Percy Walking In With A Greek Hero’s Name And A Different Greek Hero’s Curse And The Most Famous

I absolutely love and agree with this idea. Thank-you for tagging me. I have, I think, read one fanfiction where a similar thing happens, but it's Amphitrite judging her.

If I were to write it, at least a bit from Poseidon's pov, then it would be somewhat like this when it comes to his opinions on Annabeth. I think I will write another part for his conversation with Annabeth. Consider this a preview to their confrontation in the next part.

[POSEIDON]

One might not think so, but Poseidon considers himself to be a patient god. Not a calm god, no but certainly a patient one, especially when it comes to those who have wronged him. Of course, given his status as an Elder God and the King of Atlantis, none usually dare. That, however, leaves him with his children's enemies to deal with.

Love to a god is a far more enduring concept than it is to a mortal and hence it is equally rare for genuine love to exist during a god's eternal life but Poseidon can firmly attest to the fact that he loves his children, immortal ones, demigod ones and even the monstrous children, in his own way. Percy, perhaps he loves most of all when his demigod children are considered or even his other children. He has told Percy as much before , on his birthday too, in some almost human attempt to make up for the loss of his presence through Percy's childhood. Though his cyclops and his subjects were always there to look after him, he would not leave his child defenseless, especially his child, with Sally defenseless.

However, after the incident with the repulsive man Sally married, Poseidon has come to see the error of his ways, the dangers that even mere humans could possess to his precious son. Ever since the quest with the bolt, he has done all to subtly help his son through his many quests, he would help outright if Percy prayed to him but his son takes after Sally just as much as he takes after him, and hence it is not in his nature to ask for help. Regardless, Poseidon has done all he can to support him from the sidelines.

He thought he had made it clear to his son how important he was to him and how dearly Poseidon cared for the boy but apparently not well enough for his son has started a relationship with the child of Athena.

Poseidon had not much of an opinion of her outside her companionship to Percy after all children of the wisdom goddess are never worth noticing. But as children of Athena often did, the girl made a grave error of insulting his son, Tyson, and even Perseus as well. During that time, Perseus himself intervened, so Poseidon stayed his hand.

Yet Percy, his boy, seemed to not understand the gravity of the girl's behavior towards him. She dared to physically lay a hand on Percy, on his son, a true prince of the sea when she herself was a mere demigod. She even had the audacity to demean him verbally. It is not often Poseidon feels so enraged and wrathful. He would have struck her dead if not for certain factors. Foremost, for Perseus's sake, he had stayed his hand. The second reason was that Poseidon knew the girl would be of use yet. He used to be Delphi's master long before Apollo, after all.

He had obviously withheld his help from the girl during her quest in the Labyrinth, his focus solely on Perseus. He had promptly sent Hephaestus to that accursed island to get his son out as soon as he learned of it. It was only Hephaestus's fault for sending his son to that forge.

He was rewarded for his patience when the girl played a megaer role in helping Perseus survive the treacherous Styx and yet again when the girl took a fatal blade for Perseus during the war, not that Percy would have needed it. His son's senses would have helped him, but the girl's sacrifice was appreciated. If she continued to learn her place, he just might allow her to live.

His son had survived and triumphed through his keen leadership and strength of mind. It had all worked out, almost. Poseidon was not surprised when his son denied immortality. He was Sally's child through and through. Too good for this world. He felt bittersweet pain at his son's choice, but he knew Percy was made for greater things that fate had more in store. And he had time to show Percy the joys of immortality and to truly show him how fickle his bond with the wisdom child was, how exploitative it was on her end.

But then his son chose to seek a relationship with the daughter of Athena, and Poseidon felt silent fury and a pit of dread. An inkling of history repeating. And this particular history had left him grieving and enraged and his family broken for a long time. He did not speak of it often, but Perseus reminded him of his only grandchild, Pallas, dearly. How he had loved the child and how he loves Percy just as much. Yet the wisdom goddess, the pathetic Athena, has gotten his precious granddaughter killed even after he had welcomed her into his realm, and Pallas had considered Athena her dearest companion. Now her cursed progeny was involved with his son! He would have remedy this and he would soon, he almost had a scheme in the works.

But then the ill works of Gaea and the machinations of Hera left him spiraling and fragmented. At war with his own self. That had caused him to lose sight of everything. Locked in Olympus, away from his kingdom and his son, unable to feel Percy's presence and unable to help.

His son, his beloved Percy, had fallen into Tartarus and all because of that accursed child of Athena. Though his loyal and perfect son would do the same for any other of those demigods, Poseidon knew that well and yet again lamented his son's fatal flaw and compassionate nature. It had further cut him off from his son. He had much to make up for and he would soon.

After all was over, after the horrors Perseus had faced and survived through, as he knew he would for there was not any world in which Poseidon could bear to see his favored and precious mortal child dead. One day, perhaps he would have to face that reality, but he knew it was far away. His son was destined for things beyond mortality.

He had, after that, decided with Sally to take his son to Atlantis for respite and much needed peace. Him alone, that is. Surprisingly, his son had agreed readily but not before wanting him to meet with the Chase girl.

So here it was his true opportunity to show the girl her worth, her place when compared to his favored son, a true Sea prince, his precious Percy. He would make it quick and clear. He had no intentions of letting the wisdom goddess or her cursed progeny ruin his precious time with his son with their foul presence.

(Part 2 in a few days time.)

