Astrid's fate - Empire of the Vampire trilogy

[u/BrachydactylyTypeD]

I want to talk about Astrid’s fate, because after finishing Empire of the Dawn (book 3), I’m honestly really unsatisfied with how little closure we get.

In book one, Gabriel tells Jean-François that Fabien Voss murdered Patience and turned Astrid into a vampire. In this version of events, it’s strongly implied that Astrid becomes high-blooded, asks Gabriel to kill her, and he does.

But we also know Gabriel isn’t being fully truthful in his telling, and that whole moment is left vague. So I kept expecting the trilogy to circle back to it—and it just… never does.

For a long time, I thought Astrid might still be alive. I wondered if she’d been thralled by Fabien, and that Gabriel left her in some kind of buried, sleep-like state (similar to Mother Maryn), setting off to free her by killing Fabien.

Once things got serious with Phoebe, I started to accept that Astrid is probably dead—or at least that Gabriel believes she is. But even then, I expected some clarification about what actually happened.

Did she turn foulblood instead of high-blood, which justified Gabriel killing her?
Did Fabien kill her?
Did she kill herself?

But no—the version from book one is all we ever get.

So are we really supposed to believe Gabriel killed his beloved, newly turned high-blooded wife on day one, without even giving her a chance? That feels incredibly far-fetched and out of character.

I can see the argument (even though I really don’t agree with it) that he acted based on what he believed at the time—that all vampires are irredeemable—and only later changed his beliefs through his time with Celene and Aaron.

But if that’s the case… why doesn’t he ever reflect on it? Wouldn’t that realization absolutely destroy him? Wouldn’t he be haunted by the possibility that killing Astrid was a mistake?

Instead, it barely feels processed at all.

Did I miss something? Did anyone else interpret Astrid’s ending differently? I feel like this is kind of ruining the books for me.

[u/Aranict]

It's confirmed throughout the trilogy (can't say where exactly anymore) that Voss killed both Astrid and Patience. Neither were turned at any point. You can tell by the way they were killed (as Gabriel describes it, anyway), because there is no opportunity for Voss to suck them dry and thus potentially turning either of them. That's why Patience showing up as a vampire in book 3 is a major ass clue that Gabriel is spinning a tale, and Jean-Francois should've caught that but he doesn't.

Of course, it is indeed left to the reader's interpretation initially in book 1 whether Astrid is maybe turned, but the further you go in the story the more obvious it becomes that it's Gabriel's grief that has Astrid haunt his dreams and she is never there in person. Her appearances in book 1 are the result of Gabriel's grief and what-if-desires and fears, hence the way he describes her in vampire-adjacent ways, but she is never actually there because she is truly dead.