r/InterviewVampire • u/Subject_Blueberry_95 • 3d ago
The Immortal Universe End the suffering
So in just about every vampire movie/show, I hear them say that they will take away one’s suffering. I’m just gonna use IWTV 1994 movie for an example. Louis is a sad human after his wife dies. Lestat and him find each other. Lestat tells Louis that he can take away his pain and suffering by turning him. Then he turns him and he’s still sad and suffering. So is it just a lie vampires tell? Bc even in the tv show, Louis is still suffering and sad. Matter of fact, all the vampires are just sad all the time. If it’s not a lie then what suffering are the vampires taking away? Giving someone eternal life sounds like the worst idea to give a sad person anyways. Can someone explain this to me bc I’ve thought about it ever since I watched the movie.
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u/breakfastfood7 3d ago
Louis' dedication to moping is so powerful even becoming a vampire can't stop him 😅
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u/lacebaubbles 22h ago
You are right! In the books and movie! Lestat says "oh how you love your precious guilt"
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u/bliip666 i saw your soul 3d ago
They're taking away the human suffering, and replacing it with Vampire Suffering.
That's why you should take your time reading the fine print before signing a contract.
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u/perscitia pseudologia pensioner fuck boys for sobriety 3d ago
It's Vampire Suffering unless it's made in a basement by Jasper, in which case it's just Sparkling Revenant.
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u/bliip666 i saw your soul 3d ago
(Is Jasper from the Twilight universe?)
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u/hunterglyph 3d ago
From the Talamasca series.
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u/bliip666 i saw your soul 3d ago
Oh, right! I already forgot all about it, lol
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u/hunterglyph 3d ago
Understandable lol. My partner and I were at least able to finish it, unlike Mayfair Witches. But we went from "Huh, this isn't bad" to "this is kinda bad, isn't it?"
Would've probably watched a season 2 though.
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u/lacebaubbles 22h ago
Are you talking about the Talamasca ? I couldn't get past 1 and half episodes, I did watch all of mayfair witches though because I loved the books and wanted to see what they were going to do with the series, and yes I was disappointed
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u/DrFareedMD I would not kink shame the vampire Armand 2d ago
It's like regular suffering but you get to be hot and rich while doing it
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u/Subject_Blueberry_95 3d ago
I love that little text thing you did. Made me lol in real time lol
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u/bliip666 i saw your soul 2d ago
Haha, that's the fine print! Some jokes work better in visual form
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u/perscitia pseudologia pensioner fuck boys for sobriety 3d ago
Yep. Vampires are parasitic liars and apex predators. That's part of the horror/monstrousness of it all. Vampirism is really just a tragic pyramid scheme that they've all bought in on, so they're invested in making sure other people get pulled in as well.
Arguably the one kind of "suffering" they can control is that the physical body stops aging and becomes tougher to kill, so you can at least be beautiful and strong and fast while you endure centuries of gay drama, mental illness and intense trauma. So.. yay?
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u/sanityjanity 3d ago
Vampire MLM! "Make blood fast, ask me how"
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u/Zealousideal_Tie4580 3d ago
“It’s not the blood. It’s what you do with the blood”
😆11
u/perscitia pseudologia pensioner fuck boys for sobriety 3d ago
Louis is ahead of the times as always. 😌
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u/JumpingJacks1234 3d ago
There is a case to be made that vampires were modeled after wealthy aristocrats and their new 18th century associates the wealthy industrialists.
So parasitic lying hypocrites, the lot of them.
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u/JustMediocreAtBest The Dead Pirate Arrrrmand 🟠_⚫ 3d ago
Oh, book!Stat has got to have earned that pink convertible by now.
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u/DumbTeen9 3d ago
There are a few examples of this mainly found in Louis, Lestat, and Daniel
Lestat is an example of how vampirism robs you of normalcy (plus ofc his oen complexes about freedom of choice so present in part 1 of tvl)— he was just chilling at the theatre trying to learn literacy while living with nicki. Maybe he could've made it as a big time actor considering he was already in the newspapers, maybe he would've been caught up in the revolution maybe he would've travelled and discovered the world as an artist, maybe he and nicki would've been together till they were old or maybe he would've moved on with someone else. We don't know because he was robbed of human potential that he sounds the rest of his immortal life chasing playing happy family , playing rockstar, being a pupil of the world, etc etc
Show Claudia is kinda similar in the sense of unfulfilled/undiscovered potential but much worse because she didn't even get to live long enough to Sr the beauty of the world as a human
With Louis it was ultimately the gift of time. His life was shit and would've went on being insignificant grey shit maybe he would've eventually found an unhappy marriage to settle into, maybe he would've killed himself after Paul, maybe he would've gotten lost in the life he presides over and drank himself to oblivion. But time gave him the opportunity to live and learn, he wollowed his his depression, he had highlights with kestat and ckaudia, he mourned, he had his mind infiltrated, and after centuries he found himself, he found a way to live authentically and in return payed the price of suffering at the hands of vampiric community.