WHO HERE THINKS THAT WE SHOULD'VE GOTTEN MORE ANNABETH AND POSEIDON MOMENTS? You know how Athena disapproves of and threatened Percy? Well………….DO THAT WITH POSEIDON AND ANNABETH! Let them meet. Let Annabeth squirm. Let Poseidon smile, but let it not quite reach his suddenly cold green eyes. Let him size her up, and let her be found wanting. LET HIM SILENTLY THREATEN HER NOT TO HIT PERCY AGAIN! Let him disapprove of Annabeth's nickname for him! Let Percy defend it, defend Annabeth from Poseidon! Let Poseidon tell Percy that if things don't work out (in a way that he implies that he hopes it doesn't work out) that he can hook up with a sea nymph or naiad or something! I just feel like this was SUCH a missed opportunity. To show that Poseidon loves Percy and thinks that he can do better than a plain daughter of Athena! (At least Poseidon thinks so).

Can someone write this, please? I would, but I already have something else going on.

I wish Rick would do this in the show.

@lady-menrva, how do you like this one?

@rosabell14 you too

@cynthiav06, I read your anti Percabeth posts and thought you might like this

@bright-eyes-strawberry-lies

Dam, who else do I tag? If anyone wants to be removed, please do tell me and I will remove it immediately

After Son of Neptune and except for the Tartarus bit, Percy personality change was so radical and absolutely out of character for him, and the Fandom doesn't talk about it nearly enough. It's literally the character assassination of the main character. How do people not talk about it?

Is...Rick seriously implying Percy 'fatal flaw is his loyalty to friends' Jackson would...literally prefer being captured and put in chains and taken to be sacrificed to Gaea...just so he and Annabeth can be together still??? Keep in mind, Percy KNOWS Hedge would have been sold to Cyclops as food (so one friend would be killed) and that Chrysaor would have sold Hazel and Piper to Circe (depending if this is just Rick forgetting Circe got defeated in Olympians or Chrysaor is unaware of that) and given he had no use for Jason (and likely Leo and Frank), its likely he would have killed three more of Percy's friends. And therefore, you think Percy would be happy his friends are safe from that shit, given his fatal flaw.

But...no, Mark Of Athena decides he suddenly would have preferred all that happening just so he and Annabeth won't be apart, meaning Rick wrote Percy forgetting the danger his friends would be in in that situation in favor of Percabeth...which in itself is weird as uh, I know he's got faith he and Annabeth can figure it out, but like, he really wishing he and Annabeth would get into that danger with Gaea??? For someone whose fatal flaw is loyalty to his friends, it really did not pop up here.

Percy got one minotaur horn when he was twelve and another two when he was 15, he should ditch the sword and make a trident out of them. Imagine the flex

“Rick Riordan sucks,” I say into the mic.

The crowd boos, security comes out to drag me kicking off the stage until a voice rings out and commands silence.

“They’re right,” it says. I look for the owner of the voice. There, standing in the fifth row: Percy Jackson himself.

for context, @rosabell14 is referring to tags on this post.

ok we're going off-road w this one

generally speaking, i like the concept of "some things aren't meant to be controlled," which annabeth says to percy after he controls the poison. this is said and then immediately forgotten abt, however, this could be another angle of change, a reoccurring theme in hoo, as well as a continued theme from pjo.

obviously, from pjo, the change is addressed w the myths, the theme of yielding, and w the conclusion of the story:

hoo continues this concept of change w the percy-jason switch, the greek-roman conflict, the idea of what an identity is and how to change it, etc. there's a lot of individual character work w this idea, but there's less of a mythological concept attached to it. gaea is a static and flatly written antagonist, octavian becomes incredibly flat as a character and his development into this sort of fanatical antagonist that is never explored, there's a lot of teeth-gritting abt how the gods are gods and they never change and everyone just has to accept it, the myths aren't challenged in the same way they were in pjo, etc. there's a few major exceptions, i'll get to that.

this is a glaring issue i have w hoo. it wouldn't be as bad as a standalone, but hoo makes the entirety of the previous series meaningless. in tlo, percy asks for kids to get claimed and be trained so when (or if) they have to go on dangerous quests/fight monsters/etc they're both older and more experienced. this is the conclusion to the war and how the status quo is changed (disability accommodations expanded to reach more ppl and work more effectively).

hoo, however, does not do this. camp jupiter infamously has a child army while the adults are retired, all of the new characters are younger than percy (who is still 16), and only two of them have spent a long period of time training, although hazel's isn't formal/in a camp (and piper doesn't even learn how to fight until book four ffs). this sort of immediately bastardizes pjo in a way that is never acknowledge by the series and makes it, and anything after it, a failure as a continuation of pjo.

and that's where this theme could've come in. when bob is remembering who he is, him and percy have this back-and-forth abt identity. percy relates to bob bc he, too, just had his memory erased and that vulnerability exploited (annabeth's perspective in this conversation is very different bc she doesn't have this same experience nor does she understand percy's feelings abt it. a good way to build tension using different povs, but, once again, doesn't get fully utilized). in the conclusion that conversation, there's an interesting moment:

this is that idea again, "some things aren't meant to be controlled," like fate, like identity. titans are meant to "be the same...forever." and here percy is, not only as the catalyst for change by throwing bob into the river lethe, but also by encouraging him to commit to this change once bob should know better. this was percy's role in the previous series, as well, where he constantly challenges the perspective of other characters to be more quote human unquote.

afterwards, annabeth has a similar moment w damasen:

i also think these are very funny to have side-by-side, just as character analysis, bc percy is very much both insecure and empathetic like u can choose ur future, it's up to u, etc, whereas annabeth is like i am right, listen to me.

anyway, both of these moments repeat the idea from pjo/tlo: immortals can't change. but they are changing. and they will change. the rules of the world are malleable (i also think hazel's monologue abt seeing the minotaur as a victim would be another aspect of this to explore). what abt traditions? what abt camp jupiter's child army? how should these change? going back to the og thought, tho, what shouldn't change? what are the "some things" that aren't meant to be controlled? how do you balance traditions and reform (great opportunity to use octavian btw!)? why can't a god be human, act human? why are the ancient rules important? that's an important discussion to have if we're growing this universe.

