#pjato meta

[bvckbiter]

some thoughts on characterization of the seven in hoo, VERY long post ahead:

for each of the five books in the series, i read them right as they came out and endured the year-long wait til the next release. like many readers, i was thrown off by the introduction of the new trio in the lost hero. but that was offset by 1) the seemingly more mature vibe/themes that riordan wanted to explore, 2) the monumental tension that was being built around the greek-roman separation, and 3) percy's comeback in son of neptune, even as an amnesiac.

mark of athena, released october 2012, was extremely anticipated because it was set to be the long-awaited percabeth reunion as well as the true crossover for the greek and roman spheres. there were a lot of theories being made at the time. would piper be able to mediate between eons-long enemies in a genuinely diplomatic way, or was she going to brainwash charmspeak them into compliance? how is reyna going to take jason suddenly having another girl and a new set of friends and another life after abruptly disappearing? will we get to learn more about jason's relationships within camp jupiter? would nico be dealing with any fallout from essentially boating along two riverbanks (translated directly from a tagalog idiom, so if the wording seems clunky thats why)? it didn't help that the first avengers movie came out in 2012, so the idea of a huge crossover event was all the hype then.

the published work, in my opinion... fell considerably short of expectations.

to be fair, we got some very good character moments. i did not find the judo flip scene cute, just kinda weird in the sense that i felt the author didn't know how to handle such a huge emotional turning point, but percabeth for the most part of moa was enjoyable, really giving you the high of this teenage couple finally being able to resume the honeymoon period they were probably in after four years of pining and a war lol. everything the fans wanted! unfortunately, we didn't get the same with other characters.

while i wouldn't say that percabeth was the reason, the difference in spotlight is nonetheless very staggering. the roman-greek reunification goes bad, sure, but it begins due to outside interference more rather than any actual intrinsic differences between the two camps; so the built-up tension from the previous books kinda falls flat. we get none of jason's backstory, so next to percy, he barely leaves an impression on the reader. hazel, frank, and leo get shafted into this weird love triangle where their enemy is leo's long-dead ancestor who ultimately makes no impact on the plot other than to have hazel and leo intersect somehow, contributing to leo's man-angst of being the seventh wheel. frank, who arguably has the most interesting set of powers and lineage, is basically relegated to being the muscle and hazel's (understandably) jealous boyfriend. piper... good lord. thats probably a whole other post, so i'll just say: cornucopia.

and yet, despite the disparity in characterization... you don't really feel that percabeth has a character arc or development per se. it's an odd contrast, with percy and annabeth getting a lot of time but pretty much remaining stagnant characters, as opposed to the other five who are written pretty blandly, but have valid, explicit inner struggles and questions they must face. for jason, it's being greek or roman. for hazel and leo, they want to parse their connection, even at the expense of frank, who is still struggling with his self-esteem. piper comes into her own power.

so despite being a book full of twists and turns, especially for percabeth, this is where you really feel the stakes begin to slump. decisions are being made to move the plot from point a to point b pretty straightforwardly, but there's not a ton of effort to make you invested in these characters other than what we know about them from previous books and the fact that they have a role to play in this apocalyptic second great prophecy.

but there's still two books left! the yearlong wait demands patience and creativity. surely percabeth falling into tartarus is going to make for some interesting development and impact. it was a brilliant plot twist, after all. with the darker turn that hoo was seemingly taking, there could have been so many consequences. percabeth could shut the doors of death from their side and come back alive, but come back wrong—unearthing old traumas, questioning and ultimately foreswearing their loyalty to the gods, threatening the reunification of the greek and roman aspects, etc.

and once again, house of hades... only semi-delivered? the tartarus chapters were certainly harrowing: percy choking akhlys is still a Scene of All Time to me because it felt earned, after all that percy has been through and what the series has been building up to! annabeth also having to face all the times she's been abandoned in her life, while less focused on, was also a very poignant moment for her character. they were events that seemed to push for development.

back on the argo ii, there's a continuing case of kind of low-effort writing on the other characters. frank and his mars blessing, for one; you kind of understand what rick was getting at, but... what! piper... girl idk what she was doing other than seeing visions in her dagger. leo... ue ue ue. jason commits to chb, but ofc he does because neither he nor we know/remember much about cj, so we don't really feel the loss! but there is one exception for his part, and that is of course the (in)famous cupid scene with nico, but i'll talk about nico much later.

hazel is an interesting case, so here's another paragraph for her. she gets to come into (more of) her powers just like piper did in the previous books, but from my viewpoint, it was considerably less engaged with who she was as a character compared to piper. in mark of athena, piper still struggles with being a daughter of aphrodite and how she can be "useful" as we know she struggles with internalized misogyny. on the other hand, hazel gets in touch with her mother's background... kinda? idk if controlling the mist can be considered equivalent to marie's voodoo; i dont think so. she certainly gains more understanding of her pluto heritage, too, and has this nice back-and-forth with hecate about creating her own path, but you don't really get the sense that doing so has consequences, or that she concretely shirked other paths to get where she was at.

where mark of athena fell flat with character stakes, house of hades to its credit does manage to up the ante—but only truly for percabeth. with all the resolutions to the character arcs in this book, you don't feel that the characters have anymore stakes or reasons to fight gaea other than the fact that she's still coming for them and they are in turn prophesied to defeat her. the one big thing that could be personal to them, which are the camps, ultimately fall under the purview of coach hedge, nico, and reyna, who are side characters, upgraded to main characters in the last book of a series already overbloated by shifting povs and favoritism.

