Demonic Shrine to the Vampire Chronicles
SL-U-U-U-RP!!!!!!
Demonic Shrine to the Vampire Chronicles
SL-U-U-U-RP!!!!!!
Welcome to my demonic shrine. In case any of you are wondering, no I am not a GOTH, nor do I aim to be one. Understand this: I like these novels for their pure entertainment value. I am not someone who looks to them for the meaning of life, although I do agree that they are deep novels. I read them because Anne Rice is one hell of a writer, and man, her characters are just too cool. IMO, they are quite pitiful at times, or sometimes just too hysterical. One of my friends can't get over what a *cough* LmOaSrEiusR one of them is, but I think that's too harsh a judgement to pass on the poor fellow. For goodness sakes Yu_kii, the lad tries. Well, let's get on with the show then.....
WHAT ARE THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES?
WHO ARE SOME OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS?
Gabrielle: I think she totally sucks, and needs to get a life!!! She's Lestat's real-life mom, and the first vampire he ever made. She is supposed to be quite the wanderer...hey idea for a series: Rurouni Gabrielle....errr...well may be not...and she is most at home away from humanity and civilization. She likes jungles, and that kind of rugged stuff. May be she met Tarzan once. For all you XENA fans (yep I'm one too), she is as far away from that Gabrielle as she can get. I don't hate her, but I just don't really like her either.
Louis Point-du-Lac: he is the interviewee of "Interview With the Vampire". Played by Brad Pitt in the 1994 movie, he is brown haired and (I believe) brown-eyed, constantly looking neglected and full of dust. Although he is already 200 yrs. old (like Gabrielle and Lestat), he posesses none of their power and is the weakest of the bunch. Many times he is described as waif-like and specter-like. Incidentally Daniel Malloy, the interviewer, was later made into a vampire by Armand in "Queen of the Damned". Louis only child (the one he made all by himself), Madeline, was killed by Armand--man this guy is everywhere, in IWV.
*Ammendment* I received an e-mail saying that Louis has BLACK hair with GREEN eyes, and not brown-haired with brown eyes, as I previously mentioned. Sumimasen minna-san (jp. everyone)!
Claudia (Kishi of the Babysitters Club....j/k): she was a vampire in the form of a child, made by both Lestat and Louis (one drained her blood, other fed her blood). Disgusted with her form and what had been done to her, she tried to murder Lestat in IWV, which led her to her untimely demise in the same novel. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she was also killed by Armand. You wanna hear what he did to her before he was killed?! Well this one's a major SPOILER so scroll down if you don't want to read it. In the "Vampire Armand" he tried to grant her wish of having an adult's body, so he cut of her head and sewed it on to an adult's form, but really botched up the operation, and had to put her head back onto her regular body. GREAT GUY, isn't he? Claudia only lived for about 60yrs. before her death, but despite her tragic tale, she had some happy moments in life. She was played wonderfully in the movie by Kirstin Dunst.
These novels are a series written by Anne Rice involving vampires....no daaa!!!! They started off with the novel "Interview With the Vampire" (now a movie) in the late 70's, and have kept on going strong since then, the latest one being "The Vampire Armand", released on Oct. 13th, 1998. What is cool about them, is that Rice tends to give her characters humanistic qualities so that not only do we see them as more than monsters, but as people who are constantly questioning their own placement in life. She also writes about them in away that makes you appreciate the smaller things in life such as the dewdrops on a petal, or the vast colourings that make up our world. IMO, much of their hungering for their lost humanity, really makes me value my own. The notion of living forever is just plain out crazy, when you have to watch all the things you have ever loved grow and die, leaving you alone and never a part of humanity.
Lestat de Lioncourt: he is probably one of Rice's most famous and popular characters. Always craving for attention, Lestat is the supposed author of 4 out of the 7 Vampire Chronicles. Described as tall (I believe around 6ft), blonde, and blue-eyed, he is supposed to be "devilishly handsome"...whatever...and forever impetious. He is dubbed the "Brat Prince" by fellow vamp Marius, and was supposed to have been made around the tender age of 21 by an ugly, toothless vamp named Magnus. Anne Rice envisions him as actor Ruetger Hauer (the android from Blade Runner) so she threw quite the hissy-fit when Tom Cruise got the role in the 1994 movie. When all was said and done; however, she was quite pleased with Cruise's acting, and even put out a personal statement (in Variety) promoting the movie. Currently Lestat is supposed to be quite the powerhouse, having sucked the blood of the now-deceased most ancient of the immortals (Akasha), and even the blood of Christ (rd. Memnoch the Devil). *SPOILER* He was statue-like for sometime, until he revived himself at the end of the "Vampire Armand". I don't know what made him want to resurrect himself, but prior to this event, he had let Armand (more about him later) suck out his blood to see if Christ's blood was really within him.
