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[helenofmycenea]

"In the nights, true/ he'd sleep with her in the arching cave- he had no choice - / unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing."

It really doesn't get any more obvious than this. I refuse to believe that people who say that have ever read the Odyssee.

“Oh we need more male S/A victim rep!” You guys can’t even handle Odysseus without insisting that him being trapped in a cave until he agreed to sleep with a woman or being put under a spell and coerced while under the spell was still him consenting fully shut the fuck up.

[helenofmycenea]

i might be signing my death warrant by saying this, but just because annabeth is strong doesn’t mean percy is weak. annabeth was a lot more skilled in combat than percy when he first arrived at camp because he hadn’t had any training yet, whereas annabeth already had five years of training. but percy got better at fighting over time. he and annabeth are a battle couple and neither of them is significantly stronger than the other to the point that they would be helpless without them. reducing percy to just annabeth’s dumbass boyfriend doesn’t make annabeth look smarter. they’re both smart, just in different ways. annabeth calls percy “seaweed brain” as a lighthearted joke, she doesn’t legitimately think he’s stupid. annabeth canonically thinks of percy as the bravest person she knows. percy’s very good at coming up with battle strategies on the spot, he just doesn’t think through how dangerous they are and impulsively does them. all that saying percy would be lost without annabeth does for annabeth’s character is strip her of her complexity and reduce her to just a Strong Female Character. annabeth has more depth than that. she ran away from home when she was 7 years old, meaning she had to become strong and self-reliant at an age where she should not have needed to be. i would never deny that annabeth is very strong, smart, and powerful because she is, but letting her be flawed and emotionally vulnerable and sometimes rely on others for support doesn’t change that.

tl;dr: the percabeth where annabeth is the #girlboss One With The Braincell and percy is just her Idiot Boyfriend is fanon and reductive to both their characters.

[helenofmycenea]

I don't care if this is a hot take or not, but Annabeth Chase is not that much smarter than Percy Jackson, if she is at all.

Yes, she is a genius, yes, canonically she is the most brilliant living child of Athena, yes, she certainly has fullfilled some incredible feats and yes, she is, without a doubt, one of the smartest characters in any of Rick's works.

But never in those books , neither in the og series, nor in heroes of Olympus, has Annabeth done anything, that proves she is smarter than Percy to any considerable degree. At the most, it is told to us through inner thoughts or dialogue, but it is never really shown trough any actions.

I often get the feeling that her intelligence often gets overestimated in the fandom, or, at least, that the intelligence of the characters around her gets underestimated to elevate Annabeth.

Because, even if she were the smartest of the seven (which is very much debatable), it would be a very close call. Especially compared to characters like Leo or Percy, who rival or sometimes even surpass her in that regard (Leo with building the Argo II or his general mathematic genius, and Percy with his battle IQ or manipulative abilities)

Annabeth Chase is a genius and like I said, one of the smartest characters in the riordan verse, but so is Percy Jackson (and Leo Valdez)

[helenofmycenea]

Some people don't like Percy/Annabeth, and prefer stories where Percy isn't in a romantic relationship, instead focusing on familial and platonic relationships.

Some people don't like Percy/Annabeth and as a result, prefer to ship Percy with other people.

Some people like Percy/Other Character ships better than Percy/Annabeth and that's why they don't ship it.

None of us are the same. But we are all allies.

[helenofmycenea]

Some people don't like Percy/Annabeth, and prefer stories where Percy isn't in a romantic relationship, instead focusing on familial and platonic relationships.

Some people don't like Percy/Annabeth and as a result, prefer to ship Percy with other people.

Some people like Percy/Other Character ships better than Percy/Annabeth and that's why they don't ship it.

None of us are the same. But we are all allies.

[helenofmycenea]

"Percy Jackson would be a stay at home dad"

"Percy Jackson would study marine biology"

If Rick were to ever allow him to grow up, Percy-compassion-is-my-middle-name-Jackson would become the best social worker in the entirety of the United States and you can tear that headcannon out of my cold, dead hands.

[helenofmycenea]

Annabeth is the strategic leader of Camp Half Blood, and Percy is the emotional one

If you have time to prepare for a battle or a quest, days, weeks or even months, the Athena cabin, and Annabeth in particular, are the obvious bet.

Camp Half-Blood has known Annabeth since she was seven years old and experienced her getting better and better at strategizing with each passing year and win victory after victory at capture the flag.

They know that she is the demigod who managed to stay alive while living on the streets with Thalia and Luke, who held the sky and accompanied Percy on most of his quests, who has been part of the prophecy of the seven, survived Tartarus and managed to follow the Mark of Athena as the only Athena kid in over 3000 years.

They know that she is going to come up with a plan that is going to give them with close to no doubts the upper hand. She has their absolute trust in that regard.

But when you're feeling hopeless in the middle of a battlefield? When your entire body is aching, and you're so close to desperation you just want to lay down your weapons or run away? Or when something somehow goes wrong, and you need to immediately improvise?

Then you look to Perseus Jackson.

The guy who has been standing on the front lines for so long, it is more familiar to him than the schoolyard, who has been fighting toe to toe with gods and titans since he was twelve years old. The guy who has successfully been part of more quests than any other demigod alive. The guy, who you know would give his own life for you without a second thought. The guy who jumped into Tartarus just so his girlfriend wouldn't have to face it alone.

The guy who is defined by his selflessness, genuine kindness, humbleness and bravery.

Mars told Frank in Son of Neptune that Percy is the glue that will hold the seven together, but it goes much deeper than that. He is the glue that holds all demigods together, be it at the Battle of Camp Half Blood, the Battle of Manhattan, or the Battle in front of New Rome, because more than any other character we have met in any of Rick’s books, Percy Jackson inspires loyalty and trust.

