But these two lying under the gentle rain were Madeleine and Claudia, and Madeleine's lovely red hair mingled with the gold of Claudia's hair, which stirred and glistened in the wind that sucked through the open doorway. Only that which was living had been burnt away - not the hair, not the long, empty velvet dress, not the small bloodstained chemise with its eyelets of white lace. And the blackened, burnt, and drawn thing that was Madeleine still bore the stamp of her living face, and the hand that clutched at the child was whole like a mummy's hand. But the child, the ancient one, my Claudia, was ashes.

Interview with the Vampire ~ Anne Rice

A doll maker in Paris whom Claudia targets to make a vampire. She has dark red hair and violet eyes.

Madeleine has lost a child near the age Claudia was when she was made immortal; in Madeleine's obsessive grief, she makes china dolls endlessly, all in the image of her deceased daughter. Claudia requests from her a "lady doll" - the form to which she aspires and which will also serve as a mother figure for her - and Madeleine gladly creates it. Madeleine loves Claudia as a child who cannot die and she wants to let go of her grief and grab onto that source of strength.

Interview with the Vampire
~ Warner Bros

Claudia bites Madeleine but is not powerful enough to make her into a vampire, so she demands that Louis finish it. He resists, but Claudia insists that she needs a protector since she knows that louis will eventually desert her for Armand. Realising Claudia's pain, Louis gives in, although unbeknownst to him it is Armand who empowers him to succeed in the act.

When Madeleine becomes a vampire, she fashions miniature furniture for Claudia, then burns down her doll shop as a symbolic gesture; she now has the child she needs in Claudia, who will remain a perfect little doll for eternity.

Angry that Madeleine was made, Armand's coven abducts her one night along with Louis and Claudia. She is locked in an airshaft with Claudia, where the sun comes in and kills both of them. They die wrapped in each other's arms.

Madeleine is the representation of Louis's internal struggle over choosing between Claudia and Armand: Claudia ties him to his humanity, while Armand draws him toward his vampire nature. Louis wants to avoid dealing with this choice and his assessment of Madeleine - that she lives in a dream world and possesses little self-awareness - is therefore as much about him as it is about her.

"I saw her [Madeleine] as a shallow, vain character," says Rice. "I think the things Louis says about her are true."

The Vampire Companion ~ Katherine Ramsland