#October Daye spoilers

[timemachineyeah]

So your dad was human. Your mom was a member of a magical species with strict hierarchical castes that views humanity as inferior. When you were young you were separated from your human father and raised not by your mother, but by other members of that species to help you learn to use your powers. You struggle to use them, though, both because you’re half human but also because your powers don’t seem to be the standard for the type your mother claimed. It turns out this is because your mother was lying to everyone about who she was and she was in fact much closer to the three parents and rulers of her entire species than she previously let on. You then take it upon yourself to talk some sense into these three at best negligent and at worst hostile racial parents and gods. Among your powers is rapid healing, which is useful but also means you have trauma related to repeatedly hurting yourself terribly to save others and playing it off as no big deal. You have something of a hero complex and tend to involve yourself whenever you see needless suffering, to the point of devaluing yourself and your own trauma and feelings.

[darkfrog24]

Degrees of loss

OCTOBER: The evil queen may be out for the count for now, but we need to come up with a plan. Who's to say who lost the most? TYBALT: My people were trapped for four months, all while I didn't know if my family was safe. SIMON: She let my ex-boss and ex-wife play ping-pong with my brain! DEAN: She dumped ME in a hell dimension. *AHEM!* WALTHER: (stomps in covered in ammo) OCTOBER: *wut?* WALTHER: ...I ...had ...TENURE!! DEAN: He wins. SIMON: Yup.

[kineticbismuth]

Spoilers for Later October Daye books.

I love it when toby gets to be happy, especially if its on her wedding day in a bleed proof wedding dress. I may not be able to properly draw that dress though lol.

[deweydecimalchickens]

I'm reading The Innocent Sleep at the moment and among all the murder, abusive families, disemboweling (twice! In one book! She got better), exploitation, etc in the October Daye series I am really, really having trouble with...

The Cait Sidhe struggling to feed themselves, their kittens, and the mortal cats under their protection.

The bit where October's cats cry to Tybalt that she's gone and they don't know who will feed and pet them fucking BROKE me. I had to go give Pinky and Perky extra cuddles.

[dodger-thirteen]

On a completely unrelated note:

I finished Sleep No More the other day, and I have been thinking a lot about the former Queen of the Mists. Spoilers below.

...And whether she's Maeve.

The Luidaeg has said many times now that she believes her mother to be in the Bay Area. The Queen is...odd, to say the least. No one knows where she came from. Iirc, the bloodlines Toby felt in her are associated with Maeve's Firstborn children (siren, sea wight, banshee). She's been around since early in the series, which we know is the case with the two other parts of The Three. (Titania as Stacy, Oberon as Officer Thornton)

The thing that really gets me, though, is no one knows her name (or "true parentage"). She is simply "the Queen" to everyone, then "the false Queen" (which is very in line with Titania's attempts to depose Maeve). She just arrived one day after King Gilead's death, and somehow managed to convince the entire Court of the Mists that she was their rightful sovereign.

Now, October did shift the Queen's blood in Chimes at Midnight, which definitely puts a dampener on this theory. But we really don't know much at all about the circumstances of the Queen and where she has been since her broken ride. Perhaps her ride did more harm than expected, especially since she was in the Heart of Faerie for who knows how long, and the only ride broken was her last (before Sleep No More, anyway).

Anyway, the Queen shows up again in Sleep No More (suddenly, and the real one at that), and it got me thinking. Some stuff lines up, whereas other stuff doesn't seem to, but we don't know very much about The Three at all (nor their capabilities). So this kinda started percolating in my brain pan as I think about the latest book and the series so far. It just seemed odd for Toby to casually mention the Queen had been back, and that no one has been convinced to elf-shoot her again, despite all the trouble she has caused.

Anyway, not married to this theory, but thought the potential was there. Curious what others think.

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Heart of Faerie

Keeping in mind that I'm only done with Be The Serpent (waiting for the Toby Daye books to come out in paperback in the UK is a trial), I have another theory. Yes, it's going under a cut, just in case, because spoilers:

What if Toby is effectively destined to seal the wound made when the Three came into being?

