lukecastellandeservedbetter

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

hello demigod fam - i bring to thee: perseus jackson (blonde edition)

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

guess what i watched on new years (a redraw kind of)

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

22. Myth-takes Happen

2020 a/n: I’ve been sitting on this fic since Bring On The Monsters. But now I can finally... release the... *checks smudged writing on Luke’s hand* Karen. 

2023 Edit: I’m finishing this series this year, I swear. It’s been a couple years since I’ve touched it, but going back to the ~source material~ I realized this could absolutely replace the crab thing they fight so this has been edited. JUST A REMINDER, I started this series prior to even the ANNOUNCEMENT that there would be a PJO show, let alone the casting. For continuity's sake, I will be sticking with the book descriptions, but just know that I adore the show casting and love every single actor on the show! 

read the others!: Masterlist 

“What in Hades name is that?” Piper asked incredulously as something emerged from the water, rocking the boat. 

Luke and Percy had stumbled back up to the deck from the Med Bay, with an exhausted Jason at their heels. They looked at each other with wide eyes. 

“Is that…” 

“I think so.” 

Luke looked back over the rail. “Isn’t it a Norse thing?” 

“I didn’t even realize it was a real thing, I thought it was made up for the movie,” Percy pointed out. 

“My gods,” Luke glanced at Percy for a moment before returning his gaze once more to the giant squid attacking a large whale. “I didn’t even consider Norse Mythos being real.”

“Well I mean,” Percy thought about it, ignoring their other friend's sudden objection to the monster. “If Roman and Greek mythology can coexist, I don’t see why Norse should be an issue.” 

“Okay, so that’s a Kraken then.” He paused, really studying it. “Still think we can tag team that thing?” 

“Oh yeah, totally,” Percy nodded. “Your speed and agility with my force and literal control of the ocean? We could have that thing dusted in no time.” 

“Alright then,” Luke nodded, glancing around the ship. “Let’s get this figured out then.” 

Leo was shouting orders that were lost on half the crew. At one point, Frank had stopped and turned to glare at Leo, which resulted in one of the tentacles catching him in the chest and throwing him overboard. 

“Frank!” Percy shouted, his eyes wide. 

“Percy, can’t you talk to it? See what it wants!” Annabeth ran over carefully, trying not to slip as water slowly flooded the deck. 

Luckily, it seemed like the water was coming from the tentacles themselves, not the ship sinking, so they were fine. 

For now. 

Luke and Percy glanced at each other, jumping into action. Luke drew his blades, and Percy uncapped Riptide. 

“So are we thinking battle plan three or seven?” Luke questioned, looking back at Percy. 

“I’m pretty sure plan five will get the job done.” Percy shrugged. 

“Plan five?” Luke raised his eyebrow, dodging and slicing at a tentacle that came at him. “I dunno man, it’s risky.” 

“So is being a demigod.” Percy reminded him. 

Luke couldn’t argue with that point. 

Given that the Kraken wasn’t facing them head on, plan five was not holding up very well. The squid had Percy in its grasp in no time, and was reaching for Luke who barely dove out of the way. 

“It’s not happy!” Percy shouted at Luke. 

“I can see that, thank you Percy!” Luke yelled back, diving out of the way once more. 

Percy turned Riptide and stabbed the tentacle, which promptly dropped him onto the deck. Percy groaned but got up quickly, drawing in power from the sea water that coated the wood. 

“I have a plan!” Leo shouted. “Hazel, open that box!” 

“The box you specifically have labeled as ‘Do Not Open’?” Hazel yelled back, staring at Leo like he was crazy. 

“That’s the one!” Leo confirmed. 

Luke glanced over and stopped dead in his tracks. He could see the familiar green glow from here, and for a moment he was back on another ship, fighting a different monster, frozen in his steps. 

“Luke! Watch out!” Annabeth cried out, pulling Luke from his Greek Fire nightmare long enough to hit the deck before the Kraken could get ahold of him. 

Jason flew down and helped Luke up quickly. “You and Percy thought you could tag team this?” He yelled over the rushing wind and aggressive waves. 