i don't particularly like that hoo immediately reverts back w the premise of the story, like i was talking abt earlier, nor do i think these characters were introduced or used well in canon, but using these characters, these moments, these conversations, rick could've salvaged this mess by embracing change isn't a static thing. he doesn't, tho, so it's all lost potential.

separately, something i've always liked abt the akhlys fight is that percy wins the literal, physical fight against her, but loses the metaphorical fight. he gets to walk away, but he walks away miserable. and this is bc the gods aren't ppl, they're physical representations of concepts. and percy has this thought abt tartarus and gaea while in tartarus, and i believe it's brought up in boo, but it's barely relevant. it's something i wish was explored more.

now onto specific characters. i talk abt my general idea here, ie this moment in tartarus is forcing percy and annabeth to confront their worst-case scenarios.

for annabeth, i've repeatedly gone on record to say i hate the way annabeth is written in hoo, here is an example, ie her fatal flaw does not come thru in her character (i also think she and percy switched characterizations from pjo to hoo, but...). separate issue is that annabeth's character revolves around percy a lot. so there are two issues i would focus on, largely bc she's not written well and doesn't have established unique conflicts. like,

this is a big revelation at the end of hoh, that she has to "step back" and she can't "protect everyone she love[s]." except it doesn't make any sense. tlo ended w annabeth telling percy to give luke her knife which luke uses to kill himself. not to mention, thalia's sacrifice on hbh. ALSO. percy accepting the prophecy and "taking the brunt of the danger"! and finally. annabeth has been at camp for 7-8 years. 1) she should have relationships w these ppl and 2) she should care that some of the ogs died in the previous war (which would also require rick to figure out who died lol). but the point is, this isn't a new conflict for annabeth!

the thought she had in moa abt having to accept she's not always the best person for the job:

this is not built up nor is it delivered on, but would be interesting, given that she demanded to be on the quest and if there was an actual power struggle instead of writing her as the de facto leader. this would be a better conflict than accepting that "she couldn't protect everyone she loved" when she has historically not been able to protect everyone she loved.

anyway, back on topic.

first, this moment exists to challenge her perception of percy, which is important to challenge bc she quite frankly has an unhealthy attachment to him. other ppl have said this better than i, so here's a post abt codependency and p*rcabeth and here's another one i rbed a while ago.

tldr; rick treats annabeth's abandonment issues/possessiveness/codependency as like. cute, peak romance. and he's been doing this since pjo, right, like annabeth's abandonment issues and possessiveness didn't matter when it was thalia joining the hunters,—bc there's no romance trope here w thalia—but gods forbid percy speak to rachel.

and this doesn't change in hoo. in fact, it's worse. like,

i'm going to [statement redacted] rick for this. what part of this is cute??? i'm killing it with fire.

so anyway, i want to treat annabeth's possessiveness/etc as an actual, consistent, character flaw, that she can grow out of, even. maybe even connect it to her hubris or her rsd. explore her feelings abt luke now that we have her pov to do it in. the fallout from this moment w akhlys is a great way to begin delving into that bc it's a shocking moment for her.

second, and going back to the theme of change, annabeth is different from percy in the sense that she has a different relationship to the gods than him (which i'm comparing bc i think rick (and fandom) has a hard time giving these two consistent and separate personalities/beliefs post pjo). the two times she has rebelled against the gods directly were bc of percy's influence (again, this is percy's role in pjo), 1) in the zoo truck, a scene that only takes place bc percy challenged her view of the poseidon-athena rivalry and their place in it, and 2) w hera where the first words out of annabeth's mouth are literally "percy is right."

i find this interesting especially bc her fatal flaw is hubris, which is common in mythology and frequently ends up fatal bc ppl challenge the gods. so, annabeth using the gods and these stories to keep her hubris in check makes complete sense.

and it seems like this is the same approach she's using w percy:

percy is directly challenging a god for power, and more than that, he's challenging a domain he's not supposed to have control of at all.

very interesting! does not get explored. such is common for hoo.

for percy, this scene is part of a long-running conversation of his powers (which is a huge part of his disability coding!!!!!). and it doesn't go anywhere.

percy has established anger issues and implied emotional dysregulation. this has been a thing since the beginning, literally chapter one of tlt! punishing percy for this when he's clearly not getting the support he needs is. a choice. also there's the issue that hoo kinda. erases this aspect of percy's character until the confrontation w akhlys, which is a separate but related issue.

there really should've been more buildup to this outburst (eg: in son percy punches a shelf in the library and immediately feels guilty bc he scares frank and hazel. percy is in an incredibly stressful situation; this should've happened more), but that would mean rick would treat it and the disability conversation seriously (which falls flat after son) and do less teeth-gritting abt the whole gods thing.

so, to go back on my "using the different povs to build tension was wildly underutilized" train, a featured part of almost everyone's pov is that percy is very kind, and gentle, and forgiving. i discuss a moment w frank being impressed w percy's selflessness here and he also says that he would follow percy anywhere, jason says percy is "a nice guy" after like 2 days, nico has his whole thing, hazel says "percy was a child of poseidon’s better nature," going on to describe him as gentle, etc.

and all of this praise goes nowhere and kinda just becomes percy is so awesome...and then turns into everything is percy's fault in boo...it's bad writing.

but it's an interesting opportunity to play w perspective. percy in pjo is dehumanized in that he is both villainized and idolized, and obviously hoo is continuing the trend w idolization. rick sets up a great plotline w this in moa:

and this doesn't go anywhere bc apparently percy's problem is that he needs to learn to step back. which. part of this is bc rick recycled plotlines from percy and gave them to other characters, which means that percy cannot be in character anymore without making themlook bad (the recycled plotlines i'm talking abt are the idolization, imposter syndrome, wanting to step back but constantly pushed into the spotlight, being seen as different/elevated status bc of ur parentage, struggling to connect to who your parent is, even the dehumanization as a weapon is straight out of percy's writing in pjo). this is a big problem w hoo in general ie characters becoming ooc by necessity (see: bad writing). the other part to blame is that rick is literally trying to redo tlo what w the whole "you are not the hero." it's all the same from pjo except written worse. it's a running theme of hoo (and a bonus). bad writing all the way down!

