Thank you to @stardustandmoonflowers for making this brain dump possible, by asking about Lestat and the relationship with the villagers, and killing the wolves. 💙
As a child in Auvergne, Lestat occupied an odd place in the community. His family was technically minor nobility, but they were living in relative poverty by the time Lestat was growing up. His father was weak and bitter, his brothers withdrawn, and much of the practical burden of survival fell onto Lestat long before he was grown.
In The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice makes it very clear that a young Lestat was already seen as something unusual in Auvergne, both necessary to the community and slightly frightening to it. Anne emphasizes how physically dominant and fearless he was compared to the other villagers:
“I was six feet tall before I was fifteen." And later: "They were terrified of the wolves. I was not.”
Within the village and surrounding countryside, Lestat became known as a fiercely capable hunter. He supplied food for the family and protected the area from wolves that threatened livestock and travelers. There is a sense in the book that the peasants and villagers viewed him with a mix of admiration, fear, and fascination. He was beautiful, reckless, physically gifted, and utterly unlike the quiet, resigned people around him.
On his role as hunter and provider, Lestat says: "It was I who hunted the wolves, I who brought down the deer, I who kept food on the table."
That line captures how much responsibility fell onto him despite his youth and noble birth. The de Lioncourts had a status (in name) but almost no money, and Lestat effectively became the family’s survival mechanism.
The wolf hunt became the defining event of his youth. After a brutal winter and repeated wolf attacks, Lestat rode out to kill the pack. He killed all 8 of them himself, including the enormous leader of the pack: "I stood over the dead alpha wolf covered in blood and snow.”
It was then the villagers began calling him “the Wolfkiller.” That moment elevated him into something almost mythical in Auvergne. He was no longer simply an impoverished aristocrat. He became a local legend, someone associated with danger, courage, violence, and survival: "From that night on they called me the Wolfkiller"
For Lestat, the wolf hunt mattered for deeper reasons, too. Anne Rice frames it almost like a prelude to vampirism. Facing the wolves awakened something predatory and ecstatic in him. He describes feeling alive in a way he never had before: exhilarated by danger, intoxicated by the kill, and strangely drawn toward death rather than being frightened by it.
"I wanted the wolves. I wanted to kill them."
(This was a long post, maybe more than you asked for, but when I get started, I can't stop 😂. This was a fun dive, thank you 💙)
