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moonlitlex · 1 year

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i have so much to say abt chalice of the gods so im just gonna copy paste my review from goodreads here. you can also read it on goodreads

ok. i promised i would hate this book. and i do. i hate this book. i also hate rick riordan. in addition, i hate capitalism. i promise that’s relevant.

let’s talk about the book now. i’ll cover the things i love first. i love percy jackson. i love grover. i love annabeth. i love sally. i love paul. i love percy annabeth and grover together. all of these things are very obvious and self-explanatory. percy is hands down THE main character of all time. i have nothing bad to say about him. his literal fatal flaw is loyalty. he’s actually perfect and has no flaws. this is expected from the son of sally jackson, the perfect person. paul is sweet and kind to sally and that’s really all that matters. annabeth is awesome and supportive and so is grover and they’re all besties forever. you get it. you’ve read percy jackson.

the jokes are better than before. there are definitely some legitimately funny jokes in this book, which i was really missing from the last few rick riordan installments. and i don’t think this is because rick suddenly got funnier. i think it’s because this style of joke works for percy. of all of rick’s protagonists, percy seems the most natural fit for these jokes.

sally is great. grover and annabeth are generally on form. so is percy, as much as can be expected from rick riordan at this point. i will elaborate on this later.

now to complain. this is the stupidest premise i’ve ever heard of. percy is a high school senior. he is going to go to new rome university. he needs 3 divine recommendations. this is already a stupid premise but don’t worry, it gets worse. poseidon reveals that the reason percy needs these recommendations is that it’s a special requirement for him specifically made by zeus. and the reason he gets to have this stupid requirement is that he’s a child of the big three and shouldn’t exist.

hello. zeus. yes, lord zeus, it’s me. alexis.

what the absolute FUCK are you saying.

this doesn’t MAKE SENSE. the only reason percy shouldn’t have existed was that the gods had a stupid pact to not have any kids because of a stupid prophecy. two things here. one - that prophecy is OVER. everything turned out fine. thanks to percy jackson. you’re welcome, gods of olympus. two - percy has literally saved olympus TWICE now. two times. this is genuinely such a dumb and made up reason to send percy on a quest that i can’t even turn my brain off and enjoy it. it’s not fun. leave percy alone. LEAVE HIM ALONE.

it’s literally insane how stupid this setup is. rick keeps writing books about how the gods are horrible and take advantage of the demigods and the demigods live terrible lives. in this book, percy has LITERALLY saved olympus TWICE and motherfucking zeus (literally) had to be talked down from making him get 25 letters of recommendation to 3. this is AFTER percy spent 3 years in pjo almost being killed and got his memory wiped for 6-8 months depending on which book you read in hoo and then got sent on a quest to save the entire world AGAIN. this CHILD got like a 2-4 month break (depending on which book you’re reading) and he woke up with no fucking memory and had to spend like 2 more months fighting monsters and the literal primordial earth goddess. and now he has to go on literally pointless quests that someone who didn’t just get back home from saving the actual world could ALSO just do. because he needs to get some fucking letters of recommendation.

look. genuinely. percy jackson should snap at this point in the story. this boy should’ve snapped like at least 5 books ago. at minimum. rick wrote the perfect setup to show us percy’s instant descent into madness. he should LOSE it. all the gods have done for the ENTIRE time he’s known he’s a demigod is treat demigods like disposable tools. this is the point in the story where percy goes. wow. luke was right. you guys are all assholes who don’t care about us even a little bit. i am NOT saying what needs to follow is a fanfic-esque dark!percy story where he successfully destroys olympus or something. what i AM saying. is at bare minimum this is where percy goes you know what fuck you i hate you guys and washes his hands of being a demigod at least temporarily. at the very least he should sit back and think yeah, i don’t really want to go to new rome university. it’s not worth it. i will just go to a different university. look. it’s percy jackson. he can literally one shot all but the most fearsome monsters (typhon, the giants, a drakon, etc). he is literally going to be 100% completely fine going to mortal university AND he wont have to deal with zeus’s annoying ass.

listen. MY percy jackson wanted to kill smelly gabe as a 12 year old because he abused his mother. MY percy jackson doesn’t like bullies. MY percy jackson challenged ares to a fight just on the basis that ares was a fucking asshole.

MY percy jackson is not going on useless fucking quests to go to new rome university of all places.

which reminds me. why DOES he want to go to new rome university. this is percy jackson. he LOVES new york. why is percy “what did they do to my city” jackson going to university ACROSS THE COUNTRY from the city he loves. why is he doing that. and hey look. sally and paul (and soon estelle) are ALSO going to be in new york. so like WHY is he leaving for real. percy my fatal flaw is loyalty jackson. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE OK! it’s percy he is seriously not going to have issues with common monsters attacking him. we literally saw him fight off titans and giants a fucking hellhound isn’t gonna get his ass. WHY is he leaving. it does NOT make sense.

there’s this scene ok. where sally tells them she’s pregnant. and percy’s like oh my god…. i’m going to be in california…. and my sister is going to be here…. and i was just sitting there going. yeah bro. why are you going to california. i literally do not understand. you literally are from nyc. you live here. your family is here. your friends from chb are like a short pegasus ride away. there are like 50 universities in new york. just go here. why are you leaving. you are percy jackson. being a new yorker is literally one of your defining traits. stay here. WHY AR EYOU LEAVING I DO NOT UNDERSTAND PERSEUS

and listen. if your argument is that annabeth is going to be in nru. why the FUCK is ANNABETH going to nru!!!!! WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT!!!! EXPLAIN IT!!!! percy LITERALLY says annabeth is such an overachiever she’s already run out of ap classes to take. he literally says that. why the fuck is this girl going to nru where let’s be real her admission is guaranteed. annabeth is 100% someone who would want to go to an ivy. and would you fucking believe it there’s an ivy right here in nyc. like let’s be fucking realistic here. annabeth started her architecture career at SIXTEEN designing the city the fucking GODS live in. so like. don’t you think she’d want to be a bit more challenged. don’t you think she’d want to go to a university that is actually recognizable to mortals. annabeth did NOT love new rome that much like did richard forget what he wrote. this girl was freaking out about new rome until percy said he only likes it because they could live together there. she literally does not care about new rome and she is WAY too ambitious and academically inclined to be happy with going to some small as uni 99% of employers have never heard of.

