i'd love to read any takes on this you all might have!
in the spirit of tvl coming out next week, i've been doing a close rewatch of the show with the purpose of recontextualizing some of the events focusing around devil's minion and the events that happened before s1e1. i also re-read tvl, qotd, and sections of several of the other books. this is one of three posts on different dm/armand ideas i'm going to put up.
fyi this has season 1/2/3 spoilers in it
what i'm interested in are the events prior to the tapes being dropped into daniel's mailbox.
note: going back to s1e1, daniel finds the tapes in his mailbox. when he arrives in dubai he finds out louis and armand know a ton of info about his parkinson's disease. daniel implies being hacked. i always figured armand knew exactly what was going on with daniel and regularly checked in.
who dropped off the tapes?
i think it's possible armand delivered the tapes personally.
memories between 1970's and 2020's?
i'm in the camp of yes, there were memories to be erased.
in the tvl leaked audition tape scene (you can read the transcript below), armand only mentioned events that happened around the paris proposal. to me, it seemed like armand had more to say after he talked about the rv almost running daniel over. the other character in the scene cut off armand's interview exclaiming they were looking for their dad. armand let's the character know where their dad is and stops talking.
if armand had continued the interview, he may very well have described an escalation of surveillance and intervention turned to interaction between himself and daniel in the months and years after the rv event.
here is a refresh of the audition tape transcript (post continues after the audition tape transcript, thanks @kittymand)
assuming that daniel does have memories of armand from the past beyond the 70's interview, my next question was when did armand erase them?
*if it was armand who erased them. i know some people think it's marius. in this scenario, it was armand
the rewatch resurfaced my thought that the memory erasure may have happened directly before daniel found the tapes. in this situation it would mean armand came to new york, went to daniel's apartment, got his mailbox key, dropped the tapes in the box and then erased daniel's memory in preparation for the interview.
** this is pulling from the fresco ceilings that are in daniel's apartment in the show which a lot of people think armand had some part in designing or facilitating for daniel as they are a direct reference to the book. it could imply that daniel had his memories when he moved into that apartment (we don't have a timeline reference on how long he's lived there).
(post continues below the frescos on daniel's ceiling images, thanks @iwtvasart on x)
this brings me to the question, why did armand decided to erase the memories?
a thought i had was that the memories were only erased because louis pushed for the second interview. armand chose the paris coven over louis in the 40's to avoid disrupting the status quo and to protect himself from loneliness. in this 2022 scenario, armand chose louis which repeats armand's pattern if we assume louis represents the paris coven while daniel represents louis in the 40's.
armand mentions in season 2 that his mind reading and instincts were impaired because he was in love. it sounds like bullshit but maybe it's true. "armand told the truth."
in the books, armand is very reactive to emotionally heavy situations, probably because of all the trauma. the time crunch of louis pushing for the interview may have forced armand's hand and erasing daniel's memories was the best thing he could come up with at the time.
did armand have to make a choice?
I think so. it was either manipulate louis' mind to deter him from doing the 2022 interview, or bury daniel's memories of his relationship with armand. armand wouldn't want the two worlds of his relationship with daniel and louis bleeding into each other. louis is his immortal partner and had the potential for endurance. and of course all the other reasons armand was absolutely against turning daniel.
armand let louis do the interview, but this meant he had to give up his history with daniel.
why did louis and armand settle in dubai?
louis and armand's move to dubai is often read as an isolation tactic. armand places louis in a coffin apartment half-way around the world, where armand could control the whole environment given louis' ongoing erratic issues and a major secret armand is protecting. i do think that this reading is accurate. however, i think that at some point before the interview, something happened that made the distance necessary on both fronts.
(post continues after louis' coffin apartment images)
i think armand putting distance between himself and daniel also played a role in their history and dictated the move to dubai. i don't know, maybe they had a toxic break-up. but it doesn't mean armand erased daniel's memories when louis and armand first left for dubai.
whichever way you cut it, erasing the memories was probably pretty devastating to armand.
thanks for reading. i'm a decades long book reader and i think what the show has done with armand and daniel's characters is incredible. it makes me love these characters even more. i would love to hear your thoughts!
