#percy jackson deserved better

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Canon shipper salt

Canon shipper: You may not like the ship but the characters are in love and happy together and that's all that matters. Go eff yourself.

Me: I don't care how happy the character supposedly is. My poor baby is clearly delusional and/or trapped in toxicity. He/she deserves better.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Although Percy's character seems to be going nowhere too. As much as I dislike JKR's writing and Harry as a MC, at least Harry ended his story on a high note (as undeserved as it was).

i think putting my finger on the fact that annabeth has ultimately not grown or matured as a person throughout either series and is still the same bratty and immature person she was when she was 12 years old was good because it explains all of my issues with her character, and in turn, percabeth.

to start, all of my issues, like i said, stem from the fact annabeth simply does not grow or mature. i constantly see the fact she’s a traumatized teen used in defense of this fact when… no. that just doesn’t work, not from a real life or writing standpoint. look at percy, for example, he’s also a traumatized teen. at his core, he is, of course, the same person he was in the beginning of pjo. but he’s changed and grown. key aspects of who you are won’t change but you can still grow and mature as a person. percy has done that. the opposite to percy, annabeth still behaves the Exact same as she did when she was young.

you can’t pinpoint important growths in character because they aren’t there. they just aren’t. people worshiped the bratty and entitled annabeth that was in the original books (for whatever reason), so rick never bothered to change it. don’t change what makes you money, right?

in not changing annabeth and continuing to write her as controlling, entitled and frankly, toxic, rick has played a major role in the downfall of percabeth. while yes, it’s still popular and hasn’t had a downfall within the fandom, that doesn’t mean it’s good or healthy— hence it’s downfall with how it’s handled.

in order to keep annabeth how she was, he had to sacrifice parts of percy’s character and growth in the heroes of olympus. we see this most notably in percy’s handling of annabeth always calling him “seaweed brain.” in pjo, he remarks that he doesn’t like it, he’s only grown used to it. he also says that it still bothers him, despite that. which is why he likes rachel more than annabeth. because she isn’t like that. he also doesn’t have to walk on eggshells around rachel, either. in heroes of olympus, percy suddenly loves when she insults him and loves when she gets physical with him.

this is not consistent with percy in pjo. not only does it not work because the change was never shown, it just… happened, but it also doesn’t work because it absolves annabeth from the responsibility of it. it hurt percy and it made him uncomfortable around annabeth. annabeth will never be held accountable for that and it will never be addressed. if this relationship were healthy and were handled correctly by rick, this issue would involve communication.

rick consistently sacrifices parts of percy’s character to put annabeth and percabeth on a pedestal. it’s a massive issue, and unfortunately one most of the fandom will never acknowledge and will be aggressively and angrily against acknowledging. after all, percabeth and annabeth are so perfect! /s

[decaffeinatedpartymuggoop]

“If you want more representation” okay but what if they did a better job than all the other actors???

Like, with PJO Rick didn’t go “only black people can audition for Annabeth!! Grover has to be Indian! Zeus has to be black!”

No, the actors auditioned, did a good job, and got the gig.

Like instead of crying cause all these white actors didn’t get it, ask yourself if they even deserved the position.

Everything isn’t some “woke” propaganda or “more representation.” They just deserved the job.

[blabbering-and-such]

"I'm a Jason apologist"

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO APOLOGISE FOR????? WHEN HAS HE EVER DONE WRONG????

[doc-killjoy]

i love Percy so much but him telling the rest of the Argo II crew basic fucking horror stories about Nico was really fucked up, especially since the stories were so bad that they shaped Jason’s whole view of Nico as a person and made everyone scared of him.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Percy deserved better writing. I wonder why authors like Rick and JKR believe that our heroes need to attend crappy learning institutions to have engaging hero's journeys.

Okay you know what.

The scene with the burning funeral shrouds in book one is actually fucked up.

