#we got Annabeth character development

[creative-hanyou-girl]

PJO SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

ALSO SHOUT OUT TO GROVER FOR BEING A CONNIVING AND SNEAKY LITTLE DETECTIVE THIS EPISODE AND BUTTERING UP ARES TO GET MORE INFORMATION OUTTA HIM!!!! YOU ARE THE GOAT; THE TRUE MVP OF OUR HEARTS, G-MAN!!!!!!!!🐐🐐🐐❤❤❤

[sleepyvib-es]

tbh all i wanted from hoo was more developed friendships

[nerdyfangirlmel]

You know Percy and Annabeth have a lot more room to grow in their relationship when 12 year old Percy leaves Annabeth with a root stuck to her leg while 17 year old Percy let’s himself get pulled down into Tartarus with her when she’s got webs stuck to her leg.

[aroaceleovaldez]

I was reading a post about CoTG and I realized: Rick has seemingly started to write every character pairing with the exact same dynamic, and he's not good at writing that dynamic and it doesn't make sense for 90% of the characters he writes it for.

It's that very specific dynamic of one half of the pair who is almost aggressive to the other party - "teasing" them constantly/insulting them, affectionately punching/judo flipping/maiming/etc, seemingly almost always exasperated with the other - and said other party usually just accepts this treatment or blanketly views it fondly, and may generally be framed as more incompetent than their partner and a little bit of a doormat (particularly relating to being insulted/teased/etc by their partner).

We start seeing this dynamic in HoO with Percy and Annabeth, as a sort of semi-inconsistent twist on their rivals-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic from the first series. Then the dynamic pattern develops further with Leo and Calypso. Then Magnus and Alex. Then Nico and Will, particularly in TSATS. And now in CoTG, it's Percy and Annabeth again but even more in this direction.

I know people have talked about Nico and Will's relationship over the series rapidly being shoehorned into Percabeth Two™, and it's extremely apparent in TSATS that Rick's doing it on purpose (including directly quoting Percabeth scenes but minorly tweaking them to be Solangelo). But recognizing it as an overarching trend in Rick's later books honestly reminds me a lot of how Rick started trying to apply the "Percy Formula" so-to-speak to nearly every protagonist in HoO (and then try to replicate similar character archetypes with Magnus and Apollo's narrations - moreso Magnus in being jaded and sarcastic, very much trying to be first series Percy. He only sounds unique because Rick failed at making him Percy 2. Apollo is more akin to later-series Percy characterization of being goofy and incompetent. Apollo [and Zeus] even got retconned to give Apollo a more similar backstory to Percy's). Rick seems to have decided that he thinks the audience wants this specific dynamic but 10 times over, except he's not good at writing it the first time because it's a bastardization of the time he did a different thing okay.

And Rick also seems aware of that too! Because he retconned Calypso and Leo at the end of TOA, probably because he realized how absolutely awful it was reading when they were written with that dynamic of Calypso just functionally hating Leo and constantly being aggressive towards him! The only time Rick's actually made the dynamic even semi-successful was with Magnus and Alex, because it actually fits within their characters, their dynamics with each other, and their environment. Alex beheading Magnus on the regular works out fine because there are no repercussions to that in Valhalla, Magnus will be fine, so it does genuinely come off as humorous. And Alex has been effectively established to be abrasive at times but have her genuine feelings shine through regularly, and that meshes well with Magnus' jaded-and-aloof-but-quietly-very-empathetic character. And Magnus has been established to, yes, not be great at combat, particularly compared to Alex. They are the only time that flavor of dynamic in that form was effective and cohesive.

Percabeth is no longer rivals-to-friends-to-lovers badasses on equal levels with shaky pasts who finally found some form of permanence with one another. Now it's super smart doting and affectionately aggressive girlfriend and her silly goofy 50%-of-the-time incompetent boyfriend who she judo flips/pushes off cliffs/etc - but affectionately~! Solangelo is trying to riff off of the early series "Poseidon & Athena are enemies" dynamic that Percabeth had but with Apollo & Hades being "opposites" but learning to accept each other, except it ends up with Will just coming off as a huge asshole and Nico being retconned to a complete doormat about it - when prior to that those characterizations would be completely contrary to their established characters (even just from TOA!). Calypso in HoO gets retconned from her PJO characterization to being snooty and aggressive, and Leo's false persona gets merged into his just normal personality except he just also becomes a doormat but more goofy than Nico with occasional haha-dark/depression-humor! Which Nico also got. Which was also a bastardized Percy trait that got redistributed.

It's exhausting. Rick write more than one relationship dynamic you can do it I promise

[a-sparrows-melody]

Unpopular opinion I fear but am I the only one here who ships Perachel/Percico?

I mean I get Rachel's Oracle chastity vows (although it makes no sense and I hate it hence I shall deny that it was ever canon).

Okay hear me out.

Percabeth is cute and all ONLY in PJO. Sure, they're teenagers in love but nobody's first relationship is perfect. It becomes VERY clear later on in HOO that they want different things. Percy wants to retire and Annabeth keeps wanting to go on quests. Annabeth is definitely more ambitious and active than Percy, but he just wants to fly under the radar. This causes a LOT of ideological differences between Percy and Annabeth. They should have honestly broken up and I'm sorry to say this but they aren't the "perfect couple" booktok paints them to be. They have ideological differences, that's fine and that's okay as long as they don't do anything too harmful to each other.

But Rachel is just chill. She cares about Percy and it's clear Percy cares about her as well. I personally think that they have a lot of potential and would make a good couple.

And Solangelo on the other hand.

I don't get the point. Will's personality is entirely fanon at this point and he's basically just a plot point for Nico to claim that he's gay. Instead Percy's perfect for him - and they have a history together as well.

Okay maybe not him since getting over Percy was a big plot point for Nico, but you get the point. Honestly wouldn't even mind Valdez. Heck, I would love if Nico got himself a mortal boyfriend. He's probably aching to get away from the gods' stupidity. Again, anything is better than that stupid-ass impulsive decision by Rick.

I get that writers (me included) like to claim "they don't know where the story's going" but seriously, do you not know your own characters? Do you not feel each and every emotion of theirs as if it is your own? I've seen a one-shot with literally 3k words have a better characterization than that. Seriously. What the hell is Rick even paying his ghostwriters and editors for.

Also can we talk about why Bianca was just a plot point for Nico's development and depression? I was trying to create some plotlines for a fanfic I'm writing, and I realized that for some reason I can't give Nico the same development and make him make the same choices if the "Bianca dies" is non-existent. That is so stupid. Why is a character's entire personality based on the shaky foundation of all of one major plotline?

[emma-o-yt]

Rick Riordan's problematic age gaps

Apparently reddit hates criticism because this got removed from there after a few minutes, maybe I can get it back up...anyways.

The age of consent in Texas is 17, Texas is where Rick lived (according to wikipedia) up until 2013. And yet...here we are.

Where do I even begin with this bullf*ckery? How about the most egregious of all?

Luke and Annabeth

We have two lines confirming their mutual feelings, one from The Demigod Diaries:

"Overtime, Annabeth developed a crush on Luke. As Annabeth got older, Luke developed feelings for her, too."

Mark of Athena (from her conversation with Venus):

"First there was Luke Castellan, her first crush, who had seen her only as a little sister; then he’d turned evil and decided he liked her—right before he died."

Now let me remind you, Annabeth and Luke have a seven year age difference, they knew each other at 7 and 14. By the time he died, Annabeth was just 16, while he was 23. And it's implied he begun returning her feelings a little before he asked her to run away, perhaps when she was 14. He's paralleled with Percy as Annabeth is his string in the river styx. He asks Annabeth explicitly if she loved him romantically (and she denies because Percy is there).

It's disgustingly inappropriate but at the very least they don't end up together...as for when they do...

Sadie Kane and Anubis

When it comes to immortal romance, I usually go for coded age. Anubis is thousands of years old but is mentally and physically 16, which is fine and dandy except for the fact that Sadie is 12. What do you want me to say except Rick is disgusting for promoting this.

Speaking of extreme age gaps:

Calypso and Leo

When you have a philosophy that every character must end up in a relationship, you run out of sensical options to pair up. Now, I'm a Caleo hater mainly because of how it retconned PJO and also because they are very toxic.

Now hold on, doesn't Caleo fall into coded age? Calypso is 15/16 and Leo is 15, so it's A okay! I suppose, if it wasn't for Calypso's past loves.

Odysseus, he had a wife and a son who was 20 years old in his final year on Ogygia, he is well into adult age. She also mentions the privateer Francis Drake and his wife Elizabeth, he was 45 when he married her.

If your defence is that she's actually thousands of years old, then that must also apply to Caleo. You cannot have it both ways.

Hazel and Frank

It's not that bad but it's necessary to mention for the point I will be making.

The timeline is messed up but I think they're 13 and 16 and meet at 12-15. I mean, come on.

Misogyny and Racism

What do these have in common? Well in 3/4 or 4/4, the younger one is female. In 2/4 or 3/4, the younger one is a person of colour.