Armand: despite all the shit this guy has pulled, he still is and always has been my favourite...hence the KENSHIN tribute. What can I say, Anne Rice describes her characters so beautifully that I always match them up with KAWAII anime charas. When I first read about Armand in the "Vampire Lestat" (I read this one before I read IWV) I thought he was sooo kawaii, but such a demented loser. Then again, you could give the same description to Shinomori Aoishi, from Rurouni Kenshin. Armand's lead quite a tragic life, illustrated best in the "Vampire Lestat" and his own "autobiography" the "Vampire Armand". He was a peasant kid kidnapped by the Tatars, then sold to the Venetians for prostitution. He was rescued by the vampire Marius, who later turned him into a vampire. After he was brought over, he was once again kidnapped by fellow vamp gang "The Children of Darkness", who traumatized him enough to willingly join them and eventually become leader of their Paris coven. Just when everything was going well for him, Lestat came into the picture and burst his fragile bubble world (ha ha, cheezy terminology). Armand was thrust out into the real world where he eventually learned how to imitate and live like humans. He didn't find happiness until the writing of his "autobiography" where he met these two mortals Benji and Sybelle (I like Benji, he's really cool). Made at the "young" age of 17, he ranted and raved about his lost youth enough throughout the series, but in reality if he wasn't made, he would've died of poison. I think I partly like him because I have a thing for redheads, and Armand's auburn-haired with brown-eyes *droool!!!* Daniel Malloy (major LOOOOOSER) was his first and only child...so far. By the way, I personally think that (no matter how sensual he is) Antonio Banderas was way too old for the role. Armand's supposed to be like this innocent little geek...okay may be not innocent (come on, he was Marius' lover), but at least youthful; not some old wretched man who thinks he's the icon of sexuality!!!!
Check out this fan-fic I wrote about Aaron Kwok's quest for immortality via Armand .
Here's a little fun: What is the ONE thing Kenshin and Armand have in common?
A: They both have multiple names: Armand -- Andrei (birthname), Amadeo (given to him by Marius) and Armand (given to him by the Children of Darkness). Kenshin --Shinta (birthname), Kenshin (given to him by Hiko) and Battousai (given to him by the Choshu Ishin Shi Shi).
The funniest thing, is that both Marius and Hiko were the masters of Kenshin and Armand, each giving them a new name they thought befitting of the child (Kenshin = heart of sword; Amadeo = beloved of God). Also, both Shinta and Andrei had traumatic childhoods (i.e. Andrei was 15 when he was kidnapped by Tatars; although Shinta was 10 when he lost his family, by the time he was 15, he was already a killer for the Shi Shi, and lost his wife Tomoe, shortly after). Lastly, Armand is French for "man of the army" which is essentially what Armand became with the Children of Darkness. Battousai was a nickname given to Kenshin by his teammates in the army (Shi Shi), due to his mastery of the sword technique "battou-jutsu".
Marius: if I mention Armand, I of course must mention his maker Marius. Marius was a Roman scribe (or journalist) in Ancient Rome, when on one of his travels he was kidnapped by the Gauls to make into a vampire. They called them "tree gods" or something like that, and they were imprisoned in trees (and starved) until a certain festival when they could drink to their heart's content. The vampire made Marius, then told him to run away to escape his fate and find out why all the vampires of the world had been burnt. Now Marius was made after a significant event in vamp history (now there's a bird course...Vampire History 100Y), the burning of the ancient ones "Akasha and Enkil" (b/c they were so old, when placed out into the sun, they were only bronzed), so he was the only young unburnt vampire roaming around during his time. You see, Akasha was the Queen of all the vamps, so if she got hurt, basically they got hurt. It was like this psychic connection they all had with her that really bites. Marius was confronted by the burnt ones, than saved by Akasha, whom he later took into his care along with Enkil (Those Who Must Be Kept), until her violent resurrection in "Queen of the Damned". Also a powerhouse, Marius has drunk the blood of Akasha, and is blonde with blue-eyes. He was made in the prime of his life (about late 30's early 40's), and has a thing for wearing the colour red. By the time he made Armand, who was a child of the Renaissance, he was already over 1000 yrs old.
