"I'm six feet tall, which was fairly impressive in the 1780s when I was a young mortal man. It's not bad now. I have thick blond hair, not quite shoulder length, and rather curly, which appears white under fluorescent light. My eyes are gray, but they absorb the colors blue or violet easily from surfaces around them. And I have a fairly short narrow nose, and a mouth that is well shaped but just a little too big for my face. It always looks sensual. But emotions and attitudes are always reflected in my entire expression. I have a continuously animated face. My vampire nature reveals itself in extremely white and highly reflective skin that as to be powdered down for cameras of any kind. And if I'm starved for blood I look like a perfect horror --- skin shrunken, veins like ropes over the contours of my bones. But I don't let that happen now. And the only consistent indication that I am not human is my fingernails. It's the same with all vampires. Our fingernails look like glass."

Mortal History: Lestat de Lioncourt was born in 1758 in Auvergne, France, the seventh son of a poor French marquis, and one of only three sons who survive. At the age of twelve, he develops an ambition to join a monastery, however his father forbids it. A later attempt to run away with a wandering theatre group is also thwarted. When he was 20, after a successful wolf hunt, he became the hero of the villagers, who called him "Wolfkiller." In 1779, he and his friend, Nicolas de Lenfent, depart for the excitement of a new life in Paris. Once there, they join Renaud's House of Thesbians. It is while performing at Renaud's House of Thesbians that Lestat notices a regular and strange face in the audience. The face belongs to a three-hundred- year old vampire, Magnus, who eventually kidnaps Lestat.

Death: Captured in the winter of 1779 by the Vampire Magnus.

Maker: Magnus

Immortal History: After making Lestat a vampire, Magnus destroys himself. As Magnus's only 'child,' Lestat inherits the full power of three centuries of vampiric strength, along with Magnus's dilapidated stone house and tower and all the collected treasures stored within it. He also inherits a prison cell, full of the decaying corpses of young blond men. At the time of his mortal death, Lestat is either twenty or twenty-one-years old (the text is contradictory).

Even as a mortal, Lestat was "responsive to change and resistant to monotony," and this is something he carries forward with him into immortality and makes him the mover and shaker he becomes in the vampire world. Since Magnus taught him nothing of his new life, it is Lestat's "sense of adventure and curiosity [that propel] him into his new form of existence."

Since he is unaware of any 'rules' constricting him, he lives his new life as he sees fit. He eventually makes his mother, Gabrielle, a vampire, and despite her warnings, he passes on the gift of immortality to his friend, Nicolas. In between these events, he encounters Armand's coven from beneath les Innocents cemetery, who are very upset with him and his "unvampirelike" behaviour. During a confrontation beneath the cemetery, Lestat empowers the members of the coven to break free of their "long tradition of religious superstition," causing Armand to remark ruefully, "You have made me an orphan again." Guided by Lestat's advice, Armand joined the surviving vampires in the Theatre des Vampires founded by Nicolas

It is during his encounter with Armand that Lestat learns of Marius, and determines to find him. However, after ten years, he despairs of his search and goes into the ground for "the first death." It is Marius, drawn by Lestat's persistent attempts to find him, who arrives and revives him. Marius takes Lestat to an island where he shows him Enkil and Akasha, the Father and Mother of the vampire race. Lestat, ever brazen, wakens Akasha and briefly drinks from her.

Later Lestat came to New Orleans where he found his blind father, exiled and aged, and met the despairing Louis de Point du Lac, whom he made his vampire companion. From 1791 to 1794 the Marquis, Louis and Lestat lived at the plantation of Point du Lac. Following the the death of his father and a slave rebellion, Lestat escaped with Louis to New Orleans.

Louis's resentment of his new life and his maker soon become apparent and Lestat attempts to ease the conflict between them by bringing the child, Claudia, into their lives. Despite Marius's warning to "never never make one as young as Armand," Lestat makes the five-year-old girl a vampire. After sixty-five years, the uneasy bond between the trio is broken when Louis and Claudia attack Lestat and leave him for dead. However, thanks to his brief sup of Akasha's powerful blood, Lestat survives, albeit as "a hideous and crippled monster." Eventually, he recovers enough to return to Europe. He is unaware this is where Louis and Claudia have gone in search of their own kind, and that they have, by now, made the acquaintance of Armand and his theatre group. Still scarred and suffering, Lestat arrives in Paris, where he turns "to the only one I could turn to: Armand." He believes that, since he has given Armand land, property and the Theatre of the Vampires, the eternally youthful vampire owes him something. Armand, however, sees things differently. Having nursed "nearly a century's worth of bitterness for having his life (i.e., his coven) dismantled and for having been rejected" by Lestat, Armand has no intention of allowing Lestat the "small infusion of his blood" the damaged vampire requires. Instead, he uses Lestat to help destroy Claudia and thus gain Louis for himself. He then makes it clear to Lestat he won't help him by tossing him off Magnus's tower, thereby breaking every bone in Lestat's body.

Two years later, still scarred and crippled, Lestat returns to New Orleans. There, he goes into seclusion and loses track of time. Eventually he goes into the ground again to allow himself to heal and regain his power.

