#and zoe going on the quest knowing the prophecy means she will die

[ruegarding]

it's the fates cutting the string from across the highway while looking at percy and only percy. and percy feeling like a failure while looking up at thalia's tree, wondering if he could've been a hero like her. and poseidon apologizing for bringing percy a hero's fate. and percy choosing to step back and let sally kill the monster and save herself bc he's aware now that being a hero means being a tragedy. and annabeth talking abt hubris and percy saying being in charge of the world sounds like a nightmare. and percy figuring out that the prophecy means he will die at sixteen. and thalia joining the hunters to avoid making a choice she'll regret. it's all of this and percy knowing exactly what it means to choose this fate and this prophecy and choosing it anyway to protect a kid no one asked him to protect.

[crossdressingdeath]

🔥+ Hunters of Artemis

The way the Hunters recruit Bianca (and possibly others, it's a little unclear if the way they recruit her is standard procedure or not) is incredibly manipulative and it pisses me off that no one acknowledges that (even Nico's anger at them is focused more on just them recruiting in general and not the tactics they used on his sister). I mean, they take this twelve year old who's been forced to play primary caregiver for her little brother and they promise her a family all her own and oh, it's okay, Nico can go to camp, she doesn't need to worry about that, boys shouldn't be her problem, she can have a new family and she'll live forever without the responsibility of caring for anyone, and oh she has about five minutes to decide the course of her eternity. She doesn't need to talk to the campers about what Camp Half-Blood is like and ask the Hunters what being a Hunter is like so she can weigh her options! She certainly doesn't need to, I don't know, discuss it with her little brother at all! Make your choice, Bianca, chop chop! She is given no chance to consider what she wants, it's just... the Hunters show up and tell her she could choose to join them and she has to make her decision like ten minutes later, and there's no take-backs if she decides later she made the wrong call. Like, it was shitty of her to just abandon Nico without a second thought, but the Hunters absolutely manipulated her to make that choice. (And it's also fucked up that Zoe decides to bring this girl with zero training who's known she's a half-blood for less than a week on a super dangerous quest where they know two of their number are going to die.)

Also just in general I really hate their habit of recruiting prepubescent girls who haven't gotten the chance to really explore their own desires and decide what they want in life. If nothing else that's terrible planning, a ten year old is not going to make a great hunter in terms of physical capabilities, but like... give them a chance to actually reach an age where they'll seriously think about sex and dating and can decide whether or not they want that! Don't just grab them before they can really think about those things and call it good! Like, I'm so glad that in ToA we finally get to see a character who's a little older and has considered her life and her desires and has decided that eternal life without romance or sex is for sure what she wants. (I don't count Thalia because she pretty explicitly joins the Hunters mainly to escape the prophecy.) I mean Reyna's still a teenager, I'd much prefer it if the majority of the Hunters were adults, but these are children's books so I can accept that. It's good to see someone actually weighing up the options—the impression I get is that Reyna has been considering joining the Hunt for some time—and deciding after a lot of thought that yes, this is what they want. (I also love ToA establishing that yes, Hunters who decide they want romance after all can choose to leave so they can pursue it with no hard feelings.) It just feels incredibly skeevy that Artemis goes after girls who haven't even hit puberty and for sure haven't really thought about sex and dating outside of the abstract and then essentially cuts them off from that forever before they get the chance to consider it explicitly to maintain their "purity" (...was that the word Titan's Curse used? I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure it was a G-rated euphemism for virginity); pretty sure that while Artemis was a protector of children in the myths (side note, lots of child endangerment going on here for a protector of children...) her Hunters were all adults!

[iamaweirdbeing]

@p-bubblegum @rubies-nightinga1e @housecatdahousecat and @celtic-sword requested elaborations on this post 

Buckle up bc this is going to be a long one (no seriously this is so long I probably should have made this more than one part) and I combine some explanations so not every bullet has one

- The version of Artemis in featured in the series is one of the most manipulative and selfish gods we see in any of the books

My example for this one will be the lovely Bianca di Angelo, because I think she is the most complicated example of this and then I will connect what I think are the more blatant examples.

Bianca was sent into the entire world of the gods blind. This isn’t odd, all of the characters are shown to either be raised to know about the gods and what life will be like as a demigod or they are drop kicked into this world when a monster tries to murder then. The di Angelos experienced the latter.

