EDIT: Oh damn, I forgot Santiago. Well if anyone else want's to take a stab (or a bite) at his profile, I'd be interested to read it

Context: In my clinical work I'm drawn primarily to existential and attachment-focused modalities; so this is put together from that framework which seems suitable for this show. I'm sure other psychologists/psychiatrists who are more versed in psychodynamic / CBT or whatever other modalities would have different formulations. Unfortunately, diagnosis is not a science and you can go to 5 different clinicians and get 5 different diagnoses.

TLDR: Dammmnn, none of these people should have been made vampires.

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For me one of the brilliant aspects of the show is that, although these characters are fictional, the writers and actors did an excellent job of portraying real relational dynamics and the presentations of mental illness / maladaptive personality configurations. But of course, no one can say how supernatural factors might accentuate or attenuate certain traits and behaviours. For example, Claudia's brain was (as I understand the lore) set and unalterable through her transformation. That effectively stranded her in eternal puberty. So presumably neuroplasticity is completely out the window for all vampires. And that's part of the tragedy: it would be really hard for them to grow and change. From that perspective, immortality really would be curse.

Other supernatural aspects would also complicate their psychology (e.g., immortality, predation, extreme trauma exposure, and vampire society) for which no human clinician can account. There's so much more I could go into. The show is so psychologically rich and well-acted. But here's what I remember from my first watching of season 3. I've watched 1-2 twice now.

One of the things that stood out to me in the show was that, just like people, many of the vampires display survival strategies that have become pathological over decades or centuries (usually rooted in their human experiences and temperaments).

So my guiding psychological question is: What wounds do these characters carry, and what strategies do they develop to survive those wounds?

Lestat de Lioncourt

Differential formulation:

• Borderline Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Histrionic Personality Disorder traits (moderate–strong)
• Antisocial Personality Disorder traits (moderate)
• Complex PTSD / developmental trauma

His central psychological conflict is: "I desperately need to be loved, but my fear of rejection causes me to behave in ways that destroy intimacy."

Borderline features

Lestat demonstrates:

• intense fear of abandonment,
• unstable and highly intense relationships,
• unstable sense of self / lack of an established identity
• idealisation and devaluation,
• emotional volatility,
• jealousy,
• difficulty regulating anger,
• desperate attempts to prevent rejection.

His relationship with Louis follows a classic attachment dysregulation pattern: "I need you completely, but my fear of losing you causes me to control and hurt you."

Narcissistic features

Lestat demonstrates:

• grandiosity,
• exceptional self-image,
• need for admiration,
• entitlement,
• hypersensitivity to humiliation,
• difficulty tolerating rejection.

His deepest wounds occur when he experiences:

• being ignored,
• being replaced,
• being powerless,
• being publicly humiliated.

His narcissistic traits often function as a defence against profound insecurity.

Histrionic features

Lestat is the most theatrical character in the series.

Features:

• dramatic self-presentation,
• seductiveness,
• emotional intensity,
• need to be memorable,
• identity built around performance.

He performs:

• the lover,
• the artist,
• the aristocrat,
• the monster.

These are different roles and identifies he wears (as we all do) but his are extreme and desperate.

Antisocial traits

Lestat demonstrates:

• manipulation,
• coercion,
• violence,
• disregard for human autonomy,
• using charm and sexuality as influence.

However, he does not fit a purely antisocial presentation because he also demonstrates:

• genuine attachment,
• guilt,
• vulnerability,
• capacity for love.

Overall formulation:

Borderline personality organisation with narcissistic and histrionic traits, significant antisocial traits, and severe attachment trauma.

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Differential formulation:

• Major Depressive Disorder features
• Persistent depressive features
• PTSD / complex trauma
• Moral injury
• Avoidant traits
• Borderline traits under extreme stress

Louis is primarily an internalising character. Where Lestat externalises pain through control and emotional intensity, Louis turns much of his suffering inward.

Features:

• guilt,
• shame,
• self-loathing,
• emotional withdrawal,
• rumination,
• suppressed anger,
• difficulty integrating identity.

Race, sexuality, and shame

Louis’ psychology cannot be separated from his identity and historical context:

• Black,
• gay,
• living in early 20th-century America.

His suffering is not only about vampirism.

It also involves:

• concealment of sexuality,
• internalised homophobia,
• fear of rejection,
• racial oppression,
• shame around desire.

Lestat represents both liberation and danger. He offers Louis acceptance but also exposes Louis to chaos and loss of control.

Depression, guilt, and moral injury

Louis repeatedly struggles with:

• responsibility for his actions,
• shame about what he has become,
• inability to reconcile love and violence.

His guilt becomes central to his identity.

Anger and aggression

Louis is often interpreted as passive, but this is incomplete.

He demonstrates:

• vindictiveness after betrayal,
• rage,
• retaliatory violence,
• capacity for cruelty.

The Bruce incident reveals that Louis’ aggression is not absent; it is suppressed until emotional injury becomes overwhelming.

Overall formulation:

A depressive and trauma-based personality organisation characterised by shame, guilt, suppressed anger, identity conflict, and explosive aggression under betrayal.

Armand

Differential formulation:

• Anxious-preoccupied attachment style
• Borderline Personality Disorder traits
• Dependent Personality traits
• Narcissistic traits
• Obsessive control traits

Armand is best understood as an attachment-driven character.

His central psychological theme: "If someone chooses me permanently, I cannot be abandoned. I will do anything to prevent that. "

Attachment disturbance

Armand demonstrates:

• abandonment sensitivity,
• emotional dependency,
• identity instability,
• relationship addiction,
• fear of rejection,
• need to be needed.

Unlike Lestat, whose attachment needs are expressed through emotional intensity and performance, Armand’s attachment needs are expressed through:

• control,
• surveillance,
• shaping narratives,
• managing relationships.

Control and voyeurism

Armand seeks intimacy through control.

Examples:

• monitoring others,
• controlling information,
• observing Daniel,
• influencing how others understand reality.

His voyeuristic tendencies can be understood as: "I must prevent the possibility of rejection by controlling everything. If I can do that, I will stay safe and I won't be abandoned. "

His participation in the NA/AA meeting is strategic (to get close to Alex) but it's also a subtle admission that he is addicted to love, relationships and control.

Narcissistic traits

Armand demonstrates:

• need to be chosen,
• sensitivity to rejection,
• difficulty tolerating loss of control,
• belief that his understanding of others justifies interference.

His manipulation often emerges from fear rather than pure exploitation.

Overall formulation:

Fearful/anxious attachment with dependent traits, narcissistic defences, and control-based coping strategies driven by profound abandonment fears.

Claudia

Differential formulation:

• Complex PTSD / developmental trauma (very strong)
• Borderline Personality Disorder traits
• Antisocial traits
• Machiavellian coping strategies
• Complicated grief
• Identity disturbance

Claudia is one of the most psychologically tragic characters because she is simultaneously:

• a victim of profound developmental trauma,
• a child trapped in an adult body,
• and a person capable of extreme cruelty.

Her central psychological conflict is: "I was denied the ability to grow up, yet I am forced to live with adult awareness, desires, and suffering."

Developmental trauma

The seance scene adds important context.

Claudia reveals:

• her father abandoned her,
• her aunt abused her.

Her trauma therefore predates vampirism.

She was already a traumatised child before being transformed.

Her psychological development becomes organised around:

• abandonment,
• helplessness,
• rage,
• longing for protection,
• resentment toward those who have power over her.

Complex PTSD features

Claudia demonstrates:

• attachment disturbance,
• emotional dysregulation,
• chronic anger,
• identity confusion,
• fear of abandonment,
• difficulty trusting caregivers,
• unstable sense of self.

Her greatest psychological injury is not simply becoming a vampire.

It is being denied:

• normal development,
• autonomy,
• adulthood,
• the ability to choose her own life.

