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necromancer-at-abattoir · 2 days ago

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THE TRAVESTY OF THE VIRGIN GODDESS ATHENA

Note: red highlighted parts are important and must be read.

This is a link to a post that beautifully talks about Rick Riordan's horrendous portrayal of Athena and the other goddesses down below-

It's a must-read. Please read it.

ATHENA SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD CHILDREN IN THE FIRST PLACE

Rick has made many, many egregious writing decisions. I can't say which one is the most horrible, but a leading candidate is the fact that he chose to make Athena, a virgin goddess, have children.

For the shocked Pikachus who have had the utter bliss of not having to know how Rick Riordan ruined Athena, yes, Rick made Athena have children.

She doesn't lose her virginity though-she has brain children formed from the thoughts of her and her lover, which she considers the purest form of love.

And this is terrible, because the Ancient Greeks equated virginity to not bearing children and not marrying. If Athena bears children, then how can she be a virgin?

Yes, Athena's children ARE HER CHILDREN. They are explicitly called her children. And she's said to be their mother. That means that she's not a virgin anymore.

And Athena's virgin goddess status and refusal to marry reinforced her role as a powerful goddess who was independent. Marriage symbolized subordination to a husband, so by not marrying, Athena's autonomy and power were shown very clearly.

Athena's key qualities-wisdom, strategy and war-are associated with rationality and independence, which were not associated with love in Ancient Greece. If she loved men, then she would be unable to retain her identity as goddess of wisdom and war.

Virginity oaths for goddesses were taken very seriously. When Artemis came close to loving Orion and breaking her oath, Apollo decided to kill Orion and risk the long lasting wrath of his sister rather than having her break her oath. That's how serious they were.

And this is already so terrible, but you know what the worst part is?

She doesn't tell her lovers that she's going to give them a baby. She just forms the baby and then DUMPS it on them, which is horrible, because-

ATHENA IS THE GREEK GODDESS OF WISDOM!

NO GODDESS OF WISDOM WOULD DUMP A CHILD ON AN UNPREPARED MORTAL'S DOORSTEP AND FORCE HIM TO RAISE THE CHILD WHEN HE DIDN'T WANT TO!

IF RICK HAD TO MAKE HER HAVE CHILDREN, WHICH IS ALREADY SO HORRIBLE, THEN HE ABSOLUTELY SHOULD HAVE MADE ALL THE MORTALS WHOM SHE HAD CHILDREN WITH REQUEST HER TO AND GIVE THEIR CONSENT TO THE PROCESS!

And Athena did not even have to have children in the first place.

ATHENA SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A BAD MOTHER

Also, even if Rick was inexplicably desirous of going through the terrible process of making a virgin goddess have children, did he really make ATHENA, goddess of WISDOM, think that Annabeth would be well-treated and cared for with a single father who was unprepared and did not even want her in the first place?

Athena was a bad mother to Annabeth simply by creating her without her father's permission and placing her with a father who did not want her, thus leading to Annabeth being neglected and abused. Athena knew that Frederick didn't want a child and still created one and made him raise her-she didn't even give Annabeth away to an adoptive family who would most likely have raised her better.

On some level, she knew that Annabeth would be traumatised-even Frederick would be traumatized by her actions. That makes PJO Athena a horrible person and a bad mother.

She did claim Annabeth, but she also let her wander the streets even if she guided her to help-and that help was two other traumatised children.

And to say that she let her children fight their own battles-a seven year old shouldn't have to fight their own battles when their battles are monsters and living on the streets. Gods have been shown to break laws multiple times, so why didn't Athena do this? Zeus wasn't watching all the time and he's pretty much the only one who enforces these rules.

And when she deems one of her children worthy, she gives them a Mark and sends them to find her statue, despite knowing that it's fruitless and that all of her other children have died.

Just read this post-it explains a lot.

Let me digress here and tell you a little something about Myth! Athena.

Athena had an adopted child in the myths. His name was Erichthonius, and even though he was a product of an attempted rape on Athena, she adopted him as her own, wishing to make him immortal, and frequently protected him. He, in return, honored her by founding a festival for her (Panathenaic Festival) and setting up a wooden statue of her on the Acropolis. Their relationship was a very good one-

So tell me, why would Athena conceive a child without asking the father for permission and then force him to raise a child despite knowing that he did not want to?

Exactly. Real Athena would never do this. Rick's Athena would. Note the difference, please.

Of course, this is just another frustrating portrayal of a Greek God as a bad parent which continues throughout the PJO series-then again, that is its core foundation. Still, thought I'd write this section just to set things straight.

HOW SHE'S INCORRECTLY PORTRAYED

Athena is quite vilified in the original PJO series and all throughout the franchise.

First of all, she disapproves of Percy's relationship with her daughter. This is at first understandable, because he's a son of Poseidon, her archnemesis, and at first glance she might not like him.

But something annoying here is that she always gets bad moments with Percy, threatening him if he dared cross her, while POSEIDON NEVER GETS ANY BAD MOMENTS WITH ANNABETH.

In fact, Real Poseidon is more likely to be the person who hates Percabeth given his mythological characterisation, though he would lay off Annabeth for the sake of Percy, because he loves his children very much.

Setting that aside, my real concern here is how Myth! Athena would not do this.

Real Athena, would judge Percy based on his merits and not his parentage.

Of course, she might threaten him if he crossed her or her daughter, as befitting of a goddess, but she wouldn't continue to judge him based on his parentage. Once he proved himself, she would help him and not threaten him.

In fact, in some versions of Theseus' myth, including the one used in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, he is a son of Poseidon, so Athena actually helped a son of Poseidon, that too in the PJOverse, so it makes no sense for her not to help Percy when it's for the good of all of them.

She also helps Bellerophon, a son of Poseidon, in the myths. In fact, she does this in the Riordanverse too, so why she would hate Percy after helping Bellerophon and Theseus?

PJO Athena also tells Percy to stay away from her daughter during a war, when romance should be the last thing on her mind.

I mean, if Athena told Percy not to get distracted by Annabeth and focus on the bigger picture which would be beneficial to everyone, I'd understand, because she's the goddess of war tactics and wisdom.

But no-her message explicitly tells Percy to stay away from her daughter because she didn't like both of them together.

And yes, she doesn't like Percy because he's too loyal and he was apparently supposed to choose a dear friend over something more important when she thinks that he should choose the big picture but his loyalty never causes any serious consequences and everyone is fine in the end, so this is absolute nonsense and it's not a good reason for her anymore.

Let me digress and tell you a little about real Athena here.

The REAL Athena would help Percy commit war crimes if it helped their side win. Hell, she'd play matchmaker for him and her daughter if it somehow helped them win (well, Aphrodite could do that, but you know what I mean.)

Real Athena was a patron of Odysseus who was a literal war criminal. Actually, she was considered to be one of the most important gods in the Odyssey. She even helps Diomedes by blessing him and directing him to wound the god Ares as well as the goddess Aphrodite (Who caused the Trojan war).

Also, Real Athena is considered a patron of heroes. Not only that, she helped tons of heroes. Odysseus, Hercules, Perseus, Jason, Bellerophon, the Argonauts, Achilles, Cadmus, Tydeus and Theseus.

She also aided several women such as Penelope, Eurynome, the Danaids, Menippe and Metioche and Nyctimene the last of whom she turned into her sacred symbol, the owl.

Athena was also believed to have invented every kind of work that women in Ancient Greece did.

The only time Athena abandoned a hero (Tydeus) was when he committed cannibalism-before that, she planned to make him immortal, in fact, but left him in disgust when she learned what he had done.

