It Takes A Village To Burn A Village: The Great Laws, The Great Conversion and The French Revolution
Throughout the show, we’ve been looking at the Great Conversion as this impending catastrophe. That makes sense because as humans, more vampires means more instability, more violence, and more danger to humanity. But how does the Great Conversion look from the vampires’ perspective?
It has been established in the show that the Great Laws are antiquated rules through which vampires have been governed for centuries. These laws concentrate power to a privileged few (primarily coven leaders) while oppressing the many. The majority of vampires live in shame, secrecy and isolation within the shadows of society, and at the mercy of the unquestioned authority of their coven leaders. They have the power to create or to kill at their own will, and enforce these strict laws using fear (that of punishment or the reinforced belief that these laws are vital to protecting vampires from humans, as mentioned by Armand in s2e3). The punishment for violating these laws is almost always death, as we saw with Armand in s2 executing a vampire who broke the 1st law (turning another mortal to a vampire), the execution of Claudia and Madeleine, and the graveyard wall in TdV’s basement with the remains of all those who have broken the laws before (and that’s only TdV’s graveyard, and at a time when the vampire numbers were vastly little).
The Great Laws, then, are not simply rules. They are the foundation of a vampiric political order.
This brings us to revolutions.
A revolution is defined as a fundamental and often violent transformation of a political or social order. Revolutions rarely start overnight. They are the culmination of long-standing tensions: repression, lack of freedom, isolation, inequality, and the emergence of new ideas that challenge the legitimacy of existing systems.
One revolution mentioned throughout Season 3 is the French Revolution, and I don't think that's coincidental. The historical upheaval of 18th-century France, which dismantled the aristocracy, is meant to mirror the upheaval brought upon by the Great Conversion. The collapse of an old order (The Great Laws), the challenge to inherited authority (coven leaders and powerful ancient vampires), and the tension between obtaining freedom and maintaining stability.
The Great Laws establish an ancient, rigid social order similar to that of the Old Régime (French monarchy and aristocratic system).
Coven Leaders rule by tradition and fear, much like French nobility and monarchy ruled by inherited privilege.
The Great Conversion creates countless new vampires, disrupting hierarchy, similar to the Revolution mobilizing the masses and overturning aristocratic privilege. And where a small aristocracy is suddenly facing an enormous population that no longer accepts inherited authority.
Ancient vampires and coven leaders lose their monopoly on power, just like aristocrats lost political dominance.
Traditionalist vampires try to preserve the old laws, similar to how royalists and conservatives resisted revolutionary change.
Viewed this way, the Great Conversion is not simply a disaster as portrayed to us. It’s a vampire revolution.
This also reframes Armand's role in the story. As a powerful, ancient vampire and a coven leader whose authority depends on preserving the Great Laws, he naturally opposes the Great Conversion. He has been leading the opposition against it this entire season if not earlier. He warns repeatedly that it will lead to chaos, bloodshed, and anarchy. He’s not wrong, but this is a familiar argument that’s been used before, during, and after almost every revolution throughout history. Defenders of the existing order insist that stability and order are too valuable to risk. They point to the violence, uncertainty, and destruction that accompany revolutionary change as proof that even an unjust system is preferable to upheaval. The fall of the French monarchy was followed by years of political turmoil, civil war, and the Reign of Terror period (cough-Akasha-cough), events often used as proof that revolutions breed only chaos. Yet from that chaos emerged lasting changes (such as the abolishment of feudal systems) and freedoms that reshaped France and influenced much of Europe. The Great Conversion will probably follow that same pattern. From Armand's perspective, it represents the destruction of order. From the perspective of ordinary vampires, however, it is the dismantling of an oppressive system that has governed them for centuries. The chaos isn't necessarily the point though, it’s the transition.
That brings us to Lestat’s role in the story. Lestat has been portrayed throughout this season as the face of the Great Conversion (be it willingly or unwillingly) or the face of the revolution (in episode 3, the show has him repeat the revolutionaries’ chant of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, to hint at this). His music and his clear defiance of the laws by becoming a vampire rockstar brought on the ideological catalyst needed to fast-track this revolution. We hear across season 3 the voices of vampires who find solace & representation in Lestat’s music because it speaks directly to their experience, offers a voice to their loneliness and shows them a world beyond the oppressive confines of the Great Laws: one of freedom, visibility and community. However, Lestat isn't trying to establish democracy or bring about revolution. His philosophy is more individualistic (every vampire should be free to choose their own life rather than be bound by centuries-old laws simply because they have always existed). He functions less as a revolutionary leader and more as a symbol (at least where we are at in the story).
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