Remember Nico? His crush on Percy as revealed in HoH? Well in MoA, there's a cheeky little red herring that happens a bit before Annabeth's talk with Venus (where it is revealed that Luke liked Annnabeth back). She wonders if Nico had a crush on her, but denounces him as too young. Now, Nico's age is inconsistent, I am unsure of his gap with Annabeth but I do know his gap with Percy. It's 3 years 5 months in PJO and 2 years 5 months in HoO (the series we are currently in).

So in RR's messed up mind, a white boy having a relationship with someone 2 to less than 4 years his senior is inappropriate. But a black tween girl dating someone 3 years her senior is just fine, a 12 year old biracial black girl dating a 16 year old is daijoubu, a 15 year old mestizo Latino boy dating an elderly woman is relationship goals, or the reverse a 15 year old girl dating middle aged men is a tragic romance and a 12 year old girl having mutual feelings with a 19 year old man is a "love story for the ages"!

The tv adaptation is so infuriating for this, they made Annabeth black, a lot of the changes they made came off as micro aggressions but especially her relationship with Luke. It's reduced to Luke simping for Annabeth behind her back and it's even worse because you can visibly see how large their age gap is. Heck, Charlie Bushnell and Leah Jeffries have a smaller age gap than book Luke and Annabeth.

Adultification is a huge real life issue. Children of colour and especially female children of colour are seen as less innocent than their white counterparts. Rick, who is dedicated to inclusivity should've known better than to include these illegal relationships. Stans will try and make excuses but it's there, deal with it.

As a black teenage girl who has been a fan of Rick's work for 12 years, I am disappointed.

[cynthiav06]

Percy is a dude from the category of screaming "what the hell did you do!" and solve all the problems in 5 minutes. Everyone would have been dead a long time ago if it wasn't for him.

I have mixed opinions on this. On one hand, Percy is the type of person to wait about for the problem to disappear by itself just so he doesn't have to deal with it. Cause even before he found out he was a demigod, he was 100% done with everyone's shit.

But I do agree that he would be able to solve all problems because through so many books we have seen that no matter how much prior planning Annabeth or the Seven or anyone else does, Percy always does his own thing at the end. And it works out mostly for the better than whatever initial situation anyone else had in mind because Percy thinks almost too well on his feet. Every time.

But Percy has such low self esteem that he sees the fact that he has to make so many improvisations more so as his plans never working as less so as an exceptional ability to adapt. Especially when at times he can easily sense that some titan/giant is too powerful so he maneuvers around a direct fight and ends up defeating them by pure strategy and still ends up thinking of himself as "Oh shit I seriously had no plans. I am so reckless and stupid".

His whole character arc could have been evolving into a more confident and self assured but still the usual sarcastic laid back version of himself who no longer doubts his own abilities and becomes the great leader he showed many signs of being. But no, Rick had to ruin it all because, for some reason, 10+ books later and almost all the characters are still the same, just decorated with even more trauma. Rick being Rick, and instead of showing characters working out their traumas and insecurities, he just slaps a relationship on them, and lo and behold, all is better again somehow.

I am kind of disappointed that we never got to see Percy or any other members of the Seven do any solo missions(aside from Annabeth in MoA) . She almost had the very quintessential realization about how she needs others and how her hubris will ruin everything if she doesn't keep it in check only for whatever she was doing in the later parts House of Hades and all of Chalice of the Gods to take away even that little bit of character development.

And cause solo missions working out perfectly well for Percy while most other demigods struggle a bit to make it work might finally make him realize that his plans don't suck and he is actually a really really good strategist and somehow an even better manipulator. (Though more on that and his observational skills later).

Or make characters like Frank and Leo whose unique abilities and perspectives on combat could have been shown off more, making them all become more self-reliant.

And even so we could finally get proper idea of limits of certain characters like Piper (cause charmspeak isn't going to get her everywhere) or Hazel (we so need more scenes of her surprising demigods and monsters with not only her unique jewel abilities and her magic.) Plus Nico's combat limits, Jason's stamina limits (no I am not considering his death part of canon, you can't tell me it's true, I refuse to stand by it), Thalia's character development as well as her honing her powers and combat abilities more.

So yeah, we really should have gotten a few solo missions instead of so many short stories and all. And a bit more cross-over highlighting the power levels between the Norse, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian demigods/magicians/Valhalla residents/Valkyrie and so on.

To sum it up, tons of missed opportunities by Riordan and even more tragic and terrible progression of previously great characters who just needed a well-made character arc or even some favoritism. (I am looking at Grover and Rachel, who both could have done so so much if Rick had only realized the awesome potential they had).

I have said it many times that it's #percy jackson supremacy. So hell yes everyone would be dead without him, and he is arguably the best protagonist out of any other fantasy action book series. All hail Percy Jackson, the master of sass, and the most beloved but somehow still the most misinterpreted character in the fandom. Really liked this ask, would love more of these regarding Percy or any other characters.

[cr4zy-cycl0n3]

Yo! I'm doing a Heroes of Olympus rewrite!

I'm not a huge fan of how some scenes go in canon and how the characters esp the gods are handled in Hoo, and after reading one too many rewrite/AU fics, I've decided fuck it, imma make my own.

I'm changing quite a few things, like:

- making Piper's memories not be tampered with and as a result be way closer to Leo (credit to Heroes of Juno by @queenjunothegreat for this idea!)

- MOTHERLY HERA/JUNO WHO PSEUDO-ADOPTS JASON FTW also parental Lupa but that'll be more apparent in a Jason prequel/sequel(depends on how I wanna format it) I’ll write after TLH is done

- slowburn valgrace instead of comphet jiper

- Leo and Piper QPR(+Jason when Piper stops being his #1 opp). Jasipereo ftw babyyy

- the whole series is just gonna have a good deal of focus on the Lost Trio. I'm not gonna shaft anyone ofc but my favorite punching bags characters are just gonna get extra love :3

- Jason's gonna be considerably more feral cuz CMON MAN WAS RAISED BY WOLVES(this is more prominent in the later books cuz in TLH he was alr feral, going at 2 giants with his BARE ASS HANDS)

- Jason has more bite cuz DAMMIT HE DESERVES TO BE ANGRY/BITTER AND CLAP BACK. HIS LIFE IS SHIT, LET MY BRO BE MAD

- more exploration into Jason's character cuz man was shafted so hard :(

- exploration of characters' powers in general, def buffing the Big Three kids to be as strong as Percy cuz holy cow he's OP. I love Percy and his OP-ness, but the other Big Three kids should be just as OP

- Zeus is the God of Justice, which we don't see much of in PJO's characterization of him, but Jupiter is Roman and hence is much more strict in the RRverse, so consequently I think his domain of law and order is more central to Jupiter than his greek counterpart, so I'd like to explore Jason having powers related to that and being an absolute powerhouse when it comes to debates and politics despite hating them

- characterizing the Gods differently from canon as I'm a Hellenist and writing them as they are in canon makes me like. Kinda uncomfortable. I will be using mythic literalism as that is what PJO/HoO's based on and I'm not rewriting the very foundations of the series, so they will still have committed the things they did in mythology, though I'm keeping them largely unaltered from the Og greek mythos and unsanitized as this isn't intended for a young audience like PJO is. Their behavior won't be exactly like their depictions in myths nor how they actually are irl, it's a mix of both(Ex: Zeus has still done heinous shit so he won't be as great as he is irl, but he isn't supremely petty and bitchy like he is in PJO.). This uhh. Will probably mean that PJO events would go differently which would influence HOO but if I think about that too much I'm gonna wanna do a PJO rewrite too and akbhdhd so just imagine that everything that goes on in PJO goes as canon (for now at least) for some reason or another.

- Octavian and Jason are were best friends cuz I said so. This change is inspired by To Storm and Fire(a Heroes of Olympus rewrite) which I am in LOVE with. The antagonistic side characters(like Drew and Octavian) got very little development or character exploration so l'm definitely giving them that in my rewrite!

- The Seven feel and are much closer together

- delving more into the sevens' trauma pre-camp, might also do a one/two shot for each of them. Jason’s a given cuz I’m writing a whole ass fic or even series dedicated to his past, Leo and Piper definitely, probably also Hazel and Annabeth, not sure on Percy and Frank cuz for Frank I’m def going into the trauma that comes with growing up in an Asian household but don’t have too many ideas on how to execute that, and for Percy I don’t have all that many ideas in general outside of the little we know in PJO(I used to think we knew a lot but honestly, we really don’t? Like we know Poseidon left, Sally had to work a lot, Gabe sucks, and he got kicked out of 6 six schools in 6 years and the reasons, but we don’t have any concrete details. There might be more in HoH, I haven’t read it yet so lmk if there is). Open to any ideas for this!

- camp is. Tense. It's been only a few months since the war, grief is still fresh, and Jason being tall, blonde, and blue-eyed with a scar ain't helping 💀 some people think Silena was a hero, others think she was a villain, some people sympathized with Luke, others despised him, there's a lotta differing views.

I have loads more ideas that I won't get into here cuz the post'll get way too long, but l'd love to hear what you guys think! What scenes/characterizations should I change? What topics would you like to see handled differently? What should I add? I'm open to any and all suggestions!

