Latest Posts by cynthiav06 - Page 4

Okay so I saw this post about dark percy (really him reaching his Limit and fighting full strength with everything he had) and I was imagining the potential fallout of that. Pretty bad, as you can guess.

The thing is a lot of percys strongest moments happen out of view of the olympians, especially in hoo. The hurricane atop the glacier in alaska, the poison scene in tartarus, bending the depression river and the one in the palace of nyx.

Stuff like the St Helens eruption got him washed up on an inescapable island literally removed from reality until calypso gave him the OK, the achillies curse he got tricked into losing by hera. Smaller moments, the minotaur, fighting ares, the stolen pirate ship, walking on water vs hyperion, freshwater sources, him knowing both Latin and Greek, they're more easily brushed off or at least mostly due to cunning, sword skills and sheer luck and grit.

But basically the olympians don't actually know the full extent of percys strength and divine power. They have hints - percy standing on the throne, winning against ares, his many victories - but what they aren't willing to brush aside in the heat of (an important) battle there have been pretty strong consequences for.

Heck, just look at Frank, he's no prodigy with weapons, he's polite and respectful, but his distant relation to two olympians letting him inherit shapeshifting earned him direct divine meddling and his life force tied to a hunk of half toasted firewood. Man is a honey bear with lactose intolerance and he was punished with a mythical death curse for being too strong.

If Percy's true strength came out, he would risk losing everything. His freedom, most certainly. If he wasn't straight up executed he might wind up in a Greek myth style imprisonment, the way of atlas, prometheus, calypso, or something like the myriad of ways Greek heroes met their end. Good scenario he survives a dozen curses and gets on with life with a dozen new disabilities, best case scenario he's stripped of every inch of divine power and dropped back to the mortal world, not even clear sighted. Total separation from the Greeks and Romans. Oh, annabeth would marry him either way, and his friends would hardly abandon him despite the gods wishes, but they'd hardly be able to see him, and no long range contact without the ability to IM him or vice versa.

All of that to say Percy is hiding his true strength from the gods themselves - maybe not consciously, and it's not even power he particularly wants - but if they ever find out?

It's game over.

But why is he so strong? I don't know. What I do know is that the half bloods of the books are so much stronger than the ones of myth. Used to be that divine blood would get you divine favour and a great fate whether you liked it or not. Maybe some cunning and bow skills. A spot of spell casting if you were really lucky. Achillies got his curse after he was born, Perseus had a dozen magic artifacts, orpheus had something going on but hercules is to my knowledge an outlier. Now? Everyone in camp has some special power. Flight, fire, necromancy, hypnotism, dream walking etc. However it's happening, half bloods are slowly but surely getting a lot, lot stronger every century that passes. Meta? I mean I guess. But.

What no one has done before is something that their godly parent couldn't.

Except.

Except Percy.

Except Percy, in tartarus, at his mental, emotional and physical limit, controlling poison with his mind, overpowering the goddess of poison in her home, making misery choke on misery. Feeling something in his chest crack. Doing something poseidon could not, and doing it better than the person who could.

Down there, hidden away from the gods, he evolved. For that brief moment, he did something, was something new.

And that was how the gods overthrew the titans.

And that's why they must never find out.

percy: hold on, i’m having one of those things - a headache with pictures

grover: huh?

annabeth: he’s having an idea

Percy is a Hatsune Miku fan. I will not elaborate futhermore

Carter and Sadie Kane doodles 👀? 🙏🙏🙏

we love the kane siblings in this household

https://www.tumblr.com/my-pjo-stuff/772756680384577536/have-you-ever-noticed-how-the-most-liked-posts?source=share

I am laughing at how ridiculous that post is. Listen, anon, this is the kind of thing you look at and laugh at. Cause what else can you do? The way that post is made, the sheer insecurity and willful ignorance reeking off of it is self-explanatory.

It's a bland rage bait, okay. You could play a drinking game with stuff like that. Take a shot every time someone just blatantly makes up something to hate Percy for. People's reasons for hating Percy keep getting more and more ridiculous and self invented.

So when you come across posts like that, just have a good laugh and move on. You don't argue with a flat earther. It's that sort of thing. The only people worth arguing or discussing with are those who listen to reason and are willing to respond with reason.

This is for everyone. I know we all love certain characters or hyperfixations and cannot tolerate much negativity against them. And sure you don't just have to sit and take their criticisms, feel free to correct their misconceptions or express that this is a space for that particular interest and therefore no negativity is welcome.But everyone is entitled to their opinion. As long as they are not enforcing it on you, just ignore it.

And even then, there's a merit to the kind of hate you should respond to. In the end, it is up to us to have respect for our own time and opinion. So, if any such posts have been forwarded to me for a response and you haven't gotten one, this is why. There are just some things too blatantly dumb to invest time arguing against .

Almost my entire blog is proof enough against that take, so enough said, really. But good on you for sending me this and giving me something to laugh at.

Yes, absolutely yes. You should totally rant more. We really are on the same wavelength when it comes to Pjo stuff. Considering Percy grew up in New York I am pretty sure he learned to be skeptical of everyone's motives and just naturally try and extract as much information as he could.

Given that he tapped into his demigod strength a bit later, he may or may not have manipulated his way out of some fights.

It's can also be said that Percy deliberately tries to appear clueless or weak so his opponents almost always underestimate him, and so do his allies. Only extremely observant characters like Luke or Carter and certain gods and other characters with good senses like Hazel or Meg could naturally pick Percy apart as someone exceptional or threatening.

But when he battles, suddenly everyone is hyperaware of his sheer aura of power or his frightening gaze. If you remember, Leo calls the look on Percy's face to be so threatening that it has the same effect as Jason summoning lightning. Or the way Piper says the look on Percy's face made her want to run in Blood of Olympus.

But I digress. The point is Grover knows most of Percy's habits, so he does all he can to put Percy at ease. And since information about others seems to interest Percy and Grover naturally loves talking about other people, he is only too happy to help with that. [I bet even Aphrodite Cabin can't help but let Percy in on gossips]

Another headcanon that I so desperately want to be true is that since Charmspeak is Aphrodite Cabin's gift and Aphrodite is of the sea; the power is similar to sirens. And maybe just maybe Percy's superior persuasive skills could probably develop into an ability of its own. It is also why I believe Percy is definitely immune to charmspeak. After all it only worked on him because he was possessed by other creatures and even then it took a while. Might be a reach, I don't know but I do love that headcanon.

So yeah, they totally gossip, and I bet Rachel joins in. Who would hide stuff from the Oracle any way? So she is totally in on most secrets of campers, and she Percy and Grover totally gossip.

This turned long for no absolute reason, but I really loved your take on this, so I couldn't resist.

Percy and Grover are the two biggest gossips in the riordanverse and no one can convince me otherwise.

Percy/Grover knows when the other has just learned something juicy cause of their empathy link (that's been completely forgotten buy literally everyone, something I cry bout everyday).

Now don't get me wrong, Percy and Grover would never share/spread what they know outside of each other, they know how damaging rumours can be.

I just hc that Percy subconsciously seeks out information on other people as a sort of "passive" defense mechanism if that makes sense.

With how little people tell him (if they tell me anything at all) and how often everyone, even those closest to him, deliberately keeps him in the dark, his habit of seeking out "gossip" and "rumors" when he was younger steadily developed into a habit of seeking and hoarding whatever information he could find.

