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crossdressingdeath · 1 year

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Today on things in TSatS that I love: the first encounter with Epiales. Not the nightmares they give Nico and Will (although those are also good, especially the bit where Will wakes up and is immediately like "Of course it was a dream, Nico would never"), the encounter with them personally. Because the way Nico first tries to distract Epiales with false compliments while he gets himself into a position to obliterate them is very much the sort of thing Percy would do; Percy's go-to strategy tends to be "lie to and trick your enemy at every opportunity", I can absolutely see him going "Oh yeah you did great work you're fantastic at nightmares please ignore me gathering my power" in this situation. But when Nico tries it... it totally fails. Epiales immediately sees through it. And I love that, because Percy and Nico have very different MOs when it comes to dealing with situations involving talking to an immortal being like this!

Like, the thing is that Percy is a liar. And I don't mean that as a bad thing; it's a viable strategy for the situations he ends up in, and while to an adult mind his tricks seem to only work because every god and monster he faces is a moron I remember being impressed with them as a kid, so they're clever enough for the target demographic. But if you look at his interactions with immortal beings, he tends to go for lies and tricks first. Nico on the other hand is actually an incredibly honest person. Other than that time he claims he and Thalia are fine when they are Absolutely Not Fine in BoO, his few lies are lies of omission. In TLO he just doesn't mention his planned detour in the Underworld to Percy and when Percy finds out about it he's very forthright with what (he thinks) will happen, and in SoN he never actually denies knowing Percy, just doesn't confirm it (when Percy says they've met Nico's response is just "Have we?", turning the question back on Percy; it's actually possible he was trying to subtly test how much Percy remembered, since if he properly remembered Nico rather than just having a feeling he'd argue the point). It's a nice touch that this approach extends into how they handle enemies, where Percy is willing to lie to them but Nico tends not to.

So Nico tries Percy's method of dealing with Epiales, lying to them and tricking them to put a being that's absolutely more powerful than he is at a disadvantage, and it doesn't work because Nico doesn't lie to people. That style of trickery isn't his way, so Epiales immediately sees through his attempt. The actual fight against Epiales is fun because Nico does have a knack for dream magic (even if TSatS mostly forgot about that, can Rick please be consistent about Nico's powers) so once he knows it's a dream caused by someone directly in front of him he can snap himself out of it pretty easily. And then Will basically just uses rock-paper-scissors on them, since light beats darkness. But once Epiales is subdued Nico and Will just choose to be nice to them; there's no benefit in it for them, it's not a ploy, they're just choosing to be kind. The bit where they pause to offer Epiales genuine compliments on their work is... honestly quite sweet, I love them actually taking that moment to say "No, no, that was really impressive, it was tough to get out of". There's a difference between being opponents and being enemies, and you can really see here how the boys don't see Epiales as an enemy now that they're not in their way. I also find myself wondering: does Epiales attack when they see Will hesitate because they think it's a moment of weakness they can take advantage of... or because it'll be better for them to get killed and resurrect than to admit to Nyx that they even semi-willingly let Nico and Will go, and they want to make it easier on Will to finish the job when it becomes clear he can't bring himself to do it without cause? Because honestly I feel like with the way Epiales interacts with the boys (and the way Nyx treats her children) it could go either way.

But there's another part of it that I find interesting, which is... if Nico had successfully tricked Epiales in that first instance, getting them to lower their guard through compliments and then cutting them down, there's a good chance Epiales wouldn't have turned against Nyx at the end. After all, why would they risk their mother's fury for the sake of people who tricked them? Just in general, it's a little unclear why Hypnos turns on Nyx (I think his part in things would've been a lot stronger if he'd actually... y'know, spoken to Nico and Will at any point), but the impression I get is that for Nemesis at least and likely Epiales too it is at least in part a genuine fondness for the boys. Which is something Epiales would not feel if instead of complimenting them and only blasting them to bits when they forced the issue the boys had tricked them in order to kill them quickly. It's like... tricking Epiales would've dealt with them quicker and more easily in the short term, but in the long term Nico failing to trick them and instead kicking their ass and then being nice about it worked out much better; instead of making an enemy, the boys got at worst a fairly neutral acquaintance out of it! Which, going back to how tricking Epiales would've been Percy's move, is really interesting when you compare Nico having a very unusual number of gods and other immortal beings in his corner to Percy making enemies wherever he goes. There really is something to Nico making so many powerful friends because he consistently chooses to be kind even though so often in people's POVs they go on about how creepy and weird he is. Although I do wonder sometimes if it's as simple as Nico legitimately just being a very kind person or if it's partially that he's just as cunning as Percy but more focused on the long-term than the short-term. If it's the latter it's probably a good thing for the monsters that they don't tend to directly work together, because Percy's knack for tricking gods and monsters to get the advantage in the short term to the point where he can win a fight against the god of war combined with Nico's knack for winning the affection and even loyalty of immortal beings in the long term to the point where he can essentially get divine intervention on his behalf for free would either be a total disaster for them or absolutely terrifying for their enemies. Either they'd cancel each other out or they'd just become utter nightmares to deal with (even more than they are already), which... honestly I would like to see either way.

