CELLS NEXT TO OSCAR EFFING WILDE!
We're not stupid, Rolin, but either LESTAT is, or y'all think WE are.
8) Monogrammed Handkerchief
The fandom already reached the conclusion YEARS ago that Louis just imagined that as something he'd WANT Lestat to have done, and gave the fantasy to DreamStat--same way he had DreamStat eating photographs, DUH. He imagined Lestat as ROMANTIC & SWEET & NICE, the way he was at the very beginning of their courtship; and created DreamStat to give him the companion he was so desperately missing. DUH.
But thank you, Lestat, for confirming that you DO know Louis had a DreamStat in Europe. Too bad he's clearly too effing dense to realize that DreamStat's a giant love confession Louis' making. š¤¦āāļø
And Lestat KNEW he was being incredibly uncharitable to Louis with that one--the NERVE calling Louis "an insane person," when LESTAT is one of the main a-holes who who drove him crazy in the first place! As if Lestat of all people is the paragon of mental stability his daggone self?! š¬ So sure, Lestat wanted that insult struck from the record--but ofc The Auction is selling EVERYTHING of his.
9) Vamp Urination
Lestat uses the reveal that vampires can pee (not often, but for a VERY long time when they do) as a gotcha! that Louis' a liar. But why TF would Louis mention his frikkin piss to ANYONE? š¤Ø
I think this demonstrates an important personality distinction between Lestat & Louis. Because we already know Lestat was raised in a effing MEDIEVAL BARN with no home training and no effing CLASS or COUTH. Meanwhile Louis was raised in elite genteel society as a Southern Gentleman. So NO DUH he's not gonna talk about how much he pees or not! 𤢠It's gross!
10) Vamp Sex
This is where I realized that Lestat truly does have stale baguettes for a brain.
TO LOUIS, YES, HE WAS UNHAPPY WITH YOU & ARMAND--"PAIN AND TOXICITY"! SO SEX WITH YOU BECAME TORTURE AS HE DISASSOCIATED AFTER HE CAUGHT YOU STILL CHEATING ON HIM WITH ANTOINETTE; AND SEX WITH ARMAND WAS TRANSACTIONAL TO PROTECT CLAUDIA. JUST HOW DUMB ARE YOU, LESTAT? š¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļøš¤¦āāļø
Louis said sex with YYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUU was HIS rings of Saturn captstone--esp. since HE HATED KILLING, STUPID! For Lestat killing & draining & Little Drinks are his Top 3, and sex is #4, but Louis didn't like ANY of that--he WANTED š transcendent gay sex š but his rat diet inevitably made his libido LOW, unlike you, SEX ADDICT. š
And I BEEN said that Louis' vodka bottle IS Lestat. Cuz he died an alcoholic, and LESTAT became his addiction--until he started ABSTAINING, and DID go celibate when his depression took over.
JFC, Lestat is making me want to slit his throat my dang self.
Ok, so Mashable released the full interview with Sam Reid, addressing some of the Rewrites. So I'm just posting it here for posterity.
3) Harlequin, not Lelio (+ Armand)
(Sam Reid went waaaaay more in depth on the Harlequin thing with Playbill.)
(Yeah, why ARE almonds so magnetic & alluring? š¤ Is it the tree roots? The pH content in the soil? š¤·āāļø)
I wish LESTAT would come to this realization on the show itself already, and STOP yelling at Louis for bullcrap DANIEL wrote.
Sure, be mad at Louis for not telling you about the book for a month. (And he really should even let THAT go, since clearly he still ain't tell Louis about the Trial. š) But if DANIEL is writing the interview in a particular way that makes you look like a monster & Louis look like a liar, take that up with HIM!
5) 1x6 Train Scene
ESPECIALLY about this frikkin Train Scene having diddly squat to do with RAPE. š¤¦āāļø
But ooOoOOooOo, Sam said something SPICY:
āļø That's all I need to hear. š¤·āāļøš¤·āāļøš¤·āāļø Lestat was a b*st*rd to her, he was difficult (Imma read that as "crotchety", tyvm); she couldn't stand living with his arse; and if the Train Scene's got some key differences cuz she lied or Louis lied or Daniel lied IDGAF.
Like I said: the Rape plot twist is dumb AF, cuz literally nowhere in the scene itself do we see ever Lestat say that. So it either came from a diary entry AMC refused to show us (cuz Armand removed it & Louis' memory is unreliable & etc), or Daniel pulled it out of thin air on his own.
Yeah I get it--Lestat's mega hurt & blindsided by THAT accusation, cuz he hates incest (GabriellA) & rape (Magnus)--but CLAUDIA DGAF; she wanted that man dead by any means necessary, and if she had to lie and say he threatened to rape her to get Louis' useless arse off that bench, then so be it! šŖš¤ That's MY daughter, and she's never done anything wrong a day in her entire evil life! š¤£š¤£
I'm done talking about this stupid arsepulled Rape Twist. NEXT! š
6) The Tenor (Don Pasquale (1800s))
Ok, so Lestat did torture the Tenor and say his music was dogtrash. š¤£
So I pray this means AMC won't retcon the Tenor as an Evil Doer the way Anne Rice did in the books. š Let AMC!Lestat be a sadistic killer, and stop woobifying him--sometimes he IS a "B-movie mayonnaise monster with sociopathic tendencies"--OWN IT, THEN! š¤·āāļø
7) Shorter Hair (+ Scars)
Like I BEEN said: the hair & the scars are NOT a giant gotcha! cluing us in that scenes are wrong -- it's Lestat being PETTY AF nitpicking inconsequential bullcrap; just like he did about the stutters.
