https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/783583189912485888/i-feel-like-im-going-crazy-because-i-keep-on
Okay, what arcs had been destroyed and what repercussions will this have on future arcs specifically by Rolin introducing Amel early?
Also you said her fate was not as inevitable in the book, is that because they aged her up and given her freedom (went to college and left for 7 years) and found love (w/madeleine) which book!claudia couldn’t do? What parts of the relationships did Rolin and Hannah chip that? Sorry, I’m not well versed on the books and I’m curious. Thank you for a detailed explanation.
Okay, nonny, this is gonna be long, and hopefully not too rambly :)
The Amel arc has more or less been confirmed by Sam already in this video 34:15 mark forward. I would advise to just listen to it.
In and by itself it is quite the genius move - bring in Amel early, therefore likely condense the two main destruction events of the vampire world into one (the “burnings” of Akasha and Amel in the books), and bring this element of the later books all the way back hooked into season one. Bring in reasons for some of the vampire’s behaviorisms, too.
It IS clever.
When I say “destroys arcs” then I mean that, by rebuilding the show from scratch in a way - shifting Lestat’s age, pulling some events forward, recentering relationships differently - he is ultimately changing those relationships - and the events that shape them - irrevocably.
They simply cannot work the way they do in the books.
Take for example Claudia’s turning, which I talked about here:
What do you think about the choice to change the circumstances around Claudia's turning from the book? Lestat doing it almost just to see wh
The very welcome(!) changes re Louis resulted in a myriad of little repercussions, which then resulted in very different circumstances for Claudia’s turning.
By having Amel rise to consciousness already - in whatever rudimentary form - they are setting up the “excuse” for Lestat already, an excuse and a reason, which will not be received well within this fandom, lol.
By using him already (I think! Analogous to the repercussions of the turning of Claudia and the changes they made!) they change the reasons for a lot of behaviorisms by Akasha and others. Again, it is clever! It solves a bit of the problem of why Akasha does what she does - why she chooses Lestat, too, and it expands the reason why she ultimately misjudges him, but at the same time it creates new problems.
In the books, Akasha kind of falls for Lestat’s brazen display of naive, rash masculinity which he displays in her shrine, and then in the music videos which he creates to provoke the other vampires.
She makes up an image of him in her mind, an image which does not quite fit.
“I love you because you are so perfectly what is wrong with all things male. Aggressive, full of hate and recklessness, and endlessly
eloquent excuses for violence-you are the essence of masculinity; and there is a gorgeous quality to such purity.”
Lestat is not full of hate though, on the contrary. Oh, he revels in violence - but then that is something ALL vampires do. They love the kill. But he only goes along with her in the first place because she threatens those he loves.
She misjudges him, and he turns against her, ultimately, despite her threats.
By making Lestat older, more jaded, and not as naive and rash they had to shift the reasons for her choosing him the same way as they had to shift the circumstances of Claudia’s turning.
Or will have to, I should say.
I’m not sure how they will play the rockstar arc. In the books, Lestat starts that whole thing to find the others, to find LOUIS. And to shield Louis.
I can see that stay the same, given the end of the second season.
But this Lestat… the show!Lestat - is so much more powerful. He has the cloud gift - another little repercussion: he does not need to fight off hordes of vampires at the concert, he can just… fly off. He has a strong mind gift, he has the fire gift, can manipulate matter (open the door by will) - why, if healed and powerful, would he not simply incinerate everyone threatening him?
What would make this Lestat go with Akasha? Can she just abduct him, like she does in the books?
I doubt that, actually.
I think this Lestat might go with her willingly, at first. I think this Lestat might be driven to align with her views, for a while, maybe through Amel.
Because, again, this is not “Anne’s Lestat” as Sam put it.
He is not young, naive, rash, impulsive, and still discovering his powers. He HAS those powers already, and has had them, for quite a while.
If this Lestat would want to fight Akasha off (while she did not want to incinerate him on the spot, granted), then there must be a reason for it.
Within the setting of this universe they created, they have to provide a logical reason for this character.