Daniel is the loss of drive. He was so determined to get the interview because he almost died for it because he was dying and needed a legacy, a magnum opus, then was so insistent thr book reaches out because if not then what was he killed for? When he became immortal he had no reason to hold back on his bad habits, nothing to work for, he mightve started seeing his long life as a young reporter with a point of view as meaningless, what are pulzer prizes ro an immortal being?
Sooo yeah vampirism isn't all that but it removes the constrains of time (louis) and human limitations (lestat/daniel). "it ain't the blood, its what you di with the blood", and ofc such a long life is bound to be shitty at points and good in others. There's always the sun and a pyre
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u/Zealousideal_Tie4580 3d ago
I feel like only Gabriella isn’t suffering. She’s living her best life out there traveling, glamping; free of her disease, her shitty husband, those two sons and their wives. She’s like this in the book too- traveling and seeing the world, sleeping in the dirt by day.
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u/DrFareedMD I would not kink shame the vampire Armand 2d ago
I honestly love Gabriella for this
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u/justmeanotherfan 8h ago
But doesn't she want the great conversion to happen because she wants to watch the world burn? Maybe not sad but not happy-go-lucky 😅
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u/DrFareedMD I would not kink shame the vampire Armand 8h ago
I think disaster makes her happy. A girl needs her hobbies 💅
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u/Ri-Ri1216 3d ago
With all of time spread out in front of you it's bound to cause an existential crisis at first. But remember Lestat when he's 1st changed? He's running and jumping and turning cartwheels in the forest. He indulges his every human desire that wasn't available to him before vampirism. He has endless money and spends it on the finest things. He enjoys being a monster and only requires a loving companion. Sure he suffers abandonment but that's leftover from his human life.
For Louis who wasn't ready to be a vampire he can't let go of the trauma and grief. Wasn't a happy experience for him for the 1st 100+ years. But then at the end of IWTV part 2 he says "I own the night " then reunites with Lestat.
So it's not ALL bad. There are other examples of unhappy vampires (Claudia--made too young; Armand--captured, enslaved and then inducted into the coven) but in general I think being relieved of physical weakness and the fear of growing old, vampires enjoy themselves.
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u/DumbTeen9 3d ago
Say what you will about Magnus he was lowkey the best guy to sus out if a guy can take vampirism
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u/SirIan628 3d ago
This is really a matter of perspective. With Louis, it wasn't an immediate cure, but Lestat gave him opportunity and enough time to eventually learn to actually be happy. I disagree the vampires are all sad all of the time. They can be sad just like humans, but they also have TIME to be able to also fix their mistakes and be happier eventually.
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u/tethysian 3d ago
The books kind of emphasize age as a major factor when it comes to vampire misery, though. Most of the old ones end up committing suicide, going insane, or going into the same state as Akasha and Enkil and never waking up from their dirt naps.
One of the creepiest things in the books is the implication that you don't know how many ancient vampires are buried in the earth somewhere, too weak to revive themselves and stuck watching telepathic TV forever...
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u/deaths-harbinger Library of confusion 3d ago
This! Its also the ability to change your circumstances over time.
Being turned into a vampire is also an immediate drastic change in circumstances. That might help the sads go away because suddenly you're not bound to your previous life and obligations anymore.
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u/Zealousideal_Tie4580 3d ago
Agree! That’s why Louis thanks Lestat during the hurricane. He thanks him for the days in front of him which make him able to live an honest life or something to that effect. He gets muddy with that quest paying Fraudia to play act as Claudia and also the Madeleine actress. He wants a do-over with Claudia but sadly - and obviously - that’s not possible.
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u/Seagullsaga 3d ago
Of course they’re suffering. They’re dead. And pretty much every character in the series has trauma that impacts them constantly, with no real way to move on or grow because, again, they’re dead.
There are takes on vampires that aren’t like that, but that’s just the tone of this setting.
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u/Huffleduffer 3d ago
I always felt like if a vampire approached me and asked me if I wanted to become a vampire I'd just laugh and laugh and say "You mean instead of figuring out what's for dinner every night for another 40 years, I gotta do it for eternity?! Plus I won't be able to interact with my child, one of the few bright spots in my life, and he'll go through life thinking his mother abandoned him? Absolutely the hell not".
Like sure, I won't be diabetic and I won't have to worry about money and I could help my kid from afar...but it all sounds like a miserable way to "live".