this isn’t even the worst character assassination in the book. that award goes to the way rick wrote percy. percy. my darling percy. my beloved percy. perseus jackson. light of my life. as i said before, he is MOSTLY on form. the him really wanting to cali thing is definitely ooc for him but it is NOTHING compared to the sheer amount of times rick portrays percy as stupid in this accursed novel. his internal monologue is constantly shit like i’m always so behind annabeth and omg i’m being so dumb right now and annabeth calls me seaweed brain because i’m an idiot and blah blah fucking blah.

dick riordan has forgotten that perseus jackson is, in fact, not stupid at all. he is INCREDIBLY clever. he is just not particularly academically inclined/not very book smart and it would also be perfectly understandable given the fucking books that riordan wrote to interpret that as percy being very discouraged from engaging with his studies. he genuinely enjoys chiron’s class at yancy because chiron is an engaging teacher and encourages him. he spends 90% of his time in pjo deducing what’s going on with extremely limited information because rick decided none of the characters can tell him anything because of plot and exposition reasons. in son of neptune he literally just coasts on having sherlockian (not bbc that’s a whole other angry review) powers of deduction. to the point where the characters around him are amazed at how he’s figuring stuff out. literally in house of hades annabeth’s pov’s are constantly her commenting on how she gives percy shit for being a dumbass but he’s actually really clever.

it genuinely feels like at some point during the writing of mark of athena rick decided to just slowly start making various fanon ideas canon. percy being stupid is very commonly accepted fanon because he doesn’t realize how smart he is (and fans don’t realize he’s an unreliable narrator) and the fans also love to infantilize characters with more in your face adhd (leo is another victim of this phenomenon). we’ve spent 5 books in percy’s head and he doesn’t think he’s particularly clever so it makes sense to ignore the mountains of evidence pointing towards his quick and creative thought process in favour of haha percy is dumb jokes.

the wild thing is, percy isn’t even that hard on himself in pjo. he obviously doesn’t see himself in the same way we later come to find out other people see him (mainly thinking about hazel and frank in son of neptune, which is the only time in hoo he genuinely feels like the same character as pjo percy) but he’s not really dealing with crazy self doubt and self esteem issues. he does have his down on himself moments but they’re all extremely understandable given the context because he literally faces impossible odds in every single pjo book. at one point he’s disappointed he couldn’t tell that ares and luke manipulated him… like yes bestie that’s a very valid thing to feel upset and betrayed about. it doesn’t mean that he’s actually stupid though and genuinely he comes across more as humble and not realizing just how awesome and cool and interesting he is than anything else. percy consistently shows that he is really clever. half of pjo is percy figuring out a new and interesting way of defeating his enemies and the other half is percy figuring out how to bait his enemies into a duel to improve his odds. it’s horrible what rick does to percy in his internal monologue.

it’s to an insane degree. yes i realize i have already written 500 words about percy not being stupid alone but i must stress how egregious this is. it’s literally characters who have previously acknowledged percy’s intelligence who start remarking about how he’s stupid. in house of hades percy and annabeth get out of fucking TARTARUS and reyna makes a jab about how percy wouldn’t be able to find his way out of a paper bag without annabeth. that is an INSANE thing to say for reyna and for rick. rick has not written a stupid character so it’s weird to make that something a character does without really trying to show them being wrong. from reyna’s perspective, this is a guy she was complimenting a few short weeks ago. this is a guy she immediately wanted to make a leader at the camp that she loves and is her home. this is guy she barely knows and she pretty much immediately proposes to him. WHY would she suddenly start making jokes about how dumb he is? it’s not like she actually knows him better now. he came to the battle with reinforcements and basically immediately dipped after the feast. how are we to accept reyna treating our beloved perseus in this horrific manner? we simply cannot. it is unnacceptable. this is inaccurate.

it’s so WRONG to do this to percy. yES I UNDERSTAND I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS FOR TOO LONG. I DON’T CARE. PERCY JACKSON IS MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE AND I NEED TO DEFEND HIM FROM THIS SLANDER. I AM ONLY PARTIALLY JOKING. listen. liSTEN. this is the guy whose signature move is manipulate your enemy into dueling with you when you’re outnumbered or outmatched. he very coolly manipulated bob into killing his own brother (btw this was very hot and sexy and clever and attractive perseus is king of gaslight gatekeep girlboss). he is NOT stupid. he is impulsive. he is extremely oblivious about some things. he is NOT stupid. i watched perseus jackson grow up for 5 books and he is not stupid. i always say this. i always say that percy is not stupid and richard riordan refuses to listen to me.

there are such horrendous lines as “i am a guy of limited talents. if i can’t kill it with water, a sword, or sarcasm, i’m basically defenseless.” richard how DARE you say this about my beloved perseus. he is NEVER like this. he literally would never say that. even at absolute worst percy’s internal monologue was “this plan is stupid and will get us killed. but it’s the plan i have.” he’s NOT a being defenseless guy. what hte fuck are you saying. richard did you read your own books. RICHARD. DID YOU. at one point he says that he is constantly several steps behind annabeth’s thought process. he has literally never thought this before and it is also untrue. richard. i hate you. read your own fucking books oh my god.

ok. i think i have sufficiently harped on the fact that percy is not stupid. now i will complain about another thing. and this was just in one part but it bothered me and this is my review so i get to talk about whatever i want. if you don’t like it read someone else’s review. don’t hate read my review. i didn't charge you money to read it

at one point, percy has to wrestle a god who hercules once wrestled. and annabeth says something about hercules brute forcing it. and look. i GET that hercules was freakishly strong. i get that. i understand it. but when annabeth says hercules just brute forced it they’re both like ah shit i can’t do that. perseus. beloved. you ripped the minotaurs horn off its head with your bare hands as a 12 year old with no training. you are literally insanely strong as is. that is an insane thing for a 12 year old to be able to do. hell, that would be an insane thing for a grown adult to do. i don’t think rick realizes how op percy is. he was so caught up in making percy cool (which is, you know, extremely understandable and right and correct percy jackson is the coolest man in fiction for a reason i get it) that he forgot that he made percy extremely unbelievably powerful too. with the curse of achilles he was potentially matching minor gods in power level. he fights while sustaining mini-hurricanes and explodes glaciers and shit.