Currently outlining TLH, will start posting it on my ao3 once I have the first chapter and 4-5 buffer ones written so I'll prolly start posting it in a month or two? Idk, depends on my workload irl and if I get hit by writer’s block. Maybe less, maybe more, who knows. I'll be writing a bunch of shorter stories for specific moments, time between books, and namely a prequel/tih sequel focusing on Jason's past and who he was before Hera wiped his memory. Open to any suggestions for additional works too. Feel free to drop any questions and suggestions bout the rewrite here or in my ask box!

[princessofghosts-posts]

I found out this Tik Tok a couple of minutes ago (censored out the girl for privacy reasons) and I'm BEEFING with this.

I think it's time to address something I barely talked about but that I hitted pretty much in some posts,especially the one about Hazel and Nico sibling relationship: I hate Bianca di Angelo with all my heart.

Yes,I have posted a couple of hc about her when someone asked for a Maria di Angelo/Di Angelo family hc but that's because she is part of the family. I know she is the first real and importan victim we had,and is important to Nico and his development but I hate her so much and I will never stay silent about it.

The fandom always talk about how much of a good older sister she is,but she never was and I'm going to explain why and why this Tik Tok is completely bullshit.

The start–TTC.

The fandom typical view of Bianca di Angelo is the fact that she got parentified and was Nico's only responsable figure around,and she took care of him like a mother figure.

That's bullshit.

In TTC Bianca herself revealed that while they were in the Lotus,they were visited by a lawyer a couple of times that checked on them. The lawyer as we all know was Alecto,one of Hades's most trusted servant,that made sure they were safe. In TLT Percy specified that the Lotus had a lot of staff that wes taking care of everything/everyone. And we all know how times flies faster in there,so rather than 70 years for Bianca and Nico were only a couple of months,and they didn't had the memories about their life before coming there yet. So Alecto was there to make sure they were safe,and in case something happened,and the staff could help them in whatever request they had since it's their whole deal: making sure people stay there by making the Casinò extremely appealing,while the time passed without the people realizing it. There were a lot of accomoditations too inside,other than the infinite credit cards and all of those games,so no,Bianca wasn't parentified and barely had to look out for Nico herself,since they were both safe and entertained inside there.

And,at the start of TTC,when Grover brought Percy,Thalia and Annabeth to help him taking Bianca and Nico at camp,he talks about how the Military school had different dorms for boys and girls. Alecto got them out of the Lotus and they attended the school for a little before Grover found them and started to interact with them. So again they were never truly alone for a lot of time,and Bianca and Nico couldn't see each other much because the dorms were different,they probably also had different lessons because of the age difference. He left them only to get Percy,Annabeth and Thalia to help him,after he made sure they were demigods and realizing they were powerful ones.

The first time we see them interact,Nico is yapping about his card game while Bianca is listening to him but not in an exciting way,she was more bored/annoyed. That's fine. It can get boring when someone is always talking non-stop about the same thing. I don't fault her for this.

We finally get to know them after the Manticore's attack,when they get to know they are demigods and gods and mythological beings are real. Which was exciting for Nico (wait a couple more of 230 pages-) but I'm pretty sure Bianca wasn't. That's extremely valid and probably the realest reaction to the dangers of this world. But then she said "fuck my brother,let's go with the hunters".

I know the fandom talk mostly about this scene when they are explaining why she is so controversional as a character,and I also hate it but it's not the first of my list.

Bianca herself said it was a selfish choice so she was aware of what she was doing,but Artemis and Zoë had their fault in this. I also don't vibe well with the Hunters,and Thalia is the only expection,because they are just so fucking annoying about their "man-hating" culture (the Amazons are worst than them tho-) and how Zoë treated Percy in this. Like yes girls,mans can be scumbag and male greek heroes/gods are certificated scumbag but not everyone is like this,don't stereotype every man in the world in only one fucking category. And they way they should be the rappresentation of the "aro-ace" part of the LGBT+ community is so fucked up. And I say this as an aroace myself. Anyway back to the topic-

Bianca didn't even looked back or asked herself if it was a good idea or not. Like,not even for Nico but for herself too. Thalia and Annabeth didn't straight up went to them,they took their decisions with time since it was extremely important. Bianca? Nah. Decided on the spot to abbandon her brother,fully aware he couldn't come with her,and every other romantics involvement she could have in the future. She had the same age of Percy here and didn't even know herself. That's not really a good choice,maybe in the future it could be something she could think about or wanted,but here she just went with it. She joined complete strangers,in a world she just found out being part of,who the fuck does that???

Then she went to Percy and is like "I can't be with my little brother for everything Percy. I can't take care of him forever,I want my life too". Girl be for fucking real,when did you even took care of him? They might not remember her because of the Lethe,but before the Lotus they were under their mother care. And for them the Lotus was what? 2/3 months? Where she didn't had to do almost anything because the staff took care of their needs and Alecto was there? And during the time at their school they probably barely interacted during classes? Only good thing about this conversation is the fact that Nico never heard it otherwise I would have a worst crash out (wait for BotL,that is a crash out). And of course the whole "she didn't even know if Camp was safe for Nico before joining the Hunters and left him with strangers". That's totally valid and I agree every bit with this. Most people like to think that she trusted Percy to take him there and stay with him,but they just met him and Bianca's respect for him grow during their quest. Here,he is a stranger that saved them and,until one hour ago,she thought he was a psycho. What a good trust y'all.

Bianca di Angelo was selfish for her choice and she herself know about it. She still went with it and the consequences. You can't defend that for the feeling of independence she wanted,when she barely had to look out for Nico. Hades had people for that and Grover was with them at that school. She was selfish.

Then we have the whole quest. Nico didn't even had time to settle in a little at camp that his sister was leaving for a quest. Which I hated. Bianca is inexperienced,she just got into all of this and doesn't even know how to use a weapon (like Piper at the start of HoO),let alone how to shot a target and staying alive against monsters. She should had stayed back and trained or whatever. But no,Zoë decided that she was perfect for this and it was a good way of "proving herself". She is their latinerant,fully aware of how dangerous the mythological creatures are and knew how Bianca wasn't good enough for this,but still got her on the boat while other more experienced hunters could go and be more useful. In the books Percy said she looked like she was working out so at least that's something,but her working out was only of a couple of days,probably not even 3 and Zoë still wished she could go with them. Like,why???

The thing I actually didn't like about this is Bianca attitude. She just become an hunter,without having a fucking clue of this world or how things work,and decided she apparently knew better of a Percy that was already fully familiar and into it. Girl go sit down that your delusion is stronger than mine when I overanalyze Nico's role as a prince. And that's something since 80% of my posts either talk about it or mention it.

Anyway,we got to our quest and look who is the first one to die,after doing something that shouldn't have done with all the warnings in the world? Oh look,it's Bianca. How unpredictable right? Right? And it's an extremely sad dead to–let's be fucking real now.

She knew what she was doing (again). Percy and Zoë told her to not touch anything since those "piece of junks" were still things of a god's. And even if she didn't listen to Percy because he is a man and all of that,Zoë is her boss right now so she should had listened to her. She didn't and she paid the price for it. At least she had a good brain to understand it was her fault and to fix the situation. I don't care that she died and I also don't care that Zoë died. The story goes on even without them after all. What I hated was that she died in that stupid way because she wanted to give Nico the last figure he didn't had for his collection. By doing this she showed that she "cared",maybe a little too late and it was probably the guilt about abandoning him that made her doing what she did,but her dead caused Nico half of his problems.

Yes you all: Bianca di Angelo is half of the reason Nico di Angelo,the brother that loved her dearly,is traumatized. And this piss me off,because the fandom act like Bianca and Nico were inseparable when she caused him more problem than anything else. That's why Hazel is a better sister to him and I will die on that fucking hill,no matter how many people will try to convince me otherwise. The Di Angelo siblings were never that close and Nico adoration for her was the only thing that saved their dynamic,until she decided to go with Artemis that's it.

The trauma–BotL.

This is the book that consolidated my hate for her in any possible way and without any form of redemption. I had a fucking crash our reading BotL that it wasn't even funny.

BotL started with Bianca's message (don't ask how can a ghost do that because I don't fucking know-) to Percy about Nico's whereabouts (also why Percy thought he was homeless but he wasn't). But like...you knew all of this time and didn't do shit? You know he was trying to kill himself so you could get back to live?? Was with a fucking manipulative ghost that convinced him to murder someone??? And decided to ask Percy to do the job of an older sibling or just someone that cared for him????? And the "she is dead,she can't do anything" is stupid because look at Minos,he can do the fuck he want. Bianca is Hades's daughter so the same privileges Nico has,she has too (not much for my joy but she is still his daughter and I need to acknowledge that). Doesn't matter alive or a ghost,Bianca has privileges and it's more powerful than him by default. She still didn't do shit and made Percy do the work. What a good sister isn't she? (By the end of this section I'm gonna have another crash out,trust me-)

When Nico mentioned that he couldn't summon his sister's soul to Percy I totally lost it. That's the main reason I hate her. Nico was grieving,completely alone in that Labyrinth for days and only with Minos's company (and we all know how that went),CHB rejected him for his nature and was trying to hunt down Daedalus to take his soul. His mind wasn't in a good place and it's from here that his trauma start and he lost the value of his life. Again,thank you Bianca for that. Gotta love her for that. What. The. Fucking. Hell? Girl you ok? You can search for all the independence you want but your brother is actively trying to kill himself,and murder someone for you,and you don't do shit and not even respond to his desperate cries? Were you even his older sister?? Apparently no because this is extremely fucked up from any point you see it. And that's something I will never forgive her for.