I’m not saying that those roles are not interchangeable.

Demigods obviously also rely emotionally on Annabeth, especially the Athena cabin, and Percy does often also come up with brilliant strategies (mind you, he was the leader, both emotional and strategic during the battle of Manhattan), but in the grand scheme of things, those are the roles the two of them have, and one of the main reasons why they are such a dangerous duo.

[helenofmycenea]

Percy is a strategical genius, and this hasn't been said enough. I don't get why the Fandom collectively thinks Percy is dumb or not smart. Even Annabeth sometimes treats him as such.

Reyna, Piper, Annabeth, and everyone needs to hear this:

The truth is Percy is a far better strategist than Annabeth because Annabeth can't think quickly on her feet at all. She can weave the most ingenious of plans but only when given time and enough information, only when she is looking at the bigger picture.

She does, however, have an almost encompassing knowledge of most things, but information is just information unless you apply it.

No one and I mean no one is better than Percy at thinking on his feet.

Mostly almost always Percy seems to be unaware of who his enemies are and yet still manages to go up against them and eventually win while Annabeth is at times left reeling.

Who figured out Ares's scheme? Percy

Who figured out Luke's motives? Percy

Who tricked Crusty? Percy

Who figured out the use for Hermes's gift? Percy

Who came up with a way to show Luke's betrayal to the camp? Percy

Who helps trick Atlas? Percy

Who makes up the entire battle plan in the Battle of Manhattan? Percy

Percy tricks Phineas by goading Gaea. He could only do that if he himself understood how Gaea's mind worked.

He singlehandedly subdued Chrysaur (Yes, Frank helped, but only because Percy came up with it)

There's so many instances of Percy being far more strategic than Annabeth herself.

Not only this but Percy is extremely and terrifyingly perceptive and just a damn genius at getting people to give up secrets.

Athena is the personification of cold hard logic and facts hence Annabeth follows and so she isn't nearly good enough at reading people's intentions or body language.

Yes, Annabeth can be quick on her feet, but it's not very natural to her as it is to Percy because Annabeth believes in pre-planning, but Percy understands and embodies adaptation.

It's a flaw of many of Athena's children. The problem is Athena is a God with the mind of one, nothing stumps her so at any given moment she can and will always have the best plan because her mind is much more rapid than the surrounding circumstances.

Her children, however, are mortal and hence always vulnerable to surprises.

It's the reason why Athena favors Odysseus the most, over everyone. He was quick on his feet, along with being a great planner. He was a strategic genius, and my headcanon is that part of the reason Athena hates Percy is because her greatest enemy's son reminds her of her most favored person.

[helenofmycenea]

pjo except rachel’s prophecy paintings are super abstract art

[helenofmycenea]

re-reading pjo rn and this scene is always be funny

[helenofmycenea]

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED

[helenofmycenea]

cal: man i hate that vader guy, he killed my master

ezra: yeah he killed my great grandmaster and almost killed me and kanan

ahsoka: he was my MASTER, basically my brother

luke: ……

(commission info // tip jar!)

[helenofmycenea]

the day that people realise that not one person in the rachel/percy/annabeth love triangle is deserved to be hated on or was in the wrong and that all three of them were just scared and confused teenagers is the day that humanity will be fully pure, I'll tell you that.

[helenofmycenea]

Going feral about "It is so hard for him to stand back, to see you struggle. It is so hard for us all." Percy has the whole ocean on his side and I hope we get to see that a lil more in the TV Show.

[helenofmycenea]

pjo except rachel’s prophecy paintings are super abstract art

[helenofmycenea]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[helenofmycenea]

Percy is a strategical genius, and this hasn't been said enough. I don't get why the Fandom collectively thinks Percy is dumb or not smart. Even Annabeth sometimes treats him as such.

Reyna, Piper, Annabeth, and everyone needs to hear this:

The truth is Percy is a far better strategist than Annabeth because Annabeth can't think quickly on her feet at all. She can weave the most ingenious of plans but only when given time and enough information, only when she is looking at the bigger picture.

She does, however, have an almost encompassing knowledge of most things, but information is just information unless you apply it.

No one and I mean no one is better than Percy at thinking on his feet.

Mostly almost always Percy seems to be unaware of who his enemies are and yet still manages to go up against them and eventually win while Annabeth is at times left reeling.

Who figured out Ares's scheme? Percy

Who figured out Luke's motives? Percy

Who tricked Crusty? Percy

Who figured out the use for Hermes's gift? Percy

Who came up with a way to show Luke's betrayal to the camp? Percy

Who helps trick Atlas? Percy

Who makes up the entire battle plan in the Battle of Manhattan? Percy

Percy tricks Phineas by goading Gaea. He could only do that if he himself understood how Gaea's mind worked.

He singlehandedly subdued Chrysaur (Yes, Frank helped, but only because Percy came up with it)

There's so many instances of Percy being far more strategic than Annabeth herself.

Not only this but Percy is extremely and terrifyingly perceptive and just a damn genius at getting people to give up secrets.

Athena is the personification of cold hard logic and facts hence Annabeth follows and so she isn't nearly good enough at reading people's intentions or body language.

Yes, Annabeth can be quick on her feet, but it's not very natural to her as it is to Percy because Annabeth believes in pre-planning, but Percy understands and embodies adaptation.

It's a flaw of many of Athena's children. The problem is Athena is a God with the mind of one, nothing stumps her so at any given moment she can and will always have the best plan because her mind is much more rapid than the surrounding circumstances.

Her children, however, are mortal and hence always vulnerable to surprises.

It's the reason why Athena favors Odysseus the most, over everyone. He was quick on his feet, along with being a great planner. He was a strategic genius, and my headcanon is that part of the reason Athena hates Percy is because her greatest enemy's son reminds her of her most favored person.