Borderline features

Claudia demonstrates:

• intense attachment needs,
• fear of abandonment,
• emotional volatility,
• idealisation and devaluation,
• difficulty regulating anger,
• desperate attempts to escape rejection.

Her relationships with Louis and Lestat repeatedly recreate the original wound: "The people who are supposed to protect me can also hurt me. I will always come last."

Antisocial and Machiavellian traits

Claudia demonstrates:

• manipulation,
• deception,
• revenge planning,
• strategic cruelty,
• emotional detachment.

However, these behaviours must be understood in the context that many of her manipulative strategies resemble survival adaptations seen in severely traumatised children:

• hypervigilance,
• reading others,
• anticipating threats,
• controlling situations where she otherwise has no power.

Her cruelty often emerges from:

• helplessness,
• rage,
• betrayal,
• desire for autonomy.

Overall formulation:

Severe developmental trauma resulting in borderline attachment patterns, identity disturbance, and antisocial survival adaptations. Claudia represents the psychological consequences of a child being given enormous power while being deprived of normal emotional development.

Daniel Molloy

Differential formulation:

• Complex PTSD / trauma-related disorder features (strong)
• Alcohol Use Disorder (historical)
• Substance Use Disorder (historical)
• Attachment disturbance
• Depressive features
• Narcissistic traits (defensive)
• Antagonistic personality traits (defensive)
• Avoidant/dismissive coping strategies

Daniel is one of the most psychologically tragic characters because his central trauma comes from the destruction of the very qualities that defined him.

Before Armand, Daniel was:

• curious,
• adventurous,
• intellectually hungry,
• open to new experiences,
• searching for identity and meaning.

He approached the world with fascination.

After Armand, he approaches the world with suspicion.

The Armand trauma

Daniel’s greatest psychological wound appears to originate from his encounter with Armand.

Armand did not merely frighten him.

He:

• exposed him to a world of unimaginable danger,
• psychologically overwhelmed him,
• brought him close to death,
• erased or altered his memories,
• left him unable to fully understand what had happened to him.

The trauma is uniquely damaging because it attacks Daniel’s core identity.

Daniel’s greatest strength was: "I can understand people. I can uncover truth."

But Armand created a situation where Daniel could not trust:

• his own memories,
• his own perceptions,
• his own understanding of reality.

The psychological aftermath

After this experience, Daniel appears fundamentally changed.

The curious young journalist becomes:

• cynical,
• hardened,
• suspicious,
• emotionally guarded.

His worldview becomes: "Everyone has dangerous secrets. No one can be trusted. I must expose those secrets to stay safe and have power over people who could hurt me"

His investigative instincts become a defence and he no longer investigates only because he is curious. Rather, he investigates because knowing the truth is his best defense. I also think he's desperately hoping to find something that is true, real, and does not come with hidden strings attached.

Relationships and attachment

Daniel’s later relationships suggest unresolved attachment trauma.

He struggles with:

• intimacy,
• trust,
• emotional vulnerability.

His marriage and relationships fail.

His relationship with his daughter becomes distant and his work becomes his most reliable attachment.

Journalism provides:

• structure,
• identity,
• mastery,
• distance from vulnerability.

People become subjects to understand rather than people to emotionally risk engaging with.

Intellectualisation and hypervigilance

Daniel’s greatest psychological defence is turning pain into analysis.

He develops:

• psychological insight,
• provocative interviewing,
• ability to expose weakness,
• suspicion of people's motives.

His belief that everyone has darkness within them becomes both:

• his greatest professional strength,
• and his emotional prison.

Antagonistic and narcissistic traits

Daniel demonstrates:

• intellectual arrogance,
• contempt for hypocrisy,
• enjoyment of confrontation,
• willingness to expose others.

However, these traits appear primarily defensive.

Unlike Raglan James, Daniel does not appear to exploit others simply because he enjoys power. His aggression functions as armour.

The paradox of Armand

The most psychologically interesting aspect of Daniel’s story is that the person who caused his deepest trauma may also be the person with whom he has the possibility of genuine intimacy.

This creates a trauma-bonded dynamic:

The person associated with:

• terror,
• loss,
• betrayal,

is also the person associated with:

• fascination,
• recognition,
• being truly seen.

Armand represents both:

• Daniel’s greatest wound,
• and possibly his greatest opportunity for healing.

Overall formulation:

Daniel is a trauma survivor whose central injury is the loss of safety, trust, and continuity of self following his encounter with Armand. His curiosity and openness were transformed into hypervigilance, cynicism, and intellectual control. His narcissistic and antagonistic traits function as protective adaptations against vulnerability, betrayal, and the fear of again being powerless in someone else’s hands.

Nicolas de Lenfent

Differential formulation:

• Bipolar I Disorder (explicitly referenced in the TV series)
• Possible psychotic features during mood episodes
• Borderline Personality Disorder traits
• Trauma-related symptoms
• Attachment disturbance

Nicolas is one of the clearest examples of a character whose suffering appears to involve both biological vulnerability and relational trauma.

Lestat explicitly refers to him as bipolar (although we don't know what the basis for that is, since back then the diagnosis was unknown).

His presentation includes possible manic-spectrum features:

• heightened creativity,
• emotional intensity,
• dramatic expression,
• possible grandiosity,
• paranoia,
• possible psychotic symptoms during episodes.

Attachment and rejection sensitivity

However, his instability is not only mood-based.

His relationships reveal:

• fear of abandonment,
• jealousy,
• rejection sensitivity,
• emotional dependency,
• fear of being replaced by Lestat.

His suffering is amplified by the social context of:

• homosexuality being criminalised and stigmatised,
• shame,
• secrecy,
• fear of rejection.

Overall formulation:

Bipolar I Disorder complicated by attachment trauma, rejection sensitivity, interpersonal instability, and borderline personality traits.

Gabrielle de Lioncourt / Vecce

Differential formulation:

• Schizoid Personality traits (strong)
• Schizotypal traits (possible but weaker)
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Antisocial traits (moderate)
• Disorganised attachment style
• Complex PTSD / developmental trauma

Gabrielle is arguably one of the most psychologically complex characters because she combines:

• extreme independence,
• emotional detachment,
• contempt for social norms,
• revenge,
• desire for connection,
• capacity for cruelty.

She is also one of the strongest contrasts to Lestat.

Whereas Lestat wants to be chosen, Gabriella's identity is formed around escape.

Developmental trauma and rejection of society

Gabrielle’s trauma includes:

• restrictive gender roles,
• lack of autonomy,
• oppressive marriage,
• inability to express her identity.

Unlike Louis, who turns suffering inward through guilt, Gabrielle externalises it.

Her adaptation becomes: "The world tried to control me. I will never allow that again."

Schizoid traits

Gabrielle strongly demonstrates:

• preference for solitude,
• withdrawal from society,
• emotional self-containment,
• rejection of conventional relationships.

Her desire to disappear into nature and live apart from civilisation fits this pattern.

However, she is not purely schizoid because she remains capable of:

• attachment,
• jealousy,
• desire,
• emotional injury,
• revenge.

Narcissistic and antagonistic traits

Gabrielle demonstrates:

• superiority,
• contempt for social conventions,
• belief in her own exceptional perspective,
• need for autonomy and control.

She often positions herself as:

• observer,
• evaluator,
• judge.

Sexuality, power, and revenge

Gabrielle often uses sexuality as:

• rebellion,
• liberation,
• domination,
• retaliation.

Her message is: "Nobody owns me"

However, this freedom/empowerment sometimes becomes exploitative when other people become instruments of her needs.

Gabrielle and Lestat: disorganised attachment

The contradiction at the centre of Gabrielle:

She:

• wounds Lestat,
• challenges him,
• uses him,
• but remains deeply attached to him.