David: Lestat's latest and most powerful child. He was actually an old man, but at the end of the "Tale of the Body Thief" an accident caused him to switch bodies with a young male, while his own body was killed by Lestat. Lestat turned the unwilling David into a vampire, who at first felt betrayed by him, until he realized that the concept of immortality wasn't so bad after all. Currently David has taken it upon himself to chronicle the lives of his fellow vamps. So far he has chronicled the live of the vampires Pandora (former flame of Marius) and Armand (also a former love of Marius). He is one of those few vampires who can see and communicate with spirits. About 75+ when his mortal body died, David was thrust into the body of a handsome Anglo-Indian mid-20ish male, who incidentally was inhabited by Lestat when he wanted to re-experience humanity. (rd. the book for explaination).
Marahet and Mekare: after fulfilling an old prophecy and killing Akasha in "Queen of the Damned", the red-head mute Mekare with the aid of twin sis Marahet took into her self the brain and heart of Akasha, enabling all vampires to live, with Mekare as their leader. Marahet apparently resides with Mekare, although it is unknown where. They are the oldest vampires present, next to Khayman (rd. Queen of the Damned), and David is one of the few who have actually visited them. Marahet is the chronicler of the "Great Family" who is basically supposed to be all of humanity...I don't think so, we all know that's Koenma-sama's job (j/k). An interesting fact about the twins, is Mekare has no tongue (it was cut off by the commands of Akasha and Enkil in the ancient past) while Marahet has no eyes (same deal as above), so she steals human ones....errr I hope she doesn't like dark brown ones. (Hiei: [OOC] Don't worry Melissa-san, I'll give my very life to save you!!!) Yeah, and if she tries to take Ken-sama's baby blues or my Koorime's (I finally spelled it right *I think*) sexy red-eyes, I'll use my elementary Tae kwon do to take her down...baby!!!
Vittorio: the latest vamp to grace the pages of an Anne Rice novel. Vittorio was supposedly 16 when made into a vampire by the beautiful yet mysterious Ursula. These two have absolutely nothing to do with the other characters from Rice's previous novels, but Vittorio hints that he may make an appearance in the future. What puts him aside from your normal vampire is that he possesses the power to see the life-force of a person (given to him by one of Fra Philippo's angels). Unfortunately, everytime he feeds, he is forced to see this life force drained and is forever plagued by this. With Rice's recent insight into religion (e.g. Memnoch) it'll be interesting to see what she does with Vittorio, esp. if he meets Lestat.
A QUICK REFERENCE TO THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES:
Written by Lestat:
The Vampire Lestat: Basically Lestat's life story up to his rock stardom in 1984.
The Queen of the Damned: The sequel to the Vampire Lestat, involving the awakening of previously dormant Akasha, and her crazy plans for (dramatic music) WORLD DOMINATION!!!!
The Tale of the Body Thief: Lestat is given the opportunity to become human for a small period of time, by switching bodies with an unscrupulous man. Unfortunately, he steals Lestat's vampiric body, and he must team up with the elder David to retrieve it.
Memnoch the Devil: The devil (Memnoch) wants Lestat to be his servant in hell, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Others:
Interview With the Vampire: The Prequel to the Vampire Lestat, basically about Louis' life, and how it was effected with his meeting of Lestat.
Pandora: The first of David's chronicles, based upon the Grecian vampire Pandora's life story.
The Vampire Armand: All you ever wanted to know about Armand, and more. The second of David's chronicles.
The Vampire Vittorio: A chronicle of the life of the Vittorio, a young nobleman turned into a vampire during the Rennaisance.
Anne Rice has written several novels during her career, but as this is a shrine to the Vampire Chronicles, I have only focused on those novels. My personal favourites out of the 7 are "The Vampire Lestat" and "The Vampire Armand". If you're not a Rice fan and you've never read one of these books, I urge you to try to read one. You don't necessarily have to follow any order while you read them, although with "Queen of the Damned" it is much better to read "The Vampire Lestat" first, as is the same case with "The Vampire Armand". 
If you're an anime fan, or even a Rice fan like me, give the anime "Vampire Princess Miyu" a try. It's fantastic, and you can rent it at most Blockbuster chains. Unfortunately, only 4 episodes of the series have been released on tape. You can however, find the English translated comic at any good retailer. Another twisted vampire comic to try out is "The Lost". This comic basically takes a twisted look at J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan through the eyes of all the main characters being vampires, with the exception of Wendy. I've only read the first issue, and I thought it was weird, but cool. You can probably find this one at any comic store as well, although it may be rare. Good luck in finding all you search for.
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