#Grover's not much of a fighter but his instincts are ON POINT

[ofswordsandpens]

wait one thing I really hope they don't change is Percy and Annabeth just waltzing right into Medusa's lair while Grover's in the corner having a panic attack like "Guys somethings wrong about this place we should leave" and then Dumbass #1 and Dumbass #2 are like "Ugh shut up Grover you're being rude"

[incorrectquotes-randomthoughts]

Part 2 of why the pjo movies shouldn’t exist, and now that they do, you should refrain from watching.

Continuation to my post before last. (Yes, I got through the rest of it, I’m surprised too, and not mentally stable)

(After Percy gets healed by the water)

If you saw my other post you know that I turned it off during the capture the flag scene, the whole movie is incredible horrible so I was wondering why that scene was even worse, so I broke it down;

Percy and Annabeth are on opposing teams.

Percy’s a better sword fighter than three people from the other team combined. (Who Luke had said to be sons of Ares)

Annabeth was the only one gaurding her flag.

Needless to say, Percy didn’t get guarding duty, like in the books.

I already mentioned Annabeth’s speach, so unlike her it’s not ok.

She’s been training for five years, but if we take her movie age, at least nine. Yet Percy is almost as good as her.

She should be using a dagger, Luke’s dagger, not a sword.

Everyone has the exact same sword, although Percy has Riptide, other than the pen feature it’s the same as everyone else’s.

Needless to mention swords are the only weapon being used.

Everyone has the exact same shield.

Annabeth and Percy are fighting and people are just watching. That’s not how capture the flag works.

^^^ No one’s trying to steal the flag, neither flag in fact, when it’s clear the blue flag (Percy’s team) is poorly guarded, if at all.

Still no Clarisse, still no electric spear.

Percy beats Annabeth in combat.

Percy just raises the flag and suddenly they won.

There was no claiming. Spoiler alert: In the whole movie.

And now, to my normal form of complaining opinion experessing.

Where are the tables?

Or the magic food??

Or the burnt offerings???

Percy’s supposed to feel alone seating at the Poseidon table.

Nymphs are suddenly horny teenage girls that throw parties I guess.

What even is supposed to be her place? They live in trees.

Grover’s suddenly also a horny teenager. You already threw away his personality a little more won’t matter I suppose.

Percy is not happy about being a hero.

Annabeth is smart enough to know that. She doesn’t think he’s all ‘victorious and got the fame up his head’

WHY WOULD HADES WANT THE LIGHTING BOLT.

Also, why would he appear in flames in the middle of dinner.

Chiron’s protective instinctives don’t exist.

Good to know the Oracle is as exsistent as the Big House.

Percy Jackson would never sneak out of camp.

Grover Underwood would never agree.

Annabeth Chase would never accompany them.

Not their 12 year old selves or however old they are supposed to be.

Luke has technology.

Luke hides bolt in shield because he just happens to know that they’re sneaking out of camp today.

He also happens to have a pair of flying shoes from his dad who he has never met.

And a magic, super convenient map. Also from his dad.

Luke Castellan is smart enough to not mention that he hates his dad in front of them. Specially Annabeth, who he knows how smart she is.

They stumble upon Aunt Em’s in plain daylight, because the map says they have to.

Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, Percy never destroyed national monuments, which never led to him getting magic pearls.

They also never go to the water park.

They never meet Ares, or Aphrodite.

We never learn about Annabeth’s phobia of spiders.

Their actual quest is getting the pearls that will get them out of the underworld, because Luke oh-so-conveniently knew exactly that they would do that.

Not Grover who fought so much to get Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia to camp. Not Annabeth, who survived on the streets when she was seven. Not even a first-quest Percy would suggest to split up. Much less agree.

Percy has a phone.

Medusa doesn’t try to trick them or anything she just straight up goes, I’mma turn ya to stone.

Apparently the temptation to look Medusa in the eyes is too much so this random woman does and turns to stone.

Medusa’s horny af.

I would make a comment on the fact that’s it’s for Annabeth, but like, other than the not-really-actually-exsisting age gap.... they’re Greek.

“Yeah, I’m just gonna seduce this girl into opening her eyes”

Percy decapitates Medusa with pretty much no problem.

Grover can drive.

Grover found a truck, with vines all over it, found the key, and knew how to drive not to mention the car actually worked.

Percy can drive.

