NGL I think part of the reason why so many of the IWTV show and book fans love Devil’s Minion is because the concept of a hot conventionally masculine dude getting loved, spoiled, seduced, thrown about like a toy and railed by a pretty boy to be a major mood.
It’s like Armand saw Daniel and decided he was going to honor his proudly Roman maker by going full blown “Veni, Vidi, Vici” on the kid like it was do or die (Daniel nearly dies though but he survives! *Perks of having an immortal husband. To me these two are the OG murder husbands of the Chronicles. The readers immediately marry them in the head as their thing feels more like a couple invested in keeping their marriage passionate and not kill each other. To me Daniel’s tuning was their vow renewal but Daniel became a vampire in training that night in Pompeii when they admit their feelings and Armand’s bones him in the bordello ruins (while Daniel’s hearing ghosts screaming in his head once Armand gives him that first hit of blood. This location (Pompeii was a “resort town” known for human trafficking/slavery especially of the sexual kind) seemed like foreshadowing of the terrors that is Armand’s past but this thing w/Daniel being the unofficial start to Armand taking full control of his happiness unrelated to that past)). Rice pretty much implied that Daniel ends up loopy from Armand’s occasional double depositing of his blood, Daniel drinks because it’s like pastry (and he’s got a sweet tooth) and Armand empties on him. There’s worse ways to go than being boned to death I guess and Daniel did handle it for 12 years while human. Say what you want but Daniel’s a trooper for surviving Armand’s horny teenager mode that long. Most of his toys don’t last and Daniel figured out that by running away he’d extend his lifetime warranty (and it was effective)).
Armand might be a despicable thespian at times but the man not only has impeccable taste in everything but he knows to indulge. I also love that Daniel doesn’t even question or challenge being treated like the world’s most expensive escort by the demon twink, he rolls with it and they both have a grand time for it. Daniel frequently reminds us he’s the “baby” here and that his daddy would give him the world so long as Daniel allows himself to be piped in the bathtubs. Not a bad trade off I say. Now that I think of it I imagine Daniel’s divo song would be Marilyn Monroe’s “Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy” and I could see it be their own cheeky joke as they paint the town red at night.
If the show cares to manage anything of this zany love affair I hope it’s all of it but at the very least their unusual dynamic of the romantic narrative being turned on its head with them. Plus the situational and physical humor bit to it as it’s part of the humor w/them. Rice frequently set their quips as it being humorous that Daniel’s physically the adult but he’s got to answer to a very demanding teenage husband that acts like he’s an adult man. I think the fact that Armand met Daniel and immediately decided that he would like to fuck him and his entire life for as long as they both should live really pulls at the heartstrings in people. It shouldn’t read as cute as it does and yet it does. Armand’s epic 4 year slow burn campaign of wooing, harassing, fornicating, and objectifying a hot man at least twice his weight, at least two heads taller than him and twice his age made me immediately love him and no longer see him as a villain as if I had all the wealth in the world that’s what I’d do with it. Just get a hot dude to consent to being fucked into insanity and maybe death. Turn him if he’s too fun to die. I think this is what Anne Rice felt when she wrote their affair too. It shouldn’t be comical but then when you learn of Armand’s story and look back into it feels like both guys are making fun of their visuals in the pecking order and taking back their power by doing the opposite. Daniel allows himself to be powerless to Armand (and gains protection, care, and attention no one in his personal life seems to have for him) and Armand is allowed to be as terrorizing as he wants to be because Daniel realizes that Armand needs the safe space to just be, no masks.
I took DM as Rice imagining if a woman could do the same and she channeled that energy/wish into Armand and Daniel’s affair. I think it’s one of those things you either have to be gay or a woman to understand or appreciate because so many fans only note the horror but forget the escapism. DM is a manic dream and the tale is beloved for it. Now that the show has expanded on Armand’s wishes by allowing Daniel to reach maturity (yes Armand really did plan on “growing” Daniel to maturity (but it’s also implied that he would turn Daniel once he was as old and healthy as he could go)), I hope they honor the fact that Armand seemed to love Daniel more with the years not less. I think in allowing Daniel to age he also hoped that when the Maker-Fledgling effect would root that Daniel would’ve had enough time to form an attachment to Armand to never let him go (which is what Seth did with Fareed). Imagine, Armand and Daniel in “retirement” in their Florida complexes…Daniel wearing a chacabana having a Cuba Libre playing dominoes with the Caribbeans in Miami discussing their homeland’s drama while Armand’s jamming to a salsa band or being distracted by flashy outfits the ladies are wearing. Armand feels like he’d know how to salsa, bachata and deploying his style sense to provide a good view when doing so. Maybe inviting a frustrated Dominican hottie with too tight pants to their abode. Or they’re scouring the local art galleries to patronize new artists. Armand playing Daniel’s CNA by giving him frequent bubble baths after devouring him. Daniel reminding us every so often that he’s baby and apple of Armand’s eye, shamelessly basking in his adoration and returning it back to him. They have their darkness and their love borders on dangerous sometimes but their addiction to each other is delightful.
There’s something so deliciously wholesome and hilarious about TV Daniel’s being the world’s oldest sugar baby to a tech and blender obsessed South Asian mannequin w/a kink problem who refuses to live the South Asian tradition of becoming a doctor/human butcher (controversial given what he does to Claudia in the books but yes). I wonder if Daniel ever brought the matter to Armand, like “Hey man, you ever thought of being a doctor? Surgeon? You would hardly be the lone whatever you are in the room these days. You could get paid to dissect people. You would be the dream as your skills will not be affected by age and you can do your specialty forever. Think about it”. Somehow I think it would be more Armand’s style to roleplay as the student to Daniel only to end up “schooling” Daniel. Yeah. That sounds about right. 🤣
God knows we need an escape these days and to me that’s what their partnership represents: Unabashed indulgence. Let them be mayhem. Thank you for reading my musings. As you can tell thinking of their shenanigans makes me happy.
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