ultimately, this is why blood of olympus falls apart. the best characterization work done, which is on percabeth and their time in tartarus, is in the end of no consequence and is barely mentioned. it's as if nothing has happened. all the build-up and investment fizzles out because in boo and beyond, even though they went through literal hell, they just shook it off (because accdg to rick demigods are extra resilient and don't get traumatized lmfao). the climactic face-off against gaea is headed by jason, piper, and leo, and it has no pay off. the books haven't dwelled on them as a trio after tlh because leo was too busy angsting about his love triangle, and jason's and piper's arcs, both individual and romantic, are shoddy, to say the least. to add insult to injury, leo's sacrifice is a fake-out! so he can finally shed the fucking seventh wheel arc that came about not because of a genuine exploration of how he has been outcasted all his life, but because the argo ii mysteriously became demigod tinder and also because rick thought "haha how funny that the latino is the outrageous flirt!" frank and hazel... just get shafted im so sorry babygirls T_T

what saves boo is not the cast of the seven that we have spent the five books journeying with. no, what saves boo is the three side characters suddenly made main characters because. well, fan favoritism and pandering. nico, reyna, and coach hedge comprised the only arc that wasn't an absolute slog to read through—high stakes, chemistry, and well-rounded character arcs that complemented each other. no hoo scene is honestly more heartwarming than reyna embracing nico. it makes you question if hoo's length and frankly shocking quantity of main ensemble members even constricted the narrative that could've been told, as opposed to the original intention of expanding the world of percy jackson through more povs. five books with at least 700-800+ pages each for five years. what a tremendous amount of time and energy to be wasted.

and there is, of course, the question of "should percabeth have been in hoo." until house of hades, my answer was yes. the fact that their tartarus arc fizzled into nothingness changed my answer to no. taking the whole series into perspective, if their treatment in boo was all that the hype and tension would amount to, it would've been better if they'd been relegated to side characters with mentor/helper roles as opposed to taking the spotlight away from the rest of the seven. their succeeding cameos in the other series + the new college reco trilogy makes the blunder all the more grievous.

heroes of olympus did give us a new cast of characters to love. along with all its racist stereotypes and pitfalls, it also diversified the percy jackson world. if not for the mid-2010s fandom who took up the slack of unexplored storylines and potential, these characters would be very much not impressioned on us. and as a successor to a series that was so deeply driven by family, friendship, love, and belonging, that it couldn't consistently humanize its main cast was the biggest sin.

[amaryllisblackthorn]

a lot of people have this idea that Annabeth's been like, a Luke apologist and in denial since the very beginning but it's not really true?. Annabeth was angry at Luke for his betrayal in the end of Lightning Thief and during Sea of Monsters. It's only until the end of The Titan's Curse that she starts the 'Luke really isn't that bad' kind of thing.

the end of Lightning Thief:

"I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned  angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him...He was never the same after his quest."

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?"

 She was really angry at him during Sea of Monsters. Her vision from the Sirens does indicate that deep down she may believe she's able to save him, or at least wants to, but it doesn't diminish the hurt and anger she does feel.

"How could you?" Annabeth sounded so angry I thought she'd explode. "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her--"

"Liar!"

"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" she yelled. "You're a monster!"

"Because you have none of your own [intelligence]!"

"That's disgusting!" Annabeth said.

"You're insane," Annabeth said.

"Go to Tartarus," she said.

All those above are on the Princess Andromeda with Luke. Then later, to Percy:

She shook her head. "We made a dozen safe houses like this. I doubt Luke even remembers where they are. Or cares."

Even in the beginning-ish of Titan's Curse, she doesn't trust him. When he's struggling under the sky and asking for her help, she's hesitant. It's only when the sky begins to fall  that she goes to help hold it.

Annabeth had tears in her eyes. She reached down like she wanted to touch Luke's face, but at the last second she hesitated. "What happened?" she asked.

"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth asked. Her voice was filled with hurt.

Then the darkness above Luke began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling. Annabeth rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. She held it somehow--tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and Luke with her own strength.

However!! There's a shift in her feelings by the time Percy and Thalia rescue her and I personally think it's because she's aware that Luke 'saved' her life for the time being after Atlas ordered him to kill her after Artemis took the sky -- even though he was super complicit in her being in that situation in the first place. Compare:

Luke hesitated. "She--she may yet be useful, sir. Further bait."

and

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He...he'll be useful."

I don't think it's a conscious parallel on Annabeth's part per se, but Rick Riordan using the parallel to indicate the connection. I think that's when Annabeth discovers that Luke does still care deep down, and that deep down the person that she knows is there. which is fair, because before this point he hadn’t given her any indication seeing as he literally directed  Oreius to eat her. that’s a whole ‘nother write-up, though, i think. i digress.

Once she knows this, she starts to view him as someone being manipulated and taken advantage of by Kronos, someone who was able to manipulate Ares, a god, in the first book, -- she's not wrong! He is being manipulated. That doesn't absolve him from his horrible behavior especially towards her, but she understands that Luke is a troubled, traumatized young man being taken advantage of by the evil King Titan, and she's also aware that literally no one else cares enough to try to save him.

like, the language Annabeth uses to describe Luke in the end of Titan’s Curse is the same that Percy uses to describe the demigods on the  Titans’ side in Last Olympian. 

"You don't believe me about Luke," Annabeth said, "but we'll see him again. He's in trouble, Percy. He's under Kronos's spell."

vs

I tried to wound his men, not kill. That slowed me down, but these weren’t monsters. They were demigods who’d fallen under Kronos’s spell. I couldn’t see faces under their battle helmets, but some of them had probably been my friends.

there’s another callback with the language Percy uses to describe the opposing demigods in Last Olympian. this time, to what Percy says to Luke at the end of Lightning Thief.

“He’s brainwashing you, Luke.”

“You’re being used, Luke. You and Ares both. Don’t listen to Kronos.”

vs

This kid was getting brainwashed—trained to hate the gods and lash out because he’d been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy.

Poseidon put his hand on my shoulder. “Percy, there were only a few demigod warriors aboard that ship, and they all chose to battle for Kronos. Perhaps some heeded your warning and escaped. If they did not . . . they chose their path.”

“They were brainwashed!” I said. “Now they’re dead and Kronos is still alive. That’s supposed to make me feel better?