Magic seat changing between one scene and the other.

They can afford a hotel.

They can also check in the hotel without being questioned.

They keep Medusa’s head in a sink, in the bathroom. They also got ice for it.

They keep their curtains open.

More Percy just seating underwater doing nothing.

Percy can now heal other with water.

Apparently the gods are forbidden to communicate with their kids.

Producer: Sir, here it says that Annebth likes architecture. We should mention that. Director: Have her go ‘woah’ when she sees a monument. Producer: You’re a genius.

Annabeth sneaks into the boys bathroom in the middle of the day and no one notices.

No one checks, or cleans the bathrooms at the end of the day.

Annabeth has a computer which she uses to video chat Luke.

Luke’s flying shoe gift work perfectly. And even though he said it might take “a little practice” Percy can almost master them.

Hydras can look like/poses people.

Percy. Pays. Attention. To. Chiron’s. Class.

Perseus Jackson knows that you can’t cut a Hydra’s head.

Movie Percy Jackson single handedly cuts all seven Hydra heads before they can regenerate.

Good thing only nine grew back.

Also convenient that Grover carries Medusa’s head around.

Medusa can also turn monsters to stone??? I’m not sure if that one’s canon or not.

Magic map says Lotus hotel because magic pearl ends up here.

The Lotua hotel is NOT suppose to look like... that.

Annabeth wouldn’t take food from such a sketchy place.

Grover would detect that there’s something wrong with the food at least.

That’s is not how the magic of the Lotus casino works.

Friendly reminder that Grover has no personality or emotions other than horny.

And there goes Poseidon speaking in Percy’s mind again.

There’s people chasing after Percy who we never actually learn who they are??

Percy, back to his senses, doesn’t find anything weird about this guy knowing his last name.

Car that was on display is completely functional with no protection for people to steal, and the keys are right there.

Somehow rushing out Percy grabbed the pearl that was oh-so-conveniently next to him when he got back to his senses.

Magic seat changing between one scene and the other part 2.

Part 3.

We never know where they parked the car, as far as we know it’s in the middle of a mountain.

There’s Ancient Greek written in the H of the Hollywood sing and if you read the translation aloud you get a passage to the underworld. How convenient.

Friendly remainder that Grover has no personally part... how many times has he said something again?

The entrance to the underworld is a farse.

The under is a farse.

How is that supposed to be the River Styx? How are you supposed to jump in that?

Producer: Sir, we gotta cgi a three-headed dog. Director: Too much effort, make it three big hellhounds. Producer: Your wit never fails to amaze me sir.

Persephone isn’t suppose to be down here, it’s summer.

Persephone is also horny... for Grover, because he’s a satyr.

Gotta agree with you there Grover, Hades looks like a lesser version of Mick Jagger.

The electric guitar. Seriously? You too?

Hades’ as much of an ass he is in this movie is smart enough to not just... give Percy Sally without the bolt.

Which brings me back... why would Hades ever want the bolt? You know the amount of paperwork a war would cause?

Oh look, there’s Annabeth’s dagger.

I understand that many have different points of view as to how the Hades-Persephone relationship should work but Uncle Rick wrote it so it was a happy relationship so please stop with your “he’s abusive and I look forward to getting out of here” BS you’re not even suppose to be here in the first place, it’s summer.

Grover and Persephone are horny for each other, and since they only have three pearls Grover does the ‘sacrifice’ to stay down here.

Sally, Annabeth, and Percy picture the exact same place with no communication what so ever. Not even glances or nods, nothing.

From here...

Luke has another pair of flying shoes, he goes to the Empire State Building flying.

Luke would never admit in front of Annabeth what he wants, he loves her so much. Even back then, just as a sister.

That’s not even what Luke wants.

Annabeth’s dagger is gone again, replaced by a sword.

Percy happens to have the flying shoes with him.

Percy and Luke have the same amount of sword fighting skill.

Luke takes the bolt from Percy and flies away enough for Percy to have to chase him but not enough to, idk, get out of there.

Percy does not suspect Luke -who wanted him to fail on this quest- would have done anything to the shoes.

The shoes that the first time Percy wore took him time, he can wear perfectly now with no effort what so ever. This kid is a master of the skies.

^ Which he shouldn’t be because Zeus pretty much hates him right now.

Percy uses his powers for the first time in the whole movie (not even unintentionally before) and can control them better than he could in, I dunno, the third or fourth book.

