Latest Posts by bassiascoparia - Page 7

Is Solangelo really rushed? A realistic teenage relationship

So, a lot of people are complaining that Solangelo was a rushed relationship because it was only 6 months long. And it's not really a proper relationship, is it, because it was so rushed!

And I get your point-it was too rushed for the readers. The Doylist perspective screams from being rushed too hard.

But honestly, that's the most realistic aspect of a teenage relationship. In fact, that's probably the most realistic aspect of the relationship, because a lot of teenage relationships are rushed, and when my friends were teenagers, they got into rushed relationships too.

And speaking from a Watsonian perspective, honestly, 4-5 months might be a little rushed, but I don't think that it's that rushed-in fact, Nico and Will might have gotten to know each other quite well if we accept the fact that they were spending most of their time in each other's company.

So, yeah, if we take it in a ratio, the rushed part might be 30 compared to the 70 of the getting to know each other part.

Then again, teenage relationships usually don't stay together, so if Solangelo was a realistic teenage relationship that depicted the majority, they'd probably break up.

If Poseidon and Athena were written accurately, how would they react to Percabeth?

So I said in this post that I wanted to see more of Poseidon and Annabeth interactions where Poseidon is judging Annabeth.

Based on their mythological counterparts, PJO Athena would probably have fewer problems with the relationship, seeing as she is logical and practical, so she would be able to accept that Percy and Annabeth love each other. I mean, she could be annoyed with the relationship, but she would definitely be less judgmental and more lenient.

And Poseidon would actually dislike Annabeth. He loves Percy and Percy loves Annabeth, so he'd let her live for Percy's sake, but other than that, he does not care for the girl and might even minorly inconvenience her if he could get away with it just to be petty-

Because Poseidon is petty. He's very volatile-one moment he can be kind and gentle, the next brooding and raging. And he's second to Zeus in being morally gray in the myths-that is, he's a very dark shade of grey for some people. He would love his children a lot, though, so there's that. And maybe if he was feeling nice or generous, he wouldn't inconvenience Annabeth.

The ultimate tragedy of Bianca di Angelo

The tragedy of Bianca di Angelo is that she was written to be only an older sister to Nico.

She revolves around Nico. She’s a moon to his planet. She’s an auxiliary character for the sake of his development.

But…..for a brief moment………Rick Riordan accidentally created some figure of hope for older siblings, more specifically older sisters who were conditioned to always be the soft yet firm column for their younger, or sometimes, even older brother to lean on, because in this society, it is expected that women will light themselves on fire and smile and be loving and sacrifice their lives for the men. 

So many older sisters saw Bianca as someone whom they could relate to and grew to love her, even after she only got half a book and died.

And this is where the tragedy comes into play, because after her death, she’s always mentioned only in relation to Nico. She’s never her own person, only the feeble but potential Earth to Nico's brightly blazing sun of well written character development. 

And that’s what happens to the older sisters. They simply vanish, are only mentioned in passing and always in relation to their male relatives. And they’re mere children, forced to take care of another child like a fully grown adult, and it gets exhausted, and one day they’ve just had enough.

And what does society do when women finally lash out, scream and protest and put themselves first?

Selfish. Cruel. Cold. Uncaring. A pussy bitch. 

Bianca has gotten so much backlash from her haters. But we all forget that she was twelve-a terrified, immature child who shouldn’t have been taking care of Nico.

(I think that she had to watch him in the Lotus Casino, because he’s her younger brother. Annabeth and Grover weren’t like that to Percy, only friends. Also, they both knew that their parents were dead, so it was different. Nico did mention that Bianca was strict with what she let him watch, so she probably watched over him in the Casino too).

And the older sisters were let down. They watched and silently cried, disappointed, as Bianca was never her own character, always Nico’s older sister first and foremost. They were tortured inside as they watched so many people condemn and put down a literal child who was manipulated by two much older figures simply for a rash decision. That’s how they knew that society would perceive them negatively too. 

We barely know anything about her. Whenever people think of Bianca, they’ll most likely ALWAYS think of Nico too, think of her in regards to him, because that’s how she was written. That’s how she was meant to be written from the start. Bianca's biggest fans will always have only the first half of the Titan's Curse as her actual appearances when she was alive, and herself, and not linked to Nico.

But there’s more.

This post is dedicated to all the older sisters who despaired after reading about Bianca di Angelo and seeing people who had never actually had to parent someone hate on her. 

It’s ok to lash out. It’s ok to want some you time. Literal parents want the same, so it’s ok for you, a child, to do so. It’s ok to ignore their needs for your own and put yourself first. They’re your sibling, not your child-you don’t need to take care of them and always put them first, because you didn’t bring them into life by choice, and so, you are not wholly responsible for their needs and comfort. 

It’s ok to be a child.

Let's make Percabeth fight

Can we have a Percabeth fight?

