#tried to keep this a sibling/ more canon focused so no Michael/ Jake involvement here

[pain-is-too-tired]

Mentioned the whole Will,Drew and Jake feeling angry at Silena and Clarisse in tags of the Clarisse post reblog-

But gonna specifically focus on Jake here, because the fandom already explores Will and Drew's feelings on the matter so I wanna kinda expand on my boy.

But, something I feel like definitely would've been interesting in the books, it's exploring both Jake and Drew's feelings post titan war and Leo and Piper's view in the matter.

People already brought up with Drew's feelings on Silena being seen as wrong in the sense of the books portrayal. Why Jake's feelings on the whole thing in general is,honestly, him in a state of depression.

Like I've seen it brought up the idea of him having been fine if he hadn't made it back from trying to riegn in Festus. And I can see that, because he's completely given up by the time Leo gets there. And why I personally would have preferred that Leo and Piper not been Head Counselors or been raised to co-counselors, I can definitely see why he might've wanted to step back. Though him getting back up on his feet(figuratively and literally) as a Head Counselor when Leo comes back would've been neat.

And addressing the issues left after the Titan War being a part of that.

Because Jake lost his brother and was suddenly thrusted into leadership, only to find out that his brother's girlfriend had been the spy that indirectly led to his death. Like, I assume he probably interacted with her a bit more in some compacity with her and Beck dating, or he at least more regularly saw just how happy Beckendorf was with her. So finding that out had to hurt.

And there's some ground to explore it even in tlo. Jake is the one the bring up the spy again to everyone after the first night in BoM. Percy interacts with Jake and Silena a lot in the ch/scenes. Silena deciding to try to get Clarisse again, and Jake being the one to update Percy on the situation and seems to heavily analyze the battles of the previous night.

I think, why he never truly voice his full thoughts on it, that he was hyper aware of the spy being around. That he didn't want to go blaming others out of nowhere but also wanted to make sure what happened with Beckendorf, and later Michael, didn't happen again.

I think also,something that might've also made him more bitter, is the fact that he didn't really get anyone checking in on him in regards to Beckendorf's death. Why everyone seemed to be careful when mentioning Beckendorf around Silena.

Which, that could just be from what we see. Maybe others were making sure he was okay outside of what Percy points out, but there's nothing solid in that regard to go off of.

And grant it, part of that was Silena was a lot more openly grieving then Jake. But I could argue Jake probably felt like he couldn't openly grieve the same way. He had to care for his other grieving siblings after all. I could imagine that could grow bigger resentment with Silena being called a hero after everything.

Like, he had to take up a sudden leadership role mid war. He likely had the stress of living up to Beckendorf. He had to look after the rest of his siblings.

The only mentions of others recognizing Jake had lost a brother was in his introduction(vaguely mentioning even him being able to be amused by Clarisse and Michael's back and forth) and Jake himself in his rally cry to his siblings when they're given their assignment the first night.

Meanwhile when it's brought up Annabeth mentioning Beckendorf making the shield hesitantly, the focus is in her trying not to upset Silena. Nothing about the Hephaestus kids as well(though I'm sure they likely knew he helped make it, seeing your brothers work after just loosing him properly hurt)

I think something about Silena having(understandably) openly grieved Beckendorf, and Jake thinking back on that with bitterness because, she knew.

Which,yeah Silena was being blackmailed and all, but that doesn't make the harm her being a spy caused. And for Jake, who might've even felt they were on the same wavelength in having loved and now grieving Beckendorf, it would 100% make sense if he felt betrayed in a way. That anger just turning to apathy as he falls deeper into a depression as they struggle with the curse in his cabin.

And the different feelings about someone they never met Leo and Piper are suddenly met with. Where Piper is met with everyone but Drew defending their lost sister, which we see her somewhat internalizes as well especially with her own situation.

Vs Leo who's met with the grief and feeling of betrayal towards what led to their brother's death. There being way less doubts in Beckendorf's sacrifice being heroic, but also the sadness that it could've gone a different way.

Idk, I really was excited when I first started reading tlh and saw we were getting pov characters in fuller cabins. And especially cabins who especially are rebuilding themselves again. And it's just... not really explored. Heck, pretty sure Leo is the only one of the two who actually mentions missing his siblings. And that still isn't followed through(heck. He immediately leaves them again after he just returned to camp after dieing. He just leaves and finds another place and family as if his siblings hadn't been a wreck missing him. )

But yeah. Jake dealing with his own emotions over Beckendorf's death and how it spiraled into Apathy with his depression.

And honestly just exploring his very obvious depression in general, because my mind just met Leo and was like "Yeah I'm your Head Counselor... for now."

I might go over that in a later post because oh my gods-

Also,I love the idea of him being friends with Will, and maybe even the only one of the other Head Counselors he actually interacts well with. Part the reason why Will is chosen to show Leo to his cabin because Annabeth knew Will and Jake were a bit closer and Will probably had better time helping Leo get introduced to his older brother and other siblings before leaving them to show Leo around.

Not only had he lost a older brother in a similar way as him, but also he probably had plenty of interactions with Will with all the injuries going on.

Anyway. Jake thoughts cause he deserved better.

At least we got him being canonically queer. Gods bless him for being in the closet as well during all of that. Hdydg