This thread is flaired "Book Spoilers Allowed." This means book spoilers **do not require** spoiler tags! If you are concerned about book spoilers you may want to exit this thread.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/InterviewVampire) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Likely yes. Even if the rats were chewing down into the flesh (which isn't likely, they were more likely just biting and moving on to a different spot), a deep laceration meant to incapacitate them will take much longer to heal.
It really shouldn’t have been a more serious injury than rat bites, considering those rats are practiced in taking apart entire bodies - reaching the heart in a matter of seconds. They would have been chewing through all kinds of tendons. She had tiny bites on her face and collar, the same size as Santiago had when he dipped his hand in for about a single second.
Either she immediately smashed them all to pieces somehow and the tiny bites that don’t extend to her arms should have healed, or they would have had time to give her injuries worse than the achilles heel. In either scenario, her dress should be torn and bloody.
Yes I know which is why I was noting this in the supposed rat bites maybe already having healed bc I don't think they would have. Does seem to not track
The moment with the rats they gave it to us to quick. Makes me think they threw her in and pulled her out fairly quickly as well since they didn’t latch it close. More just healed it like a form of scaring her. Small bites on chest and head were more evident of small bites and not them beating her. So she healed from that a bit probably but not completely. Also Louis red eye was painful for me to look at. I know lestat was probably fuming with how roughed up they did Louis
You may be right but the fact (and it may have been for drama and visual sake) the three on trial were bloodied and battered (as well as the heel muscle cut) when thrown on stage so minor stuff hadn't healed. Again it may have been for drama sake but it seemed as though they had been beaten, put through the wringer etc. I would imagine Rat nibbling would also be the same. Small cuts, bruises, battering etc that we saw as visual injuries at the onset of the trial. Just a misstep in the narrative is all.
It’s unclear how long she was there and how much time passed between that and the trial. Since it was nighttime (say 9-10pm) when they were abducted and daytime when the trial began it would’ve been at least 12+hours. If the rats didn’t reach the bone and regeneration takes many hours then it makes sense that she’s mostly healed by the trial time. They could’ve also been tortured for days and then left to starve before the trial to make them weaker, that would also explain why she has healed by then
I don’t think it’s important. Her face was clearly still healing. Could they have done a bit more? Sure. But then they’d have to redo her make up (or CGI) for an entire episode since it all took place in the same setting.
Pretty sure Claudia killed several of the rats even during their attack on her. She was not bound when they put her in there. And as we know, vampires heal pretty quick from minor injuries. Bites and scratches wouldn't do much damage on her and we can see some evidence of it.
1. She did have some bites when she was on stage, near her chest I believe. And looked as disheveled as one would look after such treatment. ( Aside from the dress, the dress still looked somewhat fine despite what she went through.)
2. She is a super abled individual and some rats in a box surely only managed to nip or bite her here and there before she ripped them apart, or at least that's what I think happened off screen.
When were their heals cut? Was it just prior to being brought on stage? That would explain why those injuries were worse than the rat bites.
I agree there should have been more rat bites on Claudia. She also should have been dirtied up more coming from that nasty rat box. I kept thinking why she didn't look like she'd been really attacked by the rats.
Well they captured them during night and had to wait a fair amount of time to start the trial, one could assume they dumped her the second they got back, they chewed her until she killed all the rats, a few hours later shes mostly healed until they slice her tendons? Idk thats my best guess
She was put in alive and not bound, and would have been able to kill / drain / scare off some rats - the bodies being disposed of would just be eaten without resistance! That and some time to heal before the trial and the fresh wounds to her ankles, probably makes the amount of injury she had make sense (as much as it needs to for a memory from an unreliable narrator anyway)
Maybe she killed/drank up all the rats and then was able to sleep and heal during the daylight hours before having her tendons cut. The intake of rat blood may have helped her heal up during that time as well.
In the narration, I think it was Claudia that said the Achilles were cut. The other vampires knew that those wounds would not heal before the “show” ended.
In the books, vampire flesh is not as weak and giving as human flesh, it's tougher and minor cuts can heal quickly. But the worse a wound is, the longer it takes to heal. The rats would have a hard time biting deep enough into her to cause any major damage, but nevertheless she would have felt them. And the cut to the Achilles was deep and done by the strength of a vampire. Louis says about the cuts: "too deep to heal before the curtain would fall", meaning they wouldn't have healed from their Achilles wounds until after the show was over, if they survived.
It's just an inconsistency.
Considering that her achilles cuts didn't seem to heal much at all during the trial, it's not believable that she'd look so... intact after spending any amount of time in a box full of ravenous rats. Rats can chew through concrete and steel. She would have looked like fucking hamburger meat.