ANYWAY. so pjo ends w percy at an elevated status bc he 1) survived an unsurvivable prophecy, 2) was offered godhood, and 3) turned down godhood to improve the lives of the demigods while all the demigods watched. and he has the curse of achilles but. we all know how that went. the point is, all of this puts percy on a pedestal. i like to think it's the biggest reason hera kidnapped percy: if he said no, if he refused, she would've lost the support of almost all the demigods at chb (also the metaphor for the audience lol). i think making percy go on the quest, or at least to new rome, is the only good bit of world building rick did between books.

the problem is, rick is kinda all over the place w how percy is perceived and misses both the point of percy's character (callback to what i said abt his disability) and the world building of the previous series (what happened to power-scaling, narrative consequence, etc fr). that's what creates the flip-flopping "percy is perfect" and "everything is percy's fault," and neither are particularly good reads.

going back to annabeth, i don't think she's an exception in idolizing percy. she has no reason to see percy's vindictive side bc he works hard to hide it. even w crusty, annabeth is preoccupied. annabeth is smart, she's not omniscient. instead, there's the famous "percy is too nice" from som. i also like to think this is why she keeps trying to talk to percy abt luke as if luke is a good person who didn't try to kill percy. she doesn't understand that percy would hate luke for betraying him bc why would he? percy is a good person.

(for the record, i think the exceptions are: 1) grover, who chooses not to bring it up w the exception of his nemesis comment in tlt, 2) rachel, who made a painting where percy's "expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy" and simply said that's how he looked, and 3) arguably nico—considering percy has attacked him before—but i do think "very [dangerous]. to his enemies." does a good job of capturing that, it just doesn't go anywhere).

so, to condense all of this, ppl are idolizing percy in terms of both strength and morals and percy feels stifled by this knowing that he is not as strong or good as ppl think (and also by the fault that he was demonized prior and has corresponding low self-esteem bc of that lol). keep this in mind, i'm changing the topic.

in botl, percy's torture scene is used primarily to set up how powerful he is. he can cause an eruption that necessitates the evacuation of thousands of ppl and wake the biggest threat in greek mythos, but he would never know that if he wasn't back into a corner. bc that's not who he is. he shies away from power and titles. he wins his fights w strategy and very rarely relies on his powers to overpower his opponents.

just to clarify, i categorize percy's powers in two sorts of ways: involuntary and voluntary. involuntary is like speaking to sea creatures, healing in water, things that don't require a lot of energy/effort/focus. he's not scared of this. he's wary of the voluntary, powerful explosions, the things that set him apart from his peers. that's what i'm referring to in this section.

so, percy has to come to terms w the fact that he 1) blew up a mountain, 2) survived blowing up a mountain, and 3) woke typhon. and what does he say immediately after that?

he immediately deflects! he wasn't in control, it wasn't him that's powerful, it was an accident, and besides, he can't do it again bc he almost died. and what's even more interesting is the only time he uses his powers after this (in botl) is when grover asks him to stop the fire in the woods.

so, what lesson did percy actually take from mt saint helens? that he's dangerous. very interesting to use this teaching moment and have the protagonist come to the quote wrong unquote conclusion.

in hoh, we don't have a purpose for the torture scene. there's no significance to confronting how powerful percy is. percy is not addressing his self-sacrificing tendencies nor his propensity for bottling his emotions up. there's no questioning of p*rcabeth's relationship. there's no questioning of the gods. it's a cool scene w no narrative purpose.

so, take two. what is percy supposed to be learning from akhlys? how do we relate this to percy taking the wrong lesson from mt st helens?

at the end of botl, nico comes up w the river styx plan and percy takes almost a full year to agree to it. how much further ahead in the war would they have been if percy had accepted the curse sooner? how many fights could percy have won faster if he used his powers? if he trained his powers? if he trusted his powers?

there's a really interesting comparison w phorcys and akhyls where percy doesn't attempt to fight phorcys bc he assumes he won't be able to overpower him,

but w akhyls he tries anyway,

bc he's backed against a corner. and he succeeds.

percy is a character who very much embodies duality. i've talked abt this before wrt his loyalty being both his greatest strength and greatest weakness and how it clashes w his desire for freedom, but it's true for almost every trait. he's honest and manipulative. he's ruthless and merciful. he's kind and violent. he's looked up to and looked down upon. he's the saint and the scapegoat. etc etc. and percy responds to this by frequently trying to deny his quote worse unquote traits until they eventually bubble up and explode out of him. this is part of why juno calls him a loose-canon (which btw, i love. everyone has been treating him as a loose canon and no one on this side has the balls to say it until then, seven books in).

all this to say, *ethan voice* it's abt balance! this moment should've been abt percy confronting his unfair treatment! the idolization from his peers! the demonization of his flaws/disability!

thanks for coming to my tedtalk.

This is so very true. I don't hate Annabeth, but the way she is portrayed later on doesn't fit so well with me. She knows Percy has low self-esteem, yet she also knows that Percy is both exceptionally strong and a great strategist, so her constant demeaning is bothersome. Almost all characters have taken this stance that Percy is some dumb guy with crazy amount of power but is useless without Annabeth which is bullshit cause as we saw in Son of Neptune that Percy can hold his own extremely well as much in battle of wits as he can in battle of power and the Fandom needs to start acknowledging this. No hate to Annabeth her character is fascinating, but there's no need to dumb down Percy to elevate her. There's nothing wrong with Annabeth playing a supporting role.

