#annabeth chase is abusive

[justaz]

percy who refuses to let his anger into his home. percy who refuses to hug or kiss annabeth when he's angry because he doesn't want his interactions with her to be poisoned by his rage. percy who sits outside or goes for a drive or a walk until he calms down before reentering his home because he refuses to be the angry man that haunts a home, he refuses to become like gabe. if annabeth catches him off guard when he's angry, he tries to keep a distance as he trembles with rage that he tries so hard to quell because he doesn't want to scare her (again) or somehow hurt her. annabeth who reaches out to help him and assure him that it's fine. percy's hands that shake with anger and fear all tied in one, his touch feather light and barely there because he's afraid if he gives himself an inch with her, his wrath will explode from within him and he'll become the monster of his nightmares, the monster of his mother's nightmares.

[ashpkat]

i feel like i lose brain cells whenever anti percabeth content comes on my dash. what do you mean annabeth chase is a self righteous narcissist viper of a woman. that’s a seventeen year old girl??

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

the attitude of the pjo fandom about tv!gabe is giving me flashbacks to that one ttc scene where percy meets frederick chase and he's like "annabeth told me you were abusive???why dont you look abusive??"

[willow-lark]

if you think annabeth chase is abusive to percy just say you didn’t actually read the books and go ☺️

[aficionadoenthusiast]

*me, with tears of frustration in my eyes* rick didn't include annabeth's crush on luke or luke's pseudo-crush on annabeth for no reason! it is not something that needs to be cut because it's 'gross'! it serves thematic purpose! it adds to characterization! guys! please!

annabeth is twelve, and luke is the guy she's looked up to since she was seven. she not only has that bond, but she has the admiration from him getting his own quest. she has a lot of hero worship going for him, and it's really not unreasonable that she would like him or even that she would think of him as more than a sibling. beyond that, it's a great example of how a person who has never received real, unconditional love can become unhealthily attached to someone who is not good for them just because they've been shown a modicum of respect. if you want to look at it from a percabeth perspective, it could even tie into how her character has to learn the difference between love and kindness from a place of love and respect (i.e. percy) vs love and kindness from a place of obligation and manipulation (i.e. luke as kronos' vessel)

on luke's side, especially with him calling her his little sister now (in the show) and him literally turning into kronos later, it's symbolism for how he's being pulled farther and farther onto the dark side. as kronos takes over his body, he sees her less and less as a sister and more and more of something else, something that would be considered dark and unhealthy by anyone not on the dark side (for good reason), until eventually she has to remind him of their years on the run when he considered her a sister: "Family, Luke. You promised."

you're supposed to be grossed out by it! that means the theme is working!

you're supposed to see a traumatized 12 year old with a crush on her 19 year old mentor and think, "hey, that's weird! i wonder if her not getting any love or attention until she met him plays a role in their relationship?" and eventually see a 24 year old get a villain-induced crush on a 16 year old and think, "hey, that's really weird! i wonder if his turn to the dark side and how that turn happened twisted his view of her?" and ultimately think, "i wonder what that says about the type of trauma that develops in kids who grew up thinking they were unloved, especially since the author specifically wrote the book for his son with disabilities, the author who used to be a teacher, a profession that regularly encounters kids that are actively being abused and neglected?"

anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk

edit: this post is not speculation! i'm not trying to say i don't think they're going to include annabeth's crush! i am perfectly aware that we are only two episodes in! this post is in response the people i keep seeing say they're glad because they think Luke's little sister comment means they're not going to include the "gross stuff from the books" (other's wording, not mine), and I was trying to explain why including it would be a positive. sorry, i really thought i made that clear

[punkeropercyjackson]

Looking over Luke's writing throught the og series is shocking me with how much foreshadowing there was to the pedo reveal.Tlt!Luke never discouraged Annabeth's crush on him and Ttc!Luke straight up used it to force this thirteen year old girl he raised to hold up the literal weight of the world on her shoulders,early twenties Luke was still attracted to fifteen year old Thalia and twelve and fourteen is a normal age difference but in this context shows Luke was never into people his own age on purpose and Kelli looks young enough to pass as a fourteen year old Percy's classmate and the mist lift dosen't bring up any signs she looks older.Tlo's opening also had him killing Beckendorf as soon as he re-met him as an adult and it paints a very morbid motif backed up by the rest of the series Luke sees kids as objects for his own again and other adults as needing to be completely out of the picture and his death bed scene in the same book is him confessing to Annabeth.........And he was the leader of a child army.That should've been my first hint.How the fuck do literal grown ass Pjo fans call Luke's pedophile schitck a retcon and think Luke was gay,he's somehow the most cisheteropatriachal man in a greek mythology story and treats men of color like shit

[fanfic-lover-girl]

If the sexes were swapped and Female!Percy was scared of her boyfriend hitting, stabbing or maiming her all the time most sane people would realize this relationship is not healthy.

