#we talk a lot about nico's trauma but jason?

[maitso]

there's so many layers to jason's character, i could and i would stay hours talking about it

[scarareg]

From 0 to 10, which grades would you give to PJO ships?

Hi anon! This is such a fun question! Thanks for sending it! I tried to choose the most popular ships because there are so many variations of them, but if you are curious about a specific one that I didn't mention, feel free to ask!

Percabeth (Percy x Annabeth)

3/10 I give it a 3 only because in PJO they are cute but in HOO they are full of red flags and I hate what Rick did with them. I feel like their goals for the future do not align at all, and it is as if they together because that is what they are used to and not because they are in love. It seems like Percy is always trying to accommodate to what Annabeth wants and I think in the long run that would make him miserable, and those feeling will make worst a relationship that is already fragile.

In the future he is going to resent her so bad, because we already see that he doesn't feel comfortable joking/talking about some topics because Annabeth gets mad, now add him feeling like he has to follow everything she says or do just to be "the perfect boyfriend". It is a recipe for disaster

AnnieLuke (Annabeth x Luke)

1/10 this one is complicated. The thing is that I understand the appeal of a childhood besfrieds to lovers, I love those, BUT Luke never saw Annabeth as anything but a little sister. That + the fact that their relationship became toxic, it just make me uncomfortable. Sorry Annie, but this one is not the one, at least in my opinion (and in Luke's lmao)

Perluke (Percy x Luke)

4/10 I see you fans of friends to enemies to lovers or friends to lovers to enemies, I get it, but to me this one lacks that je ne sais quoi to make it appealing. But I can understand why some people like it. And I am part of the team "Percy had a crush on Luke yet he was the last to know"

Percico (Percy x Nico)

10/10 they are my OTP. I like how they complement each other. They have the history, the angst, the complexity. I like the dynamic of two characters who went through a lot, but deal with trauma in opposite ways.

They are ride or die for each other, but they keep that information a secret from each other, which makes their relationship really fun.

Most importantly Nico thinks Percy is cool AF and he adores him just the way he is. Percy is one of the few people who tried to get close to Nico and to understand him.

Their empathetic nature would make this relationship super sweet, tender and calm. For example, if one of them need to rest or are stressed out, they can go to the other and they will know if they need to talk or just want to nap.

Bonus points because their relationship with each other's parents would make their relationship even more interesting and fun!

Perachel (Percy x Rachel)

9/10 love this one! My second fave Percy ship! This is Percy's loss, to be honest. Their chemistry is super natural and they are always having fun! Rachel seems like a low-maintenance partner, so being with her must be pretty easy. She would not make drama if Percy can't be there with her for some time because he has to save the world or whatever. I think he can chill with her, and just like with Nico, Percy just being Percy is enough

Valgrace (Leo x Jason)

9/10 What I like about them is that both are insecure about themselves but always see the best in each other. Jason is Leo's hype man and Leo is always thinking about how impressive Jason is. Where Leo is chaotic, Jason is calm. Where Jason is anxious, Leo is chill. They just screams healthy couple

Jiper (Jason x Piper)

2/10 the problem here is how the relationship started. Both of them are really kind to each other, but their romance is based on a lie, which neither of them is to blame for, but it just feels wrong. To me, after knowing how their relationship started, Piper seems to like Jason enough to stay a couple, and Jason was too kind and just rolled with it, and that is not good reason to stay with someone in my opinion.

Liper (Leo x Piper)

9/10 shout out to @maygirlsposts to make me see the light with this one! Before, it never crossed my mind they could be a couple, but gosh! They are so cute together!

Piper and Leo genuinely have a connection, they share sense of humor, they have been through difficult stuff together and are empathetic towards the other's problems. They have a healthy balance between being chaotic when they are chilling, and having the ability to have honest conversations when necessary. They are overall wholesome AF!

Extra points for being the healthy version of Hephaestus x Aphrodite

Jasico (Jason x Nico)

10/10 this one is not my ship,only because I prefer them as besties, but I see the vision of their shippers; and I give them a 10 because they are probably the healthiest ship Nico has, to be honest.

Jason is always so patient with Nico, and sincere yet kind. Is great to see Nico feeling at ease with him. Jason has the stability Nico needs in a relationship.

Both bring the best of each other, and push the other to do and be the best they can be!

Jeyna (Jason x Reyna)

8/10 oh what could have been! The tragedy of the lost potential! They were too powerful together and Rick couldn't handle that.

They have history together and understand each other deeply. They are both strong mentally and physically, so they could be the standard of a demigod couple. They are both healthy people on their own, so their relationship would naturally be nice.

Their love story could have been so interesting, like: separated by war and the gods, reunited by fate!

To tell you a secret, I see them as Nico's unofficial parents/older siblings. Basically, they both adopted him separately, protect him, and genuinely care about him. They would have been one hell of parents lmao

Jercy (Jason x Percy)

6/10 this one is fun! Again it is not my ship, but I like their dynamic. They give "Two bros,chilling in the hot tub, five feet apart cause they’re not gay" energy

Frazel (Frank x Hazel)

9/10 this is the only canon ship I like! Frank is super sweet and Hazel is always so kind, both are just wholesome AF! Like two teddy bears! I like that they started out as friends and both were seen as the "weird kids", that makes me think their bond is just genuine!

Lazel (Leo x Hazel)

5/10 they are cute, I just prefer them as friends. And not gonna lie, the fact that Hazel's ex is Leo's grandpa makes them kinda weird to me as a couple.

As friends will give them a 8/10, they need more time to get closer, but they already are super fun!

Fraleo (Frank x Leo)

6/10 They are funny! Like wholesome-awkward meets wholesome-chaotic. They just make me laugh because of how cute they would be, completely adorable! Too pure for this world!

I like this, but personally I like my ships with more angst, so I prefer them as friends. But you guys, their shippers, you must be the cutest, most wholesome people out there!

Leo x Frank x Hazel

7/10 I see the vision, but as you can see, I like Leo being their bestie instead of in a romance. But I understand! What's better than a love triangle? An OT3!

Pipabeth (Piper x Annabeth)

8/10 I like them a lot! This is the ship I like for Annabeth. In general I think Annabeth seems more comfortable with women. It feels like Rick wrote her as a lesbian-who-doesn't-know-she-is-one, but did so whithout realizing. Her chemistry with Piper (and with Reyna) just comes naturally and she looks like she is having fun!

Piper's fun personality complements Annabeth's logical one. Piper is all feelings, Annabeth is all brains, love that!

Also, just imagine their mothers' reactions when they find out they are dating!

Pipercy (Piper x Percy)

5/10 this is fun! But it needs that something else to make it super appealing to me, you know. Both are crack heads so they would be hilarious and a menace together! I can see the appeal! For me, I just prefer them as besties, like "Prepare for trouble! And make it double!"

Solangelo (Nico x Will)

3/10 in canon, 10/10 in fanon

First of all, can we talk about how fucking ethereal their ship name is? The ship name gets an ∞/10!

Now, the ship. I will start saying that I LOVE ships that are opposites attracts, but sadly this ship is a bit like Percabeth, but better. Let me explain. The concept is there, but at the moment of writing their romance, Rick kinda sucks. Genuinely think fic writers do a better job writing them.