But then– then she fucking answered for Percy,not her little brother that wanted just to see her one last time,and was becoming insane for it. Not the little brother she "died" for (that's why I said it was more of a guilt thing that caring). And not the little brother she "took care of" (again,bullshit but apparently she think she did something in his growth) and believe me,I say this as an older sister to a little brother,that's not how you act if you say you are a caring sibling. And she addressed Percy first,and Nico later. She. ignored. Nico. In. Favor. Of. Talking. With. Percy. First. While. He. Was. In. Pain. In. Front. Of. Her. (Currently crying for this but I will finish this post-). And Nico? Nico was so fucking devasted for that and I don't even want to think about what he was feeling. He deserves better than Bianca as sister (W Hazel because she is the sister he deserves) because she just...doesn't fucking care? Or doesn't care enough to do something.

And the only thing she said to him is to let go of his fatal flaw otherwise it wasn't going to end up well for him,and her death wasn't Percy fault. And......That's it? Nothing else? And if I remember correctly she also asked him to not try to summor her anymore? (I could be wrong for this because I don't remember well their conversation) Seriously??? Bianca di Angelo they will never make me love you. And the bittersweet of this situation is the fact that Nico did let go of his grudge,following her instructions. And I also have issues with this because this isn't how it fucking work,and I say this as a person that hold grudges too. You will never see me in the same room with the girl that stole my barbie doll in kindergarten,no matter how many years pass. (Yes I am a very resentful person-). But Nico just let go of it so...easy? But it's Riordan fault this time because apparently he doesn't know how grudges works (if it was so easy to let go of then I wouldn't have so many people on my hate list-). But he did so because Bianca asked him to. His love for her is truly something that will be never reciprocated and it's so sad that I want to cry.

By the end of BotL Nico accepted that his older sister was dead. As compared to TTC,this book had her in only a few scenes and as a plot device (like always but at least she got an use) to let Percy know what was Nico up to. Now,you think that Nico decided to let her go after their "conversation" (that was a straight up excuse of communication) and to leave the past in the past right? Wrong.

Acceptance (or not)–TLO.

I'll start this section by puting here 2 dialogue of Chapter Seven of TLO : My math teacher gives me a lift. (Yes,those dialogues).

"Father," Nico said. "I have done as you asked."

"Took you long enough," Hades grumbled. "Your sister would've done a better job."

Nico lowered his head. If I hadn't been so mad at the little creep,I might've felt sorry for him.

This is the first one and it happens when Nico took Percy to Hades,like he asked him to do. We all know how that went down. This isn't something that I show but I have a love-hate relationship with Hades because of this chapter,and what he said here and afterwards. I remember screaming at him while reading those parts,I was ready to throw hands with him for Nico and I'm not exaggerating.

Hades here states that Bianca would have done a better job and it's so fucking hilarious,because Bianca couldn't even survive a week in this world without doing something that resulted in her death. And she had people to teach her and look after her. Then we have Nico that stayed alone in the Labyrinth,with only Minos,and it's the only demigod to do so without turning insane from it. He banished King Minos,took his title as a Ghost King,and then brought Daedalus in the Underworld. The fuck did Bianca ever do,other than causing Nico's trauma? Why does Hades favor her so much when she never pulled something like this and died pretty early in the quest? What are you smoking Hades? (i'm starting to get triggered again-).

"Let him try. He'll be weakened. And my son here, Nico—" Hades looked at him with distaste. "Well,he's not much now,I'll grant you. It would've been better if Bianca had lived. But give him four more years of training. We can hold out that long,surely. Nico will turn sixteen,as the prophecy says,and then he will make the decision that will save the world. And I will be king of the gods."

This is what almost made me throw the fucking book to the wall and close everything. I'm not joking. This whole dialogue is something else and I'm never forgiving Hades for this shit.

Again,he favored Bianca when she never showed real feats compared to Nico. Nico taught himself how to fight,and he's able to use his powers like it's a second skin for him,Bianca couldn't. Heck,she turned to Artemis because other than wanting freedom (bullshit again),she was scared of dying. A daughter of Hades is scared of dying. That's why I believe she wouldn't have be happy about finding out who her father was when she was still alive: if you are scared of death,it wouldn't be a pleasant information to find out how close you really are to it. And that's also why I believe she wouldn't have a good familiarity with her powers and be the weakest child of the Big Three (technically she is already but oh well who cares),since she would lean more on her hunter's nature anyway.

So no Hades,she wouldn't be better than Nico for being the prophecy child. She didn't even want to be a demigod. The second she heard about what was happening she decided to go with Artemis,wanting to get the hell out of this mess. Leaving her brother in the meantime. And if it was Bianca alive,and not Nico,half of the Seven would be dead before even starting HoO,and the other half stuck because they wouldn't know how to bring the statue back (if they ever got to know about the statue),before it's too late. Nico is essential in so many way that Hades doesn't even acknowledge and I'll forever will be pissed about it.

Hades is a terrible father for saying all of this to Nico,while he was still trying to win over his approval and love,and wasn't in a good place (mentally speaking). Useless to say that those lines fucked up more his self-esteem and their relationship. But it's more about Hades favoritism than Bianca herself here,really.

My main issues with Bianca are specifically in BotL (TTC isn't far behind too-),but TLO is a whole level of family drama,like,not even Zeus could cause so much shit with only a vision and those quotes.

This time it's not even Bianca that he tries to summon,but Maria. Nico wanted to know what happened to their mother and the truth about their family's past,and what happened to his memory. Of course,Hades (the other 50% of his trauma) prohibited him from summoning his mother's soul. Nico still went out of his way because he wanted to met his mother since he couldn't remember anything about her.

While he tried to,Bianca answered him. Anticlimactic isn't it? In the last book she tried to not answer his calls when she could have helped him and spared us all of the time. But no. Gotta make the little brother suffer. Anyway,she explain to him that he can't summon their mother since their father forbidden him to do so,and then the whole flashback of their past is revealed.

That's it. This is her last appearance for the next 10 books,since she got brought back in TSATS.

We all know what happened next with the rest of the book so I won't talk about it,but I would like to point out what happened between TLO and HoO. And especially what this Tik Tok it's about.

So,I can't remember if it was during TLO or BotL,but Hades hid Bianca in his palace,far away from Nico,without let him know anything while he wallowed in sadness and trauma. Another pretty fucked up thing to add to the list about this wonderful family. What do you mean you hid your daughter from the son that it's slowly loosing himself to her death? Again,the bias here is heavily showed and I fucking hate this.

And then the re-birth happened and that's just another way for Bianca to say "fuck my brother,I'm going to reincarnate and not tell him untill he found out by himself". Bianca truly know how to put more emotional damage and trauma on Nico. No one does it better than her (Hades is a close second). Again,extremely fucked up,since Nico already accepted her death one book ago. She could have at least told him about it,but no,she went anyway because she had always been selfish. And Nico? Nico that thought his older sister would finally stay,even tho she is a ghost now? I don't want to know how the hell he was feeling about this and I'm glad that I don't. But again,she adds to Nico trauma because even tho she "cared" for him,he wasn't enough to make her stay. She abandoned him a third time again (1° is she joining the Hunters,2° is her death,3° is this one) because he wasn't enough.

At least he got Hazel now,and she stayed for him and went out her way to fight and get him out of a very dangerous situation (Bianca would never). She doesn't always understand him,and they need to work on their sibling bond,but she is by far the most amazing sister Nico ever had. Because Bianca left him at the first chance she got because she didn't cared enough for him,but Hazel fought for him because she cares enough to do so.

So no,Bianca di Angelo isn't a good sister and she didn't left Nico because she loved him,and wanted him to find his place. She left him because she was selfish.

The Tik Tok is completely wrong even for the other parts because Nico was never accepted until the end of HoO,and he and Will started dating during the time-skip,that's a lot of time since she reincarnated,and he still hasn't reached peace because he will never have that. He is doing better,of course,ut all of this it's not bacause of Bianca being a "caring" sibling,it's because Nico is finally healing from the trauma she (and Hades) gave him.

Bianca di Angelo was an horrible sister and I'm not going to change my mind about any of this.

[ampresandian]

Okay so season 1 was definitely Percy's story like between the flashbacks and his development over the quest The Lightning Thief is Percy's Story. The whole series is Percy's story but the way they produced the first season of the show is especially Percy's, and I need them to continue to develop this in the rest of the seasons.

