#persephone (pjo)

[cynicalclairvoyantcadaver]

Percy Jackson's foundation is problematic

Ok, so, the OG PJO series is amazing for a lot of people. I mean, it's almost as famous as Harry Potter for a reason. It has an immersive world which is escapism which is really nice for a lot of people including me..........

But the series could definitely have been rewritten to be better. Such as not making Annabeth hit Percy so often (only playful hits, no so hard) making Ares love his children, making Artemis NOT SO PREDATORY-

But the thing is, even if the series was rewritten to exclude these.........

The very foundation of the Percy Jackson series is problematic.

The foundation of the Percy Jackson series is about overthrowing an abusive system and making the abusers pay attention and listen, and I'm not saying that that's a bad concept. It's actually one of the best concepts, but-

But it's what Rick Riordan used as an abusive system that's really wrong.

He used the Greek gods as abusive parents when in the myths they were the furthest things from it.

Excuse me. Zeus was not an abusive father to Apollo. He genuinely loved him. He only punished him when Apollo needed to be punished and deserved it. Zeus was a loving father to Artemis as well. He gave her what she requested and let her live in the wild as she pleased. Zeus also stopped Athena from practicing divination at Apollo's request. Zeus would not leave two children with an abusive alcholic mother.

Poseidon was not abusive and neglectful. In the myths, he punished Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus. And he let Sciron do as he pleased in the ocean, though Sciron was a terrible person.

Aphrodite frequently came to her son Aeneas' aid on the battlefield of Troy. She loved him very much and even told him to give up LOVE to fulfil his own destiny of becoming a king.

And it also depicts Athena and Hades as having demigod children, when in the myths, Athena has no children at all and Hades is faithful to his wife Persephone, only cheating on her with TWO people in only a few variations of the myths, while other myths have Hades loving Leuce and Minthe before Persephone.

It's problematic for Athena to have demigod children, even brain children, because she was a virgin goddess who had no children in the myths. Ancient Greece associated marriage and having children with losing your virginity.

It was symbolic, so Athena having children, even brain children, makes her lose her virginity.

And about Hades being faithful-he's stated to have had multiple children with women when Persephone goes to her mother, which is why she's so unhappy.

This is incorrect and terribly wrong.

But if Athena and Hades didn't have children, and if the Greek Gods weren't abusive parents, then this series wouldn't exist. These problematic themes are essential to the story, which is why PJO is so problematic itself.

So even if Percy Jackson could be rewritten, it'll always be problematic in one way or another.

[spookedbees]

have you ever made any designs for Greek gods/goddesses? I think they would look great in your style!!!

i have some loose designs for most of the pjo-verse greek gods

i also have ideas for more general greek god designs but no art for them yet

[readerconfused]

several people in my post about Hades PJO saying that they would gladly accept the juice and snacks because they love Hades and the underworld

Persephone will come home in the fall and there will be a thousand teenagers living with Hades she will be like "wtf? i only left you alone for six months"

[incorrect-riordanverse-quotes]

Nico to Will: Would you like to stay for dinner? Persephone, from a different room: WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER?!

[achillesisnotcomingdown]

Imagine one day Persephone comes to camp and everyone is freaking out "it's so rare for a god to physically show up at camp ! She must have a very important quest to give !" But then she walks to Nico and says "Hi Nico, next time you see your dad can you tell him I forgot my dandelion earrings at his palace?" And he's like "for the love of Olympus Persephone I told you to not talk to me in front of other campers it's so embarrassing"

Bonus point if he's with Will and she looks at him and goes

Persephone, smirking : you must be Will

Nico : Persephone

Persephone: Nico told me quite a lot about you

Nico : I'll ask Alecto to bring your earrings back to you. Can you go now

[enehana]

Chthonic Gods' Cabins Headcanons

Children of Hades, Persephone, Nyx, Hypnos, Nemesis, Hecate, Thanatos, Eris, Geras, Selene, etc. Any God that lives in the underworld or is a child of God that lives in the underworld.

They refer to themselves as Hellspawn endearingly.

They are so much more loyal to each other than to children of other Gods. They're all united by the underworld.

They have sleepover in the Hades Cabin. Chiron doesn't know, and he wouldn't allow it if he did. The Hecate Cabin masks their presence so others can see, hear, or sense them.

