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This post is about the 12 year old trio (well, 14 biologically and 28 chronologically in Grover's case) getting caught in Procrustes' store in TLT.
So, our heroes run into Procrustes' store after being chased by mortal teenage wannabe gangsters.
And they come to Procrustes' store where he's nice at first and then traps them in the waterbeds
He leads Annabeth to another bed and when she doesn't want to get on, he pushes her onto it and traps both Annabeth and Grover.
And then he wants to get Percy on a bed, and instead of simply grabbing him and putting him on one........he tries to convince Percy to lie down?
Why did Procrustes have to convince Percy to lie down? Why didn't he push him onto the bed? It was pretty obvious that he could, but for some reason, he stopped and tried to convince Percy.
What, you're telling me that he sat down to demonstrate for Percy, knowing that Percy could just snap his fingers and say ergo and bind him to the bed?
Is this because Percy was agreeable to him? What, did Procrustes not think that Percy might want to rescue his companions and might be lying? Because if so, Procrustes is dumb.
Percy might have rescued his friends, but his wits in this are diminished by the fact that the villain was dumbed down.
Percy wasn't smart. Rick had to dumb Procrustes down, which undermines both the antagonist and our protagonist's supposed smartness. It's frustrating to see people use this as an example-please don't.
All right, so they were born in the 1930s, but after WWII they're placed into the Lotus Casino. 60 years later, still children, they're taken out and placed into a military school. And we all know what happens next.
But there were a truckload of changes from 1945 to the early 2000s.
And sure, you could argue that they were slowly exposed to it, as seen with the flatscreen TV in the Lotus Casino in their room, but how the hell do you expose all the changes that happened between NINETEEN FORTY FIVE AND THE EARLY TWO THOUSANDS IN A MONTH?!?!?!?!?!.
HOW. HOW DO YOU DO THAT.
Because they were in the Lotus Casino for a MONTH, and that's a very short time to be exposed to all these new inventions.
So in Nico and Bianca's POV, they're just getting all these presents so fast.
'Oh, look, we have coloured TVs now! Oh look, women can wear revealing dresses and pants now! They don't have to dress in skirts and conservative clothing anymore! Oh look, there's something called a computer now! Oh look, we have digital clocks and watches now! Oh look, we have freaking DIGITAL CAMERAS AND PHONES NOW! WE HAVE VIDEO GAMES! WE HAVE VIDEO TAPE RECORDERS! WE HAVE CALCULATORS! DIGITAL CALCULATORS! WANT TO USE GOOGLE? LOOK AT THE INTERNET!'
All this in just a month. Imagine how bewildered they must have been. Clothing changes, fashion changes, the entire damn society changed. Technology had changed. Everything was different. And it was just shoved onto Nico and Bianca. Poor children-I actually feel a little bad for them now.
This post is both critical and comical. Do what you will with this information.
You know, I really have to say this.
I don't think that Greeks, Hellenistic Pagans and other people who know Greek Mythology would be as frustrated as they are today if people DIDN'T TAKE MODERN SOURCES DEPICTING GREEK MEDIA AS ALWAYS ACCURATE.
Bear with me now.
All right, so, we all know about Percy Jackson.
And PJO was basically the Greek God make or break of its time and it broke the Greek Gods. Greeks and Hellenistic Pagans had the unfortunate experience of being bombarded with false, incorrect interpretations and thoughts about their deities.
And we have to remember here that to these Hellenistic Pagans, their gods are as sacred to them as God is to Christians. Maybe they wouldn't kill people over their gods, an added bonus, but we must respect the fact that they worship the gods and we must be respectful of Greek Gods when interacting with them.
See, I'm not saying that you can't be lighthearted. You can joke around and all that-it's just that actually hating and condemning the Greek Gods shouldn't be done when you're interacting with their worshippers.
Now that I'm done with that, well, Rick Riordan fucked up with Greek Mythology big time. Making Athena have children, HIS MISOGYNY. THERE ARE ENTIRE TAGS DEDICATED TO RICK'S MISOGYNY, NOT JUST OF HIS FEMALE CHARACTERS BUT OF ACTUAL ANCIENT GREEK GODDESSES. If I did a whole essay on his misogyny, I'd have to make multiple posts.
Rick done fucked up with them. I do not have to be the first person to tell you that.
HOWEVER, I am obligated to say that any author is freely able to portray the Greek Gods as they want (unfortunately at times).
And so Rick is free to interpret them how he likes.
Let's also remember that Rick thought terribly of the Gods and their worshippers when he was writing Percy Jackson and the other series.
Of course, he HAS changed for the better. Now he's more respectful of Pagans and has apologised, which is nice, but I just thought I'd let you know.
See, now we can accept and criticise Rick's writing, but before-
Well, before, it was absolutely awful for Greeks and Hellenistic Pagans. I mean, it's still awful, but it was more awful back then because almost nobody criticised Percy Jackson about depicting Greek Gods terribly. Everyone said that Greek Gods were American and belonged to America-ugh, that was horrible. It's absolutely appalling to do that, no less to Greeks themselves. People ranted about how horrible the gods were.