Percy has sympathy for the demigods manipulated by Kronos to be on the Titan’s sides; he sees them as victims. the reason he doesn’t for Luke, I feel, is because Luke’s betrayal made it personal. I think this is where Percy’s fatal flaw comes into play, honestly, with the personal loyalty. both in regards to the personal betrayal to Percy, as well as Percy’s loyalty to Annabeth (and thus Luke’s betrayal of Annabeth, too). and i feel this also applies, to a lesser extent, to Ethan. but that’s a whole ‘nother write-up, too (one day!)

there is, admittedly, the factor of Luke’s age in comparison to Percy, Annabeth, and most of the other campers. there’s definitely a power imbalance -- especially with Annabeth, which isn’t okay, obviously.  so even though he’s a victim and young himself, that power imbalance in regards to his actions, manipulations, etc is messed up and not okay. 

even so, Luke is still pretty young himself -- not as young as the others, but still young. like, i got into this series when i was younger than Percy and Annabeth were, so Luke, like most early 20 year olds, seemed very old to me in that regard; it’s only as i got older and closer to his are that i started to really realize that heck he was really young. so while Luke is definitely an adult in regards to the relationship he has with Percy, Annabeth, and other younger demigods -- which he should have been mindful of and makes his manipulation etc very messed up and not okay -- he’s also young himself which is something to keep in mind. like, Luke is only around 19-22? in the series. That puts him at a power imbalance in regards to Annabeth and Percy, in which he's very much an adult in the relationship, but outside of that he's still pretty young! he’s a college kid, which when you’re younger seems pretty old but then you are one and realize differently -- his brain hasn't even fully developed yet. but i’m like, seriously digressing. 

my intended point was that i disagree with the interpretation that Annabeth was blinded by emotions and a toxic relationship which led her to make excuses for Luke and unable to see him for what he really was etc,--  because Annabeth was angry at him after his betrayal and had even thought he was different, that he didn’t care anymore. The ‘Luke apologist’ behavior only starts at the end of Titan’s Curse, the third book in the five book series. I just feel like her ... feelings? perspective? position? idk the right word.... is often misrepresented? 

she becomes very defensive over Luke’s ‘inner goodness’ and stuff because she’s literally the only one who wants to save him and knows it. she knows what he’s done isn’t okay, but she keeps driving it home that he’s being manipulated because he is! it doesn’t excuse his actions but it doesn’t have to. by the end of titan’s curse, annabeth sees luke as someone terribly lost and no one trying, willing, or caring enough to save him. and like, she’s right when she sees luke as someone who isn’t beyond saving, who’s extremely lost and being manipulated through his trauma and anger -- it doesn’t excuse what he’s doing but that doesn’t make him someone not worthy of saving. despite what he’s done, luke is still her family and she will fight for him. she sees luke the same way percy sees the other opposing demigods in the last olympian and she’s right. she’s not making excuses for him, she doesn’t think he’s done nothing wrong, she’s just not willing to give up on him and she was right. as the child in the relationship/dynamic, it wasn’t her responsibility to be the one to save him and shouldn’t have been, but she wasn’t wrong in how she saw Luke.

 like, their was definitely a power imbalance in their relationship and it’s definitely important to acknowledge that, but i feel like people tend to like, erase annabeth’s agency, for lack of a better word, and attribute her desire to save Luke as being tragically misplaced? like, Luke has totally wronged Annabeth and mistreated her terribly, but like...I find her not giving up on him mostly admirable and not pitiable, though like I said as the child in their dynamic it wasn’t her responsibility.  i’m rambling though.

mostly this post was made to remind people that Annabeth was angry towards Luke, and rightfully so, until near the end of Titan’s Curse, which is where her defending Luke and insisting he could be saved really started, likely with Luke indicating he actually still cared deep down for the first time being the catalyst.  especially since it seems a lot of people give like the impression they think she’s done it from the very beginning? idk ive definitely rambled a lot and lost my main point sometime ago or something. enjoy this anyway.

[takaraphoenix]

*trying to come up with fandoms you haven't crossed over yet* arrowverse and shadowhunters?

*pouts* I’ve not done that many crossovers yet. I mean. It’s a few. But not that many.

Arrowverse and Shadowhunters. Mh. Okay. So, I got this three times in my ask-box by now, so I’ll do one in the Arrowverse and one in the Shadowverse. How is that in three times but not Arrowverse with PJatO? That’d be way easier. *ducks head while thinking about this one*

This one, let’s start with the Arrowverse characters in the Shadowhunters verse.

CONSTANTINE IS A WARLOCK. I love Constantine.

Eddie, Joe and Quentin work as mundie cops with Luke and are thus dragged into the Shadow World. Laurel, mundie lawyer. And yes, Eddie is 100% alive and engaged to Iris. Of course.

Can you imagine the huge crush Alec would have on the hot, broody blonde archer though…? Like. He would totally have a crush on Oliver. Fight me on that.

Oliver, Roy and Thea as Shadowhunters.

Felicity and Cisco geeking out with Simon! Also, both Shadowhunters.

Let’s say metas are freshly turned. Wolves/vampires.

Barry as a vampire. The strength and speed. Even for a vampire, he is exceptionally fast! And he would sooo hit it off with Simon! Imagine Simon playing the guide to vampirehood for Barry, trying to mentor! *grins*

Wally also as a vampire who got turned by getting dragged into this all.

How about Caitlin as a warlock who doesn’t know she’s a warlock until she comes into her heritage as a late bloomer. And she’s afraid of it. All that turning Killer Frost stuff translates to her losing control of her warlock mark.

I don’t know what to do with my favorite aliens though… Like, the Martians could also be warlocks and their Martian appearance being their warlock mark?

But Kara and Clark… Also former experiments of Valentine? Extra angel-blood thus extra strength and some special abilities…? *frowns hard*

Izzy and Laurel - total bff material right there.

Imagine Luke, Quentin and Joe just… being exhausted cop dad friends. I really like that. Quentin and Joe are two characters I would already love to have more interactions in canon, but if they were in the same precinct? Yeees.

And Barry as a CSI working with them, obviously. I mean. Come on! We’d finally have a precinct in the know. No more having to hide the supernatural!

The League of Assassins could have been like… an Institute? Far off? So Nyssa and Sara are parabatai from overseas.