Also I adore Nico lowkey fanboying over Epiales because he thinks they're just so cool. Even though the way Nico is clearly drawn to every nonbinary character he meets but is never confirmed nonbinary himself Irks Me. Rick, Mark, please give us this? It really felt like it was going that way, I would legitimately buy another spinoff solely for Nico being confirmed nonbinary.

#tsats #tsats spoilers #nico di angelo #epiales pjo

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yonemurishiroku · 1 year

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I kinda like the absence of demigods in TSATS. Excluding Nico and Will as the protagonists, of course.

Throughout PJO and HOO, there is always war at dawn, and all demigods have to lock arms to save the world. There're seven protagonists, two Camps in HOO. That's like. a lot a lot. I can't say for TOA since I haven't read it, but if my glimpses are right then Apollo receives a lot of demigod help as well.

In contrast, the majority of TSATS is spent with immortals, monsters, gods, and entities in general for the company. Even CHB is deserted of campers. And those that do appear - Percy, Annabeth, Piper - don't actually partake in the quest. All the help Nico and Will receive are from non-mortals. There's no big Camp. Just. The two of them.

I will not say that I screamed when Hypnos, Nemesis and Epiales (a former enemy, mind you) turn their backs on their mother to side with Nico and Will.

Idk if I'm allowed to but I'm rejoicing. I have always viewed Nico as something closer to gods than mortals, and the fact that he has surrounded himself with monsters and deities alike delights me to no end. Yes I love Nico and his peculiar friendlist.

#nico di angelo #pjo #hoo #toa #yone rambling #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #will solace #solangelo #tsats spoilers #the sun and the star #the sun and the star: a nico di angelo adventure

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theamazingmaddyas · 26 days

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Okay, so for my own fanfictions, most of which take place post-TOA and therefore post-Percy "claim your children" Jackson and Jason "honor minor gods" Grace, I made myself a spreadsheet of all the cabins I believe could plausibly be at Camp Half-Blood, and ended up with a whopping 270, and there's probably more dieties whom I couldn't find any information on, and some dieties whom I don't believe would have a cabin (ex. Kronos) (if you think I should add someone comment) and decided to paste it here, since I don't feel comfortable sharing my original spreadsheet. I did add the water dieties, even though their kids could also plausibly go to the underwater camp, but I've decided to give them the option of what camp they want. I also didn't copy their domains, but I have the list from my research, so you can ask if you'd like, I'll be glad to explain! Most of my research was from Theoi Project - Greek Mythology, and Brittanica, and probably some others I've since forgotten, so if you know any good Greek Mythology resourses and books, please share!

Here's some symbols before we begin:

* - virgin goddess. I added them because Athena and Artemis already have cabins (and Athena kids by magical means)

" - Dieties whom have faded in the series. Their cabins are more memorials to them.

Additionally there are 2 dieties named Thalia, (1) Thalia refers to the muse, the goddess of comedies, and (2) Thalia refers to the goddess of festivities and banquet