And I mean yes, the Greek Gods could be awful by modern standards, but we need to remember two things-
The Greek Gods were based on an ANCIENT SOCIETY with DIFFERENT MORAL STANDARDS. Judging them by modern moral standards isn't going to do anything.
The actions of the gods were SYMBOLIC, NOT LITERAL.
a) Artemis' cruelty towards humans? That's the cruelty of nature towards him. Artemis was a nature goddess and she hunted and resided in the wild.
b) Dionysus being kind and charming but also mad and ruthless at times? Well, that's what wine does. It can make people funny and charming to a point, but it also drives people mad and makes them violent.
c) Hades kidnapping Persephone? Well, Hades represents death, and that's what death does-it rips children from their parents' arms. Also, it signifies the fact that daughters and mothers did not have a say in their marriage, the father could give the girl away to any man in those times. Demeter actually being able to get Persephone back was a comfort to grieving mothers.
d) Zeus cheating on Hera multiple times?
There are multiple explanations for this one.
First, kings and princes often claimed to be descendants of Zeus, so Zeus was said to have many affairs with royal mortal women so that their claims to divine lineage could be accurate.
Second, Zeus' rain represented fecundity and fertility. As I said above, the actions of the gods are symbolic and they represent their domains, so he had multiple affairs and loads of children to signify his fertility.
Third, the Greek Gods were based on Ancient Greek society where multiple men took concubines and lovers. And Zeus did this too, because he was a king!
e) Hera punishing the lovers and bastards? That's what queens did to some concubines for revenge, since they couldn't take it out on the king.
It's all either symbolic or based on Ancient Greece. The gods that humanity created were based on those times, and they were created millennia ago, when things were different in nearly every way possible.
Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you is that we're allowed to have fun with these stories and retellings that include Greek Mythology, but if you really want correct information on Greek gods, go and read the myths and the compositions of Ancient Greek poets and playwrights (Homer, Hesiod, etc).
Because many people, when reading these modern retellings and the like, think that they are actually real mythological information and accordingly spew nonsense.
People call Apollo 'Asspollo' and harass his worshippers because of one incorrect comic that came out in 2018. Apollo never raped Persephone.
And people also view famous figures like Odysseus and Achilles incorrectly because of incorrect translations that don't correctly capture the original and CERTAIN RETELLINGS (cough-Madeline Miller-COUGH)
And there are so many more examples I could give, but then this would be too long to post.
See, it's not that the writers completely rip the original lore out. They keep a lot of it, but they also add in some incorrect information. And sometimes this isn't that bad or malicious, it's just incorrect.
So if you're not sure about whether something in a retelling or story depicting Greek Gods is true, you should search it up online or ask someone who knows.
Because Greeks and Hellenistic Pagans are constantly frustrated at how their gods are portrayed and that everyone just takes the retellings as mythologically correct.
TLDR Greek mythology retellings can be fun for you to read but don't take all of the info in them as mythologically correct. You can be lighthearted about the Greek Gods but please don't actually loathe or mock them with others who believe in them and worship them. If you're not sure about info in a retelling or story, then search it up or ask someone you know.
There are multiple blogs on tumblr who can tell you more information about the actual Greek Gods and they're pretty nice about it too, so don't be too afraid.
You know, I'm happy about the fact that many people can acknowledge and accept that Rick fucked up the Greek myths and his portrayal of the gods-
But I also feel like the same thing can be said for MCGA and TKC. They represent Norse and Egyptian mythology and I've seen some posts on how Rick effed up THERE-but only a few. Not many others. And yes, TKC is a beautiful series, but it also has some terrible problems.
It's on the tip of my tongue. It's just slipping out of my grasp. But someone needs to talk about Rick screwing up Norse and Egyptian mythology too.
I've already said that Percy Jackson's Greek Gods is a terribly book at times and that you shouldn't take it too seriously, but one thing that really appalls and surprises me is that Percy calls Gaia a psycho for telling her children to overthrow Ouranous, who locked Gaia's children and the Titans' siblings in Tartarus.
Ouranous, who hated his children, locked them away in the Earth as a prison, essentially leaving Gaia to raise them, to raise them as a single mother while he did nothing.
Gaia who raised them lovingly and told them how to overthrow their abusive father and free their siblings to have a better fate.
Gaia and her children are overthrowing an abusive, neglectful father and Percy calls this..........psychotic?
This is VERY ironic, considering that Percy and Sally literally murdered Smelly Gabe for being abusive. They overthrew an abusive man, and a decade later, Rick writes a mother who wants to overthrow an abusive father and husband and free her children as insane and psychotic.
Coupling this with how he writes Gaia in HOO...........oh Gaia, wanting to overthrow an abusive father and husband for the sake of your children..........killing an abusive, domineering patriarch who abuses your children and then being demonised for it by another man.........how, oh all the women understand you. Oh, how they suffer too.
Ok, so, the OG PJO series is amazing for a lot of people. I mean, it's almost as famous as Harry Potter for a reason. It has an immersive world which is escapism which is really nice for a lot of people including me..........
