Important note: I am not an expert in the field of psychiatry and I am talking about a fictional character. If someone knows more and sees that I made a mistake in the interpretation, please tell me about it.
If I put aside all my ideas about Armand, all the theories about his behavior that were strongly based on the book, and look only at the show, then it becomes quite obvious that Armand has CPTSD with DID. And not only in season 3, this is visible, if I go back to the first two seasons, then I realize that it was visible there, but the scale was unclear.
The very first thing that comes to mind is "I could not prevent it." There were so many memes about how Armand couldn't handle Sam, get out of the box, and stop the trial. I myself preferred to hope that this was Armand's plan, that this helplessness was a theatrical performance to get what he wanted. But if I really take these words as a fact? If Armand was really convinced that he couldn't have prevented it? The essence of this helplessness and inability to make decisions doesn't come from the current state, strength, abilities and capabilities. It's all about the past, it's all about childhood, it's all about Marius. As a child, Armand could try to fight, but obviously it never helped, it only made the situation worse. When you repeatedly try to fight, and your will is broken, the feeling that you can at least control something in your life breaks down, stop something, say "no" and you will be heard, physically fight and win. It's not that Armand is now a strong and old vampire, but that Arun was a child and couldn't escape. It's hard for me to keep in mind that show!Armand spent twelve years with Marius, not two. Terrible damage has been done to Armand's mind in two years, and it's hard to imagine what happened in twelve years. Book!Armand continued to fight and defend the part of himself that still remained, even though Marius took away Armand's memories of life with his family. And the colossal defining difference between Andrei and Arun is that the family loved Andrei. His father loved him, searched for him, and grieved for him, just like his mother. And Andrei had the opportunity to see his family and say goodbye to them. But Arun is completely deprived of this. He remembers that his family sold him to slavers, he was not abducted, he was sold. He has no safe thoughts about his family, no feeling that they loved him.
When I read TVA, I thought it couldn't get any worse. But show!Armand's situation is even worse.
That if Armand really developed DID against the background of CPTSD, that if "Armand", "Amadeo" and "Arun" exist separately, then "Armand" has been active all the time since being tortured and becoming a member of the Santino cult, when he became a coven master in Paris, when he was the director of the theater. Louis forcibly pulled out "Arun", involving Armand in an unhealthy dynamic, I emphasize, an unhealthy d/s dynamic. It seems to me that it was not "Arun" per se, but "Amadeo" pretending to be "Arun". And I will assume that "Amadeo" managed the situation during season 1 during the interview, and "Armand" during season 2, because he opened himself to Daniel and at the same time felt the need to protect himself from Daniel.
"Armand" and "Amadeo" are products of trauma designed to protect "Arun" by aggression or seduction, but they are the result of the expectations of others - "Armand" for Santino and "Amadeo" for Marius. And all the further attempts of Armand's relationship with someone were a desire to return to the dynamics of "Amadeo" and Marius.
But now some time have passed in which Armand was alone, for the first time in hundreds of years he stopped being a reflection of other people's desires, so "Arun" reappeared. But he feels bad, he feels lonely, abandoned and unprotected, so he looks for a new group of people to join, he comes to AA, where there is a clear structure that can help him determine his behavior, because he himself doesn't feel the ability to make decisions or react to what is happening in an adequate way. Following the Steps gives him structure, he writes letters to ask for forgiveness. But that's not really an apology.
We didn't hear the letter to Daniel, but we did hear the letter to Lestat. Armand offers Lestat a new perspective on what happened between them, he offers to elevate Lestat and humiliate himself if it helps to fix the situation. This is an understandable scheme of action for him, he knows how to act with such a distribution of roles, this is again an attempt to become "Amadeo" for someone.
And I assume that "Arun" acted in all this, because he didn't defend himself from the attacks of Daniel and Lestat, he just listened to it, didn't stop it, because he didn't feel able to do it. Now he has returned to an aggressive environment for him, but "Armand" has not yet managed to appear to protect "Arun". So he goes to a concert, listens to Lestat's mocking song, and doesn't leave right away. His eyes start twitching and he leaves the concert with a quick, confident gait - it's "Armand" back. But when Daniel catches up with him, we see the lost, unsteady gait of "Arun," who later doesn't fight when Daniel pins him against the wall. But then "Armand" appears again when he tells Daniel about his feelings. Or maybe it was "Amadeo".
I myself have screamed so many times after reading TVA that he definitely has CPTSD after everything that happened, but I was not ready for it to be shown in the show, and in a rather severe form. And I know that many people have already talked about it, I've read some great fanfics about it. And yet, it was only this week that I realized that I had previously perceived Armand's mind as inseparable. But what if it's not? Is the idea of CPTSD with DID so surprising? After everything Armand has been through, it's amazing that he still functions and is able to communicate with others.
And I don't think Armand hopes, after all these years, that anyone will understand him. He told his story twice in the show, to Lestat and Louis, but in the first case it ended with contempt and mockery, and in the second case with exploitation.
The point of this whole esse is that it is very painful for me to see "Arun" without any protection under a hail of ridicule and insults. I hope that "Armand" will appear again to protect him.
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