The funeral shrouds are to honor the fallen, they're to be burned if they can't collect the body, they are a huge part of the funeral rites.

Annabeths was lovingly made by her cabin, made of the finest silk, embroidered all over with owls, it's an Athena kid shroud, they clearly worked on it.

Percy doesn't have any siblings, and the only cabin willing to make him a shroud is the Ares cabin. The cabin that hates him.

Then they literally use a bed sheet, and write loser on it. They paint it with red dead faces (X's for eyes).

This is so disrespectful and upsetting? And Percy is just like "haha that's totally fine". Like, maybe he's desperate for affection, but Rick does not write his character to be so accepting of something like this.

Honestly, that should've been a punch in the gut, how little anyone cared for him or if he lived or died during the quest, only to immediately start sucking up to him and being friendly when he returned successfully.

He's 12 for fucks sake. Chiron or Mr. D should've stepped up and been like "no, you can't do that. Make it respectful" but they let this hugely disrespectful shroud stand? And then showed it to Percy? And Rick just plays it for laughs?

It isn't right.

[lovemelikealovesong-33]

Leo: I am kinda noticing Jason and am slowly removing the "B" from "bromance."

[thetimetraveler24]

Sometimes I think about how people rank Jason as their least favorite because he’s “such a bland character with no personality”, but was he even allowed to have one in the first place?

He’s two years old when Lupa guides him to Camp Jupiter. He’s brought up to be the perfect soldier, the perfect Roman, the perfect hero. He doesn’t know life outside the legion. He’s the son of Jupiter, he has to be great. If he’s not, he’s a failure and a disgrace. If he is then he’s still not the best because there so many other heroes who did it better than him so he has to keep trying harder and harder even though no matter what he’s never going to be good enough because the moment he slips up he’s no longer the perfect hero.

The few times he actually tries to do something he wants, he’s only cut down. Changing the 12th legion to the 1st legion? No, you can’t do that. It’s tradition. You’re wrong. That’s stupid. Joining the 5th cohort? Why would you join those losers? You’re only hurting yourself. You could be great if you join the 1st cohort instead like a good Roman boy.

So why would he try to do anything that cultivates his identity? Why would he try to do anything that brings him joy if everyone around him is just going to suck it right out?

He has no best friends at Camp Jupiter. He has acquaintances. He has people he’s friendly with. Say what you want but Reyna was a coworker. Dakota was cool, Gwen was nice. But none of them make Jason want to stay at Camp Jupiter instead of Camp Half-Blood. He thinks of Reyna but only in terms of he doesn’t want to saddle her with the responsibility of picking a new praetor. He thinks about duty. When he is picking between the camps he’s weighing his options between doing his duty as he’s done his whole life or picking himself for the very first time ever and he picks himself.

And it’s honestly so fucking depressing that the first time Jason picks himself and is actually supported in his decision happens when he is sixteen years old. And most of the people supporting him have only known him for a month.

But then he saddles himself with duty and responsibilities because that’s all he’s ever known and Percy is dying and Jason is a good Roman and a good hero and his job is to sacrifice his life for everyone else because of course it is. So he takes on Pontifex Maximus to build shrines and temples to minor gods and goddesses (not that they shouldn’t be honored but… once again he’s sacrificing his identity for the good of everyone around him).

And then, just as he’s finally discovering an identity for himself—he likes physics, he’s learning about the mortal world and living in it, he’s becoming more than just Jupiters son and Juno’s perfect hero—he’s killed.

Jason never got to be Jason. He only got to be Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Praetor of the 12th Legion, slayer of Krios, one of the Seven, Juno’s Champion, Pontifex Maximus. He always belonged to someone else and never himself.

All this to say, Jason is my favorite of the Seven and although he’s not the eldest nor a daughter, as an eldest daughter I relate so hard and feel very seen in him.