But because Annabeth is a girl with abandonment issues, all her actions should have no consequences according to her vile stans. As far as I am concerned, all Annabeth stans who believe this sentiment are abuse apologists and I would not want my kids around them or their kids.

When are people going to realize that the conversation doesn't end at acknowledging a character flaws but how they can improve? I guess Annabeth isn't good enough for character development. But honestly, compared to other demigods, Annabeth and the rest of her cabin are not all that special and extraordinary.

[cynthiav06]

A big part of the fandom doesn't deserve to have Percy as a protagonist because of how they treat him and mischaracterize them to make their own favorite characters "better", more sympathetic or more tragic. Can they stop blaming Percy for Bianca's death? No offense to her stans but what was Percy to do when SHE was the one who stole from a fucking junkyard where they were specifically warned not to touch/take anything? Plus isn't she the one who basically abandoned her brother and joined the Huntresses? Can they stop acting as if Percy is stupid when he is actually better at coming up with strategies where no one gets hurts or killed *cough*unlike a certain blonde*cough*? Can they stop excusing Annabeth for being such a shitty person to Percy and anyone interested in him romantically or platonically? Can they fucking understand that her "cute nickname" to her boyfriend "Seaweed brain" is actually an insult and not a cutesy little token of love? Can they understand that judo flipping him, punching/hitting/etc him and liking to make him anxious is what typical toxic and abusive partners do? I don't care that she was abused and neglected as a child, having been abused is an explanation never an excuse. Percy was also abused by his stepdad and yet he doesn't act like her. Also another thing (and this one might be heavily controversial but) Sally Jackson is a loving mom, she tried her best for her kid but she is not a good mom, she was selfish in her love and got herself and her kid stuck with an abusive bastard for years despite the fact that she had safer options. At this point I feel like we didn't even read the same books or that these people didn't even read the series they just watch youtube and tiktok videos that are mostly filled with misinformation and headcanons.

I know I am extremely late in my response but hopefully not 'late to your own funeral' level of late. It was partly due to health problems and back to back exams I had and partly due to my procrastination habits. Which is why now that I am considerably free, I am trying to answer all the asks in my inbox.

I absolutely agree with most of the things you have said. I myself am extremely tired of repeating the same things over and over again to the fandom but I am under no delusions that any posts debunking biased takes, character assassination headcanons and absolutely baseless assumptions will actually stop anything or even change anyone's opinions.

These posts are just for people with similar mindset to interact with something that finally meets with their pov and aren't led to feeling isolated in the fandom due to monopoly canon ships and other such topics have in fandom posts. Sort of to create a safe space cause I myself was spared of the worst of the fandom's wrath due to there already being an established anti percabeth community, small but reliable and supportive. I even had to the fortune of never receiving a single death threat, at least in this fandom, and I want to make sure that any new mutuals I have get the same experience.

For the whole Percy being blamed for no absolute reason and for completely made-up reasons for the Nico-Bianca situation, I have already made a post here.

Percy being more strategic than Annabeth was something I have stated in multiple posts but mostly here. And Rick himself did give us proof, too, both about Percy getting better grades than Annabeth and how Seaweed brain is, in fact, an insult.

I really believe that Percy and Annabeth's lack of nuanced emotional interactions, contrasting goals, and really conflicting fatal flaws all make up for a doomed relationship scenario. Percy finds himself unable to share about any of his trauma with Annabeth, and he also seems very insecure about their relationship and believes he can't live up to Annabeth's expectations or is being a bad boyfriend. Annabeth doesn't seem to be able to pick up on any of this, and without proper conversation, they are both chafing. Not to mention, Annabeth's toxic habits are not something Percy will ever address, and eventually, they will both just end up resenting each other. I had an idea about Percabeth break up and why and how it would occur, and I have posted about it here, and that's all I really want to say on that matter.

