thinking about how IWTV loves to play with the theme of master and servant. thinking especially about that “yes, maître” and how armand’s first appearance onscreen, for almost the entire duration of s1, is in the role of louis’s “rashid.” thinking about how, when I first watched s1, it jarred me a little to see the authoritative, almost imperious way louis spoke to “rashid,” even after having endured to lestat’s tyranny himself, not to mention the tyranny of white people. it jarred me even more to realize that that had actually been armand—the ostensible love of his life—taking louis’s orders, bowing his head, saying things like, “I serve a god.” was that a strange and uncomfortable performance for the ancient leader of the paris coven? or was it perfectly natural for someone whose past means he defaults to the role of the subordinate, the submissive, the servant? is the relationship between the master louis and the servant rashid in fact the truest, rawest representation of the core dynamic between louis and armand?
