All I Ever Wanted Was to Study

She/Her. 30s. Biromantic, demisexual, genderfluid. I love foxes and Jaina Proudmoore. Vampire freak and eternal Tolkien nerd.

[hotjewishmess]

So I have not really been talking about this season because I just have not really been enjoying it. However with this last episode I think it’s really important to stress considering the intent of the writers.

In my mind we have gone so far past the point of thinking about why characters act a certain way in universe and instead need to start questioning why characters have been written they way they were.

All this to say, discord about the fictional aspects of the show are way less important right now then real considerations of the writing and authorial intent.

[irenthel]

Insane to see people using the term “tenderqueer” negatively in all earnest, like it’s practically shorthand for “I’m a huge piece of shit”

[crowleysfall]

those autism jokes were some bullshit too rolin jones do you know you’re going to hell

[samtf]

reblog to give a strawberry to the person you reblogged this from

[specialagentartemis]

Character has a PhD: they’re really smart and knowledgable about their field!

Character has 2 PhDs: either they did a dual degree program and are braggy about it, had a life-changing experience after their first degree and pivoted their whole career, or they find the structure of being a PhD student, despite all its stress, more comfortable and familiar than the stress of finding a Real Job and have a very indulgent advisor.

Character has 3 PhDs: who keeps accepting them to PhD programs. Either this person needs psychological help or their department needs to be investigated for its academic standards. Probably both

Character has 4+ PhDs: if they aren’t an undercover vampire or something then no they don’t lol

[oceancrashing]

I want to say something to you. I don't need to hear anything back, I just need you to hear me. Hard words, then soft words. The hard. Our life is shit. It's been shit. It is shit. It's gonna be shit again. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. No one's watching. No one cares. A shit life beats no life. Where we're going now, we can't be running away again. Doesn't mean we forget what we saw, what she did in front of us. I see you going that way, I'm gonna pull you back. I don't need that from you. As long as you walk the earth, I'll never taste the fire. You understand me? We're going to find others like us. And if it ain't here, 'cause life is shit, or I fuck it up again, or you fuck it up, we'll go to the next place. We can't be the only good ones out there. Soft words. If you were the last vampire on Earth… it would be enough. You and me. Me and you. You and me. Me and you. You and me. Okay. Okay.

Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac and Delainey Hayles as Claudia in Interview with the Vampire season 2 episode 1 "What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned?" (2024) dir. Craig Zisk

[snequanimity]

im not gonna be mad at anyone for liking a tv show but it does feel disturbing to see ppl complain about critique when so much of that critique has been about racism of content (how the characters get used in the show) and racism of intent (how far the writers have gone to centre a white lead/pander to a white audience at the expense of everything and everyone else)

im genuinely uncomfortable being around ppl who cant admit that there is an actual problem here and that its not fandom silliness. im not saying anyone has to boycott the show or stop talking about it. but this isnt something to be sneery and dismissive about

[yaoiblackmold]

Adapting The Vampire Lestat book yet Armand is almost nowhere to be seen in the show despite having an entire chapter dedicated to him and being mentioned 100+ times

[yaoiblackmold]

Rolin Jones is such a fake book reader

(Source)

[hikarielizabethbloom]

I know that you're all excited about the dork lord—I am as well—but I screamed at Gandalf's first look!!!

And I'm patiently waiting for a glimpse of Disa, Arondir, Kemen, Theo and Eärien.

[elswing]

First look at Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3

via Empire Magazine

[troprewatch]

Pre-Season Three Rewatch

Who’s excited for Season Three coming November 11th?! (115 days away but who’s counting?)

We’d like to invite you to another TROP Rewatch, starting this Friday, July 24th, in the lead up to season three. Feel free to use the Reforged prompts listed on our blog to create as you watch, or just follow along and enjoy getting back into the world of Middle Earth.

[armandgoth]

it is that deep. the mischaracterisation of armand is that deep. i wish for everyone to realise what great disservice the writers have done to his character with their racist storytelling. armand has been described in the show as something repulsive, something without a presence, a fuck cloud and a rotten thing, something boring to death and insipid, something that cannot be loved and something that provokes a reaction of strong disgust in many other characters; lestat was genuinely stunned that louis deemed armand a companion-material. let that sink in.

some will try to argue that all those remarks are only targeted at his evil deeds. unfortauntely that is not true. in the books, however scared or repulsed lestat was by some of armand's actions, he still found him beautiful. he still described him with very reverent language. that was the core of it: everyone desired armand. that was why he suffered so much. everyone treated him like a pretty conquest. at the beginning of tva david talbot literally out of the blue started playing with his hair and sniffing them. it was the most dehumanising desire, that always showed the truth: he was too beautiful for this world.

this is how marius described armand in blood and gold: "And there I saw beauty, beauty which has always been my downfall, beauty in a new and celestial form. Heaven had cast down upon this stone floor an abandoned angel, of auburn curls and perfectly formed limbs, of fair and mysterious face. His soft reddish hair was loose and tangled. His flesh was pale and the bones of his face only faintly sharpened by his Slavic blood."

"This was a boy, as I had said, and he had a head of long curly hair. But his face was shining white, and perfect, the countenance of a god it seemed, a Cupid out of Caravaggio, seductive yet ethereal, with auburn hair and dark brown eyes."

more quotes from books here:

so on what grounds is armand getting so much verbal humiliation in the show? all i see is that the writers for the third time in a row focused on his 'weird' side, his 'gremlin' side, his 'evil and crazy' side, while... completely ditching the rest of the picture. why is it that no one called him beautiful yet? why is he being so perpetually degraded, so belittled and debased verbally? because to me it screams fucking racism, it screams to me all those writers sitting and scribbling their notes about armand and never once admitting to themselves that assad is beautiful, that this bangladeshi man could be described in such a way, that he could actually be considered that. his screentime got radically reduced this season, they literally cut parts of tvl where his character was of paramount importance and any time armand was on screen, we were just given the following messages: he's weird!! he's crazy!! he's evil!! he's desperate!! while completely disregarding the rest. it is a deeply rooted, unconscious racism that genuinely terrifies and saddens me and i truly have no idea how these scripts made it air.

[hailturinturambar]

Sauron & Gandalf for EMPIRE MAGAZINE.

[erulasse23]

TROP Season Three Promo Begins!

I know we saw his full face already on the building wrap but a full body shot got me EXCITED!!!

is it just me or does he look slightly pathetic and bedraggled?? the scruff looks born of desperation and not intentional, he’s wearing light armor with a tunic, it’s like he’s not quite reached his full power yet. I think this feeds into the theory that we’re going to see him struggle this season forging the One and perhaps in battle too, sending his armies to pick fights with the elves while he is locked away working.

[fishfingersandscarves]

happy 34th birthday quentin coldwater who is totally alive for another year

[yaoiblackmold]

Genuinely feels like they keep bringing up Armand's childhood sexual abuse/slavery to directly contrast it with Lestat in a way that's like "look at our sweet boy lestat who goes through so much and yet is still loving and precious and independent unlike gross yucky gremlin Armand who has the same trauma but is EVIL and MEAN and DESPERATE and UNLOVABLE" :/ idk it really rubs we the wrong way tbh

[reticent-vampire]

Jacob and Sam asking Assad why Armand did things and Assad going ‘ask Rolin and Hannah’ 😶

assad you king

[reticent-vampire]

it gets better