Talamasca (order)

The Talamasca, sometimes known as the Order of the Talamasca is a fictional secret society described in the works of Anne Rice. It features in both the Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches series.[1]

It is described as a secret society set up to research, watch over and keep track of the paranormal, in particular, witches, spirits, werewolves and vampires.[2][3][4] Rice describes them as "psychic detectives". Many vampiric characters from Rice's novels once belonged to the Talamasca before accepting the "dark gift". Jesse Reeves, David and Merrick Mayfair, are the most popular of Rice's ex-Talamasca characters.[5]

A similar secret society appears in the Highlander: The Series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer - the Watchers' Council or Watchers - an ancient organization based in Great Britain and with much the same principles: to track and observe immortals.

History in Rice's works

The Society, which is introduced in Queen of the Damned,[6] is said to have formed in 758 by Teskhamen, Heskreth and Gremt, and though it operates in offices worldwide, the organization's central files are held in London.[2][7]

In the novel Prince Lestat it is revealed to the vampire Pandora and Arjun that the founder of the Talamasca is the spirit Pandora had encountered upon the death of Cassiodorus.[8]The leader at that time is David Talbot, who spearheaded its growth at the end of the twentieth century.[2] Earlier in the Vampire Chronicles, the society was sent to New Orleans to uncover the truth behind the story told in Interview with a Vampire.[2]

The word Talamasca comes from Latin meaning "animal mask". It was also an old term to describe a witch or a shaman.[9] Their motto is: "We watch. And we are always there." (Queen of the Damned, Witching Hour, and The Vampire Companion)

The organization is also responsible for the suppression and cover-up regarding the Mayfair family's fiasco concerning the Taltos birth anomaly. It may also have been responsible for covering the burning of the Théâtre des Vampires.

References
  1. Loudermilk, Suzanne (1994-09-29). "Anne Rice stumbles a bit with 'Taltos' - Baltimore Sun". Archived from the original on 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  2. Melton, J. Gordon (2010-09-01). The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Visible Ink Press. pp. 190, 687–688. ISBN 978-1-57859-350-7.
  3. Canfield, David; EDT, 2018 at 11:00 AM (2018-05-14). "Anne Rice's 'Vampire Chronicles' to get a complete 'Alphabettery' guide". Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  4. "Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Classic That Almost Was". 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  5. Jacobs, Matthew (2021-10-26). "An Oral History of Queen of the Damned". Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  6. Badley, Linda (1996). Writing Horror and the Body: The Fiction of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Anne Rice. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-313-29716-8.
  7. Becket; Rice, Anne (2018-10-23). Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles An Alphabettery. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 124–30. ISBN 978-0-525-43473-3.
  8. "Anne Rice Reveals Why She Brought The Vampire Lestat To The Realms Of Atlantis". 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  9. Cavallaro, Dani (2015-02-12). Hayao Miyazaki's World Picture. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-2080-0.
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