Like........I haven't seen them fight........about one thing.........ever since they got into a relationship.

Can we get Percy tired of Annabeth hitting him all the time, so he tells her to stop?

Can we have them argue about Annabeth's pride and the way it led them to fall into Tartarus?

Everyone's holding Percabeth up as this golden standard, but I think that they need to have a real, good-old fashioned couple fight.

Because, let's be honest, real couples bicker. Married, fiance, dating. They fight, even over small things. And it's just like Percabeth agree with each other all the damn time. Let them fight, even if it's over something small, like the color of something in their dorm, what food to eat. Let them squabble too. Let Annabeth not make all the decisions and have Percy follow her lead. Let him do something on his own, away from Annabeth!

Either give them a huge, blownout fight where they don't talk for days afterwards. Guilt, shame and anger linger in the air. They avoid each other, eyes averted, body leaning away.

Or give me a small fight, over something unserious, then they don't talk for sometime, and then they make it up.

Or just have them squabbling. Don't make Annabeth hit or insult Percy-just make them playfully fight over something.

Because I'm going to be real with you, real golden standard couples still fight.

I mean, Percabeth isn't even a golden standard couple (though I'm not calling it abusive) and one of the issues with this is that they just never fight.

Honestly I don't think that there's a couple in the world that's never fought. It's as simple as that, really.

Rick really just missed the opportunity to tell us about Bianca and Nico having dyslexia and ADHD and living in the literal 1930s, huh? Were they kicked out? Did they have to move from school to school? The only thing we know is that Nico studied Dante in elementary school. Other than that? Nothing.

I bet you my whole fortune that Nico and Bianca probably had some kind of trauma from the schooling in Italy. Maybe that's why Bianca felt that she needed to take care of Nico-they were ostracized in school for their weirdness (AKA ADHD and dyslexia). And Maria was such a nice mother, but would she really understand? She didn't have ADHD or dyslexia. And even if she did know about the perils of being a demigod, even then she wouldn't really be able to understand Bianca and Nico. Sympathise with them, protect them a little, but she still wouldn't understand.

Oh my god, I just love Jude and the Court of Shadows so much. I love their dynamic. I would absolutely kill to see Holly Black write short stories centering around them. It's too good.

How to fix the coming out scene in HOO

You know what really would have fixed the forced coming out scene with Nico? Jason grabs Eros by the shoulder. Nico grabs him by the other. They both beat Eros bloody, really hard until the god cries and promises not to tell anyone on the Styx. Jason then denounces, condemns and threatens Eros if the god ever does that to anyone again. And then Jason swears on the Styx to Nico not to tell anyone until Nico lets him. There.

FIXING THE HUNTRESSES OF ARTEMIS

About the huntresses of Artemis. So, I said in this post that Artemis' Huntresses never grew up and always remained immature children and that in the mythology, her companions aged normally and weren't immortal. And I know that Rick made Artemis' hunt a fun, immortal band of girls just hunting monsters together, which could have been nice, but the way he wrote them, the result was way worse than intended. And I have a solution to fix it (not that he'll ever see this): Make it so that when women join Artemis, they age normally, so that they're not stuck at one age all the time. And if they want to become immortal, they can, but if they want to stay mortal, then they can stay mortal too. It's shown in PJO that Artemis has no problem giving her Huntresses immortality and also taking it away, so this would be no problem for her. And they can be frozen in time at a proper age where they're fully mature. Also, let them be able to go away when they want to-let them try the hunt out, not just have to stay forever and possibly regret it. Let them try it out and see if it's right for them, and them be able to leave. But then how will Thalia be able to avoid the prophecy, you ask? Well, simple. Artemis freezes Thalia in time like she does to her older hunters, making her a 15 year old forever-and when the prophecy is done, then Thalia starts aging normally again. Simple! I just think that it's really weird how Rick wrote the Huntresses of Artemis, having them be literal eternal children hunting monsters which is quite dangerous.

COMPARING JUDE DUARTE TO PERCY JACKSON AND SOPHIE FOSTER

So, I've read TFOTA, KOTLC and PJO, and I'm sure many other people have done the same. I've been comparing Jude to Percy and Sophie for a long time, so I wanted to type it out and make an analysis. Here we go now.

One thing I find about Jude is that she's different from both Percy and Sophie in the sense that she's thrust into a hostile world where she had no friends and had to fend for herself pretty early on. Her parents are murdered right in front of her eyes and she's taken to Elfhame, and we know that the TFOTA faeries don't like humans-most of them at least.

And while Sophie is also thrust into an entirely different system, it's friendly to her. Yes, she misses her human family and Amy, but Shannon barely goes into this. Sophie's not harmed or looked down upon (except by a few people, and they're not that relevant.) In fact, she's quite important and gets a lot of help (along with a bunch of trauma, though. Not trying to downplay Sophie's experience).