The thing about Bianca is that she joined the hunters after only like twenty minutes of knowing them. A twelve year old girl who just experienced one of the most traumatic things to have ever happen to her is in no position to be making major life decisions. Artemis (Percy Jackson Artemis only, in most myths she is wonderful) is SO MANIPULATIVE.

All of the other major choices Bianca is shown to make or have made in the past portray her as a very maternal and responsible person. She has taken care of Nico for years, she accepted the quest immediately when asked because she thought it would help people, she was willing to die for her mistake in the scrapyard, HER JOINING THE HUNTERS AND LEAVING NICO ALONE JUST SEEMS SO OUT OF CHARACTER.

Personally, I blame Artemis completely. There is no way that Bianca could have been given a proper explanation of the hunters in the time she was with them. I just don’t believe it. All the information we know for sure that Bianca knows is that the hunters are conditionally immortal, they are all girls around the same age as Bianca or younger (Zoe is described to be the physically oldest there and she is only like fourteen), the hunters go after monsters, and they have a cabin at camp. I think that the cabin is the main piece of information that causes problems because when Bianca tells Nico she is a hunter she tells him they will still see each other often, meaning she is unaware of how the hunters actually work and how little they actually stay at camp half blood.

BIANCA DIDNT REALIZE THE EXTENT THAT SHE WAS LEAVING NICO AND NO ONE CORRECTED HER

Another reason I blame Artemis and not Bianca is be ARTEMIS IS A GODDESS. Bianca just met a goddess who saved her life. She is a terrified twelve year old. Was she just supposed to say no??? to an all powerful goddess she knows nothing about other than she just saved her life??

Bianca just watched a monster who looked like a trusted teacher tackle a girl barely older than herself off a cliff and vanish. She was probably in the most terrified state she had ever been in and Artemis just jumps in to make her a hunter (it also bothers me that all three girls in PJO we see become hunters, those girls being Zoe, Bianca, and Thalia, are all very young girls who join almost immediately after going through something awful, Zoe being betrayed by Hercules and Thalia being told that she either had to join the hunters or become the prophecy kid after she thought she just killed her childhood best friend, with no time truly think about their decision). Then Bianca was chosen by an authority figure she trusted to go on a quest that she didn’t understand with no training where she died.

Bianca was killed because those around her failed to teach her about being a halfblood and Artemis manipulated her by using power and fear against her so that she would join the hunters. I’m willing to bet that a lot of other demigod kids died for those same reasons.

- Luke can be blamed for a lot of things but starting a child army is not one of them, he didn’t create a child army he stole Chiron’s

I’m not going to get into all of my thoughts about what Luke does in the series bc we do not have time for that, so I’m going to explain what he didn’t do. He did not start a child army. The titan army was in part a child army, it was also a monster and god army, but there were a lot of child soldiers.

However, Luke was not the one to create an child army, Chiron did that. Camp Half-Blood is not as obvious as Camp Jupiter with the child army thing, but Chiron is known to train “heroes”. In pjo the gods are well aware that a war is coming and none of them try to stop it. Chiron is also aware that a war is coming, so the “heroes” he’s training are children he’s knowingly preparing for war.

Luke’s army is made from campers who defected from Chiron’s army, so Luke can’t be blamed for starting a child army, just for leading one, because that army is just made up of Chiron’s child soldiers.

- on that note Chiron sucks

- his favoritism and him ignoring the mental health of the campers is why the second titan war got as bad as it did

- It’s also the reason that Nico suffered as much as he did

Chiron has favorites. This is shown in the way that he personally advises some of the main characters (Percy and Annabeth) but others are left ignored. Not that this is referenced within the books bc Percy is the narrator and as a favorite who is only a seasonal camper, he is not in a position to recognize the favoritism. He also only trains a select few of them, Luke and other head counselors were the ones training kids. Now I understand that Chiron is only one person so he can’t train everyyone, but that’s just even more proof that the kids he trains are his favorites. As for ignoring the mental health of his campers, it is obvious that campers are not getting the help they need because of the actions they take throughout the series. (He locked Chris Rodriguez in a basement while he was having a mental break and a fouteen year old Clarisse was the one who looked after him, I think that says a lot)