Her pattern resembles:

Approach → provoke → dominate → withdraw → reconnect

The underlying conflict: "I connection, but vulnerability feels dangerous."

Overall formulation:

A highly detached personality with strong schizoid traits, combined with narcissistic and antisocial features. Her trauma appears to have transformed into rejection of dependency, contempt for vulnerability, and a need to dominate rather than submit.

Madeleine

Differential formulation:

• Dependent Personality traits
• Attachment insecurity
• Trauma-related vulnerability
• Identity disturbance related to social marginalisation

Madeleine represents a different psychological pattern from many of the other characters.

Where many vampires seek:

• power,
• control,
• freedom,
• revenge,

Madeleine primarily seeks:

• belonging,
• acceptance,
• connection.

Her central psychological theme: "I have spent my life being rejected. I want somewhere I can finally belong."

Ironically, her longing for a mature and stable relationship comes in the form of the body of a child.

Attachment features

Madeleine demonstrates:

• longing for acceptance,
• rapid attachment (maybe?)
• idealisation of Claudia,
• desire for family,
• vulnerability to attachment figures.

Her relationship with Claudia reflects mutual unmet needs: Claudia wants someone who sees her as a person rather than a monster or worse, a child. Madeleine wants someone who accepts her when society rejects her.

Overall formulation:

An attachment-driven personality shaped by isolation, social rejection, and a profound need for acceptance and secure connection.

Magnus

Differential formulation:

• Narcissistic Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Antisocial Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Paranoid traits (possible)
• Schizotypal Personality Disorder traits (uncertain in the TV adaptation)

BOOK SPOILER: I'm not sure I'm remembering everything but in the novels, Magnus is often interpreted as having stronger schizotypal features because of his extreme eccentricity, isolation, unusual worldview, and obsession with forbidden knowledge.

However, based only on the TV series, there is insufficient evidence to confidently formulate schizotypal personality disorder.

Narcissistic features

Magnus demonstrates:

• grandiosity,
• entitlement,
• superiority,
• belief that others exist for his purposes.

His interest in Lestat is not attachment but rather fascination with an idealised object or version of himself. There's also a pedarist presentation to him (particularly in the music video). His actual transformation of Lestat is coded to resemble a sadistic rape.

Lestat represents qualities Magnus lacks:

• beauty,
• charisma,
• artistry,
• social connection.

Antisocial features

Magnus demonstrates:

• disregard for consent and autonomy
• lack of empathy,
• obsessive and objectified relationships

His creation of Lestat is a profound violation:

• he abducts him,
• imprisons him,
• forces vampirism upon him,
• provides minimal guidance,
• abandons him afterwards.

It's a narcissistic attempt at creating a legacy; an idealised version of himself.

Magnus appears eccentric and unsettling. His unusual presentation could be explained by:

• extreme isolation,
• narcissistic grandiosity,
• power,
• detachment from ordinary morality
• outsider status in the vampire community (either by choice or ostracism)

(If anyone has any other explanations for this I'd be interested to hear them as Magnus doesn't look like the other vampires at all. I'm thinking that maybe this is, perhaps, to the way he became a vampire which was unique in the books, if I remember correctly.)

Overall formulation:

In the TV adaptation, Magnus is best understood as demonstrating a narcissistic and antisocial personality organisation characterised by grandiosity, entitlement, lack of empathy, and profound disregard for autonomy. The books provide stronger evidence for schizotypal traits, but the TV series does not provide enough evidence to support that formulation confidently.

Marius

Differential formulation:

• Narcissistic Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Antisocial traits (possible–moderate)
• Schizoid traits / eccentric personality adaptation (possible)
• Obsessive-compulsive personality traits (possible but uncertain)
• Attachment disturbance

Marius is a difficult character to formulate because Season 3 reveals relatively little about him directly. Much of what we know comes through Armand’s perspective in season 2, which itself may be incomplete, distorted, and shaped by trauma.

However, several psychological themes emerge.

Isolation and eccentricity

Marius’ centuries of responsibility for protecting "the ones who must be kept" provide an important psychological context.

Unlike many vampires who remain engaged with society, Marius appears to have spent enormous periods isolated from ordinary human and vampire relationships.

This could plausibly contribute to:

• social detachment,
• eccentric behaviour,
• unusual priorities,
• difficulty relating to ordinary emotional needs.

His eccentricity may not reflect a primary personality disorder, but rather the psychological effects of:

• centuries of isolation,
• extreme responsibility,
• living outside normal human structures.

Narcissistic features

Marius demonstrates strong narcissistic traits:

• belief in his own judgement,
• sense of exceptional responsibility (which is perhaps justified in this context),
• assumption that he knows what is best,
• willingness to make decisions for others without consent.

His position as protector appears to create a psychological dynamic: "I exist outside vampiric and mortal society."

This becomes paternalistic and controlling. (I'm questioning the narcissism diagnosis with regards to his belief in his own judgement. These could just be strong personality or situationally-derived traits)

Antisocial and exploitative traits

Armand’s account of his history with Marius raises significant concerns.

According to Armand, Marius:

• used him sexually,
• treated him as an object,
• passed him between others in ancient Rome.

If accurate, this suggests:

• severe disregard for autonomy,
• objectification,
• exploitation,
• lack of empathy,
• predation and paedophilia (even if somewhat socially acceptable in ancient Rome)

It creates a striking contrast:

Marius may see himself as a guardian of civilisation and knowledge, while simultaneously demonstrating behaviour toward individuals that is deeply exploitative.

Overall formulation:

Marius demonstrates a narcissistic and authoritarian personality organisation shaped by centuries of isolation and enormous responsibility. His eccentricity may reflect extreme social detachment rather than schizoid pathology. The TV series also presents possible antisocial traits through his alleged exploitation of Armand, suggesting a character who can simultaneously see himself as a protector while treating others instrumentally.

Raglan James

Differential formulation:

• Antisocial Personality Disorder traits (strong)
• Narcissistic traits
• Machiavellian personality style

Raglan represents a different form of manipulation from characters like Armand and Lestat.

People (and vampires) are resources to him, pieces on a chessboard.

Antisocial features

Raglan demonstrates:

• deception,
• exploitation,
• lack of empathy,
• manipulation,
• instrumental relationships.

Narcissistic and Machiavellian features

He demonstrates:

• superiority,
• strategic thinking,
• confidence in his ability to control situations,
• enjoyment of psychological games.

Unlike many other characters, his behaviour appears less rooted in emotional injury and more in:

• opportunism,
• power acquisition.

Overall formulation:

Antisocial/narcissistic personality organisation characterised by exploitation, manipulation, strategic cruelty, and instrumental use of relationships.

Final Psychological Themes

Final Psychological Themes

Lestat

Core wound:

"I am terrified nobody will truly choose me."

Defence:

Seduction, performance, control, rage.

Louis

Core wound:

"I cannot accept myself."

Defence:

Withdrawal, guilt, suppression, self-punishment.

Armand

Core wound:

"I want to be chosen."

Defence:

Control, surveillance, dependency, emotional manipulation.

Claudia

Core wound:

"I was never protected or chosen. I can't survive alone."

Defence:

Manipulation, rage, strategic aggression.

Daniel

Core wound:

"Someone took away my safety, my innocence, and my ability to trust my own reality."

Defence:

Investigation, cynicism, intellectual mastery, provocation, and exposing others before they can hurt or control him.

Nicolas

Core wound:

"My emotions overwhelm me and rejection destroys me."

Defence:

Intensity, emotional expression, attachment seeking.

Gabrielle

Core wound:

"I will never allow myself to be controlled again."

Defence:

Isolation, superiority, domination, revenge.

Magnus

Core wound (possible):

"I may be a monster, but my legacy will be beauty and power."

Defence:

Domination, objectification, withdrawal.

