not going to lie i am kind of obsessed with annabeth at 12 years old watching one of those “is megalodon still out there?” bullshit ass documentaries and she wholeheartedly buys into it because she’s 12 and still thinks that if it airs on animal planet or the history channel it must be accurate, so she tells percy all about the totally real facts and figures and percy’s like “that’s bullshit. if we had giant sharks we’d know. that’s such bullshit” and there’s like….. you know how they canonically email each other when they’re not at camp? there’s like half the email dedicated to “here’s what i did this week” and then 15 paragraphs about their megalodon argument. neither of them do any research about it because annabeth thinks she’s done the research by watching the documentary, and percy is a) dyslexic, and as much as he wants to stick it to annabeth he will not be reading anything he does not have to, and b) why would he READ he can just ASK THE FUCKING SHARKS. but he’s stuck in NYC so he can’t ask any sharks until the summer, and the fact that percy is disagreeing with her means that annabeth is digging her heels into this argument and refusing to budge, so it’s a completely inane back and forth argument because both these 12 year olds are just making up their own arguments to try and own the other, and eventually percy defaults to going i am a SON of POSEIDON i think i KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT SHARKS i am BASICALLY KIND OF RELATED TO ALL SHARKS EVERYWHERE BECAUSE MY DAD MADE ALL OF THEM TOO SO SUCK IT. and then he hits send on that particular email and has an existential crisis because, if his dad is the ocean, and made all the things in the ocean, and also horses, are they all his siblings? or were the first ones of each species his siblings, and now it’s kind of questionable? how many genetic steps away is he from a fucking manta ray? he can’t ponder for long because sally reads his email to annabeth over his shoulder and grounds him for telling annabeth to suck it, and makes him write an apology email.
and then they get to camp and naturally the megalodon argument falls to the wayside because of the fact that percy and annabeth’s lives are a mcdonald’s playplace for gods and titans to do what they want. but i’d like to think during the downtime in sea of monsters, annabeth resurrects the argument and percy’s like I’M ASKING THE FUCKING SHARKS and marches to the bay and patiently waits for a shark to answer his I’m The Son Of Poseidon And I Have A Question call, and it does happen to be a traveling great white that answers. percy’s like “i’ve gotta win this argument please tell me megalodon is extinct” and after crossing the language barrier, the shark explains that yes, megalodon is extinct. they don’t call their ancestor sharks megalodon, sharks have their own words for their ancestor sharks, and because percy as tiny lord of the ocean is technically partially their god he gets to understand special shark language. but nobody else does, so when percy is explaining this interaction to annabeth and tries to repeat the shark-word for megalodon, he opens his mouth and makes a rumbling-clicking-bad-ear sound, and annabeth calls him a liar and swears he’s making up this entire shark interaction and he can’t prove anything. percy is so mad. he goes back to the ocean and talks to another shark because he’s like I’M RIGHT AND SHE WON’T LISTEN and this shark, a bull shark, helpfully suggests that cannibalism might be the answer, because he’s a shark. the conversation kind of devolved into percy nervously asking if all ocean life everywhere is technically related to him, and the bull shark is like no, no, no, that’s not how it works, son of poseidon. you’re not related to US. you’re related to the WATER. and the bull shark sounds so happy that he could help that percy just beams at him and goes “thanks!” even though internally he’s more confused than ever, and he has to sit at the bottom of the ocean having an existential crisis
cut to many years and near-death situations later, after percy’s gap….. years, in which he just did not care for the prospect of college, and annabeth kicking her own ass during undergrad and now moving on to graduate school (shhh the chases can afford it), percy’s wandered into a marine biology track. the megalodon argument has been buried by less fun arguments, like percy arguing that annabeth should help do his laundry because she pretty much only wears his clothes anyway. percy has made College Friends, and he’s really excited to introduce his beautiful, wonderful, best friend-girlfriend to his College Friends. annabeth starts the conversation by going “i think megalodon is still out there” and percy’s Marine Biology College Friends all turn to stare at percy while percy chokes on his own spit and tries (read: fails) to breathe
Anonymous asked: Maybe Dark!Annabeth fighting a child of the big three and she knows that defeating them with physical, raw power isn't possible, so she attacks mentally. She defeats them with words, something Annabeth constantly does throughout the books to her enemies. Making them so angry, distracted, and/or sad that they lose focus and she easily takes the victory.