Like he doesn't need to know but he'd like too, and virtually nothing about his behavior towards the others would change aside from the fact he'd be more prepared to interact/deal with the person he's talking to/facing, more prepared to "code switch" in a way.

Which loops in well with the fact that many people (Grover, annabeth, Thalia, Bianca, Zoe etc) confide in Percy/tell him bout their pasts/secrets easily enough, and while Percy listens to and empathizes with them he rarely offers up his own experiences.

One of the only times I can remember where Percy tried to get someone to see/understand his pov with him was in TLT where he asked annabeth something to the effect of "what if it was your dad that was kidnapped?" and annabeth replied with something like "I wouldn't care" which understandably surprised Percy. I think that interaction is part of the reason why Percy never speaks about himself/his past with others, it's obviously not the only thing that contributed but I think it was a decent sized factor in maybe not creating but rather cementing the idea that Percy should keep his cards as close to his chest as possible, and if he ever had to share any of his cards I think he'd like to know how he should share them, like how he should phrase things and what points he should make yk?

The more he knows bout the person he may have to interact with, the easier it would be to "make a plan" so to speak (and by "make a plan" I mean that Percy wouldn't have to worry much bout stepping into uncomfortable territory if that makes sense)

Let's not forget that despite what everyone says and believes (both in universe and in fandom), Percy is not only smart as hell, he's also incredibly observant and he notices a lot of things, he'd find it real easy to build a profile on everything he comes into contact with.

Grover, due to the empathy link, did pick up Percy's habit and adopted it himself but he also just straight up likes to gossip

(This got kinda derailed/rambley and this hc is totally just me projecting onto Percy a lil, I stand by it tho.)

Between both these entries, I am sure it's proven beyond all doubt that not only is Percy obviously a strategic genius, but he is also school smart when he puts effort into it. Give it up for Percy Jackson; no one is the fandom is getting away with slandering Percy, especially for stuff the haters obviously made up.

just another snippet from readriordan.com CANONICALLY CONFIRMING that percy is extremely intelligent

just in case anyone forgot

As it should be. And who's to say they had a choice in the first place.

Some character: "Oh, you need the pegasi for your very important quest to save Hera? Can't do. The Savior of Olympus himself is missing, so it's all hands on deck, really, so we will leave this minor task to you . And frankly, Blackjack's rallied all the Pegasi to look for "Boss," as he calls Percy so you will have no luck there."

Like, I don't think we talk about Blackjack or Ms. O Leary's situation when Percy's missing. They must be so sad, panicked, and feeling alone like any animal without its caretaker.

But I headcanon that Blackjack rallied all the Pegasi even 'Pegasus' himself to look for Percy while all the sea creatures and nymphs, naiads were also naturally looking for their Sea Prince. [Maybe on Poseidon's order but I think he was already being split between two halves of his personality when Percy went missing so the sea creatures are doing this for Percy just cause as he is very kind to them and always helps around. ]

Not to mention, Grover would obviously have all the nature spirits looking to find Percy as well.

We totally deserved a Percy-Blackjack-Ms. O Leary reunion scene and of course Percy Grover one as well.

I really love the fact that Camp Half-Blood didn't give Jason, Piper, and Leo Pegasi for their quest in The Lost Hero, despite the fact that they didn't really have an alternative for air transportation at this point in time, and only had four days to save Hera, solely because they used the pegasi to search for Percy.

Like, priorities were set, and Hera was not on the top of that list.

Respectfully, did Percy Jackson even have any character development throughout the original series?

He doesn't have any flaws. He chose to take the prophecy from Nico, but he was always going to be the prophecy child.

He's good at the start and good at the end with no development unless you count being traumatised and depressed from a war as development, which it's not.

Not trying to be rude, sorry if I seem rude.

Worry not. It's a perfectly reasonable question and should usually be applied to most character studies. Also, buckle up. This is going to be long. Very long. It took me a while to get the time to post this and even more time to actually get my thoughts together. Like a lot of time. (To anyone who doesn't want to read the horrid mess of a post this is there's a partition at the end, after which all the most important points are summarized. ) Just skip to that, but hopefully, someone reads this whole thing because it took me eons to write.

I can see why you think that way, and it is contributed more so by Rick's absolute incapability of not recycling the dead horse that is the original pjo dynamics. He has inhibited character growth from almost every single character where all their epiphanies and character change in the end amounts to nothing, and they regress back to how they used to be, and any and all deviations their personality had are either dismissed or suppressed.

Percy is the victim of the latter. In the first book, he was a child, not particularly concerned with saving the world or being a halfblood. His life had been worse enough, and the halfblood situation had made it abysmal. Percy was living goal by goal. He wanted to get through the field trip, then through the semester, then through the Gabe interactions all so he could finally see his Mom, the one good thing about his life. Then that upends completely, and his only reprieve, the trip to Montauk, his safe place becomes the start of a series of grand tragedies in his life.

Sure, he stayed at the Camp, not willingly but for safety. He had nowhere to go, his life had been turned upside down, his mother was dead, and he wanted to go home, to have his mother back. He couldn't have cared less about the Gods and the world ending, but as soon as Chiron mentions Underworld, Percy is back on solid ground. He has a goal again. Get Sally back. He does everything to reach that goal. He fights monsters, prays to a godly father he refused to acknowledge beforehand, manipulate the press and the Gabe situation, bargain with immortal deities and such, and negotiate his way out of most of those bargains. All the while keeping in mind that he has a traitor to deal with, but Percy is the definition of "deal with one thing at a time. If it's not an immediate concern, it can wait." He does all that and is rewarded for it by being able to live, getting his mother back, and a taste of the life he has doomed himself to, and he almost seems to accept it. He even wonders if Camp Half Blood could be his home.

We see Percy do this throughout all the books. He is constantly changing his intentions, his goals, and his opinions on everything. He is also caught in his internal conflict of being with or against the Gods. The thing is, Percy has very little time for reflection as he is jumping from one existential threat to another, and yet he still manages to grow in the small ways. You need to see it individually book wise rather than over the whole series as Rick messes up terribly with character arcs and developments of literally every other character.

He begins by not caring about Poseidon's existence or his proximity, but in the end, he, too, is beholden to the intrinsic need of having a father. He, too, wants Poseidon to care for him like a father and is therefore hurt by being called a mistake. He knows Poseidon claimed him as a weapon against Zeus so he could rectify someone else's mistakes and restore Poseidon's reputation; who if not Percy would understand this manipulation the best? But the best lies are the ones you want to believe in, and so Percy keeps his silence because, of course, he wants to believe his father genuinely cares for him and loves him. Who doesn't?

He didn't want to be the hero, but by the end of the first book, when he is called one, he doesn't dislike the feeling. He accepts if only a little that this is to be his life now, and as the series progresses, he adds to the pros and cons.

In the Sea of Monsters he is very happy that Gabe is gone and it's just him and his mother again but by the end of it he has gained a new family member in Tyson and is very happy of the fact. He even manages to get over his initial hostility of Clarisse somewhat when he understands her situation.