Luke throws his sword to cut to the wings in Percy’s shoes. Not really convenient his like, a foot from the roof of a building.

Luke loses his flying shoes and Percy can take them because they happen to be right next to him.

Percy flies back.

What do you mean there’s no elevator music?

Or grouchy guard?

Mount Olympus looks good, ngl.

...to here has only been nine minutes

The gods at this moment are only supposed to be 12ft tall not... 60

Everyone believes everything, it was Luke’s fault, I did nothing, save my friend the satyr

Poseidon left Percy when he was seven months old apparently. Not before he was born.

Poseidon be like “let me talk to my kid just this once” like you haven’t through out the whole movie.

Sally talks about camp half-blood like Percy’s gonna live there the rest of his life.

Gabe wasn’t petrified.

Percy didn’t send the head to Olympus.

Chiron is encouraging Percy to sneak out again wth.

Annabeth teases Percy. Yeah, I meant sexually.

Anyways, I survived, but I wanted to sum up + add some things, for both posts...

Grover’s a horny teenager with no personality.

Nymphs have ‘places’ where they can throw parties.

The movies target a completely different audience than the books.

There’s a lot of filmimg errors.

The only time Annabeth’s dagger showed up it wasn’t used.

Annabeth fights with her hair down.

Abso-fucking-lutley no one looks like they’re suppose to. NO ONE

Luke doesn’t have his scar.

Annabeth-Chiron relationship is nonexistent.

Annabeth-Luke relationship is nonexistent.

Thalia’s tree never appears.

Nothing about Annabeth’s or Luke’s backstory is ever mentioned.

Nymphs are horny teenagers.

Gabe is a completely different person. (Still an ass but, not properly.)

Persephone is horny.

Medusa’s horny.

Every female in the lotus hotel is horny.

There’s more but honestly I die a little more every time I write something.

Let this be a guide to what not to do in the new adaptation.

And again, let this not be the only visual content we get and let’s pray, please, Disney, adapt Percy Jackson.

[penbeatssword]

Review, from Book to Film: The Mountain Between Us

[**Serious spoilers ahead**]

So, last week I read Charles Martin’s The Mountain Between Us and on Saturday went with my mum to see the film. We both agreed afterwards that the credits should’ve said “loosely based on the novel” as the similarities were akin to a preliminary rough sketch that captures the general details and goes on to fudge the rest.

They changed a lot, both in terms of stripping away layers from the original story and adding things to create something new and awkward. This goes beyond the inherent need to cut down on content when adapting a book into a film. Here’s some of the changes:

The Names

So many names were changed, which I half understand because this is clearly not the same story as Charles Martin wrote so why pretend they’re the same characters, and half confuses me because why bother? Ashley Knox became Alex Martin, Ben Payne became Ben Bass (even though I only recall hearing his surname mentioned once near the end of the film), Grover the pilot became Walter, Rachel (Ben’s wife) became Sarah, Vince (Ashley’s fiancé) became Mark, and the dog named Tank – whose name they couldn’t remember so they called him Napoleon – was stripped of a name entirely (not to mention transformed from a Jack Russel to a Labrador).

The Occupations

Ashley Knox is a writer and Ben Payne is an orthopaedic surgeon, whereas Alex Martin is a journalist photographer and Ben Bass is a neurosurgeon. See Heart/Mind below for the significance on Ben’s occupational shift. Alex’s career alteration seems to be so the characters can use her camera to see further, so she can send photos of Ben to him near the end of the film and for the inclusion of a story I wasn’t sure what to make of where Alex explains befriending a young female guerrilla fighter and lending her lipstick, and later seeing the girl die and taking her photograph.

The Set-up

The book gives Ben and Ashley some time in the airport at the start to get to know each other and establish the characters and their motivations to get out of Salt Lake that night. It makes it believable that when Ben sees a charter plane and organises a flight, he thinks of Ashley who needs to get home for her wedding and is stuck in Salt Lake waiting to get to a hotel, and offers her a ride. The film gives us a glimpse of a busy airport, a frustrated Alex overhearing Ben talking about a surgery he has booked for the following morning, and approaching this stranger and proposing a charter flight. It’s rushed and feels contrived, and worst of all shifts the blame for the ill-fated flight to Alex.