some more things. the prose is… acceptable. the plot reads like a fever dream. there is a smoothie shop called himbo juice that annabeth percy and grover are evidently regulars at. and there are. himbos. that serve. juice. so you can imagine what this fever dream looks like. like the last couple rick riordan releases, this one reads like published fanfiction too, just with better quality of writing than the sun and the star.

there are some WEIRD continuity errors in here. one of them is fairly minor but i still noticed it - percy says his father compared his mother to a princess. this is not true. poseidon compared sally to a queen. specifically, he called her “a queen among women”. i know this because i am sally jackson’s number 1 fan.

more egregiously, however, is annabeth’s yankees cap heebie jeebies. percy puts on annabeths’s cap and gets the heebie jeebies while using it. and then he goes wow annabeth. you never told me that using the cap is like this. and annabeth is like yeah well. power is like that. richard. riordan. did you fucking FORGET that percy has, in fact, worn annabeth’s cap before. and it was literally completely. once again, richard, did you read your own books.

one more good thing - when percy fights geras/gary, who is the god/personification of old age, the way he does it is by imagining him and his friends getting older and embracing it. this was a genuinely good and sweet moment and it was very touching. the trio’s talks about this after the fact are also absolutely a return to form from riordan. for like, a few paragraphs. but still.

the biggest problem is just how obvious it is that this book is a cash grab. we had pjo. then we had a sequel series. then we had ANOTHER sequel series. and now we’re getting random standalone novels that are extremely unnecessary and don’t add anything. rick riordan has dollar signs in his eyes. these are not stories that make sense. these are not stories rick genuinely wanted to tell. these are stories that are being told because the purpose of publishing books now is to maximize profit. (sidebar - i told you the capitalism thing would be relevant. you should believe me more often. smh) the only reason rick is still writing these books is that they make money. they feel extremely empty and hollow.

percy is trapped as a teenager forever because rick refuses to let him age up. percy accepting old age would make FAR more sense for a percy who’s in his 20’s and just now realizing that he lived past all the shit he thought was going to kill him and he has a real life that he likes and he could actually grow old now. but percy must be a child for marketing purposes, so he stays a child. the world itself is trapped in a cycle of the gods promising they’ll be better and the gods literally not changing at all. and for the sake of the book series, it can’t change. if we had real change in the world, that would actually mean something, silly. we can’t have consequences. we have to reset every 5 years like a fucking comic book so that we can make infinite money. this is the infinite money glitch irl. just make trash that doesn’t need to be made. the end point of capitalism is making trash no one asked for that has no artistic merit just because you can make money off of it.

by the way, dr emily wilson’s iliad translation, which was also out on the same day, is LESS expensive than this book. this cashgrab nonsense novel is MORE expensive than a book a professor in classics who has a phd spent 4 years on. this is just wrong. the fun and stupid cashgrab book should NOT be more expensive than a book that someone spent 4 years meticulously translating from ancient greek. it’s just so clear and in your face. trials of apollo absolutely felt like a cashgrab but at least there was SOME semblance of effort there. this is literally just the most plain and simple cashgrab novel you can make.

hey. you know the infinite monkey theorem? the infinite monkey theorem is that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text including shakespeare. richard riordan is a monkey with a typewriter. you get it. you’ve read percy jackson.

rick riordan struck gold with pjo. it’s genuinely to this day one of my favourite things i’ve ever read, flaws and all. it’s FUN. it’s COOL. it’s THEMATICALLY COHESIVE. the characters grow and change. they feel like real people with personalities. it literally doesn’t even matter how op percy is because THAT’S how good of a character he is. he is so compelling that you want to read about him anyway even though you can tell right from the minotaur fight that this kid can decimate whatever opponent he has. the books are funny and moving because you can genuinely connect to these characters. the more i read rick riordan’s work, the more certain i am that pjo was a fluke. i don’t think he knows what he’s doing. i think he should retire from writing.

unfortunately for me, richard riordan seems to have no intention of retiring. he has announced another percy jackson book that will be released next year. i assume there will be at least 2 more books based on the setup in this one.

rick. listen. i know you’re listening because what else will you do with your time. rick, why are you doing this. hasn’t percy been through enough. when will it end. give it a rest. stop it. get some help. at the very least, read your own books before writing percy. i am right about him and you are wrong about him. you are the author and i’m killing you right now. i am strangling you and i am hitting you with weapons. all at once. i am very proficient at causing deaths. (this is a metaphor referring to roland barthes’ death of the author. i wish no bodily harm to richard riordan).

this book is… alright. percy is my smart king. sally jackson is queen of my heart. it’s a fun read but you do have to turn your brain off completely and read through some serious percy defamation.

[edit: i am downgrading this book to one star (was at 2). the more i think about it, the more angry i am. there is literally a paragraph tailor made to rub jason's death in our faces. it's about how he looks forward to getting old being married to piper and having grandchildren. it's a very low blow. jason is literally rick riordan's biggest missed opportunity and he's rubbing in how poorly he treated jason even after killing him off for apollo's character development.

annabeth still keeps putting percy down because rick doesn't realize how mean she is i guess. she's still scared of him. canonically. which is a really weird and fucked up thing to write imo. this relationship doesn't seem healthy in canon (they are healthy in my head, however, because i know what women are like) but rick refuses to address it or let them break up. i LOVE annabeth. i love her. but she is an extremely flawed character and rick never treats her as such. and it just makes it exhausting to read about her.