They treat children of Hades like royalty. They're all the pretty princesses of the underworld. They put a pink, fuzzy crown on Nico one time. He didn't particularly enjoy it, but he didn't stop them.

They make homemade candles and hold rituals in cemeteries and abandoned playgrounds.

They always make sure Hazel is welcome at camp. She is a queen. She can't be uncomfortable or unhappy at camp half blood.

They held a grand funeral for Bianca. She has a beautiful burial plot. Fresh flowers every week.

Sometimes they go frolicking through the underworld, holding hands and skipping. Purely for the irony.

They kind of consider Will one of them? They're a bit iffy about him because he's a son of Apollo, the sun god, but they appreciate how happy he makes Nico.

The underworld children that can summon spirits (Mostly Hades children. Children of Hypnos can make dead people appear in dreams. Few children of Nemesis can control vengeful spirits. Few children of Ares can call upon dead soldiers who lost their war. Thanatos children.) will gossip about the spirits they spoke to. They'll also work together to try to summon a lost friend or family member, to give one of them some form of closure.

The Hades cabin leads their little clique. Planning outings and meetings.

The Hypnos cabin regulates their dreams, making sure everyone sleeps relatively okay. They keep their dreams not terrible for the most part.

Children of Selene will use their powers to radiate moonlight, effectively making other children of the underworld slightly more powerful.

Children of Nemesis act as their regulators, their judges. If someone wronged one of them, the entire Nemesis cabin will get revenge for them.

Children of Nyx are their guards. All they have to do is look at someone, and they'll think a million times before they even interact with one of them.

Children of Persephone will grow flowers and fruit for them. They keep their lives bright and meaningful. A symbol of peace, even if only in short periods.

Children of Hecate will enchant anything for them. Magical weapons mean more security. And Tarot readings. A small glimpse into the future will calm them down so much.

Children of Geras will give them wisdom. Old age comes with experience. And experience leads to knowledge. An excellent guide for young, inexperienced demigods.

Children of Eris will remind everyone of what someone has done. Never forgetting someone's blatant wrongdoings. They warn everyone when they hear about something someone has done, trying to keep them out of trouble.

[goldenqingxin]

after e07 i feel like hades and percy would like. meet for brownies or something every once in a while just so percy can hear whatever stupid nautical jokes hades comes up with. idk its like him being buddies with apollo or ganymede. i see it. they feed cerberus and bond over horrible dad humour because percy genuinely thinks its funny and hades is kinda lonely when persephone's gone.

imagine the whiplash in boo when nico springs up the "i had a crush on you" thing. bro was besties with his DAD. thats EMBARASSING.

[erenfox]

ok but it's absolutely hilarious to me how HADES - the God who almost never cheated on his wife - has more demigod kids than Poseidon - who is known to cheat on Amphitrite all the goddamn time (hell, some myths even suggest that Poseidon has more kids than ol Zeusie)

and don't you give me any of the Big Oath After WW2 bs.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Demeter Cabin things

[un0peia]

Persephone

[muffinman1901]

HEADCANNON!!!

After the events of MOA, Nico didn’t eat much. But there is one food he would eat. Pomegranates.

Nico love’s pomegranate, it reminds him of the Underworld, and his father. Hades smells of pomegranate, mostly due to Persephone, but also due to her garden, which is filled with pomegranates.

The Hades Cabin at CHB has an almost overwhelming smell of pomegranate, and Nico grows some in his free time.

Will loves the smell, and is surprised when he enters the underworld to find that Hades’ palace smells just like the Hades cabin back home. And he realises how much the underworld means to Nico.

[cynicalclairvoyantcadaver]

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

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[hyperfocuscentre]

so following on from this post

more solangelo as parents!

Nico’s job would literally just be doing stuff for Hades. He doesn’t really get payed in the conventional way, but he has access to all Hades’ riches so they live a comfy life.

Will becomes a doctor. I don’t think he went to college or university, mostly because it didn’t appeal to him and the idea of learning something he’d been doing from a very young age felt belittling. Instead, he convinced Chiron to forge him some papers and with a bit of mist manipulation, he got straight into doctor training at a hospital or however that works (foundation program or something?).

They have twins, because I love twins. A girl named Bianca and a boy named Michael-Lee (shut up i think it rolls of the tongue).

