Armand is so kind

It’s never Loumandover

[interviewwiththewerepire]

"armand isn't owed an apology after all the shit he did to louis, i can't believe they made him do that"

hey guys? Do we maybe think that Armand's tit-for-tat mentality, and the way he's been tallying up his and everyone else's sins against each other is a problem? Is it maybe possible that Louis managing to find empathy for Armand in the face of the monstrosity being done to him, and that radical act of kindness and honesty (about the ways he unintentionally hurt Armand) moving Armand so much that it nearly breaks him, is idk a major theme of this whole season?

you know, sorta like how Lestat was holding onto his feelings of betrayal about the book, and all it did to serve him was make him absolutely miserable and lonely and push him into the arms of someone actively harming him. And how it was only after he let that go, and helped Louis even though he still thought that Louis didn't give a shit about him, that they were able to connect again and be happier than we've ever seen them.

Or like how Louis was able to look past his initial feelings of revulsion and betrayal about the Sophia lie, and offered comfort and a space to speak honestly, and how that granted him a deeper understanding of Lestat, and ultimately strengthened their bond.

Are we seeing the pattern here? How they're breaking the curse of loneliness when they stop seeing each other as monsters, and extend a bit of empathy, even when it's hard or not deserved? How addressing the gaping wound behind the actions might open the door to healing for both parties?

[battleaxepixie]

Armand's Lesmand is the realer one idgaf what no one say

[iimpavidwrites]

even if i despise the newest episode of the amc vampire chronicles adaptation i don't think i'm going to agree with the decision some folks are making to be like "ah yes we should murder this writer/producer/director" ... i don't know that i agree that sloppiness, poor pacing, shitty theme execution, and/or incorrect artistic perspectives in anything-- including the stories i personally hold as formative and important and dear-- actually warrants that level of vitriol online.

it's a weird trend i've always seen in fandom that seems to overlap with the idea that failing to achieve moral purity in art is indicative of evil intentions and actions on the part of the creator.

i cannot think of a single time i saw fandom get their dander up about a queer-flavored piece of media failing to execute all aspects of leftist thought perfectly without flaw... and then seen real world positive change come from that vitriol. not once. at best, shows get canceled. at worst, small queer creators with unique perspective get doxxed and harassed offline. In both cases, we don't get more art of that kind and everyone's bummed out.

Put more succinctly: getting mad at art is not the same thing as activism and the sooner we all internalize that, I think, the better.

[arethosefangs]

Lestat doing that little trick on Daniel earlier in the season, telling him privately about nicki, not letting the camera record it.

Armand not repeating the most crucial parts of Louis's apology so Fareed won't write it down.

Private little moments.

[professional-rat-eater]

I’ve been trying to figure out what on earth Armand would do after all of that, because what can you possibly do? Especially when Daniel’s whereabouts are, I think, supposed to be ambiguous.

He has a little more enduring to do, regarding those intense conversations with himself, and I couldn’t figure out where he’d go first.

But he loves ships. He loved to watch them back in Venice and Louis remarks in season 2 that he sometimes lingers when boats come into harbour and Montreal has quite a few harbours.

I think he got in a car and went straight to the closest one and walked all the way along the edge of land, watching every single boat that was docked or was sailing past. Lestat returned to Magnus’ tower, his vampiric ‘origins’ after the trial when he realised the true extent of the awful thing he’d been complicit in.

I think Armand would return to Venice, or the closest he can get right away. I think he watched the ships for hours until he could make sense of what he’d just done and why he’d done it, because I don’t think he had any real idea going into it.

[professional-rat-eater]

Armand also had his driver kill himself. If you want more proof this guy doesn’t plan anything out and only wants to seem like a meticulous mastermind, he said he had this guy drive him there and then made him slit his own throat. Good luck driving yourself home, idiot (affectionate.)

[professional-rat-eater]

Episode 7 is still in Montreal, right? I’m trying to figure out where Armand and Louis were specifically.

[reticent-vampire]

i think i might be a room wothout walls, floors, a ceiling. an infinite nothing

[kookiedeadbutterflies]

Armand etching “A” into Louis’ heart is honestly a peculiar behavior, but I interpret it as a form of parting gift and a sign that he forgives Louis.

For once, instead of taking from him, he is giving. And he’s giving Louis the one thing he’s always so obsessed about. And he took one out of Claudia’s page.

“We keep the damage, so we remember the damage”

Yes, that “A” is going to eventually heal up and disappear just like everything else that happened in that butchery, but it’s the thought that counts. At least for Armand.

[professional-rat-eater]

One of the biggest things that I think the writers do have to contend with, and hopefully they will listen to real feedback, is a lot of the writing of Armand is entrenched in xenophobia in the books. Anne treated Armand as a sin-eater, so to speak, for Lestat. He exists, mostly, in The Vampire Lestat to: attack Lestat, inform Lestat and absolve Lestat. It’s all about making Lestat more sympathetic and making his journey simpler and more compelling.