And Jam Reiderson already said that it made total sense why Louis never mentioned the scars, so I literally DGAF about the scars as "proof" of anything anyway. š
TL;DR: š£ļøš¢ Louis was mostly right about things Lestat did, just not WHY he did them
Now I know what the reviewers were talking about when they said Daniel was underutilized in S3; and why Ebogo said he told Rolin to give him MORE to do in the scripts. Cuz his investigative edge has seriously & severely been dulled in S3. š¤¦āāļø
I'm seriously STUNNED that this was all by design; hardbaked into the scripts; that Daniel was originally gonna do EFF ALL on Lestat's tour.
All season long, he's been more interested in sniffing out deets about:
GabriellA (FULL of lies & contradictions, that ultimately ARMAND had to spell-out for Daniel as the deus ex machina (a la Raglan James giving Daniel the Trial script)
Nicki (THEE shystiest part of the interview, that Lestat totally clowned TF out of Daniel on). And what's CRAZY is that Daniel didn't corroborate Lestat's account about Nicki's death WITH ARMAND, after Lestat robbed him of the chance to get that part on cams. Daniel has an EYEWITNESS in his pocket and he's not using it?! š¤¦āāļø But yes, let's keep rehashing how much Armand's in love with him--which Daniel SHOULD'VE already picked up in Armand's blood when he got Turned, but this show DGAF about the effing LORE so wtvr.
Magnus (the most successful part of the interview, closest to how Daniel handled Louis' interview, by calling Magnus precisely what he was: Lestat's abuser when Lestat denied it; the exact same way he identified Lestat as Louis' abuser when Louis denied it)
Daniel asked Lestat "why music, why now?" every night for 2 months and Lestat gave him a different answer each time; until he FINALLY "cracked those cheeks" and got Lestat to open up about Nicki--OFF CAMS, lol.
But with very few exceptions, Daniel hasn't really asked much about Louis (unless it's part of the sparring matches he's having with Lestat about ARMAND)--and he's asked literally NOTHING about Claudia (you know...Lestat's KILLER? š The girl who's DEAD now? š¤Ø).
TL;DR: Just sad work
Daniel, step aside and gimme the microphone; I'd be on Lestat's French arse like white on rice. šµļø I own an electric stove; he can't gaslight me.
I doubt Daniel's gonna show his hand in 3x6 too soon; but I hope 3x7 shakes things up in a big way, and Daniel starts really asking Lestat some serious hardball questions--esp, now that he KNOWS Lestat's been lying to his face this whole time about Sofia.
Justice For Antoinette | The Vampire Lestat | AMC+
AMC, for the love of god, PLEASE do something about the busted closed captions. š This is why I NEVER watch this show without proper subtitles & transcripts; cuz half the time I can't understand a word Lestat's even saying. šš¤¦āāļø Especially when he's doing that interstitial dialogue talking over people.
Regardless, I'm actually gonna keep my mouth shut about all of this until I get the full context for everything involving Antoinette's flat no-nothing arse, cuz she's at the Long Table with the rest of Lestat's ghosts/hallucinations; so I wanna see what's really up with her before I fully unload the clip and start blasting fools the way I'm itching to.
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Just because it came up yesterday too, I always thought that the way the fans completely divorced AMCs Claudia from her Blackness was a very insidious form of misogynoir that I admit, was new for me (within a fan space).
Like, everyone "likes" her! But in that very "girl boss girl power" white feminism way where they erase everything about the source of the power out, in order to subsume it. And it's weird because to me, it showed that, just like how they did with Louis, they did not engage with how Claudia's Blackness was another important part of her story. Despite it being quite spoonfed in season 2, tbh.
Think about it. Claudia is 1) Black, 2) female, 3) queer, and 4) trapped in a child's body, forever. This is like, the torment nexus of Lacking Power and Autonomy In Society š Going unheard, that resentment against the world for not taking her and her needs and her desires seriously, from inside the home and on. Of having to build a wall of strength and resilience to protect herself, of always Taking Care of Business because her goof ass brother certainly isn't gonna do it! Of having to grasp power her own way, because it will never be considered for her. Yet, somehow still a threat.
To me, AMCs Claudia is a very beautifully written example of a Black Woman that is Angry, who would be treated like an Angry Black Woman. So many of these fans HATE real world Claudia's! Because I've seen her rage and exhaustion, her fire to fight (Akasha's too), in so many of us. And yet we don't get the girl power, girl boss label- until it's time to Need us. Otherwise, you're just a Bully.
And so it was so bizarre witnessing people just... Water that down for her. To not even bother to notice it, outside of "angry at men". Idk. One of those "your favorites would hate you" situations.
Idk, I think if y'all knew just how frustrating and unprotected and how disempowering (while at the same time forcing you to have strength and power to survive) Black girlhood and womanhood can be...
"Yeah, the eyes. No spark, right?"
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Season 2, Episode 4: 'I Want You More Than Anything in the World'
Season 3, Episode 5: 'New York'
A good thing about s2 was that even though Lestat is gone you feel his presence in every scene w Claudia and Louis, because they leave the damage, so they didnāt forget the damage caused by Lestat.
Now we see how hard Lestat is trying to ignore or dismiss Louis and Claudia. How Claudiaās muse wasnāt even allowed to enter until he was reminded of her existence from Louis. And he gets hit with the last thing she said āDonāt look awayā
Lestat has been looking away from the damage, from Claudia this entire season. He has been ignoring how he hurt Louis in his DARVO tour. And now he has to sit in that realization.
The first photo is from 1956. It shows a Black woman watching members of the Ku Klux Klan (a terrorist, racist, far-right organization focused on white supremacy) walking along a sidewalk in Montgomery, Alabama (USA). I couldn't find the photo's author, but most sources state that it was taken in 1956.
The second photo shows members of the Patriot Front group (a white supremacist and nationalist group, formed in 2017, that openly advocates what they call "American Fascism") traveling on the subway during the 250th anniversary of the U.S. independence in Washington D.C., while a Black woman watches them. The photo is by photographer Cheney Orr, taken on July 4, 2026, 70 years after the first photo.
