Memnoch the Devil
~ Chatto & Windus 1995 (UK)

At the mercy of terrible forces and his own demons, Lestat will need more than the power of a holy relic, more even than Dora's unshakeable faith, if he is to be saved...

With its vast scope and epic scale, its themes of blood and redemption, temptation and damnation, Memnoch the Devil takes the Vampire Lestat to new and mesmerising heights.

Memnoch the Devil ~ Chatto & Windus 1995 (UK)

Memnoch the Devil
~ Knopf 1995 (US)

In Anne Rice's extraordinary new novel, the Vampire Lestat - outsider, canny monster, hero-wanderer - is at last offered the chance to be redeemed.

He is brought into direct confrontation with both God and the Devil, and into the land of Death.

We are in New York. The city is blanketed in snow. Through the whiteness Lestat is searching for Dora, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a drug lord, the woman who arouses Lestat's tenderness no mortal ever has.

While torn between his vampire passions and his overwhelming love for Dora, Lestat is confronted by the most dangerous adversaries he has yet known.

He is snatched from the world itself by the mysterious Memnoch, who claims to be the Devil. He is invited to be a witness at the Creation. He is taken like the ancient prophets into the heavenly realm and is ushered into Purgatory.

In the first four Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summoned up for us worlds that are fantastic and distant, making them as resonant, real, and immediate as our own. Now, in her most daring and darkest novel, she takes us, with Lestat, into the mythical world that is most important to us - into the realms of our own theology.

Memnoch the Devil ~ Knopf 1995 (US)

Twenty Six Years with my Beloved Immortals ~ Memnoch the Devil

This is, hands down, my favourite of all the Vampire Chronicles I've written. The passion that went into the creation of this novel was immense, and I stand behind every word I committed to paper. It was time for Lestat to go to Heaven and Hell, and time for me to put forth Memnoch's words, my vision of how an angel as powerful as "the devil" could have possibly fallen from God's grace.

Everything in the novel is about what I believe or what I hope to be true, or what perhaps I fear is true - ah, perhaps it's a mixture of all those elements. My soul is in this book. And my soul lives in the characters of Roger and his daughter Dora as much as it lives in the character of Memnoch.

Quite unable to fully analyze my own work, I must confess that I feel there is an eerie truth in Roger's story and Dora's fate as surely as there is in Memnoch's appeal to Lestat's conscience. The journey of Veronica's veil, the mystery of Lestat's missing eye, the bold persona of "God Incarnate" - these elements mean everything to me.

Is this to imply that my soul is not in my other books? That my other books don't mean everything to me??? No. Absolutely no. My soul is in all that I've written, without doubt. But it Memnoch, I discovered depths in myself that I didn't know were there. I aspired to heights that I hadn't attempted before. The book was a moral revolution for me, and when Lestat approached Christ Himself on the Road to Calvary, I was with Lestat, or Lestat was with me, step by step, as always. I can't retreat from this. I can't ever retreat from the commitment of this book. I can't retreat in cowardice from the book's risks or its power.

As for criticism that it wasn't a vampire novel or that I wasn't serious or that it wasn't right to take Lestat there, I have to laugh at all that. Heaven and Hell were in Lestat's destiny. And he and I reel from that journey even now.

The only other book of mine which I love so much is not a Vampire Chronicle. It's the novel Violin, in which blood means as much as it means in the Vampire Chronicles. But wheras Violin is about one woman's salvation, Memnoch the Devil is about what one person can do for the salvation of countless others.

Violin is rough and secretive and deeply romantic. Memnoch the Devil is extravagant and fierce as a lightning storm.

Anne Rice

The fifth novel in the series The Vampire Chronicles. Although Lestat continues to use the pseudonym Anne Rice, he tells the story in the first person, dictating it in chains "to my friend and my scribe," David Talbot (with Maharet's assistance). Originally this novel had featured a nearly unredeemable man like Roger who was visited by ghosts. It's title was A Dark and Secret Grace, but Rice could not make it work. She had also called it Of Heaven and Hell, then changed it to Memnoch the Devil.

As Lestat opens the story, it is clear he is afraid. He is being stalked, and he thinks his pursuer is something more terrible than any mortal vampire hunter. He meets David in Manhattan to describe his experience, which had begun in Rio nearly a year earlier. This same creature had stalked him in New Orleans, and he believes it may be the Devil finally coming to claim his soul. He overhears fragments of strange conversations that seem to link his stalker to the vision David once had in Paris of God and the Devil. Lestat thinks that God and the Devil are discussing him.

At the same time, Lestat himself is stalking a drug dealer and assassin named Roger. Vaguely, he wonders if there is some connection. Aware that Roger has a beautiful daughter, Dora, who is a sincere televangelist, Lestat decides to kill Roger in a way that will cause the least harm to Dora.

