Say what you will about Lestat de Lioncourt, but the fictional character as he is portrayed in the books is one of the most proactive protagonists I have ever read about. He makes very active choices that lead him to all sorts of crazy places and shenanigans. Him becoming a vampire by happenstance and against his will is a clear deviation from that and it is notable.
Anyway, what the hell does the show gain by making the change from "Lestat spends years chasing the phantom of Marius across the world even as he is told by people around him that it is a hopeless case because he either never existed (Gabrielle) or is dead (Armand)" to "Lestat barely even knows who tf this Marius guy even is and just appears in his lair one day by reason of plot"?
liking a ship but disliking the distinct set of stock fanon that they have been assigned is like one of those punishments dante came up with when he wrote the worldbuilding for hell in inferno
To paraphrase a sentiment I have seen crop up a lot in fandom discourse: "They are rushing through The Vampire Lestat to get to Queen of the Damned."
yup, it sure seems like it, but at this point I don't know what they are even going to do with that material once they get there, what themes are found in that book that they are so desperate to speedrun to and that they just cannot find in TVL.
More focus on Lestat being sexually and emotionally manipulated by an evil, predatory woman, only now with Akasha taking Gabriella's place? What the hell are they going to do with Louis? Much as part of me would love it, I highly doubt they are going to dedicate an entire episode to Devil's Minion. With the writers already having so much trouble meaningfully balancing the current size of the cast, how much space and time will be even given to the Twins and their stories and Akasha's background by extension?
the best fanfiction you've ever read was written by a woman in her 40s before she made dinner for her kids. it was written by a teenager after school when they should've been studying for a history test. and a barista came up with the idea while they cleaned the espresso machine and busser fact-checked it on their break and the post-doc edited between writing grant proposals and the nurse apologized for typos in the notes after a long shift and behind every drabble and one-shot and multi-chapter fic there is a person with a wonderful and interesting and chaotic life and it is such a privilege that we get to be a part of it because they decided to do this thing we all share, for fun.
Also real talk it annoys tf outta me sometimes when ppl are like âwhat did you expect of course Lestatâs narration isnât like Louisâs, all flowery and morose, of course itâs hyperactive and meaninglessâ as if Lestat doesnât wax poetic for pages and pages and pages in TVL about aesthetics, philosophy, history, existential quandaries, his own fear of death and the unknown, etc. He is in fact very flowery and morose. Fuck you??? Like tbh fuck you??? Read the book again???
I donât think thereâs anything inherently wrong with relating to characters, âtheyâre literally meâ etc but if thatâs the only way you engage with stories youâre kinda missing the whole point of Characters being vehicles through which we can see perspectives outside of our own. and also youâre going to get upset when the Character acts in a way that is not Personally Relatable to You
I just CANNOT imagine reading The Vampire Lestat and deciding the most interesting parts, the ones worth actively expanding on and adapting for the screen, are the ones aaaaaall about the Rock Star Framing Device Around The Actually Interesting Story. All, like, two chapters of it in a 500+ pages long book.
AMC really struck gold with the unreliable narrator idea because now people will insist that any flaw in the storytelling is actually a genius premeditated reflection of a fallible narrator, any pacing issues are actually a genius premeditated reflection of a characters psyche, and any lack of character development is actually a genius premeditated reflection on a characters refusal to face their own trauma, and having cheap looking production is actually a genius premeditated reflection of a characters memories, and any unwarranted deviation from the source material is actually a genius premeditated lie that will be proven false at some unspecified point, and any poor handling of sensitive subjects is actually a genius premeditated commentary on the characters own failings, etc, etc.
If you were a traditional Russian peasant woman I bet it felt good as hell to become possessed by demons and scream obscenities in the face of a priest
You know what I was actually really looking forward to the show tackling, and what I am increasingly feeling like a clown for expecting to be done justice, even as of now when a certain character hasnât even shown up onscreen yet?
Marius' dynamic with Lestat and Armand.
Now, quite unlike Anne Rice, I don't particularly love Marius. My level of (dis-)like for him mainly corresponds to who he is interacting with at any given moment. Lestat? Mostly charming. Armand and Pandora? Death death death by strangulation with my bare hands I need that Roman self-righteous self-aggrandizing motherfucker humbled NOW.
I always thought it was one of THE biggest blind spots and bits of wasted potential in the books that Armand's reunion with Marius in QOTD is all vaguely positive and hand-wavey and we neeeeeeveeeeeer get a true fallout as to the implications of how Marius never even tried to reach out to Armand or to tell him he was alive or how Armand must have found out that while Marius refused to ever tell Armand about Those Who Must Be Kept, he DID tell LESTAT unprompted and immediately after knowing him for, like, an hour. Let's not even GET into the Sybelle and Benji of it all.
I was kind of banking on the show having and making the space for a true exploration of whatever tangled emotions would have come up for the involved parties there. To force Marius to maybe truly do some self-reflection for the first time in his fucking millenia of life, and SIT with that.
I like my "gleefully beating Marius with hammers" fandom jokes as much as the next Chronicles fan, but I don't actually think killing Marius is the best or most satisfying counterpart to Anne having Armand never really coming to see his experiences as abuse (and it WAS abuse) or (and this is much worse) even have anyone really question and challenge Marius about ANY of ... that... shit in the books. I want an adaptation to take the concept of immortality to its logical conclusion and ask truly difficult and philosophical questions, like, CAN people really change and make amends for such horrible things? Is it possible? What does it mean to regret or forgive or to stubbornly forever believe that you always know best when you live forever and so does anyone who you have ever loved or hurt or saved or failed? Can a bond like that ever be truly broken? What could happen to an Armand who could, in time, detach his view of Marius as his Master? What would it look like for Marius to truly be forced to be challenged and confronted with the ramifications of his actions and behaviors? With all of the death and misery that these vampires have inflicted and will continue to inflict on others, is there even such a thing as an unforgivable slight and action and behavior when you have eternity before you to process it every which way?
There is no limit to the many ways in which these questions can be answered!
"Murder the grooming creep" is narratively simple and quick and cheap and BORING. These are creatures who live forever, who have all the time in the world to ponder their changing relationships to each other! That is so much more interesting to think about!
And then I see what the show turned Gabrielle de Lioncourt into, and, ah, I'm good, actually. Maybe show Marius SHOULD just get killed with hammers as quickly as possible, actually. It seems to be the level the show is operating at, currently, where that would be the most I can hope for.
It's absolutely crazy that intellectual labor can wipe you out. It seems like it shouldn't be a thing, like your stores of brain juice shouldn't be able to be depleted in that way.
I feel like a wizard that's out of spell slots, and to me that's a hackish mechanical limitation put in place to try to balance the classes.
What I don't get... if the writers are so fucking desperate to have Lestat be manipulated sexually and emotionally by a woman in a dark power dynamic, why not just focus all of that energy on Akasha? Are they this impatient that they can't wait for her to enter the narrative?
