MBTI Type: ESTP

Lestat is a creature of impulse who takes opportunities as they arise; he sees Louis wandering around, dead yet living, and turns him, so he can live a life of extravagance inside his beautiful mansion, on an estate full of slaves to feed upon. Lestat loves fine things … high living, beautiful people, the expensive luxuries that Louis’ wealth can provide. He is incredibly in tune to the moment, able to see chances for action and intent on taking them (turning Louis, taking advantage of his wealth, recruiting Claudia to help keep Louis with him, even feeding on alligators in the swamp). He can also be rash, impulsive, and reckless, such as when he turns Claudia immediately because he senses that “Louis was going to leave us.” He finds her still alive, then makes sure Louis is present at the moment of her transformation, knowing Louis needs “something to love.” He has a clever mind and an able tongue that insults freely but is also manipulative. Lestat silently appraises situations and manages them to his advantage; he points out the logical fallacies of others’ behavior even down to the simplest of things (“You can’t kill me, Louis; you need me”). He is quick to point out to Louis the stupidity of his decisions—if he burns down the house, where will they live? He points out that Claudia needs to be more careful and considerate of their situation – she can’t just kill everyone indiscriminately, they need seamstresses, piano teachers, and suchlike. It’s wrong to “pollute her bed” with a dead body. His desire for companionship and the awe of others toward him drives Lestat to create “children,” which he fiercely hangs onto with possessive manipulation. He reads their emotions and acts to get an emotional response out of them. In his worst moments, Lestat can be deliberately cruel. He thinks Louis is pathetic and whiny for refusing to dine on humans, so he forces Louis into a situation in which he callously mistreats a prostitute, then tells Louis to “put her out of her misery,” which Louis refuses to do. After Claudia enrages him with her behavior, he meanly says things to provoke her (that he hopes whatever gift she brought him has “attributes you will never possess,” taking a dig at her devastation at never maturing into a fully grown woman’s body). Lestat is emotionally demonstrative, losing his temper at times, but also using “we” language to unify him and his “children,” so that Louis will see them as a group dynamic. He tries to appeal to Louis’ tender nature many years later, when he says if Louis would stay with him, he could venture out and “become my old self again.” Though he lives primarily in the moment and doesn’t anticipate Claudia’s betrayal, Lestat does want to survive as long as possible, so he is careful enough in his murders to avoid overt suspicion.

Enneagram: 3w2 sx/sp

Lestat is incredibly vain and focused on appearances; it upsets him immensely not only that Claudia has betrayed him, but that she has made him hideous and forced him to feed on the blood of crawling things. He is a dandy and “a bit of a snob,” who prefers to feed on “high society.” Lestat ends the film primping while driving a car, delighted that he can now offer the journalist “the choice I never got” (to become a vampire). He is fussy about his environment and likes to keep things just so, but also hates being alone. Lestat has a 2ish tendency to think well of himself, to see himself as “necessary,” and to pride himself on what he’s done for Louis and Claudia, by granting them immortality. He feels angry and resentful when they don’t appreciate this gift, because he feels like he’s owed their loyalty. He flies into childish rages and tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants, which is the fine life and to feel loved, but also correctly interprets Louis’ longing as needing someone to love—so he provides him with Claudia as a diversion, in the hopes of keeping them both close.