#percy vs harry

[in-your-wall-s]

PUTTING PERCY VS HARRY TO AN END

ok so… kid who is only really good at knocking weapons out of hands

and… half-god who has a weapon that literally can’t stay knocked out of his hands

Gee, i wonder

[camo-wolf]

Just so we are clear he is correct

[aeithalian]

brought to you by walker scobell's correct opinions

okay so this is super unhinged but I've held this opinion for a long time and I was reminded of it when Walker Scobell adressed it in an interview and I need to yell it from the rooftops - Percy Jackson would absolutely kick ass in a fight against Harry Potter. And I say this as a lifelong fan of both series (who obviously knows which author is better).

But it's more nuanced than that. Because apparently I can't be normal about things.

Here's the thing: Percy and Harry both serve completely different purposes as the protagonists of their respective plots. Because Percy's special. Harry's not, at least in the ways that matter. Hence, Percy would absolutely kick ass.

Allow me to explain. We're in the great position here of both stories being set in the "main character has to go learn how to harness their power" archetype for both characters, (Percy at Camp Half-Blood and Harry at Hogwarts) so luckily, this also gives us a pretty good idea of how skilled they are in comparison to their peers.

Percy, over the span of the series, and even in the first book alone, excels above his peers. He's the child of the second most powerful god in the pantheon, he's given a prophecy and a quest almost immediately upon arriving at camp (a privilege other campers have to wait years for), and at the point we've reached in the canon books, is one of the most powerful demigods ever. Like, his power level is compared to that of a minor god, he's a respected leader, and he beat the god of war in single combat at age 12 based on (mostly) skill alone.

But Harry, in comparison to his peers? Painfully average in most regards. Every single life-threatening situation he was in throughout the entire series required some fluke of nature/magic for him to get out alive. As a baby? Only survived by some ancient magical loophole. Book 1? Use of aforementioned magical loophole. Book 2? Sure, he saved the day but he also almost died, but didn't because Dumbledore sent... a bird. Book 3? Harry's mastery of the Patronus charm is one of maybe three exceptions to this rule in the entire series. Books 4, 5, and 7? Magic loophole!!!! And let's be real - Dumbledore saved Harry's ass multiple times in the book 6 climax, but I'll let the bygones be bygones and not question Dumbledore's methods. My point being: Harry sucks at most things. But, you know, at least he's self-aware about it.

Now before anybody comes screaming to me, I know that Harry's not dumb as a rock, or anything. Yes, he's good at DADA, I am aware, thank you. But let's be real - if the aforementioned magical loophole didn't exist, Harry would not have survived a good 80% of his altercations in the series, considering the aforementioned magical loophole literally only works against one person. To be real, he also wouldn't be in those life-threatening altercations to begin with.

FURTHERMORE. They both fall into the "Chosen One" archetype, right? But here's the thing: Percy is powerful in his own right, and being the chosen one isn't what makes him powerful. Harry, on the other hand, is powerful because he's the chosen one, because of all the mysticism built around an arguably average person of middling talent. He's only special because of the whole "[Voldemort] will mark him as his equal" thing from the prophecy.

Even if you assume that an average demigod and an average wizard hold about the same power levels (which, honestly, I don't think you can say, but for the sake of the argument, that's what we're going to go with), the pure fact of the matter is that Percy is like a Dumbledore-level demigod, and Harry is a Michael Yew-level wizard. (Who is Michael Yew, you may ask? To which I say: exactly.)

Are you catching my drift? Percy kicks ass against Harry because he's more powerful. It's as simple as that.

But allow me to extrapolate further, because I fear that some may take this to mean that Harry is a bad protagonist. He's not, he just serves a different narrative purpose as a character. Imagine if you were to swap Percy and Harry into each others' stories:

Harry would probably die in the first PJO book. As an untrained wizard with at most, one year at Hogwarts under his belt, he'd probably die in the initial fight against the Minotaur. Done deal. Sure, you could take it a step further and assume that he does carry good problem-solving skills in moments of high stress, so maybe he could have made it out of that fight alive, but he's probably toast from that moment on. My main point is that Percy's skills that get him through his first quest are inherent. He doesn't necessarily have to practice to have heightened battle senses, water powers, and sensitivity to the Mist, all things that helped him survive. Harry simply does not have those things, and as a wizard of about the same age, doesn't have the skill set to match those powers with his own magical abilities. And by the end of the series, assuming Harry doesn't die immediately, the last book is one long, big battle, and Harry's one-on-one combat skills aren't necessarily bad, but if I have a hard time remembering how many times Harry was in a duel against a fully trained wizard and won in his own right, what makes you think he could beat ultra-powerful Titans like Percy did?

As for Percy - Put him in the climax moment of the first HP book against Quirrell. Harry survived that moment by using the aforementioned magical loophole, but Percy would have probably chopped Quirrell's head off within the first five minutes. No biggie. No moment in the first three books comes to mind as a situation that would have given Percy a ton of trouble at around the same age. And the fact that I think that Percy would definitely give Voldemort a run for his money in a one-on-one duel in the second half of the series should really say something.