My examples for this will be Nico and Luke bc I think they are the most extreme cases of this. When Bianca dies, Nico, a highly powerful, grieving, suicidal, ELEVEN YEAR OLD is homeless for an entire YEAR. Chiron never went looking for him, never provided him with healthy ways to grieve, and was more concerned with Nico being a child of Hades than he was with Nico being a hurting child who he was responsible for. Chiron never even helped to make him feel included at camp after the second titan war which made him run away again. Similarly, he never helped Luke through the grieving process. It was made clear in the books that, leading up to his betrayal (especially after his quest) Luke was not acting normal. Chiron never checked on him or tried to help him. Chiron was aware that there was a war coming and never thought to check on the campers who were very obviously not coping well mentally.

Imagine if you were Nico or Luke and the person you cared about more than anyone in the world died, and your new caretaker didn’t give a shit aside from general empathy that doesn’t actually help you in any way. Chiron is in charge of these kids. He’s supposed to RAISE these kids for their parents. He doesn’t do that, he raises some of them and leaves the rest to raise themselves and raise their siblings. If Chiron actually did his job, Luke might not have been Kronos’s pawn, way less campers would want to join the titan army, and Nico wouldn’t have ran after the first war, because they would have had a home with a stable parental figure who they trusted.

- By contrast I think that Mr. D is one of the most caring of the gods and the way he acts towards the campers is his loophole around Zeus’s rules

- Like he acts as a therapist for Nico and it’s implied that he does the same for other campers, he does care for them

Mr. D might act like he hates his job and hates the kids, but he is actively helping them in any way that he can while playing up that persona. And that persona is how he’s not getting in trouble with Zues, so long as he seems like he hates interacting with the kids he can keep doing it because Zues thinks it’s a punishment. He healed Chris, he plays games with campers, he PROVIDES THERAPY, HE CLAIMS ALL HIS KIDS. He does more than any other god, and more than Chiron does, for a lot of kids. I think that the reason it’s a little more difficult to tell with this is because he puts in a little less effort with Chiron’s favorites, who are the narrators and main characters so it’s their POV that we are getting, because he’s trying to help the campers who don’t have anyone else.

- Percy’s hatred of Luke is something I have a lot of thoughts on- I think it shapes a lot of his opinions of people and makes him oblivious to how similar he and Luke are/how much logic they share

- Like I think Thalia and Percy getting along is entirely dependent on Percy ignoring how intertwined Luke and Thalia’s lives were

- I don’t think Percy understands anyone grieving Luke and the only person he tries to be empathetic towards in regards to that grief is Annabeth

Percy tends to ignore Luke. After getting Luke a proper funeral because of a final heroic act that he respects, Percy never really thinks about Luke again. If he does, it’s not in a positive light. Him ignoring Luke is how he’s able not not see how similar their logic is. They share a lot of the same opinions about the gods, but bc of his fatal flaw Percy associates Luke with betrayal and war instead of their shared opinions. This also makes it hard for Percy to empathize with Luke, which causes the hatred and resentment, and makes it hard for him to understand those who grieve for him. An example of this being how he tries to empathize with Annabeth grieving for Luke without thinking about Luke as anything more than a person who hurt her and others.

If we apply this to Percy’s opinion and perception of Thalia, that means Percy has to ignore a huge part of her life in order to make his feelings about Luke make sense.

It’s said by Annabeth in the books that she thinks Percy and Thalia will either get along really well or try to kill each other, but the former is what actually happens after some time

Percy and Thalia get along on a personality level, but Percy is also shown to not understand why Thalia cares for/grieves Luke. In ttc he doesn’t understand and actually gets mad at her for crying over Luke while they’re on their quest to get Annabeth and Artemis back. Thalia is not Thalia without Luke just like how Luke is not Luke without Thalia. They grew up together, fought together, fought for each other, and care more deeply about each other than either is shown to care for anyone else. In fact the betrayal is the only thing that truly shifts those feelings. They are such important pieces in each other’s live that it took a war for their relationship to shift.

Percy doesn’t understand what Luke and Thalia were to each other and he doesn’t want to. He wants to be friends with Thalia, but he won’t compromise his opinion and ignorance of the person Luke was to do it. So he ignores how connected Luke and Thalia are in order to do just that.