“Ideally!” Luke answered, slicing at another tentacle. “We didn’t think we would actually come across one!” 

Leo and Hazel were snatched by two more tentacles, and in a matter of moments they were gone, and the Kraken was dusted in a flash of green. 

No one moved. No one spoke. Three of their friends were overboard. 

Percy hopped over the edge of the ship to scour the ocean floor without a second thought. Luke helped Annabeth and Piper up, and checked what he could on the ship. Once again, he was brutally reminded that the Princess Andromeda was different then the Argo II, but he felt more useful than just standing around. He watched Jason fly up and put out any fires on the masts. 

It was clear he was exhausted though, and it wasn’t long before he was losing air and coming back to the deck. Percy came back up for only a bite of ambrosia and a sip of nectar before he was throwing himself over the edge again to do another sweep. 

Luke concentrated on the ship. It didn’t seem to be in danger of sinking anymore, which Luke called a win, but it was clear they needed some major repairs. He was no son of Hephestus, they wouldn’t be able to do anything without Leo. Sailing would be okay, but no one even considered making the suggestion they leave without the others. 

“What was that back there?” Annabeth demanded. 

“What?” Luke looked up from where he was retying some of the knots. 

“Those plans you and Percy were shouting out, since when do you have plans?” She put her hands on her hips. 

Luke turned back to the rope, his hands still. “Percy was doing math homework one day, and I- well, I’d never seen the stuff he was doing so he was trying to explain it to me and we came to the conclusion that the angles and stuff would work well for some set strategies.” He explained. 

“You and Percy created set strategies?” Annabeth said incredulously. “And what was that about the Kraken?”

“It’s kind of like an inside joke. We watched this movie that had the Kraken in it and then a few days later, I dealt with this really awful woman at the shop and Percy called her a ‘Karen’ and I thought he meant ‘Kraken’ and…” He trailed off, feeling stupid as he recalled the story. “It doesn’t matter.” He said dismissively. “Look, I should finish checking the ship before Leo gets back,” He finished tying the knot. 

“When did all this happen?” She followed him. 

“I mean, I lived with them for almost five months before I came to find Percy.” He said, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. “Sally was nice enough to get me a job so I could help out, and she offered to enroll me in night classes or something. I never ended up going, I don’t think it would be very helpful for me, but I dunno.” He crouched down to refasten a few of the weapons that got knocked out of place. “Percy said I should try building a life outside the Gods. He said it would be good for me.” Luke grunted as he finished quickly, moving onto the lower sails. 

“How come neither of you told me any of this?” Annabeth demanded. “I could’ve helped with the strategies at least!” 

Luke sighed and closed his eyes. “We didn’t think we would ever use them, they were hypotheticals that Percy used to teach me math.” He asked finally. “This isn’t fair, Annabeth, you can’t be mad at me for not telling you mundane things when you were the one who established that you didn’t want to know anything about what I was doing until recently.” He told her. “You had a good reason, I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t talk to me either.” He added. “Can we talk about this later?”  

Annabeth sighed before turning on her heel and walking away, meeting up with Piper to send a message back to camp. 

“I can’t find them,” Percy said, swaying on his feet. 

“It’s okay Perc, take a break,” Luke motioned for him to sit. “They’ll come up eventually.” 

Percy threw himself onto the deck beside where Luke was working. They sat in silence for a while, Jason joining them when he couldn’t bear to stay in the air any longer. 

“What do I tell Nico?” Percy whispered. 

Luke frowned and looked over to where Percy had his gaze on the sky. 

“How do I tell him I lost his sister? Again?” He rubbed his eyes. 

“Let’s worry about getting him back first,” Luke suggested. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” 

Percy sighed. 

There was a shout and a splash that caused all three of them to shoot up and run towards the side of the ship, where Piper had jumped over to join the three missing demigods. In an instant, despite their exhaustion, Jason and Percy joined them to get the four of them back onto the ship. 

Luke looked to the sky. 

He hoped they wouldn’t lose anyone like this again. 