Titan's Curse is all about Percy learning about the number of forces at play in the world of demigods. He tries to get along with the Hunters and Thalia; it doesn't work. He ends up almost losing Annabeth, someone who he considers a close friend by now. And so we see Percy spiral a little, show more of his anger issues as he interacts with Thalia or even Young Nico just after Annabeth falls from the cliff. Angry and impatient, he goes on his own quest.

I know most readers remember it as Percy, Annabeth, and Grover or the main cast always working together, but it's almost never like that. Somewhere along the way, Percy always ends up doing his own thing, which works because he best works on improvisations. It's Percy's plans that always end up working the most more so than Annabeth's. Just putting it out there.

Then it's just Percy having the worst month of his life. Annabeth is in mortal danger. No one seems to be hearing his opinions between Thalia and the Hunters. Then Bianca dies and Percy because he is Percy is completely and utterly guilty over it.

Note that Percy says he will do his best to keep Biancs safe and not outright promise to keep Bianca safe. But his non-existent self-esteem and other factors withstanding he blamed himself for it completely. Then Zoe dies, and Percy has lost yet another person he thought he needed to keep safe.

Percy is angry at the gods, but he is not surprised by their actions. But he is Percy, and he is determined to change the ways of Olympus, so he pressures the Council and his father to keep the Ophiptaurus, the very creature that threatens to topple their rule. It's his small was of rebelling, and Percy is always rebelling against the gods in his own way, almost never playing into their hands because as much as he despises Luke, he agrees with Luke too and unless he finds a better way to deal with the situation than what Luke is employing he too would have to one day follow in Luke's footsteps.

Now Percy, who trusts Chiron, even thinks of him as a secondary father figure realizes that Chiron for all his compassion for mortals and demigods will always in the end do the bidding of the Gods'. So he makes the snap decision to hide Nico's parentage from Chiron and from everyone else because Percy realizes no matter how much he loves or cares for certain people in his life, they are beholden to answer to a higher power he cannot gainsay, so he will have to take some secrets to the grave. He learns that in the end, some things he needs to shoulder himself.

And of course, the guilt of Bianca's death is no lesser, so he does the only thing he thinks can give him some relief from it. He takes the prophecy for himself, saving Nico and hoping it's enough to alleviate himself of this bile inducing sensation in his gut called guilt that is swallowing him whole.

Now, the Battle of Labyrinth is the most crucial. This is the book with maximum stress on Percy from all ends. From Sally dating Paul and Percy having to prove he is worth Paul's confidence in him in Goode, from Annabeth who is quite literally snippy and passive aggressive through the whole book either due to Rachel or due to her own prophecy even though Rachel and Percy are the two people who got them all out. Then there's the Nico situation. He knows Nico is spiraling, which is making Percy spiral and further strengthening his own guilt. And on top of all this, the Luke situation. Percy is literally caught between an enclosed space, with all four sides closing in on him rapidly while he is fending off mortal danger.

All this repressed tension is fully let loose when he explodes Mt. Helen's. And this is the tipping point. Percy wants to take the choice of Calypso's Island if only briefly and not because he loves her or anything of the sort but because it's his one escape. From everything from his own doomed prophecy. Yet again, Percy is trapped by his own fatal flaw. Personal Loyalty. So he chooses to carry out his responsibility because he has given himself no other choice.

If that wasn't enough of self-realization, he is faced with the horrifying realization of the devastation his power has wrought. His loss of control has single handedly released the greatest threat to Olympus. Hephaestus tells Percy he doesn't know the limits of his own, and by the gods, does that terrify Percy. Up until now, Percy knew his powers were dangerous, but now he knows that he is also dangerous; that he is the real danger. And it's not a reality he wants to ever confront, so he coils his power and holds it tight in a leash. (It's why Percy's burts of power always begin with an unraveling sensation in his gut or something breaking inside himself)

He is somewhat soothed by Poseidon's reassurance because not only does Poseidon not blame him, he also solidifies Percy's faith that he is doing the right thing. And if Poseidon sprinkles in the fact that Percy is the favorite child then who is he to deny himself the comfort of such sweet lies because, of course, Percy thinks it's a lie and of course Percy basks in it. He knows better than to trust gods, he knows better than to trust even his own allies because at the times like this, they will do and say anything to appease him, after all the fate of Olympus depends on him, does it not? And neither the Gods nor the demigods will risk a falling out with him at times like this.

He asks his father if he can help but is denied because he is needed here. Then he does his job as told, and Charlie dies. It's on him. He is struck with twice as much guilt. Over Beckendorf, and then over the state of Atlantis. He asks again if he can help his father and is denied again yet scorned by his father's family, for he can't even help them with the mess he started (or so he believes).

This is why Percy goes with Nico's plan of using the Styx. Because he assumes Nico of all people who already hated him has no reason to curry for his favor. But he makes a mistake. After all, Nico needs his father's favor, and Hades needs Percy gone. Percy can't really blame the kid, but he does anyway because why not? He is angry, he is furious, and everything is slipping from his fingers. He is going to die. Everyone is going to die, and it's all on him. It's all his fault, AGAIN. So he rages at Nico because for at least one single moment, he wishes this were someone else's burden, especially Nico's, but Percy's taken it for himself, and it's too late to back out now.

So he fights and manipulates and negotiates. Titans, River gods, his own demigods. Because don't forget Percy knows there's a mole and that's also his problem. Everything is his problem. All that work and so many dead. Silena, Michael, Ethan, and many more on both sides, and he is trying everything he can to make it better to fix things because, again, he thinks it's his fault. Imagine doing all that, and Rachel tells him he is not the hero, and Percy bristles because no, he doesn't want to be a hero, but of course, it offends him. Because, if he's not the hero, then it's not his burden, and then what the hell is he doing all this for if, in the end, he is not the hero that can save Olympus? Does that mean he read the prophecy wrong, and now he is going to get everyone killed because he wrongly assumed he isn't the hero. He is angry and impulsive, and he snaps at even Hermes. Because now HE is spiraling.

And somehow, it's all over with Luke killing himself, and it dawns on Percy, the truth. So despite all the hate because why wouldn't there be hate, Luke has singlehandedly tried to kill Percy more than Percy can count, and he calls Luke the Hero. Makes the choice because he believes in Annabeth's faith and Hermes's faith in Luke. It pays off and that's all that matters.

Finally finally it is all over. the Gods owe him, and finally, he has an answer on the path he wants to take to change the gods. He denies immortality because he is Percy Jackson, he is Sally Jackson's son and he knows better than to let others dictate the flow of his life, because he has better plans than wasting away inside for eternity, dancing on someone else's tune. He fights for the demigods, the non-Olympian gods and their children who Olympus has failed to do justice to, for Nico, and in some way for himself.

Then it's not over at all because Rachel has taken Blackjack and Percy knows the truth of the Oracle and he loves Rachel far too much to let her even try. But it works and she is okay; he can't be with her but she is alive and she is okay and Percy is extremely grateful for that.

But then there's a new prophecy, and even though he tries to find some peace with Annabeth, he knows it's not over. It's never over for him. But he can forget about it until he can no longer afford to ignore it.

___________________________________________

Of course, Percy repressed his trauma. The last time he let it out, he released the literal bane of the gods out. Do you think Percy could live with something like that happening again? What choice does he have? There's no one who can understand him. NO ONE. Not even Annabeth.