There was so much that Rick could have done with her status as a patron of heroes-have her help and advise Percy and Annabeth on their quests (indirectly so as not to risk her father's wrath). Helping Annabeth get over her prejudices and chastising her for letting her jealousy of Rachel almost ruin her chance for a successful quest.

Not.........whatever the mess that PJO Athena is.

And yes, I know that she's thought to have helped Percy in The Titan's Curse-but she just gave him a useless platitude. That was barely help at all. The only time she really helped was when she sent Hermes back to inform Annabeth about Plan 23. For a wisdom goddess of war tactics, she is surprisingly little help in the war.

And in Heroes of Olympus, a lot of people blame Athena for her cruel treatment of Annabeth while it was in fact Minerva who gave Annabeth the Mark. Athena was severely split between her Roman and Greek form and was unable to properly think at the time.

THE SUBTLE YET CONTINUOUS WAY RICK TURNS US AGAINST ATHENA

And it's clear that Rick continues to denigrate Athena-not just by using which myths he wants (Medusa being turned into a demon by Athens after willingly doing it with Poseidon in her temple in TLT, and now Ovid's myth in the PJO show) which he's allowed to do-

but he also actively takes the myths and twists them to form his own version.

Confused? I'll elaborate.

In case you didn't know, there's a Percy Jackson book called Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Heroes, where Percy rewrites a lot of myths from the Greek Mythology.

I'll give you some advice-just skip it. It tells you about the myths, yes, but it's quite biased, and if you don't know the real myths, please read the real ones first and then read these if you really want to.

You see, if you think that it's just a book, you're wrong.

This is written in a biased fashion and subtle comments like these turn you against certain gods and goddesses that Rick doesn't like.

When Aphrodite arrives at Olympus, Rick writes all the women as immediately thinking, 'Oh, I hate her because she's the most beautiful of us all.' Not the goddesses. Just the women.

This is also shown with Ares, where Percy calls him a bully, loser and a jerk. He also says that he wanted Poseidon to beat Ares up when Ares was defending his daughter from being raped by Poseidon's son because apparently it would have been awesome to watch.

This is shown with Aphrodite as well when Percy outright states that he hates her and twists the stories about her by rewriting the narrative and adding subtle comments to make us dislike her.

It uses terrible sarcasm which is concerningly childish for a grown writer. I don't know what Rick has against Ares or Aphrodite. He definitely has a hate boner for Ares.

Sorry, I digressed a little bit there. Returning to the subject of this essay-

Athena is featured in some of the stories in this book. In one, Athena and Poseidon compete to be the patron of Attica. When Athena says that she has an idea as to how they can settle this peacefully, Rick writes- 'Typical. Athena always had some sneaky idea.'

................Really?

This wasn't a sneaky idea. Athena literally said that she had a fair idea for a competition-both of them would create gifts and the mortals would decide which one was better. How is that sneaky?

In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, he writes her as a romance-hater (242-243 page no). While there's no evidence to indicate that she likes romance, making a virgin goddess who's heavily implied to be aroace hate romance is very aphobic. Not everyone aroace hates romance-that is a negative stereotype.

Of course, Rick promotes these stereotypes, so what can I expect from him. *Sigh*

Rick subtly makes Athena seem unlikeable like this. It's one of my biggest frustrations-that he makes gods that he doesn't like evil in one way or another through blatantly incorrect misinformation or subtle denigration like this.

All right, so moving on to the more serious story in which Athena is deprecated yet again. It's called 'Athena adopts a handkerchief'.

Brace yourself.

So in the original myth, after Hephaestus catches Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares, he's pretty depressed.

So when Athena comes to him to comfort him or ask him for weapons, Hephaestus literally tried to climb on her and RAPE HER, and she DEFENDED HERSELF from him. A woman defending herself from a man trying to rape her-that's what it was.

But Rick specifically writes Hephaestus begging and pleading and oh so miserable, even when Athena clearly walks away and yells at him to stop. And then Hephaestus cries into her bare leg, and she kicks him away in disgust.

We're supposed to root for Hephaestus here, and even if we aren't, he's still portrayed in a sympathetic light, which is completely fucked up.

Let me tell you something. If a person is crying and begging for your attention and walking after you and grabs you, whining, even after you clearly and firmly tell them not to-

You can defend yourself from, even physically. Doesn't matter if you're a girl or boy or if they're a girl or boy. You have every right to kick them away. Now matter how pathetic they seem, they are still knowingly coming after and harassing you.

But there a lot of people that don't think like this. They feel bad for men who seem 'pathetic' and often denounce women who reject men like this, even though the women have every right not to want to be with men, even if the man seems pathetic and lonely.

Rick wrote Hephaestus to seem pathetic (he literally called Hephaestus poor guy WHEN HEPHAESTUS WAS TRYING TO RAPE ATHENA) and Athena to be cold and bitchy for not acquiescing to Hephaestus' wants, thus flipping the script to make us feel bad for Hephaestus and disdain Athena.

And yes, even if Athena was ultimately written to be the one in the right here, most people will favour Hephaestus and disdain Athena in this narrative simply because of the way their behaviour is written.

It's ingrained in our brains and psychology-let men off, blame the women. Nearly everyone thinks like this-it's practically the default way for society.

I'm not saying that everyone thinks like this. There are very good people who don't think like this or are working on their behaviour and thoughts...........

But they're a minority. There are too many people who default to the 'men good women bad blame women automatically' mindset, even the supposedly progressive ones.

Rick knew the original myth and instead, he chose to twist and write it like this, having us root for Hephaestus instead. That HAS to tell you that the guy has some form of misogyny about Greek Goddesses.

Red flags for Rick Riordan? Hell yes. This was published in 2014, so we can only hope that he's improved on his behavior a decade later, but considering the recent changes in the show, I don't think it's happening.

ATHENA ISN'T ALWAYS WRITTEN BADLY IN PJO

Now, I'm not saying that Athena is always demonized when she shows up. She has a few good moments in PJO and there are some good parts to her.

She realises that Typhon was a distraction and convinces Zeus to send Hermes back, thus greatly helping the demigods.

(But this is overlooked because Rick made her tell Percy to stay away from Annabeth for no good reason. He didn't have to do this at all-but as a very wise person once said, this was another way of trying to distance Percy and Annabeth but not knowing how to properly do so, and of course, Athena becomes the scapegoat who must take on the blame here even though Poseidon could have also said this, thus giving him an actual moment that shows that hey, he's not all-good, Percy and readers!)

She does love Annabeth, as seen when she guides her on the streets to help, immediately claims her at camp, gives her the invisibility cap, appoints her the architect of Olympus itself and compliments her in front of the entire Godly council and many demigods too.

When Annabeth is in Tartarus, she speaks to her and tells her that she did well and gives her a message to send, indicating a gesture of trust, honour and respect from mother to daughter.

(But she was also a bad mother to Annabeth for reasons I've stated before in this essay. She neglected her, forced her to stay with an abusive father, did not bother to find an adoptive family for her, etc)

In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, she instructs Cadmus on what to do with the dragon's teeth. She rightfully blinds Tiresias for staring at her while naked and not immediately looking away and covering his eyes, but then gives him a walking stick and lets him understand the language of birds so that they can direct him when she learns that it was an accident.

She also helps Percy on his quest in Chalice of the Gods by sending Ganymede and the cart that Percy's hiding in back to the kitchens to save Percy.

It's just that...........her portrayal in PJO had some serious problems. It was hideous, horrendous, ghastly, frightful, atrocious, shocking, appalling, grievous, gross and a whole of lot of other synonyms to match. And she is more often than not criticised and hated on for her bad moments than she is noticed for her good moments in Percy Jackson.