Percy also discovers the world of demigods, but he doesn't have to leave much behind-the mythological and modern world are heavily intertwined, so actually gains something, which means that he can go on living his life like he used to, except with advantages now (except being hunted by monsters)

Which brings me to my first point-

JUDE HAS NO PROTECTION SYSTEM OR HELP

Sure, she's Madoc's ward, but she's not his actual daughter. But she's a human in Elfhame-and we all know what that means. Those of us who have read the books, at least. Sure, being Madoc's adopted daughter gives her some protection, but it doesn't stop her from being glamoured and traumatized. It doesn't stop her ring finger's tip from being bitten off at 9 years old, by one of Madoc's servants no less, right in his stronghold. It doesn't stop the servants from mentally abusing her by making her feel inferior and telling her that she is lucky to be raised like this. Jude herself says that Tatterfell was probably considering pricking the former with a pin, implying that Tatterfell has done it before, which is still physical abuse. It doesn't prevent her from being drugged and danced around against her will at 11, and it doesn't stop her from being bullied by Cardan and Co.

Now moving onto Percy and Sophie-they had amazing support systems. Percy had Camp Half Blood. He was Poseidon's son, a Big Three Kid, and they're practically worshipped. He had so many friends at camp. He had Chiron and his mom Sally, who was an AMAZING parental figure. And then Percy had Paul. Percy also had Poseidon at times, though the latter rarely showed up-he still helped Percy quite a lot. Percy also had the gods. Artemis and Apollo helped him. Aphrodite helped him. Poseidon helped him. Dionysus helped him. Hestia helped him. Hera guided them through the labyrinth and made Percy's arrow fly perfectly. Hephaestus helps him too. The majority of the Olympian council has helped Percy, and without their help, he'd be nowhere. He also has magic, insane magic powers and he's pretty magically powerful, which Jude is not. She doesn't have any magic-the closest thing she has to it is the geas that makes her immune to glamours, and that Prince Dain placed on her when she asked him to. Percy is basically a Chosen One after all the other Big Three kids (Thalia-huntress, Bianca-dead and Nico-too young) are pushed out.

Sophie also has a great support system. She's got many parental and trusted authority figures-Elwin, Alden, Grady, Edaline and Della. She also has her friend circle-Keefe, Fitz, Biana, Dex, Wylie, Marella, Linh, Tam-which rapidly expands and the support of the Black Swan. AND she has powerful magic and is a chosen one like Percy. Something else that Jude doesn't have.

To summarise this, Percy and Sophie had great support systems that they could lean on and they were helped by others quite a lot (especially Percy) whereas Jude mostly helped herself.

JUDE HAS NO GOOD PARENTAL FIGURES OR FRIENDS

Unlike Percy and Sophie, Jude doesn't have healthy parental figures either. But! you say. But she has Madoc! Madoc is not a healthy parental figure.

Jude loves him in an uncomfortable way, yes. He cares about her, yes. He insisted that she be raised like the Gentry Faeries-that she learn swordplay and strategy, wear beautiful gowns and attend Faerie revels. But he still murdered her parents right in front of her eyes when she was a child. He still ran his sword through her and left her out to bleed. He still abandoned her to die when he felt that she was a hindrance. He loves her, yes, and he would do a lot for her, but he is in no way a healthy parental figure. Oriana is not a parental figure to Jude. She's only Oak's mother. Not Jude's, not Taryn's, not Vivienne's. She is, in fact, normally cold and stand offish with them, though she can be helpful at times. Taryn is Jude's closest 'friend' and we know how many times she betrays Jude during the course of the series (Locke and Madoc). Vivienne is perhaps the healthiest relationship that Jude has (besides the Court of Shadows). She's a good sister who has come through plenty of times for Jude when no one else has, supplying her and Taryn with quick magic whenever necessary…… but even she has her limits. First of all, she doesn't want to stay in Elfhame forever. She understandably hates and doesn't want to live with her parents' murderer, but where else can she live in Elfhame? Even if she could live somewhere else, she doesn't want to, and wants to go back to the Mortal Realm. She stays for Jude and Taryn, then leaves for Heather. She is also somewhat selfish and doesn't listen to Jude either. She doesn't help Jude with politics either-Jude is able to trust Vivienne because the latter stays loyal to Jude, but only for so long till she tires and goes back to the Mortal Realm. And this is where I come to the Court of Shadows. Honestly, they're one of my favorite parts of TFOTA. Their relationship with Jude is amazing-BUT, hear me out. I'm talking about Jude for the whole decade that she lived in Elfhame, and she didn't even have the Court of Shadows for a fraction of that time. So yes, they're her best support system, even if The Ghost was under Locke and then Madoc's control for much of the series-and he showed remorse afterwards and apologised. Even if the Bomb tried to kill Jude because the former understandably thought that the latter was trying to kill Cardan-and she showed remorse afterwards and apologized. And there's no time when the Roach actively tries to harm Jude. Yeah, I love these guys' dynamic so much, I'd read a whole book on them. (Honorable mention for Fand here-while she was not Jude's friend, she was friendly with her and was Jude's first personal guard as Queen).