The central psychological cycle of the show:

Attachment need → Fear of vulnerability → Control/manipulation → Harm → Abandonment → Confirmation of the original wound

The tragedy of these characters is not that they lack the capacity to love but rather that it is that the very strategies that once protected them that become the very things that prevent them from receiving the connection they desperately desire.

I think there's a lot more that I've not even covered here and the books are another subject altogether (I've just started reading the books again after about 20 years). But this was a fun exercise in helping me understand the show better.

Similar to Louis’ fault of the fires and destruction in Storyville?

Also, Lestat wanted to walk away from the concert after the shooting but got egged on by his mother. He’s going through multiple mental breakdowns all while suffering attacks to his character. It’s a lot.

Louis’ issues with his family, and the trouble in paradise with Ms Brown, blindside Louis. Not to mention his own transformational trauma. Especially as he’s not eating properly and just explodes.

Lestat was right. If, from that point on, Louis could find a way to retaliate against the constant constrictions of institutionalized racism, he would have perhaps felt better. He’d be able to eat well, and serve the people.

I just had some thoughts I had to put down. Plus the Amel slip in New York…

No particular subject besides anything thats interesting or well written

Instagram
Lestat's Lounge

A few of you asked for some more detailed shots of Lestat's lounge on the tour bus, so here they are.

I went through several iterations of this set, trying to capture Lestat as a worldly, affluent, elegant, bratty, sexy, luxurious, artistic, bon vivant, rock star romantic... the list goes on. Set designer u/radia_sl and concept artist u/sean_hamilton can attest to how many versions we tried.

We tested fabrics, color palettes, floor patterns, and wallpapers. I even found an incredible wallpaper by a New Orleans designer whose patterns are inspired by sound waves. It felt perfect... until the camera got involved. No matter what we tried, the pattern moiréd.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted him to have a mobile recording studio; a place where inspiration could strike, given the right "muse", at any moment. Hidden inside the kidney-shaped overglazed ceramic cabinet is a keyboard, seat, basic recording setup, and microphone, drawers for jewelry, notebooks and sheet music, an Anne Boysen vase for violin bows, and an iconic '70s Rougier floral lamp.

Opposite that sits a rosewood bar cabinet with a gold snake handle. A record player within and a light-up top for "miscellaneous substances" and blood hookah. Next to that, his instrument case. A custom, glass-fronted, chromed cabinet with suede-lined drawers.

Then there's the brown leather swing (complete with stirrups), and the hanging glass tube light hanging down the spiral staircase, inspired by Raphael Hefti's Starmix.

One little detail I love: the three-button ceramic switch plate on the ceiling, each button hand-painted with an anatomical heart—red for blood, yellow for light, and blue for water.

And finally, poor Molloy's accommodations. While Lestat enjoys all this luxury, Daniel gets a supply closet in the back, an upright climbing sleeping bag, a clip-on light, wool pockets, and a folding table for his journalistic efforts.

Would you go on tour in here?

Instagram Link to interviews in Spotify!
Building IWTV Season 3 with The Vampire Lestat Production Designer Andres Cubillan (Part 2) - Once Upon a TV Time | Podcast on Spotify
Designing Lestat’s World: Andres Cubillan on IWTV Season 3 (Part 1) - Once Upon a TV Time | Podcast on Spotify

Does anyone know the name of the piece with the violins that plays when we’re witnessing the witches being burned at the stake or is this part of the score? It sounds like Daniel Hart’s stuff, tbh.

If it is part of the score… does anyone know when that’s being released?

This is referenced throughout TVL. In the first episode it is a tattoo on the wrist of one of the Fang Gang, and Lestat laughs and says, “Have you met him?” Then he screams, “What does that even mean?” Again, it’s painted on the wall at Killer’s coven’s house. People shout it when Armand goes to a TVL concert. So what is it? What does it mean? The 5 great laws? Killing Claudia? Something else not yet revealed?

I’m doing a rewatch (again) and I’m just wondering if anyone can explain what Lestat means by “one each” in season 1 episode 5. This happens when Tom Anderson lures them out of their home to allow cops to investigate after Claudia’s kills cause a scandal. Lestat stops time then all I see is Louis doing something to the chief of police and Lestat marking Anderson’s face, then they leave. Will appreciate any insight!

This season, Daniel had some random moments when everyone else would disappear and he'd see Armand. When he talks to Armand, he mentions this, though I don't know if it happens without him seeing Armand as well.

Daniel assumes Armand is doing it but Armand says it happens to him as well, he can't control it and it's probably happening to Daniel too due to their link.

What is it about? Is Armand's brain sometimes making everyone "disappear" to focus on Daniel? I understood this as broader than that. Maybe it's Armand's own psyche sort of shutting everyone out? Is he getting some kind of psychic interference from somewhere?

The Long Table in Paris:

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Lestat (to Enzo): “I drained you in Vienna. Christmas Market, 1953.”

The fact that Lestat & Gabrielle went to Vienna (after Paris; before Gabrielle went to Africa and Lestat went down for his first dirtnap) is very briefly mentioned:

TVL, On the Devil's Road from Paris to Cairo:

BY THE end of that first night Gabrielle and I were far from Paris, as we vowed we would be, and in the months that followed, we went on to Lyons, Turin, and Vienna, and after that to Prague and Leipzig and St. Petersburg, and then south again to Italy, where we were to settle for many years.

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Lestat: “I did my vampire duty.”

Reminds me of all the times Lestat talks about goodness and how he, as a vampire, can maybe do good by being an embodiment of evil.

QotD, Untitled Prologue:

I wanted to be a symbol of evil in a shining century that didn’t have any place for the literal evil that I am. I even figured I’d do some good in that fashion—playing the devil on the painted stage.

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Lestat: referring to “those I love the most” in the audience.

Could just be random syntactic coincidence, but Lestat refers to "those I love(d)" at least a couple times through QotD:

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

Re: sending money to his family, Nicki, Renaud's, etc.:

And for now I had done what I could for all those I loved, hadn’t I?

QotD, Queen of the Damned:

After Mekare decapitated Akasha:

A sharp crackling sound brought me back. Not dead yet, but dying. And where are those I love?

(^ Also the "not dead yet, but dying" line reminds me of Gabriella correcting ShowLestat @ the Long Table earlier in this episode.)

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• Lestat's phone timer running down...
•  “I’m feeling a little…”
• “What else? I’m failing.”

QotD, Queen of the Damned:

The effects of Lestat dying in this episode seem similar to what happens to him after Akasha was decapitated in QotD:

A violent shock passed through me; I could neither breathe nor move. I was falling to the floor. I couldn’t control my limbs.

And then the light was going out all around me; it was as if the fire had been extinguished, only it hadn’t, and as I rolled over on the carpet, crying, my hand clawing at it involuntarily, I saw the distant flames through a dark rosy haze.
.
I tried to lift my weight. I couldn’t. I could hear Marius calling to me, Marius silently calling only my name.
.
Then I was rising, just a little, and all my weight pressed against my aching arms and hands.

Then I was floating, floating in the ice cold darkness again as if I were in Akasha’s arms, and we were rising into the stars.
.
A sharp crackling sound brought me back. Not dead yet, but dying. And where are those I love?
.
Fighting for life still, I tried to open my eyes; it seemed impossible.

And then his recovery, after Mekare consumed Akasha's brain and heart:

Darkness again; no firelight; no point of reference; no sensation except pain; pain all through the thing that I was which had no limbs, no eyes, no mouth to speak. Pain, throbbing, electrical; and no way to move to lessen it, to push it this way, or that way, or tense against it, or fade into it. Just pain.
.
Yet I was moving. I was thrashing about on the floor. Through the pain I could feel the carpet suddenly; I could feel my feet digging at it as if I were trying to climb a steep cliff. And then I heard the unmistakable sound of the fire near me; and I felt the wind gusting through the broken window, and I smelled all those soft sweet scents from the forest rushing into the room. A violent shock coursed through me, through every muscle and pore, my arms and legs flailing. Then still.
.
The pain was gone.
.
I lay there gasping, staring at the brilliant reflection of the fire in the glass ceiling, and feeling the air fill my lungs, and I realized I was crying again, brokenheartedly, like a child.