For starters I have a problem with Nico being outed by Cupid. And I do not like at all that he doesn't have time to process that trauma, neither his crush on Percy and the heartbreak that comes after his rejection. Will is shoehorned into the narrative because "Nico needs a boyfriend" and Will is the only character available. He was a glorified extra.

This takes me to that I feel Rick thinks a relationship will solve all of your problems. I firmly believe that Nico needed time alone to recover from all of his trauma, which is a lot. But Rick's solution for this kind of stuff is "get a partner!". (Leo and Piper also suffered of this)

Is like: "Did you live through World War II? Your mom died and you were immediately stuck in an hotel for maybe one or two months? When you finally got out, were you in another century? Your sister died one week later? Years passed and you lived on your own for a while and felt scared and isolated from everyone you knew? Did you fight another war? Went to Tartarus and came back and then get kidnapped? You almost died, again? Had to fight again? Don't worry, having a boyfriend will solve all your problems!"

And I HATE IT! This is not Will's fault, it's Rick's. So I feel bad for not loving Solangelo in canon, but I really think Nico needs time for himself, he will have time for boyfriends in the future after he gets in a better head space.

Conclusion Will and Nico deserve better writers.

Once again thanks Anon! Would love to know what you think about this!

[yourclumsyguardianangel]

the seven + a few others future headcanons

percy:

becomes a high school teacher

teaches high school marine biology (idk how it is in other schools but when we hit sophomore year we got to choose different bio classes ie: marine bio, ag bio, med bio + regular bio)

also teaches the mythology elective and is the swim team coach

annabeth:

we already know this queen is an architect with obvious inspiration from greek architecture

learns how to make blue food for percy and their kids from sally

has traveled all over the world looking at different architecture

learns the basics of many languages so shes able to communicate with the locals

her and leo team up to build a small school near camp half-blood for year rounders so everyone can learn consistently but dw they get summers off

piper:

love her but shes a nepo baby

she doesnt act like it tho

”are you tristan mcleans daughter?” “who?”

loves her dad to bits but does not like being seen out in public by the paparazzi

marries shel, they dont have kids tho, neither of them want to bring any into the world especially with america’s downfall and the government erasing women and poc rights

is basically leos big sister atp

leo:

him and calypso dont last, maybe a year and a half in they split bc calypso wants to explore the world and leo is very emotionally unstable and calypso has a hard time understanding

they end on good terms but dont ever talk unless its with a group of friends

he goes into a trade to become a mechanic and owns his own shop

starts smoking cigarettes/vaping

his friends dont really approve but they understand he cant quit just yet as hes not in a mental space to do so

goes to therapy with a psychologist whos a demigod that specializes in grieving and war trauma

they all go to therapy but hes the last one to do it

he’s still the ‘happy go lucky’ guy hes always been but as he gets closer w the others they start to see the true sadness in him

piper and him grow a lot closer after jason died and have a big sister little brother relationship

hazel:

my girl stays at camp jupiter

takes nicos place at camp

horse trainer

her and frank also dont work out as a romantic relationship, they felt that the age gap was too much after frank turned 18 and hazel was 15 theyre still friends tho

hazel often visits leo in his shop

as much as leo reminds her of sammy, through therapy she has recognized that theyre separate people and to not push all her past feelings for sammy onto leo

not only does she train horses but she also teaches little kids basic math, science, and history to the younger kids

they all call her ms. hazel

she prefers to teach the really young kids (age 4-7)

wears her hair in different braid styles after BOO

frank:

my friggin HOMIE

i relate to frank a lot personality wise

therefore i think hed be a 4/20 fanatic after BOO

hes not stoned during training or during important camp duties

but otherwise you try talkin to him and you dont really notice until you look and see the far off look and red eyes and he just goes “huh?”

other than that hes a great leader

after he gets his cool new look from mars he takes really good care of his body including consistent exercise and eating really healthily (maybe he has a soft spot for fast food when hes hi)

him joining the military does not make sense to me

he lost his mom to war, and he was in one himself, idk about you but i would not wanna join the military after being the main character in a war

he studies to be a veterinarian for exotic animals

when no one is around he shifts into the animal to find out whats wrong

”dr. zhang prefers to work by himself” “why” “idk but hes always right, if it aint broke dont fix it”

jason:

rip home-slice

nico:

my other homie

my guy does not get taller than 5’8

stays at camp during the summer to train the new and old kids

him and will get a house together

teaches history at the camp school

cat dad (5 cats and counting)

will:

takes nicos last name when they marry bc its cooler

him being a doctor doesnt click w me i more picture him being an EMT

EMTs are hotter anyways

does med training with new apollo kids whenever he gets time

if he’s not busy during working hours he drops by nicos classroom w his fav drink from dutch bros (starbucks is MID) and hangs out with him and his students

[poppitron360]

Someone sent me an ask ages ago about my Valdangelo hcs, but it somehow got deleted? I’m really really sorry bc I missed a chance of a lifetime to infodump so I hope you’re reading this if that was you and you’ve been waiting for my response- here it is. Please please please don’t be discouraged I love it when people send me asks.

This also doubles up as the third instalment of my series about “Why Literally Any Ship Is Better Than Caleo/Deep-Dive Into My Thoughts On All Leo Ships”:

Pt. 1 Valzhang

Pt. 2 Valgrace

We were robbed of Leo and Nico’s friendship. I get that there are a lot of characters and so many arcs to give them, but I wish that Rick had given them more time to interact and spent less time on Caleo, because tbh we never really cared about Cal for any reason other than to develop the men’s arcs. Because Platonic Valdangelo has so much potential that just isn’t covered in the books, I’m gonna base most of this post on what COULD’VE been, from fannon and headcannons.

1. They are Trauma Twinsies. By that, I mean they are both metaphors for different ways of coping with loss. Nico pushes others away from himself, not wanting to get close to anyone. Leo pushes himself away from others, hiding behind an idealised version of himself. Both believe that letting others in would just lead to rejection, and so they shut everyone out to protect themselves. But I feel like Nico copes with it a lot better than Leo does. He has an outlet for it- being emo. As someone who dabbles with emoism myself, I can tell you that, for me, wearing those clothes actually makes me incredibly happy. Nico is owning his pain. Leo is bottling it all up inside and then hiding it behind the jokes and the smiles. I feel like Nico could teach Leo to let it out a bit.

2. Also, their backstories match in more ways than one. Both their moms were killed because of a prophecy about them- leading them both to blame themselves for their deaths. Both have been treated as outcasts because of their powers, Nico by CHB and CJ, Leo by his family (and probably CHB as well, though we don’t really see how he was treated after revealing his abilities). Both ran away because of that. Both probably have religious trauma. They’ve both lost everyone they’ve ever cared about. They’re both being smothered with love and affection by Jason and the rest of the fandom. They both cope with feeling alone by spending more time talking to things that aren’t alive, Nico to the dead, Leo to his machines.