To summarise this paragraph, Jude didn't have a good support system her whole 10 years-Madoc's protection didn't always protect her, Taryn is self-explanatory and Vivienne could be selfish and had her limits as well. Except at the very end when Jude joined the Court of Shadows.

PERCY AND SOPHIE WERE CHOSEN ONES

Percy and Sophie were also 'Chosen Ones'. Percy was the prophecy kid, the Savior of Olympus, and Sophie is the Black Swan's weapon. Jude is not a Chosen One-being a mortal in Faerie, she's quite the opposite. She's simultaneously at a high rung of a ladder due to being Madoc's ward and at a low rung, due to being a human among faeries. She never had any magical powers and was at a severe disadvantage due to this for most of her time in Elfhame until Dain gave her the geas.

To summarise this paragraph-Percy and Sophie were magically powerful 'chosen ones', something Jude was most definitely not-in fact, she was the opposite until she got Dain's geas.

Percy and Sophie were already at the top of the ladder-they only had to climb a few rungs, while Jude was quite lower than they were, though not at the very bottom, and she had to climb a whole lot more than they did.

These facts make Jude a more compelling protagonist than Percy or Sophie to some people.

TO CONCLUDE Now, I'm not trying to bash Percy or Sophie here-Jude had 10 years in Elfhame while Sophie barely has 3 years in the Lost Cities and Percy only has 2-3 years of training his powers. There's a difference between the appeal of Jude versus Percy and Sophie-the first one's appeal is a powerless person rising to power and the second appeal is being a powerful person, an important chosen one, and having people admire and look up to you. Both can appeal to different people and the same people. But protagonists like Jude have an appeal that protagonists like Percy and Sophie can never have.

I think Jude is somewhat like Luke-ruthless and willing to do anything to ensure her loved ones' safety, including killing. She also rebels against the system like Luke and changes part of it by breaking the mold to fit herself in there. I'm not sure whom she's like from KOTLC, but if I had to pick a person, I'd pick either Forkle or Fintan-ruthless, morally grey, willing to do a lot to break the system and get accepted.

Though she is WAYYYYYYY morally better than them-a lighter shade of gray, if you will. She would never kidnap and torture a bunch of children for information and she'd never leave them to find their own way home when the chances are quite low.

I also think, that if the circumstances mandated it, Percy could be as ruthless as Jude if required. I'm not quite sure about Sophie, due to the whole elf guilt mental break thing, but I think that she could also be ruthless like Jude if she can convince herself that it's for the greater good and her loved ones.

Whew, this might be my masterpiece post. Well, if you have any counter arguments, then feel free to post them.

Vivienne and Madoc angst part two

She had called him daddy on the day of the coronation. She had called him father when shooting bolts at him. Sometimes she acknowledged him, sometimes she acted like he was a stranger. In a way, however, they WERE strangers. Madoc realized with a start that he didn't know what her favorite color or foods were. He didn't know what clothes she liked to wear, he didn't know what she did for a living, he didn't know what music she liked to listen to. Well, she had never stayed for long. She was always off to some place, even when he tried to get her to stay. It wasn't HIS fault. 'Oh, yeah, look at this park! It's my favorite-Lincoln Park. My dad used to take me here all the time.' she said. Madoc raised his eyebrows. What? Her father? He'd never- Justin. Justin. My father. Justin.