- I don’t think it makes sense for Thalia as a character to stay a hunter after she learned Jason was alive

Thalia became a hunter for the immortality so that she wouldn’t have to become the child of the prophecy. I’ve already talked about how I think that Artemis manipulates young traumatized girls into joining the hunters, that combined with the fact that Thalia was very much against joining the hunters for all of ttc proves she never actually wanted to be a hunter. When she no longer has to worry about the prophecy and she gets her brother back, there is no way that she would choose the hunters, who she didn’t want to be a part of in the first place, over her family.

- I think a majority of camp half blood campers (like those who aren’t his friends) are afraid of Percy

Percy is objectively terrifying. He helped win two wars, survived tartarus, has threatened gods, was offered godhood, and has been described as looking incredibly intimidating. There is no way that campers who have never interacted with him before aren’t scared of him. And he’s a seasonal camper, he’s not around enough for most campers to have interacted with him so that they aren’t afraid of him.

- Will Solace hates Percy Jackson and you cannot convince me otherwise

Percy Jackson lead the two battles that ended in Will losing his older brothers. Are those deaths Percy’s fault, they aren’t, not really, but Will is a child who is going to blame someone. That someone is most likely going to be Percy because he was the child of the prophecy and because Percy was incredibly insistent that Will heal Annabeth during the battle of Manhattan while Michael Yew was MIA and dying.

Moving on to stuff that WAS Percy’s fault. Percy tried to strangle Nico di Angelo. It’s not that Nico wasn’t doing anything wrong, it’s not that Percy didn’t have a right to be mad. It’s that Percy was almost SIXTEEN and his response to and to Nico’s mistake was to strangle him. Nico was TWELVE. Yes he was wrong to do what he did, and yes Percy was still a kid, but a sixteen year old knows better, a twelve year old who’s incredibly mentally unstable and has been practically homeless for two years doesn’t.

Nico would tell his boyfriend what happened and Will would understand what was wrong with that situation even if Nico does not. Will would not forgive Percy for that, especially bc Percy has never tried to make it right. So yeah I think Will hates Percy.

- Cabin 11 never recovers from the second titan war and it is Hermes fault, Luke hurt them, Hermes’s actions made it so they would never recover

- I do not think a single child of Hermes likes their father, there will never not be resentment there

Cabin 11 shatters after the titan war. Luke raised and trained everyone in that cabin. They are probably never going to be trusted by the camp the same way ever again, they are probably never going to trust themselves and each other the same way ever again. After all of the hell that was the second titan war, Hermes doesn’t change. He doesn’t interact with them, or raise them, or even do anything more than claim them (which is a requirement because of Percy’s demands after the war). Cabin 11 breaks because of Luke’s betrayal and the war, but Hermes’ not changing his ways after all the pain he caused is what chatters them. And they all hate him for it.

[doctorofmagic]

Strange Academy #5 Review

This chapter has a great start with the same vision from issue #3: Dormammu destroying the school and defeating Stephen in the process. Only this time, we also see Agamotto, Hoggoth and Oshturr, which makes me quite worried.  Considering Marvel, this is bound to happen. I guess Dormammu is using Doyle to get to Stephen? We’ll have to wait and see.

So this loathesome Ms. Hazel lies to Jericho, saying she was just showing the kids the future. Well, she’s mean, she nearly forced Emily to sit. I don’t like her at all. But at least she’s got Dark Dimension fire on her eyes. I don’t think Doyle is aware of his full potential, being son of Dormammu and such. Poor boy was born under such extreme circumstances... You know who should take care of him? Clea!!! After all, she’s his cousin?????? Shame on me for realizing that only now tsk.

Next, Jericho shares his concerns with Stephen. Okay, brace yourselves for a long paragraph.