And it isn’t that Lestat is “filled with hate”… not really. But it could be, if that “hate”, that violence was Amel’s canonically violent awakening.
Lestat in the books is fascinated by and afraid of Akasha. He loves her and shies away from her, unable to fight her off in any kind of way really. And she forces him. By mind and spell gift, as well as her pure strength.
Granted, some of that might stay the same - but it cannot stay fully the same.
This Lestat will not be changed so much from his previous self he does not quite recognize himself anymore afterwards. This Lestat will not experience severe body dysmorphia in the books afterwards. This Lestat will not be afraid of his own powers.
This Lestat will not hate himself or his body afterwards.
This Lestat will not shy away from the others because of that.
This Lestat will not run from his relationship with Louis after the ordeal with Akasha.
This Lestat will not seek “a way out” the same way.
He will not try to kill himself over what has happened to him, because of these feelings. He will not try out the “mortal body” deluding himself he only wants to feel the sun again (after all we saw that his hand did not really burn when catching the rat, meaning he is quite sun-proof already). He will not try to convince himself he is the same evil Magnus was because of that.
No, THIS Lestat will likely do these things because of other reasons.
And these “other” reasons totally change the character, and the resulting relationship(s).
They change the upcoming “body thief” arc, because if they really pull in Amel as a reason for Akasha and Lestat’s driving violence, the mutual recognition of it too, then that changes the “why” as to why Lestat would want to escape his body. It changes the why for the why he does it all in the first place. It changes the why of his running from Louis.
Rolin has talked about agency a lot - the thing is though, in the books Lestat is often the victim. He is not so much that in the show. He cannot be, not really, due to the way they shifted things. And that is why Rolin had to bring in "more" agency for Louis, too, at least supposedly.
IF the Amel awakening is already happening, then whatever happened in the driveway in 1x05 and has been memory-edited (as we know now) will have to do with it. If it is, then Lestat’s reasons for reflecting after that, and the reasons for “murder night” have also shifted, rather severely. (Here, too, a lot of Claudia’s reasons in the books fall away, since she is older - there will be a revisit of murder night, likely next seasons (the writers have already confirmed that, ages ago), so we will still see what really happened, for now just remember that Claudia’s diary does not match what we saw, and the writers… have NOT used the reveals from the book “Merrick” yet (which is where Claudia’s diary comes from)).
Because THIS Lestat, IF we take Amel as awakening/there in the driveway scene, this Lestat will be scared and bewildered by what happened just the same as Louis was. This Lestat will be ashamed by what happened, yes - but he will also be bewildered.
That much cited “time out” Lestat got in the garbage dump will come with different meaning for him, the rejection part will be much more felt - that too, has been hinted at in episode 6 in the car scene, and then in the trial setup in season 2 already I think, with the insinuation that Lestat maybe… just maybe also came there to get revenge in some kind of fashion. Oh, we know already that the trial was scripted and that what we saw was not the truth there either, so it remains to be seen what they will make of it next season - but THIS Lestat, this Lestat came to Paris with a bitterness that his book counterpart likely did not carry.
His book counterpart came to Paris, knowing Armand, and afraid for both Louis and Claudia. And he went to Armand to more or less beg for their lives.
Lestat in the books understood why Claudia had to do what she did. A lot of people mis-cite that part of the books, claiming he “deserved to die” because Lestat was “abusing” them - which is in line with what season ONE claimed, I get it, but what he really says there is this:
“It was the crime that was to be my undoing: the creation with Louis and for Louis of Claudia, a stunningly beautiful vampire child. Her body wasn't six years old when I took her, and though she would have died if I hadn't done it (just as Louis would have died if I hadn't taken him also), this was a challenge to the gods for which Claudia and I would both pay.”
He knows what he did to her, locking her into that too small body, damning her to eternity as a “doll”.
Claudia in the show is no child though.
Not really. And definitely not anymore in season 2.