percy IS on form but it genuinely feels like he's tlt percy, not post hoo percy. his inner voice sounds way more immature than it has for most of pjo and in son. riordan also repurposes the "look, i didn't want to be a half-blood" line from tlt to make a dumb little joke about how high school is hard. it was a GOOD opening line. it immediately set the tone and told us so much about percy in literally just a handful of words. now it's a joke about how being a senior in high school sucks. it's this mcu-esque allergy to being sincere that pjo never had.

there is BARELY any grover in this book. i love grover so much that i was cheering any time he was there, but there is very little of him. he's in like 2 or 3 scenes and has his own side plot going on with juniper and being bad at understanding what his girlfriend wants or whatever. extremely unnecessary and not what i want for grover. this book kind of ends up feeling like it's about annabeth but from percy's perspective. she gets good moments at percy's expense. percy spends the book monologuing about how annabeth is way smarter than him and all he has is his sick ass water powers and the best swordfighting skill in 300 years, both of which are very downplayed. percy explodes a river and it's treated like this crazy freaky scary thing but two years ago in universe he made a volcano erupt and everyone was like yeah this makes sense percy is that powerful. in son he explodes a glacier and it's just a normal tuesday for him. he literally doesn't even react to it. and now we're supposed to believe his exploding and purifying a river feat is some unbelievable feat.]

in conclusion, i want a refund. no i did not purchase this book. however, i would like to be reimbursed about $5000 in emotional damages. i will also be suing richard riordan for defamation on percy’s behalf. good night new york city. and my beloved perseus jackson who lives in new york city.

#alexis.exe #pjo #cotg crit #rr crit #cotg spoilers #cotg #i hope yall who dont want negative stuff have the crit tag blacklisted lol dont come at me

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silly-goofy-vibes · 9 months

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i love that they're really emphasizing that even though annabeth is "the smart one" grover and percy are both REALLY smart. and that they all bring something different to the team.

percy is really really good at figuring out all of the stuff as it relates to actual mythology. he's been here like. a week??? and he is figuring stuff out as fast as (if not faster than) annabeth. he is also really good at assessing those situations and figuring out what needs to happen in order to get to the next step and absolutely always willing to put the quest first even when it means he Will die because mr. fatal flaw of loyalty. also like i said earlier he has been thrown into this world for a week and is just completely content to go with the flow and different changes and he is so adaptable to each situation. he said it himself, he is figuring this out as he goes. the fact that he has enough control over his powers to (even if it was inadvertently) pull himself and annabeth out of the water in the tunnel of love is incredible considering that he has known about being a child of poseidon for so little time

grover is SO socially intelligent. he proves time and time again that he has the best understanding of the group's dynamic as a whole and how they best fit with each other. he is the one who has been able to help percy and annabeth best figure out how to get along and he uses his third-person perspective on their relationship to help them and provide a different viewpoint from how they're both seeing it. and in addition to that he knows how to best phrase these things to both of them in order to actually be effective instead of starting MORE arguments. and then there was the conversation with ares. grover got a LITERAL GOD to spill details to him just by knowing what cards to play when. grover has the best social intelligence out of the main three by FAR and he is single-handedly keeping percabeth from killing each other sometimes

and then there is annabeth. we all know that she has a lot of experience and knowledge about the world and the mythos, but her ability to recognize it, form a plan, and then execute it is phenomenal. and leah is playing her so well, all of the small tells that she is figuring something out before even the audience can get there make her so believable and show that her intelligence is book and strategy centered. she also keeps beliving in the quest and that there is a way that percy will be okay no matter what happens. and she is willing to do whatever it takes to figure out what needs to happen in order for him to be ok. AND THEN SHE DOES FIGURE IT OUT. she was able to get a GOD to change his mind and let percy free just because she was so stubborn and so loyal to him and was able to figure out what needed to happen for him to be safe

i just absolutely love this show so much and i'm so glad that it is highlighting each character's individual strengths and making each of their uses to the quest and each other clear

#percy jackson #pjo series spoiler #pjo series #pjo series episode 5 spoiler #annabeth chase #grover underwood

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luriuan · 9 months

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Neither Nico or Percy were in the wrong OR in the right in the last Olympian.

Nico lost his sister and wanted to find if he had any mortal family, anyone left other than the literal lord of the dead. He was desperate and scared and needed answers, and he didn’t mean for Percy to get hurt either, and yes he’s gullible but he’s still a child. He is to blame and not to blame.

And Percy had been betrayed so many times before, being betrayed again likely sent him into a blind rage and panic, probably reminding him of Luke (Luke informing Kronos of Percy, Nico bringing Percy to hades, someone who had kidnapped his mother and tried to kill him many times.). I would’ve panicked and attacked too. He felt like Nico had just spent MONTHS leading him to his death and convincing him to come down.

Also, I don’t believe Percy would’ve ever actually killed Nico. He woke up suddenly to Nico, panicked and attacked him, but let go. He was scared and betrayed, and while yes him hurting Nico is Horribly wrong, he was scared. (Also, Percy’s fatal flaw is loyalty. He kept by Nico’s side, convinced Nico to stay out of danger AND protected Nico and fed him Ambrosia when he was weak.)

#Percy Jackson #nico di angelo #percy jackson and the olympians #Percy Jackson and the last Olympian #the last olympian #percy jackson books #walker scobell #rick riordan

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stanning-reyna · 2 years

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If fatal flaws are in the literal sense, as in they're the interal flaw that causes your death, then you could argue that Luke's fatal flaw is loyalty instead of wrath.

Yes Luke led the Titan War because he was angry at his father for the personal pain he caused him and because he was angry at the gods as a power system for the injustice they brought upon their kids but somewhere deep down he must have done it for Annabeth. To give her a future he could never have. Yes he became a bitter man, his veins filled more with rage than with blood, but at some point he decided Annabeth would get to be happier than he ever had been and that couldn't happen when she was lying on the ground of the Throne Room, half dead. Everything he'd spent the past four years of his life doing, the body that he'd literally sacrificed to Kronos, would be worthless if she wouldn't one day reap the benefits. If Annabeth never got the future he hoped she would, the family she deserved, then nothing Luke did would be worth it. And he couldn't bring himself past that. He killed himself because he couldn't break that promise to her. He was too loyal to her.