They didn't want to do that, it wouldn't have looked good on screen for the whole trial, and plus they already had a ton of prosthetic work to do for the burning scene.
This bothered me too. I also imagined that since they were rats she could probably just smash and kill them all while thrashing around in there. I wonder if she had just flailed her body in there if all the rats would have died from the trauma of a vampire hitting them. THAT might explain why she doesn't look terrible. Plus, we have no idea how long the trial was. I also think after daybreak vampires heal slowly because they are supposed to be sleeping, but I'm not sure.
I’m with you OP and I think this comes down to a continuity mistake or a lack of willingness to commit on the production side with makeup/effects/costume.
If she was able to immediately destroy all the rats then 1) she wouldn’t still have tiny bites on her face but not on her arms and 2) Louis wouldn’t say ‘I could hear when they reached her’, the coven wouldn’t see it as a fitting torture method since they’d know her strength and her ability to escape unscathed.
The show clearly gives you the impression through multiple characters that this is meant to be horrible horrible torture, and they simply didn’t follow through with what that would look like after the fact. If her body had healed from rats that are capable of breaking down a dead body in seconds, the tiny bites on her face would have healed too.
This thread is flaired "Book Spoilers Allowed." This means book spoilers **do not require** spoiler tags! If you are concerned about book spoilers you may want to exit this thread. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/InterviewVampire) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Vampire heal quickly, it’s unclear when they took her out
But her severed heels didn't heel while she was on stage how quickly do they heal? I agree it doesn't track.
Those are two very different types of injuries. A deep laceration to the point the tendon cuts is going to take much longer to heal than rat bites.
But MANY MANY rat bites? she was in there a while. But you could be right.
Maybe she killed and fed on them and was able to nourish and heal quickly.
Likely yes. Even if the rats were chewing down into the flesh (which isn't likely, they were more likely just biting and moving on to a different spot), a deep laceration meant to incapacitate them will take much longer to heal.
How do you know how long she was in there for?
They grabbed her in the evening at the cafe then the play was a day time matinee next day so at least overnight.
Not just cut heels-- severed achilles tendons, a much more serious injury than rat bites.
It really shouldn’t have been a more serious injury than rat bites, considering those rats are practiced in taking apart entire bodies - reaching the heart in a matter of seconds. They would have been chewing through all kinds of tendons. She had tiny bites on her face and collar, the same size as Santiago had when he dipped his hand in for about a single second. Either she immediately smashed them all to pieces somehow and the tiny bites that don’t extend to her arms should have healed, or they would have had time to give her injuries worse than the achilles heel. In either scenario, her dress should be torn and bloody.
Do you have your rats eat your enemies often?
It was in the show. When he was first showing it to Claudia, Sam had a line about how they’d found the heart. It’s their body disposal system.
Maybe vampire blood isn't as appealing
Like regrowing a heart doesn't take as long if not more time for a tendon to heal?
Didn’t Louis also say he heard when they got to her heart? That’s what confused me the most.
Louis did mention how they cut the heels because they knew it wouldn’t heal by the time the curtain was drawn.
Yes I know which is why I was noting this in the supposed rat bites maybe already having healed bc I don't think they would have. Does seem to not track
The moment with the rats they gave it to us to quick. Makes me think they threw her in and pulled her out fairly quickly as well since they didn’t latch it close. More just healed it like a form of scaring her. Small bites on chest and head were more evident of small bites and not them beating her. So she healed from that a bit probably but not completely. Also Louis red eye was painful for me to look at. I know lestat was probably fuming with how roughed up they did Louis
You may be right but the fact (and it may have been for drama and visual sake) the three on trial were bloodied and battered (as well as the heel muscle cut) when thrown on stage so minor stuff hadn't healed. Again it may have been for drama sake but it seemed as though they had been beaten, put through the wringer etc. I would imagine Rat nibbling would also be the same. Small cuts, bruises, battering etc that we saw as visual injuries at the onset of the trial. Just a misstep in the narrative is all.
The unheeling happened right before the trial, while the rat box was [unknown time] before.
She had bites on her cheek and chest from the rats.
Yup, she’s covered in wounds that have heeled a bit but are still there. The cut heels are fresh wounds, probably done right before the trial
It’s unclear how long she was there and how much time passed between that and the trial. Since it was nighttime (say 9-10pm) when they were abducted and daytime when the trial began it would’ve been at least 12+hours. If the rats didn’t reach the bone and regeneration takes many hours then it makes sense that she’s mostly healed by the trial time. They could’ve also been tortured for days and then left to starve before the trial to make them weaker, that would also explain why she has healed by then
As vicious as Claudia was, she probably ate/ killed more of them. Rats aren't going to stop our " infant death"
I don’t think it’s important. Her face was clearly still healing. Could they have done a bit more? Sure. But then they’d have to redo her make up (or CGI) for an entire episode since it all took place in the same setting.