[helenofsparta2]

R.I.P. the version of Percy Jackson, who spoke competently in front of the senate, fairly easily ridiculed Octavian, and managed to sway the romans to his side simply by providing good arguments and being a natural born leader in Son of Neptune, you will always be famous to me

[fanfic-lover-girl]

This is the only PJO content I have read in full...and this felt like a fanfic. I don't mean that in a good way. I have seen fanfic writers who could blow RR out of the water.

Anyway, I am not feeling the seven friendship here. At all. If this is reflective of the dynamics of the group in HOO then I can understand why others have said it was lacklustre.

I wish I could be optimistic about the second pjo season, I really do, but every time I see that hopeful sentiment of "maybe the show runners will listen to the complaints about season 1 and fix it going forward!!" it reminds me of another notable time that RR's work received a not insignificant amount of criticism (the Blood of Olympus), and in response he wrote a passive aggressive one-shot wherein the seven literally just sit and verbally justify everything that happened asdlfksdjfsdf

[readrantannotate]

LOOK AT THEM

I’M SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

[ms-dead-inside]

Can we please stop making unwanted, antagonistic rivalries between Percy and the people he genuinely cares about? It's getting tiresome.

Like, some of y'all act like Percy killed Bianca and then laughed in Nico's face with how much part of the fandom likes to act like Percy doesn't care. They'll talk about how he said that he wanted to cut Nico's 'stupid head off,' like he would ever actually do that. Like the same guy who hesitated to harm Luke when he was possessed by Kronos would actually follow through on what was a visceral reaction to betrayal when Percy knew that people's lives were on the line. Like he didn't spend months and months of searching for Nico, concerned for his safety. Like he didn't hide his parentage, wanting to make sure that the other campers didn't treat him differently as a son of Hades. Like he didn't steel his resolve to be the one to fulfill the prophecy so Nico wouldn't be in more danger than necessary. Like he didn't introduce Nico when he first appears in Percy's dream in the Last Olympian as 'My friend, Nico.'

And then there's Leo. And sure, Leo was angry at Percy at first because Calypso thought he had abandoned her to her fate, and that was the side of the story that Leo heard. But some people act like he actually did so, ignoring the fact that he made the gods promise on the River Styx to free her, something that they were then bound to do. And then he was kidnapped and put to sleep for months with his memories wiped. Where on earth would he have had the time to ensure they kept their promise? Even Leo, who still didn't know the whole story, essentially went, "Damn you, you're impossible to stay mad at." Yes, they had a rocky start, but they do form a genuine friendship.

And Will. While I think it be cool to explore how Will felt during the second Titan war, and all the angst that came with it, I don't think he'd blame Percy for Michael's death. Perhaps at first, or maybe even as a little voice in the back of his head, but that isn't going to stop him caring about the campers, Percy included. Y'all act like he wouldn't chain Percy to an infirmary bed if he learned just how many times Percy has had suicidal thoughts or feelings.

[6vaguebook]

I wish we got Jason being upset or jealous or something of Percy being closer to Thalia than he was. Annabeth too, tbh.

Like, can you imagine what that would have been like. Thalia is the ONLY family Jason really has. Camp Jupiter thinks of him as a soldier. His mom is dead and his dad is Zeus.

And he barely has any relationship with her!! He didn't even know she existed for most of his life and then they finally found each other but they had to split up after just a few hours and only saw each other a couple of times after that! Meanwhile Percy has gone on multiple quests with her and got to spend around a year with her and they were already pretty close at the start of TTC. Annabeth spent a year on the streets with her and also got to hang out with her pre-TTC to the point where Percy was competing with Thalia to be Annabeth's best friend (albeit one sided) And then there was Luke and Nico and the hunters of Artemis and even Reyna.

Just. Idk. Give me Jason wishing he could have that with Thalia.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

It's quite sad that Percabeth supporters are quick to pull out Annabeth is an abuse victim and other excuses when you simply point the desire for a measley apology. The desire for Percy's anger to be addressed instead of being swept under the rug.

