Romeo! He's barely... Harlequin?
One of the funniest things to me about Armand portraying Lestat as Harlequin in the episode 0203 flashback, and Lestat later vehemently refuting it, is not so much that it is an insult (Lestat was always Lelio, and Armand knows it) and a hilarious one at that (portraying Lestat as the 'clown' character, as a buffoon). No what gets me every time is the irony of it being Harlequin, who aside from being perhaps the best known (and well loved!) character of the commedia dell'arte tradition, is also the ONE character Armand seems to mirror the most himself.
Hear me out Anne Rice in not subtle in the books about the similarities between Lestat and Lelio, both the aristocratic devilishly handsome young lovers archetype, who falls in love easily and desperately. It is perfect, so much so it becomes a major theme in The Vampire Lestat (Lelio Rising) And while this is the most important parallel, it seems to me a waste to not apply this as a lens from which to explore other characters and their dynamics in the Vampire Chronicles and the TV show, especially given the sheer influence of Commedia on the literary world at large - Shakespeare anyone?
I might explore others at a different point, but first back to Armand as Harlequin: Harlequin, or Arlecchino, as he is known in the Italian tradition, like the rest of the character gallery of Commedia, has undergone a lot of change throughout the years, and there is not one single iteration which is the 'true' form of Harlequin. However, he is perhaps the one character's whose role in the plays shifted the most. Though his exact origins are contested, he is often connected to medieval devil and demon imagery (Arlichino from Dante's Inferno or the Hellequin stock character in French Passion Plays, who lure the souls of the damned into Hell). In early Commedia, he is then conceived of as a poor man out of Bergamo, who finds himself in Venice in the service of a vecchi (wealthy older men, Masters) often Pantalone. Importantly this Harlequin is an immigrant and an outsider, who does not have the literacy and refinement of the aristocratic vecchi or inamorati - and he othered and looked down upon because of it. In these iterations, he is a zanni character (servant/clown archetype), whose main role is that of a comedic side character, whose involvement may impede or facilitate the plotting of the young lovers (inamorati archetypes) or the vecchi but often by sheer accident or at least without skillful plotting of his own. He is defined by his hunger and has a fair share of his own amorous pursuits. In later traditions, however, it is Harlequin who takes center stage and becomes a romantic hero in his own right (e.g. in the harlequinades of British Pantomine and other pantomine traditions, like the Danish. In Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen there is still a pantomine theatre, where the tradition is being kept alive and well!). Here he is much more refined and cunning than in his zanni era - and more often than not wins the heart of his beloved.
Does any of this remind you of anyone? As this is already turning out to be ridiculously long rant, I will stick to the highlights:
Armand is an immigrant to the city of Venice, where he is the devoted (and innocent) servant to his Master
Armand also has a dark past with the Children of Darkness, whose rituals and devil antics are reminiscent of the stories of the Wild Hunt (French Hellequin)
Armand has become a fan-favourite so much so that even Anne Rice herself had to bring him back to life and give him his very own book.
Originally a side-character in Interview with the Vampire, Armand has become integral to both book and show canon, and his antics does indeed derail the romantic pursuits of the main characters on more than one occasion (for better or worse)
I'd argue that Armand is a romantic hero, with romantic plots and story archs that don't involve Louis or Lestat
He goes from being somewhat sheltered and ignorant of the modern world (from what we are told!) when Lestat 'liberates' him from under the catacombs of Paris, to becoming one of the vampires most involved with the modern age and with humans
And perhaps the biggest parallel of the all - the theme of hunger. Trying to pin down Armand (much like Harlequin) as a character is notoriously difficult, but if there is one thing that encapsulates him, it must be hunger. He hungers for love, connection, belonging. He longs to be seen, to be known. He hungers for knowledge and for the understanding which has eluded him most of his long life.