And that put the show into a difficult situation, because, as pointed out, show!Claudia… would not really have needed to die, not even by the vampire laws. Her behavior was carefully adult, her clothing and makup, too. And they had already established that she could just leave… so they had to bring in a reason why she would return, why she would feel the need to return. And they needed to bring in a reason why Lestat would (supposedly) not let her go.
They needed to bring in actual abuse, both domestic and sexual, setting up parallels for season 3 (and Lestat’s (upcoming) past), because the reasons of the books weren’t cutting it anymore for the changed settings. Now, others have talked a lot about all this, @virginiaisforvampires has, at length, so I won’t repeat all that here. Just another nod towards “Merrick” here, from which the writers took the diary pages and Louis’ attempted suicide so far - but not yet Claudia’s ghost, and the reveal of Claudia's hand in all of it.
Bringing in actual abuse (in the books Lestat and Louis fought ONCE, and on equal grounds(!)) and in the way they did though… would continue to bite them in the ass though, and I think they knew that.
Because book 2 forward, LESTAT is the main character, narrator of most of the chronicles. They always knew the switch was to come, and so they knew they would need to find a way to more or less annul what they did there - without (and here it gets really difficult, imho), without letting the black man stand there as a liar.
Now, it is canon that book!Louis DID lie. It’s literally stated in the books, and Jacob has also inferred that, in that video, in the end. Jacob has been quite blunt about it also, that Louis’ tale is a mixture of memories, deliberately and not-so-deliberately delivered scenes, and that Louis "presented Lestat as a monster.”
The show obviously went much farther than that, namely made Armand literally edit Louis’ mind, edit his memories - shift the blame to him (something I predicted would happen before s2 aired btw, and which made people real mad at me lol).
Book!Armand HAS influenced Louis as well, to turn Madeleine for example, and he put a “veil” over him, before they came for them. So the show going further is built on canon - but there, too, it is a “ramping up” of what was/is.
With them knowing Lestat would become main character and them knowing that they had to bring other reasons for “murder night” it is actually quite… logical that they would need to think of something to shift perception. Logical for them.
They already did so with the fight revisit in s2 - oh look, it’s actually Louis who was the aggressor, at least until the coffin room. Haha!!!
//sarcasm off.
I think it’s clear that that little reveal… mostly fell flat, because Lestat as the “white racist abuser” had been thoroughly established by then.
But I think they think that bringing in Amel will bring that final shift in perception, namely shift the “violence perception” away from Lestat.
I don’t think it will.
I think it will be hell in fandom when they try to do that. And I have stated before, and am stating it here once more, that I personally do not like this setup that I think they chose.
But I do think they think it will. I think that was one of the reasons for their plan to bring in Amel that early, and in this kind of manner.
By bringing in this (let’s call it) concept though they changed all the surrounding relationships, rather irrevocably.
Some of it is based on the settings change, and the therefore changed ages, and I DO appreciate that they thought about what that would mean for these characters.
But Louis and Lestat are built now on a power-imbalance, and NO MATTER the reason, there will always be the end of episode 5 now between them. ALWAYS. Their first flight, so very important for them in “Queen of the Damned” is now forever tainted as well!
Also, Book!Louis and Lestat were only a few years apart. Both were more or less “young vampires”. Not so in the show, no matter what will be now, Lestat and Louis will not have grown into it all together, the show jump-started them to the big discrepancy of the last books. To the acceptance that is, in the books, so very hard won.
Louis and Armand are much worse off as well - Armand sees Louis as a vessel for himself, and their parting is one in anger not numb and disillusioned neutrality. I seriously doubt we will see them in any kind of acceptance of each other in the show which we DID get in the books in the Trinity Gate era.
Lestat and Claudia are worse off, too - oh, there are enough clues in the show that Lestat did love Claudia, but it is clear I think that Claudia saw him more as her keeper, and not in a good sense - so far, at least, because there, too, the incoming reveals of the missing diary pages will play a rather big part though.
By focusing the show on the cycles of abuse - and I have no doubt whatsoever that they will continue to do so in the upcoming seasons and the relationships to come - they created pitfalls for themselves.
