#the dark prophecy

[lavenderfairiez]

I just finished ToA last night and here are some things I don't see nearly enough people talking about, specifically about the end of ToA so if you haven't read it this is your spoiler warning!!!

• Apollo not feeling right in his godly form and uncomfortable around the other olympians (not including Artemis)

• LEO CALLING JO "MOM" 🥺 (and Emmie and Jo in general) BUT HE HAS TWO MOMS NOW I LITERALLY STARTED CRYING ABOUT THIS LAST NIGHT

• Apollo visiting Percy and Annabeth in New Rome!!!

• AND they talk about Jason!!!!!! Annabeth cried herself to sleep

• honestly Apollo's whole battle with Python that shit was so cool

• obligatory fuck Calypso

• REYNA CALLING LEO "HERMANO" 🥹

• Meg standing up to Nero in his throne room!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH

• Rick's infallible ability to put EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. CHARACTER. in a relationship 💀 PEACHES HAS A LOVE INTEREST NOW???????? LET CHARACTERS BE SINGLEEEEE

• HAZEL'S CURSE IS GONE AND SHE CAN JUST LIKE USE HER JEWELS NOW!!! and Frank wants an engraved diamond necklace that says "H+F Forever" I love him so much...

• while we're on the topic of Frank!! WHY DOES NO ONE EVER TALK ABOUT HIS SACRIFICE AT THE END OF THE TYRANTS TOMB??? Like I knew that he would be fine but I still started like tearing up

• THE ARROW OF DODONA!!!

• how completely unaffected Zeus is by Jason's death??? Fuck you Zeus.

• Apollo's new kids at camp!!!

[siingomuse]

some of the book names in pjo/hoo/toa are actually FIRE mate like. "the lightning thief" that's actually so fire???? "the titans curse"??? that's so epic bro like. that's so cool "the battle of the labyrinth"?? that would be the COOLEST band name mate "mark of athena" like. greek mythology song named that WHEN?? and ALL of the book names in Trials of Apollo? FIRE "the hidden oracle" thats so awesome like WHAT??? "the dark prophecy" fire song name "the burning maze" aidoneus song drop named that when?? "the tyrant's tomb" call your band that drop the songs and I would be your NUMBER 1 listener like thats so cool "tower of nero" fire shit mate rick you were COOKING with these names

[poppitron360]

Thinking about names having power in the Riordanverse- because it’s exactly the kind of literature motif that I LOVE.

Thinking about “Leo” being short for “Leonidas” who was a Spartan King who sacrificed his life fighting to save his people in the Battle of Thermopylae.

Leo, similarly, gave his own life to stop Gaea and save the world.

That comparison has already been made before, but there’s more-

Leo rejects the name “Leonidas” and chooses to go by “Leo”- in a way, rejecting the fate he’s assigned to. And he doesn’t suffer that fate in the end. He lives.

Yeah, names have power. But what you choose to name yourself has even more power. For example, the fact that Thalia rejected the last name “Grace” because it associated her with her mother, but then taking it back up again when she found out Jason was alive. And Leo chose to not go by “Leonidas” and he also chose to take the physician’s cure and come back.

And here we get onto what Calypso’s doing. By calling him something that he asked to not be called, she is taking away that agency of choice. She is taking away that power.

It’s a small moment, but it REALLY bugs me. Because, like Leo, I go by a shortened version of a longer name, and often one of the ways bullies used to hold power over me was by calling me by my full name repeatedly, even after I asked them to stop. It’s also a way a lot of transphobes hold power over trans people- by deadnaming. By taking away the power of their name, their choice, their identity, who they are, who they’ve built themselves to be, and their right to control all of that.

Now, I’m NOT saying Calypso is going as far as deadnaming Leo, but it’s a similar premise. It’s a manipulation tactic used to knock people down.

Now friendly nicknames -e.g. “Seaweed Brain”- are different, because Percy consents to it. It’s a term of affection between them (and notice how it’s different when Thalia used it. It’s a name that symbolises percabeth’s love, and it’s a name only Annabeth can use). But this is a name, while said in a jokey, banter-y manner, that Leo has SPECIFICALLY ASKED to not be called. And she does it anyway, ignoring the boundary he’s set, ignoring his choice to shape his own identity, ignoring everything that symbolised INCLUDING the fact that it’s literally Leo saying “I choose life” by rejecting the name that fated him to death. It’s just a big red flag for me. And if you put that on top of the fact that she also physically hurt him in this (enough to make him say “ow”) then you just get a whole host of Reasons Why This is NOT Leo’s “Happy Ending”- which the narrative paints it out to be.