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Honestly I do struggle with this, but not because I think Claudia isnāt intelligent and strategic. She is and I love that about her! She gets things done and will do whatever it takes to survive.
I think I struggle with this concept bc itās often framed as a failing on Louisā part? And thatās where I get confused? I can see him being angry & hurt, his pride majorly wounded for being manipulated, but I donātā¦. understandā¦ā¦ā¦ Like letās say Claudia did manipulate Louis and the train scene turns out to be, magically, fake or told to him with some tweaksā¦.. so? Either way Lestat had to die lol
Rue Royale was hell. Louis tried to kill himself and was depressed nearly the entire time, Claudia felt herself going crazy, even Lestat was miserable and was just ignoring it. That house was hell. Loustat were already falling apart before Claudia came, then continued to do so when she was there. They are the embodiment of Right Person, Wrong Time.
And yes, it always had to be Lestat. Their relationship was awful by the end and they very much needed to break up. But Lestat wouldnāt have ever left Louis and Louis wouldāve been more inclined to just kill himself than suggest divorce or make any active decision on his own atp. In order for all three of them to actually survive that house, it had to be Louis leaving Lestat and it had to be Louis leaving Lestat for Claudia. Am I crazy for thinking this? Like, not even going into TDV, this is the only way a happy ending couldāve been possible for the three of them as individuals at all.
Idk. Whenever I see this take, it gives off the vibe that Iām supposed to be shaking my head and going āLouis how could youā¦ā But whether Claudia was lying to Louis or not (and we already know part of her was, given the twins-tom switch), Iām glad she did because it worked out for both of them and inadvertently saved all of them. Someone was always going to end up dead in that house, but the only way they wouldāve all come out alive, is if the target was Lestat. The one who had no interest in killing himself, nor the one treated as disposable, and who knew best how to endure.
Even if Claudia was somehow able to leave and live a completely happy life away from Loustat, I still donāt see Loustat having a happy ending in Rue Royale at all. They had to separate, and as tragic as Mardi Gras was, this was the only way all 3 of them couldāve lived with the potential for happiness after.
Like, can someone explain this to me? I just donāt see how this is bad or a failing on Louisā part in any way besides just his pride being hurt lol. Claudia did them all a favor imo, regardless if she intended to or not.
Exactly. If she gotta lie on Lestat to get Louis off that bench, then SO BE IT! š¤·āāļøš¤£ This is NOT a gotcha! that Claudia's not above manipulating TF out of Louis to sabotage Loustat's marriage. We already saw her up in Louis' head in 1x5, tryna get him to leave: manipulating TF outta him:
And Lestat screaming his effing head off cuz he SEES how hyperfocused Louis is on Claudia--how NOTHING he did in 7yrs was enough to get Louis to look at HIM like that, not while SHE was gone. Lestat KNEW how much power Claudia had over Louis--that's why Jacob Anderson said CLAUDIA is the Becky-with-the-good-hair in Lemonade, NOT Antoinette. SHE is the wedge between Loustat.
EXACTLY. She effing HATED Lestat, and wanted him dead BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
She wouldn't have to be on that train lying up a storm if Lestat didn't DO ish to her to make her hate him in the first place! Her hatred doesn't exist in a vacuum! Larry didn't end up on that train platform for no effing reason!
AMEN. Someone was BOUND to die--Louis said it himself:
FACTS. Louis was resigned to the all deteriorating in that house--becoming JUST LIKE THE LIONCOURTS--but Claudia was like I'll be darned if I let Lestat drag me down into his madness. The same reason she didn't want Louis turning Madeleine; to prevent Madz from turning into Lestat, too; just in case Louis was right that they were bound to become exactly like Lestat over time. Claudia was DISGUSTED with Louis--GET OFF THAT BENCH. "Dead weight!"
I explained it all ages ago: it's all wrapped up in Claudia's diary pages from the Merrick book, and all the nastiness she said about Louis that drove him to kill himself--which AMC pushed up to 2x5.
It was BAD in the books; ghost!Claudia even went so far as to SHANK Louis; she wanted him dead--and Delainey said so; this is NOT news.
So the Lestans & Louis Anti Lesdaughters just need a reason to find "proof" that Claudia hated Louis as much as THEY hate him. š¤·āāļø It's become a whole frikkin competition. Aside from her last look at Lestat as she died in front of him (that Delainey talked at length about), the antis CAN'T prove that Claudia loved Lestat AFTER 3x5 MORE than she loved Louis, when she was motivated by pure blind hatred for Les.
So if they can't prove her unconditional LesDaughter love of Lestat, they'll hyperfocus on her hatred of Louis, as if it's some gigantic revelation that she couldn't stand Louis' useless arse in Europe.
And Louis was so awful to her while his Pick Me head was still crammed all the way up DreamStats arse & then Armand's arse too; so OF COURSE Claudia would be pissed at him--Claudia's BEST line in S2 was her cussing Louis out already, DUH!
The antis just keep pushing the false narrative that LouClaud fans/stans are oblivious about these characters' flaws; when that is NOT the case at all. š And they especially downplay the fact that Claudia was cussing TF out of Lestat too--but that she'd already satisfied a large bulk of her rage against him when she KILLED HIS ARSE. š LOUIS is her unfinished business--esp. in light of all the effed up stunts he pulled with Regina, tainting Claudia's memory letting Regina write in her effing diary oml. š¤¦āāļø
IWTVL S3 Ep5 Musings - "The Metal Sun In My Veins"
I've been working my way up to this post, because there's A LOT to cover, and I wanted to break up some of my points into separate posts so I could refer back to all of them right here. TBH I hate having to talk about Amel/Akasha midway thru the season, cuz I fully expect 3x7 to drop some crazy plot twist/reveal to throw everything we've seen in S3 into a new light. But as of 3x5, here's what I think might be going on.