And if this were the case (I'm just theorizing here since I'm pretty sure Rick said Luke's canon fatal flaw is wrath) then consider that the reason this is never addressed in pjo is that Percy, our narrator, willingly ignored it. He didn't want to consider that the man who ruined his and all his friends' lives was identical to him on a deep, fundamental level. Because it wasn't even a question to him. Percy knew how angry he got at the injustices he saw, how the rage boiled under his skin, urging him to lash out. There was no question that he could be like Luke one day, and that terrified him, so he ignored each and every sign he saw.

Thalia had once said that Annabeth only loved one type of person. He'd come to believe her more than he'd like to. Percy and Thalia were carbon copies, two snarky kids with too much power on their hands and too many off-handed comments rolling off their tongues. But that said something about him and Luke. He knew exactly what it said. He refused to think about it.

#wow this turned into a thing #what do y'all think #give me your most insightful responses #heroes of olympus #pjo #hoo fandom #hoo series #pjo fandom #pjo series #percy jackson and the olympians #annabeth chase #percy jackson #luke castellan #thalia grace

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edgyandoverzealous · 2 years

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Hot take(possibly??): most of the demigods in pjo/toa/hoo are villain coded. Not all but a lot of them and the best part of this is they're villain coded but they're known as untouchable heroes which is incredibly interesting for me.

For example, the cliche, the obvious, Percy. I love him don't get me wrong but that man's fatal flaw is canonically his loyalty, his personal loyalties specifically. The reason he went on his first quest initially was to bring his mom back from the underworld, essentially back from the dead because his mom is extremely important to him more so than his dad who was absent most his life, not retrieving the lightning bolt though he did end up doing that and Hades had Sally safe and well. The common saying is "a hero will sacrifice the one he loves to save the world. a villain will burn the world to keep the one he loves safe." You cannot look me dead in the eyes and tell me Percy Jackson, the man who while angry and bitter about his mother's "death" and this quest sent Medusa's head in a box to olympus, who after falling for Annabeth couldn't forget her even when Hera wiped his memory, would EVER let anything happen to her. He went to literal hell with her has killed monsters in brutal dark ways while in said hell and even before that jumped into siren infested waters to save Annabeth personal safety and quest be damned. He has turned down immortality for her. The gods could give him an ultimatum and he would choose Annabeth every time over anything, except his mortal family, but even then Percy would save everyone and then burn Olympus for daring to make him make that choice.

Additionally another one of my favorites who is increasingly more complex or at the very least somewhat the opposite to Percy in his villain coding is Nico Di Angelo.

For starters he's lost so much and has failed to save whoever was most important to him, twice. His fatal flaw is canonically, that he holds grudges, which is specifically noted to be dangerous for kids of Hades. Probably because demigods have shown on multiple occasions to have their powers connected to their emotions. IE: Percy through the entire first book and Nico in his first battle with Percy where he essentially summons an army in a panic. Or possibly because of their connection to death, the afterlife, and creatures from the underworld. Luckily this son of Hades is in control as he gets older so it's most likely the ladder in this case. Anyways after Percy got his sister, the only person Nico had left, killed Nico started running and using avoidance as a coping mechanism. Which in itself is a classic villain backstory set up because once someone has nothing they can be pushed to risk everything. However, my personal hypothesis is he spent that time running to avoid a violent outburst and act out on his grudge to cause Percy harm or put him into harms way, on top of the crushing guilt he must've felt for having a crush on the one who got his sister killed. To gain control over his emotions and come to terms with his new reality without his sister and with his new lineage and powers associated with. When he first comes back he is untrusting and distant. Then there was the whole "I have a friend who fully accepts me and I may be able to learn how to love again, trust again, and have friends" thing with Jason and then Rick killed him. That alone gives Nico more than a right to be angry and start fucking shit up tm. But he didn't and now he has Will. Classic case of the fooled me once shame on me fooled me twice shame on you imo. The set up for the same to happen again is underway as well. So at the very least three strikes you're out because I genuinely believe if anything happens to Will, Nico will no longer follow the heroes path. I believe the world would crumble and quake beneath his feet as the most guttural scream escapes his mouth. The dead will rise as he storms Olympus for giving him a story so cruel despite how hard he's fought and how good he's tried to be. I believe he would raise hell so intensely that the gods themselves would resurrect Will in fear of being overthrown by the wrath of the prince of darkness.

#today on why these characters are just like me fr #villian coded #percy jackson #nico di angelo #pjo headcanon #percabeth #solangelo #this makes me feel things #like happy brain worms #i could do a whole analysis about them actually #with sources and everything but for now this is all im giving

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purpleshadow-star · 1 year

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Tbh, I really don't understand why Percy was so quick to turn on Nico in The Last Olympian. Like, Nico said multiple times that Hades just wanted to talk to Percy. He said that Hades wanted to see him before they tried the river, which means obviously Nico had no intentions of them staying with Hades for long. And he explicitly said that Hades just wanted to talk. I get being annoyed or even upset at being tricked into a surprise visit to Hades, but going as far as trying to attack Nico and calling him a traitor? As if Nico completely lied to him? As if Nico wasn't still (obviously) planning on helping him? Especially since Nico already seemed reluctant and guilty about his actions? I don't get that at all.

Seriously, so unnecessary.

And he was told, straight up, that Nico made Hades promise not to hurt him and that Nico genuinely wanted to help him.

Percy isn't dumb! At this point, it should have been clear that Nico was tricked. Nico obviously didn't want Percy captured or hurt, yet Percy is still acting and thinking awfuly towards Nico, even when he literally shows up to help him escape.

Honestly, I think Nico handled this much better than I would have. If I were Nico and Percy attacked me like that after it was clear that I was tricked, I would just threaten to leave Percy there. There is literally no other way to make it more clear that Nico didn't want to see Percy hurt. From the beginning, there was no doubt that Nico thought Percy would be safe, yet Percy still was acting like an irrational idiot and ignoring what everyone around him was telling him, for what? Just so he could feel justified in his anger towards Nico?

And then, after all that, he had the nerve to say that Nico owed him! After Nico broke him out and helped him become invincible!

