Blood and Gold

Another excellent entry in the chronicles. I am again mesmerized by Rice's luscious prose, even though it may seem repetitive, as all of her characters are art lovers who and cannot help but describe all of the beautiful things they see. It is a challenge to make an interesting story of someone with extraordinary powers, and the story lacks a little in that department. Yet creativity persevered, in spite of some moments that felt forced down.

It's Marius turn to have his tale told. This time instead of David Talbot approaching him, it is another blood drinker to whom Marius pours his soul, one who has been sleeping for many centuries, and is older then Marius even. He is confused in this new world and Marius takes him into his sanctuary, as himself is feeling so very lonely since the death of Akasha, even though he just got reunited with those he lost so long ago.

I rate this book above Armand's story, but bellow Lestat's. Marius has always been my favorite character in the chronicles, he is the wise one, incorruptible by the centuries, the seeker of knowledge. He is mentioned so many times in the other books and much of his life is already known to the readers. Now we get the chance to see more of him, to know how he became a vampire, to glimpse into his mortal years, to understand and experience how he endured his 1500 years of existence. Friends and enemies were made, lovers were found and lost, and through it all, he carried the the burden of taking care of Those Who Must be Kept.

WARNING : contains spoilers

Summary

First we get a little about his story with Pandora, which is told first in her book on The new Chronicles. He describes the events that lead to their union and then separation from his point of view. He loved her, but couldn't stop arguing with her, whom he saw as a sharp and witted companion.

The next character we're introduced to is Mael, the brute who kidnapped him, kept him as a prisoner for months in a distant land, under deplorable conditions compared to the life he was accustomed in Rome. Marius was an aristocratic scholar, the son of a Roman senator. Mael had groomed him to be the next God of the Grove, the one who lived under a tree and could never go out, the one who would then turn Marius into one like him, and teach him how to flee his predicament afterwards.

When Marius meets Mael again, after the centuries he lived with Pandora, he is surprised to see that he has become a vampire. Mael story is very interesting, an so is his companion and progenitor Avicus. Marius and Mael can't keep from hating each other. Marius blamed him for ruining his life and being responsible for his cursed existence. Mael does the same, because after Marius left, Mael was chosen to be the next God of the Grove. His demeanor towards Avicus however is one of uncontested friendship.

The three of them somewhat live together for many decades. Marius can't bring himself to destroy Mael, in respect for Avicus, and so a strong friendship between the three of them is formed. When Rome falls to the invasion of barbarians, they flee to Constantinople. These little connections with history are few, but the little that it has is enough to instigate the history buff in me.

Arriving at the eastern Roman Empire capital, he meets other vampires ruling the city. Their leader, Eudoxia, is one as powerful as him. He is fascinated by her beauty, and he is curious about her years as a vampire, her knowledge of the Mother and the Father. Unfortunately she sees in him only competition, and she demands he returns to her the guardianship of Akasha and Enkil. They fight, Marius destroys her, and her death crushes him as he is unable to endure the lost of one who could mean so much to him.

This experience was to much for him, and he decides he must abandon Mael and Avicus, and travel far away to an isolated place, and live alone for the rest of his immortal life. The knowledge he has of The Mother and The Father is very attractive to other vampires, and to keep others from discovering their whereabouts, either through reading his mind or the mind of others who knows him, he must hide from the world.

Many centuries passes when he finally emerges again into the world. He is tentative at first, but can't help himself when he sets his eyes on all the beauties mankind has created, even after the long years of destruction and pillaged that followed the fall of Rome.

He is in love with Botticelli's work in particular, and it is then that he decides to take residence in Venice, and present himself as a painter to the world. During this time he meets Santino, who begs him to lead him and his Satan worshipers in order to fulfill the Devil's work. Marius is distraught and shrugs him away, threatening his life if he ever comes near him again.

Soon after he meets Amadeo, who becomes the second great love of his life, after Pandora, who he is constantly searching still. There is some elaboration and extended scenes from what Armand told in his story, it is explained why Santino moved against him, how he managed to overpower him, what became of him after the battle with the Satan worshipers, and how he manages to recover after that.

Marius He recovers from his burned state by creating another vampire, from one human he loves, Bianca. She becomes his 3rd progeny. They spend many centuries together, many of them hiding from Santino's goons.