The Timeline
"Amelian Anger" & Possession Is Abuse Apologia
My Father's / Maker's Temper
Vampiric Bioessentialism: Nature vs Nurture
1) The Timeline
As always, thanks to @crazykuroneko for directing me to the tweet / IGN article where Rolin Jones explained that The Auction takes place 1.5 seasons in the future. Because that's what helped me realize something very important:
The Auction takes place AFTER S4 (QotD), and AFTER Akasha is already dead. Ostensibly, we'd be in S5's TotBT era (Raglan James shenanigans).... HOWEVER. āļøš¤
Thanks to Akasha's monologue, we KNOW AMC is doing The Twins. Which means my GOAT Mekare is definitely coming, the one who'll take over as the Host of the Sacred Core; the new Queen of the Damned after she eats Akasha's brain & takes Amel into herself.
I've explained before that Amel, the source of Akasha's power, has been more or less asleep/dormant inside Akasha, due to how spirit possession works in Anne Rice's lore. Two spirits CANNOT both be consciously active in the same body at the same time; one WILL take over and render the weaker spirit inert.
āļø And this is where I think AMC's gonna play with the S5 timeline. I suspect that they will MERGE TotBT with the PL Trilogy, and make Amel "The Voice" during the time of The Auction--when Lestat records The Failures, "a season and a half ahead." š
Because at that time, MEKARE will be the queen.
I think AMC realized that there was a MIGHTY big gap b/t the books, where Amel didn't start using The Voice as soon as he realized that Mekare was a TERRIBLE host after QotD (1980s); and only started resisting her in the PL Trilogy (20teens), some 40yrs LATER. So instead, I think AMC's expedited the process, and makes Amel start reaching out to vampires as The Voice as soon as Akasha's dead--and Lestat is MOST vulnerable.
Post-QotD (S4), Lestat's already guilt-ridden cuz he helped Akasha almost destroy the world. He's "totally friendless" because of all the damage he's caused. People are demanding to know WTF "you were thinking about, and how this happened."
The Failures were recorded 1.5 seasons after S3 for the AUCTION WINNER (whom Lestat has CONSISTENTLY referred to as HUMAN: x x x); he is talking directly to "The Privileged Person" he assumes will win the auction and hear all of his stuff. Meaning he's planned the Failures in advanced of the auction itself, and designed the recordings as something personalized for the winner, ("I like you already~!").
And I think in classic Lestat fashion, he doesn't WANT to take accountability. He WANTS to blame someone else for his bad actions. HE NEEDS a rationale, a reason, to cope with but also explain or even EXCUSE why he made such a terrible decision to fall under Akasha's sway and help his abuser perpetuate those cycles.
We see him do it CONSTANTLY with GabriellA and the incest bomb (esp. since we know Daniel/DM put "the dirt in the sandwich"). "It's different for vampires, that's it~!"
And we KNOW that GabriellA's influence over Lestat is directly tied to AKASHA'S interest in HIM.
As such, I don't think that the Failures were made FOR Amel (the winner of the Auction). I also don't think he's directly talking TO Amel. I think it's more complicated; that Amel is ENABLING these thoughts in Lestat, as The Voice in Lestat's head as he talks to himself. We see Lestat constantly going-off topic and rambling in the Failures, and I think he's having multiple conversations with multiple listeners:
The Auction Winner (presumably a human, less likely a vampire)
Himself--as editor ("Note to self: Edit that out in the final version")
Himself--as a lonely man amusing himself ("I'm rambling a bit here. What am I trying to say?")
Amel/The Voice ("I digress")
+ The Documentary (often talking to Daniel directly; aware that the Final Cut will be released to the public, that he hasn't even seen yet as of recording The Failures--"I've seen a rough cut")
+ The Rerecorded Album (specifically designed For Vampire Ears & The Great Conversion), that Pitchfork critically panned
Hilariously, 3 & 4 might very well be the same thing, depending on what direction AMC chooses to take Amel's own level of sentience post-Akasha; and his relationship with Lestat; because Amel LOVED book!Lestat; and Lestat was very codependent on Amel during his loneliness in the PL Trilogy (which, again, I think AMC's merging with the TotBT era in S5).
But one thing I'm STRONGLY unconvinced by is the notion that there's been any indication that Lestat was POSSESSED--esp. not in S1, before Akasha was even dead yet. šš
S3 still has 2 episodes left to change my mind--or not.
2) "Amelian Anger" & Possession Is Abuse Apologia
āļø That is a LIE. He DOES know "what possessed me that night," and he SAID why, to both Louis AND Claudia.
He was PISSED at Louis, he had been for YEARS, and he SNAPPED.
Lestans WANT Lestat to have ZERO agency; to be the most passive creature on God's green earth--He's possessed by Amel, so he has zero impulse control & nothing's his fault, "I COULD NOT PREVENT IT".
Meanwhile Lestat admitted that he CAN control himself--A MILLION times, even. šÆ His violent vampiric "nature" does NOT override his AGENCY, and the choices he deliberately makes to NOT do harm.
And apparently, even in the midst of a nervous breakdown, The Muses STOPPED him from doing anything violent to Larry.
And I even said I suspect the Muses are triggered BY Akasha waking.
The Lestans would rather focus on Lestat's hair being different and face not being bloody as "proof" that the Ep5 Fight's Courtyard Scene never happened, where Lestat DRAGGED LOUIS BY HIS EFFING JAWBONE & MOPPED the flagstones with his blood. Meanwhile it's CRICKETS when in S3 Lestat confirms that HE DID THAT ISH.
And he even admitted that he did it ON PURPOSE during his apology.
AMC shared some of the 3x5 script in the After Dark, showing a bunch of deleted lines, and even in the midst of Lestat's "Amelian Anger," he's busy APOLOGIZING as Akasha rants about ABUSE/IPV/DV/etc.
