I don't believe that Interview and TVL is an example of revisionist history. The discrepancies are actually part of the brilliance... I love the fact that through out the entire series, Lestat and Louis are always arguing
over those differences. Especially the scene in Interview that Lestat denies.
As I see it, Louis was very hurt by Lestat. He saw him as being responsible for Claudia's death, and was just very resentful towards him. Especially with Lestat keeping their origins a secret. He was angry at the
way Lestat treated his blind father. He was angry at how Lestat was so possessive of him, and that he made Claudia to keep Louis attached. (I only read Interview once, though I'm reading it again now, I don't
remember all of it.) So there is a chance that Louis exaggerated the scene.
Lestat on the other hand... when I first read interview, I didn't think that Lestat really cared for Louis, but reading Interview after TVL...
Lestat was really messed up and had MAJOR abandonment issued, thanks to his mother and Marius leaving him, pushing him away. Then he comes to America and has to care for his father who he had some real
issues with.
Think about it, if his father had let him do as he pleased, Lestat would have been a priest or a monk, would never had killed the wolves, would never had been made into a vampire. He burned Lestat's books.
Being the youngest of 3 surviving sons, he wouldn't get anything from his father's death, and his father wouldn't allow him to go out and try to make a future for himself. There is major resentment there. Is it no
wonder that he would find it so hard to forgive? That he be upset that it took his father to be on his deathbed to apologize for the way he treated him? That his father would need to be looking Hell in the face to
show any kind of feeling for him? But I get ahead of myself.
He meets Louis. In both Interview AND TVL, Lestat is pretty clear of what being a vampire entails. He explains this to Louis so he could make an informed decision and not turn out like Nikki. He even had Louis
participate in a killing before hand according to Louis- so it's evident that Lestat didn't want to force Louis into it the way he had been. It shows that he is trying to spare Louis from the horror that he had
experienced.
Louis kept bugging Lestat to tell him the origins of vampires... Lestat knew, he had spoken with Marius, who told him to NEVER give away those secrets. Lestat actually obeyed that request. He couldn't tell Louis.
Lestat might not be able to read Louis' mind, but he felt the resentment building. In his early years as a vampire, how many things had Lestat wanted to say, and wasn't able to? He was the son of a Lord, he was
raised to be a strong man. In those days "strong men" didn't gush about thier feelings. Is it any wonder that instead of explaining to Louis how he felt, it made him feel uncomfortable, and that he lash out at the
source of his discomfort? Also he loved Louis more than any of the others, and in a different way, so that could have edged him on. There is a saying, you only hurt the ones you love.
As I had intended to point out in the above paragraph, Lestat felt the resentment building. He knew that he was about to, yet AGAIN, be abandoned by someone he loved. He was frantic, though too proud to
admit it. When he found Louis with Claudia, he realized that Louis had wanted her. He figured that since she was going to die, might as well make her live and be a child for them. How many women, afraid that
their lovers will leave them, poke holes in condoms, or "forget" to take the pill in order to trap the lover into staying? This is the same thing. It's very sad if you think about it. That Lestat was that desperate, that
afraid at being left again, that he felt he needed to do such a thing. But it worked.
He loved Claudia, but once again was unable to show it appropriately. I already explained how his father messed him up... how much of a mother was Gabrielle? How much emotional pain did he have to be in for
her to even talk to him? He had no clue about what it is to be a parent. He tried to do right by her. Buying her things was his attempt to show his love. (a VERY mortal thing to do). How many parents say their
children will always be their babies, no matter how old they get? And their children age! Imagine what it would be like for a father to have a child who always looked 5! How would they be able to see their child as
anything else.
I knew this kid when he was born. To me he will always be 9, though he's now 18 and taller than me!!! And he's not mine!
When Louis saw Lestat in Paris after Claudia's destruction, it's no wonder that he thought that Lestat was behind it, especially when he started to say how Armond promised that he'd be able to take Louis.
Lestat had been attacked by his "children", and was left for dead. He went to Armond rightly figuring that since everything Armond had, he owed to Lestat, so he'd be willing to help him heal faster. He was
emotionally devastated, once again abandoned by those he loved... in the worst possible way- not to mention in a large amount of pain. So he wasn't in the right mind when he explained every thing to Armond. I do
believe Lestat when he says that he knew he couldn't save Claudia, and that he didn't want her to die... but he wanted to save the one he could, the one that without a doubt he loved more, and the one who had
hurt him the most with the attack, even if he just stood there.
There's other stuff too, but this is getting long enough :)
Now to that scene that they can't agree if it happened or not. The one with Lestat in the house, having a fledgling deliver babies for him to feed on.
Louis wrote the book being very angry at Lestat. It is possible that in "writing" the book, he lashed out at Lestat the only way he could, and made him look bad. Even if just in a book that would be considered
fictional, it was the only way Louis had of lashing out at him. In Lestat's "writings" he's admitted when he's been weak, and afraid. I think that he would have written about it if only to point out that Louis once again
abandoned him. In this I'd lean more towards Lestat's version.
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geocities.com/ligeiapoe)