CONCLUSION

I know that Rick is free to use whichever version of the myths he wants, but I just want you to see that he denigrates her and portrays her in an appalling manner. Making her have children without the father's permission and forcing the children onto them and making her neglect her children was absolutely unnecessary and Athena did not need to have brain children.

Now, I'm not saying that Athena isn't portrayed in a positive light. She does have good moments in Percy Jackson, but what I want to say is that a lot about her characterization in Percy Jackson is absolutely egregious for the most part considering her actual mythological counterpart.

Athena is the only virgin goddess who has children, and she's also the only virgin goddess who's portrayed as an adult. Coincidence? I think not. In fact, if Rick hadn't made Athena have children, he would have made her a child too.

He turned Hestia into a child for no reason at all, so it's not entirely implausible to think that he would make Athena a child too-probably use the stupid excuse of 'children learn better and their brains are more flexible than adults' brains!'

(I don't want to give him any ideas.)

To conclude, Athena more often than not demeaned in PJO and her overall portrayal is absolutely ghastly when compared to her mythological counterpart. There are a few good parts to her, but not many, and her portrayal in such a famous pop culture series that has impacted so many people will be an eternal tragedy.

@superkooku

@cynthiav06

#whew finally got this done #might edit it #feel free to reblog it though #percy jackson #rick riordan critical #pjo critical #pjo crit #pjo discourse #rr crit #percy jackson crit #pjo #percy jackson critical #rr critical #pjo meta #PJO Athena #anti rr #anti rick riordan #anti percy jackson #anti pjo

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 2 days ago

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What other Greek mythology based books would you recommend

Greek Mythology based books? Well, if you're looking for stories like PJO, I don't know-

But I would really recommend reading the Odyssey and Iliad, even translated versions of them with easier-to-read language. I would also recommend reading Euripedes' Bacchae and his other works like Medea.

@margaretkart

@superkooku

@katerinaaqu

The tagged people will be able to recommend more books like the ones I listed above.

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 2 days ago

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Hi, it’s “Rick really shot himself in the foot when he tried to differentiate Greek and Roman mythology and failed” anon again, and I just learned that apparently Rick is not only misrepresenting the gods and Greek culture, but actual Ancient Greek philosophers, and that really pisses me off as someone with a degree in philosophy.

I haven’t been a part of this fandom in a long time. I never finished HoO (I dropped it before the series was even finished), but I saw something upsetting the other day. I’ve seen a few posts talking about this one passage from HoO (Or, at least, I think it was from HoO. If I read that part, I don’t remember because It was a long time ago.) talking about “a story by Plato about how male and female were created because they used to be the same being that was split in half, and now they’re two halves of a whole looking for their soulmate or whatever” and this was supposed to create angst or something because then Nico didn’t know how he was supposed to fit into that equation.

Again, I don’t exactly know the context (I tried Googling it, but I couldn’t find anything), but I do know that it’s referencing The Symposium. The Symposium just so happens to be one of my favorite pieces of philosophical writing, and once had to write over 20 pages on this bad boy for an academic paper, so believe me when I tell you - that story is a load of BS, and I will not tolerate Plato slander.

First of all, that wasn’t even Plato that said that. It was Aristophanes. Yes, The Symposium was written by Plato, but he was essentially just documenting stuff that was said at a dinner where a bunch of dudes got together and decided to philosophize about what love is (there are 6 speakers in total, that all lead up to Socrates, and Aristophanes is just one of them). People debate about whether all the people and situations Plato wrote about were even real, or if they’re just a device to bounce ideas off of each other, and there’s even this whole theory that Socrates wasn’t a real person - but I’m not going to get into all of that. What’s important is that we DO know that Aristophanes was a real person, and it’s important to note that Aristophanes was NOT a philosopher. He was a playwright and basically the Ancient Greek equivalent of a comedian. I have seen a lot of people act like it was some profound theory of how humans came to be, but it was never meant to be taken seriously.

Now, I have seen that story be taken out of context many times, and it always annoys me, but this might be the most egregious one yet. The Symposium is not heteronormative in the slightest. In fact, it is VERY queer, which is what drew me to it in the first place.

The ACTUAL story that this is trying to reference is when Aristophanes tells a story where originally humans had 2 heads, 4 arms, and 4 legs, and there were 3 genders - male, female, and androgynous (which represented the sun, earth, and moon, respectively). The gods were intimidated by the humans, so they split them in half. The ones that were originally male became men who were attracted to men, the ones that were female became women attracted to women, and the ones that were androgynous became men and women attracted to the opposite sex. That is the very short version, but needless to say, very inclusive of homosexuality.

I see how what Rick was trying to do could’ve worked for asexuality or aromanticism, however, this is only just one small part of The Symposium, and there is actually a lot of stuff in The Symposium that I would argue are very ace and aro coded, but I’m not going to get into all of that, though, because this would be very long and that’s beside the point.

(Just one thing, though, because I can't resist. It’s not relevant to this, but it’s cool, and it relates to my previous ask. At one point, one of the speakers, Pausanias, tries to define love as a complex being and says that Aphrodite is the personification of love. He acknowledges that there are two different versions of Aphrodite that the Ancient Greeks believed in, from different parts of Greece (again, this is pre-Roman), and instead of trying to determine which is the “true” Aphrodite, he embraces both of them and says they are the personifications of two different kinds of love, which eventually results in him basically figuring out the split attraction model 2000+ years before it was called that, and I love it so much.) Anyway, everyone should read The Symposium, it’s public domain.

All that to say, this means one of two things. Either Rick knew this story and intentionally changed it to be heteronormative to create angst, or he read some other version of the story, that was not a primary resource, where someone else had already changed to be heteronormative - and that really freaking bothers me, because it could not be farther from the truth.

As a queer person who found a lot of comfort in The Symposium, I find it disgusting that it was twisted for the sake of making a queer character feel bad about themself for extra angst (and don’t even get me started on how Nico’s character was handled, that is a whole other thing I can go off about, but I won’t because this is about Plato). Shame on you, Richard.

Again, I haven’t touched HoO since I was in high school and it was still being released, and I honestly don’t remember reading that part. So, if I am taking this out of context and later in the book they say “Wait, but that’s not actually how the story goes!” then I will be pleasantly surprised for once, and you can disregard all of this.

You are wonderful, anon, and I love you and this message that you've sent so much. I will definitely check out Plato's Symposium sometime soon.

Don't worry-you're not taking this out of context. What you're talking about is, unfortunately, written in either HOH or BOO-I clearly remember that.

Rick Riordan does tend to misrepresent cultures in his stories-especially Greek culture, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was true. His views on Hellenistic Paganism and Greek Gods when he was writing PJO and HOO were unfortunately very derogatory and it's clearly reflected in his writing.

The fact that he changed a story to fit his version does not surprise me at all, though it's painful to learn that he has committed yet another infraction regarding Greek Mythology.

It's terribly discouraging to me when I see how many people think that what Rick Riordan writes is true and urge them to read up on real sources regarding Greek Mythology. This twisted version of Plato's Symposium is only one of many examples in Percy Jackson.

Knowing Rick Riordan, he either read the full version and twisted it to form his own terrible version, which he has done before (Hephaestus' attempted rape of Athena) and is quite good at or he read a version that wasn't the primary resource and just took it to be the real thing (like he did when researching for Piper Mclean).

Nico's moment there was pretty poignant, very relatable for many LGBTQ readers wondering how they would fit in to heteronormative society...........