Lestat warned Claudia that "the vampires out there are vicious"--but Hell, the vampires right there in that house are vicious too! š Lestat was scared that Claudia was dragging herself & Louis to certain DEATH in Europe; but he couldn't COMMUNICATE that fear to them without being a total a-hole about it. And Claudia clocked his tea.
Louis DEEPLY empathized with Lestat--(funny how Lestans & so-called Loustaters refuse to empathize with LOUIS)--but CLAUDIA DGAF about Magnus, and thought Lestat was LYING the whole time. š Cuz she's VERY similar to Lestat, and she KNOWS him in dark ways that LOUIS refuses to acknowledge--she KNOWS Lestat stays lying thru his effing teeth--and S3's been confirming since 3x1 that she was RIGHT!
Claudia's parallels with LARRY prove that she was right about Lestat. He OFTEN gets triggered by things that have NOTHING to do with Amel, and everything to do with his hurt feelings, his trauma, his painful memories. In order to avoid confronting those troubling thoughts & turbulent emotions, Lestat lashes out at the nearest irritant/victim, unleashing his NASTY effing temper on people.
Oh, so was AMEL possessing Lestat in 3x5 when he went ballistic on Larry after being bombarded by painful memories of Louis & GabriellA abandoning him--Murder Night & Blood Marriage--after ge got triggered receiving Louis' phonecall asking for help after going radio silent for months ("Someone tried to murder me~!"/ "And it did not feel like 9 days~!"). GabriellA said it best: GROW UP! š
Was AMEL possessing Lestat in 3x1 when Larry stole his violin solo & refused to play the tambourines, and Lestat was finna KILL him right there on stage--before The Muses STOPPED him? š
As such, I am FAR less convinced that AMC is using Akasha's blood as some sort of shield/excuse for uncontrollable violent abusive behavior; as some sort of Berserk Juice that turns Lestat into frikkin Jekyll & Hyde--as Gothic Horror as that admittedly very much is, LOL. š I deeply suspect that AMC WANTS us to take it for granted that just because Lestat attributes his abusive behavior to "the metal sun in my veins" that that's the Objective Truth.
I think Lestat's carrying the "burden" of Akasha's Blood as the red herring of The Abuse Show about how generational trauma & abuse perpetuate; rather than abusive behavior as the red herring of The Vampire Show the way so many (Lestans) want it to be; so Lestat can be absolved of his wrongdoing. š Because if Lestat's possessed by Amel or her blood drives vampires crazy--then EVERY vampire is crazy and NONE of their actions are their own fault, since they ALL have her blood in them, just in different proportions--she's the MOTHER OF ALL VAMPIRES, DUH.
3) My Father's / Maker's Temper
IMO, the CHARACTERS are rationalizing Akasha's Blood as an excuse (specifically: Lestat himself), because they themselves don't know/understand the limits of Amel's influence over Akasha--let alone they themselves--and because this is both the Unreliable Narrator Show AND The Accountability Show.
I've been doing the My Maker's Temper miniseries specifically because of what Lestat said at that racist AF Trial:
In Pt1 I focused on the parallel b/t how in 3x2 Lioncest strung up the abusive Marquis de Lioncourt by his intestines; and how in 1x3 Louis strung up Alderman Fenwick by his intestines--because both the Lioncourts and the Alderman represent different iterations of "the wolves" Loustat each wanted to kill in order to try liberating themselves from the oppressive systems they'd suffered under.
In Pt2 the parallel is Lestat & Louis both lashing out at the hallucinations dogging their steps (Magnus for Lestat, and Lestat for Louis), that each represent the deep traumas they're carrying and struggling to confront/process.
In Pt3 the parallel is the deeply manipulative ways that both GabriellA and Lestat exert control over their paramours (Gabrielle over Lestat on the Devil's Road; and Lestat over Louis with Antoinette)--which Sam Reid himself described as "toxic lovebombing" MULTIPLE times. This parallel is arguably the most important, because this is a character trait/flaw Lestat possessed BEFORE he ever met TWMBK and drank Akasha's blood. It's something he inherited from his PARENTS; it's what THEY taught him, based on how THEY treated him and raised him and taught him how to behave in order to survive in that toxic AF family.
Like I said in my convo with @theartofdisobedience, the fandom's been acting like Lestat's temper has anything to do with Akasha/Amel, and not precisely what he said it was: the result of the horrible upbringing he had under his father the Marquis, where disobedience--or any mild inconvenience--was always met with insults, violence, and corporal punishment ("Break his legs!"); a trauma response his Maker Magnus; and the dogtrash relationship he has with his disgusting mother GabriellA. š¤·āāļø
š¬ 6Ā Ā š 2Ā Ā ā¤ļø 13Ā Ā·Ā 1) Lestat's S3 Characterization: "Man of Action"? š¤Øš¤Ā Ā·Ā @theartofdisobdedience LET'S TALK ABOUT IT! šÆš¤ Thank you for your r
That was part of Lestat before he ever became a vampire. He had a personality disorder & a bad temper BEFORE he ever drank Akasha's blood--or was his crashout when the phonograph record scratched on New Years 1900 not proof enough about precisely what Sam Reid said about Lestat's "volatile temper"? 𤨠THE BLOOD IS BAD HERE, but it doesn't have to be supernatural to still be PART of Lestat and who he is and what he needs to--and CAN!--CHANGE about himself.
4) Vampiric Bioessentialism: Nature vs Nurture
[DANIEL] How does your average Jo Mo vampire keep people like you in line? Unspoken threats?
[REAL RASHID (A Talamascan Opp, BTW)] The threat is always there. He could kill us both now. But he doesn't. They are peaceful beings.
[DANIEL] They drain and disappear us.