But the series could definitely have been rewritten to be better. Such as not making Annabeth hit Percy so often (only playful hits, no so hard) making Ares love his children, making Artemis NOT SO PREDATORY-
But the thing is, even if the series was rewritten to exclude these.........
The very foundation of the Percy Jackson series is problematic.
The foundation of the Percy Jackson series is about overthrowing an abusive system and making the abusers pay attention and listen, and I'm not saying that that's a bad concept. It's actually one of the best concepts, but-
But it's what Rick Riordan used as an abusive system that's really wrong.
He used the Greek gods as abusive parents when in the myths they were the furthest things from it.
Excuse me. Zeus was not an abusive father to Apollo. He genuinely loved him. He only punished him when Apollo needed to be punished and deserved it. Zeus was a loving father to Artemis as well. He gave her what she requested and let her live in the wild as she pleased. Zeus also stopped Athena from practicing divination at Apollo's request. Zeus would not leave two children with an abusive alcholic mother.
Poseidon was not abusive and neglectful. In the myths, he punished Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus. And he let Sciron do as he pleased in the ocean, though Sciron was a terrible person.
Aphrodite frequently came to her son Aeneas' aid on the battlefield of Troy. She loved him very much and even told him to give up LOVE to fulfil his own destiny of becoming a king.
And it also depicts Athena and Hades as having demigod children, when in the myths, Athena has no children at all and Hades is faithful to his wife Persephone, only cheating on her with TWO people in only a few variations of the myths, while other myths have Hades loving Leuce and Minthe before Persephone.
It's problematic for Athena to have demigod children, even brain children, because she was a virgin goddess who had no children in the myths. Ancient Greece associated marriage and having children with losing your virginity.
It was symbolic, so Athena having children, even brain children, makes her lose her virginity.
And about Hades being faithful-he's stated to have had multiple children with women when Persephone goes to her mother, which is why she's so unhappy.
This is incorrect and terribly wrong.
But if Athena and Hades didn't have children, and if the Greek Gods weren't abusive parents, then this series wouldn't exist. These problematic themes are essential to the story, which is why PJO is so problematic itself.
Not to mention the whole 'flame of the West' crap that is a big collective forehead smacking moment.
So even if Percy Jackson could be rewritten, it'll always be problematic in one way or another.
(Not saying that you shouldn't enjoy it. I have a love-hate relationship with it).
You know, one thing that makes me unhappy about Percabeth in WOTTG is that Percy feels like he has to be the perfect boyfriend for Annabeth and feels pressured around her.
Because you shouldn't feel like you have to please your partner all the time. You should be able to relax and be yourself with them. If they're really your partner, they'll accept you, flaws and all. If you're with strangers at a party, uncomfortable, and they walk in, you should be able to light up and relax with them.
The way Percabeth is written, Percy would freak out and stress out even MORE about Annabeth being there because he'd want to impress her too much.
But I'm not blaming Annabeth for this-because I don't know if she knows what Percy's thinking.
Has Percy ever told her that he feels like he has to be the perfect boyfriend for her and always please her? Because if he has, and if she hasn't shot down that ridiculous notion, then it's bad writing on Rick's part-
But if Percy HASN'T told her that, then how can we blame her?
In the end, I blame Rick Riordan and his terrible writing.
But can someone please tell me if Percy ever told Annabeth about wanting to be the perfect boyfriend for her? Has he ever told her about ANY of his insecurities?
Ok, listen-
If there is one thing that is unrealistic about Juno and Jason in PJO, it's that she wanted him to be her champion.
That is one of the most unrealistic things about Hera/Juno. In reality, she would most likely kill Jason painlessly if he was lucky, or she'd kill him painfully if not, or she'd turn him into an animal or something.
She would not take him as a champion. It's explicitly stated that Hera sees her husband's mistresses and bastards as embarassments and threats to her status as Queen Consort. She wouldn't just take one and make him her champion and give her glory.
If we were talking about real Hera/Juno-she wouldn't let Jason survive at all.
Heracles was named after Hera to appease her and it did not work. His name literally meant 'Champion of Hera' and she still cursed him pretty badly. Jason being named after Hera's last champion, who was cast out of her good graces because he did not keep his word of marriage to Medea and offended her, was not going to help him. It was never going to help him.
There's nothing wrong with liking PJO Juno and PJO Jason, just wanted to say this.
Have you noticed how both Percy Jackson and Cardan are often characterised as dumb and Cardan weak because they love their significant others? I think this is some weird sort of misogyny because 'only weak men will love these women' when that's simply not true!
Tell me if I'm crazy lol
You're not crazy. This is a real phenomenon that needs to stop.
The PJO fandom tends to dumb down Percy a lot and hype up Annabeth, when in reality it is Percy who comes up with brilliant strategies and fights very well. It seems to me that people think Percy is foolish and/or impulsive because he doesn't communicate his plans very well.
It's frustrating to read canon PJO and then go to the fandom PJO and see how much Percy is dumbed down. Even canonically, Percy is put down a lot-unfortunately, I think this is because Rick is influenced by the fandom, which he should stop.
In fact, Annabeth would have died without Percy. LOTS of people would have died without Percy.