[In fact, it is actually a wise move to let the fighters fight while you dismantle the enemy's plan from the sidelines.]

Ok, I'm going to say something a bit dodgy, do take into account that my beef is with Rick and not Annabeth.

I might have been tempted to read The Chalice of the Gods (as opposed to anything after Staff of Serapis, which I've given a pass) if I didn't know that, as long as Annabeth is there as well, Percy won't be well-written. More specifically, he won't be written as himself.

When Rick wrote HoO, he had to figure out how to include Annabeth in the seven without having all these other powers dwarf her out. He did this by establishing a strict division of labour, according to which she was the strategist, and no one else. That has never been the case, at least not in such an exacting way.

Percy's saved their butts with his plans at the very least as often as she has. He's outsmarted his opponents, he's manipulated them, he has like a signature move that he pulls in almost every single book that basically goes "forget you're an almighty entity who could probably just ignore me without any problem and get down here and fight me at my level!" (tlt: Ares, Luke (unsuccessfully, since he refuses). som: Luke again (successfully, since he plays on his need to control his army's opinion of him). botl: Antaeus. tlo: Kronos. technically Gaia in son), he's been the one to figure out what they needed to from the prophecies (som: that they needed to send Clarisse to camp. ttc: the thing with Atlas's curse. botl: that Nico was the ghost king. I don't include tlo bc Annabeth figured it out first), he often comes up with the winning plans, like how he was the one who figured out how to get past Cerberus, even if it was Annabeth's expertise that allowed them to pull through (just like it was Percy's skill and weapon that allowed Annabeth's plan for Medusa to succeed) or tangling Antaeus on the ceiling chains. The scene with Chrysaor? Perfect blend of knowledge of myths, strategic genius and pure labia. For all the times we see him lose his cool or speak impulsively, we also se him go "wait, this person is trying to provoke me, I have to chill". I saw a comment a little while ago that Percy should've been dragging Giants to the gods feet for them to finish off -- that's what he did! Only he didn't physically drag them there, he planned them there. He tricked Polybotes into following him to Terminus, into pissing Terminus off so he'd agree to help, then killed him. While it was far from complex, he's the one who came up with the strategy to beat Otis and Ephialtes, so they only had to wait for Bacchus to step up.

I'm not saying Annabeth isn't smart. She has an impressive store of knowledge, which in itself is a clever thing to store, because it matches with her style of managing resources -- be they mental, like her facts, or physical, like her hat or things she finds in her surroundings, like the glass balls in Medusa's lair. Annabeth is probably the best at looking at a situation and going "okay, let's look at what we have. Ah, yes, a limitless credit card. Ah, yes, a store-full of clothes that no one's going to want back. Ah, yes, those weird-ass proteins that Hermes gave us, just like Hermes gave someone else food for a place just like this. Ah, yes, knowledge of how to fly a helicopter."

Here's the thing, though. When I read the phrase "Athena-like chatter", I almost broke something laughing. She's good with lies, hers are better and more believable than her friends'. When it comes to chatter, though... I couldn't even tell you how good she is, because I don't think I've ever seen her do something like that before MoA?

But, you know, okay, Rick has to spend more time in her head, she's been elevated in status to one of several protagonists instead of a deuteragonist as she was in PJO (he has to solve this oopsie - I don't agree with everything here, like how, except for her intelligence, Annabeth's other skills are "dump stats", but...), so he has her expand. Good for her. I think it worked alright in her fights in MoA -- a little bit of the old (impressive expertise in certain areas, management of resources), add a little bit of the new (a perceptiveness and gift of gab that she's rarely shown before, if ever, although you could argue she might have taken the "talk your enemy into beating itself" from Percy just like she learned to simplify from Frank).

That's not my real problem. It's this, from when they're fighting Akhlys:

Percy wanted to give her more time. She was the brains. Better for him to get attacked while she came up with a brilliant plan.

... What. Of everything that we've seen of Percy. That I've described just now. Makes sense with this? And please don't give me crap about "it's because his self-esteem is so low!" because 1) this isn't just about what he's thinking, it's about what he's doing, which is pretty much nothing while he waits for Annabeth to save them. He's never lacked initiative like this. Even while thinking, "wow, this absolutely crazy and dimwitted plan is so bad that it's going to get us all killed!" he still did it. ( 2) I've heard "it's bc of his self-esteem/ he plays dumb on purpose" to justify fandom's constant underestimation of Percy's smarts too many time to let it fly now.)

"It's because he trusts Annabeth's judgement more than his own, and he lets her do what she does best when she's available. Other times he's been forced to come up with a plan, it's because she isn't." Did he wait for Annabeth to shoot her shot with Ares before going in with his own plan? Did he keep quiet his misgivings about her level of preparation for the Labyrinth in BotL? Did he leave her to organize the battle plan in TLO? Did he give up after Chrysaor beat him twice in a sword fight and wait for her to come up with a plan? Absolutely not.

"Well, he still beat Akhlys, so I don't see what you're complaining about, it's not like he's useless or anything." True. It wouldn't be the first time he has to resort to brute force to get past an enemy he couldn't outthink (the telekhines come to mind) or that he never even bothered trying to outthink (Hyperion comes to mind), because it's not like strategizing is something that's essential to Percy's style, even if it does come up a lot. I said before that it's his actions that bother me and not what he was thinking, but there is some of that, too. That he wasn't thinking "I can't figure out what to do" or even too busy fighting to start to wonder about what to do, but "there's nothing I can contribute here but my fighting skills". It's sadly a dynamic that Rick has tried to encourage between them.

