Artemis PJO - Blog Posts
Bianca di Angelo DID NOT KNOW.
One of the most incorrect yet common takes on Bianca di Angelo is that she should have gone to CHB and made sure it was ok for Nico before leaving with the Hunters.
I'm sorry, did you not read TTC properly? You need to go back and reread it if you think that this is true.
Artemis only told her hunters that they would stay longer at CHB after Bianca became a Hunter.
Bianca did not know that the Hunters were planning to stay at CHB. In her POV, she could either join the Hunters or stay with Nico and not get a second chance at joining what could possibly be a chance for freedom (in her POV).
Bianca did not know that the Hunters would stay at CHB until after she became one. She was scared of losing her only chance at freedom (in her thoughts) and made a rash decision. Stop blaming her for it. And stop with this moronic take. Please stop it.
HOW RICK PORTRAYS ARTEMIS
Now, before I start on the nasty pile of shit that is Rick Riordan written PJO Artemis (NOT the real one, NEVER the real one) let me give you some links to posts talking about her portrayal in PJO which you should most certainly read.
You should most certainly read these posts-they talk about the subject of this post magnificently. Especially the first one.
THE HUNT OF ARTEMIS IS TERRIBLE AROACE REP
Rick makes her and her hunt aroace and depicts them as radical feminist misandrists.
This is misogynistic and aphobic, as it makes the narrative and by extension the readers think that hey, aroace women actually hate all men, which is not the case for every one of them!
Also, Rick writes Artemis as usually liking to appear as a young girl and never assumes a form older than twenty. And she always appears as a child in PJO. Never any other age. Also, the Hunters are apparently literal CHILDREN who are called immature and misandrist while also being aroace.......hmmmmmm.........aphobic much?
Yeah, do you see how aphobic this is?
People usually view aroace people as childlike and immature due to the fact that they don't want to have sex or romance when they can be just as mature or even more mature than non aroace people.
Also, the two hunters who've left the hunt, Emmie and Jo, are 'growing out of it'. Also, they fall in love and aren't as 'childish' anymore. This implies that aroace people are just 'late bloomers' and 'oh, you'll grow out of it!'
Which is not the case. It's never the case. They never 'grow out of it' because they don't feel attracted to it, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Romance and sex do not determine an adult's maturity. And they sure as hell don't determine Artemis' sexuality.
Also, Artemis kicks wlw hunters out-lesbians being kicked out of a safe space for women just for romantically liking women, does anybody hear this?-and calls romance a plague.
What the hell? Aroace people don't always think like this. And sex and romance are to different things. It's possible to be an asexual lesbian too.
This is lesbophobia, which is awful, because men are often violent towards queer women, so this could have been a good form of rep for queer women-queer female solidarity.
Now, I'm aware that Rick is allowed to portray Artemis as aroace. I'm simply pointing out the aphobic and misogynistic tropes that he fell into.
This isn't the only virgin goddess that Rick has turned into a child. Rick also turned Hestia, a former Olympian in PJO, into a child for no reason, most likely because she is also a willing virgin goddess. This is also extremely aphobic and unnecessary.
Artemis usually appears as a young woman in her statues and paintings. If Rick really wanted to make her young, he could've had her be in her late teens or early twenties. There was no reason to make her look like a child.
Also, the major huntresses of Artemis that we know of-Thalia, Bianca and Zoe-joined because they were traumatised from their past.
Thalia because Luke 'betrayed' her, Bianca because she thought she had to take care of Nico, and Zoe because Hercules also betrayed her. They're all traumatised and are frozen to become eternal children. And Reyna is also heavily traumatised.
Do you see this shit, my liege? This implies that all the aroace people are traumatised and that's why they suddenly become aroace and join the Hunt. Absolute nonsense.
Also, not all Hunters of Artemis are aroace. Taking a vow of virginity is not equal to aroace. I get that you want to have your representation, which is fair, but you need to know this.
PJO ARTEMIS IS CREEPY AND PREDATORY
So, we know from the Titan's Curse that Rick Riordan written PJO Artemis recruits girls between 10 and 14 into her hunt.
She says that girls that are older than 14 usually 'go astray' and 'leave their senses, running after boys all day'.
She makes her huntresses take oaths of virginity and celibacy. Why would anyone make a child take a virginity and celibacy oath?
She recruits girls who are too young to know if they want to date or have sex or grow up and pursue something else instead of just hunting all day.
She calls romance a plague and kicks out all lovers from her Hunt, be it mlm or wlw, which is terrible, because she was a sapphic icon back in the day.
And she promises young girls nice things and twists her word, not actually telling them about the bad things of the Hunt until they're actually in and can't get out again.
Do you know how terrible this is? And how terrible it is for the real Artemis and her worshippers?
This is very predatory-and extremely OOC for Real Artemis. She's the protector of girls-she doesn't take them on monster hunts.
REAL Artemis is the protector of children, especially young girls-she would not freeze them biologically forever and pull them out of their lives and take them on monster hunts, thus harming them and endangering them. She would take young girls into hunt, but she would educate them and train them to defend themselves and only take them on monsters hunts when they were fully mature, consenting adults.
Let me fill you in on info about the REAL Artemis' hunt-
If Real Artemis accepted girls into the hunt, they would age normally, and they weren't immortal. And she wouldn't make them hunt monsters. They'd hang around at camp, dance, sing, pick flowers and worship Artemis, like the original nymphs in the myths, who, by the way, were adults.