There’s a charge in the air. A gathering static that threatens to strike with every movement she makes, but never quite gets the guts to do so.
That’s Jason Grace for you. Son of Jupiter, chosen of Juno, and just a touch too soft to do what needs to be done. Oh sure, he’ll kill monsters if he needs to, but when the monsters are gods, his solution is to become a priest.
It’s about finding a compromise, he’d said. And making sure that we’re heard.
Annabeth’s finding there are better ways of making noise.
“You got here faster than I expected,” she remarks as he touches down in front of her. She’s perched on the crumbling remnants of a wall that’s thousands of years old. Some small, distant part of her regrets what is about to happen here, but not enough to change course.
“Your pattern’s getting old,” he says. His gladius is out and he holds it warily between them. Annabeth keeps her drakonbone sword at her side. “The others can hold Percy off long enough for me to stop what you’re doing.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You’re the only one coming?”
He tries to hide his grimace, but that’s the danger with fighting your friends. They can read you too well, and a smile curls over Annabeth’s mouth at the confirmation. She hops off the wall, landing lightly on the dirt.
“What made you think I’d be at Pompeii?”
Lightning crackles in the sky overhead, raising the small hairs at the back of her neck. He nods at the scaffolding in the distance, empty of workers this early in the morning. It’s a grim dawn, about to get darker.
“No tourists today. You might’ve turned against the gods, Annabeth, but you’re not a murderer.”
Isn’t she? Annabeth has lost count of the number of monsters she’s put in the ground (under the ground). How many demigods died in the war with Kronos? They bleed red the same as mortals, and her hands are as stained as anyone’s.
So are Jason’s, and irritation pricks at her face. She smooths it away with a cool smile, carefully tracking him as he starts to circle her. She has a certain amount of faith in Jason’s willingness to ‘save’ his friends, but she’s not an idiot.
“So I should start picking locations with people if I don’t want you to interfere, is that what you’re saying?”
“That’s obviously not what I’m saying.” His gaze flickers over the ruins stretching behind her. “So this is all rigged to blow, huh?”
“Leo does good work.”
He winces. He can play on whatever friendship the two of them might have had all he likes, but that betrayal is the real knife in the guts and they both know it. Annabeth coerces her expression into concern, the cogs of her brain turning the right muscles to give it the realism it needs. She takes a half step forward, and Jason doesn’t step away.
“He misses you, you know.” Her voice is a soft thing. Caring. “Misses both of you.”
“If he misses us so bad, he should come and see us.”
“You really think we’re going to be welcome at Camp after all this?
“You haven’t killed anyone.”
The yet sits between us, and it doesn’t matter anyway. The gods would be more likely to forgive her if she had killed someone. They could have murdered thousands of mortals and not been struck down, if they’d just done it far away from the last vestiges of godly power in this world.
Gaea had plotted to bring down Mt Olympus, and that’s definitely on Annabeth’s list. But she’s always been a methodical sort of girl, and divine power runs deep. Best to stamp out all traces of it, one relic at a time.
She sighs. “We don’t plan to. You know that.”
“You’re trying to kill the gods!” Lightning cracks again, closer now. It takes more strength than Annabeth wants to admit to to avoid reaching for her weapon.
“And how many times have they tried to kill us? At best they don’t give a shit, Jason, you know that.”
But he’s shaking his head. They’ve had this fight before, all of them, enough times that she could probably just record it for him to save energy. He’s long since stopped listening to sense, and she doesn’t bother with more than a cursory attempt to convince him.
“You’re too late for this one,” she says. “I’m proud of you for getting here before it blows, but you were right. It’s ready to go.”
His grip shifts on his sword. And - there’s something in his expression that prompts her to brace for an attack, because it’s not defeat. This time, she thinks. This time might be the one where I push too far.