I’m not sure if I like how Stephen behaves or how Jericho treats him... Don’t get me wrong, I’d die for Stephen’s smug ass attitude. But I don’t believe he’s that narcissistic or that he’s only worried because children are not supposed to be the center of prophecies. He’s been there. He took some time to process that everything the Ancient One has done was part of a bigger picture, a bigger test. That sort of thing has made him a bit arrogant, I won’t deny that. And that’s why I believe he’s not comfortable with prophecies. He doesn’t want the kids to face the same fate. Also he knows it’s dangerous. Stephen had the Ancient One to take care of him. Here, we simply have too many students. It’s not the same, having a personal mentor. I guess this is where Stephen intended to stand. On the other hand, Jericho assumes Stephen is just jealous or something, to the point of insinuating that he wants to build magic soldiers. Listen, Jericho. No. Stephen had other apprentices before and never intended to make soldiers out of them. Magic is quite a burden and Stephen knows it too well. Illyana was the only apprentice that survived the whole experience until the very end. Even Clea left. Even Jericho dropped the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme. It’s not easy. But, in Jericho’s defense, I understand that he’s attached to the children. He took full responsability for them on a personal ground. And that’s okay. I just want everyone to be in good terms, until the big secret they’re hiding comes out, that is.

The next panel, we see Zoe and Germán. I loved to learn more about Germán’s powers. It’s really hard for me to pick my favorites when I love all kids, but certainly Germán has bonus points. So, Germán is explaining his powers to Zoe when they find Calvin’s jacket, which makes them realize that their friend was missing. Good friends indeed.

Emily tries to call them out but she’s also guilty. No excuses, no exceptions. Everyone is to blame. You don’t leave my precious son unchecked. Also I’m growing tired of Iric and his edgy attitude towards Doyle. He’s jealous Emily likes Doyle? Well, I DUNNO, MAYBE DEAL WITH IT WITHOUT BEING TOXIC? Thanks. So, yeah, they fight and Alvi, at this point the most mature kid in the group, puts an end to the fight. The kids decide to look for Calvin by themselves and that’s where plot gets weak to me.

Listen. I know teenagers have this stereotype of conquering the world and thinking nothing will ever hurt them. But honestly? We have many mature kids here who wouldn’t go out there looking for trouble. Alvi is one of them, in my opinion. Also Gus, even Zoe, the one who keeps objecting to their quest. Seriously. Call Jericho. Call Stephen. Call the freaking Mindful One. ANYONE, for Vishanti’s sake. “There’s no time to waste on explaining everything?” Emily, sweetheart, the time you would take to explain Calvin’s situation to an adult is the time you wasted getting there on boat. Pfff.

Ok but for the plot’s sake, the kids go on their own, as I said, on boat because they haven’t learned how to teleport properly yet. There’s a panel in which Emily and Doyle change a few cute words. I like them, either as a potential couple or just a sweet friendship. I’ll take any. Also he goes pinky when he blushes awww.

To no one’s surprise, the Hollow capture the children but not before talking about the proverbial “chosen one”, even though we don’t know which kid they’re referring to. It could be Emily, Doyle or Iric. Honestly? It’s pretty obvious to consider Doyle, considering Ms. Hazel’s vision. And yet, I wouldn’t discard Emily. She’s the main character, after all. I’m just ignoring Iric at this point, but feel free to believe he’s actually the one. Oh, also, the kids sent Gus to call for help, something they should’ve done SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING, AM I RIGHT?

The kids, obviously, will fight back. End of chapter 5.

To be honest, I don’t know what the Hollow is about. I still need more information before making some theories. Also, all kids have potential. Of course, Doyle being Dormammu’s son implies something quite big and important, and yet, I’m sure Emily is also a very important key to the plot.

That said, I’d just like to add Wanda’s inbox because I’ve found a few interesting things.

Pietro is still trying to disturb reach out for Wanda, his usual annoying and fast self portrayed in the message. Steve is sweet and still thinks of Wanda as an Avenger. In addition, I’m about to reveal something: I truly despise Beast. And I’m sure he’s sending her an email only to test his theories because oh, he’s so smart and loves science, let’s test the gates of Krakoa yadda yadda. F*ck off, Henry. Lastly, the sweetest email comes from Magneto. He’s worried about her. He wants to be part of her life and I’m about to cry. Marvel made the worst mistake ever erasing Wanda’s mutant origins and I’ll never accept that. Thank you, Skottie.

And with that, here ends the review. See you next issue!

[shes-a-communist]

I’m just gonna say it, blaming Apollo for Jason’s death is ridiculous, and I’m really tired of the PJO fandom blaming Apollo for something that really isn’t his fault. It just really makes no sense to me. And literally all the reasons that I have heard people use to blame Apollo for Jason’s death makes practically no sense at all. Buckle yourself up for an annoying rant, cuz boy to I have thoughts on this.

