it's fascinating that the only sexual relationships we see armand enter after marius are with people he has direct power over. we know he sleeps with the other members of the paris coven, his "flock"- he asserts himself as lestat's coven master as soon as they meet and they only begin a sexual relationship after lestat starts calling him "maitre"- and he demurs from louis' advances until right after claudia joins the coven and becomes one of armand's subjects. i think it says a lot about armand's relationship to power and to sexual agency in particular that even though he prefers being submissive in the bedroom, he doesn't like ceding any material power to his partners- he's not only older and more powerful than them as a vampire, but he has absolute "legal" authority over their lives (or over one of their loved ones in louis and claudia's case, since louis himself refused to join).
even if you're an absolute source material loyalist who's like "armand and lestat never slept together armand was lying" the way armand describes their relationship is still relevant to armand's character- if you think it's a fantasy, how does he build that fantasy?? it's clearly very important to armand that lestat recognized him as his master before they began their affair, even though we know armand could already throw lestat around like a ragdoll and lestat was no physical threat to him. the formality of the coven dynamic still matters.
and with louis in paris, you can clearly see in s2ep2 and the first half of s2ep3 that louis is attracted to armand and making extremely unsubtle advances- i want to highlight their riverside scene in particular where louis smiles at armand, steps forward to kiss him, and armand turns his head and says "if we were the only vampires in paris". his obligations as the coven master are his shield not to reciprocate (even though there's no "the coven master shall not fuck outside the coven" 6th vampire law and he's not exactly celibate now that they left the children of darkness)
but armand changes his mind about entering a relationship with louis literally as claudia's coven initiation is taking place and armand's weighing whether to kill louis during the ceremony- armand's coven obligations haven't disappeared, they're as present as ever, and louis is on even shakier ground with the coven than he was before. the main thing that's changed materially is that claudia is under armand's power now, and armand knows louis cares about claudia more than anything (also from s2ep3 when louis realizes armand knows the secret and when he thinks he's gonna die in the tunnels- "what does this mean for claudia??" "take care of claudia...don't give up on her. tell her she's beautiful. tell her that every morning")
and we see the reversal in their dynamic- while in the riverside scene louis was the one stepping forward to kiss armand, smiling and at ease, here louis is still and concerned, and armand steps forward to kiss him. louis fully knows armand holds both his and claudia's lives in his hands at this point, and it's only under those conditions that armand feels comfortable enough being with louis.
even the maitre/arun dynamic doesn't change the material power structure here- louis might be "maitre in the bedroom, maitre when it's hot or convenient" but it's only when claudia decides to leave paris with madeleine, leaving the coven and leaving armand's area of authority, that armand decides his relationship with louis is too unreliable and agrees to direct the trial.
and there's a possible argument- i'd def have to chew on this more- that part of the reason for armand's escalating control and gaslighting over the course of his relationship with louis (other than the primary reason of antiblackness and seeing louis more like an object than a person- let's not get it twisted) is that after the trial, with no formal power structures to secure louis' companionship, armand resorts to undermining louis' autonomy and selfhood. there's no coven and no claudia, but if louis literally thinks armand "protects (his) happiness", that armand knows what's best for him and he's a danger to himself and others without armand to care for him- and ofc as long as he keeps believing the lies around the trial- then he'd have no reason to ever leave.
a lot of people read a kinda inherent passivity and helplessness into armand's character as a response to his trauma, but i don't see that in him- even in the dubai interview he describes how easily he was able to wield his power over the paris coven, over lestat. it's only after louis and daniel figure out some of his gaslighting in s2ep5 that armand dials the "cowardly and passive and couldn't prevent anything" narrative up to 11. armand was victimized horrifically as a child, and part of his reaction to that seems to be a determination never to be in a position of disempowerment- or even a position of "equal" power- with his sexual partners again.
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