Season 2, Sea of Monsters, should definitely be Annabeth's. Percy (and the readers) get to know her better--she opens up to him about her past, not just introducing him to the world they share (the Olympians) but to Her World and How it Got to Be that Way. We see more of how who Percy is impacts her (esp with Tyson), and she takes on a lot of responsibility for saving their quest. Unlike the Arch or Crusty, Annabeth is the one that saves them from Circe and takes on Polyphemus one on one.

Season 3 I think is Thalia's. It's the only chance we really have, as readers, to get to know her--we're thrown into her relationship with Percy at the beginning of the book, after our only introduction to her being her saying her name at the end of som, but we travel with her on this quest, and I think flashbacks, etc. in this season should be about her. It's the best way to let the audience get to know her, and I think we need to get to know her to understand her choice at the end (and to be excited when we see her again later). We need that her sudden disappearance at the end, when she leaves without saying goodbye and just as suddenly as she appeared she's gone, to hurt and to feel wrong and making her the Character is the way to do that imo.

Botl in season 4 I think is tricky at first glance (esp since we've given Annabeth som already) but tbh it needs to be Grover's. Flashbacks can be about his time in schools as a protector, and his time searching for Pan. Grover's development is kind of sudden in this story, but I think showing him when he's younger and like as he's been off Doing Things it would be more dramatic and honestly Grover is a fantastic character that Rick seems to forget about/ignore a lot and he should make it up by showing us what his life is like when he's not with Percy (which is increasingly often) and letting us see his independence develop to the point that he's ready to take on his new mantle and be a leader.

Season 5 is obviously Luke's. Even the book is written like that. We need flashbacks to his life and childhood just as much as Percy does, and they need to humanize him and let us empathize with who he was and how he got to who he is by the end of the story before he dies. I think they should give us flashbacks to his quest here, too, and probably the conversation he clearly has with Hermes before he goes on it (he's obviously bitter when he talks about it in tlt, and he had to get his magic shoes, and I think they need to utilize having that conversation in person so we can see how Hermes tries and fails to relate to him and also to make LMM make very very sad eyes as Luke leaves because he knows his son is at the end of his time as a hero). They can milk this for all the comparisons between Luke and Percy. I think flashbacks to his claiming, and not having to move cabins but probably like getting a bed or something now that he's here Forever, and when he becomes the Cabin Counselor. How/when he meets up with Thalia. Him seeking out fights as they make their way to camp. The battles he fights on his quest, facing monsters he's working with now, getting the scar.

[anotheroceanid]

because you're my writing inspiration, i've decided to pester you with questions about it! >:) if you don't mind ❤️

what's your creative process look like? what normally comes first to you, the idea for a plot, specific moments, vibes/themes, world building, etc.?

what type of character is your favorite to write? what's your favorite relationship dynamic to write?

how do decide a character needs to die? (like a named, known-by-the-audience character, not Red Shirt #3 lol)

favorite type of comment to receive? don't say "any comment" >:) longer, more WTHB-centered questions:

WTHB is shaping up to be a very long story juggling a lot of characters that spans YEARS(i'm obsessed with it—so excited), how do you even begin to break down and organize the story beats for something this big? do you picture it like a series of movies or novels? like tv show episodes? or does it truly just all come together as one massive plot arc in your mind? summing such a large work down into one concise summary sounds daunting

any advice on writing romance? Percy and Apollo have barely appeared together in flashbacks even, most of their love story has been off-screen, but you make them so compelling! i feel their yearning in my soul T-T

i find this question hard to ask for some reason. WTHB!Percy is a mother currently being held hostage, do you ever worry that people will think she's been relegated to a damsel in distress or just "the mom" character?

This will be a long answer but I got soooo excited with this ask

Soooo

1. Yk how people categorise themselves as plotters and pantsers? I think I’m a plantser 😅

Like, my first “inspiration” can be anything (I’ve literally dreamed with things that then became stories), so when I get some idea banging on my head I start to imagine how it’d look like as a story, so I set the tone I want before I write anything.

From then, I start imagining important scenes that will drive the plot. One of the first scenes I imagined for WTHB (once I had defined who the kids would be, because I spent a lot of time making up kid ocs until I ended up with the triplets, with Luke being the only one I was decided from the start) was the boys being taken scene, then Hector meeting Jason, then a few scenes between Annabeth and Milo that didn’t happen yet.

So, like I said, I am a plantser, which means I do plot (a lot) but I still like to keep some things open so I can change if I figure something out while I’m writing.

What I do, I set the main plots and it’s narrators (if there is more than one), since I’m using WTHB as an example, rk we have these

The Greek Arc (Annabeth & Milo)

The Roman Arc (Jason & Hector)

Percy’s Arc

Apollo’s Arc (which is also the god’s arc)

So, these arcs affect each other. What character A does in Place 1 can affect Character B in place 2 and vice versa, so even if these characters aren’t interacting directly, they still cause things to happens in each others lives.

This is relevant because rk almost all characters of WTHB are separated geographically, but their stories are interconnected.

What I like to do, is write each characters arc but using a mind map, so I make a linear mapping using some structure (heroine arc, hero arc, seven plot structure, you can pick whatever you want, I usually use heroine’s arc even for men).

You can use obsidian, miro, or even draw it at hand.

But the mind map give you a visual way to develop your plot, so you can see when each plot point takes place. And the thing is, not always the characters are synchronised, so I organise it in a way that events happening more or less at the same time are aligned, and if some event from A affects B I draw a line connecting them or even explain what happened.

I don’t have my laptop with me rk, but it is more or less like this:

This way, you can figure out the main events of the story without having to write EVERYTHING that will happen. If you need to change something, you know more or less how it’ll affect every characters.

I also make a timeline of events (this because I’m dealing with a lot of worldbuilding, so I better know when things happened even if I’m not using it directly on the story). I also, sometimes, write down some topics like I live in that world and I’m giving myself a class about those events.

Another thing I like to do, is organising the chapters even before I write them. I use scrivener to write, but you can do it on obsidian to (I use scrivener for worldbuilding only). Each character have a different number of chapters, it depends on the arc. Like, Percy and Apollo are the only narrators of their arcs, but both the Greek and Roman arc have two narrators, so the narrators share the amount of chapters.

This is it, then I write. If needed, I go back and re-do something. I’m always re-reading the chapters I already posted, because sometimes I forget a few details.

Sometimes I draw to inspire myself to write, this helps too 😂 and vice versa. I think the hardest part is when you’re dealing with a large geographical space, and your characters are all scattered, specially when they have to move around and you have to make math so it makes sense, specially when it’s not your own country 🤒

2. I like writing the “colateral effect” characters. Like, using WTHB as an example again. I love writing Percy, Apollo, the triplets, ofc I do. I love them. But there’s something so enjoyable about writing Annabeth and Jason because, while they did a not of horrible things, they were thrown in that mess and they’re just dealing with it.

3. 😵😵😵 Okay, harsh. But usually, since I keep going back and forth and imagining different outcomes, so I play with killing characters. Then I consider the impact of their deaths to the other characters and to the story as a whole.

4. As you can see, I love talking. So I loooveee comments I have to answer topic by topic. But I still appreciate all of them, it’s just that I like interacting 😅

5. I kind of answered this one in the first topic, but I make myself a lot of content where I can check my own work. And yeah, I imagine as a show 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ as a novel 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ as an animation 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ as a Bollywood movie 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ as a broadway musical 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ as a lot of things.

But nope, even though now I can’t tell the whole arc as block of text if needed, I think that’s counterproductive to me. So I work with mind maps, I use the actual map to have an idea where the characters are and where they’re going, I make sheets sometimes, and ofc, the timeline (I mean, I always say that, but the timeline of the story ain’t linear, so things are happening in different times for different characters, and I need to know 😂)

6. Actually romance is actually hard to me, I just focus in creating a meaningful connection between the characters through their similarities and their differences. I’m a sucker for friends to lovers, so I try showing how character A and B learn things from each other, and appreciate each other beyond a physical sphere. Idk if that makes much sense, but this is it. And to antagonise it, their own faults (in the case of Percy and Apollo, both have terrible self esteem and are always expecting the worst to happen, which lead them to jump into conclusions waaaay to fast).

7. The “damsel in distress” or “just the mom” character usually carries a lot of “why is this female characters who’s obvious in a vulnerable situation don’t get out” that comes from a misogynistic point of view. It’s always the double standard: male characters are manipulated, female characters take dumb decisions, male characters are, among other things, fathers, female characters are mothers, sisters and/or lovers.

So like, I try being truthful to the character because IK this sort of interpretation will exist either way. Ik that Percy, despite being in that state, isn’t reduced to none of those. While she may be way to believing of Gaea, she doesn’t jump into the conclusion Orion and Medea are good people just because Gaea had them on their side. She’s in a place where she have to deal with the circumstances that she had, not with the circumstances that were ideal. From her standpoint, she doesn’t have any other allies.

And yeah, her main focus right now are her three sons, but is she meant to say “yup, not my problem” when they get kidnapped? Like, in canon, Percy was ready to die for his friends and etc. fem Percy too, and now she’s ready to die for her sons. It’s a very male Kronides x Female kronides situation. Demeter? Obsessive, awful mom who wouldn’t let Persephone do anything. Hades? Well, he was in love. Hera? Crazy women. Zeus? Oh, he’s just a man of his time.