Because how can you root for these characters, right, how can you forgive them?
And they have stated that they have want(ed) to focus on that needed forgiveness....
Rolin and Hannah both said that it’s a “gothic romance” and “within the realms of his evil” as a defense for this chosen angle, cherry-picking at things that have their place in certain arcs to justify their ramping up the abuse and violence. And (I think) they think that a lot of it will be explained away with Amel.
But, again, the abuse and violence… the FOCUS on the abuse and violence… changes these characters and their relationships with each other. Irrevocably.
Don’t get me wrong here, abuse, violence and even sexual abuse and violence are parts of the books.
But a big part of the books is also the try at overcoming that - breaking the cycle of abuse (which Lestat does btw, and which Rolin annuls with the changes he made in setup and focus), and forgiving.
Louis, accepting his grief, and his depression, and his story. And that he chose this.
Lestat, accepting that he was forced into this, and is who he is. And that he wants it, despite not choosing it.
The show jump-started Louis at the end of season 2 to the end of “Prince Lestat” with that “I am the night” comment. They condensed the journey. Which does free Louis up, yes.
But - if they want to do “body thief” - why then would this Louis, who has/seems to have accepted who and what he is, reject Lestat? For example? Because book!Louis rejects Lestat in the “body thief” book because he does not want to condemn Lestat’s soul to their life (again) - and he does so, knowing losing Lestat will likely kill him.
All the changes they do in the show have ripple-effect repercussions for the arcs yet to come.
Who knows, maybe they’ll do “body thief” with Daniel (getting a new body), the possibility is definitely there. But then Jacob and Sam and Rolin have all talked about that book, and finding a “clever way” of doing it, and Jacob about how much he wants to do that scene with Sam.
And it will be reallllyyyy interesting what they will choose as “reason” for the rejection.
Because imho it will have to be a different one, now.
And Lestat will not have to withdraw after QotD and Akasha’s abduction either. Louis is already used to the power-imbalance, hell LESTAT is already used to the power-imbalance. He HAS all the powers already, so why would it frighten him, make him feel body-dysmorphia and suicidal??
Amel “choosing” Lestat makes Lestat the proverbial “prince” of the titular “Prince Lestat” book. There’s more to it, of course, but Rolin has already talked about this Lestat having traces of the prince in him.
The Lestat of the books though… manages to reach that status amongst his kind on his own, through what has happened, and how he dealt with it.
The Lestat of the show… will be hobbled/buffeted by Amel from the beginning, as well as the choices re abuse and violence. As such, the journey he takes, will be, by necessity, quite a different one, bodily and mentally.
And it won't be the same.
This show is an adaptation.
It does not need to follow the books word by word.
It does not need to be the same. Absolutely.
But by focusing on the cycles of abuse, and by introducing some rather important changes they have changed some core traits of the characters - and therefore their arcs, through the ripple effect adaptions that are needed because of them.
Claudia was old enough to live on her own, and had proven she could. Chosen solution: sexual violence and toxic overbearing domination and abuse.
Lestat is much older and jaded, much more experienced and much more powerful - and he needed to be killed but knowing he would take over the show at some point there would need to be a caveat. Chosen solution: Make it clear he was an abusive asshole, but leave a trap door for later.
Louis could not simply be a liar, or missing memories. Chosen solution: His mind had to be fucked up by someone else.
Ultimately, we will only be able to judge, and evaluate afterwards.
Afterwards, after all our seasons have hopefully run (fingers crossed), we will able to look back, look at the clues, and analyze whether our takes were correct.
Given my predictions for season 2... well. We'll see :)
And I cannot give you a definite prediction as to how the arcs will change, because it will heavily depend on how exactly they do them.
But if I am (even if partly only) correct re Amel and the upcoming Akasha arc - and again, I don’t WANT that, it’s just something I see coming - then there will be a lot of ripple effect repercussions incoming.
I do think the show can pull it off btw - but it will be very much a beast of its own by then.
The relationships will not be the same as in the books, and the reasons for some of the events won’t be either.
They cannot be.