ML (i’m not writing the whole name everytime) is trans so he wasn’t always called this, but he wanted a name that was important to his parents and he wanted them to name him so that’s what he ended up with. He loves it, he says it feels like a pop star stage name.

Nico definitely cooks the food, his signature dish is pasta. He makes it from scratch because he says the store packages are disgusting and processed junk.

Will is the one who kisses their injuries and tucks them into bed at night (although Nico obviously says goodnight and love you’s too).

I feel like they both deal with the nightmares but most of the time, it’s Will because Nico is harder to wake up. He sings them lullabies and has actually started to appreciate his voice a lot more because of this. However, Nico can be found sometimes cuddling one or both of the twins close, wiping their tears and even sometimes singing Italian lullabies that he vaguely remembers from his childhood.

I feel like Nico plays rough with them, things like violent pillow fights followed by lots of exhilarated screams and giggles. He’s never too rough though, and he’s never hurt them. He can easily tell when to stop and when it’s time to calm down and take a break.

Nico is the soft touch, he acts like he isn’t but he is. He’ll say snarky things and talk to the twins like they’re adults from a very young age (in a funny way, not a weird way lmao) but he can’t handle seeing them upset or crying. Both of them are very spoiled and any shopping trips with Nico end with them coming back, hands full of toy boxes and faces stretched into beaming smiles.

Will is the more tough parent, but honestly he’s a silly too. He may know how to discipline them when he has to, but he also jokes with them and geeks out over their favourite films and shows with them.

Apollo loves that they have twins, and often compares them to him and Artemis (mostly because Bianca has dark, auburn hair and ML is a blond).

I feel like they live in a white, picket fence area but none of their neighbors like them. They painted the white fence a soft yellow and have a giant pride flag wafting on the front. There’s exotic, brightly coloured plants everywhere and the only reason they live is prayers to Persephone and the fact the goddess herself sometimes visits.

Persephone has basically claimed those kids as her grankids, she loves coming over to play with them and loves that she can without breaking any stupid divine laws.

Hades acts unbothered but he’s been caught smiling softly at the twins or even simply at Nico and Will being disgustingly domestic. His Christmas gifts are always huge and the first thing the twins open.

They tried to take one of those professional family photos when the twins were toddlers; it didn’t go so well. Nico is blinking, Bianca is screaming, Will’s face is basically a blur and ML is growling at the camera but the glint in his eyes says he finds himself hilarious. The photo is hung up above the fireplace.

They join their names which means ML’s name is a mouthful. Michael-Lee Di Angelo-Solace. He probably has a middle name too, although i’m not sure what. Maybe Lester, for the jokes?

[mando-abs]

Okay I know it’s summer in The Lightning Thief so Persephone isn’t there. But wouldn’t it be funny if when Hades asked if they wanted some pomegranate juice, Persephone walked in, smiling and proud, with a tray fully equipped with a pitcher and cups. Like, this is a play date and she’s the beautiful suburban mom bringing refreshments for the kids. “Oh, we don’t have many guest over, so I made it fresh just for you ☺️”

Because she would.

[enehana]

Hecate Cabin Headcanons

They each have their own separate room in their cabin. If they can magic up a new room, why shouldn’t they?

They have such a large variety of powers and traits that they almost always get mistaken for children of other gods before they get claimed. Aphrodite, Demeter, Hypnos, Apollo, Iris, even Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades before the oath.

Their fatal flaw tends to be cynicism or hubris.

Their knee jerk reaction to being caught doing something they shouldn’t is to assume that they’ll be burnt at the stake or hanged, or any type of execution used in the Salem witch trials. It never happens.

They like ancient history a little too much and will talk about it with the Athena cabin for hours.

They work with the Hephaestus kids, enchanting anything they make.

They're best friends with children of Demeter, as Hecate helped Demeter look for Persephone after she was kidnapped by Hades.

They like to sneak out of camp purely to let their rage out on fake witches and fortune tellers.

There are very few children of Hecate, but they're single-handedly some of the most powerful demigods. They can essentially learn any type of magic and have complete control over the mist.

They never liked the Harry Potter series or J. K. Rowling's idea of magic. They call it heresy and blasphemy.

Hecate passes down bright emerald green or purple eyes, hair that grows very slow, and a quick metabolism. They welcome Hazel Levesque as one of their own siblings, but a few kinda dislike her for being their mother's favorite.