So like, maybe some people think she’s falling into mom or damsel in distress trope? Maybe. But there’s nothing I can do about it. I just enjoy my time writing, because it’s not as if any of those people are paying me to write the character arc THEY want to see.

Btw, thanks for this ask. Hopefully it made sense, because I know I tend to talk a little more than necessary 😆

[fanme25]

I know some PJO fans don't let other people have their ships. I want to understand the reason. My ships are Perclarisse and Perachel. Have a problem with that? I'm sorry. Perclarisse is not that much different from Percabeth and Perachel is better than Percabeth. But, this is just my perspective.

(Already made some posts about them. But, what i got from comments and scenes, i think they have a bigger potential than Percabeth and it could have turned the story more interesting)

What about Pernico/Percico or Percy + God?

Pernico.

Nico is growing up, right? He's not the same little boy as before. So, if someone ships ADULT Nico and Percy, what is the problem? Wouldn't Nico be older than Will, but stuck in his young body, like a vampire? The same thing can happen to a god.

Percy + God?

The gods don't have DNAS. They have incest relationships. Demigods also date their cousins (cough Percabeth) and some people may ship a demigod with his aunt/uncle if it's a couple with a son/daughter of Zeus or whatever. Gods are like vampires, old people stuck in a young body. But, in their case, they can have any body they want. Apollo would be like a cousin to Percy, right? So, why can't ADULT Percy be shipped with him?

In real life, this happens a lot. Adults with 10 years from difference of age. They are happy and healthy. Nobody gets bothered by it. Example: A man with 50 and his wife with 40. So, let's not be hypocrites. If Annabeth had the same age as Nico's or was a goddess, maybe even a Hunter, people would still ship her with Percy.

Sorry for my English, not my first language. I won't say 100% facts here by lines from the book because it's not being the best source recently. There are fanfics with better stories than this. I go by my own analysis based on how the character behaves and his/her personality. So, i guess any other couple would be more interesting than Percabeth that was developed by the books. If they at least had a good development....

I'm not saying my ships are the best or another one is, just giving an opinion what i think would be more interesting to read or to watch.

Rachel has her oracle thing. She's also a mortal like Percy's mother that can see the monsters. She's very smart and tries to help with good causes. Despite being a human, she tries to handle herself in the best way she can. I think she doesn't care about money. I don't remember if her father is rich, which could be something good to see. Percy's family could meet the rich side of the family of his girlfriend. Even having a rich father-in-law, Percy would want to archieve his dreams by himself, something that Rachel would agree with. She literally threw a hairbrush at Kronos and used an helicopter, please! From someone that seemed not wanting to get stuck with his demigod side, Rachel could have been a great option for Percy.

I already made posts saying my reasons to like Perclarisse. So, i won't say them again. I'm not a Percico, Perpollo or Percy+ any god shipper, but i think respect is the least we could do, you know?

I'm creating a new group where people can talk about their ships and post arts, stories or share their opinions. I don't accept any hate towards a ship.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

hi! curious as to what you think about the comparison of aang giving up cosmic energy for katara and percy rejecting immortality for annabeth? i genuinely do not think they are the same because percabeth knew each other for years and gradually evolved from friends to lovers, in which their feelings were mutual. most importantly, him rejecting immortality did not have any negative bearing on the future of the world. as for aang, he gave up the avatar state, which he needed to save the world/defeat ozai. he risked it because of his obsession with katara, who at the time did not reciprocate his feelings at all.

hi! I agree that Percy rejecting immortality comes across as very romantic because, well, he already saved the world! Plus he was able to leverage his rejection of immortality to help people like him. That said, while I don't find the cosmic energy arc in ATLA romantic, I can't find it in myself to blame Aang in-universe. It's one of those "damn this kid is 12, he's lost everything, and I can't believe he has to make these decisions" moments of the show that made me feel super bad for him, and even if I disagree with his choice I understand why he made it.

However! I do have a HUGE problem with the arc, and it lies entirely with how the writers made Katara a damsel. They never gave Aang the opportunity to see Katara as another hero, like him.

Katara is not a Chosen One like Aang, but she still chose to be a hero. In episode 1, Katara chooses to stand up for Aang against her community. A few episodes later, she gets herself tossed into prison to free Haru and earthbenders. She demonstrates again and again that she's not worried about her own safety, as long as she's doing the right thing and protecting others.

There's a bit of dramatic irony in Crossroads of Destiny where Aang has this vision of Katara struggling in chains and looking every inch the damsel...meanwhile we the audience know that Katara is alive and well and yelling at Zuko. Then Aang goes off to save her, only for her to save him instead. He has that moment of “I’m sorry Katara” where he tries to access the Avatar State, implying that he’s letting her go, as if this is a decision about him — as if the decision to save Katara was about Aang’s attachment to her, rather than their shared values.

Even after the Ba Sing Se scare, it never seemed to occur to Aang to ask Katara what she would have wanted, and I assume this is because it never crossed the writers' minds that Katara is anything but a character development object for Aang when it comes to their romance. Would Katara be willing to sacrifice her own safety so that Aang can defeat Ozai? Uh, yes, least of all because she's scrappy and she would've figured something out to save herself (recall this was neither the first nor the last time Katara ended up in prison — is Katara the only ATLA character who’s thrown in jail every season? I think so lmao). But even if she wants Aang to let the world burn and prioritize her over his duties as the Avatar, the point is that she deserves a say.

Katara will presumably one day need to choose between love and duty. These are supposed to be shared burdens when two heroes love each other. Sokka and Suki, a secondary ship, got a whole arc where Sokka learns he doesn't have to save Suki because she has agency and she also wants to save him! But what did Ka/taang get? Nothing of the kind. It’s not clear if Katara even knows that Aang was about to give up the Avatar State for her, because they never talk about it!

I think other people have talked at length about how in ATLA, Katara is her own character and her own person with her own journey...except when she’s written as Aang’s love interest. The cosmic energy/Avatar State fiasco is another example of that.

[helenofsparta2]

kind of related to your post about zoe just now but: what do you think of the hunters in general? I've got a lot of thoughts on them myself.. most of them not that positive lmao lots of "could have been good, but very poor execution" and "sounds cool on the surface, but very questionable when thought about more"

First of all, thank you for the question :)))

Oh god, this might become a slightly longer post, because I have a lot to say about the hunters of Artemis.

From what you’ve written, it sounds like we might have a very similar opinion. I personally think they are one of the worst-written parts of the original Percy Jackson books. I love their idea, I love their basic concept, but their execution was pretty atrocious.

There are four main points regarding them that I want to talk about.

The portrayal of Artemis (though this one is by far not as bad as the others)

2. The behaviour of the huntresses

3. Bianca

4. Lacking Development

Artemis

Now, I know that the gods and goddesses of the Riordan verse, are sanitized caricatures, and shouldn’t be compared to their actual myth versions. I think everyone in this fandom has at least heard some well-founded criticisms regarding the portrayal of Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo or any of the other gods.  

I even understand why Rick Riordan made most of the decisions that he did. Obviously, the gods had to be sanitized for a book series primarily aimed at children, and, to be fair to him, even if their characterizations are a far-cry from their myths and sometimes overly stereotypical (Aphrodite), they are fulfilling the roles they have in this story as deeply flawed, but powerful individuals, because of whose careless mistakes and pride demigods, and other ‘lesser’ beings have to suffer.  

And I actually do not hate Artemis’ portrayal that much, if we exclude the behavior of her hunt, and the initiation of Bianca. Her taking Annabeth’s place in holding the sky and her loudly arguing against killing Percy and Thalia at the winter solstice was a great portrayal of her being a patron goddess of children, and the idea of including the hunters of Artemis as a group of girls, both from mortal and immortal parents, who have been hurt by the world, and found a safe place with one another is actually really great. Generally, whenever she appears in the books, I have the feeling she is handled with far more graze and respect than a lot of other godly beings.  

However, as someone who very much loves Greek mythology, I just want to point out some small parts, which are not entirely accurate, though, again,  I understand Rick’s reason for omitting them in the context of what he wanted to do with her character and the hunt , and I acknowledge that even in ancient times, there existed a variety of different interpretations of the gods.

(Please note, that while I read original sources like the works of Diodor, Apollodorus, Hesiod, and Euripides, I am not a classicist, and that my knowledge of the greek gods primarily stems from personal research and my own interest. If anyone knows more about Artemis, please feel free to correct me if necessary)  

While Artemis is primarily the goddess of the hunt, and in later interpretations of the moon, she is not only the protector of girls, but the patron goddess of children in general and a goddess closely linked to childbirth.

Yes, she expects her followers to remain chaste, but to say that she is completely against men would be a grave mistake. Male followers of Artemis did exist in mythology, most famously Orion, who later became a constellation, and Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and the Amazon Hippolyta.

So, her cold behavior towards Nico and her degrading words towards boys in general is an attribute primarily added by Rick Riordan.

