Question:
Why do you think LaCroix wants Nick back on the path of the
killer vampire? What does he think is so special about him?

Ann Lipton

Because as long as Nick insists that being a vampire is evil and sticks to that belief, Lacroix will have to contend with a tiny particle of doubt that for two thousand years his behaviour has been evil, and that he is not "above" morality. If, however, Nick were to change his mind, that would validate LC's own philosophy, and he'd never have to deal with his own doubt again.

Shirley Davis

I think he's afraid that if Nick does find a way to become mortal again, he will loose him forever. They have, in my opinion, a weird sort of father/son relationship. They learn from each other, and if Nick is gone, LaCroix will be left alone again.

Jeff Mussen

Nick's quest is a danger to LaCroix's entire personal reality and mind-set. Should Nick prove it possible for the curse to be lifted through redemption and pennance, LaCroix must face the attrocity of his own long existance and all of the personal horrors he has created. Also, such a radicle change of viewpoint can often destroy the individual, no matter how cynical and jaded (note: Javert from Les Miserable). So, trying to sway Nick back to the killer vampire role is a means of self-defense, for who would give up familiar horrors for the vast, unnamable terror of the unknown?

Benedict Leba

For LaCroix, to live by one single code of killing and living proves to be a simplified lifestyle. No guilt or conscient are present to torment one's conscience. However, that basic code proves to be inferior. Nick, on the other hand, tries to regain redemption and apparently proves to LaCroix that he (Nick) is a higher being. For Nick, his pursuit to redeem himself shows that he is a more complicted and higher being than LaCroix.

Sheila A. Coneybeer

Control. LaCroix wants to regain control of Nick, not by telling him what to do but by recreating him in *his* own image. You are always more comfortable when dealing with a known quantity, as Nick used to be. When you have someone around who does as you do, then if what you do is wrong or evil or immoral you don't carry the guilt alone. What made/makes Nick special to LaCroix is the very thing he resents Nick attempting to regain: his sense of mortality, if not that very thing in reality. Also Nick's desire to do good, the morality which first attracted LaCroix to both Nick and his sister. How true, opposites attract.

Nicole Nelson-Hicks

I've thought about this for a long time (Sad, isn't it?) and my mind keeps going back to dear Divia who knew how to hurt Daddy best. Immortality, as we all know, is not for wimps and the thought of a long vast endless night alone would probably break the strongest of us, no? But why such a pain in the butt as Nicholas? I have to agree with a few others who have responded; Opposites attract and I think the strong Moral Code that dear old Nick clings to is the spice of Life that Lacroix craves to keep his heart warm. Either that or there is some weird strange Oedipal/man-boy-love thing going on here that I just don't even WANT to get into!!!

Carolyn Blake

LaCroix loves Nick like the son he will never have. Like any loving father, he is pained to see Nick suffer so as he does with guilt. So he wants Nick to accept what he is, so his suffering will stop.

Cousin Cp

LaCroix sees Nick's goal to become mortal again as completely absurd. It compares to someone who is dead wanting to be alive again; that cannot be. So, in effect, he thinks Nick has gone over the edge and he wants him to come to his senses...to do again what it is in his nature to do. Nick showed such promise as a fledgling vampire when he was first brought across; LaCroix knows that if he would just come to his senses he would be much happier. And face it, they were together for several centuries, so LaCroix cares for Nick very much and would want him to be happy.

Carolyn Alutius

On one level, I think it's like a father and son relationship where the father hopes and expects his son to follow in his footsteps, take over the family business as it were. LaCroix, like many parents, finds it hard to accept that his child has a different agenda than his own. I also think that LaCroix believes it's unhealthy for Nick to fight against his nature. He knows that Nick would be, not happier perhaps, but less tormented if he just accepted who and what he is. In his own odd way, he wants Nick to be at peace with himself. Finally, I think it just ticks him off to have someone constantly pointing out how evil vampires are. Hey, you're a vampire, it's your job. Get over it. LaCroix would have staked Louis (Anne Rice's vampire) within moments of meeting him. :)

Nyx Fixx

Lacroix' tragic history with his own daughter, Divia, is probably the key to his complex relationship to Nicholas: What is it about Nick that drives him in his everlasting quest for atonement, humanity, and redemption? An essential goodness in the bedrock of his personality, an almost instinctive moral compass. And why would Lacroix choose such an individual to bring across, knowing, as he must have done, that this particular individual would NEVER entirely embrace evil? Divia, once changed, became a fiend, evil incarnate. And although Lacroix loved her as passionately as only a parent can love a child, his sense of moral outrage at her sheer destructiveness led him to destroy her, his beloved daughter, his vampire master. The guilt, the ambivalence, the legacy of sorrow and evil that resulted has twisted and controlled Lacroix' life ever since. Nicholas was HIS project of redemption, I think, a new "child" who would NOT be a fiend, who would rebel against the darkness Divia inculcated in Lacroix, which he then passed on to Nicholas. Who would be the offspring of Lacroix' better nature. However, Lacroix' darker nature still exists, and leads him to try to corrupt and control Nicholas, even though such control, if it were ever fully successful, would lead to a replay of Lacroix' heart of darkness, the murder of his child. But, that's the nature of ambivalence and guilt. The pursuit of redemption on the one hand, and the unconscious pursuit of self punishment on the other. What other television show deals in such psychological nuances? Yet another over-long answer from Nyx Fixx.

Julie

The only thing special about Nick is that he is LaCroix's "drinking buddy" - if they weren't vampires, they'd be going to the bar together after work. LaCroix sees Nick as his best friend - sombody to pal around with.

