Lestat always hides his insecurities with pettiness and cruelty while louis hides his with moral superiority and passive aggressiveness.

you can be in love and terrible for each other. it’s a beautifully well written story.

The best description ive ever seen of their romance actually came from a review of the short lived vampire lestat broadway play. Louis was in a gothic romance but lestat thought he was in a rom com. Its more obvious in the books because the first two competing single pov stories. Lestat was completely surprised when louis & claudia tried to kill him twice & kept running away. meanwhile he kept trying to track them down to ask them what was wrong & they just kept setting him on fire 😂😂😂

The thing that makes me love Loustat is how crazy they both are. They clearly love each other but some of their actions can be read as manipulative/selfish and/or done out of love. I love that duality (this applies to all the main characters tbh, and that's why I love all of them).

Like Claudia's turning for example, Lestat did it for Louis because he loves him but he also saw an opportunity to keep Louis so he doesn't end up alone. Louis saved her because he wanted to feel better about his actions that led to the fire but he also wanted to save her.

Ngl I love Louis to the moon and back, but my unpopular opinion is that he avoided being a parent when it was time to be a parent. He was warned for Claudia’s fated mental state as years go by and the minute she began talking back and questioning her existence he fell back and left Lestat (aka the son of an abusive father and absentee monther) be the parent which left a terrible impression on Claudia, who literally has the impulse and emotional capacity of a child. I feel like that’s why her perspective saw him so much of a villain and Louis stayed quiet so he could stay in her favor as that’s a reflection of his own parent wound.

Not excusing Lestat’s abusive behavior because he really is sick in the head esp in this series but there’s so much about this arc where Louis’s existing resentment towards Lestat really manifested in Claudia

Lestat’s controlling BPD traits & Louis’ inability to emotionally reassure Lestat’s doubts caused their toxicity to explode

crying over the implications of a kdrama iwtv. imagine all the different cuts for their first meeting and first kiss LMAO

That's what I love about the books. When Anne Rice wrote IWTV, she was writing from a place of grief, to deal with the death of her daughter Michele. (Hence, Claudia.) So when she decided to make Lestat the main character of the series, she has him basically start The Vampire Lestat like "So my bitch of an ex-husband had a lot of shit to say about me, and I want to give you guys the REAL tea." And then when he gets to the events of IWTV, he's just like, "DON'T have a baby to save your shitty marriage, kids. TRUST me." 😂

My favorite moment in the beginning is when at the dinner table with family Louis yells “don’t do that shit here” and Lestat obeys . Only after small amount of time developing friendship Louis already had such power over Lestat

This isn’t against your question, but I genuinely don’t understand why people don’t understand why Lestat reacted the way he did over Claudia and Charlie. He said from the pilot that he had a lover whom he lost, Nicki. Why isn’t it obvious that that had EVERYTHING to do with his reaction? When he says “That’s why we never get close to mortals. They always end up dead!” He’s obviously referencing Nicki, and that maybe he needed Claudia to learn this harsh lesson because he knows from experience? Should he have reacted with compassion? Sure, but someone with that degree of unresolved trauma isn’t always going to.

The "come to me" aspect of the first episode is the one part that I lean towards Lestat's perspective on because he could read Loui's mind at the time. So I think it is possible that the yearning Louis felt for Lestat was plainly what Lestat was communicating back to him. Lestat wouldnt think of it so much as he was bothering Louis at his brother's services but instead that he was yearning for the solace and understanding he found in his relationship with Lestat. In turn, Lestat was merely inviting Louis to act on those whims. More like "im here for you on this horrible day Louis" rather than "you must come to me becuase I desire you Louis".

The internet likes to call Lestat a  narcissist, but he clearly has BPD. Every cruel, coercive, violent, behavior is aimed at preserving relationships, in the most pathological way possible. Of course he had to make Claudia watch her first love burn. She had to be punished for seeking connections outside of the family.

It's not less damaging than narcissistic abuse, but the motivation is connection rather than superiority. Also, he's not going to get better, while humans with BPD can revover. I assume BPD when turned = BPD forever.

THIS is the no joke the best out of hundreds of videos i've seen on the loustat dynamic. thank you so much for making it! ahh!

I've been a lestat fan since I was 12, I'm 35 now. I love this version of everything. I think this version really emphasizes the dynamic of what loustat is for a modern audience. Lestat was born into aristocracy, even if he didn't have money, there was always a power dynamic for him for everyone. I like seeing how he takes his privilege for granted, but loves so deeply

When you played "Whatta Man" as Lastat turned to look at Louis...🤣🤣🤣🤣.OMG 😂I had to play this a couple of times before I could continue.

Claudia’s POV was during the fight right? Children often see the destruction of their home as shocking or absolutely explosive like a bomb. The home represents how destructive and violent is was for her.

To me the story is richer if Lestat doesn’t really intend to always act like a predator or a abuser but it comes off like this from another POV because he has so many issues going on that he can’t do one thing right. Like to me it’s more interesting than imagining him just being bad and awful all the time.

Oooh can we get a Louis and Armand breakdown next??

This is by far the best and most nuanced Loustat analysis I've seen! Fans often struggle to reconcile their enjoyment of a character with their distaste for that character's actions. It's so refreshing to see a sober take that doesn't excuse anyone's behavior, doesn't draw false equivalences and recognizes the power dynamic, while still appreciating both characters' complexity and the beauty of their relationship.

25:52 Lestat in the novels literally says he's a slut and has a inner monolog about how he love's being called a slut. Monogamy is not in Lestat's vocabulary.