[REAL RASHID] They have a biological imperative that is in conflict with human morality. But what is that morality other than rules agreed upon?
[ARMAND] Thank you, Rashid. A romantic answer to your question.
Last but certainly not least, let's get into the "biological imperative" that compels vampires to kill...or not.
I recently had a lovely convo with @theuniverseisaholigram, and it darn near brought a tear to my eye--I promised that I'd put your ask in my Amel/Akasha meta, because you were COOKING! šÆšā¤ļø
All I have to say, I've already said in my Nature vs Nurture tag, but ESPECIALLY in the book analysis I did on Les Morts ont tous le Meme Peau (The Dead All Have the Same Skin) by Boris Vian, the book Louis read in 2x3. I BEEN said that Rolin (and ofc Anne Rice) DISAGREES that vampires are proof of bioessentialist assumptions about the amoral nature of evil controling people--human or vampire alike.
Anyone who's actually been paying attention to the larger messages Rolin Jones has been peppering across this whole effing show should've realized by now that he's been using a Gothic Horror story about vampires to talk VERY poignantly about IRL society; about the MONSTERS IN US, as humans with SOULS, who rationalize our misdeeds by attributing everything to "EVIL;" the evil nature in us because of our parents, or the Devil, or mental illness, or trauma, WTVR. And how that monster is constantly at war with THE DIVINE IN US--"THE GODS ARE US." In each of us is the capacity to do evil, AND good--if we so CHOOSE to learn & grow & change.
Louis PROVED that vampires can rise above the biological imperative to be sadistic killers--he was vegan for DECADES; and was met with nothing but severe ridicule & vicious mockery by Lestat, the Coven, and the Trial audience that lynched him for DARING to not CONFORM to draconian Old World dogmas about what a proper vampire must/mustn't do--how to do vampirism The Right Way or the highway. And he's not the only one; even on the Talamasca spinoff, Jasper described Vesel the Vampire, who swore off human blood to only drink the blood of chickens--in the 13th century!
Claudeleine PROVED that vampires can rise above their genetic origins--Claudia didn't even want Louis to be Madeleine's Maker, because she HATED the idea that Madz might inherit whatever effed up genes were clearly in Lestat's bloodline that made her & Louis so bad. But Madeleine was THE GOAT:
Lestat's Blood had NOTHING to do with whether Louis might ruin Madz by turning her intyo a vampire; passing Lestat';s bad genes down to Claudia's companion. They "found the X," and grew their own (savage) garden planting flowers over the corpses of the people they killed; turning something ugly into something beautiful. "Flowers growing from the dead. Cold things becoming warm." šā¤ļø
Sp yeah, if I'm wrong, and Akasha/Amel really has been out here puppetting TF outta Lestat this whole time, then it's dogtrash writing and I'll flame TF out of AMC every chance I get.
But because Rolin IS a sadistic gaslighter playing the long game, with plot twists every other season completely flipping the script on things we THINK we know & understand; I think it's premature AF to leap on Lestat talking about Akasha's blood making him do horrible things as some sort of gotcha! to "prove" that he was NEVER the "mayonniase B-movie brute big white abuser" y'all can't effing stomach in this hypocritical AF "Let Problematic Characters Be Problematic~!" fandom. šš
TL:DR: We shall see, but I'm unconvinced AF, fam š¤·āāļø
The effect of GabriellA's negative influence over Lestat has become increasingly obvious as of 3x4 & 3x5, as she's clearly manipulating & controlling TF out of him; as a parallel and also a foreshadowing of how Akasha will sink her claws into him in S4 (QotD) as her Champion/ Agent of Chaos as well.
But POSSESSION was NEVER a factor in book canon wrt how she controlled Lestat--let alone AMEL--and it is extraordinarily disingenuous of any so-called book reader to lie or twist the narrative to pretend that that was EVER the case.
YES, Akasha exerted her Dark Gifts over Lestat to bring him to heel (literally kidnapping him, a la Magnus); to prove to him that she could destroy him & all of his loved ones with ease if he refused to COMPLY. Because as Santiago said: "YOU ARE ALL COMPLICIT. REPUGNANT. AND APPALLING."
At the end of the day, book!Akasha had to use her WORDS to get Lestat to do what she wanted. She had to TALK him into AGREEING to play by her rules. She did not PUPPET him like a marionette on blood-red strings. NO, he was not with her consensually or of his own desire to destroy the world, but he DOES have Free Will, Agency, & Autonomy; and he said precisely why he worked with her in QotD: TO SURVIVE.
So at some point both AMC and the IWTVL fandom is going to have to allow Lestat to own up to his own "Monster Choices" and stop coddling TF out of him as if he never made a single bad decision in his life of his own volition--YES, INCLUDING THE EP5 FIGHT & THE DROP. š¤·āāļø
I think Lestat's carrying the "burden" of Akasha's Blood as the red herring of The Abuse Show about how generational trauma & abuse perpetuate; rather than abusive behavior as the red herring of The Vampire Show the way so many (Lestans) want it to be.
This is brilliant! I hope this what they're doing. You made me feel better about the future of the show.
Here's another article that seems to be pointing towards Amel possession (or maybe he just meant Akasha's blood? who knows):
This thing that actually became a harbor of safety, this music, it comes at this auspicious time when this thing happened to him and put something inside his body, just when he was starting to almost figure out how to live as a vampire,ā Jones says of this time with Akasha. āThis extra shit, this weird juice has come in, and it's gonna fundamentally take him to this day. He shapes this as the origins of āme as a musician.āĀ
I swear, dude is shootingĀ himself in theĀ footĀ with those interviews. But you're right, he IS a troll so everything that is coming out from his mouth should be taken with a grain of salt.
I love it when y'all send me articles to read; thanks!
Yes, the "weird juice" is what I've called Akasha's "super blood" since it's like literal vamp crack cocaine.