Zeus

Hera

Poseidon

Demeter

Ares

Athena*

Apollo

Artemis*

Hephestus

Aphrodite

Hermes

Dionysus

Hades

Iris

Hypnos

Nemesis

Nike

Hebe

Tyche

Hecate

Rhea

Hestia*

Calliope

Clio

Urania

(1) Thalia

Melpomene

Polyhymnia

Erato

Euterpe

Terpsichore

Musica

Persephone

Despoina

Morpheus

Epiales

Thanatos

Aristaeus

Asclepius

Epione

Hygeia

Panaceia

Aegle

Iaso

Aceso

Telesphorus

Eris

Phobos

Deimos

Peitharchia

Alastor

Alce

Hybris

Ioke

Lyssa

Palioxis

Phrice

Phyge

Polemus

Proioxis

Alala

Homodos

Cydoimus

Democracia

Dicaiosyne

Dike

Nomus

Eunomia

Pradaxide

Arete

Homonoia

Adicia

Horcus

Neicea

Poena

Bia

Kratos

Zelos

Phthonus

Agon

Anaideia

Ate

Cacia

Coalemus

Corus

Dolus

Dysnomia

Dyssebia

Oizys

Prophasis

Ptocheia

Thrasus

Soteria

Soter

Paregoros

Sophrosyne

Porus

Ponus

Plutus

Euthenia

Aedos

Aeschyne

Aletheia

Anance

Angelia

Caerus

Calocagathia

Eirene

Ececheiria

Elpis

Epiphron

Eucleia

Eudaemonia

Gelus

Eupheme

Euphrosyne

Eupraxia

Eusebia

Euthymia

Eutychia

Ctesius

Hesychia

Sophia

Techne

Eleus

Penia

Pistis

Phthisis

Pheme

Ossa

Penthus

Ania

Morus

Momus

Apate

Limus

Achos

Aergia

Adephagia

Amechania

Aporia

Geres

Eros

Aglaea

Anteros

Calleis

Charis

Harmonia

Hedone

Himerous

Philia

Philopharosyne

Philotes

Pothussexual

Hedylogus

Peitho

Amphitrite

Triton

Kymopoleia

Rhode

Benthesikyme

Aegaeus

Argyra

Calliste

Capheira

Keto

Kharybdis

Delphin

Proteus

Eidothea

Electra

Thaumas

Eurybia

Glaucus

Helle

Leucothea

Palaemon

Phorcys

Thallasa

Thoosa

Triteia

Tritonis

Tethys

Nereus

Doris

Thetis

Psamathe

Galateia

Eudora

Aeolus

Boreas

Zephryos

Notos

Euros

Khione

Oreithyia

Hesperus

EosphorusVenus

Phainon

Phaethon

Pyroeis

Stilbon

Aether

Arce

Astraeus

Asteria

Eos

Hemera

Nyx

Herse

Helios"

Selene"

Pan"

Aix"

Ganymede

Britomartis*

Oupis*

Loxo*

Hekaerge*

Ariadne

Comus

Thysa

Thyone(formally Semele)

Telete

(2) Thalia

Pompe

Epidotes

Pherespondos

Lykos

Pronomos

Pyrrhichus

Priapus

Phales

Oxylus

Nesi

Methe

Melisseus

Kortymbos

Autonoe

Eileithyia

Carmanor

Carme

Chrysothemus

Daeira

Eleusis

Macaria

Melinoe

Charon

Lethe

Acheron

Gorgyra

Cocyrys

Pyriphlegethon

Styx

Leto

Anchiale

Anytus

Dione

Epimetheus

Eurynome

Aura

Lelantos

Mnemosyne

Melete

Aiode

Perses

Phoebe

Prometheus

Theia

Themes

So that's my list. I don't really have a rhyme or reason for why each number is each, but I did clump together gods with similar domains because that's where they were easiest to find in my research... I honestly think kids of minor gods are very underused in TOA fics, and even in PJO and HOO to an extent. Jillie, my nine year old daughter of Gelus with a contageous laugh? One of my fave OCs.

As for Roman gods and goddess, I'm not as knowledgable, but hopefully I'll make a spreadsheet for plausable godly parents, though unlike CHB it doesn't need to be organized as there's just Cohorts. I don't write Camp Jupiter fics all that often, but it'll be a good resource to have if I choose to.

#camp half blood #minor gods #greek mythology #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #camp half blood cabins #percy said claim your kids jason said honor minor gods and goddesses and I went overboard with research

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halothenthehorns · 1 year

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Spoilery goodness on TSatS below!

I want to preface this by saying I've never been active in the PJO fandom before when something first came out. His books have always been on and off my radar every five years or so since I was in middle school and I binge read to catch up then move on to something else, but since I've been actively writing fanfiction for these books lately, here are my first, fresh thoughts.

First the good!

I actually really liked Will was a big ol' doofus damsel in distress. Not everybody needs to be a big action hero and 'useful' on a quest. Will was there purely for moral support because Nico was going back to a most dreaded place, and he fulfilled that roll with moderate success while the two worked on their issues. I will now forever laugh at Care Bare Powers activate, and Will punning his own name and just being happy to be along was all I wanted from him.