N Morgan

Perhaps because Nick is the next step in vampire evolution. A vampire with human emotions and feelings as well as other human traits?

B Morgan

I think that it is because LaCroix has lived his entire vampiric existance suppressing his (if any) human emotions to make his existance and inherent special circumstances more palatable. He feels that Nicholas is burdening himself with unneeded emotions that could potentially drive Nick insane, and thus expose the existance of vampires to the world. However, Nick's continued exhibition of human emotions does provide LaCroix with amusing situations.

Joanne

It's obvious. If he knows another that is better than him and yet does the same as him, he will not feel so bad about himself. (Thinking like the vamp. I am) In their world, LaCroix is the father, Nick is the son, Daddy wants the boy to be just like him. :>

Kelly Peterson

LaCroix brought Nick across. Because of this, he feels a sense of failure in the path Nick has chosen. Nick and LaCroix are friends, not despite being vampires, but because of being vampires. After 800 years of killing together, LaCroix has lost Nick, thereby losing the little faith that LaCroix can hold on to. That faith being the shared taste of blood and life from another's veins. This is why he yearns for Nick to come back to the fold. In the end, LaCroix has finally lost Nick to Natalie. Not in life, but in death. What is left for LaCroix? He told Nick time heals all wounds, but that was not for Nick (his wounds would only heal when death arrived), that was for himself. His wounds would heal with the taking of another's life and the shared hunt of a new fledgling.

Laura Wiborg

Well my sister and my brother and I think that Lacroix likes Nick and he wants him to be like himself. That is what we think By BY.

Karen

Nick is, from what I can gather, LaCroix's oldest "child", certainly, his oldest friend. I think he sees losing Nick in all of those contexts. A parent wants his child to grow up, but doesn't want to let go. LC has seen Nick evolve and become his own person, yet Nick does remain dependent on LC. We see Nick run to LC frequently for advice or direction. LC has seen most of his children die, especially during the last season's episodes. Nick can be looked upon as his anchor, always there, even when they disagree. Should Nick find his mortality, LC loses that friendship because Nick wouldn't have to seek LC out for "mortal" problems. I think also LC truly enjoys tormenting Nick with respect to his quest of mortality. He really enjoys his cat and mouse game with Nick and I'm not sure Nick has caught on!! If he has, I think he's (Nick) chosen to ignore it and use LC for his purposes. It took me a long time to realize how central to the storyline LC is. Nigel Bennett is as much LC as Nimoy is Spock. No other could take his place!

Billy Wamsley

LaCroix sees the innocence in Nicholas. He feels the need to "help" Nick by bringing him back to the cold life of the vampire, that he may live without guilt. LaCroix wishes to end Nick's pain in the same way he has ended his own - by giving totally into the vampire. Or maybe it's because every father wants his son to follow in his footsteps. Or maybe he's just a jerk.

Sherry van Swaringen

I don't know if anyone out there is familiar with Anne Rice... but some of the same type of thing goes on with Louis & Lestat. I think the theme for LaCroix, a great guy for being a vampire is... he loves his immortality, and feels no guilt for his 'evil'. Which in most cases would also mean, he doesn't understand Nick's guilt & feelings... just as Lestat didn't understand Louis in the Chronicles. There's no doubt that LaCroix wants Nick back, because he feels he is a vampire... there's nothing he can do about it, and he should start acting like one. Simple. And there's a lot special about Nick... but I think becuase it mostly has to do with feelings, that LaCroix doesn't see it. He sees a killer. An immortal with a mortal's passion... and feelings. Which include guilt. I think that to have such strong vampires as LaCroix & Lestat, you have to have strong mortals... before they are brought over, embraced, given the Dark Gift... whatever. From this, one could deduce that Nick was a fairly emotional and sensitive mortal I think. I know... I'm babbling... there's a lot to be said on this topic... See you guys later... :)

Izabela

I believe that LaCroix originally brought Nick across for the same reason he brought Daniel across in FF - curiosity. He was intrigued by the notion of taking a good man who fought for God and making him what he was - a creature who needed to kill to live and took pleasure from it. How ironic. That, combined with a physical attraction to him must have made Nick absolutely irresistable to him. Unfortunately, he never counted on falling in love with Nick, which is why he works so hard at keeping Nick from his mortality. The closer Nick gets to his true vampire nature the closer he is to LaCroix and the less risk there is of LaCroix losing Nick. That is why he dislikes Natalie so much and why the thought of Nick's death in ATA just about pushed him over the edge. Nick is afterall, LaCroix's favourite. He brought Nick across out of curiosity but he tries to keep him with him out of love.

Steph

I think that Lacroix wants Nick back on the path of a killer because he is afraid to lose him. Lacroix looks at Nick as his creation - his son, I think he also sees Nick with mortal flaws - and is facinated that Nick wants so bad to be mortal, and that Nick does not realize he has morals - unlike other vampires.

couSINjen

Well, since (in my opinion) LaCroix truly gets a real charge out of watching our dear Dr. Lambert scurrying about to get things figured out as well as seeing her in that cute little lab outfit (i bet you can't tell that I'm a Valetine a heart!.)! But also he knows that she will find out who or what is killing Vampires, not only because she loves Nick but because she is a scientist a heart and loves anything that she can't solve (ie. vampires, killers, what killed someone, etc.)

Raven

LaCroix cannot stand failure and for him to lose his favorite son, well, that would be extreme failure.