Mick, Lenny and Lisa stay Rogues. Because we need some mundie crime too. Only that they’d use magic on their heists. Because that makes it more fun! ^o^

I feel like I forgot at least half of them - yeah, sorry. There’s just like 200 characters in the Arrowverse by now…?

[livrelady]

#not even in a ‘how dare you try to kill my son!’ kind of way#but in a ‘how genuinely dense are you? this is why we needed another war deity’#will be brought up at every family dinner for millennia afterwards#every time ares tries to make a point from then on ‘you fought a son of poseidon by OPEN OCEAN YOU DON’T GET AN OPINION’#pjo tv show#pjo#percy jackon and the olympians#poseidon#poseidad#ares pjo#ares#percy jackson (X)

“Ares…is a moron.”

I honestly don’t think that anyone is more amused by the whole “this douchebag decided to try and fight the child of the sea god on a fucking beach” of it all than Poseidon.

[newathens]

a headcanon, leaning on meta: bianca was supposed to the prophecy child. you know how the pjato prophecy said that it would be a child of the big three, but it never specified, and over time everyone just reached a consensus that percy was the prophecy child because thalia and nico’s chances were cancelled out? well, clearly, thalia passed the responsibility to percy and hades tried to trap percy so nico could be the prophecy child, so this gives off the idea that the position was open to any of them, but what if it wasn’t? what if bianca was literally supposed to be the prophecy child, what if the fates literally had her name written down, set in stone, chosen from the beginning, but it never happened, because she died so quickly. it’s a possibility, so humor me and just. . . imagine

[pastelacrylics]

Tagging game!

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better

Tagged by: talentlesshuman kinda?

1) Nickname: no thanks sorry fam

2) Gender: Bigenderflux? (idk usually boy and nb work)

3) star sign: Tauru

4) Height: 5′4

5) time: its 9:21 rn

6) Birthday: May 13

7) Favorite bands: Fall out boy, (BMC cast), 

8) Favorite solo artist: dodie clark, Thomas sanders, ed Sheeran, owl city

9) Song stick in my head: For forever

10) Last movie I watched: ghost in the shell

11) Last show I watched: Grey's and riverdale

12) When did I create my blog: 2012 was my first, 2014-15 was this one?

13) what do I reblog / post: I have so many blogs. I have a couples blog, an aesthetic blog, a mental health blog, a geek blog, this one is general + sjw stuff.

14) last thing I googled: how to make an android phone work like an apple one

15) other blogs: geek-half-blood , infinity-lilac-skies , a-s-d-and-psychotic are some of the active ones

16) Do I get asks: no

17) why I choose my URL: I was branding for my youtube channel that has long since been deleted.

18) following: 223 and I need another unfollowing spree tbh

19) followers: 296 and none of them are porn blogs or bots.

20) Average hours of sleep: .....11-6:30 I dont wanna do the math 

21) lucky number: ??? nothing is lucky for me but I like the number 16 it feels nice

22) Instrumemts: in elementary school I did percussion and was pretty good. also, my fave was a little upside-down pot like thing with a knob on top hmu if you know what im talking about

23) what I’m wearing: tank tops and leggings its my pjs 

24) Dream Job: writer/public speaker. but since thats not consistent pay im going for SpEd teacher. Id like being a politician too but uhhhhhh lets not.

25) Dream trip: I just want to go and live in CA

27) nationality: American?

28) Favourite song right now: More than Survive

29) Last book I read: The Road for school I guess

30) top three fictional universes to live in: BMC, Harry Potter, PJatO

tagging: my friends sooooooo

@that-psychotic-fanboy @lachrymosestories @blue-gold-demigod-clouds @jeremyheereprotectionsquad @meta--sin @the-octopus-queen

[professorsparklepants]

So I'm rereading the original Percy Jackson books, and thinking about annabeth. I think she might be the only demigod who had more interaction with her godly parent than her mortal one. Except for one instance, in the first book's timeline she has tried living with her father again once, which worked horridly- Athena gave her a twelfth birthday present (her invisible hat) and it is implied she's met Athena more than once. So in the her years at camp half blood she was definitely contacted by bot

 both her parents once, with more times implied on her mom's side. So she would be the only demigod in the be closer (offerings, dreams, gifts, ect) to her godly parent. That has so many cool character things.

I agree! It also presents a great foil to Percy's relationship with his parents- the constant figure of his mother, and (at first) the complete mystery of his dad/their distant  relationship.

[lumityfication]

ok i want to share the tags left by @cutesilyo because i was thinking these exact same things but she articulated it better than i ever could:

#cotg spoilers #pjo #just finished reading it and yeah!!! yeah!!!!!!! yeah!!!! #i dont understand why people are being so nitpicky about this #its got that comic book approach of like. i dont care if the premise doesnt make sense its about the themes #cotg takes its time! like it honestly made me laugh how the trio were trying to schedule this like. 'ooft cant do friday. gotta spend time #with my girlfriend. monday before school starts?' #genuinely shocked when we finished the first part of the quest and theres just this chapter of percy hanging out with his mom? #talking about how the quest went and about his fears? #that was so precious #and it also marked that feeling of 'oh this really is going to be different from the other books' #its slow. not high stakes. theres not even much of a deadline. its not too heavy. nothing too bad happens. #but its meaningful #poseidon has this quote in the end about little waves #which i think really encapsulates the whole thing #the whole meta of this trilogy of rec letter quests really #because this will be a series that not everybody will pay attention to #and by this point we already know the foregone conclusion: percy gets into new rome! baby estelle is born! the next big thing that happens #in the pio-verse is trials of apollo! #its kinda like this. we know this book was written and released with the timing to drum up hype for the show. #and rick promised us this book would be one for the old fans. original pjato five book series fans. #and its funny that the book makes fun of that at first? percy literally saying the people trapped in hebe's lair are trapped in nostalgia? #but by the end its not about nostalgia. not really. thats why we end with geras. #because its not just about selling nostalgia to the fans #its about giving fans a chance to see percy grow up. work his way into the next stage of his life. a conscious choice to be more than #the gods' hero. #like he always says he wants to be just percy jackson but now he's given the time and grace to. idk. actually be that #and it looks like thats what this trilogy is gonna be about. im excited to see how this goes #also cotg was fun! it was fun! cant rick have a little fun? #the last time we had rick have a little fun for something that wasnt strictly needed for pjoverse we got greek gods and greek heroes!