You can see him accept his role as a leader and grow more into it. In son of Sobek or even in Son of Neptune. He is more serious and more authoritative because he has so many people depending on him, so many expectations hanging on him. We can also see Percy's anger issues get out of hand. He is spiraling, the readers know he is spiraling, and Percy knows, but he can't do ANYTHING. HE IS LITETALLY DYING OR BEING ATTACKED, HE CAN'T, HE JUST CAN'T.

BUT WE KNOW IT'S THERE BECAUSE WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH PERCY HAS GROWN INTO SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. AND HE CAN'T ACT ON THEM MOST OF THE TIME BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE DEPENDENT ON HIM AND HIS FATAL FLAW WON'T ALLOW HIM TO PUT HIMSELF OUT OF HIS MISERY.

BUT WHEN HE HAS DONE EVERYTHING HE POSSIBLY COULD, AFTER HOUSE OF HADES, HE LETS POLYBOTES'S POISON CHOKE HIM, ALMOST KILLING HIM IF JASON HADN'T INTERVENED. THANK GOD FOR JASON GRACE.

Percy was this sassy, heavily independent, "I do my own thing" kid and now he is someone with more responsibilities than anyone with most of his free will stripped and most of his hopes ruined or deemed impossible. IT'S TRAGIC AND IT'S EXCRUCIATING AND HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING BECAUSE HE THINKS IT'S MAKING OTHERS HAPPY. IT'S SUCH A HORRIBLE SITUATION. IMAGINE BOOK 1 PERCY? HE WOULD HAVE LET IT BLOW UP IN EVERYONE ELSE'S FACE BEFORE HE EVER LET HIMSELF BE SO BROKEN.

I have seen so many people say how Percy is the standard hero who is always good and never makes bad choices, and I wonder which books they read. Percy always makes the supposed "right" choices at the cost of himself. His fatal flaw enabling his moral compass and the sheer guilt of the lives lost. He can't escape. He hates the gods, he hates the quests but he loves his family and friends so dearly, there's nothing he wouldn't do for them which means Percy is suffocating, drowning, choking in his own misery, his repressed trauma,his self loathing and being crushed to death by the weight of lives, responsibilities and expectations only he can hope to fulfil.

And one day Percy won't be able to take it. His lapses of control will increase in magnitudes so great, his inner rage will level the world. Destroyer, like Athena predicted, Destroyer like Kronos wanted and Destroyer like his name means.

Not every hero needs a villain arc. Percy is inspiring because after all this shit and all these horrors. He is still good, but WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TOLL OF IT. PERCY IS STILL GOOD BUT AT WHAT COST? LOOK WHAT IT'S DONE TO HIM.

Rick has such a great potential for an arc like that but he is going to fuck it up, I know he is but I hope readers realize where it's all leading to and how much Percy has changed and how much he has sacrificed. Also, @hermesmyplatonicbeloved , @ogjacksonsimp , @cynicalclairvoyantcadaver , @helenofsparta2, @fourcornersofcreation thoughts? Did I stray too far from the canon, or am I getting it right at least a little? Because this post took days, I have no idea what it has devolved into.

No other post has so accurately expressed my feelings on this matter. It's truly beyond me how anyone can hate Percy. It's literally Percy Jackson, the heart of the Riordanverse. I know everyone has their own favorites, and that's only natural, but it's literally HIS series. It's like driving out and disrespecting someone in their own house. You don't do it. You just don't.

And I could maybe understand it if the main character was terribly written or just an awful character, and it actually happens a lot with many series. But we, the PJO fandom, are extremely lucky to have one of the best main characters of all time. Percy is absolutely awesome and badass as a character; he is beyond powerful, but he is neither malicious nor self-absorbed. My man's been suffering since Book 1 without break and has literally been driven to his breaking point and subjected to every possible horror that exists, and he is still desperately excruciatingly doing his best to be good.

He has done everything a main character is expected to do, has gone above and beyond even in case of his personal relationships, has accepted every single responsibility both asked and not asked of him and fulfilled it. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

There's not a single other main or side character (non antagonistic) that Percy has a bad relationship with. In fact, he has single handedly saved all of them at least once.

So no, you don't get to have your deluded anti takes on this one. All arguments are literally null and void. Percy is such a dynamic and inspiring character that antis have to invent some falsehoods to even take a shot at him.

I don't know what other fandoms do, but in this one, we stan our main character completely and passionately.

For the longest time I've pretty much thought that Percy Jackson and Hermes are both my fav characters? like their both tied first place. Can't choose between them.

But then I saw a Percy Jackson anti talk shit so much shit about him... and like. it wasn't even things that Percy did wrong. Part of it was just them going "yeah Percy did all that but I don't don't he deserved a reward. I don't think he's worth anything. I don't think he's smart - he's dumb and all his plans were dumb" and boy. let me tell you. I was M A D.

This is not how I wanted to figure out that I like Percy Jackson more than Hermes. Hermes hate makes me lowkey mad but Percy Jackson hate?

It's an entirely different year (less than a month tho) and I'm still steaming M A D.

Nothing pisses me off more in this fandom than 1. people insulting Percy's intelligence (a kid with two learning disabilities) or 2. not acknowledging how much blood, sweat, tears, insomnia, time, risk etc. Percy has put into his quests and fighting the war. And to have that so casually disregarded? *exhales* yeah as you can tell I'm still fucking pissed.

but anyways, long story short: Percy Jackson is now my undisputed all time fav fictional character :)

Give it up for Rachel Elizabeth Dare people. The most level-headed person in the entirety of the PJO. And while I think her hitting Kronos with a hairbrush was beyond iconic, her entrance was just as epic. Literally saved Percy's life the two other times they had met prior to this. And literally got everyone alive through the Labyrinth and then again saved Percy's life twice through her visions.

idc idc Annabeth being petty and mean to Rachel in battle of the labyrinth is everything to me

Yes, absolutely yes. Gaea is literally the first of the Primordials. Dragging her into anything, be it major or minor, makes most plots baseless or completely entirely unrealistic even by fictional standards. Unless it's a war between primordials or divinities themselves.

Even in core Greek myths, Gaea or most primordials have extremely limited appearances, and Rick has no basis nor nuance for Gaea to appear or for it to be reasonable enough.

It should have been Greco-Roman conflict, which should have culminated with both camps teaming up against Giants [not Gaia, just the Giants] and which would have hopefully ended in changing the rigid ways of Camp Jupiter and certain problematic aspects of Camp Halfblood. That would have been so much better and with less plotholes.

Hot take I think hoo should’ve had NOTHING to do with Gaia and should’ve been completely about the war between the Roman’s and the Greek’s

this website’s easy watch. *dangles a bunch of greek gods like keys*

Also R.I.P to the version of Percy that was commanding and calm and extremely unfazed when dealing with outside threats, whose aura alone put a magician of Brooklyn House like Carter on edge and who compared Percy's aura to Horus, the literal God of War and the Skies. So much so that he called Percy "a natural born leader" outright.

This more confident leader persona that Percy was supposed to evolve into through the years was most hinted with his short story with Carter Kane and best executed in Son of Neptune after which somehow Rick decided to throw all that down the drain.

Need more solo books of just Percy doing stuff. I have noticed the pattern that most consistent and peak Percy characterization is seen in books like Titan's Curse, Sword of Hades, The Stolen Chariot, Son of Sobek, and obviously Son of Neptune. Coincidentally, these are all books without Annabeth around, so go figure.