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

One thing I’m really looking forward to seeing is how they convince Percy not to join Luke. Up until the end of episode 4, Percy doesn’t have any faith in his dad or the other gods. He resents them all for abandoning their kids and doesn’t like their excuses. He is disgusted by how Athena treats Annabeth. He detests the whole claiming system and that the gods can just choose to claim them if they feel like it. And he is also being actively targeted by Zeus. What will be the turning point for him to not join Luke?

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

Friendly reminder that the line “betrayed by one who calls you friend” means Luke considered Percy a friend.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

You can tell Percy Jackson was written for a kid with ADHD because every important item in the series gets teleported back to its owner when it gets lost.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

Luke just needs like. A hug and validation. Preferably from his father, but I’m sure at this point if anyone told him they loved him and cared about what would happen to him, he would probably do whatever they said.

unlike draco apologists, i support Luke apologists. when he shows his true colors and everyone on tiktok starts spouting "I COULD FIX HIM" im like. yeah you probably could. please do.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

i think they cast Luke perfectly. the Charming Blonde Sporty Jock fit his role as this aspirational heartthrob (misleading and intentional) in the mid 2000s. now he's a brown-eyed prettyboy with soft hair. the tiktok star. he's absolutely perfect for this new audience.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

I’m rewatching the Percy Jackson films and I have some serious questions because like, what WAS their plan going forward? Like they defeated Kronos and completed the prophecy it takes five books to do in two movies?? And I’m assuming Luke survived only because they didn’t show his death outright, which is kinda stupid because that’s exactly what they did in the first film too. Would they have gone back and done the possession thing with Luke and Kronos? Would they have done the Achilles Heel thing? Was it still apart of Luke’s plan to revive Thalia? Like I know we saw the crate thing at the end of the second film, but in that case, didn’t Luke “fail”? Would Kronos forgive that? Also, would it make sense for Luke to continue to be the antagonist now that he knows the first thing that would happen if he revived Kronos again is that he’d be eaten? Like, he betrayed everyone he loved and killed Thalia’s tree just to get back at his dad and the Gods and the first thing his great grandfather does is swallow him whole. Personally, I would turn back around and figure something else out, whether that be another way to overthrow the gods or beg for forgiveness. Hermes would probably forgive Luke anyways, given how he was talking and acting about him. Although, Movie!Luke doesn’t feel as much of a wayward kid who never had a solid role model or the space to mature and grow and ultimately turned because he was tired of seeing the gods get everyone he loves killed or worse, and being treated like nothing more than a messenger. Movie!Luke feels more like he’s doing it for power and glory, and although there were three films we didn’t get that could’ve expanded on that and gotten deeper into it, the MUSICAL portrayed that level of pain and exhaustion and desperation Luke felt in less than a two hour show, so it was definitely the writing.

Also why did they make Annabeth so Like That? Annabeth Chase is far from helpless or slow, but they made it seem like she was just there for the ride. If Annabeth hadn’t been in the second movie at all, there would’ve been literally zero difference.

I’m so glad we have the show now and I desperately hope we get to see all 5 seasons.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

You are going to laugh until your stomach hurts again. You're going to be in awe of a sunset. Watch your favorite show while you eat your favorite food. Find money on the street. Discover a great band you haven't heard of before. You will find your way back.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

So my dad bought Hogwarts Legacy (and yes, we've discussed that choice multiple times, but that's not the point of this post), and I've been watching him play when I've had the time because why the fuck not, right? I will say that the game is visually pleasing, and you can tell a lot of care went into making the object models, but that is where my praise for the game starts and ends. 

Near the beginning of the game, you meet a character named Natasi "Natty" Onai, a fellow fifth-year student who tells you about how she transferred to Hogwarts last year from Uagadou, the largest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. You then get the dialogue option to say, "Surely magic is weaker over there," Over there meaning in Uganda. That was the first "oh no…" moment I had while observing the game and the first of many indications that this game did not have as much diversity screening as it desperately needed. Understandably, giving the British player character a dialogue option to insinuate that magic is weaker in Africa left a bad taste in my mouth.