I don't know why anybody would say him and Nico were ooc. You do know characters adapt and change over time, right? Of course Nico's going to be slightly different than before, this is the first book we've ever seen him actively trying to be happy.

I did laugh at some parts, I did have whole chunks of chapters were I was invested and curious what was going to happen, and I can not say enough how much I love Bob and Small Bob!

The Gorgyra's parts were some of my favorite, I can't help but laugh there was a scenic route through Tartarus on the happy friendship boat by sharing memories, and that's what I really wanted out of this book. A little background on these boys, a good promise of their future, and that is exactly what I got.

The Cocoa Puffs are a hilarious addition and I hope Nico and Will name every one of them and they make terrifying additions in continuing novels.

It wasn't a great shock or twist or anything he left his darkness behind. I half expected it to be their treasured objects that were invented for this book, so the fact that it was instead a piece of Nico he always clung to was a fairish way out of it without having to dramatically kill somebody, or break up Solangelo, or worse, make it Bob.

Chapter 24 was probably my favorite. I really loved Persephone's talk with Will;

but this chapter also kind of highlights some of my bad.

I really get why a lot of people are saying it reads like preachy bad fanfiction. Persephone could have shown up and had that talk with Will without the whole, oh if somebody's forcing you to be in a bad relationship you should runaway as fast as possible detail.

There's whole chunks of the book like that.

I was genuinely bored on some of it, Epiales nightmares went on way to long when a first grader could figure out that's what was going on from the moment they reached the bottom the first time and mysteriously found their way at the top with a 'shadow' lurking behind them.

I like the sidequesty idea, the RR books had always been bad about doddling around to get to the real meat of the story with his sidequests and exploring more of the Underworld is always fun. The update on Geryon getting a boyfriend made me freeze up and mind blank for a good minute in shock, so I'll give it that.

I don't know, I think a good sideplot would have helped some of the structure problems. I've never written my own novel, I'm not going to pretend to think I can and should fix this, just my first thought.

The almost last bit where it was Hades who put all this together was another good example of why this was kind of cringe but mostly in line with the general RR series. The gods can never be OOC because they're gods. They can do whatever they want from book to book and it's just their mood for that moment. Hades breaking his rules to give Nico a moment with Bianca and Bianca (that's not a typo) was a sweet gesture and him using his son to get Bob out because his yelling got to loud was sweet and amusing.

But then they didn't do anything with the moment. It was just a quick shot, Bianca (actual Bianca) barley even got to say anything, and it was just over :( You spent whole pages of them just walking around like a Tolkien novel, you couldn't have given a little more emotion to Nico finally getting to talk to his mother and sister for the last time...

My only major complaint was the camp.

Dionysus was OOC. Him just sporadically being a good counselor and listening to Nico and caring is just, so, ugh. Not everybody needs to be nice and sweet and rainbows. I don't care I'm contradicting myself, Dionysus was written in previous books to care about the kids but in his own salty way about being stuck there, you didn't have to make him share his popcorn.

Chiron's always been like that. Oh, another big bad prophecy where my campers are off to do the most dangerous and world perilous things?

Cool, yeah, I'll be over here teaching archery, have fun with that.

The fact that there were no campers was?! I call absolute bull the 80-100+ kids that are supposedly there all have happy homes lives they went off to. Why would you even want to write it like the place was empty and barren? I wasn't even hoping for more OC and intense background, just a little casual time of Nico being accepted in camp which we only got on the first pages and then- Just, so much, !?

Thing two was Piper getting the check-up call at the end instead of Reyna. Yes authors, highlight the recently found out gay chick instead of Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Jason's best friend you keep forgetting existed and is now possibly exploring her Aro/Ace life with the Hunters and Jason's sister Thalia! This choice just personally infuriated me because I want a Hunters book sooooo bad, and I was desperately hoping when the scene started we were going to get a 'jump off' point for them like this book was at the end of ToA

If we get a Piper book next, maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be a team up book wit them, but I am not holding my breath at this rate.

5/10, would only recommend to hardcore RR fans. Will probably reread again someday, but years from now when I convince myself it might not have been as bland as I remember it.

#pjo #will solace #nico di angelo #tsats #spoilers #good thoughts #bad thoughts #opinions

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incorrectinfinity · 1 year

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Ok I am gonna talk about the things I like in this post because it's fresh in my mind and most of these things will be spoilers! Also this could be long.