David believes that Lestat's stalker has some connection with Lestat's intended victim and perhaps is following Lestat because he/it does not want Lestat to kill him. Lestat decides to kill Roger and see. He goes to Roger's house and takes him, then, to protect Dora, cuts his body into pieces and hides the parts around the city. All the while, his stalker is nearby, aware of what he is doing. In a bar, Roger's ghost appears to tell Lestat his life story. As a boy, Roger had discovered the illuminated books of a religious mystic named Wynken de Wilde. He had responded to the way Wynken wove together the joys of the flesh and the idea of union with God. Roger had wanted to found a cult on his ideas, so he had set out to collect all of the mystic's books. Along the way, he had become a drug dealer and killer, acquiring the money to collect all manner of valuable religious art. He wanted to give Dora some relic on which she could ground her religion and raise funds, but because his wealth was tainted, she had rejected his money and his relics.

Roger begs Lestat to save the religious artifacts he has spent his life collecting, as he wants Dora to have them. He also wants Lestat to look after Dora. Then his ghost fades and gets taken by a huge winged figure that resembles Lestat's stalker. Lestat is so amazed, and so in love with both Roger and Dora, that he stores the relics in the Olympic Tower, then goes to New Orleans to tell Dora her father is dead. Roger had believed that Lestat's appearance to her would give her what she craves - evidence of the supernatural world - and would help her view his death as a way to cleanse her inheritance from the crimes that had built it.

Dora lives alone in St.Elizabeth's Orphanage, and this is where Lestat goes. He encounters the man he believes to be the Devil, who wants to discuss his soul but who will wait for a better moment. Dora arrives, and Lestat explains what he is and what he has done to her father. She is unafraid, wanting only to know how he might fit into her plan to produce some spectacular vision to affirm her religious truth. Lestat is confused about what he should do. The man approaches again, scaring him, so he leaves and returns to his town house. But there he soon realises his stalker is once again upon him.

He calls himself Memnoch, and he does indeed claim to be the Devil. To prove it, he takes the form of a large, black, goat-legged creature with armour and wings. Lestat gets into a fight with him, and Memnoch declares that Lestat is just the creature he has been waiting for centuries to address. Memnoch affirms David's vision and insists that he is not evil. In fact he needs Lestat's help to turn back the tide of evil in the world. To do this, he wants to take Lestat to Heaven to speak to God and to Hell to see how he can best serve the truth.

Lestat consults Armand and David to see what they think of the Devil's offer. Armand is suspicious, David is interested but noncommital. Lestat decides to ask Dora's advice, but first transports her to Manhattan to see Roger's relics. Dora encourages Lestat to accompany Memnoch, so Lestat meets him near St.Patrick's Cathedral.

Memnoch adopts an angelic form - slightly larger than human with diaphanous wings - to tell his story. He first takes Lestat to Heaven as promised, and the light, perfection, and glory of the place overwhelm Lestat. The interconnectedness among the beings he encounters astonish his sensibilities. He wants to sing with them, longing for what they have. Memnoch takes him to a balustrade, from which he realises he will be able to comprehend the entire history of the Earth, and he sees a man who seems to be the source of the light radiating through Heaven. It is God.

To Lestat's amazement, God turns to him and insists that Lestat could never be His adversary. Memnoch snatches Lestat away, taking him to an earthly paradise a few thousand years before his time. There he divulges the Thirteen Revelations of Physical Evolution, laying out the stages of God's creation of the world. The angels had all witnessed it, and some had been concerned about the creation of human beings: they looked like angels but were divided into the male and female sides. Memnoch had led the way in questioning God's wisdom, but God had instructed him to study humankind first. Memnoch did so and disliked the suffering he saw; he tried to persuade other angels to join him in questioning it, but they left him to stand on his own.

Memnoch then adopted human form and experienced the joys of sex. For this, God banned him from Heaven. He returned to Earth to teach the human tribes skills for improving their lot. Over the course of three months, he coupled, with many women, but God disapproved of his activities and recalled him to Heaven. Memnoch made a case on behalf of humans, citing their spirituality and questioning why death and suffering were part of God's plan for them. God explained that humans are part of the energy exchange of nature, but Memnoch insisted that they are not part of nature. God then sent him to Sheol, the realm of souls of deceased humans, to see if there were ten souls there worthy of Heaven.

Memnoch returned with millions, which God accepted into Heaven. Memnoch, however, wanted God to open Heaven up to all human souls, not just those who were spiritually evolved enough to be worthy. He challenged God to adopt human form Himself and see what He has made. God rejected the idea and cast him from Heaven. For a long time, Memnoch wandered the earth. Finally, he went back to Palestine, where he heard about a man who emanated divine presence, then wandered into the desert and encountered God in the form of a man. God claimed that, as a man, He had learned to love human souls; as a result, He would offer, via His death on the cross, holiness, glory, and redemption to humanity. Memnoch was appaled that God based His plan on the worst human superstitions. He even questioned the merit of God's suffering as a human, in view of the fact that all along He had known He was God and would be able to escape back to Heaven.