3. So imagine how they could seek comfort in each other! They’ve both been through similar things, so they understand each other’s pain way better than the others. I mean, Jason means well, but he’s never truly known what it’s like to be an outcast- he was held aloft on a golden shield and pronounced Preator. Neither of them would try to “fix” the other, and they wouldn’t try to “one up” the other either. They just share, and when the other says “that sucks”, they know that they really mean it. I imagine they sit five feet apart and just cry. No talking necessary, just silent understanding passing between them. They keep each other company, because they both know what it’s like to be alone.

4. They are both autistic (headcannon). Thank you to @aroaceleovaldez for opening my eyes to this one, and in fact making me realise a few things about myself and why I relate to Leo and Nico so much (pls go check out their posts on the subject, they do a much better job at explaining it than me). But it’s true. I don’t know if Rick did it intentionally or not, but I henceforth hath claimed them both as my kin, alongside Hephaestus himself (“I don’t understand organic life forms”- me neither, man, me neither). Leo and Nico communicate on the same wavelength, something Caleo doesn’t do. Calypso explodes at him for not fitting the “hero” stereotype, for being different. She has no patience with Leo when he does a social fuck-up, something I personally find incredibly frustrating. When he does something wrong, she just shouts at him, and doesn’t take the time to explain what he should do differently. No wonder Leo immediately got defensive! Here was this random woman yelling at him because he broke her table, and he didn’t understand what he did wrong.

5. They are both tiny- much like how Leo and Frank’s physical appearances symbolise their differences, Leo and Nico’s symbolise their similarities. Because all sad people are short, apparently. Valzhang is the yin and the yang, Valdangelo is just two yins excitedly info-dumping about their special interests, (Mythomagic, Machinery/Dragons). Their shortness could be metaphors for many things that they have in common, but I think it best symbolises their loss of childhoods. Nico has changed a lot since he was that happy little ten-year-old we first met in ttc, but Rick never lets us forget that he’s still just a kid. Leo always lacked the physical advantage in fights, so he’s had to learn from an early age to use his brains and his wits to defend himself. As a result, he grew up way too fast, but he still projects that silly, hyperactive little-boy energy as a way to mask. Calypso ridicules Leo for his height and his scrawny appearance.

6. Nico could let Leo get closure on his mom. Think about it. He’d be able to summon her, let him make peace, and let him realise that she does not blame him for her death. Nico could console Leo, reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, because Nico understands more than anybody what Leo is going through. This helps Leo on his arc way more than Calypso could, help him get closure, and learn to accept himself and his powers.

So, the summary of all these points is: They can understand each other on ANOTHER LEVEL. More than Cal and Leo ever could.

Like I said in my Valzhang post, it doesn’t have to be romantic. I hate that everything revolves around romance. Platonic relationships are important, y’all! We all need them, especially Leo, considering how insecure he feels about being the “seventh wheel”.

What ship should I do next? These are all the ones I actively ship, but anything’s better than Caleo. Liper could be fun, or Perleo. Maybe, to prove that literally anything is better than Caleo, I’ll do Leo x Octavian? Lmk in the comments.

[algumaideia]

In hoo, Rick really went hard with this whole Nico ostracization thing. Everyone was uncomfortable with him, everyone thought he was creepy, everyone didn't like to be around him. And all of this with Nico simply existing. His aura of death were enough to make him constantly othered. It had nothing to do with his personality, how he coped with his trauma, or how he presented himself, all his actions were deemed as creepy just because. There was a clear lack of compassion and sympath when it was about him, the lens with all the characters looked him were always negative.

And the thing is that with most characters having those views of Nico, almost none of them going through a journey of redemption and those prejudices being treated as a thing that came with meeting Nico it becomes difficult to believe Nico would find a place where he could be fully accepted. I mean people who were nice to him and loved him, that he could find, but not an intire place, an intire community because this goes against to how Rick shows people see and react to Nico.

All of this leading to Nico's self-hatred and lack of self-acceptance. When he talks to Jason after Cupid, he talks like everything is wrong with him, everything makes him not being able to be accepted: his godly heritage, his original time, his sexuality. He sees all those things that are part of him as simply characteristics that make him more othered, only through those lens.

But the thing is that we know the characters can not have problem with this. They all love Hazel, and if it is about the Death part Hazel and Percy almost fell in love with Tatanus, we see a lot of queer characters through the series that are accepted with no problem.

Rick made the problem to be about Nico. But it is not his fault, he is not doing anything to not be accepted. In this scenario always chasing and punishing yourself for not being able to find a community, which Nico does, is useless. Nico will never find complete acceptence, most people will find him creepy and won't like him. And Nico beating himself up because of it just means the person who has no fault suffers the most.

I believe Nico accepting that it was people who had a problem and not him and learning to just don't give a damn to those people would be way better than giving him a boyfriend and shoving him into a place that made him feel unwelcomed.

Nico loving himself and understanding that most people are missing the amazing person he is and loving deeply the small group of people that love him back is the happy ending he deserved and that he could get.

[happyk44]

Re: my tags on that last post (basically saying that I'm pretty sure Rick made up the whole Romans feared Neptune thing, because there isn't any proof of that I can find), it doesn't really make sense to have done that because there's no real split in the books between the romans and the greeks. not to mention we don't actually have a child of neptune to use as a reference point in the books of neptune's behaviour. we just have a vague anecdote about a kid 100 years before that caused an earthquake.

cool. so like. none of the other demigods have ever caused a major problem. just that one kid? alright.

the thing is: greek gods and roman gods are different. yes, they're conflated, but a lot of gods are conflated with one another. that's how hermanubis came into being. that's how neptune became the god of the sea - initially he was just the god of fresh water, then he got kind of merged with poseidon, and wound up in charge of the salty sea and probably came out of that deal, like what the fuck, i can't drink this??

also if you look at any greek god's wikipedia page or other informational website, you will see something like "their norse equivalent was X, their indo-european equivalent was Y, their etruscan equivalent was Z) and so on. i'm pretty sure this is common on the pages of some members of other pantheons, i just don't feel like checking right now.

everyone steals and shares. it's kind of just what happens.

but back to greco-roman and pjo nonsense. greek and roman gods are different gods. but in the books, they're considered to be the same, just different fonts, where the greeks are more easygoing solo artists, and the romans are war-faring teammates, fancy cursive versus clear print. part of the series insists that the two are somehow different, but there's very little split in tone when it comes to characterization. part of this is because we do not see children of the same god paired against one another. the exception to this is hazel and nico, and briefly thalia and jason.

there's little to no difference between hazel and nico. other than hazel being better at money, and nico being better at dead people. hazel does not come off as more militaristic compared to nico. if anything, nico seems more strict and stringent than she does. you could argue that's because of trauma, but then arguably, they should be the same on that level.

if you wanted to label a difference between "oh this is clearly a child of pluto and this is clearly a child of hades", then hazel's curse shouldn't have been a thing. it should've been "all children of pluto can do this, but children of hades cannot/have a harder time with it" (which is what i headcanon anyway). additionally hazel could've been the one capable of doing geokinesis, not nico, but unfortuantely we'd already seem do it a bunch in the prior series, so that never would've worked out.