It’s sad, sort of, but relief swamps that soon enough. It’s not that she wants to fight old friends, but it would make everything a lot simpler. To just be able to fight, without caring what happens to them anymore. To draw battlelines instead of blurring them
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he growls. “But even if the rest of your team is ready to destroy this place, they’ll stop once you’re a hostage.”
Annabeth laughs. It’s a miscalculation, but she can’t help herself. “The others might. But hell itself couldn’t keep Percy Jackson from me, Jason, and you’re no Tartarus.”
“I can deal with Percy.”
He can’t. She wonders idly if he knows that. Everyone’s aware of Percy’s power these days, but that’s what he’s like with her at his side. Jason, she suspects, still has a little too much optimism left about what Percy’s self control would be like without her. What it would be like if he even thought she was in danger.
“Right, well, that’ll be your mistake to live with.” She squints up at the sky, trying to judge her next play. Being a hostage would accelerate certain things that she’s not ready to set into motion just yet. Most of all, she doesn’t think that Percy is quite as ready to fight the others as she is.
Not yet.
“You made a miscalculation,” she said finally. “You always want to go for the biggest player, Jason. It’s one of your biggest weaknesses.”
“You can’t talk your way out of this, Annabeth.” His body moves, and she can almost trace the lines in the air, the familiar forms he’s about to slide into. “You’re coming back to Camp wth me.”
He lifts his blade, wreathed in lightning. She smells ozone on the air, the threat of violence wafting in behind it. She clasps her hands behind her back, and lays down her hand.
“Where’s Piper, Jason?”
Everything stops. Nature itself holds its breath as those too-blue eyes widen in sheer panic, before narrowing at her.
“Piper’s your friend. You wouldn’t hurt her.”
Annabeth waits. She doesn’t need to say anything. The silence between them does it for her. The even sound of her breathing. The shroud of absolute confidence holding her shoulders straight.
You are not going to take me, her body says, like it’s all a foregone conclusion.
“She can handle herself,” he tries again, and there’s the edge of desperation that she’s been waiting for. Enough to cloud his thinking. He might not think she’s a murderer, but there are other atrocities. Things she hasn’t held back from in the opening numbers of this new war.
“Against Percy?”
That’s a risk. Because they both know that Percy isn’t steady, isn’t stable, that his relationship with Piper had been tenuous at best and that without Annabeth there, his temper might just get away with him. Piper has her Charmspeak, but there are ways around everything if you have enough power.
It’s a risk, because Jason’s anger could always outweigh his fear. He could always take it out on her rather than fly off for Piper. Annabeth is confident in her ability to take him with a sword, but Jason comes with all those bonus add-ons that children of Athena just aren’t privy to.
So she gives him one last push. Just to make sure.
“Tartarus has so many doors,” she says softly. That same quiet concern from before, turned deadly now. “You know we found all of them, right Jason?”
He spits a curse, something in Latin about the gods and what he hopes they’ll do to her. She watches him leap into the sky, shading her eyes against the rising sun until he’s no more than a dot in the distance.
“You say that like they haven’t already done their worst,” she murmurs, before turning back to the ruins.
god rip calypso honestly, imagine being stuck on an island for thousands of years and then some scrawny little bitch finally gets you off of it and a few years later there’s a pandemic and you have to stay inside for months. there’s no way the poor girl has fully adapted to living in the Real World yet, she was stuck on ogygia for literally forever and now she gets to do the same thing that she was doing on the island with her annoying ass boyfriend trying to help
Female Characters (PJO and HoO) - Rick Riordan Crit.
Rick Riordan’s portrayals of females are trash because 1) he believes that femininity equates to weakness, 2) to overcorrect the “femininity=weakness” toxic mentality, he promotes faux girl power which is basically just a watered down crash course on toxic “feminism” for impressionable 12 year olds (because that’s exactly how we want to raise our youth; good job, Rick), 3) any girl who is not able to be part of a romantic subplot is disposed of, and 4) there is little variance among his females.