Again after some centuries, we get a much more satisfying encounter with Pandora then what she describes. it is a brief part of the book, but it is explained why after so many years apart, once they found each other again, they couldn't be together.

His encounter with Lestat is also very briefly explained, we get to see his reaction to Akasha's first time moving from her throne to drink from him and Enkil's anger towards him. Lestat is his 4th love in life, having immediately fallen in love with him. But after the reaction from TWMBK, he again realizes he cannot be near other immortals.

And then we get his reaction to Akasha's betrayal, and how he tried to convince her not to commit genocide. This was a very short and expected reaction. He loved her, he devoted his whole immortal life to her, and she doesn't pay any attention to him.

Analysis

Among the insights and major clarifications, we get to understand that Marius abhors violence, he doesn't want to destroy Santino's vampires because he cannot endure it. The same way as he could not have killed all those worshipers of the snake who came to him all those years before in Antioch, when he was living with Pandora. It was she who suggested and then convinced him to kill those 4 lost souls.

During the centuries, he was able to kill a few blood drinkers who sought to take the blood of The Mother and The Father, and thus compromising his mission to protect them. But he hides himself from the world because he doesn't want to do that anymore. He doesn't want to kill. Specially those of his kind, the vampires who are beautiful and intelligent creatures, either damned or blessed with eternal life, capable of living centuries and even thousands of years. To destroy them would be a heinous crime. As it also would be to create them, because their life is one of hardship and sorrow. A vampire must kill to live.

When he meets Pandora, it is she who abandons him now. I find the explanation very interesting, both as a fan of the VtM RPG and on the psychological side. Our minds are not made to endure more then a few decades of existence, how the longevity of the vampire affects their psyche leaves a lot of room to explore.

Granted I wanted something more, because as a student of philosophy all the intellectual aspects of these fiction books feels beneath me (hihihi), but it is so rare to find this in fiction novels that I treasure anything I can get.

It also during this period when he meets Pandora that it is made ever more clear his flaws. I would not exactly expect, but very much like to see that one who has so many years of wisdom, of studying the great minds of mankind throughout history, would be a little more insightful towards his own self. At last, he is only “human”. And that makes for some interesting conflicts in the story.

It becomes clears that the type of companion Marius wants is one of complete subservience, not one capable of dispute his beliefs. He is prone to outbursts of emotion, when he cast out Bianca for instance. He lacked the fortitude to destroy Santino, one who he knew could pose a threat to him and is so monstrous that no moral argument would justify him continued living.

Also, even after all these years, he still holds a grudge againts Mael, and never gave up upon seeking revenge after Santino as well. Too bad, he could have been the bigger person, the better man.

Blood & Gold tells the story of Marius. His story was explored in The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned and The Vampire Armand, thus most of this book just retells what is already known with little new bits added to the mix.
The history again is the main draw in this instalment, the rise and fall of great civilizations as well as their cultures and art are shown through the eyes of the more intellectual and learned of Rice's vampires.
Marius is one of the oldest vampires; however instead of wise Marius comes off as very pretentious and self-righteous. He is always in the right about everything and everyone else is in the wrong. Marius says he likes to be a teacher to all the vampires he has with him; however, he comes off as more of the authority, who wants his pupils' absolute obedience. Any vampire who argued with Marius gets a completely disproportionate response from him: Pandora, Mael, when Armand defied him (and a great deal of Marius's distrust of Armand seems to stem as much from his unwillingness to follow exactly the path Marius laid down as anything else), any vampire he has been with.
Marius still does not know what he wants: he wants Pandora but he wants her gone when she is with him; he ‘loves' Bianca but doesn't want to turn her until it becomes convenient for him; he falls in love with Armand but when Armand stops being ‘perfect' in Marius's eyes, he just leaves Armand to fend for himself. It is the actions (or the lack of actions) after Armand is taken from him, that makes it clear that Marius loves to run away from his problems and cannot deal with flaws in other vampires.
The women, as seems to be a theme, have the potential to be strong and interesting – Eudoxia, Pandora, Bianca, Zenobia – but whenever they develop to a point where they are not in Marius's shadow, they leave him and are hardly mentioned outside of Marius's company.