Thankfully, there are many people who DON'T dumb Percy down, like @cynthiav06, @hermesmyplatonicbeloved and other people-I forgot the blogs, tell me if you want to be tagged.
Check out the blogs I mentioned above if you want Real Percy, not dumb Percy who's not even real.
And this happens with Cardan too.
All right-I will say it again and again.
REAL CARDAN IS NOT A DUMB, HELPLESS UWU POOKIE!
HE IS POWERFUL. HE IS SMART. HE IS CUNNING AND CAN RUN AN ENTIRE KINGDOM WITHOUT JUDE OR MADOC.
I think most of the TFOTA fandom forget that Cardan did, in fact, run the kingdom without Jude or Madoc between and at the beginning of The Queen of Nothing!
And he's no helpless pookie. Does ANYONE remember the scene in TWK where the sea mermaids and their retinue come and read the poem that's a threat in disguise?
Does anyone remember how Cardan reacted? I DON'T THINK THEY DO!
He did NOT whimper or look to Jude for help. Jude DID NOT step up and deal with things directly.
Cardan dealt with it. He gave a clever response and effectively dealt with it while remaining powerful in the eyes of his subjects. Jude herself notes how powerful he looks in that scene.
And his meeting with Orlagh? He looks and feels regal and intimidating, like a true ruler. He saves his kingdom from war, literally threatens to encase Nicasia in a tree to keep Orlagh in check like a true boss, is prepared to fulfil his theat and calls up AN ENTIRE ISLAND. AN ENTIRE NEW ISLAND, LIKE THE THREE ISLES, EXCEPT NOW IT'S THE FOUR ISLES.
And he also comes up with a smart plan for Jude's safety, thus ensuring that she can come back when she wants to. It's not his fault that she interpreted it differently and chose to ignore the real meaning when she finally found it.
And in The Prisoner's Throne when he saves Jude from the knives? 100 percent amazing scene. He really has a heavy regal ruler aura there. My favorite scene of Cardan.
Yet fandoms need must girlbossify the females and woobify the males to make us see that the females are oh so powerful and the males need them for everything apparently.
The fandoms make the males characters that are entirely dependent on the females and don't exist without them. And I can't emphasize how frustrated this makes some of us.
Annabeth is smart on her own without Percy and vice versa.
Same goes for Jude and Cardan. They deal with threats in their own effective ways, though said ways are different-but those ways still work for both of them.
This is a reverse form of misogyny that is still sexism to both males and females and this really needs to stop. Whenever a couple get together, people tend to not see them as equals-either the male or the female is dominant, and if it's the female, she has to be oh so strong and muscular and dark and serious while the male has to be soft and submissive to her at all times, oh noooooooooo.
Not to say that muscular and masculine women CAN'T be dominant, but please remember that this is not always the case. Submissive partners are not always soft and feminine, and dominant partners don't always need to be commanding and aggressive.
Being equals in a relationship is a big charm, and that's why Percabeth worked so well for a lot of people. That's a huge part of their charm. To take that away would be to push what made Percabeth good into an abyss and watch it disintegrate.
TFOTA fandom members, please remember that Cardan is a person on his own without Jude. Same goes for Percy and Annabeth, PJO fandom members.
So, in this post, I'm trying to examine how we as a society, even the ones who are progressive, automatically expect the older sibling, more importantly the older sister, to take on the burden of their siblings when their parents can't.
I'm going to use the example of Bianca di Angelo from Percy Jackson.
For context, I'll tell you-Bianca and her younger brother Nico were from pre WWII before the big 3 took the oath, and once her mother was killed by Zeus, her father put her and her brother in the Lotus Casino, which makes time pass slowly while the outside world time goes faster.
Bianca and her brother Nico were in there for about a month according to them but actually 70 years in real time. Keep in mind that during this time, there were no parental figures for them, even if they got everything they materially needed-food, clothes, etc.
Nico also mentions that Bianca was strict with what she let him watch, so this means that she watched over him in the Casino. Not fully, maybe, but she watched over him and felt parentified nonetheless.
Bianca felt that she had to take care of Nico.
And when they come out, they remember that their parents are dead and they go to a military school of all schools. Now Bianca feels like she has to take care of Nico because their parents are dead and because of the general expectations piled onto older sisters and they probably cling to each other a lot, seeing as how Nico didn't mention any friends from his boarding school time.
And when Bianca gets the chance to join the Hunters of Artemis, well, she takes it-and how do people react to this?
Well......they don't like it. They think she's abandoning Nico, they call her selfish, even though she's only 12-a literal child, not even a teenager. And she only wants to not be just a big sister, to have a life for herself. And she's groomed and mislead by two much older women who are also in the guise of being children (Artemis and Zoe) and she's told that she can meet Nico from time to time, but that she won't have to take care of him anymore and that he'll be taken care of. And so she takes the chance. She doesn't know that they're going to camp-she thinks that if she declines, she won't get this again. And she doesn't even think about the possible consequences of this, because again, she's just a scared twelve year old who barely had time to make a decision with a lot of pressure and 3 people there who tried to pressure her into the opposite directions.