There are a ton more issues interlaced with this, like the fact that he oversexualizes them as minors [Piper with her “embarrassingly low” v-neck dress after Aphrodite’s blessing, or Hazel who’s 13, dating Frank who’s 16 (middle schooler dating a high schooler)], or the balance of power between his WOC characters and cishet female characters (like Annabeth being portrayed as the most powerful when a lot of the WOC characters should be more capable *cough* Hazel is literally the daughter of one of the big three, so why does Rick pretend she’s so weak compared to Annabeth? Could it be that she’s not whi— *cough*), but those are separate tangents for another time, so I’m just going to focus on these four points first.
1) In Rick’s mind, femininity equates to weakness.
The first and probably perfect example of this mentality is Drew Tanaka and the entire Aphrodite cabin. Not only is Drew a terrible portrayal of Asian women, but she’s the worst “mean girl” trope. Drew Tanaka is shown as being gorgeous, and it’s stated that she is interested in makeup and fashion and subsequently bullies girls who aren’t as glamorous. Of course, there are actually girls like this, and that’s terrible, but then Rick turns around and solely promotes “tomboys” and always, always shames “girly-girls,” and that’s when we have an issue. In only villainizing stereotypically feminine interests, Rick shames girls who enjoy these sorts of things. He uses Piper’s distaste for the Aphrodite cabin like a weapon:
“They passed the next cabin, Number Ten, which was decorated like a Barbie house with lace curtains, a pink door, and potted carnations in the windows. They walked by the doorway, and the smell of perfume almost made Piper gag.
‘Gah, is that where supermodels go to die?’
Annabeth smirked. ‘Aphrodite’s cabin. Goddess of love. Drew is the head counselor.’”
- The Lost Hero
In this quote, he shames pink, Barbie, and even carnations just by associating it with Aphrodite, and then it shames Aphrodite too. First of all, what’s wrong with carnations? They’re just flowers. There is nothing feminine or masculine about plants. And Barbie? Barbie’s entire brand is that anyone can be anything, and even if there are many flaws in that company, it shouldn’t be shamed like this, and neither should lace or pink. There is nothing feminine about love either. Love is a universal experience: we feel it in familial bonds, platonic bonds, and romantic bonds. Humans have the ability to bond with goddamn Roombas, for God’s sake. Shame Aphrodite for being a crazy lady, just like the rest of the Olympians, not for being the goddess of love, and do not shame her children for the same. There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking any of these items.
Rick later describes the Aphrodite cabin as despising capture the flag and never participating. (I’m too lazy to find the quote, sorry). Everyone practically shuns them for disliking that game. Why? What’s wrong with having different interests? What’s wrong with liking pink and not wanting to get your hands a little dirty? I would love capture the flag, and I still like pink, even if it’s not my favorite color. Why does Rick have to make it a dichotomy? Why do you have to be either pretty or strong? Why must everyone who adores fancy things be rude? Why is Piper praised for not liking these things? They’re just different, arbitrary interests. Neither should be superior. Rick seriously missed out on the opportunity to show strength in being softer and kinder.
Some people like to bring up Silena as a counterpoint to this. People like to go to their graves saying, “she was a hero, not a traitor,” but the fact remains that the only girl who is more in touch with her feminine roots and not mean ended up spying on the camp for Luke, and her reason wasn’t even completely honorable:
“Before … before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so…charming. Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised…he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn’t hurt…Charlie. He lied to me.”
-Silena, The Last Olympian
We could’ve done without the “He was so…charming. Handsome.” part. It would’ve made the whole thing ten times more honorable. If she had followed Luke because she really thought she was doing the right thing and was just a little naive, if Luke had only blackmailed her with Beckendorf’s life, then she would’ve been a hero through and through. Instead, Rick just pinned her as a girl who screwed over the camp because she thought Luke was cute. Not really a stellar resume there.
Like I said earlier, Rick missed out on the opportunity to portray strength in being kind and gentle. Some strong women are athletic with bold personalities and speak nothing but the brutal truth. Some strong women are emotional, enjoy dresses, and love children. Some strong women are hard workers and like STEM. Some strong women are extremely maternal. Some strong women enjoy cooking for their friends, family, and significant others.
