Tumgik
#i can accept almost any other change but i think it's fundamentally important to lestat's character that he genuinely cared about claudia
loumands · 1 year
Text
There’s NOTHING that will convince me that Lestat didn’t love Claudia. He showered her with gifts and bought her clothes and called her beautiful and ma petite and every other pet name he could think of. He taught her to hunt and was proud of her ferociousness. He taught her to drive and was worried she would hurt herself. He defended her when Louis disapproved how she was acting around people. He loved to make her laugh! He danced with her! At the funeral Louis tells her to go chat with Lestat because he knows they enjoy each other’s company! Lestat did try to connect with her and willingly spent time with her and they understood each other the way they didn't with Louis. Lestat was the one who suggested Claudia would be their daughter and later resisted when she wanted to stop being viewed as that!
In the beginning Lestat seemed to enjoy having Claudia around and it’s only when he starts to feel she’s coming between him and Louis that he starts to despise her. Even then i don’t think he ever stops loving her. Even when he’s cruel you can see it behind his actions. The way he acts after Charlie’s death (the event that begins the deterioration of their relationship) is sadistic but i think he really was trying to teach her in a harsh way, it’s just that he’s deranged and has no idea how parenting is supposed to work. He’s concerned when he sees how Claudia has changed after she was gone and wants to know what happened, and though he later uses it against her i think he was genuinely worried (and until proven otherwise i headcanon that he found Bruce and killed him). When she prevents her from leaving and drags her home because Louis would leave him or kill himself if she’s not around i think he also genuinely wanted to protect Claudia because he knew she wouldn’t survive Europe alone. And he actually says it but masks it with sarcastic mockery because at that point he and Claudia can’t show any weakness in front of each other. When he bitches to Antoinette about her ungratefulness that’s not a monster talking about his enemy but a narcissistic parent feeling genuine emotional hurt over perceived slights. And like Sam said Lestat was actually proud of her in the finale. Because that’s his girl! Evil of his evil! That’s his goddamn daughter! He’s just so fucked up and blinded by his bitterness  and debilitating fear of abandonment that he manages to convince himself that he hates her. But he loves her. And when she actually dies i want him to fucking cry and grieve and regret for the rest of eternity
Tumblr media
345 notes · View notes