hii! i was wondering if you’d be willing to provide sort of a summary on armand’s backstory? i don’t mind spoilers, it’s just that i’d really like to know a bit more about him and what shapes his actions. i’ve read iwtv and he happened to be my favourite character in it :) plus, i’m very excited for his involvement this coming season, especially in the present day interview. i’m trying to read the books in order so i’ll probably fit in tvl before may but there’s no chance of me reaching qotd or tva until after s2
Hey!
Sure!
TVL will have some of it in it (though not the whole story).
I'm putting this under the cut, just in case.
Obviously this is the backstory as it stands right now... though given the little hints we have already I actually do not think they will or need to change that much.
This is a rough overview, with a handful of comments wrt the show.
Please let me know if something is unclear.
Armand was born near today's Kiew, that area was heavily contested then. He was a gifted icon painter, and more or less expected to be one of the entombed monks one day. His actual name is Andrei.
On a ride with his father he is kidnapped and sold as a sex slave to brothels. Marius, an ancient, blond, originally roman vampire who likes to dress in red eventually buys him and gives him a home and education, with other boys, in Venice. Over the years their relationship develops, and Armand, then called "Amadeo" grows more to, let's say an intimate confidante slash lover to Marius. He knows Marius is not human, and he wants to be what he is. Marius is not wholly willing, though over time his resolve breaks, and when Armand is mortally injured he turns him as not to lose him.
Shortly after the turning they are attacked by the "Children of Satan", who kill (most of) the other boys, and who kidnap Armand. Armand thinks Marius destroyed, since he saw him burning.
Armand is tortured until he breaks and accepts the rules of the "Children of Satan", led by Santino. He lives with them, until he is assigned the role of the leader of the coven in Paris. Allessandra, who gives him the name "Armand", goes there with him.
A few centuries later Armand encounters a blond blood drinker who wears red - he is heavily reminded of his maker, and in a way "imprints" on him - this is, of course, Lestat. Lestat, who brings his mother Gabrielle, and then his lover Nicolas across. Lestat who defies the rules Armand tries to impose on him (Armand tries to enforce the rules and make Lestat submit by hunting him, and kidnapping and torturing Nicolas) immediately, and who ultimately ends up destroying the remnants of Armand's world view when he does so.
Armand, unmoored and almost alone after having thrown a lot of his own coven into the fire, tries to find a new purpose. Lestat gives the theater to him, and Nicolas, who has gone more or less mad after turning. Though Armand tries to make Lestat love him, the way he goes about it actually makes sure he does not succeed, because he tries by force, by spell-binding and force-feeding. There is attraction though, but it stays an attraction that never takes the last step.
Armand tells Lestat and Gabrielle his story, and hopes to come with them, but Lestat and Gabrielle decline. Armand tells Lestat he can always come back for help.
Lestat leaves Paris with Gabrielle to look for Marius, of whom he knows from Armand's story.
Armand leads the coven in the theater, Nicolas writes plays and music for them, until he goes so mad Armand knows no other way to control Nicolas other than to cut off his hands and starve him, and eventually Nicolas goes fully mad by hunger and pain, and when he gets his hands back (limbs/digits etc can be reattached) he throws himself into a fire.
(In the show we know Lestat returned twice to Paris, so it stands to reason they might have met up again then as well, but that is a change from the books.)
Armand continues to lead the theater, but he gets more and more disillusioned with it all, and when Louis comes along the coven of that theater consists of (almost completely) different vampires than when Lestat left there.
It's a bit unclear what the exact time frame is, but Lestat arrives approximately at the same time as Louis does.
Lestat goes to Armand after the murder attempt, to beg for healing blood - and Louis' (and Claudia's) life. Armand, mightily interested in this "Louis", this most human vampire... throws Lestat in a dungeon and goes to meet Louis. And, fortunately, falls for him.
He influences Louis to turn Madeleine so she and Claudia can leave, but Louis refuses to leave them. The coven knows that Claudia attempted to kill Lestat and there is a trial, a trial Armand does not stop. A trial where a tortured and half mad Lestat is made to testify against them. A trial where Louis is judged to be entombed, and Claudia and Madeleine to death.
Armand sees this as an opportunity to try out a surgery, ostensibly to give Claudia what she wants most - a grown up body. He chops off her head and sews it onto another vampire's body. The procedure works, but Armand himself is repulsed by the horrific result and has Claudia and Madeleine put into the sun, where they burn to ashes.
The vampires give the yellow dress Claudia wore to Lestat afterwards. Armand (eventually) frees Louis, claiming he could not prevent it, and takes him to Claudia. Louis tries to gather her ashes but Armand takes him away, and spell-binds him, when he asks for Lestat.
Louis eventually breaks free, and tells Armand not to go to the theater the next night. He goes and burns the whole thing down, killing all inside.
Armand takes Lestat and throws him off a tower, telling him Louis is dead.
Louis is numb after, and Armand goes with him. Armand tells Louis Lestat is dead. They wander the world for decades. Live in New York for a long time. Eventually Armand tells Louis that Lestat had not died in the fire, which makes them go to New Orleans. There Louis tries to find Lestat.
Supposedly Louis finds Lestat, broken and still healing, and leaves him there. (Lestat contradicts that later.) And supposedly Armand goes to Lestat to complain about Louis.
Armand and Louis break up after that.
Armand goes on alone, for a while (in the books).
When Louis gives his interview to Daniel in San Francisco he is around though, and he saves Daniel. In the books, he puts him in a cage, and then tells him to run. He hunts Daniel around the globe. The hunt becomes a chase, and eventually Armand falls in love with Daniel - and Daniel with him, though the relationship is not exactly the healthiest for Daniel. (That is "The Devil's Minion" chapter in QotD.) Night Island happens.
Lestat wakes up, tries to find Louis (and shield him) by becoming a rockstar, giving out their secrets, and writing his own life story. In the books Akasha rises, and burns a lot of their kind. Armand brings Daniel across in more or less desperation, on the way to Lestat's concert.
>> This obviously has been changed. I have theorized that Akasha did not rise, which would have chain-event repercussions. But we will have to see that, for the show. Daniel did not get changed but loses his memory instead.
In the books Akasha is eventually defeated, and the remaining vampires all come together on Night Island afterwards. But most of them are not "ready" yet. They break apart again.
When Lestat encounters the Devil Armand is there for him, and after Lestat goes mad at the end, he tries to commit suicide, but fails. In the aftermath Marius turns two mortals he loves for him, Benji and Sybille, because Armand would not. Armand dictates his life story to David.
Armand is also one of the few who may drink from Lestat while he is in the coma (and who sees "Christ" when he does so), and who can wake Lestat. He is also the one who routinely "cleans up" everywhere he is (namely any other vampires around).
Armand eventually goes back to New York, and acquires three connected town houses, the so called "Trinity Gate", in which many vampires seek shelter from time to time. Louis eventually goes and lives with him there.
>> That might be the show's Dubai penthouse, we'll see.
Armand has "lost" Daniel to Marius for a while. Daniel went a bit mad after turning, and Marius took care of him.
When the threat around Amel and Rhoshamandes happens and Lestat opens his castle in the Auvergne most vampires come together there, including Louis and Armand (and others).
Armand and Daniel reunite there, and last we see them they are together again.
Armand is one of the major players at the "court", and the past has mostly been forgiven (to errr... simplify it).
In the end, he lives with Daniel, Marius, Lestat and Louis (and a lot of others) at the court.
... I'm not sure if this summary suffices to "understand" Armand. I think you might need to actually read the books (and especially his book) there... but feel free to ask if you have further questions :)
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