But unfortunately, a lot of nice moments in PJO come at the cost of incorrectly interpreting Ancient Greek Gods and culture. It's pretty sad, honestly. Rick really likes to slander Greece in his works. First with the flame of the West, then with slandering all the gods and all those mythological inaccuracies, now with this twisted Symposium version of his.

Rick Riordan doesn't even do his research properly, so of course he said that Plato said it and not that Plato wrote down what Aristophanes said out loud. I wonder if it would actually kill him to do some more research. Is he really that bad at it?

Anyway, I will read the Symposium to gain more insight onto how Rick could have handled it better. I really like aro-ace coded stuff, too, so I'll love this one.

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 2 days ago

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This was so good.

Ok, so I thought I'd highlight some aspects of Nico's trauma here, coz I'm bored:

So after Bianca's death, he finds himself in a labyrinthine situation.

In MoA, the giants put him through a most jarring experience.

In HoH, his experience aboard the Argo II isn't smooth sailing, to say the least.

Suffice to say, he has been to hell and back.

(Oh, yes, all puns intended.)

#mark of athena #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #house of hades

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 3 days ago

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You know what? This is amazing.

I used to wonder how Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty, but this post explained it so nicely. Just another great post from @cynthiav06

But no, I don't think Percy would go on a Luke-style path or a Kratos-like rampage or explode in any way.

In fact, I don't even know if there's a good end for Percy. The way Rick is going, there probably won't be ever, but can one dare to hope?

Respectfully, did Percy Jackson even have any character development throughout the original series?

He doesn't have any flaws. He chose to take the prophecy from Nico, but he was always going to be the prophecy child.

He's good at the start and good at the end with no development unless you count being traumatised and depressed from a war as development, which it's not.

Not trying to be rude, sorry if I seem rude.

Worry not. It's a perfectly reasonable question and should usually be applied to most character studies. Also, buckle up. This is going to be long. Very long. It took me a while to get the time to post this and even more time to actually get my thoughts together. Like a lot of time. (To anyone who doesn't want to read the horrid mess of a post this is there's a partition at the end, after which all the most important points are summarized. ) Just skip to that, but hopefully, someone reads this whole thing because it took me eons to write.

I can see why you think that way, and it is contributed more so by Rick's absolute incapability of not recycling the dead horse that is the original pjo dynamics. He has inhibited character growth from almost every single character where all their epiphanies and character change in the end amounts to nothing, and they regress back to how they used to be, and any and all deviations their personality had are either dismissed or suppressed.

Percy is the victim of the latter. In the first book, he was a child, not particularly concerned with saving the world or being a halfblood. His life had been worse enough, and the halfblood situation had made it abysmal. Percy was living goal by goal. He wanted to get through the field trip, then through the semester, then through the Gabe interactions all so he could finally see his Mom, the one good thing about his life. Then that upends completely, and his only reprieve, the trip to Montauk, his safe place becomes the start of a series of grand tragedies in his life.

Sure, he stayed at the Camp, not willingly but for safety. He had nowhere to go, his life had been turned upside down, his mother was dead, and he wanted to go home, to have his mother back. He couldn't have cared less about the Gods and the world ending, but as soon as Chiron mentions Underworld, Percy is back on solid ground. He has a goal again. Get Sally back. He does everything to reach that goal. He fights monsters, prays to a godly father he refused to acknowledge beforehand, manipulate the press and the Gabe situation, bargain with immortal deities and such, and negotiate his way out of most of those bargains. All the while keeping in mind that he has a traitor to deal with, but Percy is the definition of "deal with one thing at a time. If it's not an immediate concern, it can wait." He does all that and is rewarded for it by being able to live, getting his mother back, and a taste of the life he has doomed himself to, and he almost seems to accept it. He even wonders if Camp Half Blood could be his home.

We see Percy do this throughout all the books. He is constantly changing his intentions, his goals, and his opinions on everything. He is also caught in his internal conflict of being with or against the Gods. The thing is, Percy has very little time for reflection as he is jumping from one existential threat to another, and yet he still manages to grow in the small ways. You need to see it individually book wise rather than over the whole series as Rick messes up terribly with character arcs and developments of literally every other character.

He begins by not caring about Poseidon's existence or his proximity, but in the end, he, too, is beholden to the intrinsic need of having a father. He, too, wants Poseidon to care for him like a father and is therefore hurt by being called a mistake. He knows Poseidon claimed him as a weapon against Zeus so he could rectify someone else's mistakes and restore Poseidon's reputation; who if not Percy would understand this manipulation the best? But the best lies are the ones you want to believe in, and so Percy keeps his silence because, of course, he wants to believe his father genuinely cares for him and loves him. Who doesn't?

He didn't want to be the hero, but by the end of the first book, when he is called one, he doesn't dislike the feeling. He accepts if only a little that this is to be his life now, and as the series progresses, he adds to the pros and cons.

In the Sea of Monsters he is very happy that Gabe is gone and it's just him and his mother again but by the end of it he has gained a new family member in Tyson and is very happy of the fact. He even manages to get over his initial hostility of Clarisse somewhat when he understands her situation.

Titan's Curse is all about Percy learning about the number of forces at play in the world of demigods. He tries to get along with the Hunters and Thalia; it doesn't work. He ends up almost losing Annabeth, someone who he considers a close friend by now. And so we see Percy spiral a little, show more of his anger issues as he interacts with Thalia or even Young Nico just after Annabeth falls from the cliff. Angry and impatient, he goes on his own quest.

I know most readers remember it as Percy, Annabeth, and Grover or the main cast always working together, but it's almost never like that. Somewhere along the way, Percy always ends up doing his own thing, which works because he best works on improvisations. It's Percy's plans that always end up working the most more so than Annabeth's. Just putting it out there.

Then it's just Percy having the worst month of his life. Annabeth is in mortal danger. No one seems to be hearing his opinions between Thalia and the Hunters. Then Bianca dies and Percy because he is Percy is completely and utterly guilty over it.

Note that Percy says he will do his best to keep Biancs safe and not outright promise to keep Bianca safe. But his non-existent self-esteem and other factors withstanding he blamed himself for it completely. Then Zoe dies, and Percy has lost yet another person he thought he needed to keep safe.

Percy is angry at the gods, but he is not surprised by their actions. But he is Percy, and he is determined to change the ways of Olympus, so he pressures the Council and his father to keep the Ophiptaurus, the very creature that threatens to topple their rule. It's his small was of rebelling, and Percy is always rebelling against the gods in his own way, almost never playing into their hands because as much as he despises Luke, he agrees with Luke too and unless he finds a better way to deal with the situation than what Luke is employing he too would have to one day follow in Luke's footsteps.

Now Percy, who trusts Chiron, even thinks of him as a secondary father figure realizes that Chiron for all his compassion for mortals and demigods will always in the end do the bidding of the Gods'. So he makes the snap decision to hide Nico's parentage from Chiron and from everyone else because Percy realizes no matter how much he loves or cares for certain people in his life, they are beholden to answer to a higher power he cannot gainsay, so he will have to take some secrets to the grave. He learns that in the end, some things he needs to shoulder himself.

And of course, the guilt of Bianca's death is no lesser, so he does the only thing he thinks can give him some relief from it. He takes the prophecy for himself, saving Nico and hoping it's enough to alleviate himself of this bile inducing sensation in his gut called guilt that is swallowing him whole.

