Maybe I’m behind in this revelation? I think it’s generally understood that there’s more to Lestat than what Louis can tell us. But I don’t know. After watching the Vampire Lestat, seeing Louis openly admit to Malloy how much “creative license” he took when telling his side of the story, or how often he insisted that his “readers” see certain things in a certain light as he described such monstrosities is really making me backtrack. I’m re watching seasons 1 & 2 of IWTV and seeing the pattern.

Notice how no matter what Louis does, he’s somehow always the victim of it? Yet, when Lestat faces many cruelties in kind, they’re simply the backstory as to why he became an abuser? Or how easily Louis seems to be insulted (I’m specifically thinking of his meltdown after speaking with the photographer dealer in season 2 episode 4)? When Louis has an outburst, it’s Lestat who must comfort him, who must make excuses for him. Louis is too quick to anger over little details for that to go unnoticed. Because why would he assume that Malloy thought he was trying to pass off stein photography off as his own for one or 2 pictures in his photography album that slipped in? It’s all a bit sus to me.

And most egregiously, if Lestat was so contemptuous as to be killed for it, then why, 70 years later, is Louis calling on him again, asking him to help him with the Claudia lookalike? Entertaining a rekindling of their former flame? His accent in those years has changed from what once felt authentic and native to contrived and “above it all.” I believe that is supposed to imply his maturity over time to viewers. Someone who’s done the work does not go back to an old version of themselves. Yet when he’s in the moment, he’s putting on his old way of speaking, using his charms to endear everyone around him, and appearing authentic in what I’m realizing is his actual mask.

Lestat gets his story told in TVL, yet it doesn’t feel nearly as self flagellating as Louis’ recollection. He may have committed abuses, but he seems capable of reflection in a way that doesn’t ultimately exonerate him the way Louis seems to try. He wrestles with the real shame of subjecting others to what was once committed against him. We do see him grumpy and brooding, but we also see Louis acting out and having huge outbursts over time too. Neither is innocent.

I don’t know. It just seems like Lestat is way too often on Louis mind for him to be able to successfully claim he’s truly innocent without concern. Especially given the original Louis was a white plantation owner. There is something about his story telling that gives away how he truly feels about himself. And it isn’t the perfect victim that he’d like you to think.

Anyone agree? Any extra details I might need to reflect on more?

getting back to this show after a while. just watch episode 3 of TVL. Louis reading Claudia’s journal to Bruce is probably the most unsettling thing i’ve heard this year

What was the worst thing your Catholic background gave you?
The terror of Hellfire and damnation, and the fear of sex. I grew up in a very repressive time (1940s and 1950s) in a very Catholic and Southern city, and I think it is fair to say the Catholicism of my girlhood was obsessed with sex—that we not sin; that we not put ourselves in the occasion of sin; that we fear our natural urges; that we save ourselves uncompromisingly for the Catholic procreative marriage bed; that we condemn and turn away from all sexual exploration, sexual fantasies, sexual longings; that we be at war forever with our physical nature in the name of only one sexual good, the Catholic married life. I grew up in a time when the church privileged the celibate life of the convent or the priesthood high above marriage, and made this clear to all of us. I have never gotten over the repression of this upbringing or the fear of Hell intermixed with it—the idea that sex was filthy, evil, something of the Devil, and involved the worst sins one could commit, the insistence that Hell was the place for those who gave in to sexual sin. I can still remember sermons on Hell, the talk of Hell. I do not believe in Hell but I live in terror of it to this day. I live in terror of a God who would create and sustain such a place. From interview in the americamagazine.

I was just re-reading QotD and i found this:
“You told God you would do anything if only he would make you good. […] You said you would suffer martyrdom; torments unspeakable; it did not matter; if only you were to be someone who was good”

Lestat has always been good. He always had such a kind soul. Yes, he might be impulsive and likes to challenge the rules just for the fun of it, but he never does it out of evilness.

He’s not perfect, but he is kind and forgiving to everyone he loves.

He likes to call himself “monster”, but I don’t think he’s as bad as he thinks he is. Yes, he’s not a saint but even humans aren’t perfect.
Most of the time, his heart was in the right place. And the times he impulsively hurt people, it was because of his fears and traumas and not thinking it through. He’s impulsive, not evil.

He’s more forgiving than most people. He forgave Claudia and Louis for trying to kill him, he didn’t hold grudge on Armand for dropping him out of Magnus’s tower and breaking his every bone, he took care of his father and brothers despite them abusing him all his life. He took care financially of everyone: he gave Nicki an apartment and the violin, he gave Armand Magnus’s place, he gave the Theatre des Vampires to the coven, he showered with gifts Gabrielle and Claudia. He’s always been generous.
Even Akasha knows not to hurt the ones he loves, else he would not forgive her.

P.S. I am not talking about the blood drinking part, as that is just a consequence of being a vampire and he doesn’t do it for fun. He struggles with having to kill people in order to survive. Cannot blame him for that.

I'm chronically amused with how Youtube CANNOT handle Lestat's name in subtitles.
Here are some translations that cracked me up. I'd love to hear some of yours.

Les Twins
On the Step
The Start
This
Lat
Les (Ok, that ones fair)
Let's Stop (ROFL)
List
Les What? (Les who?, Les where?, Les how?, Les when?, Les WHY?)

Edit: more :P Let's Start Lustar Let's die Lats