Honestly, I think the biggest reason people blame Apollo for Jason dying is because of the prophecy Jason heard, and since Jason told Apollo about the prophecy and Apollo still let him go into that maze, that would make Jason’s death Apollo’s fault right? Well no, not really. For starters, Apollo is the god of prophecy, he knows better than anyone that prophecies are almost always misleading, and are rarely so direct. Apollo seemed to think that there would be some sort of catch, some way to avoid it. Which might sound naive, but I would say that most of us didn’t believe that the prophecy was serious either, so can we really blame Apollo for not believing it? So many of the prophecies in Rick’s series have implied death, and yet that rarely happens, so can we really be mad at Apollo for not expecting Jason to actually die?And second, in no way shape or form did Apollo force Jason and Piper to go on that quest. They went completely on their own free will. And yes, it was Apollo’s quest, but that doesn’t make Jason’s death his fault. To me, the PJO fandom blaming Apollo for Jason’s death is as ridiculous as Nico blaming Percy for what happened to Bianca. It makes no fucking sense. There was a prophecy that fortold Bianca’s and Zoe’s death, but does that mean that everyone who survived the ordeal is to blame? Is the fandom sitting around blaming Percy, Grover and Thalia for what happened to Zoe and Bianca? Of course not! Because it’s not fair to blame the survivors of the quest for the character death, rather than the people who killed them.

And also, Apollo did literally everything he could to save Jason. Apollo fucking stabbed himself to try and save Jason, and people really have the audacity to say that Jason’s death was Apollo’s fault? Piper, Meg, Apollo and Jason went through so much terrible shit at the hand of Caligua, and just because Jason was the one who died and suffered the most, doesn’t mean that the burden of Jason’s death is on them.

I guess another reason people like to blame Apollo is because he was formerly a god and he “dOeSnT cArE aBoUt DeMiGoDs” as if he didn’t fucking stab hinself to try and save some of them. And yeah, when he was a god he didn’t care too much about the demigods, but that was before he became a mortal, and we clearly see him risk himself time and time again to save demigods, so don’t try and tell me that he doesn’t care.

Did I mention that Apollo stabbed himself? Because that happened.

And I can understand Piper blaming Apollo (and even she eventually forgives him) because what she went through was extremely traumatic, and she blamed Apollo because she was in pain from watching her best friend die, and she thought that Apollo didn’t care, not realising that he does in fact care a lot. So I can understand her lashing out at Apollo, and to some extent I could forgive other characters being mad at Apollo for the same reasons, but they didn’t watch it happen like Piper did, so them having the same reaction would feel less justified in my opinion though.

A lot of people also seems to go by the logic that if Apollo hadn’t broken the oath on the Styx, then Jason would still be alive. Even if you do want to use that as an excuse to blame Apollo, Jason still heard the prophecy of his death before Apollo made that oath, so it really isn’t fair to blame him. (At least I think so, I may have the timeline completely messed up, so forgive me if I’m wrong). Yes, the oath is technically a contributing factor, but I think it would have still happened even if Apollo didn’t make that oath. And even if you want to say that Apollo breaking the oath is the reason Jason died, it’s still not fair to blame him because, 1) Apollo did not know that Jason would die from him making that oath and 2) Apollo made a mistake in a very emotional state, of course making the oath was stupid of him, but try to see it from his perspective. I would be pretty upset too if one day I was the best archer in the world one day, with only one other person of comparable talent, and the next I could barely hit one bullseye.

And aside from Apollo, Piper is the next most blamed by the fandom for Jason dying, which genuinely pisses me off. Yes, Jason chose to go rescue the Sibyl, despite the prophecy, to save Piper. But guess what? She also went there knowing that there was a possibility that she would die too. It just so happened that it was Jason was the one who died, not her. Like let’s not overlook the fact that Piper went in there, knowing that it could have been her. She was willing to risk her life for Jason, he was her best friend. And for gods sake Piper didn’t exactly have it easy, she had to watch her best friend die. And Caligua fucking beat her so hard she would have a scar (on he fucking lip no less... just like Jason). Like can we please give her a break? And I get that a lot of the people who blame Piper for Jason’s death are really just mad that she broke up with him and decide that it’s a valid reason to blame her for every bad thing that happens to Jason, but come on guys it just not fair to blame her.