Just because a character may think an action is fine, it doesn't make it ok. A child who grew up with parents calling them stupid may think it's ok for them to be considered dumb but that does not make it ok.

I can understand people being reluctant to call Percabeth abusive but it's worrying how people refuse to see any of Annabeth's actions as wrong. Or they use abuse to justify it. Gross.

Annabeth apologising to Percy for setting him up against the Ares cabin, anyone?

I was rereading the Lightning Thief, and I wanted to share something that's been on my mind for the past few weeks-

So in Percy's first game of Capture The Flag, Annabeth sets him up against 5 trained Ares warriors, one of which has a literal electric spear.

And Percy does get injured and even maimed. Clarisse's electric spear is painful to him. It numbs and stings him.

And then Luke gets the flag, they win, and Percy's mad at Annabeth, who shrugs and says, 'Hey, it was just for strategic distraction, you were handling it sO wEll!

(Rick and Annabeth really piss me off sometimes)

To digress, I like this scene because Percy is actually mad at Annabeth. I want more Percy mad at Annabeth.

And then with the ensuing chaos of there being a hellhound and Percy being claimed, both he and Annabeth forget about this.......seemingly forever.

And it's just frustrating, because I really want Annabeth to apologize for this. I want her to grovel about this, even. I want her to be really sorry and keep apologizing, because Percy was in literal danger. Clarisse and her cabin mates would have maimed Percy and possibly even killed him. In their POV, he was drowning in the creek and they were laughing.

And it doesn't MATTER if Percy and Annabeth weren't friends and lovers then. They were friends and lovers later, so Annabeth can apologise and grovel later.

Rick should have written a sincere apology scene where Annabeth apologises to Percy about this. In my opinion, in TLT she should've apologized and in HOO, she should've remembered this and apologised again.

We'll never get it since Percabeth is now a toxic couple......sigh..........oh my god, I feel so horrible for Percy, even if he's a fictional character. Percy you need a break from everything magical, just go fish with your dad or something. PERCY GO HEAL YOURSELF PLEASE

[somewhereincairparavel]

i will forever be disappointed at how the Aphrodite cabin is portrayed in the books.

Silena was an exception I guess but it wasn't enough tbh. I really dislike the way wearing makeup or dressing up fancy is seen as "shallow" or "too much". There's nothing wrong in wanting to dress extravagantly, it's a form of self prep. Fancy ≠ shallow. And the only "good" member of the cabin after silena was a girl who didn't like her own cabin and was seen as super "cool" simply because she rejected all the "girly" stuff by rebelling. Why can't we have both "girly" and non girly girls as cool people?

Drew was genuinely very shallow, but every time she's brought up in the books, instead of soley describing her personality, her tendency to wear makeup is shown as a bad thing. And it's not just because she's seen in piper's pov, she wasnt really described any better in Sadie Kane's povs either. When Sadie described drew wearing "awful pink eyeliner" upon seeing her + plus saying her perfume was 'too much' or something like that.

Reading about Drew's character description just gives me a headache lol because the way Rick wrote her as being shallow while ironically making other people judge her in a shallow way is just off putting. Like, no need to bitch on her for wanting to be more 'feminine' and "princess-y" ?

Give me an Aphrodite kid who sees wearing makeup as an art form (because it is) and not simply just to impress other people, like drew.

Give me an Aphrodite kid who uses fashion as a coping mechanism from their shitty life.

Give me an Aphrodite kid who loves knitting other people cute scarves as presents.

Give me an Aphrodite kid who loves doing younger camper's hair for them as their love language.

[certifiedposeidonhater]

Friendly reminder that Percy canonically grew up below the poverty line in East Harlem, with an alcoholic step dad and a young mother (logically) working at least 3 different jobs. The average income per year in East Harlem is also only $20,000 (below the poverty line). So, Percy was definitely not exactly well off. The racial demographic of East Harlem is also predominantly Hispanic and Black. Meaning that there’s a small chance Percy is white. Latino Percy supremacy!