Again, that's not to say that Harry's a bad protagonist. I think that their respective power levels serve their respective plots well! Imagine how boring the PJO series would be if Percy wasn't powerful enough to go head-to-head with Titans, or how boring the HP series would be if Harry had no problems beating Voldemort ever.

It's also interesting when you consider the implications of what being the Chosen One means in their respective universes. Percy knows he's the Chosen One, and he's actually more offended when Rachel suggests that he's not the hero of the prophecy, rather Luke is. Harry, on the other hand, has a hard time believing he's the Chosen One, because he knows just how generally unremarkable he is aside from the fact that he keeps surviving against all odds. Percy is the typical Chosen One, Harry is not.

And that gets even more interesting when you consider how they interact with their peers once their "Chosen One status" becomes common knowledge. Percy, who spends most of his time on quests, doesn't interact with his peers much on-page (meaning we don't see him go through everyday life like we see in the HP series), but that aside, he's generally well-respected. People are in awe of him. People know who he is, and have decided that he is deserving of his claims to fame and power. Harry, on the other hand, is generally not respected to the same degree, and people have a hard time believing him when he tells them about his close calls with death. Adults, specifically, find his stories unbelievable, because to them, he's untrained and not significantly powerful. And you know what? They're completely right.

I tend to also see that manifest a lot in their personalities. Percy, as the Chosen One, tends to struggle a lot with the fact that there are a lot of expectations placed upon him. People come to him for help all the time, and the gods tend to take him for granted, so he ends up with this very 'leave me alone let me live my life in peace' kind of thing going on. Harry, on the other hand, struggles in the different way of, as I said before, never being believed, and while he also struggles a lot with expectations, has this issue that he doesn't, nor will he ever, live up to them because that's not who he is (insert rant here about why Harry becoming an Auror was so out of character, and why he should have become the DADA professor instead, kindly fu JKR). Harry isn't some overpowered godling, he's just some random kid, placed well enough in society that Voldemort took an unhealthy interest in him.

I'm getting off track here. But my point stands: while both Percy and Harry serve the Chosen One protagonist archetype, they are inherently different characters and serve different purposes. Harry is atypical, and doesn't succeed in his own rights as much as you'd predict from a YA protagonist, regardless of the fact that he's got an über-powerful failsafe button. Percy, on the other hand, is a much more cliche example of a main character, being overpowered and wildly successful with barebones training.

Now, this is not me saying that PJO is a cliche YA story. I would never say that, because Rick Riordan is a masterful writer who still incorporates Percy's struggles as a person into a world where he's considered extremely powerful (meaning he's not a Mary Sue). That, and the fact that Percy isn't actually the 'hero of the prophecy', but the main villain is, is what should disprove that statement in a split second.

All is is basically saying that, while Percy would absolutely whoop ass against Harry, that does not mean that Harry is a bad character. Harry is, I think, the only kind of character that could fit well enough in the HP series for it to be considered a fulfilling story (insert rant here about how the final fight in movie 8 is stupid and Harry could have never held his own in a duel against Voldemort for that long, and completely missed the point of the finale of book 7 and it's been pissing me off for years).

Anyways, yeah, point made, come yell at me if you think I'm wrong, but I don't think I'm wrong.

More (mostly TOA) rants here if you want them.

[s0urw00lfsrants]

Rant #idk

The fact that walker knew Percy would end Harry Potter in a fight is hilarious to me, because as a long time potter fan, and knowing about Percy Jackson only for a couple of years, I wholeheartedly agree that there is no competition in that.

Mood.

[bookwormofmanyfandoms]

harry potter: i killed myself☝️

[flower1622]

Many people think Percy would win, but what if Harry used his magic without the wand? I don't know...

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Now that you've read PJO: would you say that your perception of Annabeth and Percy has changed? I remember you had some dislike to her character before you started reading the book and I was wondering if that was still tha same thing and how you likened Percy with Harry as protagonists

Hi anon! That's a good question! I was planning on drafting up a post relating to this :)

Let me start with Annabeth. I entered PJO fandom not really knowing who she was and then disliking her because of Percabeth. I honestly don't even remember where my initial dislike came from. Oh, I think a lot of my initial PJO tumblr posts were anti Percabeth so that coloured how I saw her. Outside of Percabeth, I did not care about her nor did I have any desire to learn more about her. But I tend to be more invested/obsessed with male characters over female ones, so that wasn't Annabeth's fault. After reading sections of the books, I still don't care about her but I have more appreciation for Annabeth as a quest partner and her relationship with Thalia and Luke. I also don't like her personality. There are cute Percabeth moments I enjoy, like Percy comforting Annabeth after the sirene scene and the times when Annabeth saves Percy's life. But I still can't enjoy this ship or fanfics with it.

My perception of Percy has changed radically. Even before getting into the books, Percy's character was starting to irk me but I did not fully understand the full extent of this feeling until I read the books. I still like Percy but I am honestly kind of tired of him and I don't enjoy Percy-centric fanfictions the way I used to.