[astraeajackson]

the "trials and tribulations of apollo"?

nah more like "let's see how long apollo can go before his crazy ex burns america down to the ground all because of That One Time™ circa three thousand years ago when apollo may or may not have drowned said ex in his own bathtub"

[lady-menrva]

Honestly, I've liked Lester from the get go. It was so refreshing to see a character who actually had a layered personality, and was so much more than self-insertion or self-projection, a real breath of fresh air. People keep saying his arrogance made him unlikeable; as a person maybe, but I liked how towards the end of The Hidden Oracle he atleast tries to see that the world doesn't revolve around him. Also he was an extremely important, celebrated, and revered god in the Greek pantheon, so it does make sense for him to have such an over inflated sense of self.

[soapywankenopy]

Lester they could never make me hate you

[the-eclipse-is-in-me]

Artemis Loves Apollo

Need I say more

(im crying)

[moodyseal]

The most relationship ever

(credit to @thesungod for the idea, always out there with the best inspo LMAO)

[amyhasbluescreen]

Artemis in TOA > TTC

Guess who didn't realise there was like 50 books before she started reading Percy Jackson, this girl. Anyway I'm on The sun and The stars and then I have the Kane chronicles and magnus chase then I'm free. (idk what ill do with myself)

[churrorat-art]

They are siblings your honor!!

[jaronxlordashcombe]

IF THEY DON'T MAKE THESE 3 PERFECT I SWEAR!!!

Apollo must be very, very, very handsome in the shows or else

Nico must be very, very, very cute or I will go into the studios and demand a cute Nico.

Will must be Will. I WANT HIM IN THE 5 SEASON AND IF HE ISN'T

[lavenderfairiez]

Leo must be colorblind the way he doesn't see all of Calypso's red flags

[kazperthegh0st]

Lityerses always being in a Nebraska Cornhuskers shirt is so funny when you realize he shouldn’t have any idea what corn even is.

(Corn was introduced to Europe (where Greece is) during the Columbian Exchange (post 1492). Thus Corn wouldn’t have been a thing in Greece when Lit was alive. We also know the feilds of Punishment only served liquid fire as sustenance so he wouldn’t have found out about it there. We know things started to come back to life through the doors of death sometime in December and he met the lost trio the 19th (i think). And Corn is not in season in December. Its a summer Crop. Thus, Lit has never had corn and likely has no idea what corn is.)

[poppitron360]

Give me bitter Leo Valdez. Give me resentful, spiteful Leo Valdez. Give me a Leo Valdez that just wants revenge on the people who screwed him over and treated him like shit. Give me the fucked up, hurt, rage-filled Leo Valdez that’s so destroyed by the people from his childhood- the adults that were supposed to protect him- he wants to destroy them back. It’s a part of him in canon that gets forgotten a lot of the time but Leo is angry. Yes, he turns a lot of that anger on himself most of the time, but not always.

Give me Leo that punches the walls at night. Give me Leo growing more confident in his power and one day dreams of seeking revenge on those who wronged him. He was just a kid- how could they do that to him?

He kills Gaea out of nobility, true. He sacrifices himself out of disregard for his own worth. But he also wants revenge for the death of his mom, and all the mental torture and absolute shit that goddess had put him through. That’s why it had to be fire, not storm. Jason never had the same anger directed towards Gaea. Leo defeating her is a brilliant moment of catharsis for his character that NEVER gets picked back up in TOA.

But there’s so many more people that hurt Leo that never got their comeuppance. Namely his family and the people in the foster homes. And Leo would always hold that resentment in his heart for treating him the way they did.

[forgemill]

Apollo is more relatable than I gave him credit for

[lady-menrva]

I like the metaphorical symbolism between Meg and Lester; how Lester's leitmotif is the Sun, Meg's leitmotif is plants. You know, the fact that sunlight is deemed important for the healthy growth of a plant, and how Lester was so pivotal to Meg's growth as a character and as a person. I'm not sure if Rick intended it, but it's a small, interesting detail...