If (for some reason) you were seeking to defend the game, you could point out that the story takes place in the late 1800s (not that you can tell). However, considering the racially diverse population of students at Hogwarts and multiple openly queer characters, that excuse doesn't make much sense. It's like the game developers wanted the world to be diverse but didn't want to do any work making that diversity fit into their world convincingly.

As many people have pointed out, the main problem with the game is that the overarching plot is antisemitic. If (like me) you're not Jewish and don't know many Jewish people irl, the antisemitic elements of the game might not be immediately obvious to you, but that in itself is a huge problem. One of the most dangerous things about antisemitism is how pervasive and normalized it is.

The central conflict in the game is that goblins, who run the banks of the wizarding world (super mega giant antisemitic stereotype), are rebelling because wizards refuse to treat them as equals, WHICH IS A VERY VALID REASON TO CAUSE AN UPROAR. I don't think I need to explain why making an oppressed group fighting for equal rights the main antagonists of your story is a problem, but the game's writers clearly missed (or ignored) that fucking memo.

It is established in the first tutorial section of the game that the goblins are the "bad guys." However, there are some "good" goblins. These goblins are antiviolence and believe diplomacy is the proper way to achieve equal rights, even though we are given little to no indication that this diplomatic approach is making any headway. So yes, the game does go out of its way to imply that there is a correct way to advocate for your rights as a minority, which is to be complaisant and not do anything to disrupt the lives of your oppressors. I'm not joking. That seriously appears to be the narrative the game is pushing. 

At one point in the game, you interact with a goblin named Arn after he gets mugged by the "bad" goblins for not supporting their cause. He tells you that the "bad" goblins stole a cart filled with his paintings, but since most goblins are metalworkers or work at Gringotts (the bank), they "have no appreciation for art" and will probably just throw the paintings away. Firstly, metalworking is an art, and secondly, OH MY GOD, THE GAME REALLY JUST IMPLIED THAT THE OPPRESSED MINORITY GROUP IS UNCULTURED. It's hard to be more explicitly antisemitic/racist than that.

Again, there are queer characters in the game. However, who the fuck cares? If antisemitic rhetoric surrounds the queer representation, then it's fucking useless to the queer community. There are ways to implement goblins into a fantasy world without making them harmful antisemitic caricatures. However, Hogwarts Legacy (and the Harry Potter franchise at large) does not achieve that in the fucking slightest.

Hogwarts Legacy is a bad game. Not necessarily mechanically or visually, but ideologically. Ignoring the fact that JK Rowling is a massive fucking cunt, trying to reclaim her IP while she's still breathing was a bad idea from the start, and Portkey Games fumbled the ball so fucking severely by failing the Jewish community with the story they created. People are using the game to show their support for transphobia and antisemitism. That should come as a surprise to nobody. Whatever good intentions the people behind the game went in with, they have nothing to show for it.

If you want to buy the game and play it on your own time and never speak about it online because you love Harry Potter SO much, that's your own business, and you can justify that choice however you want in your head. But if you are a publicly online (especially if being an online content creator is your job) and you play the game, people will justifiably criticize you.

The cost of nostalgia and affection for a franchise should not be endangering the lives of Jewish and trans people. My suggestion to you if you long to relive the feelings you had when you were young and in love with the magic of Harry Potter is to read some fucking fanfiction. Better yet, go and write your own! But from the bottom of my heart, I am begging you, do not give this game your time or money.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

Source: This

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

can i offer you an archetypes uquiz that i made

[view all quiz results]

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

Y'know what, fuck this bullshit. I need to know y'all are actually against it.

Reblog this if you will NOT use or support Post+.

I hope to make @staff see how that is total bullshit. Tumblr will die without writers/creators.

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

i made a quiz that will tell you if you are Achilles, Odysseus, Patroclus, or Agamemnon. you can take it here!!

[lukecastellandeservedbetter]

I don’t want to make promises but I’m falling in love with PJO all over again which means I might actually finish Into The Unknown and Second Chance.

Thanks to everyone who stuck around and genuinely enjoyed the series, and I hope I can do them some Justice to finish them.