Walter the pilot is given a miniscule amount of screen time, explaining that he met the love of his life a long time ago but she was already married so he’s alone. He suffers a stroke while flying and his passengers try to stabilise the plane as they crash. Grover the pilot, however, is a happily married man who explains that he is more in love with his wife now than when they married, who has been recently having chest pain which Ben makes him promise to have checked out as soon as possible. He experiences a heart attack while flying and somehow manages to crash land the plane as safely as possible (“off-screen” so to speak, the crash isn’t written), saving the lives of his passengers. Walter’s death is unfortunate but impersonal, and his burial by Ben is brisk to say the least. Grover’s burial, however, is treated with reverence by Ben as he finds a suitable place overlooking the mountain landscape, and gathers Grover’s possessions to later return to Grover’s wife.

The Expertise

Ben Payne loves hiking, and is a skilled outdoorsman. His supplies and skills are what keep himself and Ashley alive, including a Jetboil stove, sleeping bags, his use of Grover’s crossbow and Ben’s handcrafted bow drill. For some reason, in the film Alex has a large pack containing some camping gear with no explanation provided (we can assume this is somehow linked to her work), but neither Ben nor Alex talk particularly about any camping or survival skills. The only food they “hunt” is the cougar Alex and the nameless dog kill in self-defence, so most of the time the topic of food is just ignored. While Ben’s improvised snowshoes (followed later by finding real snowshoes) help them immensely in the book, they somehow make it across the landscape fine without them and with Alex hobbling in the film, and show Ben try briefly and fail to make snowshoes. The survival of Alex and Ben in the film is pure luck.

Ben is stripped not only of his camping and practical abilities, but as a neurosurgeon instead of an orthopaedic surgeon his medical skills are diminished as well. For the majority of the film, his medical care consists of pressing ice against one of Alex’s wounds once, wrapping and splinting her leg and primarily dabbing her face with a cloth. He does give the dog stitches, but does not for Alex or himself. The only glimmer of his original ingenuity and medical skill is when he constructs an improvised IV to save Alex after she falls through ice, and it feels weirdly out of place after the rest of the film works so hard to show that Ben isn’t much of a practical person and is kind of doing everything begrudgingly.

Importantly, his role of carer is removed almost entirely, helping Alex pull down her pants once to urinate and then disposing of the urine, and having Alex lean on him during their trek across the snowy landscape. This is because her injuries are reduced to superficial scratches and a break in her lower leg instead of femur. She operates on crutches, able to walk independently of Ben, and only for a brief time near the end of their journey is she dragged on a sled. This is a huge difference to the book. Ashley is entirely dependent on Ben’s care, which he carries the guilt for as he was the one who chartered the flight and encouraged her to come along.

Rachel and the Recorder

Very late in the book (later than necessary in my opinion), Ben reveals to Ashley that his wife Rachel passed away years ago. While pregnant with twins, Ben and Rachel are told that due to a medical complication she is likely to die if she attempts to carry the babies to term. On the slight chance that she and her children will survive, Rachel chooses not to have surgery. Ben doesn’t agree with her decision, they argue, and soon after Rachel and the twins die. Ben is revealed to have constructed a “house” (mausoleum) for her and their children.

Rachel is embedded throughout the book – Ben can’t go a single chapter without thinking of her, sometimes talking to Ashley about her, and regularly talking to Rachel and reminiscing on their shared past via voice recordings on a recorder she gave him. The recorder is a centrepiece of the book. Ben is continually making new, lengthy recordings which are also used as gateways into Ben’s past for the reader.

The film ditches all of this completely. The recorder is just a device for Alex to invade Ben’s privacy, listening to a message his wife Sarah left him to find out more about Ben. When Ben catches her, we hear the full message and Ben reveals that Sarah died of a brain tumour, and (as a neurosurgeon and her primary doctor) he couldn’t save her. Sarah is barely ever mentioned before or after this, and this avoidance of the subject with Alex, and Ben’s inability to save her, plays directly into the film’s focus: the dichotomy of heart versus mind.

Heart/Mind

Instead of taking the characters from the pages of Charles Martin’s book and putting them on the screen, the filmmakers created two new characters – or perhaps vacant shells is more accurate – and used them to illustrate a poorly executed display of Heart versus Mind. It goes like this:

One character represents Heart. They are emotional, impulsive, and often female (Alex). They follow their gut.

