Character Analysis
Move Over Grumpy Cat
Daniel Grigori, the elusive, handsome hero of Fallen, is the total apple of Luce's eye, even if she can't completely articulate why. And we'll be real: it sure takes us a long time a figure out why she's attracted to this dude at all, since for much of the book, he's a grade-A jerk.
No, really. We can literally track the instances in which he openly insults, belittles, or ignores Luce, even in just the first two chapters. In just a few pages, this dude:
- flips Luce off.
- ignores Luce—or, when he does look at her, he usually glares.
- judges Luce for getting meatloaf in her hair, even though it's not her fault.
- tells Luce to leave him alone at the library.
- abandons Luce at the library after telling her to leave him alone.
- ignores Luce some more.
Yep. Jerk.
From the beginning, it seems that Daniel wants nothing to do with our hapless heroine. Which would kinda sorta be fine, except did we mention that Daniel is also the king of mixed signals? For every time he ignores or belittles Luce, he also reacts to her in confusing ways, like when he saves her from the avenging angel sculpture, or when he takes her to the lake to talk to her, before swimming away and abandoning her…
And we wonder why Luce is confused?
Luce, sweetie, this is what they call mental abuse. Narcissists do it. Jerks do it. We think you might be able to do better.
"I Feel Like I've Known You Forever"
Of course, we also learn by the end of the book that the sitch is way complicated. But let's take it step by step.
So—what is it about Daniel that draws Luce to him? It's not just his smoldering violet-gray eyes and lean muscles…is it? Luce claims it's not, but we're pretty sure those are at least contributing factors. But there's clearly something else there, too, even if Luce herself is confused by it.
Unlike Luce, we've read the prologue, the only chapter written from Daniel's perspective. That means that we know well before Luce does that Daniel's behavior is deliberately programmed to keep her away, and that's because Daniel knows what will happen when he lets her get close—she'll totally croak. Because Luce doesn't remember her past lives, "she would never learn, and the past would only repeat itself, torturing them both again and again" (Prologue, 31).
We see the toll it takes on Daniel to try to leave Luce, and we see how his resolve breaks the closer she gets. Even though his behavior is nasty, at least now we understand why he's out there doing it like that. And when he finally does break down and tell Luce the truth, it's with real contrition: he hates pushing her away, and only when he can reveal the truth does he confess how much of this whole scenario is a burden to him, too.
We see Daniel's turmoil best, though, right in his prologue, when he has this beautiful moment of inner, personal anguish:
Oh, to be her and to not know what was coming! Or at least to be stronger than he was and be able to stop her. If he didn't stop her, she would never learn, and the past would only repeat itself, torturing them both again and again.
The familiar warmth of her skin under his hands made him tilt his head back and moan. He was trying to ignore how close she was, how well he knew the feel of her lips on his, how bitter he felt that all of this had to end…
She was right. There was nothing more than this. There never was. (Prologue. 31-33)
Yikes, and we thought we had it bad when our favorite Bachelor couple broke up.
Even if Luce needs time to process what Daniel has revealed to her, he doesn't push. He waits for her to remember in her own time, on her own terms.
Sorry we called you a jerk face, Daniel. It looks like you actually have Luce's best interests at heart. Especially since not killing her is an important interest.