There is no perfect mold that can form an exact representation of what a strong woman must be. In society, a strong woman is seen far too many times as an ideal man. They’re praised for doing the equivalent of a man, and that’s great that they’re being praised at all, but women should not be expected to prove their worth in terms of men. While we should continue to highlight when women break barriers and surpass records set by men, women should also be allowed to enjoy activities labeled as feminine. Women are allowed to enjoy “feminine” interests without feeling obligated to apologize or fearing that men will think them weak. Women can do what men do and more, but having “feminine” hobbies do not diminish any gender in any way.
Being “womanly” has been trained into our senses since we were young. The color pink was associated with femininity, and boys shame other boys for liking it, and girls would proudly announce they liked blue more to gain boys’ respect. Any girl who didn’t like sports in elementary school but liked competition in other ways, like mental sports, or didn’t enjoy competition at all and just liked to have fun were deemed “really girly” by every boy and even other girls. Females have been deemed as less worthy girls for enjoying certain colors or activities, and it’s preposterous. Do not feel obliged to feign love of anything for a man’s approval, and the fact that Rick would push such a ludicrous agenda on young, impressionable girls makes me sick.
2) To overcorrect femininity = weakness, Rick basically spitballs faux girl power.
“I’m not like other girls” is basically Rick’s motto for every one of his female characters. He frequently pits girls against one another. As I mentioned earlier, Piper McLean and Drew Tanaka are really good examples of this.
“There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. God, what a bunch of losers, Piper thought. But it didn’t do much to break the tension.”
Piper - The Lost Hero
Congratulations on turning Piper into a Strong Woman™, Rick. Apparently giggling is cancelled too. By depicting Piper as a “not like other girls” girl and then praising her for it, he encourages his young female readers to compare themselves to other girls and participate in this competition of women created by society. I think most people know about Drew and Piper being set against each other, but another one that I think more people forget is the beef between Annabeth and Rachel.
Normally I would say jealousy is a good flaw to give a character. The best flaws are relatable flaws, flaws that regular people have. And people do get jealous. But if that’s the only flaw Rick’s really going to give Annabeth besides “pride” (which is also romanticized for absolutely no reason) and then also have no one hold her accountable for it, then I don’t want it. Annabeth is consistently praised and thought of as “funny” for calling Rachel stupid and basically being a bitch about someone else liking Percy, despite Rachel remaining cordial the entire time. Then Rick goes ahead and paints Annabeth as a badass feminist who doesn’t take crap from anybody else. Yeah, okay. Because hating other women makes you really strong. Sure.
The third example is Reyna, pitted against both Piper and Rachel. I won’t really delve into it because I feel like I’ve made my point for this, but it’s basically the same thing: “I, a girl, am very strong and hate people and I dislike you, another girl, just for fun, and it makes me strong.” Revolting.
Another tactic Rick frequently uses to portray the strength in his females is making them very shouty and loud and very powerful. While some women really are like that (which is okay too!), not every girl is. It’s a shame that’s the only depiction of strong female characters Rick can offer. And then he also takes it too far. Not only are Annabeth, Rachel, Reyna, Thalia, Piper, *insert all his other female characters* really loud and angry individuals, but sometimes they get downright abusive, and it’s supposed to be funny? I think? A good example of this is Annabeth judo-flipping Percy when she sees him at the Roman camp for the first time. (Hurting Percy Jackson, omg sWOoN). Like, what is this? A kink or something, Richard? Strong women do not need to put down men to be strong. Feminism is the belief that women deserve equal respect as men, not that women are superior to males. This whole “tsundere” look is in bad taste in my opinion.
People often use Hazel as a counterpoint to the “shouty girls.” And that’s fair. Hazel is soft and kind, except there’s the issue I mentioned way, way earlier: Hazel is kind and soft-spoken (unless it’s something very important), and then she’s also shown as being weak. Because kindness and quietness means you’re weak. Perfect. Good job, Richard.
(I would also like to point out that it’s not just girls putting down other girls either in this whole toxic “feminism” agenda:
“Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. Jason figured these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party.”
Jason - The Lost Hero
Matching jeans and tops. Makeup. Oh, the horror. How could they like dressing up? How evil!!!11!1
3) Any girl not part of romantic subplots is thrown out.
