“It was Lestat beyond question, restored and intact as he hung in the doorway, his head thrust forward, his eyes bulging, as if he were drunk and needed the door jamb to keep him from plunging headlong into the room. His skin was a mass of scars, a hideous covering of injured flesh, as though every wrinkle of his ‘death’ had left its mark upon him. He was seared and marked as if by the random strokes of a hot poker, and his once clear gray eyes were shot with hemorrhaged vessels…”
I hope this Christmas morning surprised you with all kinds of gifts and happy moments ☺️
One of things I have been looking forward to the most this Christmas was the @vcsecretgifts ! It’s my first time participating or even seeing anything like it in a fandom and I think it’s super thoughtful and amazing ❤️
I would like to thank the fabulous @wicked-felinaand@i-want-my-iwtv for putting it all together. You rock! As a token of appreciation, I have made you a silly little gift (please disregard the silliness of it lol), with a few edits using @0junemeatcleaver0 ’s face claims.
The event will be held at the Chateau De Lioncourt in Auvergne, France. Lestat has been informed that you cannot fly on your own so he has arranged a private jet to come pick you up. Louis had plates set up for you, but they forgot that actual food needs to go in them lol No worries though! Armand has a chef on call, cuz he read that that was a status symbol.
The models are: Matthew Clavane as Armand, Ton Huekels as Lestat, Gerhard Freidl as Marius, Gabriel Marques as Louis and Niclas Gills as Daniel. Credit to @0junemeatcleaver0 for finding these models, credit to Faceapp for making this possible.
THIS IS SO SWEET I’m so flattered we were invited to this wedding! ❤️❤️❤️ And I will not disregard the silliness, it would be a ridiculous event, I’m sure there would be a (heated) blood fountain AND a chocolate fountain (for the mortal guests), for one thing…
I’m sorry, all lovelies, to have vanished from this fandom. To say that the Vampire Chronicles didn’t have a place in my daily life would be an outright lie. I respect, and admire those of you who interact with the text and film on such a consistent basis, keeping these pillars standing. I’m not someone who could do that, who could live and breathe it any more than I already did without it being worn out. Maybe I am! But I’d rather not know, I’d rather not risk loving this monster any less or any differently than I have for the past decade.
I AM THE VAMPRIE LESTAT.
I am immortal, more or less. I am immortal. I am.
I…
I am the sum of my existence. I am the monument to each life I have devoured. Some have deserved it; judge, jury, executioner, I have always wanted to believe my own myth. I have forgotten the taste of communion. I have tasted God on the dying breaths of murderers and the holy offer bargains to hell. I have wept over the skull of Adam and I will, should none stop me, witness the death of the human race.
I am.
I am driving over cobble streets almost too slowly, the balance of the motorcycle disrupted by the terrain and the rain and I am stepping into a bar that used to be a smoky bar, but the mortals do not smoke indoors anymore. I used to sing my songs. I am singing my songs tonight—they do no know that I cover my songs—
The rock star Lestat, yet another singer vanished from the face of the earth in the demonic nineteen-eighties. Does it mean anything? Does someone still keep my records pristine and my books all tidy on a shelf? I don’t care. I am in the pages of every cheap airport paperback novel I have ever written, I am, we are, the coven of the articulate under a collective pen name more proud of the books we see with age, the proof that for all the centuries worth of history and confession we have grieved onto paper that even the days since doing so are numerous.
There are mortals who have lived their entire lives after we have committed our own to the page, and who have died many years since.
I will lower my teeth to the throat of a young man in a dress, hear him mutter we are the dead, and in less time than it takes for me to see if I have influenced his path, he is an old man, another artist dead on the evening news that we watch with such morbid fixation.
The walls of the bar are a different color. I remember this place in candlelight. I am going to live forever in a city that will be underwater before those living in it have reached the end of their own lives.