It suddenly crashed into him. That even though he was Vivienne's biological father, the man who had raised her was Justin Duarte, and then he'd died, and there was no other man, because his one biological daughter had always avoided him, avoided acknowledging their bond. 'I loved playing catch with him. And when I was tired, he would take me for ice cream. Vanilla ice cream-my favorite. While Mom took care of Jude and Taryn.' Madoc bit his lip. He was very uncomfortable now. The car was very cramped. He wanted to get out and run away. (Run away? How odd. He never ran away from things. Emotional troubles-he pushed them down, not ran away.) Vivienne swerved to avoid accidentally running a dog down and cursed. (Push down, run away. Run down, push away). He had never apologized to them for killing their parents. His apologies came in the form of raising them as his own, insisting they live like the Gentry Faeries. Teaching them swordplay and strategies. Giving them ball gowns and faerie food. 'I don't really like killing. It's a you thing.' she said. 'Of course, you wouldn't know anything else, would you? You can only kill, pathetic monster.' 'Vivienne.' he said. 'I've had enough. Stop this.' She snorted. 'Of course. Run away from emotionally charged conversations. Always the Madoc I knew.' When she had yelled at him, about Justin and Eva, he had always yelled back and told her to shut up. Walked away. Distracted himself. He never cried. (Though he'd blinked quite rapidly when standing near Eva's cooling body. Very rapidly, more than usual.) 'I never-' he said, then stopped. He couldn't speak. Why couldn't he speak? (That was a lie. He couldn't lie.) 'You never WHAT?' Vivienne yelled. The car was going to fast for his liking now. 'Never WHAT, Madoc? Never wanted to talk about them? Yeah, you never DID acknowledge what you did to us.' 'I have you everything, but you never took it.' 'No you didn't. You took what you wanted from my mother and then took even more from the three of us. Took everything from the three of us.' 'Vivienne, please-' 'NO.' she screamed. The car slammed to a halt and Madoc lurched forward. 'Get out.' He blinked. 'What?' 'Get. OUT!' she screamed, blinking back tears. 'I don't know why I took you on. I never win. Just get out and find your way back. I don't care.' He sighed and got out, staring at the car zooming away morosely. And then he realized where he was. The house. The house where it all happened. He grit his teeth. VIVIENNE! Then it hit him-Eva would've done something like that. A silly, lighthearted prank-well, not really, but she would have done it in a lighter manner. He remembered Eva and her reddish brown hair streaming behind her as she squinted her eyes and threw her head back when laughing. She had been a perfect mix of Jude and Taryn-Jude's daring and cunning and Taryn's soft femininity. He knew that he was so dedicated to the twins because they reminded her of him-more specifically Jude, who could have been an adopted Vivienne. His own Vivienne, however, had his eyes and ears, but she also had Eva's brown hair and a lighter shade of her skin. And now Madoc really saw some Eva in Vivienne-her snark, her boldness, her carefree nature. And he wondered how he hadn't seen it before.

Vivienne and Madoc angst part one

So this is what a car looks like, Madoc thought. He had forgotten what they looked like. The models that Eva had showed him were 'old-school' and 'practically ancient', as Vivienne had put it. She had screamed with laughter when he asked about cars, using his fairy terminology.

Heather had politely smiled, but Madoc could tell that she was holding back laughter too. Her trembling lips conveyed as much. Madoc internally groaned. He was banished to the human realm, and he needed to brush up on his already scanty knowledge of it. And Vivienne seemed to delight in showing him how terrible he was at it. Laughing at every single thing he did wrong and condescendingly showing him how to do it better. He grunted in annoyance. 'This baby right here,' Vivienne patted the car, 'is a Toyota. Great model, very nice for a secondhand car, and holds four. Though with you in it,' she added casually, 'it'll probably be quite stretched, so be careful.' Madoc chose to take it as a compliment. His daughter was complimenting his muscular physique that could flatten any of these odd, lightning-speed, roaring vehicles. And anyway, the car was somewhat roomy at the back. He was studiously avoiding going to the house where it had all happened years ago. He would NOT remind himself of that time. Everything was better now. Jude and Taryn liked Faerie, and Vivienne- Vivienne, ironically, had been the only one who hated Faerie. She only stayed there for her sisters, and the moment she got a real chance to, she dropped everything and left to live in the human realm. Madoc had wondered at her loving a human girl. Just like him. And not understand her. Just like him. (And unintentionally hurting her. Just like him. Only this time, they were both well and good, while his hands were bloodstained and Eva lay six feet below). He had wondered how Vivienne would deal with Heather's death, but decided not to point it out. Vivienne was only 20 after all, and when she had lived centuries as he had, she would gain more experience. Oriana had chosen to come with him. What a wonderful woman and wife. Prim, thoughtful, proper, careful to consider he next move. Not like Eva, who was a restless whirlwind and broke more than one rule of faerie etiquette. (But then again, that was why he had liked her.) The human realm, however, was different from Faerie. No servants, no big grand mansions, only their little apartment in the building adjacent to Vivienne's, as she had absolutely refused to get him a flat in the same building as hers. He had already started playing politics with his neighbours and was making wonderful progress. He avoided telling Vivienne about this. Oriana rolled her eyes and shook her head. 'What will you do to the human world?' she had jokingly asked him. Maybe I'll take it for a spin, he thought, just like Eva did with my world. He had asked Vivienne to take him around the city to see what to catch up on. Now he stared at the glowing neon signs, recalling the ones from the 1970s, when he'd travelled around the city. He looked at the small stores whirl by. Vivienne wasn't even driving slowly-she simply drove ahead, telling him about the city and its modern developments. 'My goodness, humans really do evolve fast.' he said. 'I haven't been here since-well-' He fell silent. He hadn't been there since that fateful day-when he had killed Justin and Eva. 'You haven't been there since you killed my parents,' Vivienne said cheerfully. The car sped up. Madoc opened his mouth and closed it again. It shocked him that she said that, even when he had internally acknowledged it. My parents. My.

(Part one, since the whole thing is too long to post)

What if Gisela had been nicer to Keefe?

One thing that puzzled me was-why the hell was Gisela so toxic to Keefe?