One character represents Mind. They are logical, rational and distant, and often male (Ben). They repress their emotions.

The film is really heavy-handed on this one. Ben is literally a neurosurgeon. He makes a stilted comment near the start about playing Candy Crush to occupy his amygdala just to make it clear to the audience that he’s intelligent, sees things scientifically and maybe doesn’t relate to other people very well. As always, the filmmakers are on the side of Heart, showing that even though Alex’s impulsive decision to take the charter flight and invite Ben along went badly, her gut instincts are right and Ben should be more emotional like her. Case in point: Alex insists on leaving the crash site as the best chance of survival, while Ben insists that in the event of a crash you should stay there to be found. Alex is later proven right when the plane’s beacon is shown to be destroyed. (See also the above Expertise: in the book, Ben explains to Ashley that they will need to leave as he knows that the usual advice is to stay at a crash site, but realises that the beacon wouldn’t have survived the speed of their crash).

Essentially this dichotomy also sets up Ben and Alex for the typical Hollywood romance formula of the couple stranded together who initially dislike each other, eventually bonding through their shared struggle. Cue unwanted sex scene interspersed with random shots of the two of them walking through the snowy wilderness together. This is followed by the two of them agreeing that he should leave Alex there and continue on his own to get help, and him literally turning around and going back insisting to bring her too as some sign that he’s come to care for her and is maybe shifting away from pure Mind towards Heart.

For those who haven’t read the book, Ben and Ashley get along quite well from the very beginning, their shared humour helps keep both of their spirits up and he repeatedly refuses to leave Ashley. Their bond is realistic, underpinned by genuine friendship and compassion. Additionally, a few times Ben’s impulsive decisions are shown to end badly, such as near the end of their journey when he attempts to take a shortcut down the mountain resulting in re-breaking Ashley’s leg and nearly suffocating himself.

The Ending

Oh man the ending. The filmmakers could’ve/should’ve cut out three-quarters of the ending and used that time back at the start for a better paced set-up. Instead, the audience is subjected to a lengthy period after the main characters have been rescued, showing the difficulties of readjusting to their old lives and struggling to communicate with each other. We get to watch Alex being uncomfortable around her fiancé, and Ben being sad about Alex seemingly returning to her old life (and fiancé) with no acknowledgement of their sexy times in the mountains. After Ben finally contacts Alex after ignoring her calls, they have an awkward lunch (well, they sit in a restaurant and don’t eat) where they ultimately walk away before both executing a dramatic turn-around, running back to each other and embracing – cut to black. That was a lot of build-up for not very much, but then this whole film is guilty of making changes to ramp up the drama and conflict at the expense of substance.

 Bonus: here are some other things I didn’t mention:

Ben is no longer from Jacksonville, he’s from London (to fit in Idris Elba, I assume)

All backstories surgically removed

Most of the details of the journey completely changed, including the addition of going around a river and Ashley falling through ice into the lake

Jump-scare in the form of Ben stepping into a bear trap

No pilot’s wife means Ben just keeps the nameless dog

The huge shift from Ben being the focal character and lens through which we see the entire story, to Alex being the main character

Offshoot of that, Alex is given more agency than Ashley in the book, but as a result she ends up less likeable (more argumentative, less friendly, more nosy, less reasonable)

 TL;DR: The film characters are caricatures, their survival is a fluke and I need someone who hasn’t read the book to tell me if the film is at all worthwhile on its own.

[ultrageekydesigner]

Harry Potter Vs. Percy Jackson, What is in a Hero?

Harry Potter Vs. Percy Jackson What is in a Hero?

​Heroes are all around us, whether it be a celebrity like Daniel Radcliffe, or Emma Watson, or a fire fighter, or policeman, or just everyday heroes, they are everywhere people look, but most prominently in Young Adult Literature. Everyone has heard about the great literary heroics of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, but have you ever stopped to think about what makes them a hero? Why do children and young adults consider them heroes even though they are just words on the page of a popular novel?  Both characters exhibit certain character traits that you need in order to be a hero but Harry Potter’s lack of patience is a detracting factor and seems to be less of a hero than Percy Jackson.