Assad’s casting should be the biggest strength of this adaptation because the colonial nature of Lestat, Gabrielle and Marius’ treatment of him and the kind of language they use to refer to him could be highlighted and critiqued. All those slights against Armand from Lestat and Gabi across the season could’ve amounted to something.

But they chose to neglect this completely, relegate him to the background and only focus on the hyper-violent side of the character. I think the scene will be enough to connect with the most casual viewers a little because it’s spelt out for them what they’d supposed to feel, but the deeper context deserves examining.

And then you factor in show!Louis and how he’s also been treated this season, and it’s so much worse.

Both characters, in different ways, were used as punching bags this season which would be something if it had gone anywhere, but the big climax is Armand taking out anger that ought to be directed at Lestat on Louis?

Look, I do think this is the work of people who just switched Louis and Lestat’s roles and didn’t consider the consequences. Perhaps that’s being generous, but it’s better than the alternative. But it still is what it is. It still looks how it looks. Can’t blame the budget for this one. This beautiful, nuanced exchange between Louis and Armand which was a conversation that needed to be had is buried inside this scene, and it’s a shame because Assad and Jacob carried this episode.

They’ve made great changes to Louis through casting Jacob, whereas Assad is much more in line with his book counterpart and both of these things ought to be strengths. But thoughtless writing robbed them of that. There is a learning opportunity here and I hope it is taken, but if you can and if you want to, do take the time to email AMC with a detailed complaint. I’m drafting mine right now.

[iwtv-theories]

"You were sold into what you were sold into. I saw that a lot running the houses I did. We didn't really talk about it..."

Armand: " I cannot be SURE, the abuse at the brothel was such he cannot be SURE that's what his parents named him." Louis in the same ep: "You SURE about that, Arun?" Armand: "yes, Maitre". Armand in that same episode also put the Stein photos in the pile to fuck with Louis' head and ask him : "Are you SURE about that?" . YEAH ... when people say the role play was consensual , I'm like yeah , but 'dubious consent' is a thing too. Armand at the very least had subconscious resentment for the whole thing.

"Who am I Louis? Am I the past I've endured? I do not know anymore". Louis the following ep: "I'm the vampire Armand and my daddy groomed me into a little bitch." .

Armand: "Louis' tri-annual, fuck off ... with apologies to follow." Louis laughing back sarcastically: "I'm sorry". Armand (after Louis flung himself into the sun): "you said the worst things you ever said to me". Louis : "so-sorr- sorry". Armand: "meaningless word." Because Louis right before this said he didn't remember their verbal argument before he went into the sun. Louis: "Arun, you need a love that will cradle you. you should have that .And I was never that for you. And I'm sorry.

Armand to Louis in s3: "I think I'm a room without walls , floors, or ceiling... an infinite nothing." Armand laughing at Louis' life philosophy in the 40s: "Evil is just a perilous gulf one falls into after the FIRST sin? Only one sin is needed? That's your argument?" Louis: "kind of... it's dark and it's empty and I can't see the bottom of it. Armand in the 70s: "My FIRST memory I was being rundown by slavers , my second... a black hole." Armand post-paris adopted Louis' bleak philosophy, but his initial rebuttal to Louis in Paris was :" Aren't there gradations to evil... surely there are variations of goodness?" Louis in s3 admits Armand's life philosophy was a better philosophy to live by. There's variations/gradients to good and evil in every person. Louis : " I didn't want to look at my own sins... You have reason to be dark-sided.. but I did see good in you." Armand: then immediately lets Regina go and tells Rashid to reattach Louis' head.

I wish the 2 could have sincerely apologized to each other (and in a way where Louis didn't have to lose his head). The writers may have been trying to show that even when someone like Armand is doing truly "evil " acts(and feeling trapped in the hole) he can choose to do "good" and get out of it . I just wish it was executed more sensitively. But the symbolism in the apology, was poetic, none the less.

[mymycorrhizae]

Armand's companion.

[professional-rat-eater]

I don’t think any of us really understood what we were asking for when we said we wanted Armand in the Saw bathroom… we were so naive…

[lukelemon-art]

☀️Touching the sun☀️

I would imagine it starts with small things and tiny steps… And drinking buckets of your maker's blood, but that's a matter for some art in the future.

[professional-rat-eater]

Fareed clearly signed up to take part in some medical malpractice but didn’t realise he had agreed to work with Jigsaw.

[misspe]

vs.

[oodlyenough]

a thing about me is i basically never notice a wig or other kind of hairpiece in tv/movies. it has to be party city territory for me to even twig it. people will complain about characters' wigs looking bad and i will nod along but there is like a 90% chance i did not notice for a second while watching. i consider this mostly a blessing.