What if she acted nice towards Keefe and gave him more love, not just small doses? Then she could have swayed him to her side way more easily!

Imagine Cassius being a terrible father, but Gisela being a kind, sweet mother-at least that's her facade.

She slowly grooms Keefe to be what she needs him to be-subtly drops hints about the injustice of the Lost Cities, pitting Cassius and Keefe against each other, playing the doting mother when Cassius is angry.

Then Keefe wouldn't have rebelled so hard-he would've been taken in. And when Gisela revealed herself, she could have told him about the injustice that she had been showing him for years.

And Keefe would have had to make a decision. Stay with the Black Swan, or join the Neverseen? And he struggles with this decision over the course of the series. Sophie or his mother?

Because clearly the Black Swan's not doing anything, but the Neverseen is trying.

But the Neverseen's methods are horrible, while the Black Swan is more passive and preferable.

Still, there's so much injustice........

It would've made the book where Keefe join the Neverseen so much juicier.

Just imagine Gisela welcoming Keefe into the ranks. Imagine her teaching him, spending time with him like the old days-

AND IMAGINE HIM BETRAYING HER AND RUNNING AWAY WITH THE STOLEN CACHES.

Imagine her disappointment, her fury. Keefe's overwhelming guilt and shame, but he did the right thing, didn't he?

Except the Black Swan's not getting closer to doing anything, and the Neverseen members weren't as evil as he thought they'd be-they actually seemed to be humane, behaving like normal elves instead of evil people. Humanise the villains.

Aah, my heart, so much ANGST.

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

WHO HERE THINKS THAT WE SHOULD'VE GOTTEN MORE ANNABETH AND POSEIDON MOMENTS?

You know how Athena disapproves of and threatened Percy? Well………….DO THAT WITH POSEIDON AND ANNABETH! Let them meet. Let Annabeth squirm. Let Poseidon smile, but let it not quite reach his suddenly cold green eyes.

Let him size her up, and let her be found wanting. LET HIM SILENTLY THREATEN HER NOT TO HIT PERCY AGAIN!

Let him disapprove of Annabeth's nickname for him! Let Percy defend it, defend Annabeth from Poseidon!

Let Poseidon tell Percy that if things don't work out (in a way that he implies that he hopes it doesn't work out) that he can hook up with a sea nymph or naiad or something! This was SUCH a missed opportunity to show that Poseidon loves Percy and thinks that he can do better than a plain daughter of Athena! (Or at least Poseidon thinks so).

Can someone write this, please? I would, but I already have something else going on.

All right, so this was just a spur of the moment rant that I spontaneously started writing, so it might not be the best thing.

The main point of this short essay was to see how sexism free societies in fantasy aren't really sexism free. Or how supposedly 'progressive' societies aren't really that progressive. But, ah, I suppose I went a little off the rails. I might edit this later.

Ok……see, the thing about sexism-free societies is that women have rights, responsibilities and freedom like men. They can dress up in pants and shorts, not just skirts, and they're allowed to be masculine. They can fight, climb, run, punch, all of that. But………but what about the MEN? Are they allowed to be feminine? A stay at home dad? A stay at home husband? Can they fulfill traditionally feminine roles? Can they wear MAKEUP? Can they wear DRESSES and GIRLY JEWELRY? Is that ALLOWED? What about nail polish? What about growing their hair out and wearing them in styles? What about them being submissive and kind? WHAT ABOUT IT? Why do we feel so weird when this happens? I've read so many novels and series where women could be like men, but men couldn't be like women. Literally when have we seen a man wearing a dress or makeup or just being feminine? I think that throughout history, women were seen as weak and untrustworthy, so when the feminists started fighting for us, they wanted to be more like MEN to be seen as better and more dependable, so they discarded feminine things that made them seem weak. And now, today, women are allowed to be masculine and all that jazz, but men aren't allowed to be feminine without being looked at weird and avoided. And that's sexism. So if you really don't discriminate on the basis of gender, then, well, LET MEN BE FEMININE!

Jurdan is actually relevant to the plot

The thing about Jurdan is that their romance is ACTUALLY RELEVANT TO THE PLOT.

See, with Percabeth and Sokeefe, leaving out their romance wouldn't change anything. They could just be really good friends or best friends.

But with Jurdan, well, if Cardan didn't romantically love Jude, if he hadn't been OBSESSED with her, then he wouldn't have offered to make her queen, which would have changed a lot in the plot.

(Not saying that this makes Jurdan superior to Percabeth or Sokeefe)

This is my two cents-feel free to disagree and give me arguments why.

