r/VampireChronicles

Forgive me for my bluntness but I just genuinely don't understand it. It's almost becoming a running joke now that tv/film adaptations portray Armand as far removed from his canonical appearance and age as possible.

OK, they aged Claudia up a little in 1994 IWTV, but she still was a child with golden curls, as she canonically was described.

Armand is 17. There's not real reason to age him up any "more appropriately" that I can gather aside from producers being too scared to portray it, but they are still happy to portray Claudia as a teenager in the current series.

Matthew Newton was technically closest to the canonical description (the only one!) but even he wasn't right really for the image that lives in my head.

I just want to see my curly auburn haired "angel" going hyperfocus about blenders, dammit.

...Actually I've always kinda wanted a proper movie adaptation of the Vampire Armand book buuuut there's so much in there that would cause issues I'm sure! You can't not have The Bonfire - it's pivotal. And that's just for openers. Maybe some things are better left to the imagination and would lose something for the scope of such horror to be portrayed on screen...

I just finished reading IWTV and am i the only one so dissatisfied with how they adapted Claudia? Im not talking about how they made her black or older, i think they could still have written a Claudia more similar to the book one with those changes but why did they have to make her so human? Its like they can't make Claudia unlikeable for the audience, they have to make some disgrace happen to her almost every damn episode so we always feel pity...

A quote from the book that i think is a perfect summary of Claudia is: "Now I knew her to be less human than either of us, less human than either of us might have dreamed. Not the faintest conception bound her to the sympathies of human existence." And show Claudia literally lacks this so much, she lacks the monstrosity that book Claudia has and imo that was fundamental for her character, another reason why her existence as a vampire was a mistake, even Lestat had some humanity. Show Claudia kept body parts but she was literally a traumatized teenager who had just seen her first love burn in front of her, that wasn't exactly in her nature or daily life. I would say she's very vampiric but not really monstrous as she is always looking for love, community and belonging.

And in season two she feels so disconnected from book Claudia she almost feels like an original character, she was shown to be so smart in season one but they took that away in season two and made her naive for the coven...i dont know, this just upsets me because Louis, Lestat (without the domestic violence bs) and Armand all feel like such a great adaptation of their original characters with the same essence and core but Claudia is so different, she's not allowed to be really flawed, ""evil"" or be wrong/make mistakes without It being anyone else's fault (eg. she killed lestat in the book and she was wrong about him actually dead, and louis takes the blame for lestat not actually being dead in the show)

Sorry for that rant, i was just wondering If anyone felt the same way and i literally cannot share this opinion anywhere else because i would get rocks thrown at for not loving show claudia.

OMG. Lestat drinks from Jesus. Anne Rice really had chutzpa. On another note, it's interesting to that God created himans accidentally, as part of creating the world, and Memnoch is pissed off that God doesn't realize that humans are so much more than nature. I'm not sure I agree that humans are so much more than nature. But it's an interesting theory. Also I like how Anne Rice speculates that humans are really pissed off at God.

why does magnus look like that in the vampire lestat tv show? , all of the other vampire's look normal and have normal teeth so why does magnus look not as normal and have what look like medal teeth or both pointly teeth.

its probably because he is very old but armand is really old and he doesn't look like something out of hell.

so was it a desgin choice? or is he simlier looking to a famous tv /film classic vampire.

he must smell bad.

Hello,

I’m a show-only fan who tried to read IWTV but decided to stop reading because of the way the Claudia and Lestat relationship is described.

As someone who went through being sexualized as a young kid, the language made me too grossed out to continue with the book.

I enjoyed show Claudia’s character and I’m still drawn in by Lestat’s relationship with Louis (on the show —— in the book, Louis seems disgusted with Lestat)

The changes made to Louis and Lestat’s show characters drew me in. The acting and chemistry between the actors kept me watching.

Is there a way to read the books but skip the Claudia storyline / chapters?

I’m interested in Akasha and want to know more about Queen of the Damned, should I just start from there?

He looked up, was going to say something and then was "swept" by wind.

I always felt like Anne Rice initially planned to make lestat his killer but changed her mind when she decided to make lestat the main character.

I think that most fans on Reddit won’t care, but I loved Louis’ story. I fell in love with this show because of him. I wanted to understand him. I wanted to know if he would find out who he was, if he would find out the truth, and if he would reconcile with his existence.

I could spend forever examining all the tiny decisions and details that the writers put into this season in order to unravel Louis and erase his characterization, but I don’t have the energy to do it.