No one really thinks about this, do they? They only think about how her joining the Hunters and her death affected Nico, and they judge their reactions to her based on him.
Because the way Bianca was written, she was always the Earth to Nico's Sun. And ultimately, she died and was only ever remembered as Nico's older sister, which is so sadly ironic because she always wanted to be more, but Bianca was doomed from the start.
And now we come to Vivienne Duarte, who can also be a slightly selfish sister, only people love her more because we actually see her helping Jude, and Jude doesn't seem to be that affected by Vivienne's distance from her and Taryn-in fact, Jude has said that Vivienne has come through for her plenty of times, and Vivienne does help Jude a lot over the course of TFOTA, so Vivienne would of course not be hated that much, right?
But, as always with case of older sisters not being there for their younger siblings, there's Vivienne hate for this.
And I mean, I can understand where you're coming from, because maybe it looks like Vivienne should have been there for Jude and Taryn-
But let me tell you, have we ever considered Vivienne as a person, and her desires and wants?
Let me tell you something very frankly-I wholeheartedly believe that if TFOTA was from Vivienne's POV, then a lot of people would be hating Jude and Taryn. We'd all be wondering why they choose to stay with the people who don't care for them and treat them like toys or pets. We'd be cheering Vivienne on, and maybe some of us would take some time to think about Jude or Taryn and maybe even defend them, but ultimately, we would say that they chose to stay in Faerie, so they weather the consequences.
And that's what I'm talking about. Have we ever considered the fact that Vivienne wanted to go back to the human realm, but Jude and Taryn wanted to stay in Faerie?
And then Jude and Taryn grew to love Madoc. Madoc, the man who killed Vivienne's parents, and kidnapped her and her sisters to a foreign land which they knew nothing of, and then her sisters started to love him.
It must have been awful for Vivienne. How many times did she turn away, her heart being pierced, when she saw Jude smile at or hug Madoc? How many times did she blink away tears when she saw Taryn with Madoc?
And she vowed to hate Madoc, but she was forced to live with him because of her sisters, even when she found a way out, because they wanted to go back to his stronghold, and VIVIENNE stayed for JUDE AND TARYN, even though she could have gone and lived in the Mortal Realm using her magic and she could have come and visited them when she wanted to.
Can you imagine a man murdering your parents, then he kidnaps you and your sister and is your biological father? And then your sisters, who aren't his real daughters, grow to love him even though you hate him, and you can't fathom how they can love him, because HE MURDERED YOUR PARENTS IN FRONT OF ALL THREE OF YOU.
I love the fact that she hates him. I love that she tried to kill him and betrayed him for her sisters. I love her for that.
And Vivienne did try to protect Jude and Taryn, but their relationshop fractured as Jude and Taryn grew to love Elfhame and Madoc, and that's realistic, because which person in Vivienne's place, with all her trauma and vows, would not hate her sisters a little for doing what they did?
And now we come to Vivienne's desires.
I mean, I already told you that she wanted to go and live in the mortal world away from Faerie, but she stayed for her sisters. Was she planning to stay forever if she had met Heather? Probably not, but she would have stayed longer.
But I think that when she met Heather and Heather wanted Vivienne to move in with her, Vivienne realised that it was either her or her sisters' desires-
And she chose herself over them.
And I think that that was wonderful, because she couldn't stay behind forever. She couldn't sacrifice forever.
And let me tell you, she offered so many times to Jude and Taryn, she said, hey, let's go back, stop being the the crazy psychos, and they kept saying no, we want to live here.
And Vivienne ultimately accepted that she couldn't always just try to help her younger sisters, that she and they would have to go their own separate ways, that ultimately she couldn't help them anymore. That Jude would have to fend for herself, that Taryn would have to find a husband.
And so she chose to leave for herself, and I think that that's so bittersweet, because she was leaving them behind for a new life, and she must have been hurt too, but she stopped sacrificing for her sisters. And she knew that she was immortal, so she could come back and visit them when they were settled.
And she tried, one last time, and she was even prepared to give up Heather for her sisters, but then they refused, and she gave it up entirely.
But I think that if Jude ever came to her, then Vivienne would help her, always.
Yes, Vivienne did play with Cardan, but that was most likely before he started bullying Jude and Taryn. Jude literally said that Vivienne stopped attending classes and also that she and Taryn hid their trauma in Faerie from Vivienne, so Vivienne didn't know that Jude and Taryn were bullied. And being the big sister that she is, she would never tolerate Cardan if she knew that he was bullying Jude and Taryn.
Bianca died, and Vivienne lived, and when people think of Vivienne Duarte, they're not always going to remember her as Jude's older sister, because she's so much more.
Vivienne stopped taking care of Jude and Taryn when she felt that she didn't need to and realized that they needed to fend for themselves and she couldn't always help them.
I feel like Bianca and Vivienne could have such a talk.........
@madockisser not sure if you've read Percy Jackson but what do you think about this? I'm trying to understand Vivienne's POV and I feel like I made some good points here, but I want your opinion too
So anyone who's read about Greek Mythology probably knows that Athena is a virgin goddess-and Ancient Greeks considered marriage and children as losing your virginity.