Now, the Battle of Labyrinth is the most crucial. This is the book with maximum stress on Percy from all ends. From Sally dating Paul and Percy having to prove he is worth Paul's confidence in him in Goode, from Annabeth who is quite literally snippy and passive aggressive through the whole book either due to Rachel or due to her own prophecy even though Rachel and Percy are the two people who got them all out. Then there's the Nico situation. He knows Nico is spiraling, which is making Percy spiral and further strengthening his own guilt. And on top of all this, the Luke situation. Percy is literally caught between an enclosed space, with all four sides closing in on him rapidly while he is fending off mortal danger.

All this repressed tension is fully let loose when he explodes Mt. Helen's. And this is the tipping point. Percy wants to take the choice of Calypso's Island if only briefly and not because he loves her or anything of the sort but because it's his one escape. From everything from his own doomed prophecy. Yet again, Percy is trapped by his own fatal flaw. Personal Loyalty. So he chooses to carry out his responsibility because he has given himself no other choice.

If that wasn't enough of self-realization, he is faced with the horrifying realization of the devastation his power has wrought. His loss of control has single handedly released the greatest threat to Olympus. Hephaestus tells Percy he doesn't know the limits of his own, and by the gods, does that terrify Percy. Up until now, Percy knew his powers were dangerous, but now he knows that he is also dangerous; that he is the real danger. And it's not a reality he wants to ever confront, so he coils his power and holds it tight in a leash. (It's why Percy's burts of power always begin with an unraveling sensation in his gut or something breaking inside himself)

He is somewhat soothed by Poseidon's reassurance because not only does Poseidon not blame him, he also solidifies Percy's faith that he is doing the right thing. And if Poseidon sprinkles in the fact that Percy is the favorite child then who is he to deny himself the comfort of such sweet lies because, of course, Percy thinks it's a lie and of course Percy basks in it. He knows better than to trust gods, he knows better than to trust even his own allies because at the times like this, they will do and say anything to appease him, after all the fate of Olympus depends on him, does it not? And neither the Gods nor the demigods will risk a falling out with him at times like this.

He asks his father if he can help but is denied because he is needed here. Then he does his job as told, and Charlie dies. It's on him. He is struck with twice as much guilt. Over Beckendorf, and then over the state of Atlantis. He asks again if he can help his father and is denied again yet scorned by his father's family, for he can't even help them with the mess he started (or so he believes).

This is why Percy goes with Nico's plan of using the Styx. Because he assumes Nico of all people who already hated him has no reason to curry for his favor. But he makes a mistake. After all, Nico needs his father's favor, and Hades needs Percy gone. Percy can't really blame the kid, but he does anyway because why not? He is angry, he is furious, and everything is slipping from his fingers. He is going to die. Everyone is going to die, and it's all on him. It's all his fault, AGAIN. So he rages at Nico because for at least one single moment, he wishes this were someone else's burden, especially Nico's, but Percy's taken it for himself, and it's too late to back out now.

So he fights and manipulates and negotiates. Titans, River gods, his own demigods. Because don't forget Percy knows there's a mole and that's also his problem. Everything is his problem. All that work and so many dead. Silena, Michael, Ethan, and many more on both sides, and he is trying everything he can to make it better to fix things because, again, he thinks it's his fault. Imagine doing all that, and Rachel tells him he is not the hero, and Percy bristles because no, he doesn't want to be a hero, but of course, it offends him. Because, if he's not the hero, then it's not his burden, and then what the hell is he doing all this for if, in the end, he is not the hero that can save Olympus? Does that mean he read the prophecy wrong, and now he is going to get everyone killed because he wrongly assumed he isn't the hero. He is angry and impulsive, and he snaps at even Hermes. Because now HE is spiraling.

And somehow, it's all over with Luke killing himself, and it dawns on Percy, the truth. So despite all the hate because why wouldn't there be hate, Luke has singlehandedly tried to kill Percy more than Percy can count, and he calls Luke the Hero. Makes the choice because he believes in Annabeth's faith and Hermes's faith in Luke. It pays off and that's all that matters.

Finally finally it is all over. the Gods owe him, and finally, he has an answer on the path he wants to take to change the gods. He denies immortality because he is Percy Jackson, he is Sally Jackson's son and he knows better than to let others dictate the flow of his life, because he has better plans than wasting away inside for eternity, dancing on someone else's tune. He fights for the demigods, the non-Olympian gods and their children who Olympus has failed to do justice to, for Nico, and in some way for himself.

Then it's not over at all because Rachel has taken Blackjack and Percy knows the truth of the Oracle and he loves Rachel far too much to let her even try. But it works and she is okay; he can't be with her but she is alive and she is okay and Percy is extremely grateful for that.

But then there's a new prophecy, and even though he tries to find some peace with Annabeth, he knows it's not over. It's never over for him. But he can forget about it until he can no longer afford to ignore it.

___________________________________________

Of course, Percy repressed his trauma. The last time he let it out, he released the literal bane of the gods out. Do you think Percy could live with something like that happening again? What choice does he have? There's no one who can understand him. NO ONE. Not even Annabeth.

You can see him accept his role as a leader and grow more into it. In son of Sobek or even in Son of Neptune. He is more serious and more authoritative because he has so many people depending on him, so many expectations hanging on him. We can also see Percy's anger issues get out of hand. He is spiraling, the readers know he is spiraling, and Percy knows, but he can't do ANYTHING. HE IS LITETALLY DYING OR BEING ATTACKED, HE CAN'T, HE JUST CAN'T.

BUT WE KNOW IT'S THERE BECAUSE WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH PERCY HAS GROWN INTO SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. AND HE CAN'T ACT ON THEM MOST OF THE TIME BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE DEPENDENT ON HIM AND HIS FATAL FLAW WON'T ALLOW HIM TO PUT HIMSELF OUT OF HIS MISERY.

BUT WHEN HE HAS DONE EVERYTHING HE POSSIBLY COULD, AFTER HOUSE OF HADES, HE LETS POLYBOTES'S POISON CHOKE HIM, ALMOST KILLING HIM IF JASON HADN'T INTERVENED. THANK GOD FOR JASON GRACE.

Percy was this sassy, heavily independent, "I do my own thing" kid and now he is someone with more responsibilities than anyone with most of his free will stripped and most of his hopes ruined or deemed impossible. IT'S TRAGIC AND IT'S EXCRUCIATING AND HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING BECAUSE HE THINKS IT'S MAKING OTHERS HAPPY. IT'S SUCH A HORRIBLE SITUATION. IMAGINE BOOK 1 PERCY? HE WOULD HAVE LET IT BLOW UP IN EVERYONE ELSE'S FACE BEFORE HE EVER LET HIMSELF BE SO BROKEN.

I have seen so many people say how Percy is the standard hero who is always good and never makes bad choices, and I wonder which books they read. Percy always makes the supposed "right" choices at the cost of himself. His fatal flaw enabling his moral compass and the sheer guilt of the lives lost. He can't escape. He hates the gods, he hates the quests but he loves his family and friends so dearly, there's nothing he wouldn't do for them which means Percy is suffocating, drowning, choking in his own misery, his repressed trauma,his self loathing and being crushed to death by the weight of lives, responsibilities and expectations only he can hope to fulfil.

And one day Percy won't be able to take it. His lapses of control will increase in magnitudes so great, his inner rage will level the world. Destroyer, like Athena predicted, Destroyer like Kronos wanted and Destroyer like his name means.

Not every hero needs a villain arc. Percy is inspiring because after all this shit and all these horrors. He is still good, but WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TOLL OF IT. PERCY IS STILL GOOD BUT AT WHAT COST? LOOK WHAT IT'S DONE TO HIM.