there's no real difference between thalia and jason either. we never get an internal monologue from thalia, so we can't see how her thoughts might differ from jason. but they are both children of zeus/jupiter who were pushed into leadership positions (thalia as head of the hunters, jason as leader of the fifth cohort). they both utilize lightning powers, they both are good fighters (but considered less good than percy). thalia fights with a spear, one of ivlvis's forms was a lance (which is a type of spear). i mean fucking hell, part of jason's training under the wolf house is making the journey from the house to camp jupiter on his own and frigging thalia had to do that too.

i've also already talked about the different explorations of zeus/jupiter's abilities as a god of law and order - so like if you wanted to show contrast between romans and greeks - enough to prove that they were ACTUALLY having issues maintaining a specific identity - then there could've been more emphasis on jason as a figure of law and order, especially due to rome's very high placement of jupiter (and juno).

conceptually, however, there is no difference between the two of them, just as there isn't much difference between hazel and nico, aside from personality. and we are never exposed to any other other demigods at either camp enough to see how they differ from their counterparts.

percy wasn't even at camp jupiter long enough for the whole "children of neptune are a threat because romans fear the sea" thing to be worth anything useful. and like?? did it ever come up again in any of the other books? did it ever have a fucking point?

i would've understood it more if he had actually pulled it from real history. but the romans did, in fact, have a navy and utilized it as part of building their empire. there's legit a wikipedia article labeled "roman navy". so this narrative that they despise neptune because they hated the ocean and didn't sail is really odd! like yeah, the navy wasn't as important to them as the army, but it's not like it was written off entirely! it couldn't have been. part of the roman empire was in the frigging mediterrean.

and to stop from going on about that, part of my takeaway from the books was that the camps ended up understanding that there was no real difference between the two of them, finally joining together in peace and harmony and blah blah blah

(which, then, why the two camps just didn't fucking merge after that, i will never understand, like i definitely thought that's where the series was headed, sort of like a hey, if you're living on the west coast come here and if you live on the east coast come here and if you're in the middle then, fucking i dunno, eat some grass)

but!! if rick wanted the "neptune is greatly feared" thing to have an effect, it would've a) made more sense had he actually shown neptune in the books and made us understand WHY the romans feared him, b) given us a child of neptune to round out the other two and provide a contrast to Percy, and c) actually given us some decent contrast between the two camps/gods! i mean even with ares and mars arguing, there was little between the dialogue to indicate "these are people with different priorities". it was just blood, murder, kill everyone! like, come on,

now - if the series had been written in mind with the two pantheons being written as completely separate entities - and the romans' dislike of the greeks was due to the modern day conflation of "oh roman gods are just greek gods, there's nothing special about them" that would've been pretty interesting as a dilemma. it also would've been cool because rather than roman vs greek battle being written like the same entity technically trying to fight itself, it would've been a historical throwback of "hey remember when ancient rome took over ancient greece"

anyway i am done rambling, back to my thoughts about that daughter of neptune i definitely do not want to write a fic about

(also re the gods having issues trying to keep a single identity down: why the hell was frank the one who had gods arguing in his head? i know i've complained about this before, but frank wasn't having identity issues - jason was. if anyone should've had the greek vs roman versions of their parent fighting in their head, it should've been him)

[yonemurishiroku]

Yay!

Okay, I'll start off by saying that Jason Grace is my absolute favourite character in the whole of the camp half-blood chronicles. When I was around 12 or so I genuinely had a crush on him and now that I'm 19 I just absolutely adore him and just want to protect him lol.

Anyways.

He's been done so dirty, okay? Killing a former protagonist after his series is over is so cheap idc, especially if you kill him out of the blue after revealing that a huge part of what he fought for during hoo (his relationship with Piper) was over.

I can understand Leo and Calypso breaking up, because they met for two weeks or something and then 'fell in love'. They have a lot to unpack and a lot to work through before they're able to form a relationship. But Piper and Jason? They were together for five books, there was a genuine connection between them, they worked well together, etc. Idk, whether you ship Jasper or not, them breaking up outside of their main story for factors that weren't even mentioned when they were protagonists is a huge wtf moment.

I don't want to think this, but it feels like Rick wanted Piper to be queer, which, you know, is great, the more representation the better, but there are other, more sensible ways he could've used to approach her queerness. He could've had Piper mention she'd realised she was queer after the war but she still loved Jason because, you know, four books of relationship development weren't for nothing. Or, if he wanted to break them up, he could've given Jason and Piper more protagonism and explain their reasoning for parting ways better.

But I digress.

Jason's death was so fucking gratuitous, it makes no sense. Why would you kill a protagonist after his series is over? Why? Just to be cruel? So that his death can be serve as some stupid character development for Apollo/yet another trauma for Nico?

Also, are we going to talk about how fucking stupid it is to kill Jason specifically? My man had a very important task to fulfil after hoo: he was going to create temples for the minor gods to stop them from rebelling. You know, he was doing virtually all of Olympus a huge service and I honestly don't know how the minor gods didn't all collectively murder Apollo for letting the one demigod that cared about them die. Idk, if I were a minor god I'll go steal his soul or something to resurrect him, because everyone else is too focused on themselves to care about the minor gods. This is so annoying wtf.

And don't even get me started on how sad it is that Jason's peace was robbed of him when he's been in a shitty place most of his life: his mother was an abusive alcoholic (because neglect is abuse), he was raised by a literal wolf and trained to be a warrior ever since, he was the Percy Jackson of Camp Jupiter during pjo, he had to fight in the war against Gaia, he had to see Leo die (and obviously Rick couldn't wait until they'd meet again to kill him), and the love of his life broke up with him when he did absolutely nothing (nothing!) wrong. People may not realise it, but he's one of the characters who's had the most fucked-up lives wtf.

In conclusion, Jason is now part of Hotel Valhalla because Hera did one (1) good thing and glitched his going to the Underworld so that he could live forever. That's what I'm telling myself from crying about him 24/7.

Ok I just want to say that in some time from now unto eternity I may steal borrow that 'if I were a minor god I'll go steal his (Jason's) soul or something to resurrect him' because that's an absolutely fantastic prompt for the next book.

(Or maybe idk the minor gods wrecking havoc bc their only representative was killed off for the sake of an Olympian sounds quite nice too).

For the rest yeah you have a (many) point(s).

[italian-wall-lizard]

I posted 2,635 times in 2022

That's 2,635 more posts than 2021!