Sure, Percy only ever gets more powerful, but, even without Annabeth around, he loses any of his braincells. Look at his underwater fight with Polybotes. He starts off in the ship with an impressive display of power -- holding the ship together in the middle of a supernatural storm. Then he gets underwater and immediately loses to PB. The guy he would've one-shotted several times if he could kill him without a god's help. "He doesn't have experience fighting underwater," water not only gives him a strength boost, it gives him a skill boost, as we see in TLT. Besides, how much skill do you need to not swim directly into a cloud of poison? And really, he doesn't get to do anything but that.

Compare it to SON. He's fighting an almost-whole legion of dead people, with a mix of sword fighting and a whirlwind, and he might have won if they hadn't been able to reform. Recognizing that he was about to lose and to give Frank and Hazel a chance to fight Alcyoneus without having to worry about the army, he brings a whole end of the iceberg down to drown them all. And yet, you know what really struck me of all this? How smart Percy was, because he didn't just fight the legion. He aimed for the eagle, realizing that that would be the best way to keep them focused on him and not Frank.

If he's this capable, though, where does that leave Annabeth, who's a skilled warrior but whose most distinctive trait is thinking?

The whole power/smarts dichotomy is also the actual context of that line about Annabeth being the most powerful demigod. He's just spent two weeks teaching Magnus how to survive at sea, when it suddenly occurs to him that the most helpful thing for him to learn is how to "use what you've got on hand -- your team, your wits, the enemy's own magical stuff." Which is how, despite how often he's done just that, he concludes that Annabeth is the most powerful demigod and the best person to teach him how to survive. (Which is, sadly, all that that comment amounts to. Annabeth doesn't then get a chance to strut her stuff, teach Magnus, show off her smarts, play a part however small in his quest, give some insight into her mind -- nope! She says it was sweet of him and then just leaves with Percy.)

With a bit of luck, RR reread pjo to nail down the feel of it in order to write a book that's supposed to be a tie in for a tv show set in the early days (that's a lot of subordinates!), so he might've rediscovered the characters and found a way to balance that with the... way that he writes them now. I'm not optimistic, though.

(Also, if I have to read more of Percy being always afraid of Annabeth getting angry at him or her looking angry at the smallest of things and this being played as her being a girlboss, or how you "have to keep your boyfriend on his toes", I'll claw my own eyes out, but that's another topic.)

What do you think of all the other ships of Klaus and Hayley?

Klaroline: The script writers were probably high writing that. The only reason Klaus gives Caroline time of the day is for the sick pleasure of stealing Tyler's girl. Then she plays hard to get which is new for him so he is mildly amused and humors her. Though when he realizes she is stringing him along and manipulates her into having sex, he doesn't give her time of the day after. Klaus isn't apathetic so obviously he shows mild care towards someone he pursued once upon a time. And the abrupt appearance of Caroline only worsens their relationship in S5. Cause here's a question for all Klaroline fans:Who do you think Klaus is going to save when it comes down to Hayley and Caroline? Certainly not the blonde control freak who strung him along, tried to kill him, showed no gratitude for his sincerety until he was going to sacrifice his life for Hope.

Klamille: Eh it could have worked far better as a friendship and they ruined it by making it romance. Klaus had no chemistry with her, no lust or want for just appreciation for a truly good soul that she was and such people come by rarely so he made best use of her to write his Memoirs. He cared for her but then she botched her own character by becoming a vampire by doing 180 on her own nature.

If Caroline was temporary fling, then Camilie was a temporary relationship but would have done better as a lasting friend.

What other Klaus ships are there?

Klaurora? Only mentally ill and delusional people like Aurora herself genuinely ship that. She did have chemistry with Klaus but her nature was so toxic and manipulative even Klaus was disgusted. Even if she got her redemption arc early rather than in legacies Klaus wouldn’t have looked at her twice.

Klefan? Bit unrealistic considering we have no evidence of whether Klaus swings that way but it has good memes and it only became a thing cause Joseph and Paul play off of each other well when working together.

The only time I will dedicate to thinking about other ships of Klaus. ( I like doing my research before I get into things so hopefully this review is satisfactory. )

(P.S: I do remember about your fanfic request. Give me another day or two love and I will get it done.)

I keep seeing the argument that Percy is plot armored and that other big three kids should be as powerful as him or more in the case of Thalia and Jason. I don't think that the inherent nature of their personalities is really taken into account.

The first argument is that Zeus is the king of Gods so his children should obviously be more powerful. This is a misunderstanding, Gods only ever transfer basic abilities to their children. Everything else that comes after is all a credit to the children themselves. (For e.g, how only Leo is able to summon fire even though there are many children of Hepheastus or how only Meg shows stronger, more deadly abilities of Demeter's domain.)

Percy's basic ability to control over water or earth comes from Poseidon but it's Percy's mindset, upbringing and motivations enhance and expand his abilities to the next level.

1)Thalia: She probably has more potential but is held back by her fear of heights and is therefore unable to exercise wind control. Her lightning control is way better and stronger but it's limited by her spite for Zeus or her overall fear of what ambition might do to her.(Titan's Curse subtly alludes to this)

2)Jason shows more inclination towards wind control more so than lightning perhaps because it's comes to him gar easier than lightning which requires rawness more so than discipline. His greatest downfall is his commitment to rules and his stern belief in doing things in a set way.

Jason is a lot of things, but he isn't very creative, nor is he a good out of the box thinker, so he just sticks to the rudimentary abilities he has and doesn't even think to explore Another good reason is that since Roman counteroarts of Gods are so disciplined, they do not indulge in the true raw nature of their power, and hence, Roman demigods are technically weaker in terms of raw power. (LOOK at the life expectancy of Greek demigods and how strongly they attract monsters).

He just doesn't have the touch of madness that sparks power in the big three children of Greek counterparts.