I think we can all agree that Rick has a habit of putting Annabeth on a non-existent pedestal and pushing Percy down to shore her up for no absolute reason. It might be hard for Annabeth fans to hear, but it's true.

R.I.P. the version of Percy Jackson, who spoke competently in front of the senate, fairly easily ridiculed Octavian, and managed to sway the romans to his side simply by providing good arguments and being a natural born leader in Son of Neptune, you will always be famous to me

The fact that Annabeth has nothing on Percy in terms of rank and reputation is hilarious to me. Prince of Atlantis, Praetor of Rome, Savior of Olympus, Head Counselor, Commander of the Demigod Army, blessed by PAN and so much more.

Rick can't really expect anyone to actually believe that PERCY "GIVE OTHER GODS AND THEIR CHILDREN THE RESPECT AND WORTH THEY DESERVE" JACKSON is not a complete celebrity and absolutely hero worshipped by literally all young and new campers. There's no way everyone wasn't raving about him nonstop. Especially the Hermes Cabin.

Rick completely lost consistency in HoO, and most of the Camp Hlaf Blood portrayal in The Lost Hero is very vague and iffy.

Also, Piper Mclean? Her? You expect her to understand? The character who looked down on her own siblings because they actually valued their beauty and invested time on it? The character who has been a consistent hypocrite? She literally turned to thieving for attention from her father, not to mention her thinking Annabeth leashing Percy is okay and necessary. To add to that, she herself tried everything to force the fake relationship on Jason more and more with no respect for his boundaries or his likes.

Every time I get reminded that Piper didn't think Percy was all that, I wonder. Is it because she thought Jason was the ideal man? And nobody could top that? Or was it because Annabeth talked bad about Percy, so Piper thought he was a dumbass and not all that.

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.

Blog A: Percy needs therapy

Rebloggers: Yes, we absolutely agree. Give Percy therapy.

Me, a concerned individual: Does that mean we are going to stop trauma dumping on Percy in fics and actually start writing fully wholesome fics?

Everyone in the fandom: WE DON'T DO THAT HERE.

Me: Yup, that's about what I expected.

It's hilarious how we who love and stan Percy the most are the first to give the poor boy more trauma in our fics.

No, seriously, more wholesome fics in 2025, please.

ive seen a couple ppl talk about how crazy it is that percys never cried after everything he’s put through and tho i like the idea that since he’s the narrator to his story he just skips over that part i also just think like could you imagine how numb you’d be after all the shit

like that boy had been bullied and abused his whole like at this point he probably just internalizes it and then sits at the bottom of the ocean every once and a while and just vibes like the amount of times i would have cried is like every six pages but he just sits there and is like “well shit oh well” like he could loose a leg and just think “welp😐- damn that’s gonna be annoying to annabeth😐” like WHAt

Ok, sorry if this is personal.

But how many people sent you hate for criticising and disliking Percabeth?

Also, how many of them sent you terrible reasons to defend Percabeth.

It's happened to me too. I'm so concerned for people like that.

Okay, bear with me on this. I might go on a tangent, and this might get long. ( Spoilers: It did get long.)

This fandom was one of the most close-minded fandoms ever and still is to some extent where liking anything outside of popular opinions or canon ships was, is taboo and shunned upon.

But things have gotten better in recent years or so, I think. Because I have been on tumblr officially for just 2 years, and I started posting like a year and a half ago. And you would be surprised to hear me say this, but I think Percy Jackson fandom is still somehow on the low end of the toxicity spectrum compared to the other fandoms I was and am in.

I got a tumblr account first through The Orignals and TVD fandom cause a YouTuber friend urged me to post about my takes on the Klayley ship over here. I mean, I was on here before that cause I was and am in many other book fandoms along with Spn fandom, but the point is I interacted more with tvdu and spn cause usually most other book fandoms at least for the ones I prefer are pretty chill.

Also, if you know anything about the TVDU universe, you would know that people are freaks for Klaroline, a ship I dislike with intensity, and it has a large backing and oh the sheer murderous intensity of those shippers.

Do I even need to say anything about Spn? I mean, tumblr runs on Supernatural fandom, so yeah, the toxicity can go to a whole new level, especially considering the actors are also dragged in it. But I digress, so yeah, Percy Jackson fandom isn't even close.

And since I was used to that and a more intense atmosphere, I found toxic Percabeth shippers extremely mild in comparison. So I might have less of an extreme attitude on their takes. Personally, I have never received a death threat ever in the pjo fandom, but I have been told that it used to be excessively common a good 2-3 years back by fellow mutuals.

So if you have had experiences with any of that, I am very sorry, and hopefully, you realize that some people and certain opinions are so repulsive and brainless that they do not deserve to be considered.

Another thing that's happened that's good is anti tags have become very handy for you know people who want to avoid seeing hate content on things they like. So most Percabeth shippers, the somewhat sensible ones, steer away from anti percabeth tags and given the butchering that Rick is doing to the already butchered ship in his new abomination of a trilogy, Percabeth shippers have learned to pick their battles. But yes, there are still the occasional hate comments, which some you delete, some you ignore because it's always something bullshit.

When I first began posting I was more on the extremely controversial side of the fandom but you know in the recent year the anti percabeth tag has grown, the fandom has finally started letting ships become more diverse and the arguments against the Canon ships have become more and more grounded.

-------------------------------------------------------

Now, to the important part, what is their usual defense?

1.

Well, firstly, no anti Percabeth shipper is really authentic unless they have had to fight the misogynistic allegations. "You hate the ship because you hate Annabeth. You are jealous of her and are a misogynistic person."

Yes, I do hate Annabeth. It's an opinion reached out of personal maturity. Yes I am a woman, and women can definitely be misogynistic, but do I hate Annabeth because of that? God no, I have much better reasons for hating Annabeth. Literally half my blog is highlighting how toxic and controlling she becomes.

I also hate her because she could have obviously been so much more. She has such good backstory, realistic motivations, and a very prevalent flaw to overcome, and the fact that her character just devolved with each book is such a painful thing to read. How no one on their side even addresses that the flaws exist is literally beyond me.

2.

The second most common reason I get is that Rick based Percabeth on his own marriage.

Listen, people, when someone says that they based something off of something, doesn't mean it's the same thing. Parodies are based off of the orignal but are nothing like the orignal.

Plus, the fact that Rick has terrible consistency throughout the books and forgets many plot points would tell you that he has no idea how to develop some of these things.

The idea isn't the one being criticized here. The evolution of that idea is. None of Annabeth's flaws were tackled for more than a single instance of the plot and forgotten immediately after.

Her controlling nature towards Percy, her blaming Percy for getting kidnapped and being brainwashed, her making him apologize for it; her trying to limit his powers, having a great misunderstanding regarding the Akhyls situation and just straight up ordering Percy not to use one of his key abilities even if to defend himself and we getting a follow up on that disastrous situation when Percy no longer defends himself and almost dies against Kympoleia and Polybotes.

3.

I recently got these ones a lot. Either they blame me for not tagging anti when I already have tagged anti and always tag anti first. I think two of these comments are still visible on my "How impressive you have to be to pull Percy post?"

The next one is me being biased, and all my reasons are not valid cause I am biased and hate Annabeth, so neither of my actual canon based evidence is true.