398 posts created (15%)

2,237 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@geeky-gay-greek

@emails-i-cant-send

@joshisepic2222

@bakedbananners

@on-the-outside

I tagged 1,322 of my posts in 2022

Only 50% of my posts had no tags

#pjo - 169 posts

#percy jackson - 164 posts

#riordanverse - 163 posts

#rick riordan - 161 posts

#fave - 104 posts

#mcga - 78 posts

#magnus chase - 75 posts

#toa - 50 posts

#alex fierro - 50 posts

#nico di angelo - 49 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#only two have guessed so far and i didn’t answer their asks so any post you see of me eliminating states isn’t a lie i’m not from any of em

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

my rrverse takes:

magnus is an underrated character in his own series

lester/apollo and magnus were BY far the funniest narrators

i didn't like jason's death but it was necessary and it made sense

i actually liked meg, she had a great storyline and she wasn't annoying

piper was queer from the beginning

with enough training hazel could probably be stronger than percy and jason

percy would end jason in a fight in two seconds flat

reyna, samirah, and hazel are the most badass rrverse women ever

i love toa but if i had to choose i would rather have five mcga books and three toa books

fierrochase and zarter are the most underrated ships in the fandom im right

mcga had HUGE potential as a series and rick def could have done more with it and added more books but didn't and i am very mad about that

rick's representation is very flawed both in poc's and lgbtq characters

(the feather in the hair, the food skin color descriptions, the fact that the only three latinx/hispanic characters come from abusive backgrounds, making leo call calypso "mamacita" in tdp, giving poc characters inherently non poc traits (hazels hair and eyes and pipers eyes), having samirah's hair out of her hijab at some points, making anubis white (biggie on that one), making his only book series with two mixed race main characters have three books instead of five)

(the genderfluid shapeshifter trope, outing nico and giving him the most trauma out of the seven but "hey it's okay because he gets a boyfriend", giving leo a girlfriend when he was very obviously into jason (and even then he didn't need to date anyone i really like the head canon that he is aro), making a slur of sorts for alex and having multiple main characters say it, making his only book series with a very openly queer main character (alex but also magnus at the end) have three books instead of five)

leo did NOT need to get a girlfriend, he should have stayed single as it was better for his character development

tj needs more recognition in the fandom i love him

annabeth was def one of the more powerful of the seven even though she didn't have powers and a lot of the people that hate her are just misogynistic (as well as piper)

not even a take but just a fact what the fuck was rick ON making anubis white like he is quite literally an egyptian god he is most definitely black

also not a take but like. please we need more people talking about tkc in the fandom i love it sm and no one is talking about it. the characters are amazing and i guarantee if carter and sadie were white they would've gotten more recognition

feel free to add on

846 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

#4

are you team "magnus is blitzstone shipper #1 and he knew they had a crush on each other since before they started dating"

or team "magnus is oblivious to blitz and hearth dating and he thought they were just really good friends until he found out like 2 years after they were married"

980 notes - Posted April 14, 2022

#3

picrew chain

i like these things so imma make one

here's me !!

super cool picrew link found here

tag whomever you'd like im tagging @tacocat-411 @blurrycow @avery-is-gay

981 notes - Posted July 2, 2022

#2

to my fellow swifties: what's your favorite album and zodiac sign? i wanna see if there's any correlation

mine is midnights and virgo

1,121 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

bitches on pjo tumblr really exploding right now over a thirteen year old boy saying eight words and wearing an orange shirt. it's me i'm bitches

3,742 notes - Posted September 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[jankwritten]

I posted 9,419 times in 2022

That's 9,419 more posts than 2021!

246 posts created (3%)

9,173 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kindofapieceofshit

@paddooo

@theonlycabbage

@archive-of-our-own

@theradicalace

I tagged 4,098 of my posts in 2022

#pjo - 460 posts

#jason grace - 431 posts

#hoo - 369 posts

#nico di angelo - 277 posts

#percy jackson - 178 posts

#leo valdez - 134 posts

#jasico - 105 posts

#annabeth chase - 90 posts

#omgcp - 75 posts

#piper mclean - 72 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#in the meantime. love y’all. anyone who reads this and anyone who doesn’t. y’all are important no matter who you are. you deserve to hear it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Jason and Nico being able to unmask around one another for pretty much the first time ever is one of my favorite things about them. Like no matter if their relationship is romantic or platonic or if they're even just acquaintances, I feel like there's always this prevailing sense that the two of them get each other better than most people get them. They also both suffer the same "curse" of identity - they want people to see them for who they are, but people tend to only see them for who their parent is. They hear Jason Grace and think son of Jupiter before they think anything else. They hear Nico di Angelo and they think child of Hades before any other thought comes to mind. These two are the only people for each other (that they know of so far, anyways) who hear their names and think friend, or dork, or nerd about temples first.

Sure, I understand that they didn't always start out that way. Jason in canon had a LOT of issues to work through when he was on the Argo - he had his memories wiped, he was in a relationship with a girl he wasn't sure he really remembered, he was being told to be a leader even though Percy also wanted to be a leader, and so he treated Nico the way he did because it was what everyone else expected of him. But then he saw Nico open up, or more he saw Nico be forced to open up, and he realized that he didn't have to obey what everyone else thought anymore. He saw this guy who was struggling, who was hurt and hated and he saw himself in that guy, and he wanted to help.

I just think Jason and Nico's relationship is so fucking awesome. The one that they tend to have in fanon, anyways, I haven't reread HoO recently enough to form an opinion about their canon relationship. I think it's fucking awesome that we have these two characters that, to us, bond so well.

238 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

#4

currently writing an AU where Chiron convinces Sally to take Nico home after the summer camp session is done because despite all they've tried, Nico isn't getting better mentally and it's clear that the atmosphere around camp is inhibiting him (kids still treating him like shit, his own feelings of inadequacy regarding his parentage, the way it reminds him of waiting for Bianca and Percy to come back only to learn Bianca would never come back, etc.)

So Sally Jackson takes Nico home with her and Percy, and Percy is PISSED. Like beyond angry, will not talk to Nico and is a total dick to him most of the time because he's a 17 year old boy who's finally going to see his mama again and NOW HE'S GOT THIS SHITTY LITTLE FUCKING SIDEKICK who he's still not TOTALLY convinced isn't in love with his girlfriend despite Nico literally coming out to him. In this AU Percy is definitely still dealing with a lot of his own trauma and none of it in a super healthy manner - hence, he hates Nico.

At least, that's how it was supposed to go. Now Percy and Nico have bonded into essentially being brothers. They wrestle in the backyard so often Sally has taken to spraying them with the garden hose when they're being too rowdy. They bicker and fight over whose turn it is to walk Mrs. O'Leary. They end up having to go to the same school (Nico kept getting kicked out of the other ones) and Percy defends Nico from people being dicks while simultaneously being a dick to him (but lovingly).

I love it when AUs get totally out of hand from what I originally wanted them to be and I elect to make this Jason Grace's fault for becoming Nico's boyfriend when I wasn't paying attention. Jason put Percy and Nico into a get-along shirt.

also Nico and Annabeth become good friends because she's around a lot and she finds him an invaluable resource on the topics that she can never wrap her head around, things that are too old to even really be in any online databases - things that Nico can access by speaking to the dead. They start off being very iffy about one another but by the end they are also Practically Siblings.

309 notes - Posted May 10, 2022

#3

I think that Jason has a stuffed animal that one of his guardians in New Rome have to him when he was a baby. A wolf or a fox or some other dog/cat-like creature - maybe even a stuffed hellhound or something, something that he rediscovers on accident while in the 5th Cohort’s barracks, something that makes him sit down on the floor holding it in his hands and cry, for some reason, something he can’t even remember but he knows was important to him once upon a time.

460 notes - Posted October 9, 2022

#2

Okay so the last time I read HoO was in middle school, like JUST before blood of olympus came out, so ofc i have a very bad memory for the details of certain scenes but like this 100% happened, I thought that maybe i didn't remember it right or something but. I mean it's right there so.