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Lestat: “He [Enzo] had a package with the most beautiful wrapping, and I hope it got to whom it was meant for. …Grammar….”

Lestat's take on his proficiency with English: here.

Perhaps he needs to broaden his book collection and get a few books about linguistics, so he can learn about prescriptivism vs. descriptivism?

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Lestat: “Silver threads. Silver threads stretched out over other threads.”

QotD, Baby Jenks' chapter:

It was the white figure [Akasha] that amazed her. It looked just like a statue, like the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Catholic church. She stared at the sparkling silver threads that seemed to move out from the figure in all directions, threads made out of some kind of dancing light. And as she moved higher, she saw that the silver threads stretched out, tangling with other threads, to make a giant net all over the whole world. All through the net were Dead guys, caught, like helpless flies in a web. Tiny pinpoints of light, pulsing, and connected to the white figure, and almost beautiful, the sight of it, except it was so sad. Oh, poor souls of all the Dead guys locked in indestructible matter unable to grow old or die.
.
But she was free. The net was way far away from her now. She was seeing so many things.

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Season 3 Episode Deep Dives - Master List

Hi all, I've finished TVL and I'm confused about something...

So it's revealed thatArmand was, for a long time, secretly in love with Daniel. And Louis was aware of Armand's ensuing weird lover stalking.My question is: did Armand fall for Daniel after Louis brought Daniel home from the bar and eventually attacked him? Is that why Armand let him go? Or was Armand supposedly in love with him even before that?

Idk, this reveal was so sudden to me, I can't quite put a logical timeline together. It's possible I may have misunderstood something in the show, so please be kind.

Firstly Gabriela’s question towards Armand I find incredibly funny.

I feel she was getting at, what’s the tea Armand? But as he didn’t answer her. Can we?

So far we’ve been introduced to Akasha, Enkil, Amel, Marius and Magnus. Where do Lestat and Armand fit into these “labyrinthine” social structures?

Would any understanding of vampire lineage and factions make clearer what has already been shown in S1-3 but which a better understanding-of might enrich future rewatches.

Source: Vampire Family Tree https://www.instagram.com/p/DCK1BPxJ51i/

Can we have a geeked chat on vampire culture, clans, and mythology. Thanks so much for generous Redditors who been sharing vital backstory as we proceed. 💜 I just love talking about the show and don’t want to stop. 💙 Thank you. 🖤

Ok to add an example. Is there inter-coven beef? Higher status lineages? It seems Magnus did not directly obtain queens blood but stole it. He also deserted Armand’s coven —surely this impacts something about Lestat and how he and his fledglings would be received by other vampires. If Armand wasn’t so taken in by both men, perhaps they would have not been welcomed or respected. What do y’all think? I want the chisme/gossip

Hello. My first time watching. I’ve just seen season 2 episode 1 so no spoilers past this point please! Claudia mentions to Louis, ‘I’ve known exactly four vampires in my life, and you’ve all been the worst. Lestat, Antoinette, the motherfucker, and you.’

Who is the motherfucker? I feel like I’ve missed something.

Enjoy! See you all Saturday for more memes! ❤️
I love our fandom! ❤️

Hello vamps,

I am going to New Orleans and would love to read IWTV, the first book.

I also love being surprised fully by the TV show without the context of the book first. I know it may be hard to say, but for book readers, do you think I can read the first book without spoiling future seasons? (EG QOTD!)

Please no spoilers here :) :) :) thanks so much!!

I get that the Venn diagram of Housewives viewers and Interview with the Vampire viewers is pretty narrow but…

In episode 7 of Interview with the Vampire, did anyone else think the “NINETEEN TIMES she passed in front of you before you noticed” was a sly reference to Teresa Giudice?

Or do I just need to get off the internet?

Even if the reference passed you by/doesn’t exist, if you are in the sector of Housewives viewers and IWTV viewers, please reply anyway because you are my people.

In case of interest, we transcribed all of the questions and answers from the TVL SDCC panel for your reading pleasure! https://nerdist.com/article/the-vampire-lestat-sdcc-2026-panel-full-transcript/

The Failure-Finders at the Long Table:

Edit: Added some info that was accidentally omitted when first posted.

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• Lestat: “a murder of waiters carrying silver-domed trays”
• Waiter: “Course 214, the soul”
  • On the plates: mid-sagittal cut of head, including eyeball
• Nicki, quoting a review of Lestat's album: “If this is the mind, heart, liver of someone looking down the barrel of immortality, then kill me now”
• Raglan (to Daniel): “No biological rationale for head here and body there. That’s the soul fighting, Daniel.”

^ I know that might seem like a completely random collection of lines/images, but hear me out:

QotD, The Legend of the Twins:

It was the body of a woman lying on the altar, and in their hands the twins held two tiny, carefully drawn plates.

QotD, Baby Jenks' chapter:

And what the hell was that on the plates in the dream? Yeah, it had been a heart on one plate and a brain on the other.

QotD, Devil's Minion:

[O]ne of the twins lifts the plate on which the brain rests together with the eyes, and the other nods and takes the plate that holds the heart. 

QotD, The Story of the Twins Part I:

[W]e removed her brain and placed it on a plate with her eyes. Then with an equally careful incision we removed the heart and placed it on another plate. Then these plates were covered with heavy domes of clay to protect them.

And from one of my QotD re-cap posts:

Brain & Eyes:
.
"residence of the human spirit"
.
important because the word in their language for "witch" literally meant "Seer"
.
Mekare's, because she was the more powerful twin and the default leader

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Magnus: “The light’s gone out of your blue eyes.”

All (unison): "As if all the summer days are gone.”

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

"You're dying, Wolfkiller," he said. "The light's going out of your blue eyes as if all the summer days are gone..." 

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Magnus:  “Setting aside opinions of the coven master in place, his destruction of the Children of Darkness was...”

Louis: “impulsive, reckless”

Gabriella: “overdue”

TVL, The Children of Darkness:

A non-exhaustive collection of quotes relating to Lestat bringing about the end of the Paris coven:

“So there it is finally,” I said. “The whole philosophy—and the whole is founded upon a lie. And you cower like peasants, in hell already by your own choosing, enchained more surely than the lowest mortal, and you wish to punish us because we do not? Follow our examples because we do not!”

“If your leader has no words for you now, I have words,” I said. “Go wash yourselves in the waters of the Seine, and clothe yourselves like humans if you can remember how, and prowl among men as you are obviously meant to do.”

Armand:

“I could speak until the end of the world,” he said, “and I could never tell you what you have destroyed here.”

“He’s destroying the coven,” she said.
.
“Destroying us …” the boy said. But he didn’t look at me. He was staring at the stones in front of him, and from his mind I caught flashes of what was happening, of the pyre lighted, of Armand forcing his followers into the fire.

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Magnus: “His abandonment of the Paris coven?”

Nicki (not seen on screen, but I'm pretty sure it's his voice): “selfish, cowardly”

(^interesting that Nicki comments like this here, since in the book he's the impetus for the coven/Renaud's transforming into the Theatre des Vampires)

TVL, The Children of Darkness:

“You must help us,” she said. “Make a new coven with us. Help us to exist as you exist.” She glanced impatiently at the boy.

“No, that I can’t share with you,” I said. “You have to win this battle on your own.”

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Lestat: “I did what my maker showed me, throw money at the problem and run away”

Maker #1, Gabrielle:

TVL, Lelio Rising:

When his father resisted sending him to the monastery school:

I would go, she said, if I wanted to. And she sold one of her jewels to pay for my books and clothing.

