Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of AMC’s ‘Interview with the Vampire’ unwraps many secrets as Louis realizes how unreliable memory can be. Recounting the events around seventy years ago is difficult, even for a vampire, which leads to some discrepancies in his version of events. The same holds for other characters, as they tend to forget some stuff. However, things are a bit different when talking about their origins, especially their creator. Louis remembers a lot of things clearly about Lestat, just like Lestat remembers the things about his creator, Magnus. His name is evoked again in the last episode of Season 2, but certain things remain unclear about him even then. BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD
Loneliness Killed Magnus
Lestat doesn’t like to talk about his maker, but he does reveal some tidbits in Season 1, including the fact that Magnus threw himself into a fire shortly after creating Lestat, leaving the fledgling vampire with little to no knowledge of how to take care of himself. The reason behind his suicide is not addressed, but those familiar with the book series will know the answer.
A key thing to remember about Magnus is that he wasn’t turned by another vampire. As an alchemist, he was obsessed with the idea of immortality. He asked the leader of the Paris coven at the time to turn him but was rejected. But this made him even more adamant about wanting to be a vampire. So he tricked one of the younger vampires in the coven and stole his blood to turn himself into a vampire. However, his trickery turned him into an outcast, as the coven never accepted him, and he was forced to be alone.
Lestat tells Louis that loneliness is the one thing a vampire cannot survive. For 300 years, Magnus tries to find a cure for his loneliness while also trying to create a fledgling who can keep his bloodline going and inherit the riches he has amassed over the years. When he makes Lestat, he decides to end his misery and jumps into the fire after instructing the young vampire to scatter his ashes to ensure he doesn’t come back in any form.
Magnus’ Obsession with Lestat-Alikes was Subconscious
It didn’t take Magnus long to realize that while vampirism granted immortality, it did nothing to bring back one’s youth. Magnus had been a bit older and was considered ugly by other vampires, which added to his woes. Moreover, suddenly turning into a nocturnal creature made him miss sunlight and blue skies, which manifested in his obsession with men with yellow hair and blue eyes. He wanted a beautiful man for an heir and kidnapped blonde, blue-eyed guys, but he couldn’t turn them because he knew what he would subject them to.
Apart from beauty, he was also looking for a strong survival instinct in his heir (the things he didn’t have for himself). Only when he met Lestat did he realize he had found the perfect man to turn into a vampire and bestow all of his gifts, too. He took his time, keeping an eye on Lestat, trying to figure out what kind of a person he was and whether he was suited to life as a vampire, particularly its aspect of a lonely existence. Later, Lestat does the same thing with Louis, following him for days before deciding that he’d found the perfect man. Eventually, Magnus decided it was time, and he kidnapped Lestat, feeding on him for days before relenting and turning him into a vampire while ending his own life.
