List of The Vampire Chronicles characters
The following is a list of characters from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, which began with the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire. The series primarily follows the antihero Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century, and by extension the many humans and vampires whose lives he has touched in his own long existence. Some characters from Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy cross over to The Vampire Chronicles, specifically in Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle.
Rice said in a 2008 interview that her vampires were a "metaphor for lost souls". The homoerotic overtones of The Vampire Chronicles are also well documented. As of November 2008, The Vampire Chronicles had sold 80 million copies worldwide.
The first novel in the series, Interview with the Vampire, was made into a 1994 film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst. The Queen of the Damned was adapted into a 2002 film of the same name, starring Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Pérez and Aaliyah and using some material from 1985's The Vampire Lestat. A television adaptation, Interview with the Vampire, premiered on AMC on October 2, 2022, starring Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson.
Overview
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Lestat de Lioncourt
Lestat is a French nobleman born and made a vampire in the 1700s, and the primary antihero of Rice's Vampire Chronicles. He was introduced in Interview with the Vampire, and has been portrayed by Tom Cruise in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire; Stuart Townsend in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned; and by Sam Reid in the 2022 television series Interview with the Vampire.Louis de Pointe du Lac
Louis is a Frenchman made a vampire in New Orleans by Lestat, introduced in Interview with the Vampire. Louis is portrayed by Brad Pitt in the 1994 film adaptation and by Jacob Anderson in the 2022 television series Interview with the Vampire.Armand
Armand is a 500-year-old vampire with the outer appearance of a cherubic adolescent boy, introduced in Interview with the Vampire, When first encountered he is the leader of a coven of vampires living in a cemetery in Paris, with rituals that reflect their belief that they are damned creatures; when the coven breaks up, Armand is left with many existential questions. His previous life in Venice with Marius, and his capture and indoctrination by vampires there who despised Marius's optimistic manner of living, is disclosed in The Vampire Lestat. The character is portrayed by Antonio Banderas in the 1994 film adaptation and by Assad Zaman in the television show.Claudia
Claudia is a child vampire introduced in Interview with the Vampire. She is created on a whim by Lestat, despite the prohibition against making vampires of the young, and grows up trapped in a child's body. Eventually, she seeks revenge against Lestat and poisons him with tainted blood to immobilize him, before killing him, but she is unsuccessful. Claudia travels with Louis, and when the two are captured by Armand's coven in Paris, she is killed by fire as a creature made against the rules. Claudia is portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in the 1994 film adaptation, by Bailey Bass in season one of the 2022 television series Interview with the Vampire and by Delainey Hayles in season two of the series.Daniel Molloy
Daniel Molloy is a young reporter introduced in Interview with the Vampire to whom Louis de Pointe du Lac recounts his life history. He meets the vampire Armand, and after many years is finally turned into one in 1985. The character is portrayed by Christian Slater in the 1994 film adaptation, and by Eric Bogosian as the older Daniel and Luke Brandon Field as the younger Daniel in the 2022 television series.Marius de Romanus
Marius is an ancient vampire, originally from Rome in the 1st century BC and introduced in The Vampire Lestat. He is portrayed by Vincent Pérez in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned, and by Christopher Heyerdahl in season three of the television series.David Talbot
David is the Superior General of the secret organization the Talamasca, which researches and investigates the supernatural. David is introduced in The Queen of the Damned. He meets both Lestat and Louis at the end of the novel. Lestat taunts David, offering to turn him with his powerful vampire blood, which David soundly refuses.In The Tale of the Body Thief, it seems he and Lestat have become friends. After Lestat tries to end his immortal life by flying into the sun in the Gobi Desert, he visits David. He also seeks advice from David when Raglan James offers to switch bodies with him, though he doesn't listen to what David has to say. David helps Lestat regain his body. In the struggle with Raglan James, David switches into a much younger body, described as that of an Anglo-Indian with dark brown hair, while Lestat returns to his preternatural body. Lestat kills David's old body, which is possessed by James. At the end of the book, Lestat forces the blood upon David, making him his fledgling. David becomes somewhat of a confidant to Armand, and eventually records the story of his life in The Vampire Armand. He is also described as having sexual preferences for young women and men, preferring men in The Tale of the Body Thief.
David also appears in Merrick, where he contacts the title character, who also happens to be part of the Mayfairs. In this book, Merrick raises the spirit of Claudia for Louis. In the end, it is revealed that Merrick has been using Vodou to bring both David and Louis to her so she can attain eternal life. This plan works, as Louis gives her the blood and makes her immortal. After he makes Merrick his fledgling, he tries to commit suicide by placing his coffin in the open where he would be burned to death when the sun rose. He nearly succeeds, but he is too old for the sun to end his life. David, Merrick, and Lestat find him and give him their blood to heal his burned form. Their combined blood makes Louis stronger than he had been before. The four then form a coven in New Orleans, but the Talamasca, enraged that three of their members had taken the blood, threaten the vampires and demand that Merrick, David, and Jesse return to them. Lestat wants to retaliate against the Talamasca, but David talks him out of doing anything rash, and the four leave their home in the Rue Royal.