First of all hi pjo mutuals!!! Idk if any of you are reading this but I really am thankful so many of you decided to stick around despite the Cookie Run hell of it all.

It's been like two years now and even if we haven't talked much in that time, you guys mean a lot to me <3

ANYWAYS THE SUN AND THE STAR!!!!

This book has been on my mind since it was hinted at at the end of TOA, so it's been a sec. The idea of this book actually helped me quite a bit when I wasn't doing very well mentally, which is very sad!

Ok, first thing's first.

Ok my soul can be put to rest now.

Second of all, my statement still stands:

For the most part the queer representation is pretty damn good this time around!

Epiales and Menoetes immediately getting defensive was a bit jarring and a little bit worrying to me but thankfully their bursts of anger about it last like five seconds each.

I'm really glad they say the words gay and queer naturally and not like they're some forbidden line to be crossed in a novel for young teens/late tweens. It genuinely made me smile.

Persephone even bringing up the notion of aromantic people almost made me lose my shit!! I am aromantic!!! That's me!!!! Just like me fr!!!!! But seriously I kinda feel forgotten a lot in queer media and literally any mention of aromanticism makes me smile, it was a very nice thing to see.

That's barely even mentioning the queer characters!

Nico bluntly saying he's gay is so fucking satisfying to see now, it's so nice to see him so comfortable with who he is.

Will canonically being bisexual is really nice to see, I could feel the writers' sigh of relief as they put the discourse to rest.

SPEAKING OF DISCOURSE... Piper MyQueen! It's nice to see a questioning character because I haven't really seen one represented before! She's still figuring herself out after the months following the end of toa and it's nice to see the message that it takes time to figure yourself out being shown because it's a surprisingly rare one to see. I appreciate how she also gravitates towards the queer label :)

Now minor characters:

Epiales: I appreciate them because of how ridiculous their existence is

Hiss-majesty: iconic and also that name makes me confused

Menoetes: my beloved

Geryon: Ok that's just hilarious I cannot deny that

Thirdly....

BIANCA DI ANGELO MY BELOVED MY ULTIMATE FAVE I MISSED YOU HOLY SHIT.

Besides uh....

That. I have LOVED seeing how Bianca and Maria have affected Nico over the years! It's so tragic and amazing and YES.

Seeing Bianca one last time and Maria for the first time ever was so so so satisfying even if they didn't say much. I almost teared up a bit. A lot. I got emotional.

Nyx using them against Nico was SO fucked up and I love it

Speaking of... Nyx.

Design.

Very cool, moving on.

Hades and Persephone's growth was so unexpected I am just gonna be real.

Hades was going to happen naturally because of what we say in HoO but him caring enough to send Nico a prophecy? And bring back Maria and Bianca? That's so sweet! I love that! I love that SO much! And also he isn't completely not an asshole which is appreciated.

Persephone is my favorite one of Riordan's interpretations of the gods.

I never thought I would say that sentence ever in my life. She's so caring and sweet for the 10 minutes we see her and I really appreciate her growth and seeing how she's finally getting over her grudge. It was unexpected and completely welcome.

Also I appreciate clarifying that Hades and Persephone's relationship is a good one from Persephone herself.

Also Nemesis is a badass and I did not realize how much I missed her! She has no reason so be so cool and yet she still is.

Gorgyra's chapters were all wonderful, I love her SO much and I hope Bob visits her sometime.

Speaking of which: Bob and Small Bob are amazing as always.

I appreciate the theme of change around Bob's character, he's different from how I remember him being is HoH but that's probably more natural than Nico's change in character (which I don't mind as much as most people I've seen but is still jarring) because of him and Iapetus switching every two seconds for over a year so yeah.

Small Bob is Small Bob. Cat. Gato. Wonderful.

Will actually having more of a character was nice to see too! Also his ultimate magic hidden deep within being hayfever is very funny to me.

Actually talking about the trauma these characters have been through and addressing it is also very satisfying.

Overall I think it was a good send off to these kids who have been through too damn much. I will have a post airing my criticisms probably but I really did like this lovable train wreck of a book, me from two years ago would be very pleased.

Can't wait for the road trip book where both Percy and Annabeth come out as bisexual simultaneously and for this series to be OVER!!!

#🎀.txt #lincoln goes to hell

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