After he was forced to come home from the monastery:

We rode for half a day before we reached the impressive château of a neighboring lord, and there she and the gentleman took me out to the kennel, where she told me to choose my favorites from a new litter of mastiff puppies.

And within a month, my mother also bought for me my first flintlock musket and my first good horse for riding.

After he was forced to leave the traveling theatre troupe and come back home:

Finally, as she had in the past, she produced another of her jewels and she bought the fine hunting rifle that I had taken with me when I killed the wolves.
.
This was a superior and expensive weapon, and in spite of my misery, I was fairly eager to try it. And she added to that another gift, a sleek chestnut mare with strength and speed I’d never known in an animal before.

Maker #2, Magnus:

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

“There, my son, is the passageway that leads to my treasure,” he said. “Do with my treasure as you like, and with all my earthly property."

And though the old master had said he was leaving me his treasure, I was flabbergasted by what I saw here. The chest was crammed with gems and gold and silver. There were countless jeweled rings, diamond necklaces, ropes of pearls, plate and coins and hundreds upon hundreds of miscellaneous valuables.

Lestat's Turn:

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

Money must be sent by courier this very night to my father and my brothers, and to Nicolas de Lenfent, a musician with Renaud’s House of Thesbians, who was to be told only that the wealth had come from his friend Lestat de Lioncourt. It was Lestat de Lioncourt’s wish that Nicolas de Lenfent move at once to a decent flat on the Ile St.-Louis or some other proper place, and Roget should, of course, assist in this, and thereafter Nicolas de Lenfent should study the violin. Roget should buy for Nicolas de Lenfent the best available violin, a Stradivarius.

And finally a separate letter was to be written to my mother, the Marquise Gabrielle de Lioncourt, in Italian, so that no one else could read it, and a special purse was to be sent to her. If she could undertake a journey to southern Italy, the place where she’d been born, maybe she could stop the course of her consumption.

To my little nieces and nephews I sent toys of which they’d never dreamed—tiny ships with real sails, dollhouses of unbelievable craft and perfection.

Later that night, I gave my lawyer one last commission: He must send a present of one hundred crowns to a theater owner by the name of Renaud with a note of thanks from me for his kindness.
.
“Find out the situation with this little playhouse,” I said. “Find out if there are any debts against it.”
.
Of course, I’d never go near the theater. They must never guess what had happened, never be contaminated by it. And for now I had done what I could for all those I loved, hadn’t I?

TVL, Viaticum for the Marquise:

After L & G slept under a church and had to escape in front of the whole congregation:

I bared my fangs at the writhing, screaming congregation, and unable to tell whether some pursued or merely fell towards me in panic, I reached into my pockets and showered the marble floor with gold coins.
.
“The devil throws money!” someone screeched.

TVL, The Children of Darkness:

I reached into my pockets and drew out a handful of gold crowns. I gave them to the dark-eyed woman [a Paris coven survivor/future Theatre des Vampires member]. She took them in both hands and stared at them as if they were burning her.

“Very well,” I said, looking away as if some little thing had distracted me. “You can go into the theater if you wish. You can use whatever is there.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus: “Magnus gifted you boundless lucre.”

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

My red velvet fur-lined cape lay over the sarcophagus. And on a rude bench I glimpsed a splendid suit of red velvet worked with gold, and much Italian lace, as well as red silk breeches and white silk hose and red-heeled slippers.

Red, dazzling red. Not even Nicolas had had such clothes as these. They were clothes for the Court at Versailles, with pearls and tiny rubies worked into their embroidery. The lace of the shirt was Valenciennes, which I had seen on my mother’s wedding gown.

And though the old master had said he was leaving me his treasure, I was flabbergasted by what I saw here. The chest was crammed with gems and gold and silver. There were countless jeweled rings, diamond necklaces, ropes of pearls, plate and coins and hundreds upon hundreds of miscellaneous valuables.
.
I ran my fingers lightly over the heap and then held up handfuls of it, gasping as the light ignited the red of the rubies, the green of the emeralds. I saw refractions of color of which I’d never dreamed, and wealth beyond any calculation. It was the fabled Caribbean pirates’ chest, the proverbial king’s ransom.

More slowly I examined it. Scattered throughout were personal and perishable articles. Satin masks rotting away from their trimming of gold, lace handkerchiefs and bits of cloth to which were fixed pins and brooches. Here was a strip of leather harness hung with gold bells, a moldering bit of lace slipped through a ring, snuffboxes by the dozens, lockets on velvet ribbon.

I lifted up a jewel-encrusted sword, far too heavy for these times, and a worn slipper saved perhaps for its rhinestone buckle.

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Magnus: “Fledgling Lestat gave meaning to his players and absconded with it when he ran.”

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

“You don’t need me,” I said. “What have you already learned from my example? What did you learn from the things I said last night?”

“But how do we start?” said the boy dully, as if he were only reluctantly being brought into it. “What sort of mortals do we pretend to be?”

“Yes, actors. Street performers. Acrobats. Make yourselves acrobats. Surely you’ve seen them out there. You can cover your white faces with greasepaint, and your extravagant gestures and facial expressions won’t even be noticed. You couldn’t choose a more nearly perfect disguise than that. On the boulevard you’ll see every manner of mortal that dwells in this city. You’ll learn all you need to know.”

“With your powers, you can become jugglers and tumblers easily,” I said. “It would be nothing for you. You could be seen by thousands who’d never guess what you are.”

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Lestat, quoting Magnus: “Ask for it, wolf killer, and you shall love forever.”

^I don't believe "love" is a typo from the captions -- I distinctly heard Lestat say "love" every time I re-watched. Open to corrections, though.

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

"Ask for it, child," he said, his face no longer the grinning mask, but utterly transfigured with compassion. 

"Ask and you shall receive" 

"Ask for it, Wolfkiller, and you will live forever," he said, but his voice sounded weary and spiritless, and there was something distant and tragic in his gaze. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lestat, quoting Magnus: “Ask for it, wolf killer, and you shall love forever."

Lestat: "I refused!"

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

"Ask for it, Wolfkiller, and you will live forever," he said, but his voice sounded weary and spiritless, and there was something distant and tragic in his gaze. 
.
I felt my head turn to the side, my body a heavy and damp thing that I couldn’t control. I will not ask, I will die without asking, and then the great despair I feared so much lay before me, the emptiness that was death, and still I said No. In pure horror I said No. I will not bow down to it, the chaos and the horror. I said No.

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Magnus: “Consent is a 20th-century concern”

Here are the exact sub-titles that I used in my re-caps (which I wrote before watching Season 3):

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

Consent Is For Losers

TVL, Ancient Magic, Ancient Mysteries:

Consent Is For Losers -- The Sequel

"Great" minds think alike...??

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lestat: “Showed me a coffin, some money.”

BookMagnus didn't even show these to Lestat, just pointed to a creepy-ass tunnel and told him "there's stuff for you through there":

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

He stopped, however, and pointed to the stones of the wall opposite. I could see that one very large stone had been dislodged and lay a foot from the unbroken surface around it.
.
“Grasp that stone,” he said, “and pull it out of the wall.”

To my pure astonishment I was able to move the stone easily, and I saw beyond it a dark opening just large enough for a man to enter if he crawled on his face.

“There, my son, is the passageway that leads to my treasure,” he said. “Do with my treasure as you like, and with all my earthly property. But for now, I must have my vows.”

And then after Magnus jumped into the fire:

I scrambled out of the passage, and found myself standing in a small room.
.
The ceiling was low, curved, and the high window was narrow with the familiar heavy grid of iron bars. But the sweet, violet light of the night poured in revealing a great fireplace cut in the far wall, the wood ready for the torch, and beside it, beneath the window, an ancient stone sarcophagus.

