#rr critical

[believesinfairydust]

“i’m disappointed in ricks portrayal of certain minority characters and think he could’ve done way better” and “i love the riordanverse it’s my favorite series” are two statements that can both be true for you

[that-guy-in-the-chiton]

me, a mythology nerd, to Rick Riordan:

[erenfox]

ok but it's absolutely hilarious to me how HADES - the God who almost never cheated on his wife - has more demigod kids than Poseidon - who is known to cheat on Amphitrite all the goddamn time (hell, some myths even suggest that Poseidon has more kids than ol Zeusie)

and don't you give me any of the Big Oath After WW2 bs.

[snowflakesincalifornia]

I couldn’t reblog the og post bc ig Tumblr’s ruined the code, so this is a copy of it. Please give credit to the og posters.

milf-percy

It dosen't really matter that Percy isn't hurt by Annabeth insulting him all the time and sometimes even being physically violent to him(he should be because that's a realistic response from an abuse and bullying survivor but i digress),not just because he's a fictional character and not a real person with free will,but also because that's Annabeth's way of showing she fucking hates him.Her treatment of him has literally not changed since they were 12 yet nobody in this dumbass fandom can shut up about how ~developed~ their relathionship is cause they make out now and are planning on having a dysfunctional cishet marriage while trashing the characters of color for being 'annoying'.

Percy and Annabeth are not 'made for eachother' because Rick wrote everyone in-universe as telling them that and i'd like to remind y'all that this is the same guy who wrote Luke,an adult serial abuser and ped0phile,as a 'hero' because of the Great Prophecy.Destiny means jack shit and Annabeth and Percy-ESPECIALLY Percy,who's been doomed to trauma over and over again despite his best efforts to escape it-should've been allowed to choose who to love instead of having it shoved down their throats by both everyone in their franchise and the creepy weirdos in the fandom too

@southasianpercy

chaoticcerise

Hi! As someone with ADHD who's been in several abusive relationships before, I figured I'd add something about why it IS actually realistic that he doesn't appear hurt, but that's actually even more alarming. So it starts with meeting them (obviously) and especially if they don't really have any healthy romantic IRL relationships to compare it to (which the books go out of their way to emphasize that this is the case) then it can be really hard to notice when red flags like that start to come up. "Oh it'll get better!" "They're still adjusting to it!" All of which are valid! There's healthy relationships that start rough and there's relationships that start really well and then something happens that doesn't go super well and it turns bad real quick. I've been in a few of both. The problem comes when it still happens after they're asked to stop, which is what happens in Percy Jackson. This can lead to things like "Oh they're just kidding, surely they don't mean it!" "Oh that's just how they flirt/show they love me!" Which, again, is fine IF IT'S WELCOME. However if it's not then eventually it's "Oh they're just like that." "Oh it's fine I guess, it's not like I can stop it." Just because someone doesn't complain doesn't mean that they're consenting. It means they're resigned to the abuse. And that means that he's internalizing and normalizing it. "We don't hear any real negativity towards Annabeth in Percy's thoughts though!!!" Well no but we don't hear any love either. We don't ever hear any thoughts about her really ever. Nothing about how pretty she is or how cool she is or anything. Percy Jackson has thoughts about EVERYONE. As someone with ADHD, this level of no thoughts is concerning and no basis for a relationship. He deserves someone who will treat him well. She deserves someone who thinks about her fondly. Both of them deserve better but they both need to undergo some character development and serious therapy first.

[hermesmyplatonicbeloved]

Annabeth's stalking in ep2 is not great, to say the least.

I get that it seems cute to some of you, Annabeth being all driven and ambitious and figuring out that a water god is Percy's father, but like. Stalking is not cool. It's an invasion of privacy. It makes the person feel unsafe. It's unsettling. Even Percy acknowledges this - he straight up asks Luke to make her stop.

And to all of you who continue to romantize it and downplay how serious it is, I want to remind you that in SoM Annabeth used her invisibility cap to peep at Percy while he's changing his clothes in the assumed privacy and safety of his bedroom. (if you don't believe me I can pull book quotes). Yeah, that's how bad it gets.

[blueskyportrait]

I chose violence oops/hj

art by @minuiko

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

If i rewrote the Riordanverse books with more accurate mythology, more diversity, less racism & ableism, less paradoxes, more found family, etc

Note: The only difference between YA and Middle Grade would be that they could say fuck in YA since i don't plan to make it violent

Also Note: Middle grade is what the current books are rated

[caterpillarinacave]

Riordan's work is only an "inaccurate portrayal" of the Greek gods in the sense they never raped anyone over the course of the books.

Oh dear. You see, this is the type of thing I’m talking about. 

Anon, I’m sure you’re a fan of Rick Riordan’s, which prompted you to respond to a zero note post, tagged with critical tags, with the vigor of a wronged man. 

@heliomanteia has several good posts explaining this. I highly recommend you go and read some of those.

To quote this post by them, which used words much better than I could, (and I recommend you read in full):

Riordan’s portrayal of gods is incredibly one dimensional, and is far from respectful.

Roman life was based around community, strengths, and security among other values. But RR, however brief he refers to it, portrays Rome as a militaristic, war obsessed land. 

He moves the Greek god to America, and portrays the actual land of Greece with very little respect. It’s more of a “dead fantasy land”

Even RR admits his books aren’t accurate, as he bases them off different myths from different places (For example, he takes his Gorgone from Ovid’s (a LATIN man) version of the myth, despite Ovid not being greek and not worshipping Greek gods. (Interesting, but a little  off topic fact, the Roman emperor Augustus, who ruled in Ovid’s time, introduces the Imperial Cult, which worshipped Roman emperors as gods.) 

