#but I imagine a lot of demigods have crises like this one

[4ce-of-2pades]

(Leo speaking to Hephaestus:)

Leo: I used to think I was creative. I used to think I was smart. I used to take pride in the things I invented. But it’s just you, isn’t it? Everything I’m good at, everything I like about myself, it’s just your powers I inherited. If I wasn’t your son, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this. I wouldn’t be good at anything.

Leo: I thought that I had earned this. That I had learned when my mom taught me about machines, that I had built my abilities myself. But it’s all just shortcuts and fakery. It’s just god magic. It’s not real. It’s not mine.

[jurakan]

9, 14, 21

9. Most disliked characters(s)? Why?

This morning I was thinking about how I really didn’t like Molly Carpenter from Dresden Files that much? I didn’t know if that was a character thing or a writer thing, though, because it seems like Jim Butcher often doesn’t know what to do with her, so he keeps having her have crises and make poor life choices. It’s just that she keeps having issues and while it’s supposed to be that she’s desperately in love with Harry, it comes across as a horribly unhealthy obsession and that just rubs me the wrong way.

PIPER MCLEAN from Heroes of Olympus! I have a whole post on it (from like four years ago and I should update my views). But basically I thought Riordan tried way too hard to make her a GirlPower! character, when he already had solid female characters. Well it was an attempt to make a more obviously feminine character who was still an awesome demigod hero, but it…had mixed results, I think. A lot of her powers come right the fudge out of nowhere and she’s Jason’s TWU LUV with little development. And she’s also suddenly BFF’s with Annabeth, which was a bit  odd (like I think they’d be friends, but I don’t know about BFFs right away).

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Um… I dunno. In the AC fandom Assassin’s Creed 3/Connor’s pretty popular, but mainstream they’re pretty much universally hated, and that’s…weird to me? Does that count? I guess in the fandom it’s not fitted for the question.

Also I’m strongly of the opinion that the makers of the television adaptation of American Gods don’t actually know what they’re doing, or what made the story interesting, and are just amping up the controversial or edgy elements for the sake of drawing interest.  And everyone seems to act like it’s brilliant and that gets to me. Does that count?

Oh okay I actually got one: so I’m kind of annoyed that Samirah al-Abbas is the first religious character in a Rick Riordan mythology book? Like I’m cool with her being Muslim and all, but the first character who actively mentions her religion in the books (not counting people who worship the gods their series features)? That’s like… a bit weird, no? Let’s recap some of the other characters and their probable religious backgrounds?

-Leo Valdez, a Mexican-American immigrant (probably Roman Catholic)

-Nico di Angelo, an Italian-American (probably raised Roman Catholic)

-Zia Rashid, an Egyptian girl from a small village in Egypt (probably Muslim, though raised in House of Life so possibly Kemeticist?)

-Hazel Levesque, a young black woman who was actually taught by nuns in New Orleans in the early 20th century, (so…probably Roman Catholic)

-Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, a Puerto Rican (though she mentions Bellona loved her family since Roman times, so maybe Catholic, but also probs Roman pagan).

Point is, in light of Samirah’s religion getting spotlight, I’m now retroactively wondering why the eff the religions of none of the other characters are mentioned at all. There are a couple of references to religious upbringing, but none of those mentioned above are really actively religious in their lives now and that’s… weird.

And then there’s a bit in House of Hades where Jason said he grew up being a huge fan of Diocletian because he was the last Emperor to honor the Roman gods. When Hazel points out that she grew up being taught he was a dick who actively tried to exterminate Christians, Jason sort of handwaves it with, “Well yeah, but other than that he was a pretty good guy.” And the text doesn’t explicitly confirm this as an okay opinion, it doesn’t call it out either. Like, imagine saying that about any other religious group. “He tried to torture and kill all the Jews/Muslims/Hindus, but other than that he was a good leader.” 

Sounds pretty dick to me. But we all love Jason, act like he’s the best, and we’re heaping tons of praise on Riordan for representation of a religious minority. Like... I’m cool with her being Muslim, but what about everyone else? Where do they stand religiously?

21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?

I’m not really that huge of a fan? I’ve noticed I take shipping surprisingly seriously. Like, I tell myself I don’t care, but when there was that whole “Big Four” thing on Tumblr that was shipping Rapunzel, Merida, Jack Frost and Hiccup in different configurations it bugged me that no one seemed to consider they were in different universes. Like, c’mon guys, get your stuff together?

So crack pairings, where it’s obviously not meant to make sense continuity-wise bugs me. I’m a continuity gremlin. I can’t help myself.

Thanks for asking, friend!!