1,190 notes - Posted September 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See now I think it would be really funny if IN CANON Hermes was Lin Manuel Miranda. Like in the show he is still the exact same as he is IRL. Hermes wrote Hamilton. He got bored of listening to Apollo prattling on about Broadway so he went out in disguise as a mortal and Did That.

That’s the only way I will accept him as Hermes, is if THAT is the reason.

4,711 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

(Tumblr telling me how to use tags makes me want to throttle somebody KAMDKCKMSNF BUT THIS WAS FUN TO SEE)

[ask-will-and-nico]

Will was never the jealous type. Then again, he barely ever dated, so how would he know? All he knew was that when he came back to find Nico talking with a stranger... Well, he didn't like it. Of course, part of it was him being protective. He could lie to himself and say that's all it was. But... It wasn't. Because if it was, then the fact that the two seemed to be getting along would've made him feel more at ease. Instead, it only twisted his intestines more. 'He's going to leave you', some irrational part of him insisted. He knew it was irrational, that should've been the end of it. But it wasn't. 'He's had flings before, you knew that from the start. Lots of them. He's not as naive as he looks'. And as he approached closer, he recognized him from... Somewhere. He wasn't sure where. Maybe back from Texas, before he moved. His mind had blurred those years into watercolor, to protect his heart from the trauma. So if he remembered a face, that face must've belonged to someone good. 'Great, it's a friend too. An old friend is gonna lure him away, a double whammy of betrayal.' Will suppressed the anxiety bubbling in his stomach and tried to be the ray of sunshine he needed to be. "Hi! Um..." His eyes scanned the elfish, impish face as his hand held out straight, waiting to be shaken. "... Have we met?" He didn't want to come straight in with the buddy buddy talk, on the off chance he was mistaken.

“This is Leo. He was a friend of Jason’s, and somehow became a friend of mine as well,” Nico added with a huff. Leo grinned at Will and shook his hand. “Awe, you know you love me, di Angelo,” Leo said, which made Will’s chest squeeze. The discomfort only lasted until Nico introduced Will. “This is Will. He’s my boyfriend,” Nico said, waving between Will and himself. “And you remember Cerberus,” Nico added. Leo grinned and bent down to one knee to pet the dog. “Course I do,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “Leo was just telling me about his marital problems,” Nico said softly, just to Will. That made relief flood through Will. So the guy was married and wasn’t hitting on Nico and planning to steal Nico away. “Apparently he thinks Jason can fix them for whatever reason even though he isn’t married.” Will noticed Nico was shivering and figured they should head back inside now.

[seaweed-brain-bullshit]

Hello, my name is Percy Jackson. I'm a Riordanverse Fictive in a DID system. I'm about 19 I think (body is 18) and a bi-boy. He/him generally. I'm thinking about pulling a he/they but I'm still thinking on it.

Blog for my seaweed brain bullshit, I think that is self explanatory. Also I'll be using it to connect with sorcemates (does this have a u in it?? I can't remember). Excuse my spelling and whatever, dyslexia be doing what it does.

Main system blog is @viridian-forest-collective. I have no clue how many headmates we have. There are a lot, but in terms of Riordanverse there are about 5.5 including me:

>Me, Percy Jackson: protector, 19, active

>Nico di Angelo: trauma holder, 16, active.

>Will Solace: caretaker, 17, active.

>Grover Underwood: caretaker, 34 (18 human years), in a coma like he was during the beginning of the Second Titan War.

>Annabeth Chase: fragment??/trauma holder, 19, active technically but she's constantly searching for Percy like in those months I was in the Hera Coma and I can never reach her nor make contact with her. Only Nico and Will can talk to her but she gets confused when they try to tell her about me or pass along messages (she's our 0.5 cause she can't front ig).

Edit:

We possibly have Jason Grace and Hazel Levesque but not certain.

[noisyalmonddreamer]

My judgment on you based on who you simp for

(A/n) This is technically a valentines day post but I’m impatient so.... 

Percy:

You don’t like change. He was probably one of your first if not first “official” book character crushes. You also probably have trust issues and or attachment issues. Things that upset you don’t make sense to others normally. You might not have liked Annabeth at first cause you felt jealous. Oh wait, did you hear that? It’s the sound of your 30 alarms going off all from over an hour ago. You should go handle that.

 Jason:

DID SOMEONE SAY DADDY ISSUES- Jk. Kinda… you like him but you’re not intense about it. UNLESS someone goes on the whole “Jason is a worst version of Percy” or something kinda like that. Then you will tie them down and…havoc. In an IRL relationship you want someone stable who's generally pretty mature.

 Leo:

Okay. Listen. I like you. But we get it. We ALL get it. You like him. You don’t need to bring it up every second tho. Also when are you gonna face that childhood trauma? You just gonna let it sit there while you read fanfic and listen to character audios or…Also PLEASE go take a mental health day instead of giving yourself busy work to ignore it. 

 Nico:

bro. Please. Tame your savior complex. It’s screaming right now. Gasping for breath. But he probably was the first like “emo” type character you fell for and now your favorites are always the emo loner types. You really enjoy characters with sad backstories. If you watched Voltron you probably liked Keith. There’s also a huge change that you have those fingerless gloves with skeleton hands on them. Also please sit up straight. Your back is screaming in pain rn

 Frank:

…Is everything okay at home? I understand. You want rank to hug you while you cry.I’ve never met a mean Frank simp. You’re a sweetheart. I give you a kith on the forehead *mewa* also sweetie…you’re not annoying them by texting them. Just text your friends. They want to hear from you 

 Will:

Listen. I’m also mad Will doesn’t get a lot of attention. But you don’t need to write a 50 slide presentation on why he’s a good character and shouldn’t only be used as Nico’s boyfriend (but I get it) anyway…You’re a bisexual(or really anywhere under the liking multiple gender umbrella). Who’s either very offended by “liking men is disgusting” jokes or finds them very funny. No middle ground. That or you’re mentally unstable. Or both. Probably both. But real talk, bestie, go take some time off. You need it. 

 ALSO ISTG IF I SEEN ANY CHILDREN OF APOLLO HERE-

 Magnus:

He formed your type. If you watch MHA you like Denki. You like the dumb ass characters who could probably kill you instantly. YOU ALSO NEED TO DRINK SOME WATER HOLY HERACLES. You also probably like the goofy characters that have sad backstories. You relate to Luisa Madrigal way too much. You’re the therapist friend and are about to break. Please get help bestie.

 Hearth: 

Either you’re the sweetest person alive or a living nightmare. But like… are y’all okay? You’re starving for Hearthstone content. You probably got a lot of responsibility put on you as a kid. Also when people talk about the elf boys they had a crush on you talk about hearthstone and everyone’s confused. If you were younger when you read the series (and had a crush on him) you were interested in learning sign.

 Alex:

Just say you’d date yourself. Your form of flirtation is being mean to someone. There’s a good chance Alex was your first (clear) queer crush. You probably searched up “is it gay to like a gender fluid person?” Like 30 times. Bro you need to stop bottling up your emotions till one tiny thing breaks you. It’s not healthy. Maybe try emotional journaling, it works better than you’d think.

