The way ep 5 drives home that Louis calling Armand “Arun” and Armand calling him “Maitre” is just a way for Louis to indicate that something really matters to him and that Armand should take heed and actually listen. “Are you asking Maitre?” Because if you are just being Louis right now, and you are asking, I am going to do whatever I want, and you can’t stop me, because outside the bonds of our sexual/emotional relationship you have no power. But if you’re “Maître” your words have weight, because if youre Maitre you have the power to punish me by denying me you in a sexual/emotional context. Louis has no power otherwise, and as we see in this episode even that power is very tenuous. Armand ignores his cries for days, leaving him helpless on the bed, not healing him with his blood or moving him to his coffin. It is only when Louis invokes their emotional connection “I need this one to live as a testament to our companionship” that Armand actually listens.
“Do you want to lick my boots or chop off my hands?” Louis asking if this is a night where I’m going to get punished or do the punishing? Louis ASKING because it is up to Armand. Despite the illusion that they both have their “proper roles” roles that fulfill their respective needs for control, ultimately Armand’s needs trump everything. Louis asking are we going to pretend I have the power here to make you feel better? Or are you going to hurt me to make yourself feel better?
What I’m not clear on is if Armand understands that this is what’s happening. His need for Louis’s love/approval might actually be blinding him to the truth. Like Louis is lying there in his coffin nearly burnt to death and Armand asking if he’s atoned enough, if he’s crawled forward or if he’s just a reminder, literally asking Louis for reassurance while Louis is in so much pain he can barely breathe. Has he atoned enough, when, since Louis has woken up post suicide attempt!!! he’s done nothing but apologize and attempt to soothe Armand’s insecurities. “You left me for death” even Louis’s attempt to die is about Armand’s attachment to him, his need for him, his loneliness. “After what you put me through, I deserve this” after what Louis, who heard the voice of his daughter telling him to kill himself, put HIM THROUGH!!!! Lestat, about to drop Louis from a thousand feet up “I have waited in vain for you to love me.” To Armand and Lestat this is all Louis’s fault, if Louis only loved them enough this wouldn’t be happening.
And Louis clearly knows that Armand is more powerful, because he lives under the threat of that power. When he stumbles out of the bedroom hardly able to walk he knows to say “I need this one to live as a testament to our companionship” because he knows Armand’s love for him is the only leverage he has. It’s very similar to the scene in season one where Louis is begging lestat to save Claudia, and Lestat does it because he realizes it will tie Louis to him even further. Armand lets Daniel live only with the promise it will tie Louis to him further. These men are the same. Both claim to worship the ground Louis walks on but ultimately if Louis “steps out of line” they are going to punish him.