I'll be the magic you won't ever see

Uh, while my inbox overflows, I'm going to continue posting little fictional guys, ok? Ok.

Gondor Week day 3: Rangers of Ithilien, nature.

I think Legolas' restoration of Ithilien would heal parts of Faramir that he hadn't realized had been hurt. During the war he was so deep in protecting Gondor's borders that he had no time to mourn the degradation of the land, and he never realized how deep a wound it was until he started seeing it come back to life.

Also I thiiiink this is the first time I've drawn these two on their own together? They'd be friends. Like Legolas and Boromir are comrades and provoke the shit out of each other for fun, but Faramir connects with Legolas on a more personal level, and given the rebuilding/resettling of Ithilien by both Gondorians and Silvans, they'd develop one of the only friendships in this messy group that isn't founded on shared trauma.

Despite impossible schedules and emotional fatigue, some friends continue returning. They send memes during meetings. They remember your important dates. They call you out-of-the-blue. Not because it is convenient. But because somewhere, beneath all the exhaustion adulthood imposes, they still consider your inner life important. Sometimes it is simply the stubborn decision to keep returning to people despite the world constantly training you to prioritise everything else.

Okay posting my thoughts on this before we go on to episode 5. I have seen bits and pieces of this floating around for years but it was this line that basically convinced me...

As much as I want to take the "It was love" explanation at face value, I do not believe it for a second. I did not believe it when it was Armand giving it to Louis about the coven "betrayal" and I do not believe it now either.

You want to tell me that the vampire Armand, control freak that he is, the most powerful vampire when it comes to the mind gift, who goes in and out of people's heads like he is reading the newspaper. The one that does not believe in boundaries, who stalked Daniel for four years, who erased Louis's memories who knows how many times. Mister Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss, You are telling me that he would NOT go into Daniel's mind?

It does not matter how you look at it, it doesn't make sense!

He has Mr. Molloy, investigative journalist, in his home and interviewing his companion, and he has a couple of HUGE secrets that could blow their relationship up if found out, and he doesn't live INSIDE Daniel's mind?

And on the other hand, he has Daniel, his beautiful boy, his beloved, in his house, within his reach for the first time in who knows how long and he doesn't live INSIDE Daniel's mind?

It makes no sense.

And yet he does not go into Daniel's mind at all during his interview in Dubai. Think about it, every time it happens it is Louis who is meddling or ruminating , not Armand, never Armand.

Again: It. Makes. No. Sense.

Unless… he cannot get into his mind or at least he finds it very difficult to do so.

It has all but been confirmed that Devil's Minion relationship happened in some way in the past. So it was love, there was love, and there were blood exchanges over years and years.

And slowly, as more and more blood was exchanged, the veil of silence that falls over makers and fledglings fell or at least half formed between Armand and Daniel. It WAS love, their love and their blood exchanges that stopped Armand from entering Daniel's head

Now, that would explain so much about their dynamic during seasons one and two. Armand disguises himself as Rashid so he can spy on Daniel because he cannot get into his mind. He sends real Rashid with Daniel when he leaves the apartment because he cannot get into his mind.

He does not see Daniel regaining his memories of San Francisco, he cannot adjust Daniel the way he does Louis after he is found out (you cannot tell me that Louis' reaction the next episode is not a mind wipe… come on) he does not follow his scheme with the Talamasca. He does not see it coming because he can't see it coming.

THEM. TOGETHER IN ONE FRAME.

Let alone drag said human all across the world based on every tiny impulse that ever crosses his mind

I mean sure, Daniel is snarky and crotchety and loves an argument but he never had any presumptions of trying to force Armand to do anything...

Ah. Except, of course, the only thing they consistently viciously fought about

And A big part of The Steps (disclaimer: can be reinterpreted and used atheistically but were invented from a religious perspective) is giving yourself over to God and making peace with the idea that you don’t have power over your life, God does, and God will purify your soul and forgive your sins when you follow this Addiction Rulebook yada yada.

It’s a trauma thing and it’s an Armand-ism, the way that he is perpetually unable to just Exist and Figure it out As He Goes. He NEEDS this structure that can tell him what to do and how to live and keep him stuck together with glue so that he doesn’t fall apart. But it’s also very very autistic, this inability to navigate nuanced, deeply social, deeply human conflicts and situations outside of a routine, or a structure, or a This is How You Do This Step by Step pamphlet.

And god, Armand is so heartbreaking in this episode you just feel for him so much 😭. He’s fumbling around stuttering like a child and of course it’s not working. Of course the formulaic neat-little-bow 12 steps approach is not vast enough to amend the kind of shit Armand’s done and the history he has with these people. But the heartbreaking part is he really genuinely is being sincere. He really is trying to be good, he’s just so so unable to connect with people in the fundamental common ways that social interaction is built on.

His apology notes are written like ChatGPT or some weird overly formal archaic textbook summary of his history, and he reads his own words from the “deepest regions of his soul” sounding like a phone operator unconfidently rehearsing the side effects of a bowel softener. He’s staring at the page with his hand shaking without a whiff of earnestness on his flat placid face, and I can’t blame lestat or Daniel at all for laughing in his face and calling bullshit. But I understand him I really do and god it’s sad.

I feel like such a big part of the disconnect with that part of the fandom that theorizes every single thing Armand does and says, regardless of logic or characterization or plot, is some sort of deeply contrived elaborate evil lie or scheme is because they fail to understand that Armand is just very legitimately awkward 💀. Like yes he is dangerous, yes he is powerful, yes he is very old, but this does not somehow contradict the idea that he is genuinely just awkward and not that clever and not great at communicating like a person.

'Which version of events is more truthful?' - boring question. Sorry but after episode 3 especially, I don't care.

'What does each version of events tell you about both the characters involved, and the narrator telling the story?' - YES PLEASE!

Does Louis fly? I don't know! But I find it fascinating that Lestat believes he can while Louis said he can't.

Did Louis actually read those pages from Claudia's diary before he killed Bruce? I don't know! But I find it unsettling and heartbeaking that Lestat thinks he did...and that Lestat's own narration of his ptsd flashback to Magnus assaulting him, included drawing direct parallels to Bruce sexually assaulting Claudia.

Evil? Absolutely. Mastermind? Not even close.

Every single discrepancy in Lestat or Louis’ stories being pinned on Armand is just bad analysis because you already have more than enough proof that he doesn’t plan that far ahead. He is a deeply impulsive person.

There’s no elaborate narrative constructed by him. No big evil plan. Louis put forward the idea that he saved him after the trial and Armand just rolled with it. Everything he did after that was maintenance and damage control. This isn’t subtext. It’s in the show.

The way he moved was effortless, feline-like. He had such an elegance about him. A perpetual seduction, which was juxtaposed by big, shining doe eyes. Somehow, despite everything, there was an innocence behind it all. A frightened child buried deep beneath the horror and the staggering, undeniable beauty. A devastating fragility.

What an absolute bastard.

Now here is a breakdown of every single element of his outfit—

Literally everyone who read the book: