Fallen

Lauren Kate’s Fallen draws heavily on existing lore about angels, specifically fallen angels, as pulled from Hebrew, Christian, and Abrahamic texts. Fallen uses these existing texts to establish its own world within the greater canon of angels in literature. Fallen’s most prominently featured angel, Daniel, is a direct reference the angel Daniel in Hebrew texts.

In the Book of Enoch, an ancient Hebrew text, angels called the Watchers fall from heaven for consorting with and creating offspring with mortal women. These angel-human hybrid offspring come to be known as Nephilim. Among these Watcher angels is Daniel, sometimes spelled “Dânêl,” who loses his place in heaven for teaching forbidden knowledge to humans. Fallen makes direct reference to the Watcher angels when introducing information about Daniel, establishing the intentional link between Daniel from the Book of Enoch and Daniel from Fallen.

Not only is Daniel the author of the 1755 book The Watchers, but he also tells Luce that studying angels is in his family. The Watchers also functions as a source of forbidden knowledge for Luce, eluding her discovery until it is safe for her to learn the truth of her past. The idea that angels are punished for offering forbidden knowledge to humans is also reflected in Luce dying whenever she learns about Daniel in her past lives.