Jason is also not the type to damn the world for people he loves while we know the Jackson Family preaches the "do anything and everything under the sun to protect the ones we love. "

But mostly all of them, Thalia or Jason, believe there's a limit to what they can do or can be done and controlled while Percy has no sense of such predetermined boundaries. He is an open-minded and extremely adaptable fighter. He believes anything and everything could be used against his opponents, and hence, his fighting style is also better and far more unpredictable than usual. Percy also doesn't believe he is all that powerful, so he thinks there's always more to channel.

[It also helps that Poseidon favors Percy to the moon and back while Jupiter just gave Jason as a guilty gift to Juno.]

3)Now Nico has a good chance of being way more powerful than Thalia and Jason and isn't also very held back by moral concerns. His problem is that his powers are much too vast for him to control, and they always get the better of him. Raising the dead? Traveling through Shadows? Hands down Hades has the most op abilities to give. But this fact aside Nico also lacks the enhanced physical strength and the necessary experience to use his powers.

Last but not the least Percy is the most connected to his father's domain. He has sat on his father's throne, he has been in his father's secondary seat of power, Atlantis.

So overall, Percy is and will be the strongest demigod for a long, long time.

I'm a Percy Jackson apologist, not because I think he has anything to apologize for, but because people in this fandom tend to blame him for every little thing that goes wrong in those books, even if he had little or zero control over it or even made the objectively good or reasonable choice.

"Percy choked Nico in the last Olympian"

Percy was imprisoned by Hades himself, after Nico had (although, of course, unwillingly) betrayed him, in a cell, he was convinced would suffocate him, had just woken up of a nightmare of Typhon wreaking havoc in the US, with the gods doing very little to slow him down, and didn't even know it was Nico, he was attacking at first. He only realized it was him, after he had him already pinned to the floor and he let him go only a few moments after that. For all Percy could have known, Nico could have been a servant of Hades sent to kill him.

"Percy forgot to free Calypso."

First of all, not Percy's responsibility. Not at all.

Second of all, he did free her.

Percy stood before all the Olympians and, after winning the war for them, one of his demands was specifically that she (and other gods) should be forgiven. Let me be clear, Leo would not have been able to free Calypso from her island without this specific request. There was no possible way for Percy to know, that the gods would be assholes about it and wouldn't inform her of that. Hell, he even knew, that Hephaestus visited her from time to time to chat, so there was no reason for him to doubt that he'd just tell her.

"Percy killed Michael Yew in the battle of Manhattan"

Percy probably saved the entire Apollo cabin on that bridge. And as a reminder, it was Michael's idea to destroy it in the first place. Percy even told him to run before that. His death was without a doubt a tragedy, but by no means Percy's fault.

"Percy treated Tyson shitty after finding out he was a cyclops"

When? Give me one example in the Sea of Monsters were Percy was actively being a jerk to Tyson. Not something he thought, but something he actually did. He wasn't a fan of Tyson being his brother and denied it to other campers, yes. But, as a reminder, camp half-blood, or ar least some members of it, started to bully Percy after Tyson got claimed. The one place he thought he belonged to treated his friend and him by association like shit.

Still, he was on Tysons's side. He even defended him in front of Annabeth, his best friend might I add, and didn't stop spending time with him. They were a team during the chariot race, and even while thinking that Tyson might be a liability on their quest to save Grover, Percy refused to leave him behind, because he feared, that Tyson would be blamed for their disappearance.

I could go on and on and on, because that kid (and he is a kid, at the end of heroes of Olympus Percy is not even 17 years old) gets blamed for so much it's exhausting, but I 100% believe that nothing that Percy Jackson did was ever wrong and there is absolutely nothing he has to apologize for. Prove me wrong.

hi hello! i hope you're having a good day

i love reading your writing and analysis/takes on percy jackson ( the character and franchise ), and i wanted to know your opinion on perpollo. just anything you have to say on the topic. i find it so interesting as a concept itself and when it's explored.

I am sorry for the delay. I hope you and everyone else who sent me asks has found the pinned post regarding my hiatus. I will answer as many asks as I can in this week but I have exams coming up so I won't be very active for a while after this.

Back to the point, I really like the possibilities that the Perpollo ship presents. I know I have not made any Perpollo centric posts but given its popularity and how many prominent blogs have analyzed it along with some of my mutuals @ackerlikesmen , @deliajackson , @hermesmyplatonicbeloved I really haven't felt the need to. They will probably have great stuff to add on or correct in my analysis.

I have mixed opinions on the ship. My parameters for analyzing this ship may not align with you, but I just feel better when factual and practical nuances are considered. This is one of the few ships where the cons can be used as tropes to further bolster the pros of the ship. So let's start with that:

PROS:

1.It's a mutually respectful relationship with no toxicity.

Apollo greatly respects Percy even before the events of Trials of Apollo. He votes to save Percy in the Titan's Curse and also actively helps him and begins respecting him after he saves Artemis.

In Singer of Apollo, Apollo tells Percy that he is Apollo's favorite hero.

In the Hidden Oracle, when Apollo realizes that he is human, he wants Percy to be his master. Apollo the ( God of Ego) thinks that if anyone is worthy of commanding him it's Percy.

When Meg is being hesitant about trusting demigods, and Apollo wants to prove that some of them are good and reliable, he picks Percy as the prime example. Not anyone else of the Seven or even his own children but Percy.

In their initial conversation where Apollo is still repulsively high handed and egoistic and considers Percy declining him as self-centered he doesn't complain too much on it an even follows up by the thought that Percy has done him much goodwill. And this is before his transformation so Percy is that influential that even pre ToA Apollo can't really pick faults at him.

Now Percy began with disliking Apollo as much as he dislikes any gods. But he does remember Apollo thanking him at the end of Titan's Curse and declines Apollo's offer for free Archery lessons.