In The Brightest Fell, the Luidaeg stated that it was said that Amandine's line was the only way to make right what Oberon and his Queens made wrong. Which ... I mean, as of Be The Serpent, there is a lot that the Three made wrong, and while it's tempting to think that it's the whole "bringing back the Roane" thing from The Unkindest Tide that was meant by that ... that's only Titania responsible for that; not all three of them. And in And With Revelling, the novella at the end of When Sorrows Come, the Luidaeg gave two blessings to the couple - one the traditional one, and one of her own. That one was: "when the time comes, may you stand before the Heart of Faerie with no regrets and no remorse for the choices you have made. May you keep each other as close as you can, and never forget who you are".

Toby's having some practice in remembering who she actually is as of the last chapter of Be The Serpent, obviously. But the Luidaeg talked about Toby standing before the Heart of Faerie like it was a given. Not an "if", but a "when". The Luidaeg never deals in absolutes unless she's really certain, because she literally can't, because insofar as her geas goes, being wrong is a lie, and she can't lie.

And the Luidaeg, as Toby herself stated when Cassandra and Karen had the visions that started off the whole mess in Be The Serpent, is a Seer.

The other thing we learn in Be The Serpent is that the Three caused a wound in the world when they came into being. I presume that wound is in the Heart of Faerie, which is what birthed them. So they had to throw a human at it once every seven years, to staunch the bleeding. It would reject the Three, eventually, if either of them tried. But we've been hearing for several books now that Faerie makes what it needs when Firstborn or the Three have children. Most recently it was in Be The Serpent, again, when the Luidaeg said that the Bridge Trolls and the Gean-Canna were born of Maeve's line needing to go to war. And Amandine was born after Maeve's failed Ride - had to have been, because Oberon took Janet Carter to his bed after she broke the Ride. So ... what does Amandine and her tiny line of Dochas Sidhe have that Faerie needs?

A living hope chest? Sure, definitely - without some kind of guidance from the Three or the Firstborn, the various lines of Faerie are a mess of conflicts between the blood of Titania and the blood of Maeve. Also, the Fae aren't precisely fertile, so having someone who could make changelings into purebloods would keep Faerie going without some of those conflicts, never mind soothing the madness of people like the unnamed Queen, and possibly Oleander and Devin. But that can't be all of it.

But then ... then there's the healing. Toby doesn't just heal herself, after all. When Sorrows Come and Be The Serpent had her giving her blood to let blood-workers - the kind of people who could borrow her blood and use its magic - heal themselves, too. Magic is in the blood. But where it comes from... The Fae get their magic from their Firstborn, who get their magic from the Three. And the Three get their magic from the Heart that created them. You can't tell me that a ... manifestation, entity, whatever the Heart of Faerie is ... that created Oberon, Titania, and Maeve, and gave enough of its magic to make gods wouldn't be able to borrow the healing power of the blood of a Dochas Sidhe.

Thing is ... no Fae has ever been called to staunch the wound. Maeve went to plug the hole for awhile, but it would push her out eventually (and I believe we're still assuming Marcia is Maeve, so that's already happened). I imagine it would do similar to any Fae, but sooner. After all, there has to be a reason that they only used mortals. I mean, I guess partially because mortals were expendable, but if it were possible, wouldn't Titania have stolen a child of Maeve for the sacrifice every time? Titania hated Maeve enough to try to slaughter all her descendents, after all, and Oberon wasn't stopping her from any of that shit, because Oberon's an asshole.

But Toby's got mortal blood. Not much anymore ... but maybe enough to keep her in the wound long enough to bleed enough to seal it. Between the mortality and the magic, she could conceivably close the wound properly, stabilise Faerie for good, and maybe survive the experience. No more need for Rides, no more of whatever bullshit the wound at the Heart of Faerie causes.

Either way, it looks like the Luidaeg, right down at her core, expects Toby to have to try.

