in my strong dm brainrot mode atm but i just remembered. didn’t devil’s minion take 12 years in the books? and so in the show we often come back to the theme of alice and daniel and how he proposed to her once he decided get his shit together, but they made known to us in s2 that it was exactly year 1985 when he proposed - which is exactly 12 years after 1973. which could mean nothing… also, i think we forgot too quickly about the fact that armand erased louis’ memories from 1973. we can all agree here that armand is a compulsive liar and telling that it was exactly three days after they dumped daniel in a drug den that louis asked him to erase his memories… it’s just a little bit too specific, also, louis was literally burnt to the bones so it would certainly take more time for him to heal. so i call bullshit here. but now as we call bullshit here we might ask ourselves why on earth would armand delete louis’ memories from that time? what would be the possible reasons? well… for example… if ever since he started stalking daniel, he would make sure for louis to forget that he had any interactions with daniel at all, wouldn’t he? but it all could mean nothing right.
Do you realise how powerful the visual of Armand drinking the "little drink" from young Daniel's thighs as Daniel's head is tipped back in pure ecstasy would look like, artists no pressure but I think I'd kiss you on the lips if you could make this come true <3
“Armand is a manipulative mastermind” Armand is a scrambling opportunist constantly playing an overbloated game of snake with his own lies and toxic behavior and he is always fucking losing
“I hate how they regressed Daniel after Armand turned him. Hes just so immature now”
My dudes,
If suddenly I wasn’t living with a sickness that slowly deteriorates my motor functions until I die, and I was able to feel like I did when I was a drugged up 20 year old with no worries of chronic illness hitting me again, you bet your sweet ass I would have zero fucks, I would be telling everyone to suck my dick and wear cool jackets and sunglasses.
Oh no one can touch me because my maker is a 514 year old ancient vampire who has never made any other fledglings?
I can see better than I ever have? Move like the wind? Have no pain? Have no fear of dying? Suddenly my hands don’t shake and my body isn’t in pain?
Oh everyone can suck my dick. Everyone can fuck off. I’m gonna wear my fuck you leather jacket like I did at 20 when I was a counter culture upstart journalist, I’m gonna be a cocky shit head again because guess what? I don’t have pain in my back and body, I don’t shake, I have no issues with my motor skills suddenly failing me.
I’m basically 20 years old again. I’m gonna be such a menace for at least a few years.
Ya’ll act like Louis would have been any better if Lestat wasn’t there to help rein him in.
Or Lestat? Bro broke the vampire laws the second he was turned.
Armand I’m gonna assume was no better then his fledgling is.
Let’s not forget Claudia as a fledgling? Baby girl her first hunt took down like 2 whole police officers.
Let my old man have his wild fledgling years! Let him stalk random men to drain, let him experience being young again. This is like being 18 in college. His first few years of vampire life should be wildly immature and stupid.
Because finally, his body isnt hurting. His brain isn’t deteriorating his motor functions. He can actually do things he used to.
LET MY BABY GIRL BE A MESSY BITCH OF A FLEDGLING. Why?
BECAUSE HE FUCKING DESERVES IT.
Look at this man. Pure cunty ass sass coming off him in waves. As he should be allowed, being in his fledgling prime years.
Daniel, beloved, a frequenter of your twitter application profile has informed me that “…they’re doing crazy things to your cervix over on ao3…” Yes, I was as confused as yourself, but after a few hours of internet research I’ve concluded this may in fact be intended as a form of flattery. Truly! Come, dear, look upon the iPad. Oh, Daniel, don’t be prudish! It’s art.
armand’s costumes are such an interesting data point re: his nebulous sense of identity.
when analyzing any costume, there are always many factors to consider: the setting, the character’s personal taste and economic constraints, storytelling concerns like tone and genre, etc. with armand, we also need to remember that he’s 500 years old and violently disconnected from his human origins. everything he wears has an element of disguise, selected to blend into a new environment.
armand was enslaved as a child in 16th century delhi, and barely remembers his mortal life. unlike louis - who can return to new orleans after 80 years and reconnect with his past - armand has no home to return to. his whole backstory, even his name, is rife with traumatic subtext, leaving him with an obsessive need for structure and control. this adds an extra layer of meaning to costuming choices that initially seem like straightforward menswear.
armand’s 1940s wardrobe is very put-together - primarily three-piece suits and coats that make him look wealthier and more formal than louis, who is purposefully dressing down. most of these outfits are tailored to bulk up armand's frame, leaning into the "maitre" persona. and like his business-casual dubai wardrobe, he always leaves his collar open. when i interviewed costume designer carol cutshall, she described this as a symbolic power move, signalling that he's an apex predator who doesn't need to protect his throat.
my personal interpretation is that while armand clearly likes to look good, he has a complicated relationship with attractiveness. he doesn't always want to draw attention. his color palette is shadowy (black, grey, brown, olive green), and he’s much less flashy than the other Théâtre vamps. however when he’s feeling confident and flirty, he becomes more of a power-dresser - for instance his hunting outfit with the big coat and sunglasses, or his habit of wearing kohl.
interestingly, most of armand's 1940s costumes set him apart from the coven. the Théâtre vampires dress like cabaret performers, embracing a lot of period-specific styles. by contrast armand is more timeless and neutral. in fact, due to the relatively minor changes in men's suits over the past 100 years, there's a lot of overlap between his wardrobe in the 1940s, '70s and 2020s:
the rest of the Théâtre squad share an unofficial uniform of boldly clashing monochrome patterns with pops of bright color. meanwhile armand has a very plain wardrobe, emphasizing the image of him as a businesslike authority figure surrounded by zany artistes. he only wears subtle stripes on a few occasions in the '40s, reflecting the recurring prison motif we see in lestat's trial suit and (most famously) the dubai penthouse bedroom:
if we ask the question, "what does this person like to wear?" there are easy answers for lestat, louis and claudia. we understand their tastes, and the motives behind them. but armand is more enigmatic. we can recognize through-lines in his wardrobe, but his "taste" is dominated by whatever role he's currently decided to embody, whether that's a parisian theater director or a real estate mogul in dubai.
the times when he appears to have the most fun with clothing are when he steals a pair of sunglasses from his human dinner (!) and when he's pretending to be rashid. in other words, when he's explicitly performing for an audience. "real armand" is still a mystery.
(i may write more about armand's dubai wardrobe later, but for now, you can find all of my iwtv costumes posts on this tag!)
"I feel very proud to be a black Creole vampire, in the show. I mean, I hope that all it does is opens the gates for more. Let's tell more stories. Let's be monsters! And enjoy it! Yeah, let's be problematic. Give us the space to be a problem." - Jacob Anderson
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