[thinkingjasico]

I usually only talk about jason and nico here, but I thought of something that I decided to share about octavian

for me in blood of olympus rr made some lazy decisions: like to make nico (a person with a million traumas, insecure about his sexuality and liking the same guy for years) have a crush on will in a matter of two seconds and come out to percy like it was nothing. And, the reason for this post: the death of octavian.

for me octavian's death is: bad guys die, good guys save the day, yey!

and i think rr lost a lot killing octavian like that. I would love to see octavian having to work to regain a space in the legion, know more about his family and more: I would LOVE to see apollo/lester finding him at camp jupiter and almost killing him because all the apollo problems started because of octavian, it was going to be a wonderful scene.

and I think octavian could have gone on missions with apollo and meg, so during the saga we would see the character development and it would be like to take a villain and show that there is a lot more there

[firerose]

What we could have gotten if Jiper fell into Tartarus 

- Rick trolling all those people who compare Percy and Jason because hey now we see how Jason fights all those monsters that Percy defeated before in different ways

-Them having to go through Tartarus on their own because Jason does not know Bob

- Jason being so protective of Piper that he nearly forgets his safety and piper doing the same aka actual conflict for this ship and a reason why I liked them in TLH

- One scene where Jason goes feral to save an unconscious wounded Piper ( I know females being a damsel in distress is kinda overused but Ferrell Jason come on !)

-Learning more about both of these characters

-How they got together, their self doubt literally, their fatal flaws which were not explored yet

- Learning more about Jason's past, because Piper and Jason are alone so they have lots of talking time

- Pipers power is being explained and having limits like not being able to charm speak literal gods!

- Seeing Jason being the great hero Rick always told us he is

- Him teaching Piper sword fighting another Jiper bonding moment

- Leo’s sacrifice plan coming from wanting to avenge his two best friends who fell into hell instead of him being obsessed over Calypso

-Leos friends comforting him and appreciating all he does for the team

-Leo and Percy interaction because Percy knows what losing friends feel's like

-Percy thinking about Jason he and Piper freed Nico and feeling grief at the thought of them dying

-Hazel and Annabeth friendship were Annabeth is so proud when Hazel learns to control the mist 

-Nico is not being hated for no reason because now Percy is there and he won’t let that happen

-A HUGE angst moment at the doors of death when we realise that Piper can just charm speak Jason to go by himself

- Jason pushing her into the elevator at the last moment his last words being” Go and remember me.”

- His arc going from someone who was not sure who he was to someone who realizes that he would even die so his loved ones would be saved

-His arc would not be perfect but at least he would die in his series and would not have an arc that starts and then ends abruptly

-Boo being about Piper coping with Jason’s loss and Leo swearing on the river Styx to kill Gea but also to come back with the help of the cure for Piper -Piper now being an even more interesting character and being an interesting main character in Boo

- Jiper being remembered as a badass couple that got ripped apart too early

What we got with Perabeth in Tartarus

- Watching characters that we already know go through another angst adventure after five books with that premise

- Unresolved Trauma and no character development at all besides Percy going darker which was completely ignored

-Jiper still being underdeveloped even though these are supposed to be our main characters

[the-ghost-king]

About the cupid scene, Nico was forced to come out, but its also made very clear that Cupid is the bad guy. So is Aphrodite to an extent. They have a twisted and fundamental misunderstanding of love and how it works for mortals. I get that people could be mad about how Nico was forced to come out and putting him through more emotional trauma, but I also think its very realistic in showing how callous and cruel the gods understanding of love is.

I am reminded of the quote by Madeline Miller, "There is no law that gods must be fair..."

I also understand why the scene might be traumatic for other young LGBTQ+ readers, I've seen a lot of people talk about the fear of being outed in regards to them reading that scene as a kid. I completely respect their feelings on that, and I understand that as well. However, as someone who had been forcibly outed once before reading that scene, that scene really helped heal me. I don't think the Cupid scene is inherently homophobic, and I'm often bothered by the lack of nuance regarding around how it's handled.

I recognize it's a very emotional scene, and that people may have a hard time fully separating their emotions from that scene, but at the same time if there's a group of people saying "hey I understand why you disliked this scene but it was really helpful to me as a child because of the different experiences I had" maybe slow the breaks and hear what others also in the community have to say before determining if the scene is homophobic. You don't have to like the scene, and yeah maybe the scene did hurt you but that doesn't make it homophobic.

I want to specify on my word choice there a little closer, because of course outing someone is an act of homophobia, and the scene is homophobic in that sense. However often times the conversation about homophobia in this scene goes to "Rick was homophobic for writing this" where personally I would say this scene toes the line at being too far without ever crossing it. Some people may think this depiction crosses the line into "Rick was homophobic for writing this" which is fine, but just because something depicted homophobia and hurt you doesn't mean it was homophobic. Something doesn't have to out rightly be stated to be bad, in order to be read as bad*, and the Cupid scene does a wonderful job of depicting this.

I talk here about how Nico is shown what love is, and how love is treated by Nico, and how it affects his character. I think it's important to note that Nico's entire storyline can essentially be encompassed in an Orpheus-like or Odyssey-like tale. Nico's undergone this huge emotional and physical labor all in the name of having some form of unconditional love. I think that post is a really important read in the context of this one because I very carefully outline how love shapes Nico and how Nico shape and chooses his own definition of love, but I want to specifically dig into the Cupid scene on this post.

The big criticism often seen is "it's homophobic" which I covered above, and I want to clarify I'm not upset with or mad at or trying to tell anyone they can't dislike it or even say you can't say it's homophobic (my words on my one post are a bit off I'll admit) but the problem I have is when people believe they hold a moral high ground for thinking it's homophobic, or they remove all nuance from the discussion with "it's homophobic". Which is frustrating and annoying because it's a very complex scene, and it really changes Nico's arc and personality and it does help characterize him.

The big reason it shapes him so much is because of the other largest reason the scene is criticized, Cupid's behavior. What often fails to be recognized in those scenes is that Cupid is intentionally painted as the villain, this is very important to the scene.

In the context of this scene Nico makes an unspoken choice, a choice of "what is love to me?". I talk about how Nico claims his narrative in BoTL when he overcomes Minos, and he partially peaks that arc by convincing Gods to join the final battle of TLO. Following that arc however, Nico falls into his second arc, his crush on Percy was important in PJO, but not as important as it is in HoO.

By HoO Nico's entire character revolves around Percy, how to help Percy, how to aid Percy, etc. All of this has to do with Nico's crush on Percy, but also as an act of repayment because Nico hurt Percy- Nico lied to him about knowing him at New Rome in SoN, and he goes to Tartarus shortly after... This mirrors what Percy did after Hades tricked Nico... Percy choked Nico because he was upset with him, so Nico tried to win back Percy's affection by bathing him in the river.

The Cupid Scene is the resolution of Nico's arc, he is essentially given a choice- Cupid or Jason?

For this reason, we do see Nico recognize love for what it has been vs how it could be.