Before Memnoch finishes his story, God invites Lestat to witness for himself Christ's passion rather than base his decision merely on Memnoch's interpretation. Lestat watches Christ pull His cross along the road. Christ invites Lestat to drink His blood, and when he does so, he experiences a tremendous sense of light. Veronica steps out and offers her veil to Christ. When Christ wipes His brow, His face miraculously imprints itself on the cloth. Christ then gives Lestat the veil. Overwhelmed, Lestat flees with the icon.

Memnoch then takes him in a whirlwind to the Fourth Crusade and describes other events during the bloody history of Christianity. Lestat witnesses the debate between God and Memnoch about Memnoch's function in God's plan, then goes with Memnoch to Hell. Horrified to discover that people are tormented there by their victims, he realises that behind a door, his own victims await him. They are all in Hell because they have not learned that the way to Heaven is through forgiveness and acceptance. Lestat refuses to be Memnoch's lieutenant; he cannot abide the thought of participating in such a horrifying place nor is he sure of the truth anymore. He flees, but Memnoch grabs him, ripping out his left eye. Lestat escapes and returns to Dora in Manhattan, where David and Armand have joined her. He feels as if no one is safe nor ever will be again.

Lestat tells his story and, when asked, shows them all the veil. Dora grabs it and takes it to St. Patrick's Cathedral as evidence of a religious miracle. Armand surrenders to its implications; he goes out to die in the sun, bursting into flame as confirmation. Other vampires come and do the same, including Mael. As the media picks up these events, people flock to see the veil and to experience its power. Lestat is appalled that he has unintentionally perpetuated this destructive, bloody religion. Dora cuts all ties to her former life to become the Keeper of the Veil. She gives Lestat all of Roger's relics and St. Elizabeth's, her home in New Orleans, where the relics have been sent.

Lestat and David go there and discover that Louis has arranged all the icons. Maharet arrives and gives Lestat back his eye, then binds him in chains as she delivers a message from Memnoch: Lestat has served the Devil perfectly, a job well done. He reacts angrily, believing this to be a lie, but Maharet reminds him that it is the age-old dilemma: he cannot be certain one way or the other. As Lestat recovers from this horrifying revelation, David writes down the whole story. Eventually, Maharet unchains Lestat. Unsure what it all means, he wanders around New Orleans and says he will now pass from fiction to legend.

Rice says this novel will end the vampire series for some time to come. "It was a deeply disturbing book to write," she says, "which feels wonderful. It has much blasphemy, but then you have to love God greatly and deeply in order to be a true blasphemer, I think. I loved writing it; it felt likc dancing - instinctive, athletic, not calculated or analysed or rational, or even sequential. I've spoken in my dramatic images and must stand by them and take the consequences."

Thirteen Revelations of Physical Evolution

The successive stages of God's creation of the world, as witnessed by the angels, Memnoch describes them to Lestat as "the thin outline of all you'll know once you die."

1, God changed inorganic molecules to organic, which first appeared in water.

2, The molecules organised themselves into three forms - cells, enzymes, and genes - and single-cell forms evolved into multicellular forms. There was some spark of life and a crude sense of purpose. Green life forms took root on land.

3, The spark of life present in animals was similar to that in the angels, but unlike immortal angels, animals were dying and decaying. At this point, some of the angels began to question the plan. They discovered a punitive quality in the suffering they observed. God explained it to them as the interchange of energy and matter in nature: death feeds life.

4, In the Revelation of Colour, extravagant beauty took form in the diverse flowers and sea creatures. The songs angels sang in Heaven began to change to include all that the angels were observing.

5, In the stage of encephalisation, nervous systems and heads with brains formed on the animals. The angels were confused by the fact that God's creatures in the physical world were becoming more like them.

6, Those animals with heads had faces, as angels had faces, that expressed their intelligence.

7, Some animals emerged from the sea onto land. Dinosours evolved, and killing became more vicious and dramatic. When the angels questioned Him again, God still insisted that killing and death were all part of the energy exchange that kept nature in balance. There was no waste.

8, In this stage, warm-blooded birds made their appearance. Their feathers, like the wings of angels, inspired pride among the angels, and then minor rebellion, which God immediately quelled with more reassurances.

9, The coming of mammals frightened the angels. The suffering and mammal cries of pain were as yet unequaled. They showed the hideous fulfillment of the promise of death present from earlier stages.

10, When apes walked upright, the angels viewed it as a mockery of God.

11, The upright apes began to treasure beauty and bury thier dead, showing evidence of caring and kinship. Thus commenced modern man, coming closer than any creature heretofore to the affection angels could feel.

12, The human spirit evolved from matter, and its similarity to them startled the angels. They watched as the female differentiated from the male and became beautiful and alluring, like the angels themselves. They feared God might be trying to replace them. The angels also saw the souls of the dead surround the Earth.

13, Mate selection diversified and improved the stock, and both genders increasingly seemed to be angels split in two.

Memncoh goes into a rage, demanding to know what God has in mind. "I considered it a disaster!" he tells Lestat. Yet God insists the scheme is balanced. The two remain divided on this issue.

The Vampire Companion ~ Katherine Ramsland