Louis de pointe du lac is such a fascinating character. he pulls selfish, abusive bullshit just like every other vampire on the show, but his motivations for those actions are different from everyone else around him in subtle, brilliant ways. louis has clung to humanity by his fingernails since the beginning, attempting to refuse to allow vampirism to take away his humanity in the way that other vampires around him are so apt to do, even as he grows more and more into his vampiric nature and he feels the pull of that power. but the truth can’t be denied that, as much as louis craves a connection to humanity, he ISN’T human with a human soul any longer. and so he repeatedly THINKS that he is helping others when, in reality, he ends up with warped approximations of human acts of service/ love that have devestating repercussions: turning claudia (he thought he was saving her), paying regina (he thinks he is saving her), ordering armand not to harm daniel (but then he leaves daniel alone and daniel is turned because of it). lestat’s asshole tendencies may be due to his lack of connection to humanity, but louis’ are a direct result of his obsession with remaining connected— a battle that he’ll never ever win because he is no longer human.
i also think that louis’ famous confession speech from the pilot has a huge impact on his warped conflation of helping others with “saving” them; he admits in that scene that: “I take daughters with no homes and I put 'em out on the street, Lord, and I lie to myself sayin' I'm givin' 'em roof and food and dollar bills in they pocket, but I look in the mirror, I know what I am. The big man in the big house, stuffin' cotton in my ear so I can't hear their cries.”
and it’s ALMOST a great moment of revelation— he confronts the fact that he’s been taking advantage of women for years, and i personally believe that he wanted to do something about it (proven by the status he gives Bricks in the following episode). BUT immediately following that revelation, louis is turned into a vampire, thus forever warping his ability to process human conflicts and make amends the way a human being should. and so for the rest of his vampiric existence, he is caught between the human and vampire versions of himself: the human side wants to help others and thinks that helping them will save them and absolve him of his own guilt, but his vampiric side ensures that the help he gives is uncanny, often unwanted, and overall harmful. there are no other vampires like him: he’s too human for the vampire world, and too vampiric for the human world.
the regina plotline is so fucked up and makes my skin crawl with every scene and i HOPE AND PRAY this woman ends up okay. but i think the situation is so much more nuanced than just “louis is being selfish.” he absolutely IS being selfish and creepy. but i don’t think he knows that; i think LOUIS believes he is genuinely helping somebody. and it rubs me the wrong way when people simultaneously condemn lestat for things like dropping louis/cheating/employing outright racism/essentially keeping louclaudia prisoner BUT ALSO affectionately dub him the Brat Prince and label him an iconic, messy bitch, but when Louis’ actions are (rightfully) condemned, he never receives the empathy that lestat does.
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