As for the Sally Jackson bit, I am actually planning on a Sally centric post. I have read so many takes on her and Percy's relationship and I am in the process of making it. Will definitely tag you in that.

Though what I will say is that, while Sally's love for Percy was very selfish, I think it was realistically rooted in her own trauma, the two way abandonment issues between both her and Percy and a mother's desperation.

Because for all the trauma Percy suffered under Gabe, you have to remember Sally suffered twice as much. She sent Percy off to boarding schools to spare him most of Gabe's influence while she suffered both physical and mental abuse throughout the six years she was with Gabe. The fact that Sally was willing put herself and Percy through the trauma of Gabe's abuse should highlight just how desperate she was to keep Percy with herself. And how despite all of Gabe's abuse he would face at home if he stayed, Percy resented Sally for sending him away to boarding school.

There's such an intricate codependency and deep-rooted trauma, maybe even generational trauma there. I really want to explore all of that cause I think Sally had very simple motivations and put herself and Percy through such complex methods to try and achieve those motivations permanently.

So yeah, there will be a post on that soon. I will tag you in that one, and there's another one I have to get to just before that. It's a Frank and Percy centric post, and I really loved that idea and I think I have most of my thoughts ready for both these posts. So expect them by the end of the week for sure.

[ogjacksonsimp]

Imagine liking annabeth chase. couldn't be me.

[justaz]

Percy in roughly 30 years

[percysfirstwife]

I’m not fucking crying you are. (Yes I knew this it just hurts.)

Let’s talk.

Y’all have every right to call out Gabe’s behaviour.

But y’all chose not to call out Annabeths like what?

YES IM COMPARING HIM TO HER.

GABE THREATENS TO HIT PERCY. ANNABETH STRAIGHT UP JUST FUCKING HITS HIM. Like what??!!

As a Person who knows how sbusive relationships are.

Percy started to “drift” to a more abusive relationship. It fucking pisses me off every time I go to sleep knowing that Annaberg fucking hits Percy gets no slandering. Like what? I don’t fucking care they are Demi-Gods. Hitting is HITTING. HITTING= PHYSICAL HARASSMENT WHICH = ABUSE.

Percabeth shippers are fucking gross like what?

I would jump off a cliff just for them to break up.

Tell me kms all u want. I say what I say.

(SALLLY HAS ME CRYING DOUGH 😭😭💔🤧💔💔)

[profoundwebhead]

i adore percabeth but also as someone who claims infodumping as a love language… the whole annabeth talks about architecture with percy because he’ll listen and percy listens to annabeth talk about architecture because she’s one of the first and few people that make him feel like he fits in. makes him feel like he’s at home… and mortally anchors him to this world… is everything to me.

nobody does it like them

percy’s love language is physical touch btw

when the wars are over and annabeth and percy just sleepily sit next to each other or lay in bed and maybe they are holding hands or one of them is leaning on the other’s body or just… just them.

the warmth and being close and the rise and fall of their chest with every breath, showing that they are still here and still alive and with one another?

it’s everything to them but it’s percy’s love language to have someone as amazing as her in a way he never believed he could because she was too good for him

and annabeth having percy in a way she never believed she could because she was never going to be enough for him, due to her abandonment issues and neglected childhood.

[magnoliasandarson]

*Holding a character who was abused as a child and was never given the chance to recover from their trauma and still manages to be a hero* This is my sweet child! I will kill anyone who touches them! I will take no criticism!

[valewritessss]

I’ve seen someone say that Annabeth had a good home situation but she was too prideful so she pretended it was really bad and I was like lmfao y’all are reaching so bad it shows they have no reason to hate her so they’re making up their own reasons

[princessofghosts-posts]

The judo-flip scene

Most of the fandom I'm in are about anime: Sailor Moon,One Piece,Toilet Bound Hanako-kun,Inazuma Eleven,Oshi no Ko,and many more. Those are just the most active ones I'm in other than Percy Jackson,of course.

When it came to anime there are a lot of clichés or exaggerations that are the norm. Japanase humour is quite different after all,and that's fine. But it's probably something that don't make me take in consideration the gravity of some actions.