Rick has such a great potential for an arc like that but he is going to fuck it up, I know he is but I hope readers realize where it's all leading to and how much Percy has changed and how much he has sacrificed. Also, @hermesmyplatonicbeloved , @ogjacksonsimp , @cynicalclairvoyantcadaver , @helenofsparta2, @fourcornersofcreation thoughts? Did I stray too far from the canon, or am I getting it right at least a little? Because this post took days, I have no idea what it has devolved into.

#pjo #pjo crit #pjo discourse #pjo critical #percy jackson #percy jackson critical #percy jackson crit #pjo meta

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 3 days ago

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HOW RICK PORTRAYS ARTEMIS

Now, before I start on the nasty pile of shit that is Rick Riordan written PJO Artemis (NOT the real one, NEVER the real one) let me give you some links to posts talking about her portrayal in PJO which you should most certainly read.

You should most certainly read these posts-they talk about the subject of this post magnificently. Especially the first one.

THE HUNT OF ARTEMIS IS TERRIBLE AROACE REP

Rick makes her and her hunt aroace and depicts them as radical feminist misandrists.

This is misogynistic and aphobic, as it makes the narrative and by extension the readers think that hey, aroace women actually hate all men, which is not the case for every one of them!

Also, Rick writes Artemis as usually liking to appear as a young girl and never assumes a form older than twenty. And she always appears as a child in PJO. Never any other age. Also, the Hunters are apparently literal CHILDREN who are called immature and misandrist while also being aroace.......hmmmmmm.........aphobic much?

Yeah, do you see how aphobic this is?

People usually view aroace people as childlike and immature due to the fact that they don't want to have sex or romance when they can be just as mature or even more mature than non aroace people.

Also, the two hunters who've left the hunt, Emmie and Jo, are 'growing out of it'. Also, they fall in love and aren't as 'childish' anymore. This implies that aroace people are just 'late bloomers' and 'oh, you'll grow out of it!'

Which is not the case. It's never the case. They never 'grow out of it' because they don't feel attracted to it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Romance and sex do not determine an adult's maturity. And they sure as hell don't determine Artemis' sexuality.

Also, Artemis kicks wlw hunters out-lesbians being kicked out of a safe space for women just for romantically liking women, does anybody hear this?-and calls romance a plague.

What the hell? Aroace people don't always think like this. And sex and romance are to different things. It's possible to be an asexual lesbian too.

This is lesbophobia, which is awful, because men are often violent towards queer women, so this could have been a good form of rep for queer women-queer female solidarity.

Now, I'm aware that Rick is allowed to portray Artemis as aroace. I'm simply pointing out the aphobic and misogynistic tropes that he fell into.

This isn't the only virgin goddess that Rick has turned into a child. Rick also turned Hestia, a former Olympian in PJO, into a child for no reason, most likely because she is also a willing virgin goddess. This is also extremely aphobic and unnecessary.

Artemis usually appears as a young woman in her statues and paintings. If Rick really wanted to make her young, he could've had her be in her late teens or early twenties. There was no reason to make her look like a child.

Also, the major huntresses of Artemis that we know of-Thalia, Bianca and Zoe-joined because they were traumatised from their past.

Thalia because Luke 'betrayed' her, Bianca because she thought she had to take care of Nico, and Zoe because Hercules also betrayed her. They're all traumatised and are frozen to become eternal children. And Reyna is also heavily traumatised.

Do you see this shit, my liege? This implies that all the aroace people are traumatised and that's why they suddenly become aroace and join the Hunt. Absolute nonsense.

Also, not all Hunters of Artemis are aroace. Taking a vow of virginity is not equal to aroace. I get that you want to have your representation, which is fair, but you need to know this.

PJO ARTEMIS IS CREEPY AND PREDATORY

So, we know from the Titan's Curse that Rick Riordan written PJO Artemis recruits girls between 10 and 14 into her hunt.

She says that girls that are older than 14 usually 'go astray' and 'leave their senses, running after boys all day'.

She makes her huntresses take oaths of virginity and celibacy. Why would anyone make a child take a virginity and celibacy oath?

She recruits girls who are too young to know if they want to date or have sex or grow up and pursue something else instead of just hunting all day.

She calls romance a plague and kicks out all lovers from her Hunt, be it mlm or wlw, which is terrible, because she was a sapphic icon back in the day.

And she promises young girls nice things and twists her word, not actually telling them about the bad things of the Hunt until they're actually in and can't get out again.

Do you know how terrible this is? And how terrible it is for the real Artemis and her worshippers?

This is very predatory-and extremely OOC for Real Artemis. She's the protector of girls-she doesn't take them on monster hunts.

REAL Artemis is the protector of children, especially young girls-she would not freeze them biologically forever and pull them out of their lives and take them on monster hunts, thus harming them and endangering them. She would take young girls into hunt, but she would educate them and train them to defend themselves and only take them on monsters hunts when they were fully mature, consenting adults.

Let me fill you in on info about the REAL Artemis' hunt-

If Real Artemis accepted girls into the hunt, they would age normally, and they weren't immortal. And she wouldn't make them hunt monsters. They'd hang around at camp, dance, sing, pick flowers and worship Artemis, like the original nymphs in the myths, who, by the way, were adults.

Also, Real Artemis' huntresses didn't always stay with her. They stayed for some time and left-actually, being a companion of Artemis was a popular title for heroines of Greek Myths, like Anticlea, mother of Odysseus, who hunted with Artemis when she (Anticlea) was young or Beroe, who was also a hunter before becoming a lover of Poseidon or marrying him.

Real Artemis' followers must be virgins or they cannot join her, but they are free to leave, and after that, they may lose their virginity.

Real Artemis' followers are not immediately granted immortality-they must earn it. Artemis grants Britomartis immortality after the latter jumps off a cliff fleeing from King Minos. In some versions, she turned Iphigenia into a goddess as she was sacrificed for Artemis.

And I get that it was a fun concept for Rick to make Artemis' hunt an immortal sisterhood band-and I'm not saying that it's a bad concept.

I'm just saying that the concept was horribly executed. It's absolutely horrible that the girls are frozen forever in time and never get to grow up and be more mature and educated. It would also help their muscle mass and strength, effectively making them better hunters. I've made another post about this.

And Rick also makes Artemis not interact with men because.......her first few interactions with men failed?

This is hilariously terrible. Oh no, Artemis doesn't like men because apparently a few of them failed her and her interactions with them went terribly wrong, so no men now!

And also, she kicks lesbians out of her hunt.

Read this post. It'll detail all the bad things about my last sentence, and in the meantime-

This is terrible, because Real Artemis was heavily associated with lesbianism back in Ancient Greece or before that. Also, Rick's hunt was supposed to be a safe space for girls. So many little lesbians thought that they'd been seen-only to have Rick throw this back into their face. And you know what's even more horrible? He could've made the hunters ace lesbians, because yeah, you can romantically love women and not want to have sex, it's entirely possible.

PJO Artemis is ultimately 'redeemed' by helping Percy and his friends and voting against his death, but her portrayal in such a popular books series will be an eternal tragedy.

And I've heard some people say that he turned Artemis into a radical feminist because it was popular at the time, and let me tell you-

You don't get to do that. You don't get to use a culturally, religiously and ethically sacred goddess as your experimenting ground for humour and modernity mixed with magic.

You don't just get to ignore all the myths and then reduce a sacred belief and way of life to something so horrible as what Artemis' hunt was in PJO-predatory, creepy, cult-like and abusive.

It isolated girls from the outside world and fed them one source of information.