especially to your point about how “he always says he wants to be just percy jackson” — the feeling i got from the very beginning of this book was that it was going to be about what’s next for percy, since it was mentioned a lot that percy was pretty much done with camp half blood atp and would be able to leave the demigodly dangers behind soon. like obviously we know how his life after this will go since it’s set between existing series, but he doesn’t. the way i interpret it is percy has just gone through two major demigod prophecies and saved the world multiple times, but he is closing that chapter of his life and wants to (more or less) live as a normal person now that he might actually have a chance to, but is also realizing what leaving that chapter of his life may mean for him. he wants to go to college with annabeth, but he’s going to leave camp, his best friend, his mom and even his new half-sister behind on the other side of the country. and moments of quiet between the quest, like sally joining percy on the fire escape or percy and grover at the swim meet, make percy’s struggles to figure out life after his adventures feel so painfully relatable and Human rather than otherworldly. all of this to say that i felt like this book emphasized percy’s mortal side more than the grandness of his godly side that rick’s books tend to go for to appeal to his younger audience, and it was incredibly effective for me.

in a way it is about nostalgia. i think rick knew that there would be a bit of a renaissance coming once the show finally releases, and people who were/ still are invested in his books and are now adults may read for the nostalgia. but rather than just being a book reminding you of the good old days, i think this book genuinely does speak really well to older readers who want to see percy grow up. because now that audience he had from the late 2000s/early 2010s knows that there’s still a lot of growing you can do after you’re 16/17 years old (and that things will still be good or even better even if they’re different).

i dunno i have a lot of thoughts on this sorry to ramble on and on but this is the first time anyone’s added such a great analysis onto one of my posts and it made me so excited 😖😖

i don’t care about timeline inaccuracies and silly plotlines in pjo. what i’m most pleasantly surprised by is just how well all of the mythological figures featured in cotg (particularly the gods) reflected percy’s character arc. i literally loved percy’s arc so much in this book it’s one of my favorite things ever and it hit so close to home, i’m so glad this book had time to breathe and wasn’t just quests all the time!! chalice of the gods really reckons with the idea of percy growing up and growing old and leaving childhood behind, which is so reassuring but also really emotional to read about coming from a character that you have followed since you were so young. i just feel very grateful to have this story where percy is growing with me and reflecting thoughts and worries i still have to this day even though i am older than him now (😭😭)

[bvckbiter]

What are your thoughts on canon Percabeth?

Oof. Loved them in pjato, began to become irritated with the “OTP 4EVA!!!” vibes rick was giving them in hoo, cant stand how theyve been used as quick cash grab fanservice at the expense of their characters, and most of all utterly revolted by how both canon and a lot of fanon currently flanderizes them. Also get the ick when people treat the entire percy saga as essentially just about percabeth; like yes shes a big part of his character but theyre more than each other and i wish people stopped equating big thematic moments like percy turning down immortality etc as solely being done for annabeth. my girl deserves better than to be a pedestalized perfect gf. I generally dont touch the main side of the fandom so that includes much of the percabeth stuff i dont want to see anyway. That being said, i also side eye a lot of the downright critical/anti stuff because usually theyre blowing it out of proportion or attributing bad meta-writing choices to the characters being psychopaths, and it doesnt leave a good taste in my mouth that its annabeth in particular who gets the brunt of that

Theres a lot of nooks and nuance to all my opinions on this (plus i have a very long hoo meta crit post that also touches in percabeth in hoo) but this is the tldr

[thejudgingtrash]

Can you explain to me how Rachel was annoying in the series?

Well, I’ll try to keep myself short for this one (lol no, this took an hour to write). Also, let’s not forget that they’re all kids, but I’m basing this off from when I read the series as a fourteen year old because my opinions haven’t changed much (for better or for worse).

I’m not the biggest fan of Rachel. I have to admit that portrayals of her by Simi, Kit, Logan, Apollo and all the others helped to shape her into something cooler than what she had been in my foggy memories but I actually went back to take a look in the books (well, TTC + BOTL so far) to refreshen my mind about events that have happened.

Also, you should browse through @blackjacktheboss's blog as she’s a) hilarious and b) says whatever I say in like a single sentence lol. But your ask is about me and my opinions so here we go:

What I didn’t like about Rachel was that she’s rude and bold (DON’T GET ME WRONG, I love that in female characters!!!), but she doesn’t have Annabeth’s excuse of survival of the fittest (literally running off as a traumatized seven year old) and introducing us into the world of the Riordanverse.

Percy was on his way, had shit to deal with and Rachel pretty much interrupted him from the get-go and thought getting her answers was more important than letting Percy just rush forward. Yes, this is Rachel’s entrance into the series and the net Riordan threw into the sea, to make us little fish adapt to her. But it still didn’t sit right with me, probably because I would never interact that way.

I get why she did that, but it’s the way how she did it that’s just making me go ???

Even if I was seeing weird things, I wouldn’t set out to distract/interrupt someone who is incredibly busy to get my way. Rachel’s dick move seems like a Karen boomer type of thing to pull off, but guess that’s up to you.

If I were her, I’d either film/try to photograph the monsters via phone (if that’s possible) or internet stalk enough to find the other person (note: despite Riordan’s stupid rule of not being able to use phones, demigods still can use computers/the internet, I guess). Percy was national news like a year or two ago in the timeline, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to find more stuff out about him, even in like 2008 or so. Let him have a spot on Perez Hilton's shitty gossip blog, for the OGs reading this.

Annabeth was used as a tool of exposition to introduce us to CHB, the demigod life and how things roll around there. She barged into Percy’s mission as a nuisance first but a necessity second in TLT.