Pictures from our Vampire Cronicles photoshoot. We had such a blast. It was also so incredibly hit that day (for Norway) so we were avoiding direct sunlight like good little vampires.
Lestat by Ornatus Cosplay, Claudia by Martini’s Workshop, Louis by me. I don’t know if the other two have Twitter accounts
Well, in this one, I’ve done the impossible: make Lestat look fuckable in a circa-1985 mullet and vest like this. I’ll be waiting for my award.
Also, if you’ve read the comic, you’ll notice that I’ve redesigned two of the members of the band to adhere to MY personal vision of them. The tall one with the black hair is the only one who was bang-on the way he was.
Another major departure from the comic was the red background and a slightly more devious expression on Lestat’s face. The original illustration was giving me vibes inconsistent with the actual gist of the story. It looked like Lestat was teaching the band how to sing “Top of the World” by the Carpenters. Trust me on this.
My favorite comic re-draw so far. The art in the comic surrounding the circumstances of Claudia’s creation is so perfectly creepy, especially this panel.
The world has lost one of its most powerful voices, Anne Rice’s work was imaginative, powerful, and immersive. Inspired by Stoker, The Bronte Sisters, Dickens, Woolf, Shakespeare, etc. she was unique and her characters memorable. Gothic fiction will never be the same #RIPAnneRice
VC FEELS PART 3: Oh Lestat, you deserved everything that’s ever happened to you
Or when Lestat finally has a moment alone and allows the brave face to break away and mourns Louis after he is taken by Rhoshamandes. Set after Rhoshamandes is destroyed.
Rhoshamandes is no more, the threat is gone, the community braces to rebuild and he - to lead it. He, the brave and galant hero. He, who must be the Prince and lift collective spirits. He, who is the symbol and the icon who all look up to.
He, who cries when no one is around. He, who performs so well for others but cannot stop the tears which are always so close to falling. He, who cannot stop caressing his portrait and wearing the emerald ring which doesn’t quite fit.
The ring which belonged to another, the ring which came in a parcel along with a vial of ashes. The ring with the most beautiful emerald meant to mimic the color of his eyes yet still paleing in comparison.
Through the emptiness and pain, there alone in his rooms, away from the eyes of those who depend on him, he chants. He whispers again and again, those words that his beloved told him long ago:
“Oh Lestat, you deserved everything that’s ever happened to you”
Was I too lazy to draw a new picture of Louis and just used an old one instead?
I’m sharing a personal theory on a little inconsistency in the Vampire Chronicles that has always bugged me. I’m very much aware that this is most probably just Anne having changed her mind or just lacking continuity, but damn was this fun to think about and speculate! This is obviously my opinion only and I’m sharing just for fun, so don’t take it too seriously
So here’s my first meta/fan theory/conspiracy theory/something:
Lord Harlech – To be or not to be!
Armand becoming a vampire when he was so young is a massive part of his character and it’s often been brought up as a disadvantage to him in canon (mostly by leaving him in a more childish mindset). The story of Armand’s mortal life and turning into a blood drinker has been told in three separate books by three separate narrators in three somewhat different periods. Below are some screenshots of the event of Armand’s turning told by our three narrators:
If they’re TLRD for you (and I get it lol) just skip to the part after that. They’re just reference anyway.
Book: The Vampire Lestat
Narrator: Lestat retelling what Armand showed him through the mind gift
Book: The Vampire Armand
Narrator: Armand retelling his own story to David
(I’m just adding bits, cuz his whole transition was a bazillion pages lol)
Book: Blood And Gold
Narrator: Marius retelling his own story to Thorne
(Just snippets again)
TLDR, right? Lol
So there are some differences between the three versions, although TVA and B&G are mostly in line (with a few exceptions that I’ll list below).
But the most noticeable thing for me is the famous Lord Harlech, who is suspiciously omitted and entirely missing in TVL.