I get that Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty. It only takes one instance, one breech of that loyalty, for him to turn on people, but there was literally no instance where anyone could doubt that Nico wanted Percy safe. Literally, from the first moment it was revealed that Nico brought Percy to Hades in exchange for information about his past, it was clear that Nico thought Hades only wanted to talk to him. It was clear that Nico thought Percy wasn't in any danger. It was clear that Nico never wanted Percy to be hurt, imprisoned, or killed.

Sure, I'd get it if Percy was annoyed that Nico used him as a bargaining chip for information without warning him in advance, but Nico's loyalty to Percy was never in question, and Percy was literally told that several times by multiple people.

Percy just annoys me so much in this part. It annoyed me before, just based on memory, but I thought he was kind of justified in his mistrust of Nico since Nico did trick him. Now, after rereading it? No. Percy is definitely in the wrong here.

I don't ever want to hear another person say that Percy never treated Nico unfairly ever again. He totally overreacted to this situation. If Percy should have been mad at anyone, it should have been Hades (although Percy already had unjustifiable biases against Hades even before this, but that'll be another post). Hades is the one who tricked Nico into bringing him there, and he's the one who broke his promise. Hades is the one who locked him up. Nico went out of his way and defied his father in order to help Percy escape.

Is Nico right for tricking Percy to get more information about his past? No, of course not. Nico should have at least told Percy about what he planned to do. He might have been able to convince Percy to go along with it. But was Percy justified in his actions and thoughts towards Nico during and after this? Absolutely not.

#i was ranting to my mom about this and i mentioned Percy's fatal flaw and she said #'he's not very loyal for someone whose fatal flaw is loyalty'#my mind was blown. youd think if Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty hed be more loyal to his friends instead of just expecting loyalty from them #either Percy's loyalty doesn't go both ways or he had just been looking for an excuse to be nasty to nico #cause theres no other reason for him to act like that #sry im just super heated about this apparently #i dont hate percy but he did nico so wrong here. nico disnt deserve all that #percy jackson #nico di angelo #rick riordan #riordanverse #percy jackson and the olympians #the last olympian #pjo hades #pjo #pjo reread

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starscrimbly · 1 year

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Sometimes I think about the fact that Percy’s fatal flaw is loyalty and when Percy got the curse of Achilles his “Achilles heel” was the small of his back so in order to kill him you would LITERALLY have to stab him in the back

#percy jackson #percy pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #rick riordan

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hello-nichya-here · 7 months

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Lmao someone said Percy's not a well written character bc he's written to be perfect and lacks character flaws 🤣 and their only argument was "even his fatal flaw was being too good of a friend"

Bruh, what. Do these people not know the difference between "Fatal flaw" and "ONLY flaw"?

Did they not see Percy constantly falling for the old-ass tricks the monsters of greek myths pulled because he is too much of a 12-year-old with ADHD to go "hum, maybe I should study the easily accessible information on these creatures that are constantly trying to kill me and my friends?"

Did they not see how he felt VERY uncomfortable with and downright ashamed of Tyson, his disabled friend that he had previously defended from bullies, when he was revealed to actually be his half brother? How he kept trying to downplay their connection when Tyson was not around, because he didn't like being the kid with the "retarded" sibling? Sure, he realizes he was wrong in the end and goes back to being Tyson's number one defender, but it still happened and made him look like anything EXCEPT an ideal friend.

Did they not see him and Thalia, his friend/first cousin, lose their temper at each other so bad they started fighting for real? Did they not see how he had to use all of his strength not to give in when Ares was fucking with his emotions to provoque him into a fight he obviously could not fucking win?

And even the "your fatal flaw is being too loyal" thing - they did not see him literally holding up the whole sky for Annabeth or jumping into Tartarus to protect her, both things that could have killed him? Did they not see him questioning his own side in the war when Calypso asks him "Percy, are supporting the gods instead of the titans because you think they're good rulers, or because they're your family?"

For fuck's sake, what about the parallels with Luke, the character whose deal is being THE traitor? Both of them had a mom that had the ability to see the monsters and godly stuff most people can't see, both had a divine dad that loved them but was not present for most of their lives - including while they dealing with an abusive parent/step-parent - because the gods are like that, and both were VERY mad at said gods for this kind of thing?

It makes sense that Percy was the "loyal one" as a contrast, and the fact that he comes to see that Luke was not fully in the wrong because while bringing Kronos back WAS a terrible idea, the gods DID need someone to look them in the face and say "YOU SUCK", shows that he does need to be more careful with this loyalty thing because being loyal to the wrong person can have serious consequnces for him and others.

Honestly, this "take" strikes me as coming either from people who never read the books and want to trash it for stuff they got no context for, from those kinds of fans that want to out-smart the story by going "THE MAIN CHARACTER SUCKS, ACTUALLY, AND I AM OBJECTIVELY GREAT FOR NOTICING IT"

#asks #percy jackson

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darkcrowprincess · 8 months

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AU where Percy agrees to godhood specifically so he has a freepass to go into the underworld and see Luke.

"I'll become a god, but only on one condition," said 19 year old Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson knew he was pushing his luck. But he did not care. Flashes of a young man in pain, eyes flickering from blue to gold, the man fatally stabbing himself and finally finding relief. Dances in Percy's head, if they weren't intrusive thoughts, than the images were frequent visitors of his nightmares for the last few years. Again he had reasons for not caring about being impertinent to the gods.

"You ask more from us boy?" Thundered Zeus. Percy gave him a dry, no putting up with bullshit look. "I think what ask is barley anything. Your terrified of me, so you want me to be a God so you can control me. Fine, at this point I'm so past giving a shit that I'm willing. All I want is him. I know you can do it."

His father tries to ease the tension, "Percy even if we could, Hades has control over his soul. We can't force his hand."

"All I want is to be able to see him. You entangled his destiny with mine. Practically made him my soulmate. I should be allowed to see him. More so if I was a god." Percy said. His voice was numb. Part of Percy expected not to get anything. For the gods to deny his request and for Zeus to either smite him. Or threaten him to accept Godhood. He rather die. At least that would give him better chances at seeing him.