Ancient Greek were also taken very seriously. In fact, if you lose your virginity whether consensual or not, you were executed. Even MoA says this-you die in a horrible way if you lose your virginity, which is why the Romans ignored Annabeth so much.
So............Athena did not need to have children. Even brain children formed from her's and her lover's thoughts, because they're still children.
But! you say. But Annabeth!
Uh, let me speak, please. Some silence is required. Yes, thank you.
ANNABETH SHOULD'VE BEEN ATHENA'S CHOSEN, HER CHAMPION, NOT HER CHILD.
Let me explain about this.
So, Athena fell in love with Frederick, right?
Well, let's change it to she platonically liked Frederick and was impressed with his intelligence and wit, so she told him and his wife that as a gift, she could bless their daughter Annabeth with demigod powers, a chosen champion of Athena-
but she warns them of all the risks that'll happen, and tells them that Annabeth will be turned into a demigod directly, and she tells them how to raise Annabeth in the right environment.
And have Annabeth's parents be thrilled because both of them can fully see through the Mist. And honestly, they didn't think that it would be so hard to raise a demigod!
And once Annabeth is blessed, they keep pushing her-they think that she should be smart enough, but they don't put her in a proper environment for all of this because they're unable to get one because 1) It would be difficult to get tons of books in Ancient Greek
2) They didn't realise the actual consequences of having a child with ADHD and dyslexia because they were too excited with Annabeth becoming 'magical' as they put it, so they thought that she'd be insanely smart even though Athena warned them against this, and they keep pushing her, they're disappointed that she's not in middle school by only seven years old.
3) And by then, the monsters start coming and the spiders start coming too and they realise how difficult it is so they blame her for it.
And so she runs away and then everything else happens, and Athena feels guilty and angry about making Annabeth her champion when she was just an infant, so she guides her and helps her.
And then Annabeth could be isolated at camp without anyone in her cabin, because Athena's demigods aren't 'real' demigods-they have two mortal parents and are only blessed by Athena, so the camp doesn't treat them like demigods and kind of looks down on them.
So Annabeth feels the need to prove herself and this also makes her cling to Luke more. Also, she finally finds a real friend in Percy, which makes more sense, because how come she just makes friends with a random guy at camp, even a son of the Big 3, when she's been there for 5 years?
This makes Annabeth more relatable because there are people who's parents didn't think twice before having children and there are people whose parents pressure them academically too much.
And now you're probably wondering about Malcolm.
Yeah, what about Malcolm?
He's barely there in the original PJO series. Once in BOTL where he walks in on Percabeth hugging? Well, have another demigod walk in for another purpose.
Malcolm in TLO? Change it to another cabin. Simple.
BOO when he's attending the meeting? Have it be Clarisse.
TON when Apollo interacts with him? Have it be an Ares camper (Sherman Yang, maybe) who's gathering information, because Ares campers aren't just violent dickheads, they can gather information too. Information gathering is a part of war, and Ares campers don't just fight.
When he's mentioned coming out as gay because of Nico? Put another camper there. Whichever one you want.
Malcolm Pace lovers, I'm sorry about dissing Malcolm-I don't hate him, it's just that he's not even that important. If you took all the children of Athena (ruling out the historical ones which can be cut out) then Annabeth Chase is more important than all the other three combined. I'm not even sure if Zane is canon or not.
So, in the PJO series, Rick makes Ares hate his children. Or, if not hate, at the very least ignore them and be abusive to them like all the other gods.
And I've always found this an odd choice, because in the myths, Ares really loved his children more than the other gods. He killed his daughter's rapist, who was a son of Poseidon, whom we also know loved his children, and so of course Ares probably knew that Poseidon would retaliate, right? And Poseidon is more powerful than Ares and he could definitely hurt him if he wanted to.
And Ares still kills Poseidon's son anyway, because he raped his daughter Alcippe, knowing that he would most likely be punished for this and he still does it. That just speaks volumes of love when he could've ignored his daughter for his own safety.
He also gives Hippolyta a magical belt that makes her stronger because she's the best out of all the Amazons, implying his pride about it.
He tries to avenge his son Cycnus when Heracles slays him-and Cycnus DESERVES IT, he literally stole Apollo's sacred grove and his offerings, and Ares still tries to avenge his death (they were even riding chariots together when Heracles encountered them, do what you will with that).
And a lot of people say that Rick made Ares neglect his children for the sake of the plot, but here's my counter argument-
Rick should've made Ares love his children TO STRENGTHEN PERCY'S BELIEF IN FIGHTING FOR THE GODS.
Imagine not knowing if you're even fighting on the right side. Imagine wondering if Kronos really was right, does your godly parent care about you?
And then imagine seeing Ares come down and talk to his children and encourage them.
And you're envious that they get to see their parent and you don't, but you also feel that fighting spirit come into you. This man, right here, he's showing that the gods can change, that they're not all bad, that there's something worth fighting for on their side.
(Also cue the angst and comedy of Ares and Percy hating each other and Ares being a good parent to his kids and actually being there for them while the whole Poseidon and Percy shebang goes on).