[blue-mood-blue]

How is it that two separate series that I love both had the theme of

"She was never real, she never existed, her end is absolute. When the mask is taken off and cast aside to reveal something much older and bigger than her there will not even be a grave to visit - but the love was real. The love was more important than anything else"

And ALSO

"God's here and he's a deadbeat dad, he is taking zero responsibility for his choices and also he sucks, his firstborn daughter has said so to his face"

How does this happen

[ancelineonline]

I Have Acquired… BOOK!

I have started it and oh boy it is a doozy. It starts hitting hard on PAGE 2. They’re little things but like if you know, you know. Damn. I’m excited and also Very Afraid.

[beccastareyes]

It's Time for Scream about New Book!

The Innocent Sleep + bonus Novella. But with spoiler tags, because I'm not a monster

(The tag lets everyone block things right? I am inexperienced at the Tumblr.)

I have a lot to say, and I'm glad we got the look at what the spell looked like from the outside. Some things I noticed:

Tybalt noted that Berkley was always independent, and that while most people assumed it was because of the university, it was not.

Confirmation that 'Eira' was Karen Brown, but a further mystery of what role Cassandra was playing.

It seems like Titania took three days to get some things straight; Raysel and Tybalt were booted as soon as possible, but the Cait Sidhe spent 3 days stuck in the Court before the 'we have always lived in the castle' thing hit.

For someone who was always about refinement, Titania really got lazy, or just assumed that since she caught Oberon and the Luidaeg off guard and Maeve continues to be MIA, she didn't have to care about the details herself since it was only 4 months. Because a lot of people seemed to key into 'this makes no sense' when confronted with it. As soon as Grainne realized the Cait Sidhe were alive, she connected 'that's why Candela can still access the Shadow Roads -- we couldn't be sustaining them ourselves. Gabriel noted that there shouldn't be this many thin-blooded changlings among the Cait Sidhe if they'd been trapped for centuries without contact with the mortal world. Even Toby herself -- with a double dose of the illusion -- had the realization that she would have had to have cut herself once during a childhood, but she never remembered it.

Since I assume Quentin was the intended sacrifice, having 'Evening' taking a more active role in his fosterage to create the illusion that he had seven years of paradise probably didn't help. (I also wonder if Titania edited out the memory of his sister; Quentin was pretty miserable in Shadowed Hills in canon because he knew what having someone close to you and equal enough to call you out on things was like, in addition to 'Sylvester is not doing well'. )

(I do appreciate the irony that Titania gave Amandine what she thought she wanted -- look, here your husband and daughters all love you, and everyone is willing to flatter and celebrate you... because you are the only one who can sustain Faerie as Titania made it, so get to work. Probably because Amandine's bloodworking meant she could penetrate the illusions, so she needed something to buy her off, with the promise that once the spell was anchored in the Heart of Faerie, they could reopen the doors to deeper Faerie and Amandine wouldn't be needed.)

... I probably should be breaking some of these up. This is getting long.

I also liked the novella. Which... Helmi noticed that the magical signature during the Earthquake was 'roses and wood smoke'... that's August's signature. (Well, roses and 'campfire smoke' but close enough. Unless the source isn't August but is part of the explanation for why Simon's magical signature is unlike Sylvester's despite them being twins.) (Also Mary stating that the Roane were only sure about Dianda's daughter after Simon started having sex with Patrick and Dianda, and the daughter's magical signature including whitebeam flowers when Simon's has whitebeam smoke seems to suggest that the daughter will be biologically Simon and Dianda's.)

[dracothulhu]

Reading Be the Serpent

Man, Luna really said 'mortal' with the hard 'R' there.

[regallibellbright]

Sleep No More current thoughts:

APRIL APRIL APRIL APRIL APRIL APRIL I LOVE HER SO.