Maybe it's because they fear Percy's potential more so. Or rather they were waiting for Percy to beg. He tries one last time, "Please, he's all that I want." Percy tries to stay numb, unemotional(he can't give them the satisfaction of getting to him) but without meaning to, a tear slips out of one of his eyes and slide down his cheek and into his beard. He's just so tired of all of this.

Finally Hades speaks, having remained silent throughout, "I'm willing to make a compromise."

Percy swallows hard, but his fatal flaw is loyalty for a reason, " I'll do anything."

Luke desperately wants to try for reincarnation. Problem was when your forced to let a titan to take control of your body, it does more damage than you assume. Especially to your soul. Luke's soul was fragile. Humans are not ment to be vessels to immortal beings. The only reason he didn't literally shatter apart after the first hour is because Luke was a demigod(and because the fates weren't done seeing him suffer). After he killed himself it took everything the underworld had to keep his soul in one piece. So he's stuck in this weird floating limbo. Nothing but dark blue almost black darkness around him. To Luke it felt like he was floating in water. To everyone else he' a glowing ball of soul energy on a shelf, with all the other damaged souls in the underworld that Hades needed to meticulously reform.

Luke was unaware of this. He could hear things in the floating dark blue though.

"You put him on a shelf and just left him there!"

"His soul is very fragile, and I'm not particularly eager to waste time giving him godly energy to fix him."

"But I can?"

"All gods can do this. Especially one so connected to his soul. Your powerful and a young God now. It will take time, but you'll help him reform."

"But than what? He's still dead, he'll what be a ghost now?"

Luke vaguely wondered who the voice was. But it made him feel. Something he hadn't in a long time.

"Yes and no. He'll be connected to you. He'll be as real as you want him to be depending on how much energy you share with him. But you must be careful during the process or his soul will shatter. We call that full on oblivion."

Luke heard the voice that made him feel, sigh. Then something warm surround him. He had forgotten what warmth felt like. Smell too. The smell of the ocean(and oddly cookies?) hit him.

Percy gently cups Luke's soul in his hands. It was like a little star. Golden and glowing in his hands. However, Percy could tell that Luke's soul was fragile. Determination feels Percy, making the numbness finally vanish.

"It's me Luke. It's Percy. I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to take care of you. I promise."

The little soul just continues to glow. For second, it looks like it shines brighter at Percy's word. Percy smiles at Luke, tears in his eyes.

"Let's hope this time, you don't cause me anymore grief ok. I think we both have a enough trauma to last us both a lifetime."

Luke shines brighter as if in agreement, or he's probably laughing at Percy. Percy could tell, the jerk.

Percy delicately brings his cupped hands to his lips and kisses Luke's soul. Putting a little godly energy into him.

Luke reforms into full body in Percy's hands at his touch. Not fully. He's see through and colorless(think Meg from Disney's Hercules). Luke looks the same age he died. His eyes closed, lifeless.

Percy hates the look. But is happy to have Luke at all. He has more work to do. He shifts Luke into a bridal carry fully into his arms, than turns to his Uncle.

"Thank you." Hades nods, silent.

Percy looks back down at Luke. "Let's go home." Than walks back through the darkness and mist of the underworld. Luke hanging limp in his arms. His head laying on Percy chest.

@dark-emperor-ciska *Let me know what you think. I felt like this could have been better. But still hope you like it.*

#percy jackson #luke castellan #lukercy #perluke #fuck the gods #my writing

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sunchasingstar · 2 years

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AU Jegulus fic twist on Percy Jackson. Although I will say, none of them will be matching the actual seven like the parents will be different and will fit the characters like how I imagine they’d fit. Basically all I’m adding in is the marauders being demigods with a very VERY loose similarity to the seven💀

James would be Percy, but not the son of Poseidon. I mean this like, James is the one that would pull everyone together and make things go in motion, he’d be the one to challenge the gods because he recognizes that they’re shitty. His fatal flaw would be his loyalty (because it fucking was.) James is definitely the son of Apollo tho, I literally couldn’t make it any other way cause like James Potter is the Sun. But I do think Euphemia would be Sally and Fleamont would be Apollo but acts like Poseidon (ie simp for Sally) or Fleamont would be Paul because he’s stable and supportive. And I like Paul. Although, I think the Annabeth to his Percy would be (obvi) Regulus!

Regulus wouldn’t be the son of Athena, although he could be tbh, I see him more as a nico type variant. So, if SoAngelo was Percabeth basically 🫠 Regulus fits this vibe because he’s an emo boy who can’t swim. But also, because he’d definitely be the one to have trauma and a mixed up background. I think he’d still have Nico’s background and Sirius would act as Bianca, as in they both come from 1940’s Italian background and ended up in a fucking casino for years.

With that, I kinda see Remus as the son of Athena. He’d be the Annabeth in the planning and he’d be the one to make sure James’ dumbass stayed alive😂. I like the idea of making Peter be either a Satyr and friend like Grover or like Luke and be a friend turned enemy. Sirius would be the Thalia of the situation, mixed with a bit of Bianca (kinda?)

What I mean by that is that Sirius and Regulus would have different fathers but the same mom. They’d still be targeted but it’s because they’re the sons of Zeus and Hades respectively. I think this is because Sirius gives me electric vibes, he fits the son of Zeus. Regulus on the other hand is the dark one, the one that everyone kinda shuns a bit. So, in this setting, Sirius and Regulus wouldve both been hunted by Zeus in this AU (major reason why James has beef w Zeus) and Hades would’ve helped his son and sent them both to the casino to save them. But!! They get out earlier than in the series, they end up being lead out by one of the fates (ig??) because of the Great Prophecy that has James and Regulus as a key part, as well as our Luke variant, The Prophecy would be different because of this and because of my need to have fate force Starchaser to have a happy ending 🙃 anyway, so they get out and meet Remus, Barty (Luke) and Peter (Grover) on the way, right? So, ya know how that story goes. Only difference is that Remus and Peter are best friends and Remus had a crush on Sirius during their time spent together trying to find Camp Half-Blood. Then, right as they’re reaching the gates, the Cyclops comes and Sirius sacrifices himself for Regulus, this makes Zeus pissed because fuck that was his kid actually, so he turns him into a pine tree. Regulus ends up blaming himself for getting his brother killed and becomes a recluse tbh who only really talks to Barty. He doesn’t get claimed until James gets there and they end up getting claimed at the same time (prophecy things) which the first great prophecy would go something like this:

A half-blood of the eldest god

Shall reach sixteen against all odds,

And see the world in endless sleep.

