#like wtf was that wanting to make Percy watch his friends get eaten alive before killing him thing?

[pain-is-too-tired]

Why Luke did have bad childhood, and definitely an interesting character, what he did is far from anything close to any of the other characters. Even Octavian(who lot more people hate more then Luke.)

We don't know Octavian's backstory but based off what we are told he likely came from an upper family who enforced the thoughts he had when we see him.

New Rome/CJ pushed anti-greek sentiment lot more than chb even thought about Romans. And then Leo's is possessed and attacks New Rome, his home, all that is confirmed in his mind. By BOO he's very clearly spiraling, but despite all that he truly wants to defeat Gaea. He just feels the greeks are another enemy to his home.

He was 18 when he died, and outside his blackmail tactics everything he did took place in a few month span of time. And he's already falling apart at the seems.

Luke is 23 when he dies. He's believed to be 19 in tlt. Which likely means when he leaves Percy to the very venomous scorpion that he just barely survives, he at least close to 20,as his birthday is probably end of summer but before Percy's.

In those years from 19-23 this is list of what he does-

-attempt murder on multiple children(as well as indirectly cause deaths of multiple children)

- was going to make Percy watch Annabeth and Grover get eaten alive before killing him just to make him suffer a bit more.

- sends unknown amount of demigods into the labyrinth where majority of them died/ went insane.

- Was complicit in what was pretty much human trafficking(both Di Angelos are nearly taken and forced into the Titan Army. Then the next year Nico is near sold to the army,as the ranch guy mentions Luke been offering payment to those who bring demigods to the army. We really dont know how long that been going on by botl)

- Manipulated and blackmail children into working with TA

- was pushing for Thaila to join knowing full well Kronos wanted her for his host(a fate described as worse than death-)

- only really seemed uncomfortable and wanting to backtrack when he was going become Kronos' host.

- we don't see him break through Kronos until he snaps at Chiron. Not even a change in facial expression or hesitantation when dozens of demigods on both sides are killed by Kronos. Not even when Annabeth is stabbed.

He maytrs himself. But that doesn't make all he did justified or to be brushed under the rug. He doesn't really get to face the consequences of his actions(if he is sent to Esylum/reborn, which personal don't believe. At least think he should go to the Fields. Even then they're not really all that aware in the fields)

Luke is a represention of someone so blinded by hatred that he looses himself. Looses his humanity. By SoM, maybe even tlt, he cared more about besting his father then anything. Yet in turn he turned and did the same onto those who looked up to and trusted him.

Percy and Annabeth are at the stage where their prefrontal cortex is less developed. That effects emotions, impulses, aggression and instinctive behaviour. And all have adhd so they're level in that regard. Yet feel as though in some cases they have much more emotional maturity and think through things more than Luke. But they're still gonna to make rash decisions and react more emotionally to things before thinking.

Trauma doesn't go away. But it's up to you to make sure you don't continue the cycle. And Luke failed at that. He failed at that for 3-4 years. But those qualities are what make his character interesting and why I feel just sweeping it under the rug is a disservice to his character. It's not naive to expect more from the grown adult then from the 12-16 yr old children. Trauma doesn't excuse actions. Especially when you have Jason and even Thaila as a comparison

not only did they grow up with a mother not at all present, but unlike May who went insane out of the love for her son and what she saw, their mother hardly gave them much love. Thaila had to raise Jason, and then Jason was abandoned just to please Hera.

Thaila later runs away and then dies. Jason spends almost all his life being raise to be nothing but a soldier for New Rome and Juno. He dies for his friends, not as a last minute choice but something he knew was coming.

Jupiter cared so little over him that Hera grieved more than him. The goddess known for hating children of her husband even says "your son" to Zeus. And in a way was more of a godly parent to Jason then jupiter

Why Hermes, who definitely wasn't perfect father to Luke, still loved Luke after everything. More than all his other children combined i argue.

I mean Chris doesn't get claimed until he's at the lostest part of his life why Hermes gets angry at a teenage girl for choosing not to trust and help the guy who nearly killed her friends and nearly had her eaten alive and crushed under the sky just cause he was upset over what happened his son(and also kinda emotionally avoiding both his own guilt and how Luke put himself in the situation he was now in- emotional avoidance i feel was a trait passed on to Luke as well)

And again,despite being younger, Jason never let's his anger be aimed at those who didn't cause his pain. He focused on making sure no one had to feel like he did.

Naive observation about PJO character flaws

I have noticed something very interesting in Percabeth and Luke discussions when it comes to flaws.

The common rhetic employed by Annabeth defenders against anti Percabeth arguments is that Annabeth had a traumatic childhood so she doesn't know any better and we can't blame her for the way she is.

But then I bet those same people will say Luke has no excuse for his actions and was evil trash who deserved to die...although his childhood was arguably worse than Annabeth's. Thalia seems to be the only one who came close to being his equal. Despite all the injustices the demigods face, Luke's anger and bitterness are waved away by PJO fandom it seems.

Pretty sure I saw someone say Percy's life was terrible but he didn't fall down Luke's path. Percy had trauma but he turned out ok, not like nasty Luke. Just another way to emphasize how much "stronger" Percy is compared to Luke. The same way Snaters will use Neville and Harry to downplay Snape's trauma.

So I guess based on that logic Annabeth is weak for letting her trauma influence her poor treatment of others?? Why does Annabeth's trauma give her freedom to treat Percy the way she does but Luke's trauma is irrelevant and downplayed?

I have a soft heart for characters with innate goodness who have been screwed over by life. Characters who could have been so much more but never got the chance to truly be happy and LIVE. I guess that's something Luke and Snape have in common. I guess another thing Luke and Snape have in common is that the hero protagonist gets all the glory for their pain and sacrifices.