It tricked them into joining by lying to them, promising them happiness, not telling them about the bad things, and then it did not let them leave when they wanted to, making them regret it eternally.

So many people actually worship this goddess-imagine how horrible they feel about this portrayal.

#rick riordan critical #pjo critical #percy jackson critical #rr crit #pjo discourse #pjo crit #percy jackson #pjo #percy jackson crit #rr critical #pjo meta #Artemis PJO #Hunt of Artemis

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 3 days ago

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PERCY JACKSON'S MISSED MOMENT FOR SELF DEVELOPMENT

Ok, this has been bothering me for over a month now and I need to share it with other people. I really need to get it off my chest.

So, you know Percy Jackson's Greek Gods? Where he narrates the myths in his own way? Well, I wanted to talk about one particular moment in that book-one that involves Ares.

So if you don't know, a son of Poseidon (Halirrhothius) rapes Ares daughter. And then Ares kills him, and Poseidon is furious, so the latter demands a trial for Ares and the first ever Olympian trial is held. In the end Ares is acquitted AS HE RIGHTFULLY SHOULD BE.

But the way Rick writes it-the way he retells it-makes me want to {@#$%&**$##^#%^#^ statement redacted for legal reasons) Rick.

Ok, I'll get to the point now I swear.

*Deep breath* calm down calm down CALM DOWN-

So first of all, Rick says that Alcippe didn't like Halirrhothius because, quote direct quote from the book- 'A son of Poseidon? Gross!'

What was the need for this? Really, tell me. There was no need for that, but Rick simply had to denigrate her just because. (cough cough misogyny cough cough)

It goes surprisingly fine for a Percy Jackson retelling until we come to the trial, where the story inevitably goes wrong.

Percy says that a fight between Poseidon and Ares would have been sweet because Poseidon would totally have owned that idiot in a fight-

I-WHAT?

Perseus Jackson, it does not matter if you say you're not defending your brother. You are actually indirectly defending a rapist by defending your father WHO'S DEFENDING HIM!

And later, he says that even though he agrees that Ares had the right to defend his daughter, he still thought that Poseidon should have beat the snot out of Ares because it would be fun to watch?

Wow, Percy. Wow, Rick. Wow-FUCK.

And you know what the saddest thing is?

This could have an amazing moment for Percy to step back, look at the situation and say, 'Hey, you know what? Even though I don't like Ares, I can't deny that he's a good guy sometimes. And my dad isn't always good, even if he also loves his kids, because he's defending a rapist. That's bad.'

THAT WAS A MISSED MOMENT FOR SELF GROWTH AND REFLECTION!

That's what frustrates me so much.

#rick riordan critical #pjo critical #percy jackson #rr crit #pjo crit #percy jackson crit #pjo discourse #percy jackson critical #rr critical #pjo #pjo meta #anti pjo #anti percy jackson #anti rr #anti rick riordan #Ares PJO #Poseidon PJO

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 4 days ago

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anon because the fandom does genuinely scare me sometimes, especially within the caleo stan circles

love your posts. what are your thoughts on caleo? i personally greatly dislike it, but how do you feel about it? i think it's another percabeth situation, where people only defend the abuse that happens because of the gender (if calypso was male and leo was female, there would be a riot. same situation with the constant hitting/violence with annabeth. a genderswap would ruin these ships.) i dont think leo or calypso act happy in the relationship, whatsoever.

About Caleo.............

All right, I hate that ship, but my main problem is how Rick portrayed Calypso in PJO versus how she is portrayed in the actual mythology and the Odyssey.

It is wildly different. So different that you'll case a severe case vertigo every time you switch. Better go slow and let the snails guide you when dealing with them.

All right, people who are Greek Mythology fans who have also not read Percy Jackson, I'm going to need you to fortify yourself for this one. Fortify yourself BIG TIME.

Go outside, take a walk, drink some water, deep breaths, remind yourself of everything good in life. Even the smallest thing. You are going to need it, I swear. Get your comfort items, call loved ones to reassure yourself. Do everything.

All right, so I don't know how many PJO fans have read the Odyssey, but if you have read it before or after, doubtless you'll be surprised at how different the two Calypsos are.

Yeah. Ok. Shit's getting weird here.

Let me start with how Calypso is portrayed in the Odyssey.

She is not a sad, helpless UWU teen girl like Calypso in PJO. She shouldn't have even been a teenager in PJO-she romanced two grown men!

She's not the type of person to understand and let someone go. She didn't do that with Odysseus-she kept him captive for seven years and only let him go when Hermes threatened her with the wrath of Zeus (not something you want to tempt, never ends well.)

Being a nymph and a minor goddess who was the daughter of Atlas, she supported him during the First Titanomachy which was why she lived on Ogygia in exile as punishment. She's a goddess, which means that she was leagues more powerful than Odysseus, who was exhausted, traumatised and didn't have any crew or supplies to sustain him. Going back into the ocean was also dangerous because, well, Poseidon and his rage (not something you want to have on your head either).

It's literally stated in the poem that Odysseus cried on the beach every morning, wishing to return home and missing it terribly. He literally just wanted to see the smoke that rose from his homeland and wants to die. Exact lines copied from Homey's Odyssey-

'By night indeed he would sleep by her side perforce in the hollow caves, unwilling beside the willing nymph.'

'At night-time, true, he slept with her even now in the arching caverns, but this was against his will; she was loving and he unloving'.

'But Odysseus, in his longing to see were it but the smoke leaping up from his own land, yearns to die.'

And when Hermes forces her to let him go, she makes this speech saying that gods will ravish all the women they like, but the moment goddesses start doing the same, they are furious and make them stop.

That's literally just her trying to blame the gods and not herself for something she did. She's trying to shift the blame and make herself seem likeable because others did it, so why can't she?

This is something that a lot of abusers use to make them seem better. Calypso's actions are not ok, and the narrative does not tell us that it's ok. It condemns them, and so should we.

This by @katerinaaqu is a must-read, and you should check out their blog for more info on the real Calypso.

And how she's portrayed in Percy Jackson

We should not, for example, turn this adult nymph who's a rapist into a biologically and mentally 15-16 and make her a poor little girl who's sadly living on an island and then state that she's romanced grown men while somehow being 15-16 years old and ignore it.

I'm not saying that it had to be stated that she was a rapist because this is a children's book series.

But I'm not saying that she had to be portrayed as a teenager either.

The worst part is that though Calypso is depicted as a teenager, it's said that she fought in a war, the First Titanomachy which was much more serious than the Second One, and she romanced two grown men.

All of this while being a teenager? How the hell does that work? Apollo literally says that Calypso is old enough to be his babysitter! And he's millennia old! Millennia!

There is no logic in this, honestly. I mean, there's not much logic or consistency in PJO, but this really takes the cake.

And in Heroes of Olympus, more specifically the fourth book House of Hades, she appears again.........

And, well, this is where it gets really revolting.

Leo Valdez, a fifteen or sixteen year old teenager, is thrown all the way to Ogygia. And there he meets Calypso, who, as the book series states, cannot help but fall in love with every hero that appears on her island because they're just her type.

I think we all know what happens next.

Calypso, a millennia-old goddess who fought in a war and romanced grown men, gets into a relationship.........with a traumatized, mentally unstable teenage boy who's not even a legal adult. After only, what, a few weeks?

Yeah, you can see why I told you to remember everything happy in life at the beginning.

THE ATROCITY OF ROMANTICISED SUICIDE

Ok, so Caleo is abusive, but I'll get to that later.

What I want to talk about-first and foremost about Caleo-is that Leo commits suicide to find Calypso's island again-and this isn't good.