This means that Rick associates value in characters with romance, and that’s disgusting. He does this a bit with boys too, like with Grover who we never see again after getting Juniper, and other examples, but at least they have purposes by themselves. Grover was meant to find Pan, and once he did that, I guess I can excuse dropping the ball with him. But sometimes it just makes zero sense.
Examples: After Percy chose Rachel, Rick really just yeeted Rachel out of the universe. He just said the Oracle can’t date, and we basically never see her for more than a couple moments despite the fact that she’s really good friends with Percy, was/is super respectful of Percy’s choice to date Annabeth, and is overall just a cool girl who chucked a blue hairbrush at Kronos.
Another example is Thalia. Thalia just randomly joins the hunt. I can see how she joined it to spite her father, or because she didn’t want to be part of the prophecy, but I just find it weird that she’s super attached to Luke and everything, and then just dips as soon as he’s dead. We deserve to see her still ruffling Percy’s hair, much to his distaste, and dropping by to hang around Jason, and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, hanging out with Annabeth. So, what, just because Luke dies, so does her familial relationship with Annabeth? Bullshit.
Third example: Calypso. In @meclusa’s rant on Leo, she explained this really well, so I won’t delve super deep into it and will rather redirect you to her blog, but basically, Calypso was just rejected by Percy and then passed over to be someone else’s prize instead. She’s “awarded” to Leo because poor Leo never got a girl (Alexa play despacito). Revolting. I would’ve loved to see her get off the island and then go explore the world on her own before even considering being shipped with someone else. I could also totally see her joining the Amazons or the hunt, not because she deserves no page time, but because she just wants to be free and travel from place to place.
The fourth and most famous example is Reyna. After being rejected by both Percy and Jason, what does Rick do? Rather than allowing her to be a strong Praetor who’s independent and still kickass, he ships her off to the hunt full of twelve year old girls. Praetorship is such an honor, and she worked so hard to get there, and you really think she’d give it up to run around with prepubescent girls just because two boys didn’t like her? Give me a break.
Female characters should not be disposed of because they can’t be paired with anyone. The same goes for boys, of course, but this post is mainly about his interpretation of females, not males.
4) Who’s who?
I’m going to give y’all a description, and I want you to tell me which character I’m talking about: “She’s strong. Beautiful. She fights really well. Funny. Sarcastic. She’s loud and opinionated.” Confused? Great, so am I. My fourth main point is that Rick gives his female characters no discernable personalities. I mentioned this a bit earlier at the end of point two, but I really want to expand on it here.
When we compare discernibility to the boy characters, it’s a little bit easier. If I say, “He’s strong. Ruggedly handsome. He fights really well. Funny. Sarcastic. He’s loud and opinionated,” we would probably immediately pin that to Percy, right? He’s the most sarcastic of the boys, besides Leo, but Leo’s not shown as fighting really well or incredibly physically strong, so it’s easier to pick out who we’re talking about. Granted, it’s still not perfect because his development of HoO characters is nearly non-existent, but it’s still easier:
Jason is very much the Good Guy™, and he’s a leader who always serves the greater good; Percy is loyal to the select people that he loves, and he’s more rebellious and snarky and dark (his hatred of the gods and understanding that he serves his friends first, not the greater good); Leo is supposed to be the ironic comedian with a sad backstory whilst still providing humorous relief (though @meclusa had a very good essay as to why this is a huge L); Frank is…actually, I don’t even know what his purpose was, seeing as he had zero characterization other than a buff glow-up (which was fatphobic but whatever); Nico carries the greatest burdens of them all, what with growing up in another time period and struggling with homosexuality as well as the stigma of being a child of Hades, and he has this wonderful nuance and operates in shades of grey, but ultimately, he has a good heart; Luke is Percy’s counterpart, in that they share similar values, but he’s more like the cautionary tale of what happens when you take any belief to the extreme.
In comparison to these guys, the female characterizations fall flat. They have little to no discernable personalities, other than the fact that they have different names, different parentages/powers, and different appearances. They either fall in the category of being weak and powerless and kind, pretty and fashionable and villainous, or Strong Independent Woman™ where they just do and say questionable things while yelling at the top of their lungs and stabbing boys and wearing sneakers but still being oh-so-effortlessly-pretty-how-does-she-do-it-wOW.