(The only thing more potent and physically devastating/overwhelming than drinking her blood is the blood of the Aliens we meet in the PL Trilogy--because the Aliens are from a similar genetic code as AMEL--a human who was abducted by the Aliens & given super juice steroid phlebotinum; and when he died his ghost fused with Atlantis' Luracastria--more phlebotinum--and that all fused in Akasha's body to create the first vampire. It's a preternaturally pseudoscientific screwup of epic proportions.) Imma link to a deep-dive I did on exactly what the different blood is like:
š¬ 0Ā Ā š 3Ā Ā ā¤ļø 26Ā Ā·Ā IWTV S2 Ep6 Musings - Dead Blood, a retcon(?)Ā Ā·Ā Plenty of posts state that vamps can't drink Dead Blood, and I just wanted
Akasha's blood gives vampires a permanent stat-boost, because it's the oldest & strongest vampire blood on the planet. It helps them heal quicker, and unlock all their latent Dark Gifts quicker. That's ALL. AMC would literally have to change the lore to act like Amel possesses vamps who drink her blood--and AMC would have to ERASE all the vampires who canonically DID drink her blood, too, to act like Lestat's suddenly oh-so-special/unique.
In the books it was NEVER that drinking her blood made you possessed by Amel--Marius drank her blood (A LOT), Pandora drank it, Eudoxia, Zenobia, Avicus; plus all of Akasha's own fledglings, inc. Enkil, Khayman, Rhoshamandes, and Seth. All of the very first vampires couldn't even hear each other's thoughts with the Mind Gift--they're ALL too close to AMEL--it's NOT just her. Amel's in ALL vampires, and especially in ALL the Ancients/First Brood/Queen's Blood.
Fun fact: The Mind Gift never worked on the oldest Ancients, cuz Amel/Akasha's blood pumps TOO LOUDLY in their ears, and drowns them out to each other; they're ALL too close to the Sacred Core.
Fun fact: In the books, Dr Fareed is closer to Akasha's blood than Lestat or even Armand is, since Dr Fareed's Maker Seth was turned by Akasha (AND is Akasha's biological son). Seth is one of THEE oldest vamps, and the Children of Satan had very specific rules against old AF Ancients like Seth making fledglings, cuz their blood is so daggone OLD & powerful; it's too close to Akasha. But over & over again we see that those rules are kinda bullcrap--Dr Fareed was FINE. Meanwhile book!Daniel was tweaking TF out after he was turned, and literally went insane--but Armand's only a fraction of a fraction of Seth's mega age; he's several generations removed from Akasha's blood.
Link to Music? š¤
This IGN article kinda irritated me though, cuz it's riddled with errors--not about the book lore, but what we actually saw on screen, and I'm baffled how they got so much wrong.
Marius told Lestat that Akasha liked music as soon as Lestat arrived, and told Lestat to learn the violin ASAP so she could KEEP listening to music--so how TF was it Lestat's music & piano that woke her up? 𤨠The article itself said Lestat was self-taught in the shrine; and WASN'T playing any music before he became the Keeper. š¤¦āāļø
So if anyone's music woke her up beforehand, it was NICKI and The Theatre des Vampires. šš¤£
And Akasha was constantly tip-tapping along to the phonograph records too--she'd BEEN awake. It was THE BLOOD he fed her that got her off that slab, when Marius specifically told him to ONLY feed her ashes so she wouldn't get "overwhelmed" with bloodlust and go crazy--Marius said it always took him years to get her to calm TF back down after having blood.
WHEN was Akasha "pacing" anywhere, when her legs were still stone?
Sam WHOMST? š¤Ø
I have A LOT to say about the journalistic coverage of S3, and not much of it is positive. š¤¦āāļø
TL:DR: We shall see?
āļøš¤ THIS.
Everything I've been saying in S3 thus far is cuz I'm tryna give AMC the benefit of the doubt.
I'm already expecting 3x6 to PMO, cuz the Lestan superfans wouldn't STFU about what was gonna happen in their rush to brag about the effing Train Scene being fake despite all the embargos specifically telling them to STFU--plus they also spoiled an important convo Loustat have; and something ghost!Claudia said. There wasn't even an embargo about AMEL, ffs! And pre-3x5 they tried to twist the narrative about The Drop, before getting checked in the lip when the rumors got out of control. Which lets you know precisely what kind of timing folks have been on since day one. šš
So I'm putting A LOT of Monopoly money on the 3x7 finale. Cuz 2x8 was a frikkin DOOZY--esp since Rolin already warned us that 3x7 was finna shake things up. š (I'm particularly keen to see the Purple Shirt.)
So I have trust issues. But I also think a lot of people have jumped to a lot of conclusions prematurely. The finale's gonna ultimately determine how I feel about S3, and where I ACTUALLY think Rolin's going.
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So apparently it was āliar liar, your skinās on fireā? Is that referencing Louisā suicide attempt?
@mcrmaidlesbian this same line in the lyrics was recently brought to my attention by @thatrichwitch, cuz when I broke down the NYC Concert version of Big Bad Wolf, the lyrics are different!
Big Bad Wolf - Louis' "Pants on Fire" vs "Skin's On Fire"
At the NYC concert, Lestat was far more childish & petty in the lyrics.
But in the officially released version, he's a lot meaner & nastier (+ the "cancerous jackal" line). Pitching a fit cuz he got shot; meanwhile he's in the booth writing all these evil diss tracks about Louis, BFFR! š
So yes, Lestat's 100% mocking Louis' suicide attempt, when Louis burned in the sun.
IMO it's not as bad as Daniel's racist AF boomer arse calling Louis a "bucket of Louisiana fried chicken," but it's definitely up there. š¬ BOTH of those dudes oughtta get run over by a speeding train.