So, a lot of people are complaining that Solangelo was a rushed relationship because it was only 6 months long. And it's not really a proper relationship, is it, because it was so rushed!
And I get your point-it was too rushed for the readers. The Doylist perspective screams from being rushed too hard.
But honestly, that's the most realistic aspect of a teenage relationship. In fact, that's probably the most realistic aspect of the relationship, because a lot of teenage relationships are rushed, and when my friends were teenagers, they got into rushed relationships too.
And speaking from a Watsonian perspective, honestly, 4-5 months might be a little rushed, but I don't think that it's that rushed-in fact, Nico and Will might have gotten to know each other quite well if we accept the fact that they were spending most of their time in each other's company.
So, yeah, if we take it in a ratio, the rushed part might be 30 compared to the 70 of the getting to know each other part.
Then again, teenage relationships usually don't stay together, so if Solangelo was a realistic teenage relationship that depicted the majority, they'd probably break up.
So I said in this post that I wanted to see more of Poseidon and Annabeth interactions where Poseidon is judging Annabeth.
Based on their mythological counterparts, PJO Athena would probably have fewer problems with the relationship, seeing as she is logical and practical, so she would be able to accept that Percy and Annabeth love each other. I mean, she could be annoyed with the relationship, but she would definitely be less judgmental and more lenient.
And Poseidon would actually dislike Annabeth. He loves Percy and Percy loves Annabeth, so he'd let her live for Percy's sake, but other than that, he does not care for the girl and might even minorly inconvenience her if he could get away with it just to be petty-
Because Poseidon is petty. He's very volatile-one moment he can be kind and gentle, the next brooding and raging. And he's second to Zeus in being morally gray in the myths-that is, he's a very dark shade of grey for some people. He would love his children a lot, though, so there's that. And maybe if he was feeling nice or generous, he wouldn't inconvenience Annabeth.
Rick really just missed the opportunity to tell us about Bianca and Nico having dyslexia and ADHD and living in the literal 1930s, huh? Were they kicked out? Did they have to move from school to school? The only thing we know is that Nico studied Dante in elementary school. Other than that? Nothing.
I bet you my whole fortune that Nico and Bianca probably had some kind of trauma from the schooling in Italy. Maybe that's why Bianca felt that she needed to take care of Nico-they were ostracized in school for their weirdness (AKA ADHD and dyslexia). And Maria was such a nice mother, but would she really understand? She didn't have ADHD or dyslexia. And even if she did know about the perils of being a demigod, even then she wouldn't really be able to understand Bianca and Nico. Sympathise with them, protect them a little, but she still wouldn't understand.
About the huntresses of Artemis. So, I said in this post that Artemis' Huntresses never grew up and always remained immature children and that in the mythology, her companions aged normally and weren't immortal. And I know that Rick made Artemis' hunt a fun, immortal band of girls just hunting monsters together, which could have been nice, but the way he wrote them, the result was way worse than intended. And I have a solution to fix it (not that he'll ever see this): Make it so that when women join Artemis, they age normally, so that they're not stuck at one age all the time. And if they want to become immortal, they can, but if they want to stay mortal, then they can stay mortal too. It's shown in PJO that Artemis has no problem giving her Huntresses immortality and also taking it away, so this would be no problem for her. And they can be frozen in time at a proper age where they're fully mature. Also, let them be able to go away when they want to-let them try the hunt out, not just have to stay forever and possibly regret it. Let them try it out and see if it's right for them, and them be able to leave. But then how will Thalia be able to avoid the prophecy, you ask? Well, simple. Artemis freezes Thalia in time like she does to her older hunters, making her a 15 year old forever-and when the prophecy is done, then Thalia starts aging normally again. Simple! I just think that it's really weird how Rick wrote the Huntresses of Artemis, having them be literal eternal children hunting monsters which is quite dangerous.
So I've seen people asking why Zeus transformed Thalia into a tree, and was that really the most powerful being's plan to save his daughter? Yes. Yes, it was! He looked down and saw an opportunity!
First of all, there's no telling if Thalia would save or raze Olympus. And now she's dying from a fatal wound, BUT he doesn't want her to die because then Hades will………well……….send her to the Fields of Punishment or Tartarus (completely untrue for the real Hades, by the way.)
And he can't exactly just interfere and save her life because then he would be accused of hypocrisy by the other gods and also the Ancient Laws, both of which he probably doesn't care about.......
But the MAIN reason he didn't save her life was most likely because she was the prophecy child and he didn't want it to come true. So, what does he do? Easy! He transforms her into a tree. Reminiscent of Greek Mythology, where people are transformed into things all the time, AND he actively ties and strengthens Thalia's tree to the magical border, thus giving her a legacy to live on at Camp Half Blood for not just one generation but EVERY generation to come. And this way, the prophecy can be averted! (He didn't know that Percy existed yet.)
I GUARANTEE you that if Rick didn't make Athena have children, he would also have made her be a child somehow.
Ok, but when have we actually SEEN a good LGBTQ ship being DEVELOPED AND WRITTEN PROPERLY?