Webster’s dictionary defines a Hero as: “a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities.” (Merriam-Webster) According to Inc.com truly heroic individuals must possess some if not all of the following Qualities: Courage, Selflessness, Humility, Patience and Caring. (Murphy Jr.) This paper will examine each trait’s definition and qualities and apply it to sections of text in each Hero Character’s book to prove their worthiness to be a hero, it will prove that both characters have these qualities but only Percy Jackson has all of the qualities needed to be a truly heroic leader.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Wizarding World universe is loved by one and all, young and old. It spans generations. Several children grew up reading the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione at a time where some of them were scared young children, not sure about what was going to happen because their parents had just gotten divorced. Parents might realize how much their children loved reading the books and might start reading them for themselves and in turn would fall in love with the world and the story.  In Winifred Radigan’s article,Connecting the Generations:  Memory, Magic, and Harry Potter, she talks about how she used to make up stories about her reading the Harry Potter books just for an article so she could explain away her reading the books because she truly enjoyed them. (Radigan 694) This alone shows that the Harry Potter books are influencing and being enjoyed by more than just the children they were intended for and it is this reason that J.K. Rowling’s has been chosen the as the first hero this paper will examine.

Harry Potter comes from humble beginnings. In the beginning of the series his parents are viciously murdered by the Dark Wizard, Voldemort. He is taken by a half Giant named Hagrid to his Aunt and Uncle’s house. While living with the Dursleys, Harry is treated as little better than a slave and is constantly tortured by his cousin, Dudley. When Harry finally get his letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry he is always grateful for what he is given and always gives to his friends what they do not have.

Rick Riordan has a way of telling a story that sucks you into that world and makes you feel like you are a part of it. In the Percy Jackson series he uses common pop culture references in order to make the characters relate to his young adult audience. In his Percy Jackson spin-off series, Heroes of Olympus, he breaks the story down into the different heroes’ perspective. Alice James says in her review of The Son of Neptune, the second book in the series, that: “no character has a particularly strong or distinctive voice and consequently it makes little difference to the overall plot or construction of character.” (James) While that may be true it feels as if the readers got to know more about the characters’ personality because in his writings Riordan puts the character’s inner most thoughts. Young adults pick up the Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson Series when they are still clinging to their child hood and the adventures of Percy Jackson and the other heroes in Camp Half-Blood can help those young adults through the first years of adulthood by teaching them that no matter what trials you come across in your life you can always preserver through them. That is the reason why Percy Jackson was chosen to compare against Harry Potter.

Percy Jackson grew up as a child with a single parent. He never knew his father and was tormented by his stepfather, Gabe. He loved his mother very much and tried to protect her whenever Gabe treated her wrongly. Percy has Dyslexia and ADHD and has struggled in school because of it. He had been kicked out of six schools before he found a teacher that was willing to work with him.  When he was sixteen years old he was attacked at school by a Fury and his best friend/protector helped him escape to Camp Half-blood but not until after he lost his mother to the hands of a Minotaur.  Percy discovers at the camp that he is a Demi-god, particularly the son of Poseidon. He then sneaks out of the camp with his friends Grover and Annabeth to journey to Hades to find his mom.

The first trait that will be examined is Courage.  Webster’s dictionary defines Courage as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” (Merriam-Webster) “It's difficult to achieve anything truly heroic unless you're up against daunting odds.” (Murphy Jr.) says Inc.com. When you think of heroes you think about them doing truly monumental things like saving their friends or maybe people they do not even know.  Heroes have to stand up against insurmountable odds even if they are petrified with fear of the situation they are in. If an individual does not have Courage than they cannot be a hero.

Harry Potter shows multiple times in his series of books that he has Courage in the face of danger. There are really too many to accounts of him exhibiting Courage and “Brave(ry) at Heart,” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 118) as the sorting hat says of Gryffindor students. The one act of Courage that was the most memorable is the encounter with the mountain troll in Sorcerer’s Stone.  The text reads: “Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running leap and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 176) Harry showed bravery and Courage in that passage by attacking the troll head on without any though of self preservation. It says that Harry was both “very brave and very stupid” and sometimes stupidity is needed in order to have the Courage to protect your friends.

Percy Jackson’s first act of Courage came when his mother was taken by the minotaur and disolved in a flash of light. Percy said: “Anger Replaced my Fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs- the same rush of energy I’d gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 46) In seeing his mother taken away Percy got a rush of adrinaline which fueled him to attack the Minotaur: “I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear  in a flash of light, and rage filled my like high octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backwards with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then – snap!” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 47)Percy’s demi-god instincts kicked in, brought on by the grief of losing his mother, the only parent he had left and he was able to defeat the Minotaur: “Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 47). Percy showed true Courage by facing the miontaur when he thought his mother was killed. He allowed the pain and grief to turn into the Courage he needed to defeat the Minotaur and get himself safely to Camp Hald-Blood.

