#interview bubbles

"It's traumatic, but he doesn't want to show how traumatic it is. Daniel's way of dealing with fear is anger... and bowling. There's lots of bowling as well."

"Armand's pissed off. But also he's trying to figure out who he's pissed off with and why. He knows he's a big cause of all that and what went wrong, but I think he's trying to figure things out without imploding."

Jacob: Oh yeah, Louis is struggling. It's hard because the bulk of Louis's story is under wraps. And I think that's good because, what we do with it is surprising. But you know when you find a thing, like you just started yoga, or something that can keep you grounded in some way, and you keep that consistent, and keep it measured and regulated, that's amazing. But I think that, to some extent--because the interview was only 10 or 11 days--he found all these things about himself, and come to these conclusions, he's almost deliriously decided that 'I'm One now, I've found the thing' and almost overdosed on hope. So I always thought of him like, he found a purpose, but some of the scaffolding underneath the purpose isn't like... all there. And he's kind of gone the wrong way about putting a neat bow on his story. And it gets really unhealthy. There's some really uncomfortable stuff this season. [And that's oddly very human. So many of us try to present that way, but in reality something is bubbling under that isn't perfect. But we don't always want to address that or show that] Yeah. I also don't want to put a damper on self improvement, but you do see it in life that, "I've done all these things to better myself, I've come to terms with myself." But they don't do the work to address how the other version of themselves may have affected other people whom they love. Some people I'm like, that person was trash that person was creating a bad energy in your life, but you have to check in on people too... that was something with Louis that like, he really hurt Lestat in the book. Human beings aren't neat, and that means vampires are definitely not neat.

Daniel is afraid and he deals with that by being angry

For Daniel, it went both ways (good and bad) and that'll be part of our story; is that becoming a vampire is not an easy path for Daniel. There's also Daniel's impulses. Just think about it; where we ended at the second season, there's still a lot of unanswered questions, and Daniel always wants answers. And this is gonna be a Lestat centered series of episodes, and Daniel focuses on Lestat. All the focus is on Lestat. Though all I can say is this; I'm not sitting on a couch anymore, sitting around asking some questions, I am moving around- [Rolin moves to interrupt, but Jacob talks first] Jacob: You keep saying "moving around" like you were like sitting on a couch opposite like... a bowl of pudding [Rolin cracking up] Eric: I'm not sitting on a couch anymore- Jacob: like things were happening, jeez- Eric: gazing into Jacob Anderson's beautiful eyes for hours on end- Jacob: {mocking} sitting on a couch in front of a bowl of Charisma Eric: listening to him go on and on- Rolin: this is Eric's long winded way of saying that he's going to be bowling. Eric: I'm bowling- I'm going to be bowling angry Sam: This is a scoop. That's the first time he's said that today.

Assad: First question; yeah. I think he went in there knowing he was going to do it. I think he fully intented to. Not because he wanted to, but because of his sense of obligation to his coven; to reassert his dominance or power... that was the way it was.

He's enthralled and enraptured by Louis at this point, definitely for sure, but he hasn't really been with him for that long, and doesn't know him really in that sense. And this coven... who knows how he feels about them truly but, they have been there for him and whether he likes it or not, those centuries of lore and following this kind of lifestyle that they've built...

He has this sense of obligation. He's good at following rules And he kind of needs those rules to give him purpose in life. That's why he fell in with the Children of Darkness for so long, but before that we've seen the life he had with Marius as well. There were strict rules and purpose to it, and there was love--albeit toxic, and weird, and insane, and fucked up--but it gave him a purpose. And after it all got crumbled down that he was sort've ruined and then he built up again with this other sense of purpose with the Children of Darkness, and that got crumbled, and then he built this new sense of purpose; and so those structures are so important to him--he feels.

And I think at this point in time when Santiago sort've gives him the ultimatum at getting rid of [Louis], he knows that's what he has to do. And he goes in with that express intention of doing it. And it's Louis's power-- it's Louis's hold over him that stops him at the last minute.

Which I think if Armand never intended to do it, it would take away Louis's power over him.

I think in that moment when [Louis] asks about Claudia, and he-- I think for me, it's the moment where he says "look out for her;" I think that shifts everything.

So I had an anon ask about Armand's death drive months ago, and I basically say the same things that Assad does in this interview. Which is incredibly satisfying to me, but especially in the ways that Armand still acts as a coming of age story.

Armand is so severely traumatized, his developmental stages were interrupted with so many horrors it is staggering to think about for too long, so he is stuck in that teenage-like "trying to find himself" part of life. Who is he, what is he here for? This is what functions as his religious and existential conflict in the books, and I love that it is clearly on Assad's mind as he is performing and discussing Armand's character.

I mean, overwhelmingly, this is why we love Devil's Minion, because Daniel does love those parts of him so so so much. It's why a restrained Armand feels so strange in some characterizations of DM, to me at least.

Jotting... that... down...

But outside of what I highlighted, YES ARMAND IS AFRAID OF DEATH. He just is looking for reasons to keep going, but he will keep looking for those reasons because he is too afraid to put his death in his own hands.

Devastating and also what I have been saying for a whole year, thank you Assad.

I love the way Assad frames this. "Armand is attracted to strength and power, and anyone who seems to navigate the world in a more relaxed way..." This is what would potentially make Daniel fascinating, as "relaxed in the face of life and death" is Daniel's WHOLE thing, but also in general how it connects to what Armand thinks is love. All of this comes back to Marius, of course.

Also "That's Louis's opinion, that's what Louis thinks." ASSAD YOU TROLL. I love him immensely, I wouldn't change him for the world.

And as I have been saying since the beginning of my fandom presence, this story is about the exchange of love/hurt and the fact that Armand is a character who HAS abused Daniel, and Daniel is a character who also abuses his position is going to create the kind of conflict that will have them unable to settle into a "happily ever after" and that is GOOD. THAT IS OKAY.

It is a much better story to be able to examine the edges where they are broken and how they stab into each other, and see how they love each other for that pain, but cannot live with it forever. It makes for good story making, tension, angst, whump, and all the other things.

Plus it means that these vampires will always be orbiting each other, even if they aren't settling into the eternal arms of each other.