[pennyroyalperfection]

honestly pretty dark theory based on the innocent sleep/sleep no more below the cut because i cant stop thinking about it

alright, so it's july and too hot to sleep, so that means spitballing theories instead of doing as either of these book titles suggest. and instead of continuing to bug my friend about it i'm gonna drop it here on the blog i continually forget i made for this express purpose

basically, a thought occurred to me a little bit earlier, and the thought was "wait, none of tybalt's titania-visions included toby, did they?" so i went and checked, and lo— cailin, colleen, jill, cailin the younger, chalcedony, anne, and september were all used as bait. october, his literal wife, was not. and that led me to a much worse thought

the very specific wording that titania used in the vision was that SHE would not harm toby or the baby (two things she is literally forbidden from doing anyway. i see you, villain), and that amandine had agreed to 'raise the child as her own.' which................ anyone else feel something crawl up their backs every time they see that? no? just me?

in any case, amandine likely meant to raise the child into what she thought toby should be, i.e. august's handmaiden/servant, the place toby had been occupying the last four months. except that she'd """do it right""" this time and make the subservience stick. surejan.jpeg

but toby..........

a little earlier, amandine mentions that only toby will be allowed to remember what happened before titania's faerie was implemented. but that's amandine. for all that she's a shitty person and a worse mother, she's incredibly possessive of what she thinks is hers. of course she doesn't want toby to die, that's her toy. she wants her around to punish for not doing exactly what amandine wanted her to do, not six feet under in an iron coffin

but titania (who assuredly doesn't run all her plans by her husband's youngest get to receive her stamp of approval before implementing them) makes no allusions as to what will happen to toby after that baby is born. and i have a very terrible feeling that titania was planning to kill toby in a way she couldn't come back from. and the proof of that is, very plainly, it would be far and away easier to successfully tempt tybalt into breaking the circle with his known weakness (wife he loves a lot and is honestly really intense about, plus getting to keep their yet-unborn child) than with a series of people who have been dead for decades if not centuries

but she didn't

and the only reason i can see that that was completely off the table as a persuasive strategy is if titania planned to remove toby from the board entirely, and the ritual magic of the ride breaking doesn't allow for titania to tell such an enormous lie as "oh, yes, step out and we'll let you and october go play happy houses somewhere"

titania cannot lay her hands on toby directly, but that didn't stop her from locking her in with her abusive mother for four months, and it wouldn't stop her from getting someone else to do it with explicit instructions to ensure success

so. tl;dr— titania was planning on offing toby, professional villain agenda wrecker, and so couldn't use her as a bargaining chip to break the circle during her ride, and that's why she pulled up all those people from tybalt's past to tempt him to break the line instead

[darkfrog24]

404 coolness not found

GINEVRA: Remember, Tybalt, October got brainwhammied hard into thinking she's a sweetieniciepants meebly-meeb. When we see her, try to play it low key.

TYBALT: I have had four months to mentally rehearse this. I think I can manage not to completely alienate my own wife.

OCTOBER: *shows up*

TYBALT: I'M TYBALT AND YOU SHOULD BE YELLING MORE. HANG ON, I GOTTA PUNCH A WALL AND ALSO SOME PEOPLE.

OCTOBER: *nopes out*

TYBALT: ?

GINEVRA: Is it a diplomatic incident if I smack you?

TYBALT: We both know it isn't.

[blueinsideout]

No context spoilers for The Innocent Sleep (October Daye Series) aka my new nightmare fuel.

[clonerightsagenda]

Oberon binding Titiana to never hurt anyone Toby considers family is only going to encourage her to keep expanding her found family polycule to encompass the entire Bay Area

[terramythos]

there are MANY more than this, but here are the most EGREGIOUS bits of marica=maeve foreshadowing i skimmed in chronological order

From Rosemary and Rue (#1) (2009):

From Late Eclipses (#4) (2011):

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From One Salt Sea (#5) (2011):

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From Chimes At Midnight (#7) (2013):

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From The Winter Long (#8) (2014)

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From Night and Silence (#12) (2018)

From The Unkindest Tide (#13) (2019)

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