This is a bit of an unhinged rambling, but Iāve been thinking.
I find it interesting that a common complaint of TVC is that, as the books went on, Louis was essentially forgotten and Lestat functionally became the new main character seemingly out of nowhere considering his (still substantial) presence in only the beginning half of the first book.
The interesting thing is though, at least to me, is that this kinda makes sense if you know anything at all about Anne Rice herself. I think itās pretty common knowledge that IWTV was, in part, a response and coping mechanism for the death of Michelle Rice, Anneās daughter. As she was in a deeply depressive state, Anne connected with Louis as the protagonist, imbuing his character with her sorrow and misery. At the time, it was a way to work through her grief, but, as she healed and the years passed, Anne began to stop relating to Louis as a character, even beginning to view him as a reminder of the dark place she was in during his conception.
Anne had initially said that Lestat had been inspired by her husband, Stan Rice; though some time between IWTVās release (1976) and TVLās release (1985) almost a full decade later, Lestat had become more relatable to Anne, and sort of aspirational in a way.
Anne had stated that she felt like Lestat was a lot like her, but that, he could be uninhibited, and do things Anne herself couldnāt even dream of doing; and that, no matter what horrors or sadness Lestat faced, he could always bounce back and be jovial in the face of tragedy given enough time.
In this way, you could almost make the argument that Anne is a bit like Gabrielle, in the way that she created Lestat, and lives vicariously through him, as he is a spirited (and later immortal) young man who can do things both women canāt. Of course this idea is dead on arrival considering Anne reportedly didnāt like Gabrielle (ignoring the fact that Gabrielleās gender things are a very obvious parallel to Anneās gender things, but thatās a whole other post). Yet, I still think Gabrielleās words to Lestat encapsulate how Anne herself seemed to feel about him.
āYou are the man in meā, Gabrielle tells Lestat, and it seems like Anne felt similarly about the character.
Many fans of TVC tend to also criticize the later books, which DID admittedly go off the rails a bit. It just so happens however, that these specific books āfrom what Iāve seen, the least liked tend to be Memnoch, Merrick, and Canticleā roughly line up with tumultuous periods of Anneās own life. The death of Stan Rice, her return to faith, her re-denouncement of faith; all affected her writing, and how she wrote Lestat.
I think itās fair to say that a good part of Lestatās notoriously histrionic personality is due to real life events that deeply affected Rice herself.
In a way, I think itās interesting that (to me it seems), Anne would drag Lestat, the character she loved and related to and wished to be; with her through her many ups and downs, to inspire herself, because Lestat would always be able to rise from his lowest lows better than ever, even if she might have felt she couldnāt.