The Judo-flip scene,when Annabeth finally saw Percy after months at the start of MoA,it has always been funny for me. I never thought too much of it since I'm surrounded by media that has people hitting each other as jokes,when the situation become drammatic,or when someone did something stupid. (I.E.: Nami often hit some of her crew members on their head when they are being idiots; in the 90s anime adaptation Usagi and Rei often hit each other when they were arguing; etc...).

So for me it wasn't a big deal.

But I saw a lot of negatives takes on it: how Annabeth didn't had to do that since they were on a diplomatic mission and were already in a thin position,and this only complicated things; how she didn't know his Achille's curse got removed so,by pressing his back on the ground where she knew his spot was,she could have killed him; how it was straight up abusive and Percy didn't deserved that when he spent the last book fighting with an high level of stress and sense of loss,and didn't expected that so he was defenseless; etc...

And I don't know if the people are exaggerating it way more than it should be,or it's my japanese media consumption that made me numb to the seriousness of it. Was it really that serious? Can we actually categories this as physical abuse?

Annabeth did something risky by putting K.O the new praetor of New Rome. They already weren't fond of greeks,and now this greek demigod,daughter of Athena,attacked their paetor on first sight. That's not a good presentation to give to the future allies that already weren't warm to you. I can understand that point.

But it is really that bad?

[cynthiav06]

Does Percy ever have any trauma from Gabe?

I mean, in Tartarus, he says it smells like Gabe and I cannot fail to acknowledge his self-esteem issues which Gabe contributed to, but I mean more specific trauma like hating beer and gambling, etc. Something like that?

Percy has suffered due to Gabe for a long time, which contributes quite a lot to his trauma. You see, Rirodan was writing a children's book, and he didn't want to go down too many uncomfortable details, but the signs were there. A lot of them. And despite the canon's inconsistencies, Gabe is at least mentioned in accurate context every small time that he is referenced.

Rick, however, just to be safe, makes Percy's personality so that Percy avoids thinking of Gabe, and rightfully so. Let's take this slow. Because two important things, Percy's situation in the first book and all his issues are due to Gabe and, of course, he carries forward trauma from those situations, so what are they?

1.

Physical abuse is a part that is usually glossed over by the readers to some extent, even though it's in the first book. What I am trying to say is it is always acknowledged that Percy was abused, but rarely does the fandom go down the rabbit hole of specifics. If you see it once, you won't stop seeing it.

Gabe has both verbally and physically abused Percy so much that he has an extreme amount of self-esteem issues and a self-depreciating personality.

Not only did Gabe abuse Percy, but he also made Percy work part-time jobs or side hustles just to get extra money from Percy. Mind you, Percy was barely 12 in the first book, probably still 11, and this had been going for a while.

2.

If that wasn't enough Gabe controlled the budget of the family, not allowing Sally to spend more than he allowed and he splurged most money gambling so Percy grew up in very poor conditions but was sent to boarding schools with rich people which led to a lot of bullying from their end. Since Percy fought back, he somehow earned the per usual misnomer of being a troubled kid.

Cue all his expulsions. Some may be due to monster business, but most were definitely due to Percy fighting against bullies. Why is that notable? This is the start of Percy's anger issues. Percy has a lot of repressed anger from home due to Gabe and not being able to fight him (he hasn't tapped into his power yet, at least not enough of it). Plus, the bullies and horrible living conditions all contribute to Percy's attitude.

3.

Now, if you remember, in Book 1, Gabe threatens Percy severely so that he won't harm his car. But Percy was 12, and he himself says he wasn't going to be driving, but that wouldn't stop Gabe from blaming him. This means Gabe blamed Percy for everything, relevant or otherwise. We can see this in Percy's behavior when he immediately correlates every mistake as his fault and is always reflexively seen taking the blame for everything, even those that weren't his fault.

This scene actually creates a nice parallel against that scene in Book 5 where Percy is on a drive with Rachel in Paul's car and he is very suprised that Paul himself offered the car to him and didn't even impose any rules on Percy. He is however very worried when Blackjack dents the car because even though Paul is not Gabe, Percy has this natural fear against him at least subconsciously but is also very suprised when Paul doesn't get at all angry over the dent. It's such a sweet moment for Percy; he gets to learn how good fathers are.

3.

