Gabrielle de Lioncourt

Gabrielle de Lioncourt is a fictional character that appears in Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles". She makes her debut in the second book "The Vampire Lestat". She is Lestat's mother and first fledgling. She also becomes the first to leave him.

Gabrielle came from a prosperous Italian family. She was educated and had traveled to and lived in many cities in Europe. Then she was married at a young age to Lestat's father, the Marquis d'Auvergne. Gabrielle gave birth to 8 children, but only 3 survived. Out of these sons, the youngest (Lestat), was to become her favourite. She and Lestat shared a special bond: they both were trapped in a place they hated and struggling endlessly to escape.

Gabrielle was cold and uncaring to everyone. She was the only person who was educated in her family and read her books every day, yet lacked the patience to teach her sons to read or write anything. Over the years she was forced to sell two of her heirloom jewels from an Italian grandmother to aid Lestat, the only person she loved and cared for. She lived life through him; he was the male part of her. She suffered a rapidly declining health due to bad winters and multiple childbirths. It eventually developed into tuberculosis.

She funded Lestat's trip to Paris with his friend Nicolas de Lenfent by giving him one of her rings to sell and advising him to hitch a ride on the postal carriage. Lestat became an actor there and was far happier than he ever was back home. He was grateful and loved his mother for all that she had done for him over the years so he sent letters to her telling her about his life in Paris. She encouraged his acting career, which gave him lot of strength. She carefully hid her rapidly declining health to keep him strong.

Lestat was made into a vampire by Magnus, and inherited near-inexhaustible wealth when Magnus killed himself in a bonfire. He repaid those who helped him with gold and indulged in his new-found wealth. To hide the truth from Gabrielle, Lestat told her tales of going to the Bahamas, marrying a rich woman and coming into vast wealth. Intrigued, she went to Paris to see her son before she died. Lestat went to see his mother the second night she was in Paris and tried to hide the truth from her, but she found out upon closer inspection of Lestat's changed appearance that he had become a vampire. When Gabrielle began dying right in front of him, a desperate Lestat made her a vampire.

Lestat was now the maker, parent, and teacher, while Gabrielle became the fledgling, the child and the student. Lestat took her to his tower where they lived happily for months. Things changed, however, when Lestat destroyed the Satanic cult headed by Armand, found a theatre and made Nicolas into a vampire. After this, Lestat and Gabrielle went traveling around the world. Gabrielle became increasingly distant and cold to her son. They finally parted in Egypt just after the French Revolution. Gabrielle went into the deep jungles of Africa and Lestat went underground to sleep for 2 years.

Gabrielle was off exploring the world on her own for the next 200 years. She did not reappear until 1985 (during "The Queen of The Damned".) She was there to help her son fight against Akasha and help save the world. During this time, she developed a slight bond with Marius, but nothing became of it and she drifted away from everyone again. Gabrielle resurfaced for the last time after "Memnoch the Devil", in "The Vampire Armand" while Lestat was in his catatonic sleep.

In the 2006 musical, Lestat, Gabrielle was portrayed by Carolee Carmello who was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for her role. The show itself only lasted 39 performances.

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