Rick has no place pretending that he knows how to write strong female characters. You do not just create Mary Sues and hand them weapons and then market them as the perfect role models for girls. You do not create beautifully nuanced boys (Percy and Luke are my favorite examples for this) and then pretend that girls cannot be as complex and dynamic of characters.
You do not under any fucking circumstance shove these toxic ideas into the faces of young, impressionable middle school girls so that they grow up thinking they can’t like pink and be opinionated and be compassionate and be intelligent and kick ass and look fabulous while doing it all. Humans are not black and white. They are not inherently good or evil. Please extend the same courtesy to your female characters. We deserve to be represented just as well, and we deserve to be given more thought in the writing process just like your boys.
Fuck faux girl power. And fuck Rick’s idea of feminism and female portrayals. If you read through this whole thing, thank you lmao. I’m sorry if it was a little messy. I was rushing through it, and I could talk about this for hours, but I tried to shorten it.
Also shout out to @meclusa and @finding-my-culture whose criticisms of Leo and Piper, respectively, inspired me to write my own on another thing I despise about Rick’s writing. Y’all really be iconic, and I love you. Oh, and shout out to team seven and other PJO bloggers in the PJO discourse (@valgraced, @hazelmagix@caiprisa, @reynaisalesbian, @tridentgum, @dykeplants, @hazelslevesquee, @silima, @bunkernine, @mclean, @piperisgay, @pjolesbian, @charlesbeckendorf, etc.) (If you don’t already follow them, go do that right now). I recently followed all of y’all, and your rants are honestly something else. And that’s on holding authors responsible for their shit.
when Percy approaches the coffin in botl……. slowly…….. but oddly luke isn’t and that feels off. And Percy’s fingertips turn blue from the cold, and he does not want to open it but he has to see, and he intends to just kill Kronos before he can even come back, and it’s too easy but he has to SEE, and then slowly he lifts the lid and describes the body and you’re like ???? and he’s like ???? and then ethan pledges and Kronos looks at Percy and SMILES WITH RECOGNITION and says “this body has been well prepared, don’t you think, Percy Jackson?” Like. The ABSOLUTE SHEER TERROR THE LEVEL OF TENSION THE SUSPENSE….. and Ethan (who is literally on Kronos’ side now) is COWERING ON THE GROUND while Percy, who is FOURTEEN, is being THREATENED DIRECTLY and lectured about how “luke feared you, but I do not” & finally Percy RUNS FOR HIS LIFE (he’s like I didn’t even think “gee should I try and fight him? No I ran” lol king but also u literally did try u precious brave child) but TIME IS SLOWING DOWN & Rachel throws a hairbrush and Annabeth is standing in shock & percys like WE ARE LEAVING RIGHT NOW and grabs her by the shirt and drags her out behind him ……… botl is UNPARALLELED twelve year old me was shaking . I STILL AM TEN YEARS LATER.
you know why percy is not the “hero of the prophecy” but he’s still integral to the plot? it’s because he already understands the value of home and family. he grew up intrinsically understanding how important the hearth is bc of his mother. annabeth understands it, too, for the opposite reason: she was deprived of it. but luke doesn’t understand, bc he’s never really had a home before (not with his mother nor CHB), and so he came to believe it just wasn’t a thing. and he’s right in some ways! not every demigod is accepted by their mortal family—for a variety of reasons—and they’re by default neglected by their godly parent, so it makes sense that, for a lot of them, notions of “home” and “family” are filled with pain and ambivalence. they can find refuge in a community, of course, but it’s just not the same as receiving the unconditional love of a parent, like percy has and does throughout pjo. now ofc percy gets this, bc he feels it from his father’s end, but sally’s love for him kind of makes up for it, you know? luke & many other demigods didn’t have that. it doesn’t justify what luke did, but like. he’s justified in principle
[Circe, Madeline Miller ] // [The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller] // [The Mark of Athena, Rick Riordan] // [The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan] // [The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller] . Captions Under Cut