However, in comparison to Rachel, Annabeth was transformed into a fully-fledged protagonist within a span of a chapter or two. Rachel needed another separate book after her first appearance, so we don’t just know Annabeth better, we know that she’s an important constant throughout the story as of Rachel seems… almost random? Is she truly necessary as a character?

This doesn’t come from a shipper perspective, this is coming from a character design perspective and adds to the feeling that the way she has been introduced to me as a reader just seems off.

Yes, BOTL makes sense with her as a reborn Ariadne, but technically Sally could’ve done the job as she’s a clear-sighted mortal as well lol. Then again, Sally is an adult, went to college, had a job, was unfortunately probably working it up with Paul, did the cha cha slide with him and had overall better shit to do.

Then Rachel as the oracle, which is just super weird in general. Wasn’t Apollo himself responsible for issuing prophecies in the OG myths? Or did he both, have the oracle of Delphi as his spokesperson and issue important stuff to Team Olympus? Am I mixing things up? I’m getting sidetracked, my bad.

Either way, this oracle gig might be the only time I’d say Rachel might be important in the future (badum tzz), but Riordan fumbled the bag in the follow ups series so there’s that. Did she even appear in HOO? Can’t remember and also don’t care.

Rachel is used as one out of three choices in regard to his love life that Percy can make. Calypso literally got introduced into BOTL and was admittedly Percy’s biggest what if… But the general gist doesn’t sit right with me. We have three possible routes with Percy and the others:

Rachel: somewhat normality in the mortal realm

Annabeth: the danger and thrill of the demigod life

Calypso: ambrosia and nectar. a hint of immortality

(On one hand, literally why but on the other hand, mad props for Percy who has literally three romantic leads in the same book.) I’d cancel one of them at least out and since Annabeth isn’t going anywhere, I’m taking Rachel. Sally could literally been Percy’s anchor to a normal mortal life as she had intended until it didn’t work out anymore when he became twelve and his monster alerting scent grew stronger.

Calypso and Annabeth would’ve been the perfect opposites where each of them had a strong case. The demigod life within the realms or mortal or the demigod life ascending to Olympus/immortality. Sounds cooler and is way simpler. Three people is way too much, this truly feels like a shonen anime harem thing and it’s defo not my cup of tea (and while some Annabeth sideships aren’t my thing (Lukabeth go cry in the corner, no one likes you, WTF, Connabeth you fugly), it’s super unfair that Annabeth solely has Percy (fuck off Luke) to rely on in regards of romantic endeavors).

Rachel almost feels redundant? The option to walk away from all of that… which isn’t really true as Rachel really tries to push and insert herself into the story the very first time we meet her? But that’s just me, I’m certain that others are saying they’d kill off Annabeth or kick Calypso (I mean yeah) into the curb.

Big ALSO:

Why does Percy need another white and uber-rich love interest?

I semi-joked on Dez’ post (@sawasawako) with this response about Annabeth needing to keep up with powerful Rachel, but the core still stands.

We already have an affluent Annabeth (granted, we don’t know exactly how the Chase’s riches are divided, whereas it’s clear that Rachel can just make anyone drop dead by saying who she is. Annabeth needed that weird lotus casino credit card to make that happen, so Miss Harvard Legacy doesn’t wield that Dare schmoney. Also don’t think Annabeth can just up papa’s money and go…? Idk).

Why do we need another person needing to upstage this?

Like Rachel has to triumph in regards to standard and prestige as if it were a badly written Jane Austen AU. For what reason…? Why not make Percy friends and acquaintances with someone who comes from a normal household for once, not super rich brats (Piper, Annabeth, Rachel, technically the Graces with their TV starlet mother amongst others).

Moreover…

Important question: why should Percy actually be impressed/attracted to that? He’s dirt poor and has been sent to (boarding) schools filled with stupid rich people since he’s been twelve, probably even younger than that. As if that’s the very first thing Percy would look out for or be wowed or something. He’s used to rich douchebags. I think he’s more surprised that someone used their money for his benefit for once and not to crash daddy’s new Mercedes again.

Like seriously… Rachel did that weird art project thing in BOTL with her covered in gold and posing like it’s a super normal thing to do? Even for rich snobbish kids standards? That sounds weird to me. I don’t know, maybe Riordan’s been streaming the new Gossip Girl reboot on HBO Max on repeat and thought this girl is on fiyah (performed by Alicia Keys).

Rachel trying to separate herself from her money just comes off as super hypocritical when she’s using the very same funds to finance her lifestyle. I get it, trying to make amends and make a difference with the damage you have done but... your father still doesn't give a shit about the environment or YOU, sweetie. Kick him in the balls for once! Then you can go out about your art projects.

The concept of Percy having friends in the mortal realm is cool, but why does Rachel almost have to compete with Annabeth with her wealth and art stuff?

No seriously, the comparisons are constantly there, out and about. Roaming freely on the finest grass, needing to be feed delicious locally sourced carrots and stuff.

Annabeth is Athena’s kid. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, weaving, justice, warfare yada yada and arts and crafts. So definitely something which would affect Rachel, right (someone write that Athena messing with Rachel because she can AU and tag me please!)?

Annabeth wants to become an architect which translates to fancy building designer who is driving engineers like Leonardo Eugenio Valdez Cortes insane irl because the maths and physics don't work like that in the working field trust me I'm an engineer, which could/should be considered an art form.

They even shared some common ground while talking about architecture and design in BOTL!

Furthermore, they both share broken homes with absent parents (granted that all demigods go through that). Wealthy families at that as well. Shitty fathers that don’t care about their daughters well-being. Rachel however, is super powerful and influential in an unseen level in the mortal world. She isn’t like Matt Sloan (?) who truly messes up by destroying shit to get his father's attention, but she’s still in that circle and can easily demonstrate that. Making deals with her father and what not. We rarely see Annabeth doing that. Did y’all forget the fucking helicopter Rachel brought along in TLO?

