The Discrepancies With Ages & Timing In IWTV Are Deliberate
I wrote this long thread on IWTV twitter where I attempt math 😆. Sharing my thoughts & convoluted rambling here:
I’m sure others got here before me — But either way, here’s another obsessive breakdown 🤣 (And if my math is completely off, please someone tell me so I can delete this & go back to the drawing board 🫠)
So the question — the ages & dates for everyone seem wrong in Episode 7 — why?
… Because I think they’re supposed to be*wrong*
… Because Louis remembers it incorrectly … Because we’re on the odyssey of recollection & memory is a monster…
Okay, so in this interview we have two perspectives — Louis’ direct retelling to Daniel. And Claudia’s diaries.
Ep 7 —This is Louis’ point of view, told directly to Daniel. It’s Feb 1940. Before their Mardi Gras feast, the vampires all say their ages to the crowd at the townhouse.
Note, the birthdays aren’t exactly confirmed in the show except maybe Louis’ (more shortly) but for this to work, I’m assuming the same birthdays as in the books lore.
Lestat, born Nov 7, 1760. In Feb 1940, he was 179. (Turning 180 that November, he says.)
Claudia, born Sept 21, 1903. In Feb 1940, she was 36.
Louis, born Oct 4, 1878. In Feb 1940, he was 61.
All these dates are contradicted by Claudia’s perspective from her diaries — or sometimes by Louis himself. Let’s dive in.
Ep 1: On the tape from the 1973 interview, Louis says he was 33 yrs old when he became a vampire.
Then Louis starts the 2nd interview in the winter of 1910 — implying it’s after Oct 1910, so Louis would just have turned 33 …This already contradicts Ep 7… But there’s more. Moving on —
Ep 5: From Claudia’s pov — the big one — the actual tombstone. This whole scene is allegedly verbatim from Claudia’s diaries — Louis reading that entry to Daniel in that ep.
We see Louis was born on Oct 4 1877, clearly written. Other important dates too — coming back to those.
But so— 1877 works with what’s said in Ep 1. Louis was 33 in the winter of 1910… So again, what’s up with Ep 7? Did Louis just forget when he was born? No — because it’s not just that inconsistency — it’s everything.
Ep 4: Time & details are blurring for Louis. It has been for a while. Claudia remembers Louis forgetting exact dates, in another entry from her diary, from her 17th birthday. Claudia asks Lestat how old he is.
Louis says, “160.” But Lestat interjects, “159.”
Louis isn’t keeping track the exact ages & timing for every event, even in those early days. But when exactly were those early days then? When was that birthday party? — We’re coming back to that! 🥳
But back to the tombstone from Claudia’s pov — Again, I found this image online. I don’t think the full image is shown in the show.
But the other important dates:
Florence dies Jan 19 1923
Paul dies the morning after Grace’s wedding… In Ep 1, the morning after Louis pulls the knife on Paul, the de Pointe du Lac family is having breakfast. Louis has just said it was winter 1910, that night when Lestat first sees him—
At this breakfast that following morning, Grace says, “A month from my wedding day—”…
May 1911 is not a month away from Nov/Dec 1910 (or any month you’d call winter). And clearly the beginning of L&L in the show lasted multiple months, with all events btw when Lestat first sees Louis & until Paul’s death — not a single month. But Louis remembers it shorter, blurred together. Again — the odyssey of recollection.
Alright — so Florence’s death on the tombstone, Jan 1923. This all relates to the question of consistency of dates in Claudia’s diaries. The writers have already indicated there were some mistakes in the diaries with filler copy. Whether or not you want to believe that — FAIR — but based on everything I’ve seen & what ultimately happens in S1, it seems like there could have really been mistakes…
But is EVERYTHING in the diaries a mistake? That seems very unlikely…
The 1st diary entry is from Oct 28 1917, in Ep 4. That entry is Claudia describing how she becomes a vampire.
Previously, in Ep 3, in Louis’ pov, we see a date on the newspaper from when Alderman Fenwick is killed - Sept 1, 1917. In that Ep 3, it implies the riot in Storyville happened immediately after his death, so on that same day, Sept 1. So that night— Louis saves Claudia from the fire. And Lestat turns her into a vampire.
But then in Ep 4, Claudia is writing about her turning almost two months later…
Very possible there’s a delay between her turning & her keeping diary entries…BUT I think that also means there’s some ambiguity on exactly the date that Claudia was turned. We know that Claudia was 14 when turned. (Confirmed numerous times by cast & writers.) If her birthday is Sept 21, was she almost turning 15 before she became a vampire? Or had she just turned 14, and then became a vampire? … So she then was actually turned after Sept 21… Which is it? What year was she born?
Well, if Louis was right in Ep 7, and she was born in 1903, she would have needed to be turned BEFORE Sept 21, 1917, in order to be 14. But…that actually doesn’t check out with anything else.
Later, in Ep 4, in volume two of the diary, the date is 1921. (I cannot, unfortunately, despite squinting, figure out the month here — anyone?)
The episode then cuts to that scene from her 17th birthday … in 1921. If Claudia turns 17 in 1921, it makes her born in 1904, not 1903, like Louis said in Ep 7…
And then — the wake for Florence.
According to the tombstone, Florence died in Jan 1923. If Claudia was born in 1904, in Jan 1923, she would have been 18 at that funeral… And, she seems to be. Because soon after that funeral, Lestat takes Claudia to the lovers’ lane & she has her realization about her body.
She comes home that night and thinks, “I’m eighteen. Time to start acting like it.”
… Claudia was born in 1904.
Louis is wrong in Ep 7 about her birthday. And he’s wrong about his… (contradicted by his 1973 interview)
Well, again in Sept 1921, from Claudia’s diary entry at her birthday, Louis thinks Lestat is 160 then. But Claudia remembers Lestat correcting him and says he’s 159…
Meaning Lestat will turn 160 in November 1921…
Meaning Lestat was born in 1761… not 1760, like Louis says he is in Ep 7.
Everyone is off by a year in Ep 7, compared to Claudia’s versions of events in her diaries & Louis’ 1973 interview.
Because, referring to Daniel’s call out in Ep 3, it’s about the change of minute details AND the complete retelling.
I think the writers’ meant for the age discrepancies in this final episode to be a subtle, intentional & deliberate indication of this odyssey of recollection.
Details aren’t objective here. More points are going to be examined — cross-referenced.
It’s the monster of memory…