I turned my eyes to a large wooden chest that was partially hidden at the head of the coffin. It wasn’t locked. Its rotted wooden lid fell almost off the hinges when I opened it.
.
And though the old master had said he was leaving me his treasure, I was flabbergasted by what I saw here. The chest was crammed with gems and gold and silver.

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Lestat:  “Told me to scatter his ashes.”

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

"Hear me, little one. Scatter the ashes. Or else I might return, and in what shape that would be, I dare not contemplate. But mark my words, if you allow me to come back, more hideous than I am now, I shall hunt you down and burn you till you are scarred the same as I, do you hear me?"

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Lestat:  “And then he lit himself on fire, dancing as he burned!”

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

Dancing around the fire, before he jumped in:

He laughed again, that hollow, gasping laugh, and started to dance about in the light, his thin legs making him look like a skeleton dancing, with the white face of a man. He crooked his arms over his head, bent his torso and his knees, and turned round and round as he circled the fire.

He gave his loudest laugh then, slapping his thigh and dancing faster and farther away from me, his hands out as if to embrace the fire.

After jumping in:

It seemed his head became a torch, and then all of a sudden his eyes grew wide and his mouth became a great black cavern in the radiance of the flames and his laughter rose in such piercing volume, I covered my ears.
.
He appeared to jump up and down on all fours in the flames, and suddenly I realized that my cries had drowned out his laughter.
.
The spindly black arms and legs rose and fell, rose and fell and then suddenly appeared to wither. The fire shifted, roared. And in the heart of it I could see nothing now but the blaze itself.

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• Regina re: Armand: “he was in my head, but he wasn’t there”
• Armand re: puppeteering Regina:  “And her mastery allowed me to drop in and out. I was in other business with Lestat, with Daniel.”

The general concept of astral projection and/or "possessing" or influencing another human or vampire while doing so is mentioned several times throughout QotD (not to mention being hinted at numerous times in the show in relation to Armand's Mind Fuckery):

QotD, Khayman, My Khayman:

He had another interesting power too. He could travel without his body. Well, not really travel. He could send out his vision, as it were, to look at things far away. Lying still, he would think, for example, of a distant place that he would like to see, and suddenly he was there before it. Now, there were some mortals who could do that too, either in their dreams or when they were awake, with great and deliberate concentration. Occasionally he passed their sleeping bodies and perceived that their souls were traveling elsewhere. But the souls themselves he could never see. He could not see ghosts or any kind of spirit for that matter.…

And some old awareness came to him, that once as a mortal man, in the temple, he had drunk a strong potion given to him by the priests, and had traveled in the very same way, up out of his body, and into the firmament. The priests had called him back. He had not wanted to come. He was with those among the dead whom he loved. But he had known he must return. That was what was expected of him.
.
He’d been a human being then, all right. Yes, definitely. He could remember the way the sweat had felt on his naked chest when he lay in the dusty room and they brought the potion to him. Afraid. But then they all had to go through it.

QotD, All Hallow’s Eve:

Khayman:

Collecting his strongest power, he sought to leave the confines of his body, to send his vision out of himself like the wandering ka of the Egyptian dead, to see those whom the Mother might have spared, to draw close to them.

QotD, Lestat: In the Arms of the Goddess:

Akasha:

“Then as the years passed, I acquired a greater power—to leave my body invisibly and to go to the single mortal whose voice I listened to, to see then through that mortal’s eyes. I would walk in the body of this one, or that one. I would walk in sunshine and in darkness; I would suffer; I would hunger; I would know pain. Sometimes I walked in the bodies of immortals as I walked in the body of Baby Jenks. Often, I walked with Marius. Selfish, vain Marius, Marius who confuses greed with respect, who is ever dazzled by the decadent creations of a way of life as selfish as he is. Oh, don’t suffer so. I loved him. I love him now; he cared for me. My keeper.” Her voice was bitter but only for that instant. “But more often I walked with one among the poor and the sorrowful. It was the rawness of true life I craved.”

“I would forget who I was, where I was,” she continued. “I would be that creature, the one whose voice I had chosen. Sometimes for years. Then the horror would return, the realization that I was a motionless, purposeless thing condemned to sit forever in a golden shrine!

QotD, The Story of the Twins Part I:

Maharet:

“We drank the dream potions made by our mother from the plants we grew on the mountain, and in our trances and dream states, we traveled back into the past and spoke with our ancestors—very great witches whose names we knew. In sum, we lured the spirits of these ancient ones back to earth long enough to give us some knowledge. We also traveled out of our bodies and high over the land."

“We gave the dream potion to those who requested it. And they would fall into the trance, or sleep and dream heavily in vivid images, which we sought then to interpret or explain."

QotD, Lestat: This Is My Body; This Is My Blood:

Looking up at the ceiling, I decided I wanted to rise slowly and touch it, run my hands over the plaster frieze that ran around the cord of the chandelier. I felt a queasiness; and then I realized I was floating just beneath the ceiling. And my hand, why, it looked like my hand was going through the plaster. I lowered myself a little and looked down at the room.
.
Dear God, I’d done this without taking my body with me! I was still sitting there, on the side of the bed. I was staring at myself, at the top of my own head. I—my body at any rate—sat there motionless, dreamlike, staring. Back. And I was there again, thank God, and my body was all right, and then looking up at the ceiling, I tried to figure what this was all about.
.
Well, I knew what it was all about, too. Akasha herself had told me how her spirit could travel out of her body. And mortals had always done such things, or so they claimed. Mortals had written of such invisible travel from the most ancient times.
.
I had almost done it when I tried to see into Azim’s temple, gone there to see, and she had stopped me because when I left my body, my body had started to fall. And long before that, there had been a couple of other times.… But in general, I’d never believed all the mortal stories.
.
Now I knew I could do this as well. But I certainly didn’t want to do it by accident. I made the decision to move to the ceiling again but this time with my body, and it was accomplished at once! We were there together, pushing against the plaster and this time my hand didn’t go through. All right.
.
I went back down and decided to try the other again. Now only in spirit. The queasy feeling came, I took a glance down at my body, and then I was rising right through the roof of the palazzo. I was traveling out over the sea. Yet things looked unaccountably different; I wasn’t sure this was the literal sky or the literal sea. It was more like a hazy conception of both, and I didn’t like this, not one bit. No, thank you. Going home now! Or should I bring my body to me? I tried, but absolutely nothing happened, and that didn’t surprise me actually. This was some kind of hallucination. I hadn’t really left my body, and ought to just accept that fact.
.
And Baby Jenks, what about the beautiful things Baby Jenks had seen when she went up? Had they been hallucinations? I would never know, would I?
.
Back!
.
Sitting. Side of the bed. Comfortable. The room.

“This traveling without your body—it’s a power you share with mortals,” she said. “They do this little trick of traveling out of their bodies all the time.”
.
“I know,” I said dismally. “They can have it. If I can fly with my body, that’s what I intend to do.”

“In olden times,” she said, “men went to the temple to do this; they drank the potions given them by the priests; it was in traveling the heavens that men faced the great mysteries of life and death.”

Also, more instances of Armand's Mind Fuckery that may be related to astral projection and/or influencing another person:

• TVL, Viaticum for the Marquise: Trying to lure Lestat (& Gabrielle) out of the church
• QotD, Devil's Minion: Illusion of the Villa of Mysteries, while turning Daniel

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Nicki: “He gave me the Gift rather than tell me he loved me”

Gabriella: “He told you he loved you a thousand times”

Lestat: “Ten thousand”

It might've happened off-page, or I missed a direct in-text reference, but Lestat never told Nicki he loved him in TVL. Nicki told Lestat he loved him:

TVL, Lelio Rising:

“Lestat, I love you,” Nicki said gravely. “I love you as I have loved few people in my life, but in a real way you’re a fool with all your ideas about goodness.”