How Bianca thought that she was parentified

Ok, so, regarding the Nico and Bianca situation in PJO. So, people argue against the parentification of Bianca. First, her memories were wiped, then she and Nico were taken to the Lotus Casino, which made them forget all their worries! How could she have raised him then? And, yeah, you're right. But, hold on, we know that they were taken out of the Lotus Casino sometime after TLT. Now, they in there for 70 years. We don't know their reaction to modern technology, but I'm pretty sure that they DEFINITELY weren't used to it. Kids their age (biologically speaking) would know how to use basic technology in that era, and they didn't. Hell, they barely knew anything. Their syllabus was probably different, too. And can you imagine being snapped out of a month-long fun vacation, having to leave the literal LOTUS CASINO, and then being told that for a second time that hey, your parents are dead, but don't worry! They left a HUGE trust fund for you! Well, a trust fund wouldn't be enough to alleviate Bianca's fears. She and Nico only have each other right now, and yeah, they were in different dorms and classes, but is that really enough? Like, imagine your parents are dead, and you go to a hotel to have a month long fun vacation, but suddenly YOU'RE RIPPED OUT and then you remember that and you have a younger brother to take care of, and now you're in a whole different era and you don't really KNOW anything, you don't know what to do, what to study, maybe you're even falling behind in class. And now you know that sure, there might be a trust fund, but how long till it runs out? And then you'll have to fend for yourself AND your brother. It's just, I think being thrown into a whole new era really subconsciously affected Nico and Bianca in a bad way. I think Bianca thought that she was somewhat parentified because their parents were dead, and the trust fund wasn't eternal, and one day she'd have to fend for Nico and herself.

If you want to argue, please do.

Carter Kane with cornrows.

That's it. That's the post.

The Small Fandoms

Can we just get some love for the small fandoms? The tiny ones? The barely there ones, with people who've read the books, but can't find anyone else who has, even though there are people out there?

Ponniyan Selvan, The Dandelion Dynasty, The Inheritances Games, Jeeves, Snow Like Ashes, Raybearer, Enola Holmes, Sheena Meyer (LITERALLY NONEXISTENT) Murder Most Unladylike and others (add them in the comments)

Ok, listen………..I haven't seen anyone talking about this. So………men and other people who say that men are losers say that they don't have a job, a house, an apartment friends or a girlfriend. And I'm just like……..ok, the first four are valid concerns, but why do you need a GIRLFRIEND? It's just, they're treating all of these as goals to be accomplished, things to be bought and had, and girlfriends are not goals to be accomplished nor things to be BOUGHT AND HAD. They're real, living, breathing people. People who say that they have 'no job, no home, no girlfriend) are essentially treating girlfriends like objects to be had so that they can be better and more accomplished. Stop. There is NOTHING WRONG with NOT HAVING A GIRLFRIEND. More men NEED to see this. DO NOT TIE YOUR VALUE TO A PARTNER OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER. Say that you don't have a job, living space, real friends, but NEVER say 'Ugh, my life so bad, dude, I don't have a job, a house OR a GIRLFRIEND.'

Why Zeus transformed Thalia into a pine tree

So I've seen people asking why Zeus transformed Thalia into a tree, and was that really the most powerful being's plan to save his daughter? Yes. Yes, it was! He looked down and saw an opportunity!

First of all, there's no telling if Thalia would save or raze Olympus. And now she's dying from a fatal wound, BUT he doesn't want her to die because then Hades will………well……….send her to the Fields of Punishment or Tartarus (completely untrue for the real Hades, by the way.)

And he can't exactly just interfere and save her life because then he would be accused of hypocrisy by the other gods and also the Ancient Laws, both of which he probably doesn't care about.......

But the MAIN reason he didn't save her life was most likely because she was the prophecy child and he didn't want it to come true. So, what does he do? Easy! He transforms her into a tree. Reminiscent of Greek Mythology, where people are transformed into things all the time, AND he actively ties and strengthens Thalia's tree to the magical border, thus giving her a legacy to live on at Camp Half Blood for not just one generation but EVERY generation to come. And this way, the prophecy can be averted! (He didn't know that Percy existed yet.)

One of the most annoying things I find about Solangelo is the lack of development, the lack of progress from platonic to romantic in their relationship.

What, you're telling me that Nico, Nico di Angelo, an important character in the original PJO series and also HOO, who gets his own POV, just suddenly gets together with a random doctor………Will Solace? We see Will in what, The Last Olympian? And then we see him again in The Lost Hero, BARELY, just a few lines, and then again in Blood of Olympus, where he tells Nico that the latter that he's dense but not stupid? Which would be enough to piss Nico off? And then in Trials of Apollo……….they're…………TOGETHER? We barely got any chemistry or screentime, and what with Nico's internalized homophobia and years-long crush on Percy……….. HE WOULD NOT DO THAT. You don't just kiss someone your gender after only MONTHS of internalized homophobia, especially when Nico is from the LITERAL 1930s, where people were MURDERED for being gay.

It's clear that Rick only gave him a partner to 'confirm' it, which is annoying, because people can be gay without having partners.