Here’s the breakdown:
I love Excel and it has endless applications in life lol
So the question here is – was there a Lord Harlech at all? Was Marius truly left without a choice in turning Amadeo so young, or was it all by design? The question I try to ask is:
Why lie?
Assuming that this is not just a mistake (which I’m pretty sure it is lol), one of our three narrators is lying. But who?
Is Lestat lying? – If Lestat is lying, then that means that Armand showed him his story with Harlech included and then Lestat deciding to change it centuries later. However, the event in question happened three centuries before he was ever even born, so it doesn’t pertain to him. The only reason I can think of him maybe lying is to piss off Armand with whom he has a shaky relationship. However, that might also piss off Marius, for whom he feels quite a bit of respect. Either way, it seems that it’s unlikely that he’s lying (imo).
Is Armand lying? – Well yes lol! If we assume that Lestat is not lying (which I do) then it means that Armand either lied to Lestat or in his autobiography. Here I’d consider his mental state during the time – when he was showing Lestat his past, he’s truly hit rock bottom – he’s desperate, beaten, directionless, starved for love, light and purpose, he’s lost everything, he’s exposing all his vulnerabilities to Lestat and just let’s the guard fall down – not too likely to lie. But what about in TVA? He’s at a turning point in his life, trying to outgrow his past, having reconnected with Marius who has expressed a regret for turning him so young. He also admits that Marius brings out the best in him and he admits to loving him still.
So what if he invented Lord Harlech to protect Marius’ reputation? What if, having seen that Marius is regretful of it, he uses his own autobiography to exonerate his maker and tell the world “hey, he had no choice, it’s not his fault!” The newly-fabricated Lord Harlech is Armand’s gift to Marius, a way out of his “great crime”. To top it all off, Armand paints a picture of Marius being terribly conflicted and hesitant before giving him the blood. Which of course strengthens the image of Marius’ assumed innocence in the matter.
And if that’s the case, why didn’t he do that in the beginning when telling his story to Lestat? Why not come up with the story from the get go and stick to it? Well…he thought Marius dead then and what’s the purpose of defending the reputation of a dead man? Or a living one that had chosen to never come back for him?
Is Marius lying? – Marius is most definitely the most subtle of the three narrators (although the bar’s not very high with Lestat and Armand lol). He admits to having made up his mind that he’d turn Amadeo the following night and then lo and behold – said following night Amadeo is dying by the elusive Lord Harlech’s poisoned blade. He even goes on to say “It was not his decision that mattered now. For I had made mine.”
So what Marius is basically saying is ‘yeah, sure I turned him while he was on his death bed, but I would’ve done it that night anyway.’
So how to interpret this? I see it this way – Marius indulges in the Harlech fantasy (perhaps because he wants to respect Armand’s whishes and sticks to the version he has chosen for his own transition into the Blood), but he also clearly states that in the end that didn’t matter and he takes responsibility. Perhaps that admission is his gift to Armand, he’s respecting his decision but also wants it to be known that he’s owning up to it (and dare I say – not regretting it really).
And Also the whole “greatest crime against our kind” line from TVL takes a very different meaning, dependent on Harlech’s existence:
If Harlech doesn’t exist – his crime was not waiting until Amadeo was old enough
If Harlech did exist – his crime was turning Amadeo instead of letting him die
I guess I’ve spent so much time thinking about this, because Armand’s premature turning is such a big aspect of his character. Also, it’s been brought up time and time again for the dynamic between Armand and Marius – Marius calling him childish, faulting him for being too naïve or immature or savage. And all this because he was turned at the tender age of 16 or 17.
So what was it? Was Armand made so young because otherwise he would’ve died? Or was he turned young for no reason other than that Marius willed it that way? Did Lestat just bitch around or did he accidentally expose Marius and Armand’s dirty little secret?
The Vampire Lestat is low-key painful to read because everytime I start to get into the book again, the plot is getting interesting and stuff, they throw in something gross and I have to put it down for a little while.