...............Sorry, did I say that that wasn't good?

No, that's a fucking understatement and underestimation.

IT'S ROMANTICISED SUICIDE.

Sink that in your head people. He killed himself to find her island again and take her off of it!

And no, that's not romantic. It's not. Fucking. ROMANTIC.

it's disgusting, unacceptable, unpleasant, nasty, disagreeable, horrid, unwholesome, atrocious, awful, deficient, revolting, lacking, unwelcome, unfortunate, inferior, inadequate, lousy, flawed, pathetic, disastrous, ill, useless, worthless, gross, damnable, vile, absymal, horrendous, shoddy, abominable, crappy, faulty, trashy, substandard, nasty, terrible, dreadful, unfavourable, grim, distressing, regrettable, adverse to morality and humanity, entirely unnecessary and not up to scratch (THAT WAS THE ITCHIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN).

How, just how am I supposed to explain how horrible this is? Especially in a children's book series?

Killing yourself just to find a loved one is never a good concept in any form of media. It's a self-destructive fantasy and suicide itself is a horrible, horrible thing-not to blame the suicidal person, but to both them and their loved ones.

And suicide should never be romanticised, never ever, period. To do so, especially in a children's book series, is absolutely atrocious writing on the author's part, no matter who they are.

He never even called it out. If he had said that it was horrible and treated it as such, it would be a little better-but no. It's cheered on and encouraged, which is a level of hell that's deeper than the Earth's core.

I don't think I've emphasized how awful this is. It's just.......let's not romanticise suicide and suicidal tendencies. Not for anything. Never.

LEO'S ARC IS RUINED

The entire point of Leo Valdez's arc was to show that being the third wheel (seventh one in this case) wasn't bad. Being single, not finding romantic love, was fine. Acceptance without romance was possible, and pure platonic love was also possible. And Calypso pretty much ruined this because in the end, heteronormativity forces romance above everything.

And he literally prioritises this random girl whom he spent a few weeks with over his friends whom he spent months with and knows them way better than Calypso.

The forced amatonormativity here is crystal clear, as transparent as clean air honestly. You can see lichen on the trees if you look close enough.

Abuse in Caleo

Calypso is also abusive to Leo.

1) First of all, when Leo lands on Ogygia, Calypso is angry because in her words, 'the gods send her this charbroiled runt of a demigod instead of a real hero to mock her'.

She's rightfully angry that they didn't release her, but that doesn't mean that her words were any less painful to him. They did contribute to his insecurity issues. A few words can have a lasting impact, too.

She also looks into Leo's past and sees his memories. Without his permission. Which is pretty creepy and moves past boundaries in a bad way.

And he commits suicide to find her in BOO. I think I've already talked about how horrible that is. I didn't stress how bad it is even though I used so many words that I probably exhausted the Oxford Dictionary.

Now we come to the Dark Prophecy, where they star as a couple (more like a star explosion).

2) In TDP, Calypso jabs her fingers into Leo's ribs.

Why?

It's because she asked what was hiding Festus from the mortals, so he tells her what the Mist is and she says that already knows-even though she literally asked the question that provoked in the first place.

Even if she thinks he's insulting her or talking down, when he's not, she shouldn't jab her fingers into his ribs.

And that wasn't playful-Leo expressed physical pain through an exclamation. And even if Calypso thought it was playful, she didn't apologize afterwards when she saw that she caused Leo physical pain.

3) She also calls him by a name that he told her never to call him by-Leonidas.

He clearly doesn't like it, and knowing that, she still uses it, that too in front of someone they don't know very well, almost a stranger.

In the Riordanverse, names have power.

Leo chooses not to call himself that. He tells Calypso never to call him that. And she calls him that.

In this moment, she's taking his power and autonomy away from him by calling him something he doesn't like. It's probably minor to a lot of you, but honestly, it's pretty bothersome to those of us who have actually experienced this.

4) Leo often uses mechanical-related analogies, but Calypso hates them and makes him stop using them, so he doesn't even use them when she's not around.

What's wrong with him using his analogies? He uses them to help him and she makes him stop. She effectively stops him from using something that helps him. That is bad.

It's a fundamental part of him. If Calypso doesn't like it, then why is she dating him at all?

5) Leo is also bad to Calypso. He calls her Mamacita multiple times after she tells him not to. Reyna literally has to tell him to stop calling her that and intimidate him into doing it, and it's all passed off has lighthearted playfulness.

As someone who has been through this before, it's pretty damn frustrating. It's not funny or cute to do it. It's plain annoying and the person on the receiving end is completely right to want it to stop.

6) The age gap. I've mentioned this before.

But some people are saying that Calypso has the maturity of a teenager in PJO, so why shouldn't she date Leo?

All right, using that logic, let's make Apollo and Reyna date!

NO.

Calypso has lived for millennia on her island. She says that it's been three thousand five hundred and sixty eight years.

This isn't like Nico, who was in the Lotus Casino for decades but only aged a month. He was the same level of mature when he went into it and came out. Calypso was not.

Apollo has also lived for millennia. And he has a teenager's maturity. Does that mean it's ok for him to date Reyna.

No. It does not. And the same logic applies to Calypso and Leo.

I've also heard someone saying that Calypso is cursed to fall in love with whoever washes up on her island, which isn't true.

She says that the gods send her the type of person whom she can't help herself from falling in love with. Not that she's cursed to love them.

7) In TDP, Leo is working on something to try and find Georgina, a missing child.

And then when he says as much, Calypso sharply asks him if he can imagine losing his child.

He can, in fact, do that. He lost his mom, which was just as horrible if not more than Jo and Emmie losing their child, since there was a chance of Georgina coming back, but Esperanza could never come back.

He also has a little brother-Harley. He says that he would be furious if someone did something bad to Harley! So yes, he can in fact imagine what losing a child is like!

After this, Calypso for some reason gets frustrated and tells him that he can't reduce everything to a program.

He's not doing that. He's not reducing this problem to a program-he's working on a program to reduce this problem.

She tells him that Jo and Emmie don't need gadgets or jokes. They need someone who will listen.

And how is that going to help exactly? Leo is actually doing something. He's working on something to find Georgina.

A good listener is something nice to have, but a person who actually does something helpful is even better. And if Calypso thinks Jo and Emmie need a good listener, then she can listen. What else is she doing anyway?

Calypso willfully misunderstands this and wrongfully accuses him of not listening and trying to reduce everything to a machine when he's not. This is what a toxic partner does. They twist the narrative to make you think that your actions are wrong when they're not.

TO CONCLUDE

Neither Leo nor Calypso is happy in their relationship. It was built on naive dreams and false passions-the moment they became a real couple, they didn't know what to do. They thought that they loved each other, but it was only the idea of love and having a partner that was compelling to them. The moment they actually got what they wanted, which was to be in a real relationship, they didn't know how to actually be a couple. Then the problems of a real relationship began to hit both of them.

The logical solution would be to talk it out, apologise on both ends, realise that they wouldn't work out together and finally break up while remaining good friends or just stop contacting each other entirely-either one is fine.

They're taking a break now, so hopefully Rick Riordan will make them break up, but I think that he'll just never mention them again, which wouldn't be as great, but would be fine, honestly, regarding the current state of Rick Riordan.

#anti caleo #leo valdez #calypso pjo #pjo crit #rick riordan critical #rr crit #percy jackson critical #pjo critical #percy jackson crit #rr critical #pjo discourse #percy jackson #pjo #pjo hoo toa #percy jackon and the olympians #Odysseus #toxic relationships #the dark prophecy

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