And also, Will is so random and such a random, thrown-in character that I find it funny at times. Of course, he has somewhat of a personality outside being Nico's boyfriend, but not enough to make him a good sole character.Also, he's a terrible doctor for giving Nico's medical information to other people without Nico's consent-and he's 16. He clearly knows that he shouldn't do it. And he still does it.

I really don't understand why Thalia had to fight the monsters and sacrifice herself for Luke and Annabeth RIGHT ON THE BORDER OF CAMP HALF BLOOD.

Literally WHERE were Chiron and Dionysus? They knew that getting Thalia to camp was very important-hell, why didn't Chiron himself search for her instead of letting an inexperienced satyr guide her?

Just another one of Rick's terrible writing choices that make no sense. This has been bothering me for a long time..........

Can we just have more of Sophie missing the human world?

Like........maybe she just remembers a band that she used to listen to, her favorite songs.

Maybe she remembers food that she liked, her favorite restaurant and dish, somewhere her family used to go often.

Maybe she's reminded of miscellaneous things from the Forbidden Cities, and maybe she tears up a bit, because she'll never go back, she'll never live there again, not with her family, and her parents will never remember her again, and even if Amy does, it just won't be the same, and she'll have to hide her interactions with Amy, because what if her parents see them and remember?

And maybe Flori whips something up that tastes like Sophie's favorite food, so that she can relive it again.

And maybe Dex builds random things to mimic the items from the Forbidden Cities.

And maybe when Keefe comes back, Sophie will bombard him with questions about the humans.

I know Shannon has a lot going on, but it just seems like Sophie adjusts really fast and doesn't care about the human world anymore. Feel free to contradict me, though.

I was just rereading The Sword of Summer and TLT by Rick Riordan, and I came to parts where the Norse and Greek gods were called 'lowercase G gods,' while the Abrahamic gods were called, 'Capital G gods.'

Jeez, Rick, you really had to add that in, huh? You do realise that there are Hellenistic Pagans who view their gods as highly as Christians view their God and Muslims view Allah? Like, holy shit, you did not have to downgrade them like that. There was no need for that. No need at all.

This just reeks of blatant Abrahamic superiority, which is annoying but sadly unsurprising.

All I'm saying right now is that I can see why so many Hellenistic Pagans and Greek people hate PJO. There's nothing wrong with hating it for those reasons.

I've seen a lot of people asking why Zoe picked Bianca, and let me tell you-

There is no good Watsonian reason for that. This is a dangerous, high-stakes quest that allows THREE hunters and two campers to go. They are saving a GODDESS-one of the OLYMPIANS, whose presence is REQUIRED for the gods to FINALLY MAKE A DECISION.

ZOE has been the lieutenant for millennia and she is one of the most experienced huntresses. Yes.

PHOEBE is also like Zoe-one of the most experienced huntresses, so of course she's going!

BIANCA, on the other hand? Nothing. No training, no experience. So why would Zoe pick her?

Simple-Rick needed to fridge her for Nico's arc, so he made Zoe choose her. It's as simple as that.

We ruined Demeter and Persephone's relationship.

The thing is, Demeter and Persephone had a beautiful relationship. And modern pieces that depict Greek culture simply just……….ruin it. Lore Olympus, Percy Jackson, Blood of Olympus, Hades even. It's disheartening that we're so misogynistic that we can't just let a mother and daughter love each other without complications or trauma. No, we have always have to make Demeter the controlling, overprotective, helicopter mother and Persephone the rebel daughter. It's disgusting, frankly, and I would love to see a piece of media where they simply have a loving, functional relationship.

I GUARANTEE you that if Rick didn't make Athena have children, he would also have made her be a child somehow.

Magnus and Thalia

Does anyone ever think about Thalia just going to Boston sometime, maybe after Annabeth is dead, or even when she's alive? And then she meets Magnus there, and she notices his last name, and she says that one of her friends has his last name-'Annabeth Chase'.

And Magnus is shocked because THAT'S HIS COUSIN! And Thalia is also shocked, so they talk about Annabeth together, and Magnus learns more about her, and Thalia learns something from Magnus too.

And maybe they have regular meetups, or maybe she just swings around to Boston to see if he's there, and they talk about Annabeth.

(And maybe they grieve together after Annabeth dies.)

Come on, PJO fanfic writers, WHERE ARE YOU

Magnus Chase, The Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson all should've been set in separate universes.

It's just, the mythology is all so tangled up. How does Rick justify the beginnings and endings of the world, seeing as some of them don't really have an ending (like Greek mythology) and some of them do (Ragnarok).

So why not set them in universes? Something like Daughter of the Deep and Percy Jackson-neither are in the same universe, but they're both written by the same author. So do that for MCGA, TKC and PJO.

And Percy and Annabeth definitely could have been written out with some assistance. The crossover literally didn't have to happen.

(Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, I think all the pantheon gods interacting with each other could be a fun concept, but I don't care for this particular concept, though that's just my opinion).