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After reading a good chunk of the chronicles years ago, I'm finally going back and rereading, in order of my favorites.

I began with the Vampire Lestat, and . . . how did I forget how good these books are?! I'm in love with the writing style, the characters, the time period, everything!

So I know this guild is fairly dead (how appropriate), but perhaps if anyone stumbles upon this post, they would be willing to discuss some things with me?

First and foremost: Nicki. Oh my God Nicki. Do you think he and Lestat would have stayed together if they had both remained mortal?

Should Lestat have ever made him into a vampire?

Do you think he ever truly loved Lestat?

Gabrielle. What the eff is her problem? Sorry, I just really don't like her character and don't think it's developed well. Your opinions?

Is she a suitable companion for Lestat?

Gabrielle and Nicki are each about to be torched. Lestat can only save one. Which do you think he would choose?

What if the options were Gabrielle, Nicki, Louis, and Armand?

Right now I've only read to the part where the Theatre of the Vampires is created and Lestat is about to hear Armand's story. I know the rest of the book though, but as I read I'll probably add more questions.

But in the end, was it worth it? Did Magnus do the right thing by giving Lestat immortality? Or would he have found true happiness as a mortal on Renaud's stage in Paris with Nicki?

Some Questions of my own.

Who do you think is the most vile character (purely evil or as close as that can be) in the chronicles and why?

Who do you think is the most complicated character and why?

Do you find the Theatre des Vampires to be a cruel place, an honest place, a place of trickery...what is your opinion of it?

Which character would you have liked to have learned more about...perhaps in a book completely about their life?


I'll leave the questions there until I know you've read more of the books.

And my responses to my own questions:



Yes. It's actually hard to judge, because you only have the situation from Lestat's viewpoint, and he seemed absolutely oblivious to any resentment from Nicki when they were mortals. I think they compliment each other fairly nicely. After all, Lestat and Louis are complete opposite, and yet they are possibly the most dynamic pair in the saga.


I'm actually really interested in your response to this question. I don't know how many details of the book you recall, but there is one part where Lestat laughs at the irony of Armand cutting off Nicki's hands, telling Gabrielle that it was inevitable. That Nicki's father had threatened to break his hands when he first began playing the violin, and now it seemed fate was fulfilling itself by having Armand cut off Nicki's hands. I agree that Nicki's state of mind even while mortal would have driven him to suicide and that it didn't matter whether he was a vampire or not. For Lestat's own sake, however, I think it would have been best if Nicki stayed mortal.


It's hard to tell, because again, we only have Lestat's own viewpoint to judge. I think he loves him in the same way Louis loves him, in the same way we all love Lestat, really. Because it's unrealistic not to. Because he is unlike anything and anyone else, and because you can't take your eyes off of him. Maybe it's admiration or loathing or jealousy or love. Who can tell?


I simply think she was undeveloped as a character. She reminded me a lot of Gertrude from Hamlet. Similar name, same Oedipus complex with the son, and the same problem of having this larger-than-life main character completely enamored with a 2D character that the reader never even really gets to know. I do admire the strength Rice gives her female characters but I just wish they all weren't so . . . cold.


I think she's one of the few vampires that ever really challenged him or put him in his place. His love for mortals, however, means that they could never be together for long.


There is no question in my mind that Lestat would choose Gabrielle. Who I would choose is another story completely . . .


I agree, Louis. After all, part of the fascination he had with him was because he was so similar to Nicki, and yet . . . so much MORE than Nicki. Lestat is too distanced from Gabrielle to choose her over Louis. True, both betrayed him, but I think his bond with Louis is stronger. As for Armand, it would probably depend on what mood Lestat was in at the moment. They have a very love/I-shall-kill-you-now relationship.


This is where I'm completely undecided. With Lestat's character, however I doubt that he could have ever settled for mere mortality however.

More questions:

Do you think Akasha would have ever awoken if it had not been for Lestat?

Was is a miscalculation on Marius' part to tell Lestat the story of Those Who Must be Kept?

Who betrayed who: Armand, when he refused to give Lestat his healing blood and flung him off the roof? Or Lestat, when Armand came to him in New Orleans, and he still refused to say he loved him?

I think eventually it would have happened...but only because I doubt that Lestat was the only vampire with his brat prince type attitute. Surely another character with a similar attitude would have had a similar experience. It was only too perfect that it was Lestat though.

It has been awhile since I have read the books (and I'm going to start re-reading them actually) but wasn't there a time when even Marius wanted them destroyed? I've always thought that this is part of what motivated him to divulge the secret in the first place. I've always thought that he wanted something horrid happen and was just trying to play Lestat's strings into making it come about. Then again, I have always thought of marius as a far more treacherous and manipulative character than most other people take him to be.

hah, I have completely forgotten both events...probably because I have always disliked Armand as a character. I find him very annoying and overwhelmingly dull. For example...I didn't read through The Vampire Armand...I suffered through it. I've noticed that the things I tend to forget about the books seem to center around him.

Next weekend I'm going to be visiting family and I hope to pick up all my Rice books while I am there.

I can see why you would chose Nicki. I think a book told from his perspective would have been a rather interesting read. It would kind of be a story about the progression into madness...and who wouldn't be interested in reading that? Also, you are completely right about the people you surround yourself with giving a look into your own character.

On a related note, I think that a book entirely about Magnus would have been interesting for a similar reason (the decent into madness).