I have compared Percy and Harry but I do realize their stories are different so it's not totally fair to compare them. But I will use Harry to highlight some things about Percy that I don't like after reading a little bit of the books:

Percy is too OP. And not in a satisfying way. I know Percy is a big three kid so he is meant to be more powerful. Nico is pretty powerful too. But Percy does extreme things with little explanation. It would be satisfying if Percy was on a path to godhood or something. But Percy being a common joe after defeating a primordial goddess in her own domain is total garbage. I didn't mind seeing this in fanfiction but actually seeing it in canon is tiring. Harry is powerful too but not to the extent where it feels like Harry is leaving his peers in the dust.

Percy's connection to his antagonists is weak. Harry has a deep connection with Voldy, Draco and Snape to varying degrees. Plus, he has interesting interactions with other death eaters like Lucius and Bellatrix. Percy's connection to Luke and Kronos is weak as hell by comparison. Percy basically has no interaction with the titan army, especially the demigods. Through Harry's POV, we come to understand Voldy's character and motivations, his evolution of how he perceives Draco and Snape, and we understand the dynamics of the death eaters. Kronos is a one dimensional bad guy and the bond between Luke and Percy before the betrayal was not all that deep anyway.

Percy's relationship with minor characters is lacking so the true tragedy of the conflict is lost. Percy does not know a lot of campers. So when they defect or die, the weight of the affair is lost in Percy's POV. The deaths in PJO can't be compared to the deaths in Harry Potter.

I am not a Harry Potter fan, but I am not sure if I prefer Percy as a protag over Harry anymore. I think JKR is a better writer than Rick and her characters are better written, including her minor characters. Plus, the lore is way more fascinating in HP. Rick is just copying mythology and bastardizing it with his OC. I need more time to understand where I stand with Harry and Percy.

[relovaaa]

If Percy Jackson and Harry Potter were in a fight

Harry: Expecto- Percy: EXPECTO TO LOSE MOTHERFUCKER *slices his wand in half*

[347-emeraldbitch]

Molly: I think you have been spending too much time with the Black brothers.

Percy: We’re all unemployed and depressed. Besides they’re family on BOTH sides mother.

Molly: Please don’t say it like that!!! You make it sound like we’re……

Percy: Whole family is indeed inbred mum. Can’t do much about that now.

[perciver4ever]

Dare I say Percy Weasley

[pangaeaseas]

Fighting against the compulsion to call him percival instead of percy. Fanon is wrong his full name is canonically percy....

[cherlockgomes]

Harry Potter vs. Percy Jackson

The age-old debate between fandoms is absolutely insane and should not exist, in my opinion. If you think Percy wouldn't absolutely body Harry, you're absolutely delusional and should perhaps develop a better literary understanding.

Percy is the son of a literal God who is one of the most powerful beings in Greek mythology. He is literally part God. Harry is nothing more than a wizard who probably wouldn't have made it past the first book without Hermione.

Percy went up against THE GOD OF WAR at only 12 and won. Not to mention, he was just beginning to tap into his powers at this point.

Even if we take their powers completely out of the equation, Percy would still trounce Harry. Sure, Harry was athletic and probably fast (especially after having to outrun Duddley for so many years). Percy trained at a camp that focused on improving his battle skills.

It's cannon that Percy "I wanted to see how much misery Misery could take" Jackson could control the water content in someone's body and ideally make it work against them.

Hypothetically, if the fight were to take place away from any body of water to even the playing field, Percy could still make hurricanes and earthquakes, which are enough to take out armies, much less one wizard.

"But Harry would just use *insert spell*." Harry's power is pretty much limited to a stick, that's notoriously not very durable. All it takes is one stream of water or sheer brute force from Percy to disarm him.

It's also canon that Percy hasn't unlocked his potential and that his power can only grow with him.

[knomelooking]

I love the debate of who would win Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. But this fucking comment I found has me in tears!!!!

[bleep-bloop-boo]

had a debate in class between who was better, Harry or Percy. Hermione won.

[urmumsgyatt]

“percy jackson would hate harry potter!!” and then they list shit ADULT harry did💀 like i promise you when someone is saying “percy and harry would be friends/would date” they’re not talking about adult wizard cop harry. like i thought we all collectively agreed that everyone post-hogwarts was ooc/character assassinated?😭

another thing i saw pjo fans saying is that harry apparently was dobby’s slave owner…. did we read the same books? last time i checked harry FREED dobby from slavery and they were both friends, they had an equal relationship���� like i agree with criticisms of jkr’s handling of the house elves but what we’re not gonna do is spread misinformation just so you could excuse character bashing. if you don’t like a certain media, just say so, no need to play moral high ground when your fav book series was also written by a bigot/zionist😭

[pooks]

what if Umbridge took over in CoS... Percy, leading a student revolution: Alright, get ready to launch Operation: Circle of Confusion. Ron: Uh, Percy, it kinda looks more like a triangle from down here. Percy: What? Ron: I'm just saying, it doesn't look much a like a circle, it looks more like we're forming a triangle. Just a side note. Percy: Okay, fine, Triangle of Confusion! Rhombus of Terror! Parabola of Mystery! WHO CARES!? Get the goddamn show on the road!