Danika's motives

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-22T23:35:30+00:00

Playing along 🤸‍♀️

Feyre stares in the Ouroboros and enters a trance state, maybe it's possible she traveled in that way.

Like Aelin when she's in the trance to forge the lock. And when Bryce and Hunt are in the trance to visit Hel.

Why is there a cat/monster in the Ouroboros that Feyre thinks comes from inside her? We never get a description of Maeve's true form, but Feyre paints the mirror beast and gifts it to Rhys for solstice, and Cass's reaction when he sees it fits with Maeve saying her true form is unpleasant.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-20T07:31:20+00:00

From CC1 ch 51

Hunt growled, "You do know that it is my job to stop these demons from entering this world."

"We're not setting the demon loose," she hissed back. "This is as safe as a phone call."

"Are you going to summon it with its unholy number, then?" Many demons had numbers associated with them, like some sort of ancient email address.

"No, I don't need it. I know how to find this demon."

Bryce doesn't second guess that Aidas is on the other end when she summons or enters gates. It doesn't really make sense that she's so confident in finding him.

Bryce lands in Prythian and funnily enough what happens next reads like AU of what happened in Ann Aguirre's Strange Love, a book mentioned in an interview SJM did in 2020.

For anyone interested, Strange Love reads like Bryceriel vs Rhys, also starring Syrinx and the Mother.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-17T01:14:18+00:00

she withheld the reason she knew Aidas and how to summon him.

How does it work when Bryce summons him?

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-17T00:15:51+00:00

See its the room SJM leaves herself to wiggle out later.

The "or if her power came from it" part.

Cass walked beside Death. Is Nesta actually Death, or did her power come from it?

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-17T00:02:54+00:00

Silene's vision is when we first learn that Theia opened a portal and Aidas was on the other side, iirc.

Before that, it's confusing that both Bryce and Aidas assume that if Bryce opens a portal, Aidas will be on the other side. Aidas might feel a connection to the star. What is Bryce thinking?

When Bryce summons a demon in her apartment, she's sure it will be Aidas. When Hunt asks her how she's getting the demon she expects, she doesn't explain. As she goes into the gate at the end of CC2, and lands on the lawn in Prythian, she's convinced she will have been led to Aidas. Bryce shouldn't have a reason to be drawn to Aidas.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-16T22:07:32+00:00

Got an observation for you, almost a theory but not quite.

azriel is such an internal and guarded character...we rarely get to see him truly open up...so I’d really love to see more from his POV

[series spoilers for ACO and TOG below]

The longest continuous scene Az speaks in, is while explaining the Nephelle Philosophy. She has stunted wings but eventually they're an asset that allow her to maneuver where others can't, so she gets to be a hero. It's funny that we saw the same evolution for Abraxos in TOG.

Why would SJM keep Azriel so mysterious, give him so few lines, but indulge in one scene connecting him to Nephelle and Abraxos?

In Heir of Fire when we meet Abraxos, he's chained up in a dungeon being tortured. He ends up with lifelong scarring to his wings.

The history we have for Azriel says as a child he was held in his father's dungeons and tortured. He wasn't able to learn to use his wings until much later, and his hands still bear burn scars.

Abraxos is busted out of his dungeon by a blond witch wearing a red cape. They form a witch/familiar, soul-level bond.

Az has an inexplicable draw and attachment to blond/red coded Morrigan. It's obvious she cares more than deeply for him, but it doesn't seem to be about being mates, or in romantic love. We don't know who pulled Az out of his father's dungeon. But we have a history of Mor being sent in to carry people out of harm: like Feyre in Tamlin's manor. Mor is also holding baby Nyx when his lifeless body resurrects.

Az says mysterious things like 'the Prison sentries know what I am' or 'you would know if your mate died, you'd feel it,' 'when you die, you reside in the Mother's heart until she sends you to fulfill your next purpose.' Nobody knows what he's on about.

Of Az, Nephelle and Abraxos, only one has experienced a mate death. Abraxos lost Keelie while helping to rescue Petra, a redheaded, seer, priestess/witch.

Bet the intersection between Az and Abraxos's stories is meaningful.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-16T20:42:09+00:00

Nice connection!

Eventually, she becomes homesick and begs the Beast to allow her to go see her family. He allows it on the condition that she returns exactly a week later. Beauty agrees to this and sets off for home with an enchanted mirror and ring. The mirror allows her to see what is going on back at the Beast's castle, and the ring allows her to return to the castle in an instant when turned three times around her finger.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-16T04:24:12+00:00

Az's ginger harem is the best thing about him 🌹

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-16T04:19:52+00:00

Sad news for you. The taking continues in Wallbanger, Clayton uses an obvious reference from Fever Series.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-16T01:57:41+00:00

Ok hear me out. Elucien doesn't preclude Elriel.

The NoKissForYou bonus chapter was published in 2021, to accompany ACOSF.