Jessica "Jesse" Reeves
Jesse is a modern-day descendant of the ancient vampire Maharet, portrayed by Marguerite Moreau in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned.Bianca Solderini
Introduced in The Vampire Armand, Bianca is an Italian vampire born in Florence, Italy in the late 1470s. She has sharp grey eyes and wavy golden hair, which she often interweaves with pearls, and is often described as a woman painted by Botticelli.Bianca lives a happy mortal life with her brothers until they die and she is forced to depend financially on her evil kinsmen, who are bankers. They provide amply for her as long as she kills those who they instruct her to kill. She does this by opening her house to virtually all as an amicable and graceful hostess and secretly placing poison in the wine cups of those whom her kinsmen want dead. Bianca is a renowned Venetian courtesan when Marius comes to know her. Marius immediately falls in love with her and becomes obsessed with her, contemplating making her a vampire. A few years after the two meet, Armand arrives on the scene and also falls in love with Bianca. The three form an amiable sort of love triangle before the Children of Darkness, led by Santino, destroy Marius's palazzo, burn Marius, and take away Armand. After the burning, Marius, severely weakened, mentally calls Bianca to him. Marius makes Bianca a vampire so that she can bring him victims so that he can heal.
The two stay together for nearly two hundred years, caring for Those Who Must Be Kept before Bianca leaves Marius in Dresden, when she overhears him telling Pandora that he would leave Bianca if it meant having Pandora with him once more. Marius also does not tell Bianca that rumors of Pandora in Dresden are the only reason they moved there. Armand later sees her in Paris in the early 19th century.
Merrick Mayfair
Introduced as the title character of Merrick, Merrick is a member of the Talamasca and is acquainted with David Talbot. Merrick is suddenly contacted by David Talbot, now a vampire, after his "death". He asks her to raise the spirit of Claudia for Louis de Pointe du Lac. Louis wants to know if Claudia is at peace after her death. Merrick can do this since she is a powerful witch, as are many of the Mayfairs. When her godmother, Great Nannane, died there was no one who could take care of her because her sister and her mother were deceased. There is also a matter of her raising. The Mayfair Family is Louisiana Creole and are of African and European extraction, but all are distanced from Merrick's immediate family. Orphaned, the young Merrick is taken in by David Talbot and Aaron Lightner and the Talamasca. As she grows her power increases and she studies to learn all that she can. She goes to high school and a university. Meantime she bonds with David and Aaron.When she is an adult she returns to become a full member of the Talamasca. When David suddenly dies, she knows something is not right and Aaron tells her nothing. When she says farewell to David's dead body her suspicions are confirmed. She decides to find papers where information about David has been filed. Merrick finds out that David has helped the famous vampire Lestat de Lioncourt. Lestat's powerful vampire body has been stolen by a former member of the Talamasca, Raglan James. When they got Lestat's body back Raglan stole David's body instead and David ended up in the body of a young man. David's original body is destroyed when Raglan, in David's original body, tries to trick Lestat into giving him "the Dark Gift". When David contacts her, years later, Merrick knows all of this. She agrees to raise the spirit of Claudia.
When Merrick meets Louis, they fall in love, more or less. After the ceremony, Louis and Merrick express a desire to talk and David goes out. The next night he finds that Merrick has been made into a vampire by Louis. Merrick later confesses to David, Louis, and Lestat that it is what she's wanted ever since she found out about what happened to David. She also revealed that her ancestors had visited her dreams with a similar message of her fate. She used magic to bring David and Louis to her. When Louis later is dying after his attempt to burn himself in the sun to join Claudia, Lestat fully awakes from his sleep. He saves Louis by letting him drink from his powerful blood. Merrick is also allowed to drink and joins the little coven. Later a young vampire named Quinn calls upon Lestat and asks for help in Blackwood Farm. The spirit of his dead twin brother had been haunting him all his life, and now, when he is a vampire, Quinn is the victim of several attacks. Lestat can not help Quinn on his own and asks Merrick for help, and she agrees. She explains the nature of spirits and says that Goblin refuses "to go into The Light". She performs a kind of exorcism, but to make the spirit "go into the Light" she ends her own life and they both "go into the Light" together. It was earlier revealed by Lestat that Merrick was suffering, which all new vampires do due to their new nature.