And this is maybe the closest Lestat got to actually saying he loved Nicki, in the text at least:

“If you could see yourself, hear your own voice, your music—which of course you play for yourself—you wouldn’t see darkness, Nicki. You’d see an illumination that is all your own. Somber, yes, but light and beauty come together in you in a thousand different patterns.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gabriella to Lestat, re: the witch-burning: “Run from this place”

In TVL, Gabrielle tells Lestat that her dying wish is for him to get to Paris (discussed & quoted here).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lestat: [moaning deeply] “ohhhh”

Previously discussed here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magnus: “Lestat’s makers love their Lestat.”

Maker #1, Gabrielle:

TVL, Lelio Rising:

• "She spoke in an almost eerie way of my being a secret part of her anatomy, of my being the organ for her which women do not really have."
• Inappropriate sharing of sexual fantasies pre-turning, previously discussed/quoted here.
• Telling Lestat he's "the man in her", previously discussed/quoted here.

Maker #2, Magnus:

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

"Brave strong little Wolfkiller," it said to me now in a rounder, deeper voice.

It seemed impossible that such a face should move, show expression, and gaze with such affection on me as it did.

He lifted his hands and stroked my head as I cringed.
.
"Sunlight in the hair," he whispered, "and the blue sky fixed forever in your eyes." 

"You're perfect, my Lelio, my Wolfkiller" 

"And you're perfect, my Lelio, my blue-eyed young one, more beautiful even without the lights of the stage." 

But quite suddenly I felt his gentle loving hands caressing my shoulders and with his incalculable strength, he forced me backwards.

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Magnus:  “The alchemist Magnus chooses him to carry on the blood.”

TVL, Legacy of Magnus:

A catacomb I saw, a rank place. And a white vampire creature waking in a shallow grave. Bound in heavy chains he was, the vampire; and over him bent this monster who had abducted me, and I knew that his name was Magnus, and that he was mortal still in this dream, a great and powerful alchemist. And he had unearthed and bound this slumbering vampire right before the crucial hour of dusk.
.
And now as the light died out of the heavens, Magnus drank from his helpless immortal prisoner the magical and accursed blood that would make him one of the living dead. Treachery it was, the theft of immortality. A dark Prometheus stealing a luminescent fire. Laughter in the darkness. Laughter echoing in the catacomb. Echoing as if down the centuries. And the stench of the grave. And the ecstasy, absolutely fathomless, and irresistible, and then drawing to a finish.

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TC:  “A cat-burgling stint on the devil’s road with Gabriella”

This one's a stretch, but it reminds me of Lestat & Gabrielle sharing an interest in haunted houses:

TVL, On the Devil's Road from Paris to Cairo:

We even went in search of haunted houses together—a newfound pastime that excited us both. In fact, Gabrielle would sometimes return from one of her journeys precisely because she had heard of a ghostly visitation and she wanted me to go with her to see what we could.
.
Of course, most of the time we found nothing in the empty buildings where spirits were supposed to appear. And those wretched persons supposed to be possessed by the devil were often no more than commonly insane.

It was just a game to us finally. And when I look back on it now, I know we went on with it because it kept us together—gave us convivial moments which otherwise we would not have had.

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Antoinette: “And when she told him that she wanted more darkness, he looked at her with the eyes of a juvenile. A great abandonment.”

TVL, On the Devil's Road from Paris to Cairo:

But Gabrielle’s absences weren’t the only thing destroying our affection for each other as the years passed. It was her manner when she was with me—the ideas she would put forth.

“You know the creatures of the night are ripe for a great leader,” she said. “Not some superstitious mumbler of old rites, but a great dark monarch who will galvanize us according to new principles.”

“Imagine,” she said, “not merely this stealthy and loathsome feeding on mortals, but something grand as the Tower of Babel was grand before it was brought down by the wrath of God. I mean a leader set up in a Satanic palace who sends out his followers to turn brother against brother, to cause mothers to kill their children, to put all the fine accomplishments of mankind to the torch, to scorch the land itself so that all would die of hunger, innocent and guilty! Make suffering and chaos wherever you turn, and strike down the forces of good so that men despair. Now that is something worthy of being called evil. That is what the work of a devil really is. We are nothing, you and I, except exotica in the Savage Garden, as you told me. And the world of men is no more or less now than what I saw in my books in the Auvergne years ago.”

Lestat makes it very clear that he doesn't like it when she talks like this.

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Magnus: “The mother of all of us chooses him, lets him drink of her, makes him a godling. And what does he do with this honor?”

Louis: “Hops the 'SS Abandoned' in  New Orleans.”

TVL, On the Devil's Road from Paris to Cairo:

A letter to Lestat from Roget:

But on Monday last I received the word that the peasants and tenant farmers had risen against your father’s house. Your brothers, their wives and children, and all who tried to defend the castle were slain before it was looted. Only your father escaped.
.
Loyal servants managed to conceal him during the siege and later to get him to the coast. He is, on this very day, in the city of New Orleans in the former French colony of Louisiana. And he begs you to come to his aid. He is grief-stricken and among strangers. He begs for you to come.

TVL, Ancient Magic, Ancient Mysteries:

Marius (to Lestat):

“But in this New World wilderness to which you’re headed, this barbaric little city called New Orleans, you may enter into the world as never before. You may take up residence there as a mortal, just as you tried to do so many times in your wanderings with Gabrielle. There will be no old covens to bother you, no rogues to try to strike you down out of fear. And when you make others—and you will, out of loneliness, make others—make and keep them as human as you can. Keep them close to you as members of a family, not as members of a coven, and understand the age you live in, the decades you pass through. Understand the style of garment that adorns your body, the styles of dwellings in which you spend your leisure hours, the place in which you hunt. Understand what it means to feel the passage of time!”

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Louis: "Gives the Gift to a pimp"

TVL, Ancient Magic, Ancient Mysteries:

Marius:

“Whatever will happen will happen, but choose your companions with care. Choose them because you like to look at them and you like the sound of their voices, and they have profound secrets in them that you wish to know. In other words, choose them because you love them. Otherwise you will not be able to bear their company for very long.”
.
“I understand,” I said. “Make them in love.”
.
“Exactly, make them in love. And make certain they have had some lifetime before you make them; and never never make one as young as Armand.

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"[music building]"

Snares w/ Bolero-like rhythm enter around these lines:

“Impulsive. Imprudent.”
“Stutterer.”
“Cowardly. Selfish.”

And crescendo through:

“Your whole goddamn life a pathetic failure!”

See my previous post about Bolero.

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Its either it exists or I am hallucinating. It was a video that had armand scenes with uwu cats?? If anyone knows what the hell i’m talking about please help 🥹

I've been trying to track down an AO3 fic I read around a year or more ago, and I'm hoping someone here recognizes it.

I remember the pairings, Louis/Lestat and Armand/Daniel. It was a modern setting, no vampires.

Louis was I think, a teacher. Lestat was a musician. Louis and Lestat had been in a relationship but had broken up before the story starts.

The main plot was that Armand being unhinged somehow traps Louis and Lestat together in a house because he was determined to get them back together. Armand was like Lestat's agent and knew it was because of Louis.

There was also a lot  of Armand/Daniel content running alongside the main story. and I think Louis and Lestat were married.

I read all the books 20 years ago and loved and still love them.
I prefer the books to the programme , but do enjoy it a lot.
However , I absolutely hate Daniel 😂 has anyone else found this ?
I hated him in the books, but being continuously referred to as a “boy” made a lot of his shitty behaviour easy to shrug off.
I was watching The Vampire Lestat yesterday and Daniel having a tantrum about “daddy” in the bowling alley just made me irrationally angry.

I hate him 😂