Pick a lane people. Either let us have our opinion or have the guts to argue rationally on this.

Another thing I do is that while I always tag anti, just in case, some Percabeth fan ends up on my post, there's always a section for Percabeth stans which contains my usual queries or concerns regarding whatever recent take I am elaborating and it always starts with my mild suggestion of being calm and rational and then thinking my points over. Usually, it acts as a buffer between hateful or frustration induced rants.

Either way, it's just the integral part of being in a fandom. Stuff like this happens, it's not good, but it happens.

The trick is to have a respectful conversation with those willing to listen and ignore the rest. It will lessen with time, and if you stick to the anti tag, it will help in reducing most of the unnecessary arguments.

I don't know if there's much I can do to help you, but I hope the post is at least somewhat helpful. I always appreciate feedbacks.

Just an experiment. Reblog if you actually give a fuck about male victims of domestic violence and rape.

Of fucking course

What sick bastard doesn’t

Triton “I’m not particularly interested in my half-blood brother’s life, I just think…” ‘s opinions on some of Percy’s relationship outside the seafam:

Chiron: Should’ve been more careful with Percy, but overall okay given Chiron being an obviously underpaid and overworked old man

Grover: He likes him. It’s pity he didn’t marry Polyphemus, it’d be nice to have him in the family and maybe he would convince good old Polyphemus to start a healthier diet

Luke: Bad thing he betrayed Olympus, blah blah blah, but in a positive light he left camp before Percy’s hero worship turned into something more 👍

Annabeth: She… oh… okay… I guess I can’t write that, Triton. I’ll leave it here that you are strongly against her near your brother. What? No, I won’t say that either. What does Athena and Pallas have to do with this… Okay, enough. Next!

Apollo: Again, I can’t write that. I cannot call the god of sun a [redacted]!!! Okay, I’ll leave the message. Directly quoting Triton (not my words, Triton’s) “I know things about you, cradle robber. Don’t make me come for you!”

Hermes: Not bad. He’s happy that at least one god has restraining. Keep distance, either way. In fact, STOP visiting Percy with presents you were NOT allowed to gift him with.

Thalia: Surprisingly alright about their friendship, laments that she is the daughter of who she is, but she’s got points since she doesn’t like her father much, too.

Hazel: Best half-blood around (after Percy, ofc), says he’d like to have her and Frank over to dinner any day at the palace.

Frank: Basically family, he totally approves of Percy’s friendship with him. Pity he’s Roman and child of Mars, “no one is perfect, I guess”

Nico: In the name of Lady Amphritite, Lord Triton is asking you to eat more healthily. Mostly okay and “Don't crush on Percy again, if you know what's good for you.”

Jason: Roman. Jupiter. Multiple hisses… I don’t know what he meant with it, but whatever.

Beckendorf: He’s ranting for three hours about how great Beckendorf was. Terms such as “Honorary Percy’s Big Brother” were used.

Rachel: Very nice mortal. Poor taste in patrons, though.

I don't think people understand what Tartarus means. It's the demigod equivalent of what we might call Zombie apocalypse. Everything goes in the name of survival. Tartarus has its own rules. Holding to naive reservations about certain morality or ethics will get you killed. Not to mention not only was Percy defending himself, he was also responsible for keeping Annabeth safe and they had a job to get done, i.e closing the doors of death from the inside.He had to ensure it done, even if neither of them lived. Percy just found the best option possible to circumvent that, and no one has the right to complain because, well, he is the reason YOUR FAVORITES ARE ALIVE, ANNABETH IS ALIVE. She was injured, couldn't fight, didn't have powers, and usually, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. BUT TARTARUS IS THE ONE PLACE WHERE YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED POWERS.

Also, PERCY WAS READY TO DIE. TO REMAIN ALONE IN TARTARUS. That's how selfless he is. He jumped in after Annabeth as he would have for anyone else in the seven as well. He could have chosen not to, but he took responsibility and carried it through and got them both alive. If anyone else had done that, you would call them strategic and clever and necessary. I bet if Jason had done something like that, everyone would be praising his military training, highlighting how he was able to make the hard choices, unlike Percy. If Nico had done it, everyone would have praised his power and how he was right to use it.

Well, it doesn't matter. Because they would have all been right. I DON'T THINK SOME OF THE READERS UNDERSTOOD THE CONCEPT OF TARTARUS. IT'S A PRISON FOR IMMORTALS, TO TRAP CREATURES OLDER AND STRONGER THAN THE GODS. IT'S THE HOME OF MOST OF THE PRIMORDIALS. NOT EVEN A GOD WANTS TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR THERE AND PERCY IS A DEMIGOD, THE LOWEST IN THE HIERARCHY OF IMMORTALS.

If Percy couldn't do half the things he could, they would have died. And so would everyone else. He did what he had to, needed to. It's like blaming someone for SELF-DEFENCE.

For example when Annabeth set Percy up to be beaten up or potentially fatally injured by the Ares kids, she was wise and strategic to set a young, inexperienced and clueless Percy to almost die because she had her "guess". That's not toxic or manipulative, eh?

Or when the rest of the Seven except Hazel, Percy, and Frank voted to let Nico die because they were suspicious of him? That was for Greater Good, right? Definitely not toxic.

There are so many other instances of different characters being toxic, and everyone knows it. But to hide that they demean other characters and it's mostly Percy because why not? The one character where there are no faults to pick at.

Listen, these are all children, OF COURSE EVERYONE OF THEM MADE MISTAKES. THEY ARE TEENAGERS.

But don't you dare put it on the one person who has nothing to do with half those things.

everytime i see things where ppl are like, upset at percy and blaming him for calypso still being on that island or like, forgetting abt bob im like....okay but when was he supposed to do smth abt either of them. and why is it supposed to be on him to do smth?

cause like, if we're talking calypso, he did what he could. he made the gods promise, he made zeus swear on the styx how was he supposed to know whether or not zeus actually followed through. and then he had what, a few months at best, recovering from a war, trying to focus on his mortal life, yk, pretty much all he wanted, before he was kidnapped by hera and the gods closed down communications. and then hes homeless and amnesiac and then hes going on quest after quest, like. he doesnt even have time to breathe, forgive the boy for not thinking of calypso in this time.

and bob/iapetus like. ive seen many percy is so "manipulative" and "toxic" takes in regards to him and like?? do ya'll even remember when percy and iapetus met? cause when they met iapetus was an enemy doing his damndest to kill thalia, percy, and nico. percy thinking fast and telling him they were "friends" was percy being smart and saving their lives. and he very clearly did have regrets in House of Hades abt how he left things off with bob too, like, that isnt the action of a self-absorbed hero at all.

Like yes, Percy can be manipulative, and he fascinates me for it, but in that one instance where he names Bob and says they’re friends, like. Can you rlly blame him??

I forgot about this scene, but it makes so much sense. They totally get along well. I mean, Aphrodite is of the ocean, and her children are also by extension of the ocean. Percy himself is a child of the Sea. Percy has much in common with children of Aphrodite as his connection with naiads and pegasi is something he shares with them. Honestly, Aphrodite Cabin is the example of wasted potential. They could have had such creative abilities. Charmspeak was great if not heavily rushed. At times, it seemed to be a plot device and made for Piper specifically, which took the fun out of it. I headcanon that all of the Aphrodite cabin is besties with Percy; every single on of them, because not only does he respect them and doesn't underestimate them, he also shares certain common interests with them and is genuinely one of the best people to hang out with.

stop I need someone to draw this lmfao 😭💀

Ok, so I am HOWLING with laughter.