Cupid is there to represent what love is, to Nico love is brutal, and painful, and a lot of hard work... Nico has made himself utilitarian in love simply because it is the only way he can find any affection. Love to Nico is about flaying yourself for the benefit of others, to trample any and all parts of yourself simply to appease those you care for, because you want them to love you so much as you love them. The parallels I could draw between Nico and Orpheus, or Nico and Odysseus... I'd be here a long while...

In that scene Jason represents the alternative form of love which Nico chooses after his interaction with Cupid.

Jason says during the scene that he "preferred Piper's idea of love" which has to do with kindness and caring, etc, and then Jason becomes the embodiment of that idea during the scene- which showcases the alternative of what love can be, thus making Jason a personification of love in the context of that scene.

Jason looks to Nico, he doesn't ask for more, he simply looks to Nico with understanding and acknowledges him for who he is, and he does the exact opposite of what Nico expects:

Jason loves Nico where he is, without conditions, without forcing Nico to become something more. Jason didn’t force Nico to say more than what was necessary for him to understand, Jason looked at Nico and he called Nico brave.

Cupid is a more volatile form of love than Aphrodite, Cupid shoots arrows that makes people animals, that can make a god grow insane, but Aphrodite's form of love is about acceptance and humanity (think to how she picked Ares over Hephaestus even if it was perhaps "wrong")- both are about truth but one is about force and the other about acceptance.

When Nico walks out of there, he makes his choice- he is forced to come out yes, Cupid is wrong for doing this, but Jason again stays a figure of love in Nico's life. Jason basically says, "Good job, I know that was hard, thank you for sharing and let me know if you need anything, people will care about you and understand you," again and again and again to Nico, he doesn't tell Nico he has to come out, and he agrees to keep it between them for now. Jason is love as acceptance, Jason is the first person who unconditionally loves Nico, and that's the choice.

Will Nico accept unconditional love? If the answer is no, then Cupid wins and Nico is denying himself. If the answer is yes, then Jason and Nico win, and Nico no longer needs to make himself utilitarian in love in order to be loved.

The choice is made with Reyna and Hedge, most specifically Reyna.

When he accidentally comes out to them, and they accept him without making a big deal of it, without show, just that acknowledgement and "thank you for sharing" and Nico accepts their words and friendship still- Nico made his choice then to accept the love he was being freely given.

“He carried so much sadness and loneliness, so much heartache. Yet he put his mission first. He persevered. Reyna respected that. She understood that. She'd never been a touchy-feely person, but she had the strangest desire to drape her cloak over Nico's shoulders and tuck him in. She mentally chided herself. He was a comrade, not her little brother. He wouldn't appreciate the gesture.”

This is where we see the slow and steady, and healthy, end to Nico's arc in regards to love really grow into itself, and he begins to heal. He no longer sees such an intense need to make himself utilitarian for love, and he begins to heal from his internalized homophobia too.

(Internalized homophobia discussions with Nico also bother me too often times, people too often assume you can't date while struggling with internalized homophobia or at least very heavy handedly imply that which is just not true... You may have some issues in your relationship, but you can work through the internalized homophobia while building a new relationship and be just fine. Also to assume someone has an unhealthy relationship because of internalized homophobia is weird and lowkey reinforces the idea that "broken" people don't need love, but also does a huge disservice to so many LGBTQ+ people who are happily married/themselves but still struggle with these feelings, and to see a healthy relationship depiction despite someone in that relationship struggling with internalized homophobia is fine and good actually. As long as the individual can recognize what they're dealing with, and work through it in a healthy and constructive manner, then there's nothing wrong there...)

When I started this post to be honest I thought I would have a lot more to say, it's a scene that touched and changed me so deeply as a person, and beyond that in a more objective experience it completely changes Nico's character, by turning his arc around and beginning his healing process. To be honest, there probably is more to be said on it, I just haven't found the words yet... I know parts of this post are clunky and in a year I'm going to read this and see all the places it could be better but for now I'm content with it.

Whether or not someone considers the scene homophobic is a subjective experience, but I think this is a very well written scene purely for the characterization and symbolism, intentional or otherwise. I don't really care that much to debate if it's truly a homophobic scene or not, I can see both why people say it is and why people say it isn't and that can be culminated into "people have different needs" and "minorities aren't a monolith". Personally my much larger complaint is the complete lack of nuance and insight scenes like this are handled with, not the matter of personal opinion an individual reaches on the scene.

*the post uses the word "adult audience" and yes, fair point, children should not be able to decipher symbolism to the extent adults can. But older children and young teens, which the RRverse series are sold for, is when critical thinking skills and media analysis do begin to become parts of classroom curriculum. The scene does an excellent job of not outright stating Cupid is evil, but of depicting that in a very clear cut way.

[stanning-reyna]

Is Luke a hero? Let’s talk about it

Disclaimer: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I will not tolerate hate towards any opinions on this post. This is intended to be a place where I have an in-depth discussion about Luke’s character, not a place to start arguments. I will not be basing this off of Luke’s opinions on the gods, because quite frankly he was spot-on with those. This post is about his actions as seen in the text of pjo. 

. . .

First of all, who is considered a hero?

In the literary sense, a “hero” is a character role that usually consists of being the protagonist of a story. But we can take another view on heroism and base it off of a character’s morals. This is the personal criteria I use for a moral hero:

1) a person who has committed multiple acts of heroism (saving a life, killing a monster, etc)

2) a person who rarely poses a threat to the safety of those around them

3) a person who acts for the greater good rather than their personal goals

So, for example, I would not consider Draco Malfoy a hero, but I would consider Katniss Everdeen one.

. . .

Does Rick Riordan consider Luke a hero?

Yes. Luke is written to be a hero in the literary sense and Rick Riordan clearly intended for us, the audience, to think that Luke is a hero after tlo. The prophecy, which is revealed to be about Luke, states The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap, directly calling him a hero. Does that mean we have to automatically agree with it? Nope. Rick published his books to the public and that entitles us to form our own opinions on the characters and story

. . .

So let’s examine Luke’s character within my criteria for a moral hero that I stated earlier

1) Multiple acts of heroism- Name one heroic thing Luke did in pjo beside killing himself to stop Kronos. I can’t think of a single other example

2) Isn’t a threat to those around them- He poisoned 12 year old Percy, tricked 14 year old Annabeth into holding up the sky, poisoned Thalia’s tree, and let Kronos use his body to kill a hell of a lot of people. Sounds like a threat to me

3) Acts for the greater good- This is the one criteria that he meets (partially). While in the end he did kill himself to save the world, for the 4 books leading up to that he was prioritizing his want for revenge over the well-being of demigods, so he only gets half points in this category

. . .

“But he had been through so much as a child!” many people argue.

And while yes, Luke did have a horrible childhood (all thanks to the gods), so did Percy. And Annabeth, Leo, Jason, Hazel, Nico, and so many others, yet at no point do they seriously try to harm other kids. If they can be kind despite their trauma, I believe that Luke can too

. . .

My Conclusion

While Luke is a hero in the literary sense, I don’t believe that he’s a hero in the moral sense. He’s a morally grey character that made the right decision in the end, and that is not the same as a hero. 

After all, what’s so heroic about forcing a 12 year old into a war he didn’t want?