Son of the Sun, his life and heart he shall keep,

The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap,

A single choice shall end his days

Olympus to preserve or raze.

I feel like changing it to the eldest god instead of gods would be limiting it to Hades and with the Son of the Sun, yeah. This would make Zeus and the rest of them change the oath to make it include Apollo (or it could be that they tried to make it just Apollo and Hades but no way in hell Hades would let that slide so celibacy for all four)

Regulus would start to warm up to James after he saved Sirius’ tree, which brought Sirius back to life. And I feel like James and Sirius would but heads a bit especially after Sirius learns that Regulus and James are the ones from the prophecy and Sirius wouldn’t like James at first because he’s scared that James could lead to his brothers death. This changes when Regulus is kidnapped in the Titans Curse. The Hunters would be hard to mix in ngl cause I could make them the girls but I also want the girls to play bigger parts to the story and I feel like the Hunt kinda doesn’t play that big of a part. Because of that, idk who to make Bianca cause Sirius isn’t dying after being brought back😀 I’m thinking we make Bianca be either Emmeline and have Mary blame James for not keeping her gf safe and then have her confide in Lily. Anyway, James stopping at nothing to save Regulus!! I also think James would be powerful as fuck because of this theory I have that the less children a god have = to more powerful kids idk why but it’s something I think ab a lot regarding the actual seven. James would have Photokinesis and Heliokinesis as well as a lot of the powers listed under the Apollo cabins power list (I can’t choose😭) although I mostly say this because I’m gonna hc that Euphemia is a demigod herself, or a legacy, she’s one of the few Greek ones that lived long enough to live semi peacefully in the moral world. Her godly parent is Hecate so that makes James hymns and magic in general just cranked up. It’s why he’s a major player in the war because he comes from an extremely powerful line of legacies (Potter is his mother last name and there’s been records of many, many of the family being demigods)(he doesn’t find this out until later) the Potters being descended from the Peverell brothers in the HP universe just always makes me think that the Potters have a lot more magical power than Rowling gave them so I’m gonna give that power to James in this au😄

James and Regulus holding the sky together!!!! This one is important to me, idk why, but it is. And their grey hair wouldn’t go away randomly in the series, it’d stay there! I feel like this moment would be when Regulus realizes he’s fallen for James because while he was taken, his faith that James would save him never wavers and that’s a big thing for him, that hope in another person, but it’s because he knows who James is. However, he never expects James to help him hold the sky. There’s a difference than simply going after a friend and going against a goddess’s warning (Artemis definitely told her nephew to not take the sky because she would rather her nephew be safe than anything) and shouldering the weight of the world for them. This is the moment he realizes he loves James. He doesn’t tell him, of course 🙄 James had loved regulus since the beginning, it never seemed like something he had to realize. Since the moment he came to the camp and Regulus’ dark grey eyes met James’ own amber colored ones, James knew he was meant to be there. James knew their entire lives were leading up to that moment. Of course, he’s also the son of Apollo and literally has prophecy related powers so he could probably feel the actual strings of fate that tied them together. Which is why he made it his mission to annoy Regulus into friendship on the first day. James doesn’t tell Regulus this until the Labyrinth, when Regulus gets jealous of flaming red hair and emerald green eyes that belong to Lily Evans, someone James felt a strange pull to (because she’s meant to be the oracle🤭) which leads to Regulus getting injured and James thanking his father for passing on his healing powers because he came tell Regulus how he feels in a intimate, cliche moment.

(Regulus, our souls are made of the same stardust. There is no one else for me.I wouldn’t want there to be.)

Which, this leads my man Regulus on a mission to find a way to protect James. Thus, he stumbles upon the Curse of Achilles and that whole plot plays out with the exception that James would only go through with it if Regulus did too. Except James wouldn’t choke Regulus like Percy did (even tho Percy was justified ngl) he’d def be heartbroken tho thinking his love had betrayed him, ofc he forgives him once Reggie explains. Once they both submerge into the river and come out again, they get visited by the three fates because ofc 🙄 and basically because they both were used the other to ground themselves to their human side, the fates decide to drop that one can’t live without the other. That should Regulus or James get stuck in their Achilles spot, they’d both die. (Son of the Sun, his heart and life he shall keep)

This would definitely lead to James and Barty fighting and Barty highkey bout to end it when Regulus interrupts with the, “Family, Barty. You promised.”

Then, once the war was over and they go back to camp half-blood, Regulus kisses James and admits to his love for him. And then, James goes missing and three new half-bloods turn up. James would only be able to remember Regulus and would be the one to get everyone on his side 🤣 Octavian would soooo be Snape. I feel like it’s funny asf because of how much Octavian hated Percy and it’s even better that James is the prophesied Son of Apollo and Snape is a legacy. He’d be so pissed that James’ powers are stronger 💀💀

Then Mark of Athena, I was gonna have Sirius and Remus fall instead of James and Regulus but I thought better of it because imagine Regulus seeing James snap in Tartarus. It freaking Regulus out to the point that he begs him never to do it again. ( either uses his plague and sickness power or sun powers to fuck up Akhlys)

Like I can so see that Regulus would save Remus from the web that was wrapped on his foot by manipulating the earth with his power, only to slip and fall into the hole which lead to James jumping to grab him and Sirius grabbing James. James would make Sirius promise to get the others to the other side. And then they’d fall. Regulus and James would cling to each other and James would so use his power to keep Regulus warm (he let it slip that he hates the underground because it makes him feel cold, like the dead)

That’s all I’ve managed to come up with so far, but it’s being rotting my brain all night

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