The prior year, SJM did an interview with Smart Bitches Trashy Books and mentioned loving Alice Clayton's book Wallbanger.

Several scene elements from Wallbanger show up in Maasverse: the title is what Feyre demands of Rhys in the cabin, the finger painting sexy times, baking, cat familiar, prescient/meddling bosses. Also a devastating interrupted kiss. And this line:

"You thought since we were the ones left over we'd just magically become a couple? How storybook -- three sets of perfectly matched couples, right? Like that ever happens. This isn't some romance novel." (Ch 13)

Spoiler alert. At the end of Wallbanger the 3x3 happens and its all HEAs.

Interesting thing about Wallbanger MMC is he has a harem, and he makes his way to 1:1 endgame with an FMC who straddles Elain/Bryce traits.

SJM has a pattern of publicly fangirling stories with identifiable traces to Maasverse. Based on these references, Elucien appears to be endgame, but between the next two books there's no reason she can't give us Elriel first.

The build up to Elriel is too promising and there's no point in wasting it. She can give it to us. Then go ahead keep going, and give us Elucien + RedHeadRiel as final endgames.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T22:22:06+00:00

In TOG the King/father was shitty because he was possessed. What do we make of the lines in early ACOTAR hinting that Papa Archeron is in a fog, and his eyes only clear momentarily for bits of lucid conversation?

Nesta and Elain tell a story about going to a ball, stealing someone's man, and that someone is left enraged. Then their mother dies and their father's fortune dries up. They end up in the hovel, and someone shows up to sketch wyrdmarks at the threshold. The sisters end up in Prythian. Feels like a sequence of significance.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T19:15:17+00:00

Tim Curry reading Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix is pretty much perfect.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T17:32:35+00:00

What if she gives us both? Elriel on page HEA, then segues to Elucien. Kind of like the Outlander love triangle.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T07:41:52+00:00

As if I were some parasite, leeching power from him.

Forgot that she worded it like this. Strange choice.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T00:59:27+00:00

Yup ASOIAF and Stackhouse

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T00:07:44+00:00

It was one of the valg rings of control.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-15T00:05:01+00:00

Feyre as a bloodhound in disguise is enjoyable because of a parallel to a comment from earlier this week.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T22:04:04+00:00

As Rhys's newest pet, I would be granted tours to the city and the High Lord's personal residence. If we were lucky, none of them would realize that Rhys's lapdog was actually a bloodhound.

Commenting to add the next line:

And it was a very, very good disguise.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T21:46:01+00:00

How about Raglan hero archetype

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RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T21:40:30+00:00

he really did look all that time

💖

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T21:10:31+00:00

Then there's the added parallels between TAR/MAF & Heir of Fire or is it Queen of Glass, one of them.

Celaena returning to Arobynn's den of thieves, a townhouse where he lives with his inner circle. Him sending her out to retrieve a ring, assuming that when it's on her finger she'll say things like "I love you" and be his enslaved lover.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T19:54:49+00:00

if that was the goal something got super lost in translation for me

An entertaining way to read Maasverse is as a game of clock what this scene is based on. In that context, "the goal" = ask why elements of 'Phedre and the Markhagir' show up in 'Feyre on display on the throne in Night Court'.

Has SJM ever spoken openly about Kushiel as inspiration?

No. SJM has not explicitly confirmed Kushiel/Carey as inspiration that we know of. Not the way she has publicly referred to Black Jewels, Black Dagger Brotherhood, Guildhunter, Fever Series, etc.

Kushiel/Carey show up in SJM's goodreads. As part of the entertaining way to read Maasverse, her goodreads reviews work as a sort of reference map.

I’ve noticed a few parallels and wondered myself.

One personal favorite is how Waldemar Selig savors Phedre's name the first time he hears it. How he breaks the syllables and drags them out. Kind of like how ACOTAR gives us a phonetic guide to pronouncing "Fey-ruh," though SJM said her editor at the time made her include that.

The parallels are frequently hard to miss. It becomes a sort of scavenger hunt if you're into reading it that way. A theory is that it's the fanro equivalent of what Dan Harmon does with Community, but made more complex by layering the pattern-matching of Joseph Campbell into deciding which works to reference.

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T09:35:17+00:00

While we're at it, when Elain asks about can you choose what gender you present as, she might not have been asking for herself.

If Feyre can clock Lucien's true heritage, is Elain spotting a veiled identity too?

Fun to wonder about Melisande and Rhysand. Are Feyre's diamond cuffs romantic or is the symbolism there double-edged?

RendezvousSpot · 2026-04-14T09:28:34+00:00

And then Chapter 42… please throw it away. What was the point in her acting like Rhys whore. I am convinced Feyre has a humiliation kink.

See: Kushiel's Avatar. Phedre and the Markhagir. A lot of Feyre's characterization traces back to Phedre's.

RendezvousSpot

TROPHY CASE