Before I go, however, I think we should talk about your comment. “ Riordan's work is only an "inaccurate portrayal" of the Greek gods in the sense they never raped anyone over the course of the books.”

Anon, you’ve proved my point here. Rick Riordan has boiled gods down to one dimensional characters who don’t care about their followers. 

Anon, people worship these gods to this day. You’re viewpoint, which I would guess comes from knowledge you obtained through RR’s writing, continues the idea that the gods in these myths are cruel, uncaring, unkind, one dimensional beings, with no care for humanity. 

Here’s a fun fact for the way: Ares, the god of war, doesn’t rape anyone in Greek mythology. Period. Despite RR’ portrayal of a thick headed, bros-bro, jock bully asshole who takes advantage of the world around him and has his head so far up his own ass he can see last nights dinner; Ares never rapes anyone. 

I hope this inspires you to look more critically into RR’s writing, and come to enjoy it whilst still acknowledging the culture it’s built from, and the inaccuracy within in it. 

[grayskyzephyr]

A rewrite of Reyna and Aphrodite's meeting (and fixing Reyna's Aro/Ace awakening)

Reyna thinks a relationship will fix her, because that's what everyone does right? Having a partner supposedly makes you a better person. But she confused that with love. Because she and Jason were praetors, she assumed they should be in a relationship because they work well together, and almost everyone in New Rome expects it to happen. Same with Percy because he's clever and saved New Rome.

When Reyna realized she's aro/ace, she thinks back to Aphrodite's words, and assumed she's broken because she doesn't feel romantic love. Aphrodite is very blunt with her words and she doesn't give much clarification. So when she said "no one can heal your heart" she doesn't mean that Reyna will never find love. It's that she needs to love herself in order to forgive herself for what happened to her father, therefore healing her heart.

[anahiti]

It shall never not annoy me that the only character in the Riordanverse without ADHD(canonically) was Frank

The one Asian main character...

[reviilo]

sometimes i think of how riordan really made the gay boy and the black girl hitler's young siblings

[rosabell14]

Alright I'm gonna say it

Annabeth being POC is a stupid STUPID idea unless you change Alot of her characterization

Look, Rick's representation is stereotypeical at best and offensive at worst but I'm not here to talk about piper Hazel or Leo no there are other posts for that but you might say, hey Annabeth's race isn't important to her character like them!!!

Here's the thing. Annabeth was never meant to be a POC character. Rick specifically wrote her as not being one. If she was a POC character well... It would be the same as making Hermione granger black without realizing how messed up the implications are. Hermione a POC girl making an organization to help free house elves who are slaves but being told again and again that she's being stupid. Those slaves want to be slaves!!!

Now you're telling me that Annabeth chase a supposed poc would think that she has to work harder than other people and that she's opreseed because she's BLONDE???

oh wait speaking of that, yet another poc character with white features. Same as Hazel and Piper with their gold and kaleidoscope eyes to show how special they are!!!

Also Annabeth who's often short tempered and at times physically violent is supposed to be POC now? We just LOVE some angry black woman stereotype don't we Rick?

Look I'm happy for the fans but Annabeth being poc just shows how empty Rick's representation is and would just hammer in bad stereotypes unless there are some major changes to her character

[that-guy-in-the-chiton]

What turned me off of pjo was just how hoo handled Gaea . It also didn't help fans of the series weren't took kind about my objections to it.

Exactly. Gaia could've been such an interesting and complex character but no. She had to be the villain.

Yeah, the fandom of the series can act like real maenads when it comes to anyone criticising their precious series. 🤣

[erenfox]

Now don't get me wrong, I loved The Chalice of the Gods (and spat on The Sun and the Star). TCoTG perfectly captured our Golden Trio and it was just really great. The Sun and the Star though outright disappointed me and made me so FREAKING MAD at the same time (don't get me wrong, I like Solangelo but it could have been so much better), but I'm not gonna go on that now.

What I am gonna say is that to me, Riordanverse canonically ended with Heroes of Olympus. I'm sorry, the later books just don't feel like they belong in the same universe. Magnus Chase is good, Kane Chronicles is amazing, Daughter of the Deep is a masterpiece, but the main CHB timeline ended for me after Blood of Olympus.

[ah0yh0y]

the ~line~ in the last olympian

OK PEOPLE 

I WAS REREADING THE LAST OLYMPIAN AND IT CAME MY ATTENTION THAT PEOPLE THINK THAT THE “do you love me line” from LUKE TO ANNABETH WAS NOT PLATONIC

LUKE SAW ANNABETH AS A SIBLING - “LOVE” DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ROMANTIC.- HE SAW HER AS A SIBLING 

i see this line as  luke saying  “were we really like a family? Was I a good big brother figure before me and Kronos stuffed  everything up?

and even if you dont take that interpretation - i still would say that luke did not say that in a romantic sense - he could have meant “hey did you have a crush on me at any point?”

[zazzander]

Thinking about the Mark of Athena dining scene again because the way Octavian's interaction with Ella & Annabeth is written is honestly kind of odd.

Ella issues a prophecy and Octavian immediately believes her. It's Annabeth who questions Ella's intelligence, albeit only externally.

Why not have Ella issue the prophecy - then have Octavian dismiss her as just a "crazy chicken". That would have shown how arrogance was his fatal flaw. And it would have put the heroes in a better light.

Like so much of Octavian's writing, Riordan fails to really show us Octavian's worst traits. He only tells us. The one and only definitive time Octavian is actually a terrible person is at the beginning of Son of Neptune (eventually else is either unconfirmed or explainable). Driving home how villainous Octavian can be at this time would be ideal, because the Greeks are only just meeting him.