Pan saying Rachel is just as important as her father has multiple meanings to me…

(Sidenote: I do think it’s hilarious that Annabeth is jealous/annoyed of Rachel that her remarks were she’s cute right and Percy went??? Or when Tyson said Rachel’s pretty? Or that time when Annabeth actually defended Luke and his weird behavior (because Kronos was slowly taking over, don’t forget that kids!), because f that rich artist nepotism kid that Rachel seems to be, right?)

Another note: Percy thinks Rachel is annoying in BOTL for a while and it took a while for him to admit that and he spent way more time being annoyed/jealous (for once, Lordy) at Luke for him to even notice lol.

I guess it’s really hard for me to exactly pinpoint what’s bothering me. I believe Rachel's persona just doesn’t seem to hit right, because it feels like a knock-off Annabeth who just simply isn’t a demigod, yet has two cool powers, but in even richer who still needs to be part of the story for exactly what reason?

The jumping around from the richest in the series to the poorest in the series is kinda bothering me as if the middle class doesn’t exist, like I’ve stated earlier. Why didn’t Riordan mix it up with Rachel, giving her more nuance the minute they met, not towards the end? Have her be Percy’s platonic friend from the get go. No weird oh wait she is kinda cute in the middle bullshit.

This kinda drifted more into a Perachel vs Percabeth essay, which really wasn’t my intention. Don’t worry kids, I’m criticizing Annabeth (and her stans) enough already.

And I do think that others in the fandom have softened my views on Rachel as a person like I’ve stated in the beginning. So friendship!Perachel is popping! But I do think that there are some valid points that I’ve made.

Also not gonna lie, Rachel issuing the new prophecy in TLO kinda dampened the end of PJO series but that’s more Riordan’s fault than hers.

TLDR: I’m just not a huge fan of this overbearing, uber-rich, excessively flaunting being that Rachel sometimes displays. She’s flawed, she’s broken at times, has a semi-interesting background story (although it has been done over and over again throughout the series and should be changed up for once) which is great, but it is still annoying.

We don’t need an anti-Annabeth who feels like a weird caricature of the real Annabeth.

Also if this seems super incoherent, repetitive, or whatever, I'm sorry, massive headaches + mental health going down the goo lagoon does this to ya, I hope I made somewhat sense!

[amaryllisblackthorn]

metas ive done in my head (several times) but still need to actually write

luke’s fatal flaw esp re: tlo climax + how percy’s fatal flaw may be relevant in said climax (pjato)

luke and annabeth’s relationship + change in annabeth’s perception during ttc + misinterpretation of feelings (pjato)

lucas totally suspected claus being the masked man after ch 5 + tanetane island showing/hinting this (mother 3)

underapprciated npcs esp post time skip including Bronson, Ed, Jonel (mother 3)

how the ‘hinawa and claus being alive ending’ is in fact a valid/legitimate ending to believe in esp re: the credits

ryou as an older brother during duelist kingdom (esp re: jou + shizuka & kaiba + mokuba) (ygo)

ryou + the ring/spirit post monster world (how much was he aware of, etc) (ygo)

luke and layton’s friendship + how layton treats luke in last specter (compare how emmy treats luke) + like just luke in last specter (pl)

just like a rough timeline of the last specter backstory stuff (pl)

takeru being able to read people’s insecurities and use it against them to gain an advantage (pinochimon/puppetmon s1, ken/kaiser 02) + kind of being a foil to pico/demidevimon in that regard (digimon adv)

maybe how the effect takeru’s family situation and angemon’s death has on him can be seen throughout s1 idk (digimon adv) 

something about takeru + iori in regards to their jogressing arc and stuff//takeru re: ‘powers of darkness’  (digimon adv 02)

how takeru doesn’t ‘hate the powers of darkness’ itself but it being used the cause suffering/the suffering caused by its abuse/misuse

holmes def figured out most of if not all of case 4 by the time of the joint reasoning thing (dgs)

zak gramarye/shadi enigmar character analysis + how, separate from his flaws, he genuinely loved trucy and thalassa (and valant & magnifi) + how he was unable to ever actually grieve his wife + how that may have affected him etc (aa4/aa)

klavier's reaction to daryan's gaslighting and betrayal in 4-3 vs kristoph's (implied?) gaslighting and betrayal in 4-4 (aa)

parallels etc between dgs2 + aa4, esp re: 'the darkness' and gavin bros (dgs 2/aa)

sakura taking gaara’s attack for sasuke (sasusaku/naruto)

oh yeah honestly just completing my ouat wendy meta/character analysis c’mon !! (ouat)

tommy and grizel both being conceived out of wedlock (sentimental tommy/barrie)

barrie and mary ansell ( + canan) re: characters in dear brutus (barrie)

other stuff that i’m probably forgetting

like literally some of these i have in fact literally written out in my head several times and just havent written down and its frustrating to me im frustrating to me !!!

[livrelady]

#no cause surrendering is literally the ONLY thing that could save Percy's life and it's so against the gods pride to admit defeat#bue he does because HE LOVES HIS SON!!!! HE IS PROUD OF HIS SON!!!!#poseidon loves percy and sally so much it makes me so emotional#pjo#percy jackson#pjo tv show#pjo spoilers#percy jackson spoilers#percy jackson and the olympians#pjoedit#pjogif#percyjacksonedit#percyjacksongif#pjosource#tvedit#*mine#*my gifs#*my pjo#poseidon (X)

One day. One day when he's ready. When he knows who he is, and where he belongs. And fate has revealed to him his true path. On that day, I'll be right by his side.

[binaryystars]

So people are mostly pinpointing the appearance of Percy’s darker side to the events in House of Hades with Percy spiraling out of control with the intention of saving Annabeth.

Uh. Did y’all forget events that led some campers to certain demise and death in The Last Olympian? Percy had a hand in those.

Dark Percy isn’t a purely HOO thing, he appeared sooner. Way sooner. And the curse of Achilles amplified him.

And tbh I’d go to say that dark!Percy happened as early as TLT with his manipulating and cunning ways. It gets brushed over because he had been a child, but he always had this streak ready from day one. Percy isn’t an innocent bystander by all means.