Percy acknowledges the change in Apollo and respects Apollo for it. Despite his annoyance Percy is one of the few to help him initially and consistently throughout the series.

2. Common family/friends circle and culture

Initially, one would question why this matters, but I think it's generally a comforting space to be involved with someone who knows your roots and is on good terms with your family. It's both wise and fosters a stronger bond. It's even more reassuring and I dare say easier when a couple shares similar cultures/family roots. It automatically trumps the trial and error phase of adjustment with another person's family and cultural norms.

Percy is a family oriented person and therefore likes that Apollo respects and thinks highly of his mother and his family.

Apollo is despite his progress, someone who considers status quo important, and he appreciates that Percy is such a high profile person on Olympus and obviously the most influential out of all demigods. Plus, he is a sea prince.

Percy is on good terms with Apollo Cabin and Will, Kayla, Austin and formerly Michael all respect Percy and are fond of him. Percy despite being mid battle and exhausted from his fight stopped everything and looked through the bridge rubble to try and save Michael and retrieve his body.

Percy is the only male demigod Artemis acknowledges and likes and he has saved her before and they are on extremely good terms. Apollo loves his sister very much so it's unlikely he would accept someone who wasn't on good terms with Artemis. No other demigod has that advantage.

Percy and Apollo also have an exclusive friend in common being Rachel, who is Apollo's Oracle and Percy's very good friend. In fact, Rachel was led to being the Oracle by meeting Percy and Apollo adores Rachel.

Percy is possibly the demigod that has been through the most hardships and Apollo has had a taste of what demigod hardship is like so he knows what it is like being in Percy's situation. And there's full understanding there.

Percy knows many gods and is aware of godly ways so he isn't a novice to divinity or the world of gods or what gods do in general. So, it's unlikely that Apollo's functions, roles and responsibilities will cause any misunderstandings between them.

3. There is no god mortal power gap that usually exists.

Percy is a prince of the Sea and Poseidon's favorite child. He has also been offered godhood before and is hailed throughout Olympus as it's Savior twice. Essentially, he is on equal footing with Apollo.

He might be mortal but given his high profile status in Olympus and in both camps, Apollo [yes Apollo already absolutely respects and thinks highly of Percy] would not be able to mistreat or hurt Percy in any major ways.

4. They have similar goals of bettering lives of demigods and are both in positions to do so and therefore collaborate frequently even in their work life. This is healthy in a relationship.

5. With Sally's own affair with Poseidon, Percy and Apollo dating create a nice sort of generational parallel.

6. Percy respects the domains Apollo stands for, and that's very important, I think to a god. Percy is grateful to healers, is friends with the Oracle and is Rachel's protector to some extent, is fond of music and is fairly artistic (writer as he does write/ narrate the whole orignal series himself) on his own. Though he sucks at Archery, it seems to amuse Apollo rather than anger him, and he offers Percy archery lessons from himself, so that could be a fun dynamic.

7. Percy and Apollo are very complementary, and their dynamic can really help both of them.

Percy has extreme self esteem issues and Apollo, proud and egoistic as he is can help Percy develop self assuredness and inner confidence. Apollo is narcissistic without understanding how damaging his narcissism can be. He learns about as much from his Trials so he can and I think he would like to learn from Percy his compassion and humility. I think they could really help each other and match each other quite well.

They are both very open-minded, so they can always try out new interests that the other likes and can develop completely new hobbies together. They both like not having important tasks thrust upon them, lol so they can find ways to dodge godly affairs together.

CONS:

1.Apollo's lovers often meet disastrous ends either at his hands or another's.

Percy is the one person who deserves to have a very relaxing and enjoyable life devoid of any excess trouble after all he's been through. So another death prophecy might not be something Percy wants and given how tormented Apollo is by memories of his past lovers, another relationship might not be the best idea especially with one he thinks of so highly. Apollo might intentionally stay away from Percy to not bring him any misfortune.

2. Percy dislikes gods.

No matter what, after all that's been done to demigods and all the wars they have suffered are direct results of godly mistakes. He generally tolerates gods and likes only Hestia and Poseidon and has antagonistic take on all other gods, rightfully so.

Therfore Percy might not be at all interested in pursuing a relationship with a god, changed or otherwise. He might have come to see eye to eye with many gods and he clearly respects Apollo now, it might still be a bit too far of a leap for him to consider getting together with a god.

3. Percy wants a quiet and peaceful life

Apollo loves grand things and grand gestures. He also loves being the center of attention as you know he is quite literally the Sun God. It might not align well with Percy's mindset for thea future or Apollo's mindset for a relationship.

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There can be a compromise found for all of these. And they all make for good fic ideas.

For the first one,Apollo being extra careful towards Percy's safety or considering the threat of Apollo's own enemies targeting Percy and making arrangements accordingly might help along with Percy's own reassurances as a powerful demigod.

Secondly, Percy might be convinced through seeing things with Apollo's eyes that even those inside Olympian systems suffer the wrath or Zeus regularly and chafe under the chains of ancient and archaic rules. He might decide to help them so that they can better help their own children. And he has made exceptions for certain gods before. Like Hestia, Pan and his father. So it's not far fetched to think that Apollo could also be potentially added to the list.

Lastly, Apollo might make Percy realize that wanting a peaceful and quiet life doesn't mean he should give up perks of enjoying his powers or his status and can and should be able to experience the joys of both.

That's my honest thoughts on Perpollo. I like them. I like their dynamic. I certainly have enjoyed my fair share of Perpollo fics and they could make a great pair together. But regardless of that, they can really help and understand each other. I love and I mean absolutely love the fics where Apollo hypes Percy up. I need more of those fics so would love recommendations. Also, fellow greek mythology enthusiasts, feel to chime in with obscure Apollo facts.