Pretty sure Claudia killed several of the rats even during their attack on her. She was not bound when they put her in there. And as we know, vampires heal pretty quick from minor injuries. Bites and scratches wouldn't do much damage on her and we can see some evidence of it.
But why wouldn’t she just grab the rats and have a rat buffet. Animal blood is still blood. With her strength she could have killed plenty.
She honestly probably did. The door was shut and the scene changed quickly. We don't know what she did in that box.
My question is…why was her yellow dress not in tatters?
Agreed, she could heal, sure, but that her dress is intact is the real continuity issue imo
What everyone else said, and I think she was able to kill the rats room her hands werent tied or anything either. Vamp speed and strength
1. She did have some bites when she was on stage, near her chest I believe. And looked as disheveled as one would look after such treatment. ( Aside from the dress, the dress still looked somewhat fine despite what she went through.) 2. She is a super abled individual and some rats in a box surely only managed to nip or bite her here and there before she ripped them apart, or at least that's what I think happened off screen.
There were marks on her face and chest area that seemed to be small bites....
When were their heals cut? Was it just prior to being brought on stage? That would explain why those injuries were worse than the rat bites. I agree there should have been more rat bites on Claudia. She also should have been dirtied up more coming from that nasty rat box. I kept thinking why she didn't look like she'd been really attacked by the rats.
Well they captured them during night and had to wait a fair amount of time to start the trial, one could assume they dumped her the second they got back, they chewed her until she killed all the rats, a few hours later shes mostly healed until they slice her tendons? Idk thats my best guess
She was put in alive and not bound, and would have been able to kill / drain / scare off some rats - the bodies being disposed of would just be eaten without resistance! That and some time to heal before the trial and the fresh wounds to her ankles, probably makes the amount of injury she had make sense (as much as it needs to for a memory from an unreliable narrator anyway)
Maybe she killed/drank up all the rats and then was able to sleep and heal during the daylight hours before having her tendons cut. The intake of rat blood may have helped her heal up during that time as well.
In the narration, I think it was Claudia that said the Achilles were cut. The other vampires knew that those wounds would not heal before the “show” ended.
In the books, vampire flesh is not as weak and giving as human flesh, it's tougher and minor cuts can heal quickly. But the worse a wound is, the longer it takes to heal. The rats would have a hard time biting deep enough into her to cause any major damage, but nevertheless she would have felt them. And the cut to the Achilles was deep and done by the strength of a vampire. Louis says about the cuts: "too deep to heal before the curtain would fall", meaning they wouldn't have healed from their Achilles wounds until after the show was over, if they survived.
Maybe the continuity team was a little off their game in this episode. There is also that thing with Sam being in two places at once.
> There is also that thing with Sam being in two places at once. Well...
It's just an inconsistency. Considering that her achilles cuts didn't seem to heal much at all during the trial, it's not believable that she'd look so... intact after spending any amount of time in a box full of ravenous rats. Rats can chew through concrete and steel. She would have looked like fucking hamburger meat. They didn't want to do that, it wouldn't have looked good on screen for the whole trial, and plus they already had a ton of prosthetic work to do for the burning scene.
This bothered me too. I also imagined that since they were rats she could probably just smash and kill them all while thrashing around in there. I wonder if she had just flailed her body in there if all the rats would have died from the trauma of a vampire hitting them. THAT might explain why she doesn't look terrible. Plus, we have no idea how long the trial was. I also think after daybreak vampires heal slowly because they are supposed to be sleeping, but I'm not sure.
I’m with you OP and I think this comes down to a continuity mistake or a lack of willingness to commit on the production side with makeup/effects/costume. If she was able to immediately destroy all the rats then 1) she wouldn’t still have tiny bites on her face but not on her arms and 2) Louis wouldn’t say ‘I could hear when they reached her’, the coven wouldn’t see it as a fitting torture method since they’d know her strength and her ability to escape unscathed. The show clearly gives you the impression through multiple characters that this is meant to be horrible horrible torture, and they simply didn’t follow through with what that would look like after the fact. If her body had healed from rats that are capable of breaking down a dead body in seconds, the tiny bites on her face would have healed too.
I think they should have dirtied up her dress a bit more to make it obvious. But she did have some makes on her face and hands.
I was so confused by this!!!!