The second trait to examine in this paper is “Selflessness.” Inc.com has this to say about Selflessness: “True (Heroes) always puts others first. Ironically, that kind of Selflessness can often be strategic, because focusing on others' needs often winds up helping you achieve your own goals.” (Murphy Jr.) Whether or not our two heroes are being Stratiegic about their Selflessness is not the point here. The point is that they do selfless things for the ones they care about or even people they do not even know. Webster’s Dictionary defines Selfless as: “having no concern for self “ (Merriam-Webster) Heroes are charged with safeguarding the lives of others, they can not afford to think of their needs and wants when there is people who need their attention more.

One instance that Harry Potter’s Selflessness really stuck out was in the last book where he saved his mortal enemies from death even at the risk of his own life. The passage in the Deathly Hallows says this: “Malfoy saw him coming, and raised one arm, but even as Harry grasped it he knew at once that it was no good: Goyle was too heavy and Malfoy’s hand covered in sweat, slid instantly out of Harry’s- ‘IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I’LL KILL YOU, HARRY!’ roared Ron’s voice . . . he and Hermione dragged Goyle on to their broom and rose, . . . “ (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 633). Harry risked his life for people who didn’t even like him. His own best friend, Ronald Weasley didn’t even want to save Malfoy and Goyle. Harry made a selfless decision to save another person’s life, no matter who they were.

Percy Jackson showed Selflessness in deciding to leave the safety of the camp in order to save his mother from the hands of Hades even though he did not have Zeus’ lightning bolt like Hades thought he did. Even though it meant certain death to go to the Underworld without the bolt Percy knew he had to do what ever it took to save his mom. Despite many difficulties and trials, Percy works determinedly to rescue his mother--at great personal cost and risk to himself. The whole book of the Lightning Thief is all about how Percy has countless times faces danger all for the sake of saving his mother.

The next trait to be examined is Humility. Webster’s dictionary defines Humility as: “the quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people.” (Merriam-Webster) Inc.com says that “True heroism can amaze us, but it also often contains a component of modesty.” (Murphy Jr.) in reference to Humility. Nothing makes a hero seem like less of a hero than wanting credit for his or her deeds. True heroes do not ask for recognition and oftentimes do not want it. No one asks to be a hero, it just sort of happens.

Harry Potter grew up with practically nothing to his name. For the first eleven years of his life he lived in a cupboard under the stairs and waited on the Dursleys hand and foot. His glassed were broken and his hair unkempt. His cousin, Dudley, bullied him all the time and got treated much better than he was and the Dursleys lied about how his parents died and bad mouthed them until the day he went to Hogwarts. All of this keeps Harry Potter humble, when he finds out he has a fortune in wizard money the first thing he does on the Hogwarts express is buy him and his newfound friend Ron, who was less fortunate, a bunch of sweets to share:  “Go on, have a pasty.” said Harry, who had never had anyone to share with before, or indeed share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through Harry’s cakes and candies.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 102) Harry showed Humility by sharing his sweets with someone he barely knew anything about except for the fact that he didn’t have any money.

Percy Jackson is so humble in many ways, he always talks down about himself, thinking that others are better than him when really he is talented at many things as the books go on. The first instance was when he had first arrived at camp and couldn’t find many activities he was good at and he was hard on himself because of it. “The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 108) In this sentence he seems to feel as if other people are looking at him as if he was supposed to do great things by just breathing. He shows Humility by not letting the defeat of the minotaur his first day into this new and exciting world go to his head. He sees himself as a failure and that is the most humble attitude of all.

The fourth character to look at is Patience. Mr. Murphy from Inc.com says that: “While heroism often requires quick thinking and decisiveness, truly heroic leaders often also display an impressive amount of Patience.” (Murphy Jr.) Heroes must be patient especially when faced with impossible odds. “The ability to remain calm and not become annoyed when dealing with problems or with difficult people” (Merriam-Webster) is how Webster’s dictionary describes Patience and I believe that Patience is an important part of becoming a hero.