Though, like I said, I understand making certain changes to gods and goddesses, or rather choosing different interpretations of them to have them fulfill a certain role in a book series, so Artemis portrayal itself doesn’t bother me that much.

But if we’re talking about the hunters themselves, things easily take a turn for the worse.  

The behavior of the hunters

Now, I understand the hunters point in the story.

A huge theme of Titan’s curse is to explore the difference between old ideals of what heroism entails and the modern take on it, represented through Theseus and Herakles on one side, and Percy on the other. The hunters, and especially Zöe, represent a group, who have suffered through the actions of those old, primarily male heroes, and have developed a strong bias against all boys and men as a result. A bias, Percy is supposed to break in this book.

This, in itself, is a pretty awesome concept. But, like I said, the execution mostly failed.

Most of the Hunters of Artemis in Titan’s curse were written without any nuance, without development and without any sense of self reflection.

To express it plainly, they completely suck. And that hurts to say, especially as someone who is asexual-sex-repulsed and aromantic, because, like I said, they could have been an absolutely amazing part of the overarching story and theme of the book series, but with the way Rick Riordan wrote them, they suck. They’re insufferable.  They’re a group of immortal teenagers with a superiority complex, who act the way right-wing republicans and trump supporters think feminists act like.

They’re completely antagonistic towards the campers at camp half-blood for absolutely no good reason, act really childish and immature, and their overwhelming bias against every male character, especially Percy and Nico, is just plain annoying and goes to a point, where it makes them act like absolute idiots and assholes.

Zöe’s behavior at the meeting to decide who should go on the quest to save Artemis is a pretty good representation of everything I dislike about the hunters.  

She doesn’t want to take campers with her on the quest, even though the oracle plainly stated that them working together was the only way for them to succeed:

“You’re missing something as usual,” Thalia said. “Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We’re supposed to do this together.”

“No!”, Zoe said. “The Hunters do not need thy help.”

Immediately afterwards, she makes fun of Silena Beauregard (who is around 14 or 15 at the time, might I add.):

“Percy is right,” Silena Beauregard said. “Two campers should go.”

“Oh, I see,” Zoe said sarcastically. “And I suppose you wish to volunteer?”

Silena blushed. “I’m not going anywhere with the hunters. Don’t look at me!”

“A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at,” Zoe scoffed. “What would thy mother say?”

And then, she decisively refuses Percy’s help for the quest, even though he is objectively the best person for the job. I really can’t reiterate enough that Percy is the most accomplished hero present at that meeting. He has successfully led two quests, one to stop a civil war between the gods, the second to recover the golden fleece. Even in comparison to Thalia, Percy is more accomplished and has gained more respect within the mythological world.

As I walked back through the city of the gods, conversations stopped. The muses paused their concert. People and satyrs and naiads all turned towards me, their faces filled with respect and gratitude, and as I passed, they knelt, as if I were some kind of hero. (The lightning thief)

Yet Zoe refuses his help to save the goddess she serves and increases so the risk of failure, simply because he is a boy.

“Oh,” Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. “Whoa, yeah. I forgot! Percy has to go. I didn’t mean… I’ll stay. Percy should go in my place.”

“He cannot,” Zoe said. “He’s a boy. I won’t have Hunters travelling with a boy.”

Another huge problem in their characterization is their immortality. Here I want to focus again on their ongoing beef with camp half-blood, because, yes, while the campers also act pretty antagonistic in return, I think it’s important to note that most kids at camp half blood are between the ages of 10 and I’d say maybe 17 years old, while the huntresses are immortal.

Now, it’s obviously possible that most of them are still teenagers and haven’t been part of the hunt for that long, but considering the fact that Zoe is over 3000 years old, and could very well be older than most Olympians, the chance of most hunters being older than at least 30, is pretty high, which makes their behavior seem even more ridiculous.

And obviously the whole situation with Bianca paints the hunters in the worst light possible.

Bianca

There are already some pretty good and detailed posts on tumblr regarding the subject of Bianca and the hunters, so I don’t want to dig into this subject too deeply, because this post is already way too long, but you can’t possibly write about the hunters without mentioning her.

The hunters, especially Zoe and Artemis convinced Bianca to join them in a moment of huge distress. Bianca was a twelve-year-old, vulnerable girl, who just found out she was a demigod, almost got kidnapped by the manticore, and watched a girl fall down a cliff, yet they expect her to swear allegiance to them after only a couple of minutes of knowing them.

They paint her this beautiful picture of having no responsibility and a new family, telling her exactly, what she wanted to hear without giving her even a moment to breathe or give her time to talk to her brother or fully think this through.

I want to point out that at this point in time, Artemis had already decided that she needed to go after the monster alone, and knew, that her hunters would spend some time at camp half-blood. But instead of giving Bianca these couple days/ weeks to accept this new reality of the mythological world and get to know both camp half-blood and the hunters, she wants an answer at this very moment,

Yes, Bianca’s answer was rash, and yes, I do think it’s rather cold that she didn’t first talk to Nico about it, but it’s pretty plain to see that she was overwhelmed and pretty much manipulated during this entire conversation.

Later, Zoe decides to take her with her on the quest, even though Bianca is completely unprepared for it. She is probably, aside from Nico, the most unprepared person in the entirety of camp half-blood to go on a quest.  

I don’t think I have to explain how terrible of a decision that was.

The hunters are objectively the worst thing that could have ever happened to Bianca and the main reason why she died.

Lacking Development:

Now, all of this, every single flaw I just pointed out, could have actually worked out, if there would have been some sort of change in the hunters’ way of thinking and an acknowledgement that their opinions on boys and males in general are misguided and lead to more harm than good during the course of the books.

Especially after their actions led to Bianca’s death.

Them seeing how much love Nico had for his sister and how much he suffered from her death could have been a great moment for some character development.

But nothing happened.

Camp half blood and the hunters grieving together at the end of Titan’s curse for both Zoe and Bianca could have resulted in a genuine moment of friendship between the two groups, leading to understanding and change.  

But nothing happened.

The only person who took responsibility for Bianca’s death at the end of Titan’s curse was fourteen-year-old Percy. The only person who cared enough about Nico to search for him and make sure he was safe, was Percy. The hunters didn’t care at all. Took no responsibility whatsoever.

All that happened at the end of that book was that Thalia became a huntress, and that Zoe and Artemis acknowledged Percy as a hero.

This, while admittedly, a great moment for Percy’s characterization and also somewhat for the character development of Zoe, had very little effect otherwise.  

Because, in the end, Zoe and Artemis treated Percy as if he was the exception. As if they had been only wrong about him, and not boys in general. They didn’t revisit their line of thinking, they didn’t self-reflect and they didn’t acknowledge that their bias was utterly flawed, and that they should treat male demigods generally better.

She (Zöe) grasped it contently. “You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like… like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword.”

Then, she (Artemis) turned to me. “You did well,” she said. “For a man.”

Percy Jackson is fundamentally a story about the circle of abuse, and, Percy specifically, breaking that circle, but nothing of note happened with the hunters.

Because even if Zoe had confronted her own bias, (and there is admittedly an argument to be made that she did) she would have been the only hunter to do so. And she died.

Thalia becoming the lieutenant of the hunters as someone who is best friends with Percy and Grover, and who misses Jason more than anything, could have confronted this distorted line of thinking, but the other hunters remain pretty much unchanged in the last Olympian and The Lost Hero.

There were hugs and greetings al around- or at least Thalia was friendly. The other hunters didn’t like being around campers, especially boys, but they didn’t shoot any of us, which for them was a pretty warm welcome. (The last Olympian, chapter 10)

“Oh, no way,” Leo said. “We’ve been sitting in a cave and you get a luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!”

Phoebe sniffed. “Boys,” she said, like it was the worst insult she could think of. (XXXVI Leo, the lost hero.)

Conclusion:

So, yeah. They had huge potential, both as individual characters and as part of the overarching plot and theme of Percy Jackson, but their execution was absolutely abysmal.