So, have you heard? People are comparing Percy and Annabeth to................Odysseus and Penelope.

When I heard this, you don't know how funny it was to me. I almost choked on my spit. LMAOOOOOOOOOOO

Penelope would NEVER hit or insult Odysseus. She doesn't play mind games with him and they communicate properly.

Odysseus and Penelope are not toxic. Percabeth is.

Also, Rick Riordan is LEAGUES worse than Homer. Like, the guy cannot even compare to the ACTUAL GREEK POET.

And people are actually comparing the two.

Percy Jackson IS good at times, but it will NEVER compare to Homer's compositions. Literally never.

TBH that's just my personal opinion.

Also, Homer actually composed many of the Greek epics that we still read today.

I get why people would want to compare them, but there is no comparison, really. It's so fucking funny to me.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Percabeth compared to Odysseus and Penelope?

That comparison alone has ruined the New Year for me. It's an insult to the Odyssey. Hell, it's an insult to the recently released Ithaca Saga of Epic the Musical.

But seriously, are these things actually being said? Cause that puts Percabeth stans from delusional category to brain dead.

Homer's Iliad and The Odyssey are one of history's most reputed myths of all time. And the primary source of Greek mythology for many people. I am certain Rick himself referred Homer's works for ideas and references. Even Riordan himself would be ashamed to compare his writing to Homer, in even the slightest manner.

Now to Odysseus and Penelope; the greatest couple of all time, truly and undeniably. The orignal eternal love. Even Hera, the goddess of marriage and family, considers Odysseus and Penelope's marriage bed sacred. Which Odysseus carved out of a living tree as a symbol of their undying love and so that it could never be moved.

Odysseus crawled through hell to get to Penelope and Telemachus. He survived and won the 10 year long Trojan war, defeated/ tricked a Cyclops, countless mythical monsters, Circe, Calypso, and even Zeus himself and at last Poseidon. That alone is beyond comprehension. Because Odysseus isn't a demigod or any specially blessed being. No, he is just an ordinary mortal, a genius mortal, one trained by the wisdom goddess but an ordinary mortal all the same. Yes, he is one of a kind genius, but these are literally eldritch creatures compared to him.

Let me put it this way, Odysseus is the OG Batman. He is who all smart fictional human characters aspire to be.

The Odyssey is literally about the all transcending power of human will. Of Odysseus's sheer fucking will to get back home, to his wife and son. That's it. A common desire of a common man, yet so miraculously burning and indomitable in Odysseus's mind that it alone outshines his extraordinary genius.

He quite literally died on his way there. Had to hitch a ride through the Underworld and then some.

Then he had to sacrifice his ENTIRE CREW, HIS FRIENDS, HIS COMRADES to get back to Ithaca. Mind you, Odysseus had the record of getting every single one of his 600 men alive out of Trojan War. The only one to have done so. And he had to lose some to the tragedies and then WILLINGLY SACRIFICE others to get back to Penelope.

I don't think there are words enough to encapsulate Odysseus's dedication.

Now Penelope. The thing is, she is just as bloody impressive. The Queen of Ithaca and a Spartan Princess, she is also one of a kind. Throughout Odysseus's departure and the suitors' invasion , not five, not ten, 108 SUITORS, Penelope held her own, keeping the castle, her son Telemachus and herself secure. All the while, raising Telemachus and running the kingdom on her own as well.

She tricked the suitors into an eternally futile game of trying to lift Odysseus's bow and shoot with it. Tricked them by telling them she was weaving Odysseus's shroud, which, when finished, would signify that she is picking a new husband. Each day, she would weave for all suitors to see, and each night, she would unravel the shroud. All in an attempt to stall. Among the many other ways, she did so. Including STEADFASTLY DENYING EACH AND EVERY SUITOR CONSTANTLY FOR YEARS AS THEY ASKED FOR HER HAND, NEVER ONCE LOSING HOPE OR FAITH IN ODYSSEUS.

When Odysseus returns, disguised as a beggar, she not only immediately recognizes him but subtly helps him in killing the suitors, which then Odysseus and Telemachus proceed to do.

All 108 suitors dead in a night. Add that to 600 men under Odysseus's command. 708 lives murdered and then some all for Odysseus and Penelope to reunite.

And this is me abridging the whole thing. Imagine the struggle, the suffering, the mental and physical trauma. 20 years straight. You can't fathom it.

I don't think I have words enough to state how repulsively disrespectfully wretched this comparison is. I would use an analogy, but it's so horrendous that I don't think there's one that suffices.

I literally have more than half the posts dedicated to dismantling the delusion of percabeth being a perfect ship, so I won't preach to the choir, but I mean Annabeth's fatal flaw is Hubris and Percy's is Personal Loyalty. Go figure.

If that isn't enough, Percy jumped in Tartarus for Annabeth. She fell, but Percy jumped, among the many other ways he has saved her from countless deaths. And Annabeth offers him what in return? It would have been alright if she gave him nothing in return, but somehow, the situation is EVEN WORSE.

Physical and mental demeaning. Toxic and controlling attitude and of course BLAMING HIM FOR GETTING KIDNAPPED AND HAVING HIS MEMORY WIPED BY A GODDESS. WOW, THAT SOUNDS SO SIMILAR TO PENELOPE AND ODYSSEUS.

Not to mention, Penelope accepted her husband, as he was. Even after being so completely changed by his tragic journey that he was quite literally NO LONGER HIMSELF.

And Percy when had to CHOKE AKHYLS WHO WAS DEFINITELY GOING TO KILL HIM AND ANNABETH, WAS KILLING HIM AND ANNABETH, OUT OF SELF DEFENSE AND SHE BLAMES HIM AND FORCES HIM TO PROMISE NOT TO USE HIS POWERS TO DEFEND HIMSELF???

WHAT THE FUCK??? And sure it would have been ignorable had it not had any long term effects. BUT NO PERCY ALMOST KILLS HIMSELF OUT OF KEEPING HIS PROMISE TO ANNABETH.

Call them whatever the hell you want but DON'T EVER COMPARE THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO ODYSSEUS AND PENELOPE.

PERCY DESERVES INFINITELY BETTER THAN ANNABETH. Enough said, really.

The poetic accuracy of Percy being the god who almost was is that he embodies what a god should be. Power vast enough to topple all existing preconceptions of his world, a will strong enough to persevere despite all the tragedies he suffered and mind so adaptive, he beat all odds stacked against him. An individual so DIVINE in all his traits that he CHOSE to be human.

The one demigod who looked at absolute power and felt no temptation. Instead, he had the audacity to leverage the offer against the other gods and win. Percy Jackson will go down in history as one of the best main characters ever made.

Inspired by this post.

More of Percy being pretty🌊

Rick also ruined Thalia and Luke's character heavily. Not to mention the absolute one dimensionality given to Grover later on.

But the most important butchering was done to the villains. Titans and Giants are not even close to how powerful they should have been.

