Anne Rice's Vampires, anyone?

[DamienJ]

I just finished reading Interview With the Vampire. I liked it because, in a way, I feel it makes vampires not "humans with super-cool powers" (a la Underworld, Dracula 2000, or other images of vampires), but simply dead parasites with no real purpose to existence.

It does make one wonder - could they bring back that purpose? Let's say, instead of despairing and deciding he would never find "art," Louis had tried to develop his own artistic skills. Would that have brought back part of his "humanity?" Something of his former "passion?" Or were those qualities of his so rooted in denial of his true death and self-loathing that, once he accepted that he was really dead, he could never reagain them?

I haven't read any other of her books. Maybe she discusses this further there...

In game terms, would Anne Rice's vampires care enough to gain class levels? Or would they simply stagnate? Would they become the revenants of Eastern Europe, with no real purpose except mindlessly to feed and reproduce?

Maybe I'm interpreting her image wrong. I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts/comments...

[AdamGarou]

I think Anne Rice does explore this a bit more in her other novels--at least, in The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, and Tale of the Body Thief.

Not to reveal too much, but it's only Louis (and there are arguments for Armand as well) who are completely overcome by the whole apathy thing. Other vampires in later books find certain pursuits that they channel all their "preternatural" energies into, such as:

* A woman living on her own among the wilds of nature, embracing the freedom that was always denied her as a female in the 1700s.

* A man obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge and the observation and recording of human history.

* A man (Lestat) simply determined to embrace all the pleasures that his new existence has to offer, eventually becoming obsessed with the concept of good even if he can't be "good".

* A woman who maintains close ties to her mortal descendants and devotes herself to keeping track of her family tree--marriages, births, deaths, divorces, etc.

I would say that while most of the vampires probably recognize the fact that they're nothing but parasites, they still find things that stir their passions even though they're dead things. Louis and Armand are really the only ones who embrace the apathy that comes from the condition--and Armand eventually finds his own emotions stirred up again as well.

Of the four main "Vampire Chronicles" books, Queen of the Damned is probably my favorite, but The Vampire Lestat is a close second. I can heartily recommend those two--the rest, I didn't particularly like for the most part.

[Stygian Inquirer]

In the Ravenloft Renaissance site, which I believe is in the links section of this site, they have a 'Ricean' Vampire Template in case you were interested.