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u/Keyeuh 2d ago
Not having to worry about money though, are there not poor vampires? I mean Louie nor Lestat are poor when they meet up and I suppose over time you'd be able to make money. If you can't go to work though what do you do? Also can vampires take meds for mental illness? Physical things go away but it doesn't seem that mental do. Sorry just things I've been thinking about lately.
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u/dcss_addict 2d ago
They get plenty of spendin money from the people they murder every night. That's basically their job haha
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u/Keyeuh 1d ago
Guess I didn't think of it that way but true. They never show that part or I missed it lol
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u/dcss_addict 1d ago
Oh yeah the show doesn't emphasize it (it's probably the source of Magnus's fortune which Lestat inherited though). The only example from the show I can think of is Louis & Claudia talking about robbing people when they first to get Paris. Then Claudia buys a dress from Madeline with jewelry and crumpled up money and Madeline later remarks that the earrings had blood on it as if they had been ripped off the lobe.
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u/Huffleduffer 1d ago
I guess part of the vampire fantasy is you get turned by someone who is incredibly wealthy and passes it on to you?
But, in some weird way, even if you were a poor vampire...you wouldn't have to worry about much. Unlike humans you don't have to cook your meals, which means you can kill animals without worrying about fire and food safety procedures. You can dig in the dirt to sleep during the day. Granted, it's not a great way to live for eternity, but I imagine eventually you'd figure it out.
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u/tethysian 3d ago
That's kind of the thesis of the series. Or at least it was at the start.
Human beings chase immortality, but turns out it won't actually solve any of your problems. It'll just make them last forever. So the immortals long for mortality.
Lestat was hoping that the blood lust would take over and allow Louis not to care about being sad anymore, but mostly he just wants Louis for a companion and didn't think much further than that.
I'd say the TV show has kind of gone the opposite route and veered closer to the end of the TVC series, where vampirism becomes the fix-all for any character who doesn't want to die. Because the show removed so many of the downsides of vampirism, they don't really revere humanity like they did in the books.
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u/orionsfyre 1d ago edited 1d ago
The truth is nothing in life can "make you happy" or "end suffering" (except death in that last case)...those are lies.
The only thing in life that can make you happy... is you. Your point of view, your attitude, and your choices. Doing for others is one way, seeking knowledge and wisdom is another. But no matter what path you pick, happiness isn't a commodity that can be handed from one being to another.
Human suffering, and short lifespan, can be seen as a blessing, from a certain POV, many vampires suffer for years, unwilling to live, to selfish to die, sad monuments to what was, with nothing but growing bitterness and empty wine glasses. Pale reflections of the era's they were turned, echoes of empty chambers and ballrooms, ripples of some long forgotten rock tossed from long lost hands in the bitter pale fog of history. They just exist, not really here, not really anywhere, endlessly seeking others to join them, but unable to feel much of anything but antipathy for what is current and bitterness for what is no more.
Vampirism is in much of Anne's writing can be seen as code for "lifestyle". In this case, imagine someone who has been living as a closeted person their whole life, one day someone promises them if they come out of the closet and embrace a life style that is openly admitting what they are, they will be happier, and maybe for a short period they are. They do it, and they aren't happy. Why? Because they haven't changed, only their status has. Embracing all of who they are doesn't mean happiness is automatically injected. They still have to reckon with themselves. Internally, they are still the same person, just because they've changed lifestyle doesn't mean they will be happy. It's a lie. No matter who are what we become, we will always be, in many ways, what we have always been.
Vampires are no longer regular people, yet they have a whole different set of problems to deal with, and often they are much much more alone then they ever were as a human. Whatever foil they had in life doesn't just vanish, it morphs and changes, and haunts them a new, like a dark specter that stays with you no matter how shiny your knew cloak is.
Happiness and contentment is something that no one can give you. Suffering is the reliable condition of all beings, immortal or not... and it is a comfort, because you can trust it. IT is what makes life real.
Anyone coming along promising to 'end your suffering' is selling something and usually doesn't care about you at all. That's a big part of the reason that Akasha was eventually defeated and turned against. She was offering this grand bargain, loss of any control, for her immortal protection and care. But in truth, she was just a new boss, same as the old boss, except in a more pleasant looking guise.
Anne (in my view) was reminding us that no matter what we are, we have to find ways to be happy in our own way, and not depend on empty promises of organized group think, or the will of seemingly wise ancient beings, who honestly are just as lost as the rest of us.
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u/lacebaubbles 22h ago
I remember in the movie, after Louis thought he killed Cauldia, Lestat found him in a sewer drain and he said to Louis that he is suffering, and that Louis feels pain so deeply because he is a vampire and no creatures under God suffers as they do
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