The only possible positive thing I could say about them is that they are at least better than the Amazons (though that is not particularly hard)

I hope my rambling was understandable, it's already pretty late:')

[bookishjules]

there's a specific paragraph in wottg that's been haunting me since i read it. and i can't keep putting off addressing it in fear of not having the right words to do so, so here we go..

from the lines highlighted in blue and yellow here, two very different stories seem to be being told.

on the one hand, in blue, we have percabeth as we have always known them--in sync. a well-oiled machine of a team that functions better together, drawing from each other's strengths and treating each other as equals. this is how their relationship is supposed to function. we know this from books full of moments when we got to see the development of their relationship, relying on and understanding each other more and more as the years pass by.

in theory, the yellow should support the claim of synchronicity the blue makes (and rightly so according to past books), and ostensibly that seems to be the case. percy as the narrator is just making a silly aside before realizing it doesn't work and shifting back to his original statement, right? but there's an implication here that within the team, the focus is annabeth. she's the only one who belongs there and there's no room for a p or a j or any amount of percy at all.

this doesn't line up with the blue statements at all, because in order for annabeth to be the more important member of the team, the two of them can't be equals, which throws off the balance, disallows synchronicity, and makes collaboration difficult at best. could you say, in a vacuum, that the intention here was what mattered and that the truth lies in that which we, the audience, have known to be true for years? yes, certainly. but the thing is, this paragraph does not exist in a vacuum, and in fact, of the two competing stories, i'm far more inclined to point to the yellow as a better representation of the book surrounding it and the representation of the unit that is percy and annabeth therein.

over and again in wottg we see the uncharacteristic, and pretty much unprecedented, imbalance in their team. from the narration, it's clear that percy holds himself at a lower standing than annabeth, but it's also clear from the story as a whole that annabeth is similarly inclined. percy not only believes he can't do as much as previous books told us he could, but his actions seem to prove that lack of maturity. he relies on annabeth more than he ever has, and not in a cute way. he looks to annabeth to solve all his problems because he doesn't trust himself, and annabeth is doing nothing to show him he should. she's surprised when he has good ideas, surprised when he comforts her, surprised when he does or says anything competent. and percy expects it. it's clear he's pretty much given up trying to solve problems etc., because even when he does manage to accomplish something without annabeth, she tells him he did it wrong or makes fun of him (and again, not in a cute way).

there are so many conversations that could be had here regarding blatant shifts in characterization that have little to do with trauma or codependency, but what i really want to point out is how this book, and the author who wrote it, really doesn't seem to understand or properly represent just how big of an effect these changes in the characters seem to be having on their relationship with one another. if a layman were to read wottg, i can't imagine they could read this paragraph and believe the lines in blue. because it's simply not true for this iteration of percy and annabeth.

just as it can be understood how well percy and annabeth worked together by being shown how much they respected and trusted one another throughout pjo, it must also be understood that the dramatic imbalance in authority and intelligence being shown in wottg hold a similar weight of truth, no matter what the narrative otherwise states, or how insistent it is in telling us that nothing has changed in percy and annabeth's relationship. just because the author wants it to be true, and wants his reader to believe what they are being told, does not erase the very real actions of the character throughout the book.

[11queensupreme11]

How would the yanderes react to the character and way of being of Piper and her relationship with Percy, I mean, I'm not judging Rick, but he went out of his way to make a Mary Sue and an icon for women with his way of being even at the expense of ruining his other characters (Annabeth, Percy, etc.) giving him powers that are not relevant in the previous books we had been told that the witchspeaker does not It worked with the gods and out of nowhere comes Piper and it worked when she manipulated Gai later with her attitude of "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite who doesn't like to be pretty, attract attention, be rich." I don't like that my father is a famous actor either, he knows how to fight and that makes me different from my mother's other children." What is this about? Aphrodite's children demonstrated several times that not only did they She worries about their appearance and that they know how to fight especially in the last hero of Olympus and most of the time Piper likes to be paid attention when she is with the 7 in the Argo I feel like Piper would be the type of character who has the script on her side and that's why things turn out well for her. While Rick gives Percy and Nico every character development that makes you think "stop Rick, he's one step away from breaking down," Piper literally said that he suffered a lot in his childhood because"Her father was not with her and he preferred to spend his time working" that is not suffering, your father spent his time working so he could take care of you Meanwhile, Percy's mother also worked and kept her away from him and she did not put herself in a suffering role, Nico Zeus killed his mother, Jason was abandoned by his mother, Leo had to see his mother Dying and blaming himself for it, But each one moved forward While Percy and the others, sorry, but I'm going to focus on my daughter in the books, it seems to me that sometimes Piper doesn't like Percy for the simple fact of being a competition.For Jason being the son of Poseidon

Sorry, I got excited and deviated from the question, what is it:

How would the yanderes react to Piper if she somehow didn't like Percy or treated her badly in the Argo when Percy tried to (as she did in most of the Mark of Athenea book) give orders

It may be a very unlikely situation according to some that Piper treats her badly but it is that in blue arsenic Percy adopted a personality that Piper and most feminists would not like.(Act adorable and like a helpless little girl)

(MY RESPONSE ENDED UP BEING SO LONG TOO LMAO, I'M SORRY)

so a long time ago i found this funny website about the types of mary sues, and here are the ones i feel like piper fits the bill for:

-> not just about piper's issues with her dad and being rich, but her whole thing with jason, which is ESPECIALLY prevalent in toa, where she bemoans about how hera and aphrodite FORCED her into a relationship with jason, when that was not the case at all. throughout all of hoo, we read about piper going through with the false memories even after being told that they were fake memories conjured by the mist, wishing that jason doesn't remember his past so he would stay with her, getting jealous over reyna, getting upset whenever jason thinks about anything related to camp jupiter, etc.

but rick was getting a lot of backlash over jasper/jiper, so he breaks them up in toa, but does it in a way to make PIPER look like the victim instead because, again, he really likes her and wants ppl to sympathize with her

-> someone on quotev mentioned this, but basically piper and annabeth lol. when piper first landed in camp, annabeth was spilling EVERYTHING to her and immediately became vulnerable, when annabeth was never characterized to be like that. she has always been standoffish at times, and after the war, she definitely wouldn't be spilling all her woes to a random girl. but again, rick wants her to be liked, and the best way to do that was immediately have her connect with a well-loved character from the first series

(i'm really sorry about these big ass adds that appear in the middle 💀)

-> piper out-charmspeaking drew, which was made easier for her since the aphrodite kids were given a massive downgrade personality and skill-wise. and like you mentioned before, her charmspeak working on goddesses even though it shouldn't.

-> piper has done a lot of stuff wrong. before they get to kansas, she gets visions from katoptris about jason having golden eyes (he and percy gets possessed by the eidolons and are forced to try and kill each other), REPEATEDLY gets a vision of her, jason, and percy DROWNING, and a dude with a vine hat (bacchus). and she only every speaks about the dude with the vine hat 💀. and after she, jason, and percy drown, she confesses that she had seen it before and apologizes for not saying anything because "i didn't know how to tell you guys 🥺" and she's immediately forgiven

-> honestly, it's not really just piper, but it shows more with her 💀 rick was trying to make her a feminist icon, but she reeked of internalized misogyny and it didn't help that all of her enemies or rivals were female characters who were comfortable with their femininity (they liked pink, wore makeup, liked dresses/skirts, etc.) and she triumphed over them every single time, which is basically proves that piper was RIGHT to think that way 💀

-> she was obsessed with jason bro 💀 like, almost possessive kinda yandere, but ofc it was never supposed to be seen that way, rick just unwittingly wrote her that way which is kinda funny

-> she's not exactly a villain (she's supposed to be one of the good guys) but she was DEFINITELY spoiled by the story for sure 💀

OKAY IM SORRY I WENT ON A TANGENT TOO, BUT I WANTED TO SHOW YOU THE SITE I FOUND LMAO 😭

i'm not gonna have piper and percy interact much, tho to be fair, they didn't interact much in canon either so i don't think anything will change. piper will definitely notice percy's more girly side and be like "ew :/" but she's mostly going to be daunted by her because YES, she's girly and a bit of a girlflop, but she's seen her fight and seen how powerful she can be. she's mostly just gonna be sus and jealous cuz i plan on fleshing out percy and jason's relationship

(i plan on making jason lowkey jealous and bitter about percy because percy is everything he strives to be: perfect, and it makes him insecure. plus, she's clearly well-loved not just by the camp, but by her father and other gods, and he feels inadequate and wants to be like her, but percy's gonna try and help him through with it 🥺💖)

daddyseidon obviously detests piper and is pissed that she refuses to obey percy's orders. in his eyes, his daughter has the highest status out of everyone there and every word she says should be law 💀

hades is put off by piper. he doesn't understand what her problem is LMAO. while he doesn't think it's right for percy to be in charge (she's just a wittle baby, she should be in the palace and chilling, not fighting for her life! 🥺), she's still of higher status and should be obeyed.

(imagine their shock when they find out that percy's actually NOT treated as a princess there and is just treated as One of Them, which she's perfectly cool with ofc, but they hate ittttt 😂😂😂)

apollo is disgusted. his whole thing is about loving yourself and with piper's blaring internalized misogyny, she clearly does NOT love herself and makes it everyone's problem in his eyes 😭😭 he's so worried about percy, what piper's her pissy attitude influences his darling?!?!?! 🥺

beelzebub would just want her dead 💀 his stress levels are high okay, this poor man is stuck watching the love of his life fight against giants, monster, and GAEA 24/7, he just wants them all DEAD ALREADY

loki would find her the most hilarious thing ever (in a derogatory way). she's so full of contradictions it almost makes him feel better about himself 😭 says she's not boy-obsessed and that her siblings are pathetic losers, but acts crazy when it comes to jason. etc etc. it's not until she makes her dislike to percy known that he sobers up and goes "ok that bitch has got to go 😤"

anubis (omg i think this is the first i ever got to write about him like this?!) wouldn't even CARE about piper. she wasn't even in his RADAR and she would've been perfectly safe!! ...but then she goes and does ONE wrong thing to percy and now all bets are off 💀 anubis would've been the only one who would've spared her cuz his only concern is percy, but once she goes after her, he's planning on killing her and using her bones as a chew toy 💀