But I was thinking about how they revisited the church scene and why. Louis accepting the Dark Gift is one of the most beautiful and romantic moments in the entire series, and it is made fun of. This most certainly will be justified in the eyes of fans who say it is a result of Lestat feeling heartbroken by Louis’ book, but I think that Lestat’s perspective of Louis conveys a disdain far beyond heartbreak.

“Every room you enter, every hat you are forced to wear - the stern landlord, the differential businessman, the loyal son. All these roles you conform to, and none of them your true nature…be all the beautiful things that you are Louis, and be them without apology.”

When I think about this speech, I realize that The Vampire Lestat makes the argument that Louis is nothing more than the masks. The entirety of the season has Louis’ characterization as nothing more than a lying, capitalist, insane pimp. His love of opera and artistic interests are gone. His love of literature is gone. Even his connection to NOLA is portrayed as solely negative. The love and affection people had for him is portrayed as self-delusion. The series essentially makes the argument that Louis was never really beautiful and perhaps it was Lestat’s mistake in believing that he was. The couples in TVL seem to be forced together through the nefarious “vampire bond” - they do not even need to love each other because they see each other or even because they like each other. Jacob Anderson certainly has a magnetic and deeply loving presence. But if you strip away the strength of this cast and examine the script and its intentions, the whole thing becomes cynical and soulless.

If he had fans, they would wonder what he's up to now. or did they all come to believe "oh shit, he was/IS a vampire so makes sense he's hiding now". Does he just get over wanting the fame and attention and move on to being a prince?

Now that the season is over, and we know what is next in terms of season name, not sure if anyone has already posted this question, but, I’ll ask anyway: >!I was rewatching episode 1, trying to see if I could spot Lestat mannerisms in Raglan James knowing what I know about Body Thief, and idk if it’s wishful thinking, but it seems there were. Like the specific way he stood and walked away from the auction (once the first case had been incinerated, like to make sure) and the way he looked at Louis and Armand battling it out for the second box. So, is it safe to say that the swap already happened then?!<

Edit to add another question: did anyone else notice Louis’ eye color on auction scene? They looked icy blue to me, or at least much brighter.

I'm a bit confused about Lestat'd relationship to mortals. For context, I'm just finishing Body Thief. It seems at the beginning of the series, although he loves mortal culture, he is very into being a vampire. He finds Louis' not wanting to kill frustrating and loves that Claudia embraces her vampire self.

However, in VL, he becomes a rockstar because he wants to become visible in the mortal world and his ego is fed by the acclaim of the mortal world? And at the opening of Body Thief, he's feeling empty partly because he's invisible to the mortal world. He's still seeing Louis regularly and he could easily go hang out with Marius and maybe some of the other immortals but he just chooses to haunt David.

I know that Interview is told from Louis' point of view, but is that the only reason this feels inconsistent? Am I missing something?

And just a little side rant - >!how does he fall in love so often? Gretchen, David ... he's still in love with Louis ...!<

>!And why did AR have to write him as a rapist and burn down Louis shack? Really hard to care about him after that.!<

She's a vampire they are supposed to be unchanging. I can understand madness from brain overload after living long enough. What I don't understand is her mind decaying or her having little contact with humans. I also don't understand how she was even able to find akasha if she was mostly not there by the end of qotd time period. I know it was a set up to make lestat the host but I feel like Anne Rice had to break her own rules to do so.

This contains spoilers for the very beginning of the book and TV show interview of the vampire.

Why do you think Anne Rice made Louis a slave owner in the book? And do you think it's related to Louis being a pimp on the TV show? Does it have to do with Lestat dominating Louis' body?

I really enjoyed this book up until he was made a Vampire. It was still good, but all I kept thinking was how Petronia felt extraneous to the central narrative. Very odd for the sake of it, and not at all necessary. Honestly, much of the vampire stuff feels like an afterthought, as thought out as the framing device was.

I have two thoughts: one, this could have wrapped up differently and not been a VC. It is a really good Southern Gothic book without it.

Or two: I’d have had Manfred be his maker. Replace the attacks with Manfred and change the nature of the threat. Have Quinn convinced he is being attacked by a ghost before the reveal comes. Then, as his maker have him pull a Magnus. He is done with vampire life but chooses Quinn for immortality for some family based motive before he greets the sun/fire. This could have connected him more to Lestat on an emotional level.

I don’t know. The stuff with Goblin, Aunt Queen, Mona I found very good, and an engrossing coming of age tale with an intriguing mystery in the firm of Goblin. As written, I see why Rice before she died said this was skippable as a VC, but it really is a fabulous read.

Thoughts on this?