As Harry Potter was grew into a teenage boy he had a big problem with Patience. In his fifth year of school he often lost his temper and acted like the whole world was against him, even his mentor and friend, Albus Dumbledore. Here is just one example of when Harry lost his Patience in that year.  “I DON'T CARE!" Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!” "You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 824) If you look at things from Harry’s prospective you could understand why he lost his Patience in this scene. He had just lost his godfather, the only family he really had, in the department of mysteries and had spent the year under a hellish woman who had tormented him all year, but he should not have shouted at the Headmaster of Hogwarts and he should not try to “destroy his office” as Rowling put it. That does not seem like how a hero should act. As he grows older and more mature however, the Patience comes to him.

Percy Jackson, however, displays a large amount of Patience through out the books even through the hellish ordeals he has to deal with throughout the books, especially when it comes to the “non-existent” relationship between him and his father. At the end of the Lightning Thief, Percy comes face to face with his father for the first time. His father told him that his mother was safe at home and Percy got his first taste of how seperated he is from Poseidon. “I wanted to ask if Poseidon would come with me to see her to see her, but then I realized that was ridiculous. I imagined loading the God of the Sea into a taxi and taking him to the Upper East Side. If he wanted to see my mom all these years, he would have.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 345) It is later explained that it is Zeus’ law that keeps his father away, not because he doesn’t love him and his mother. He shows real Patience and understanding in realizing that he can’t have a normal relationship with his godly father.

The fifth and final trait to examine is the trait of Caring for someone or a group of people. Webster’s dictionary defines carrying as: “feeling or showing concern for other people.” (Merriam-Webster) This one for last because it is the most important trait for a hero to have. If you cannot care for the people closest to you how can you hope to care for people you don’t even know and be the hero they need.  Murphy says in his article on Inc.com that Caring “can often manifest itself in strong but gentle actions intended to improve the lives of others.” (Murphy Jr.) Sometimes that can be doing little things for the community or someone you are close to and sometimes it can be big grandious things that can change a person’s life.

Harry Potter shows many acts of Caring throughout the books but it is what the other characters say of him that makes all the difference. In the same passage of the last trait Dumbledore says something about Harry that is very profound and is so true to Harry’s character: "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 824). That small little quote that counteracted Harry’s grief and impatienceat losing his godfather speaks volumes about what Dumbledore thinks of Harry. It says that even though Harry says he does not care he truly does in his heart.

Percy Jackson shows his Caring by the way he takes care of his friend/girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, even though he knows she doesn’t need it. One example comes in the Last Olympian when Annabeth gets stabbed with a poison knife and is sick and Percy worries about her: “Once she was gone, I knelt next to Annabeth and felt her forehead. She was still burning up. "You're cute when you're worried," she muttered. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together." "You are not going to die while I owe you a favor," I said. "Why did you take that knife?" "You would've done the same for me." It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like somebody was poking my heart with a cold metal rod.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian 199-200) Percy was scared that he was going to lose Annabeth because at that point he was secretly in love with her. He cared about her so deeply that it hurt his heart to see her sick.

Both Harry Potter and Percy Jackson possess enough of the Heroic traits laid out by Murphy in his article on Inc.com. Harry has proven himself to be Courageous, Selfless, and humble. The people around him see him as a very Caring person who wears his heart on his sleeve. It took him a while to get the Patience part down and some of his impatiencecan be chalked up to just being a teenager, however his impatiencein the face of real challenges shows that he is not the ideal hero. Percy proved himself to be worthy of all the traits laid out by Murphy. In conclusion, people that children and young adults consider heroes may not possess all of the traits that people traditionally see in modern day heroes but they can still do great things, however, heroes who have the patience in adversity are the true heroes that children and young adults should look up to, like Percy Jackson.

Works Cited

James, Alice. "The Son of Neptune." Literacy Learning in the Middle Years (2014): 70. Review.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. n.d. Definition.

Murphy Jr., Bill. 5 Qualities of Incredibly Heroic Leaders. 30 April 2014. Article. 27 November 2016.

Radigan, Winifred. "Connecting the Generations: Memory, Magic, and Harry Potter." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (2001): 694.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian. New York: Disney Hyperion, 2009.

—. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. New York: Disney Hyperion, 2005.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Press., 2007.

—. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Press, 2003.

—. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Scholastic Press, 1997. Novel.