Like with Percabeth, you can see their development over the course of the series. WHEN HAVE WE SEEN THAT WITH GAY MALES OR LESBIAN FEMALES? I've never seen it (if you have, though, tell me please.)
We almost never get gay characters as major characters. Sure, Piper Mclean is bisexual, but we never knew it until the literal END of Trials of Apollo even though she was a major character in HOO and even starred as a side character for Trials of Apollo. Was her POV in HOO about discovering her bisexuality and coming out? No. Piper's representation is so shoved in that it barely counts, TBH. Though that is just my opinion on this matter-no need to agree with it.
And Nico di Angelo is gay, but his rep was handled terribly. A forced coming out with no closure and being paired off with a random side character to 'prove' his gayness. Also, Will being a terrible partner for Nico (sharing his medical information without authority, and being someone's doctor and boyfriend is problematic for boundaries. Nico could have had another doctor. Seriously, are there no Athena kids in the infirmary, or no trainee Apollo kids?).
I'm just saying that I'm not sure if Solangelo is good representation because we don't really get any development and whatever development there is on Nico's side is somewhat deteriorated. We don't even get much of Will as a character. No development at all.
And with the lesbian couple, Jo and Emmie, in ToA? No development-plus they got kicked out of a supposedly safe space for being lesbians. Very problematic.
And Piper and Shel? NOTHING. No page time. None whatsoever. No development or good writing.
Lavinia and Poison Oak? We're told, not shown. We don't even see Poison Oak.
Fierrochase is the only developed ship, and even then, it's a little rushed. (Just my opinion).
Ok, I am once again wondering why Rick didn't just put PIPER in DREW'S PLACE.
Piper could have been the head counsellor of cabin 10-exhausted, burnt out, and she and Silena could have been the ones to have charmspeak, which would give them an extra special bond as the only ones who had it.
And when Piper gets really emotionally intense after the Titan War II, she just uses charmspeak on her cabin members. Of course, she feels guilty afterwards, but they still start to be scared of her.
And this way, we can learn more about what happens at camp, because maybe she could be a year rounder so as not to harm Tristan, but she could still have her trauma from her younger days.
Just another example of wasted potential in PJO, which is surprisingly easy to come by.
Ok, ok, LISTEN. THIS IS IMPORTANT. I HAVE LITERALLY NEVER HEARD ANYBODY TALK ABOUT THIS, AND I WOULD LOVE IF EVERY PJO FAN COULD SEE AND TALK ABOUT THIS! Does ANYONE ever wonder what Camp Half-Blood was like in the centuries before the 21rst? What about the 15th or 16th century-where did they go then? The concept of a summer camp is very modern, so what was Camp Half-Blood like? Did more demigods stay there? Did more demigods SURVIVE to adulthood because there was no technology? Was Camp Half Blood a sanctuary of some kind-how many demigods stayed there for a full year? And what were the cabins like? Did boys and girls have separate cabins or something? How were Christians and other Abrahamic people affected knowing that the Greek Gods existed? What did girls and boys DO in the camp? How did Chiron manage all of them-how many children filled up the Dionysus cabin?
And Camp Jupiter, what was it like there?
Oh my god, please reblog this! I would like as many fans as possible to see this so we can discuss it! Thanks for reading, and I will DEFINITELY read ALL comments, so don't be shy!
You know what Rick should have done to make Athena more sympathetic?
Simple. Make Frederick ask Athena for a child so that he can have an actual demigod to raise and observe, rather like a science experiment or something (which makes him a bad parent, treating Annabeth like a project instead of an actual child, that Rick could've gone into later).
She's unsure, because he doesn't seem like the type to be able to raise a child, but he insists, so she gives him one. INSTEAD OF THE WHOLE NONCON WEIRD MENTAL THING WE GOT.
And then Frederick finds out that hey, kids aren't always the way you picture them, surprise! So he just kind of leaves Annabeth alone and then we get the whole stepmother plot and it continues in canon.
There are definitely parents like that in real life, so it would be more realistic and I think that more people might be able to relate to that.
And Athena guides her daughter and is angry at Frederick for not helping the child enough and with herself not to see how bad he would be at parenting, because she is the literal goddess of wisdom.
It would have been way better if Rick had portrayed Calypso as a mother figure instead of a teenager. I know that Percy Jackson is a kid's series, which is why he took out the rape, but choosing to portray Calypso as a teenager after reading about her being a fully-grown woman and raping Odysseus definitely feeds into the horrible mindset that men can't get raped by women because the latter are too cutesy and weak to do something that terrible.
She could remind Percy of Sally, ironically, because she wants him to stay (but won't force him to) and she's so angry with the gods because this boy is so YOUNG, only 14. And Percy loves her a bit like he loves Sally, and he resolves to make the gods free her if he can.
And when Leo crashes up on his island, barely older than Percy, Calypso doesn't really know if the war's been won or not, so she asks him, and he tells all, but instead of blaming Percy, she blames the gods again. And she reminds Leo of Esperanza and he comes back for her, and maybe she could join the Waystation and be friends with Jo and Emmie or something-just that terribly written and rushed romance plot.