[binaryystars]

Hazel asks Nico if Percy is dangerous. With any other character than Hazel, it would have been the other way. Everyone (except Hazel, bless her heart) that meets Nico post-Bianca are scared of

him

. I mean, as soon as he discovered his godly parent, he just… took it to his heart. He started wearing black clothes and skull stuff and he spent his time in the underworld or in graveyards. He just accepted that aspect of himself. “Okay, I’m the son of the death god that is portrayed as a villain 99% of the time and that lives in the underworld. I have powers to make skeletons rise from the ground. People will be scared. Yeaah I’ll go talk to some dead people and do some research.” He’s fully aware that he’s shrouded with death stuff. And he just goes on, declaring himself the king of ghosts and not-so-randomly spouting facts about the underworld or death. I can see why that would make people uneasy in his presence. (It is pretty clear that he’s really more scared of other people than people are of him, like a spider. Cute little spider.) What I want to say is, while he hides a lot inside himself, he is not hiding his scary aspects. You won’t be surprised when he sics a zombie at you.

Then there’s Percy. While Hades is seen as the, well, creepiest god, I don’t think it’s safe to say Hades is scaries than Poseidon. He has a lot of other names, including Stormbringer and Earthshaker. He’s the father of horses, but also of monsters, like the Cyclops and other, much more treacherous creatures. Treacherous is a key word. I mean, Death and the underground is a steady aspect, always there. The Sea, not so much. It has many moods, and it’s unpredictable, and it can wreck a lot of havoc.

Percy is your typical hero. He’s funny and dashing and fiercely loyal and will do what is right no matter what. In that way, he’s not really that unpredictable. But the thing is, it’s very hard to realize just how strong he is. He doesn’t really realize he could do things before he does them.

In the Curse of the Titan, he casually lifts an entire river in a fight with Thalia. He lifts a frickin river. And in the Battle of the Labyrinth, his lack of knowledge about his powers is starting to get scary. He can summon the sea almost wherever he is, and he doesn’t really know. He cleaned the stables of flesh eating horses with spouts of sea water, and he almost didn’t manage to stop before he overdid it. He managed to summon the sea while in the middle of a volcano. He awakened Typhon. He didn’t mean to.

He didn’t mean to.

While Nico knows almost exactly what he’s doing, dabbling with ghosts and skeletons and his black sword, Percy blows up a volcano by accident. And he can make a hurricane.

In the House of Hades, he finds out he can control streams of poison. In a battle against Akhlys, one of the creepiest goddesses we’ve met, and Annabeth is scared of

him

. I immediately came to think about bloodbending, in Avatar: The Last Airbender. What if he just decided to control the blood in someone’s body? And it doesn’t even have to be blood, just the water in our body, imagine the damage he could do, if he tried. Water powers are

infinitely scary

when you start imagining the possibilities. And there’s the fact that he can make himself immune to water, keep himself dry. This doesn’t seem very scary.. until he takes a bath in Lethe with Iapetus. Ok, the river Lethe is terrifying. It wipes your mind. And in The Sword of Hades, on of the Demigod File stories, Percy defeats Iapetus by dragging him with him into Lethe. Not pushing the titan into the water. He goes into the water, too, but keeps himself dry. Considering he can actually lift a river, if he wants to, too… shudder. Then there’s the fact that what almost kills him down in Tartarus are the curses. Curses his enemies have wished on him: that he suffers the same way they did. All the damage he has done, turned back on himself - that was the hardest trial in Tartarus.

Reading about Percy Jackson from the perspective of other characters is refreshing. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading his snarky narration. But the impression we get from him about himself is that he’s just a dork that does stuff because things keep happening. One of my favourite side stories is The Son of Magic, from the Demigod Diaries. It’s about Alabaster, a son of Hecate, who was on the titan’s side in the war. Because the way he talks about Percy Jackson, the Son of Poseidon… it’s hard to describe what feeling I get, but I really enjoy when the moralities turn more grey than black/white. I got the feeling Percy Jackson really was terrifying to his enemies. Even Luke was scared of him. He is the son of the god that causes natural disasters. He blazes through his quests and despite being on the side of gods, he’s not afraid of standing up to them. He talks back and they don’t kill him. He doesn’t always accept their gifts and offers. He makes them

do

stuff. He isn’t controlled by anything except the fierce loyalty towards his friends… and only them. If you’re his enemy, you should be very, very scared.

If I compare the PJ series to Harry Potter (which I also love deeply), I think PJO is much better at the greyzoned morality. One of the things about HP is that it is very black and white. Yeah, they have some moments with Umbridge and James Potter and things like that, but our heroes are always heroic and know what they’re fighting for, and the evil side is so very evil… whereas in PJO the good side is full of jerks, like the gods. Basically, the only thing that keep them fighting for the gods is that they’re better than the titans. And we are reminded that not all heroes are nice. Hercules was not nice. Calypso is nice, but she is constantly punished by the gods. A lot of the evil monsters have pretty good reasons to be evil monsters. The story of the Labyrinth, well… Daedalus. What can I say.  Even Gaia gets a few thoughts on “what if” when Percy visits Alaska and realizes how beautiful the world is in its wild, untempered state. And the fact that Hades, the obvious villain, iss not a villain is one of my favourite things. Also the parallell between Thanatos and Cupid - who is really the scariest? I think these are the things that make these series so good. Finally some morality conflicts in children’s fiction. Delicious.

Conclusion: befriend Percy if you get the chance.

Let's talk about how terrifying Percy Jackson is

because I really wanna talk about it. I mean, I want to talk about absolutely everything about the Percy Jackson series and The Heroes of Olympus right now because I’ve been reading them, but let’s take one thing at a time. One of the things I like about the PJ series is that we are constantly remindered that heroes are bastards. In every sense of the word. And while ridiculously heroic and efinitely a nice guy, our protagonist for five books, Percy, is pretty freaking scary when you think about it. “Is he dangerous?” she asked. Nico managed a dry smile. “Very. To his enemies.”

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