And why it's SO hypocritically preposterous for Lestat to walk around clutching his pearls acting like he'd NEVER mock/threaten Claudia with rape, just cuz he has trauma as a rape victim too, when he's BEEN CONSTANTLY mocking people's trauma! He's disrespectful AF!
He has trauma from watching the girls burn at the Witches Place, but that didn't stop him from forcing Claudia to watch Charlie burn--then MOCKED how traumatized she was for killing her first love--when LESTAT is still traumatized from the death of his first love Nicki!
He has trauma from watching Nicki/Claudia burn alive, but him running into the sun to record BBW is played for LAUGHS--before he SCRAPS the entire song when he rerecords the album! So he did it for NOTHING--no wonder Larry walked out & quit, pissed AF that Lestat was throwing away all their hard work--after Lestat kept making him do darn near 100 takes of BBW in the first place!
And ANOTHER thing! What ticks me off about it is that even though Lestat ran out into the sun & burned:
Lestat's privileged AF arse had no intention of actually dying by burning alive, he was just recording the song, and ran back inside whenever ish got TOO REAL for him. But Louis & Claudia's deaths were FULLY intended. Louis would've died if Armand hadn't dragged him back inside. And no one saved Claudia at all.
Lestat's privileged AF arse has tHe BlOod Of AKasHa In hiM--so either he's been lying/hyping TF out of of his powers acting like fire/sun can't kill him (2x8, 3x3) cuz AMC's changed the lore and he doesn't have nearly enough of her blood to keep him sunproof; OR he IS more resilient to burning than other vampires, so him burning doesn't really amount to EFF ALL cuz he wasn't laid up bedridden in pain like Louis was, and he healed mega quick anyway--when it took Louis AGES to heal--and even Jasper was still semi-burned even after drinking 600yo Ancient blood to heal in under 24hrs (I effing HATE that AMC made Akasha's skin cracked & burned, but MARIUS is fully healed with ZERO burns this stupid show effed up the lore this makes ZERO effing sense)
Lestat said only recorded the songs for 4 months, so it took less time than that to fully recover from his burns--and he only left the studio ONCE to help Louis with Regina, so WHAT blood was he drinking that time to heal? š¤ØHe said he'd already fired Dr Fareed, & Dee Pharma, so WHERE was the Farm? Cuz it looks like he was just running on steam the whole time; and healed mega fast!
Either way, my point is that Lestat can't even empathize or relate to Louis' pain & suffering as a suicide survivor & burn victim, because Lestat was never in the same position to RESPECT what it meant for someone to burn TO DEATH. Despite how many people he saw burn to death (the witches, Nicki, Claudia--Antoinette(?)), that sure AF didn't stop him from mocking Louis' burns/suicide, and lollygagging around in the sun to sing a song he scrapped on the rerecorded album anyway.
TL;DR: I'm heated!
So yeah, AMC changing the lyrics is really telling about what a gigantic p.o.s. a-hole Lestat really was, is, and has always been, like I've been saying. š¤·āāļø Again: it's NOT surprising. He has a nasty mouth & a dangerous temper and he's abusive & disrespectful and wonders why people keep abandoning him & shooting him in the streets, LOL.
My FAVORITE trait of Louis in their dynamic is that Louis REFUSES to run to Lestat's side like he's at Lestat's beck & call 24/7. Leave his arse on read, Louis, eff him; YAAAS~! šš Someone needs to teach Lestat that he can't just go around treating people like trash and expecting them to stick around licking his wounds--Louis' not that bimbo Antoinette, and Louis' not Lestat's effing MOTHER (š¤¢š¤®)--and even GabriellA said deuces & bounced. āļø
HOWEVER.
I still hold that I like the overall message of the 2nd verse:
Because he's ADMITTING that he WANTS to hurt Louis. It's The Drop all over again. He's hurt that Louis/Daniel wrote the book, he's mad that Louis won't return his calls, he's mad that he's been abandoned--so like a child throwing a tantrum, he's cussing Louis clean TF out. Like I said: Lestat's not possessed; he's just PISSED. š¤·āāļø
But it's also speaking to the heart of Loustat's problems: Louis has LOW self-esteem, riddled with self-hatred, and it held them back as a couple cuz Lestat had ZERO idea how to help Louis or to properly respond to Louis' depression & suicidal ideations & starvation/diet other than cussing him out & insulting him over & over; making Louis feel even worse about himself cuz he thought Louis was rejecting HIM.
So that verse is powerful, even though it's steeped in some truly insensitive AF things.
So yeah, I'm mad at him, I'm disgusted--but I'm not surprised.
But it's also neverLoustatover, either. āļøš¤
Cuz Loustat NEEDS to clear the frikkin air, and get everything off their chests once & for all; the good, the bad, and the ugly. I hate seeing it, cuz it IS ugly. But the real question is:
How does Loustat move PAST all this hateful nasty ugliness between them?
How does Lestat EARN Louis' forgiveness, and PROVE that he's "worthy of Louis' love", like Claudia said? How does Lestat prove that he's changed? Or will there be yet another spin in the coin op dryer, Lestat repeating past mistakes over & over; Louis just rolling over disassociating & taking Lestat's bullcrap without a drop of dignity or self respect?
Contrary to popular (braindead) opinion, IWTVL is 100% The Loustat Show. Rolin Jones explained a million times that he wants to put Loustat through their paces, before they eventually get back together--not IMMEDIATELY get back together. They're gonna smash into each other and drift apart like meteors. In the books they're not officially back together until midway through the final PL Trilogy! This is gonna take TIME. And I already warned that Lestat gets WORSE before he gets better--he said some outrageous stuff about Louis in the books, before Memnoch dragged his arse to Hell for being a huge p.o.s. to everyone he ever met--Claudia, Louis, & David included.
So I'm seated. This is messy and effed up, but I'm a sucker for enemies-to-lovers tropes, so this is crack cocaine to me. š¤·āāļøš