So many Greek gods mischaracterized, or even stereotyped. And the "minor gods" thing. Literally most of the so called minor gods are either children of Titans or Children of Nyx and are therefore not only OLDER than the Olympians but technically STRONGER since they are not dependent on mortal faith for worship and are children of the Elder entities or the Protegenoi themselves. They will outlive the Olympians, too.

And the fact that he had the audacity to ruin probably the most iconic of main characters ever, who he had developed so well for at least 6 books[ SoN Percy was peak], all to be thrown down the drain to hype up Annabeth and Percabeth is just ridiculous.

The fact that more than half of the fandom was delusional about Percabeth and therefore started the dumb!Percy takes or fed into it so much so that Rick doubled down on them in the newest books in such a repulsive manner; on things that are utterly false and absurd. How in hell did the Fandom get around to twisting the strongest demigod and the best strategist throughout the verse into a dumb man who can't think for himself ??? What books were you reading???

And Nico. The things that could have been. Especially given the train wreck that is TSATS. But at least not as much of an abomination as the new marketing trilogy, Cotg, and so on. Still the devolution of his connections with Hazel, Percy, Jason and Reyna was ludicrous. Nico should have had a solo self-introspective arc to better deal with the hell he's been put through but no slap a boyfriend on him, and wow, suddenly everything's fine.

I have already made lengthy post on Jason so I am not going to go down that rabbit hole again. Underdeveloped potential indeed. The sheer character arc it could have been! Jason Grace probably has the most potential. He should have gotten the Meg McCaffrey treatment.

The characters all fell so flat in the later books due to Rick's devolving writing. It was such a pain to get through. It would have been so much better if he had skipped romance all along and actually done justice to each character's individual development.

There's too many things wrong with his writing and not enough time to point it all out but I am glad everyone's speaking on it now.

The thing about HOO is that it's either egregious, or amazing, or just......really plain and boring.

It retcons and ruins Nico and Percy's relationship. It ruins Percy's characterisation in PJO. Piper and Leo are 15 and haven't been attacked by monsters or brought to camp yet.

It depicts Piper and Hazel in a racist way (light hair and eyes to make them more attractive, both Hazel's parents have dark hair and eyes and no one else in the Aphrodite cabin has Piper's kaleidescope eyes)

It has a 14 year old date a 16 year old (Frazel).

Reyna calls Percy dumb in front of a whole group and Annabeth laughs and agrees with her.

It has Nico's acceptance arc be smashed to pieces. It has Nico be forcibly outed.

It has Frank's fatness magically disappear after being given the blessing of Ares.

It has Percabeth be abusive (Annabeth making Percy promise not to use his poison powers again when it could save them, not accepting them even though they're a part of Percy, her laughing at his trauma when he says Tartarus smells like Gabe, her bringing up Rachel to make Percy nervous, her agreeing with Reyna in front of an entire damn crowd that Percy is dumb and couldn't find his way out of a paper bag without her apparently).

It doesn't release Calypso from her island when in TLO the gods swore on the Styx to do so.

And it puts a millenia old goddess in a relationship with a teenager, and Rick even depicts Calypso herself as a teenager while saying that she romanced adult men.

It has a wolf goddes who eats children who aren't good enough according to her standards, when those children could be amazing at something else instead of just physical training and survival.

And I do NOT know how HOO wasn't a YA series based on the last one alone.

But there are also those moments with characters where they really accept themselves, like Piper growing out of her internalised misogyny, or with Jason and Leo, or with Frank learning about and using his abilities to be a badass magical warrior, or having a nice moment with Reyna and Nico. Or how it shows Clarisse and Coach Hedge's relationship and Hedge's backstory and his understandable fear and concern for his wife.

And then it's just kind of boring at times. Jason is an underdeveloped character (with SO MUCH POTENTIAL MIGHT I ADD!!!) He should've been able to wipe the floor with Percy, Nico, Hazel and Thalia. And then his relationship with Reyna was barely expanded on. And Octavian, while initially set up to be an interesting character, was reduced to an absolute clown. Gaia could have been such an interesting, morally gray character, possibly the most complex in the Riordanverse, and Rick could've sent a message about environmental pollution and how we need to do something about it, which would definitely impact a lot of people, seeing as PJO is one of the most if not THE MOST popular book series globally. But she was just made into a cartoon villain instead. And Jason and Thalia's meet up was........dryer than the Sahara Desert, if I dare say so.

This series had so much potential-since the millenia long abusive systems are broken, why not have the camps discover each other after the Titan war? I will always mourn what HOO could have been.

As intellectuals, one would think the amount of times this point has been reiterated would indicate that a reasonable number of readers have developed the common sense to understand this. Considering we are all older now and aren't blinded by nostalgia, it's the only logical conclusion.

But of course, we have a large population of willfully blind people in the mix. Honestly, the state of the fandom is almost as disappointing as Rick's writing.

It is SO funny to me that some of the Percabeth/Annabeth stans are genuinely upset about wottg, because like. that's how Percabeth/Annabeth has always been with one sole exception: something to "justify" Annabeth's behavior.

For instance:

TLT: she offloads onto Percy about her hatred of Poseidon. Justification: she's 12, she's prejudiced (presumably based on myth? unclear? and she's learning how to be a person etc.

SoM: she offloads onto Percy and Tyson. Justification: Cyclops trauma (nevermind that Tyson had nothing in common with the Cyclops that scared 7 yr Annabeth other than his race).

TTC: she was barely in this book so we'll skip it.

BoTL: she offloads onto Percy and Rachel. Justification: she's jealous of Rachel, also she's in love with Luke AND Percy and is stressed about her prophecy/quest.

TLO: she offloads onto Percy about being a "coward" etc. Justification: he's spending time with Rachel destressing/managing his mental health instead of time with her at chb and she's jealous.

MoA: she offloads onto Percy aka judo flip + threats. Justification: he was missing for months and she was stressed. Nevermind that none of it was his fault.

HoH: she offloads onto Percy aka. using Rachel's name to keep him on his toes. Justification: she was in Tartarus, and therefore stressed (how this results in her actively making Percy anxious as a trauma response - I have no idea; especially when you consider that the only reason Percy is also there is to save her life)

BoO: she offloads about Percy to Piper. Justification: she's angry that Percy scared her in Tartarus while he was fighting - coincidentally against the same enemy she wasn't able to do anything but dodge while said enemy was killing Percy and planning on killing Annabeth next.

you get the point. she's consistently rude/taking her emotions out on people instead of working through it and setting healthy boundaries. there's always some reason that boils down to "I'm hurt and lashing out" that her stans use to justify her behavior.

but in wottg, Annabeth has everything she wants: her perfectly controlled boyfriend, her architecture studies and a non-stressful mission/quest from the gods.

there's no trauma to justify how she's consistently calling Percy stupid or talking down to him or being rude.

now the stans are seeing it. and some of them don't like it.

headcanon!!

percy was looking for bianca for 14 hrs straight. everyone else gave up looking for here after around 3-ish hrs. they had to physically drag percy away from the wreck. when they finally did manage to get percy away from the wreck he passed out 30 seconds later. percys hands were also completely shredded and ripped. you could see the bones and muscles. there was blood all over them. he had bandages on his hands for at least three months afterwards. he does not remember any of this. he remembers looking for bianca longer than the others and he remembers his hands getting at least a bit injured. he does not know the extremes of either. his hand is covered in scars and stitches because of this.

zoe’s the one who stitched him up.