Lestat is awakened in 1984. Having become interested in the modern world, he reads Louis's book, "Interview With The Vampire." Louis's portrayal of him as a "thoughtless, vulgar, self- centered" creature who "whines whenever things fail to go his way," moves Lestat to write his own book. He says he wanted to write the book for Louis. It was "not an answer to his malice in Interview With The Vampire, but...the story I could not tell him before." He refutes Louis's claim that he made him a vampire so he might have his property and wealth, explaining, "I had to have him, had to. Just the way I had to have everything I wanted, or had to do everything I'd ever wanted to do."

Lestat knows that by writing his autobiography, he goes against the rules, but he says the "old rules didn't matter to me now, either. I wanted to break every one of them." He proceeds to write The Vampire Lestat, revealing all he knows about his race. In authoring the book he not only breaks the rules, he betrays Marius, by breaking his promise to the ancient vampire never to tell anyone about him or his whereabouts. But writing the book is not enough for Lestat, and he proceeds to drag vampires further into the limelight of mortal consciousness by becoming a rock star.

The vampire establishment, already incensed over Louis's revelations in IWTV, rise up in anger, swearing to "destroy the Vampire Lestat and all his cohorts as soon as they dare to show themselves." However, Lestat's music has awakened Akasha, who rises from her shrine and kills Enkil. She then proceeds to act upon her plan to destroy all but one percent of mortal males and set up a new Eden, ruled by females, with herself as the goddess. Her plan also includes the destruction of all vampires. However, since she has chosen Lestat to be her prince, she spares those he loves, and it falls to those remaining vampires to deal with the threat Akasha poses. Once she is destroyed, the small coven begins to lay down some new rules; rules Lestat fully intends to ignore. "I didn't intend to obey any rules imposed upon me by anybody...I never had."

By now, Lestat and Louis have met up again and made the most of the opportunity to reconcile although, at first, Lestat cannot bring himself to "say what I really wanted to say. That I loved him." After Akasha is dealt with, Lestat finds the courage to ask Louis, "Do you love me now?" to which Louis simply answers "Yes." Immediately following the conversation containing this exchange, Lestat sets off with Louis to "break the new rules."

On the heels of his experience with Akasha, Lestat befriends the mortal David Talbot of the Talamasca. He lures David towards vampirism even as he is lured towards becoming human. Lestat's two firm beliefs - both of which are proven illusions in BT - are that no mortal can refuse the Dark Gift (but David does) and that vampires want to be mortal again. Lestat meets Raglan James, who offers to temporarily switch bodies with him so that Lestat can experience once more what it is like to be human. Lestat agrees but upon making the switch and becoming mortal soon realizes he prefers being a vampire. Raglan James, however, has other ideas; he has taken Lestat's body permanently. Lestat turns to Louis for help in becoming a vampire again, but Louis, still not over his own horror at being a vampire, refuses. In a fit of anger, Lestat torches the shack Louis is living in. Lestat must then forcibly retrieve his body. Once he achieves this, he confronts Louis, then, having forgiven him, invites Louis to live with him again in the refurbished town house, an offer Louis accepts.

This adventure dispels all of Lestat's illusions about being redeemed. Of his own free will, he had chosen to be reborn to darkness and he also furthers his notion of himself as an evil creature by forcing David into accepting the Dark Gift.

This is the last of the books narrated by Lestat, in which he describes being stalked by a creature he believes to be the Devil. When the stalker finally reveals himself, Lestat's suspicions are proved correct, although the demon calls himself Memnoch. He invites Lestat to accompany him to meet God and to see Heaven and Hell. Lestat consults with David Talbot, Armand and Dora, a televangelist. Dora approves his going with Memnoch, so Lestat agrees to accompany him.

On his journey, he witnesses the crucifixion, seeing Veronica offer her veil to Christ as He carries His cross, and the miraculous transference of Christ's image onto the material. Lestat is invited to drink Christ's blood, which he does. He is also given Veronica's veil, which he manages to keep safe until he is returned to the world.

During his visit to Hell, Lestat is shown how souls are purged. Seeing how the souls are plagued by their victims, Lestat realises what awaits him. He flees Hell - losing an eye in the process - making for Manhatten and Dora. He vows never to take another human victim.

He finds David and Armand waiting with Dora and tells them all he has experienced and shows them the veil. Dora takes this from Lestat and carries it to a cathedral. They follow her and see the crowd that has gathered, attracted by her cries that she has the veil. As dawn is close, they cannot stay, however Armand, a religious old soul, refuses to leave, and Lestat is horrified when he destroys himself in the sun to confirm the veil's authenticity. Other vampires follow his example, immolating themselves on the steps of the church. With the veil on public display, crowds flock to it and Lestat realises he has given new life to what he calls "the bloodiest religion that ever existed on the world." He returns to New Orleans, where he finds Louis awaiting him. Maharet is also there, with a message from Memnoch.

Lestat admits he does not understand this story, nor is he certain whether what he experienced was truth, lie or hallucination. The only thing he believes is that it happened exactly as he told it. "I swear to this tale, as I swear to every word of it, from my heart...This is what I saw. This is what I heard. This is what I know! This is all I know."

Lestat, now seems weary of his attention-seeking ways, and is prepared to have the spotlight pass from him. His last words are:

"I am the Vampire Lestat. Let me pass from fiction into legend."

Fledglings: Gabrielle de Lioncourt, Nicolas de Lenfent, Louis de Point du Lac, Claudia, David Talbot