He was also canonically labeled a trouble child and a lost cause, so teachers weren’t focused on making sure he did well or learned what he needed to. He probably came out of school having not learned anything because teachers didn’t even attempt to make accommodations for him.

He also most likely had an accent, a thick one based on the fact that he wasn’t surrounded by rich European white people all the time.

That being said, imagine having to go to a camp full of rich kids that you probably don’t look a lot like, don’t sound like, and don’t associate with. And you know that you make way less money than their family does. You know that they probably have family mansions and fancy cars and designer clothes. You knew from experience that they would judge you.

They all stare at you—whether that’s because of your ratty clothes, your scrawny build, with scars and bruises littering your body, or the fact that you apparently killed this super dangerous monster, you’re not sure. But they’re watching you. And instead of introducing themselves or talking to you, they ignore you. They give you dirty looks and you just know they’re talking about you behind your back.

This one older boy, who is totally handsome and cool and respected, is the only person who even deigns to look or talk to you. You’re beyond grateful. You figure this guy probably has money and comes from a wealthy family, and he is probably killing his entire social status by even acknowledging you. But he still smiles at you and takes you in. He’s the only person to ever train you (and that will forever stay the same. You will never get any more training or positive attention. After he leaves, you will be expected to figure it out.)

You get claimed and apparently you’re this dangerous weapon. If the other campers weren’t avoiding you before, they definitely are now. Except for this older guy. He still looks at you like you’re a person. Not a dangerous weapon.

Then, that guy turns out to be evil. He was only around you because he was ordered to. You’re nothing to him, just like you’re nothing to anybody else. You’re a nobody and that is all you will ever be. He didn’t care about you, he didn’t like you, he was just doing what he was told.

You have a new friend but you’re not really sure what to make of her. She seems to like you okay but she still doesn’t hang out with you all that often. She’ll smile and talk to you, but you’re not sure if you’re friends or not. You thought that this older guy was your friend, but then he wasn’t. Why would anybody even want to be your friend? You’re a nobody. So you’re basically convinced that this girl is just being polite. Why would she even like you? You’re a poor scrawny kid. You scold yourself for even entertaining the idea that this popular, smart, beautiful girl would ever want to be friends with you.

This stays basically the same over the next few years, except people may start to give you the occasional smile. But you still only have one, maybe two, friends. You’re still looked at like a dangerous weapon. Nobody outrightly looks at you but you know they’re all watching you. They’re all waiting for you to make a mistake or do something that will finally give them an excuse to kick you out. They’ll point out that you’re different; that you’re less than them.

Then, a girl comes along. She’s a forbidden, big three kid like you are. She probably understands what it feels like to be treated like a mistake. You get kinda happy at the idea of somebody coming along who knows what it feels like to be shunned. But then, everybody worships her. The other campers don’t avoid her like they did you. They all listen to her and want to be her friend. Even the people who you finally started to believe liked you, left you to go hang out with her. So, it must’ve been you. You must be the problem. It’s not your dad or your powers, just you, a poor, stupid, not-white, not even white-sounding kid.

Finally, you make more friends, but they all make jokes about you. They say that you’re annoying and dumb. You know they’re right. That’s all you’ve ever been told your entire life. You’re stupid and dumb and worthless and not deserving of anything. So you don’t really understand that they’re teasing you, but you also don’t think that they’re making fun of you. You just take what they say to be the gospel truth. You don’t realize that you deserve better. You don’t realize that you should talk to them about how those jokes make you feel. All your friends have always made jokes like that. Why would they be any different?

All in all, camp half-blood greatly mistreated Percy. And then he got more friends that STILL mistreat him. He was already bullied at home and growing up, he already had an extremely low self-esteem, he didn’t need to be knocked down a few pegs.

(can yall tell im bored and have nothing to do after the tiktok ban?)