Just because Meg, Piper and Apollo survived the ordeal, does not mean that the burden of Jason’s death is on them. If you’re going to blame anyone for Jason’s death, blame Caligua, not the people who did absolutely everything in their power to stop his death from happening.

[whenthemarshmallowmettheslayer]

In the regular pjo series, do you think Luke could have been saved if Thalia had been brought back sooner? Or do you think him poisoning her tree a sign of giving up on her for good?

My answer is no. I still think Luke would have joined Kronos. Even though Thalia’s “death” was a (justified) reason why Luke went against the Olympians there were other reasons he was against them. 

“Thalia gave her life to save you,” I said, gritting my teeth. “And this is how you repay her?” 

“Don’t speak of of Thalia!” he shouted. “The gods let her die. That’s one of the many things they will pay for.” 

Okay, so you’ll probably wondering why I think Thalia coming back early wouldn’t have saved Luke. 

1.) Luke was very bitter about the quest he was sent on. Partially because where was the glory of doing something someone else has already done (I’ve said this before but this is very ironic considering Percy & co in every book are often doing something or defeating some monster a classic Greek monster till it gets to point they’ve done more than any other Greek hero) and because Luke failed the quest; when Luke failed and came back to camp he was treated with pity and this was when Kronos slipped into his dreams. 

“Exactly,” Luke said. “Where’s the glory in repeating what others has done? All the gods know how to do is replay their past. My heart wasn’t in it. The dragon in the garden gave me this-“ he pointed angrily at his scar - “and when I came back, all I got was pity. I wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone right then, but I bided my time. I began to dream of Kronos. He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something no hero had ever had the courage to take.”

2.) Luke’s love for Annabeth - who was a member of Luke’s found family and the first healthy family Luke had -  wasn’t enough to keep him compared to his anger at Hermes and the other Olympians. 

3.) Third reason is that I see Kronos slipping into another demi-god’s dreams (Luke wouldn’t be that far gone yet and even when he was bad in the books he still gave Annabeth the offer to join him on the Princess Andromeda) and convincing them to give a monster permission to enter the camp like he had made Luke do to Percy in the books. The monster would mean that the gods - most likely Hades would be blamed if not him the next safe assumption would be Hera - were still trying to kill Thalia and camp (the place Grover said they would be safe at) was not safe for Thalia. 

(The monster would either be a hellhound or a cyclops so Hades would be blamed. Tbh I’m leaning towards cyclops because that is a monster both Luke and Annabeth were not fans of even years later. It, Annabeth traveling with Tyson, is something Luke throws in her face when Percy, Tyson, and her were captured on Princess Andromeda.) 

If the monsters kept being let in and someone got hurt or died instead of Thalia (who was the target of the attacks) I can see Thalia deciding to leave Camp Half-Blood to take Artemis on her offer on becoming a huntress which would only further push Luke further into Kronos’ arms. Why do I think Thalia would take up Artemis’ offer even in this timeline? 

Because Thalia did not want to child of prophecy. Hell, Percy didn’t want to be it either. The only reason Percy did was because he found out Nico was Hades’ son and Percy refused for Nico (who had already ran away into the woods) to go through that. Percy stepped up and claimed the great prophecy as his own because he cared for Nico. (Looking back I really hate the disservice HoO did to Percy. There’s a lot of moments - why would he want to meet Hercules?! He knows what Hercules did to Zoe who he became friend with during TTC! - where Percy is out of character and how Rick wrote Percy’s interactions with Nico is part of that list. There’s a wonderful meta on the subject I can give a link to if anyone wants to see what I’m talking about.) After claiming it, Percy made Annabeth and Grover swear to secrecy so no one could find out and put Nico into further danger. 

Okay, back on track. Thalia did not want to be the child of the prophecy and without Percy (Bianca, and Nico) there she would be only (known) candidate there for quite some time. So taking Artemis on her offer would mean no demi-gods at camp would be at danger because of her and she shouldn’t be the child of prophecy since she couldn’t age. 

This - Thalia being attacked by Hades especially by a hellhound or cyclops and her having leaving - would only push Luke further into Kronos’ arms. 

(I want you to know I’m tempted to write this now that I’ve been thinking about it for a few days. That and I have a surprisingly happy headcanon on this au despite my belief Luke would still turn.)