I think about Armand’s Marius Issues ᵀᴹ  a lot but I’m rereading his book and now I can’t stop thinking about his Bianca Issues ᵀᴹ too.

Like yes, Armand and his pets are a way to work through his experiences with Marius but Daniel in particular parallels Bianca a lot. Bianca was someone Armand was in love with (albeit in a naive teen crush sort of way), the first mortal he ever went and told his vampire secret to. Even in knowing Armand was a vampire Bianca loved him all the same, still treated him as something of an equal, still went out with him and let him dress her up to have adventures in the mortal world every night. On some subconscious level, under all obvious Marius related troubles, Armand is chasing that with Daniel too. (also all of the weird vampire/mortal threesomes? That shit is all about Marius and Bianca)

When he warns Daniel that other vampires might seek to harm him just because he’s with Armand I always go back to Marius intending to kill Bianca. How helpless Armand must have felt in that in that moment, the first time he learned that those he loved would always be in danger simply because of his love for them (because Marius can talk as much shit as he wants about it being a lesson in killing evil doers, but on some level that had to do with Armand having slept with Bianca and having feelings for her too)

Then the safe spaces he makes in the form of Night Island and Trinity Gate are homages to Bianca’s home, the one place he could run to when he was upset and know nothing bad would happen to him, that Bianca would let him rest there however long he liked. Armand keeps both of his homes open like a courtesan’s home, taking all guests and letting his select lovers drift in and out. Trinity Gate is filled with Sybelle’s music, just as Bianca’s home was. Bianca gave him stability and safety in a strange and overwhelming period of his life and Armand tries so hard to give that to others (and to himself) now.

So it’s especially painful to know that not only did Marius abandon him, but Bianca did too. As a fledgling vampire she couldn’t have marched into the Children of Satan alone (understandably) but she never goes back, and the one time Armand does see her in the streets she turns away. Maybe she actually was scared like Armand thought, but it hurt him in a way it took centuries for him to realize.

It’s a shame that Anne Rice didn’t see fit to include their reconciliation in Prince Lestat, or Armand’s reaction to Marius admitting in Blood and Gold and he and Bianca had come and seen him in Paris. As much as Marius left indelible marks on his life, his relationship to Bianca and her seeming disappearance did too.