You mentioned gambling and drinking. Percy shows great dislike for the game in book 1, but he is forced to play cause of Dionysus. He's relatively good at it but doesn't play because he associates the game with Gabe. Same for alcohol. There's a line in the book where Percy says he knows how to recognize when others have been drinking or, as Percy calls it, hitting the happy juice. Obviously, alcohol makes Percy uncomfortable in itself, and he immediately dislikes Dionysus because he is a drunkard and a poker player along with a build similar to Gabe, which makes Percy naturally dislike him greatly. It doesn't help that Dionysus is a complete asshole but his initial natural dislike of Mr. D is due to Gabe.

4.

We all joke about how Percy is a fugitive and known terrorist in tons of states. This is all Gabe's fault. Percy gets in such problems with the law all due to Gabe and how he set literally every police department possible on Percy's trail. Now Percy, being Percy, he manipulates the officers to get on their good side, but he obviously still has problems with the law due to this entire fiasco.

The fandom likes to say that Percy got all his dark aura after Tartarus, but Percy has literally had killing intent since he was 12. One of his first lines in the book is "I am going to kill her" in reference to Nancy Bobofit. He gets gut punched by the realization that Gabe has been hitting his Mom. Gabe literally raised his hand against Sally in front of Percy in book 1. You can't tell me Percy recovered from that. He thinks then too of pulling Riptide and killing Gabe but realizes it wouldn't work on Gabe. Now Percy, who almost always means exactly what he says when talking to people, calls Gabe 'human by the loosest definition.' A 12 year old thinks that you can imagine how bad the situation was.

After Book 1, Rick heavily avoids mentioning abuse in his book cause he is trying to write for kids, but it shows.

Percy thinks of Gabe when he first accidentally iris messages in on one of his Mom's and Paul's dates. Percy is immediately suspicious, which is obviously why Sally hadn't told him anything before this. She wasn't completely sure about Paul, and she also didn't want Percy to worry. When Percy sees her laugh with Paul, he thinks of how much trouble his Mom went through with Gabe.

This is important because after Book 1 when Percy finally learns why Sally kept Gabe around in his head he twists the narrative as his Mom suffered Gabe, not that both he and Sally but only Sally suffered Gabe and why? To protect him. He BLAMES himself for something that's obviously completely not his fault. But in his head, he ends up masking his own pain and considering only Sally's pain valid. This is why Percy doesn't talk to anyone about Gabe and also why everyone thinks Gabe was a bit of a jerk but not an abuser. We literally see PERCY DO THIS TO HIMSELF. Same thing in The Last Olympian. Same thing in Mark of Athena. He talks about how his Mom suffered by staying in the awful marriage, not about himself.

5.

Now the famous House of Hades scene. See Tartarus draws out negative emotions and experiences and worst nightmares of a person to feast on. This is very telling because despite the endless life-death situations Percy has been in ,he thinks of Gabe. Because to Percy, self suffering is no suffering at all. But his Mom suffering is the worst of all. Now Annabeth obviously doesn't get the cue because she has no idea about how Percy lived in his past. While it is true that Annabeth cannot be held responsible for not getting why Percy brought up Gabe in Tartarus and took it as Percy making a joke; a case can be made against Annabeth's lack of initiative to learn more about Percy's life before all this. I digress as that's a completely different discussion. Point stands is that Percy is so unbelievably broken yet loyal that he doesn't even consider his own pain valid.

The next mention of Gabe is directly in Chalice of the Gods. Percy rather openly thinks how much he hated family dinners with Gabe. Also, he has a very nice conversation with Sally soon after he recovers from being turned into a child, where he talks about how powerless being a child felt and how afraid he was. I am certain that the implications indicate at both monsters and Gabe and how a young Percy had been very afraid of both situations but more of Gabe than monsters. Go figure.

It's plenty clear how much trauma Percy has from Gabe and how much he has trained his mind to either avoid it or redirect it elsewhere lest he regress into bitterness and anger issues.

It's probably longer than you expected, but I like systematic exploration of points, hence the long rant. I have done my best to break it down, so it's easier to follow. Also, I am very, very happy for this ask as I really love to explore Percy's personality and Percy's powers. Feel free to send me more along this line of thought.

@fourcornersofcreation ,@hermesmyplatonicbeloved, @helenofsparta2 , @ogjacksonsimp, and @berrybore have all also made posts exploring some of Percy's trauma and they will probably have things to add as well. So please check their posts on this topic as well in case I missed anything.