Also, Real Artemis' huntresses didn't always stay with her. They stayed for some time and left-actually, being a companion of Artemis was a popular title for heroines of Greek Myths, like Anticlea, mother of Odysseus, who hunted with Artemis when she (Anticlea) was young or Beroe, who was also a hunter before becoming a lover of Poseidon or marrying him.
Real Artemis' followers must be virgins or they cannot join her, but they are free to leave, and after that, they may lose their virginity.
Real Artemis' followers are not immediately granted immortality-they must earn it. Artemis grants Britomartis immortality after the latter jumps off a cliff fleeing from King Minos. In some versions, she turned Iphigenia into a goddess as she was sacrificed for Artemis.
And I get that it was a fun concept for Rick to make Artemis' hunt an immortal sisterhood band-and I'm not saying that it's a bad concept.
I'm just saying that the concept was horribly executed. It's absolutely horrible that the girls are frozen forever in time and never get to grow up and be more mature and educated. It would also help their muscle mass and strength, effectively making them better hunters. I've made another post about this.
And Rick also makes Artemis not interact with men because.......her first few interactions with men failed?
This is hilariously terrible. Oh no, Artemis doesn't like men because apparently a few of them failed her and her interactions with them went terribly wrong, so no men now!
And also, she kicks lesbians out of her hunt.
Read this post. It'll detail all the bad things about my last sentence, and in the meantime-
This is terrible, because Real Artemis was heavily associated with lesbianism back in Ancient Greece or before that. Also, Rick's hunt was supposed to be a safe space for girls. So many little lesbians thought that they'd been seen-only to have Rick throw this back into their face. And you know what's even more horrible? He could've made the hunters ace lesbians, because yeah, you can romantically love women and not want to have sex, it's entirely possible.
PJO Artemis is ultimately 'redeemed' by helping Percy and his friends and voting against his death, but her portrayal in such a popular books series will be an eternal tragedy.
And I've heard some people say that he turned Artemis into a radical feminist because it was popular at the time, and let me tell you-
You don't get to do that. You don't get to use a culturally, religiously and ethically sacred goddess as your experimenting ground for humour and modernity mixed with magic.
You don't just get to ignore all the myths and then reduce a sacred belief and way of life to something so horrible as what Artemis' hunt was in PJO-predatory, creepy, cult-like and abusive.
It isolated girls from the outside world and fed them one source of information.
It tricked them into joining by lying to them, promising them happiness, not telling them about the bad things, and then it did not let them leave when they wanted to, making them regret it eternally.
So many people actually worship this goddess-imagine how horrible they feel about this portrayal.
@fandomloverangel
GREEK AND ROMAN DEMIGODDESSES IN ARTEMIS' HUNT
Ok, so, all of us PJO fans know about Artemis' hunt in PJO. It's terrible, honestly, the way Rick wrote it, but that's not what I'm talking about here.
If Greek and Roman demigods couldn't be in each other's presence without fighting, then what about the Greek and Roman demigods in Artemis' hunt?
Greek demigods have joined before and so have Roman demigods. And they would have met each other because they were all in the hunt, yes?
(I'm not sure how many huntresses there are).
Were there separate divisions? Branches? It doesn't say anything like that in the books.
So this is probably just another inconsistency in PJO.
What are your thoughts on this?
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.
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.
hi hello! i hope you're having a good day
i love reading your writing and analysis/takes on percy jackson ( the character and franchise ), and i wanted to know your opinion on perpollo. just anything you have to say on the topic. i find it so interesting as a concept itself and when it's explored.
I am sorry for the delay. I hope you and everyone else who sent me asks has found the pinned post regarding my hiatus. I will answer as many asks as I can in this week but I have exams coming up so I won't be very active for a while after this.
Back to the point, I really like the possibilities that the Perpollo ship presents. I know I have not made any Perpollo centric posts but given its popularity and how many prominent blogs have analyzed it along with some of my mutuals @ackerlikesmen , @deliajackson , @hermesmyplatonicbeloved I really haven't felt the need to. They will probably have great stuff to add on or correct in my analysis.
I have mixed opinions on the ship. My parameters for analyzing this ship may not align with you, but I just feel better when factual and practical nuances are considered. This is one of the few ships where the cons can be used as tropes to further bolster the pros of the ship. So let's start with that:
PROS:
1.It's a mutually respectful relationship with no toxicity.
Apollo greatly respects Percy even before the events of Trials of Apollo. He votes to save Percy in the Titan's Curse and also actively helps him and begins respecting him after he saves Artemis.
In Singer of Apollo, Apollo tells Percy that he is Apollo's favorite hero.
In the Hidden Oracle, when Apollo realizes that he is human, he wants Percy to be his master. Apollo the ( God of Ego) thinks that if anyone is worthy of commanding him it's Percy.
When Meg is being hesitant about trusting demigods, and Apollo wants to prove that some of them are good and reliable, he picks Percy as the prime example. Not anyone else of the Seven or even his own children but Percy.
In their initial conversation where Apollo is still repulsively high handed and egoistic and considers Percy declining him as self-centered he doesn't complain too much on it an even follows up by the thought that Percy has done him much goodwill. And this is before his transformation so Percy is that influential that even pre ToA Apollo can't really pick faults at him.
Now Percy began with disliking Apollo as much as he dislikes any gods. But he does remember Apollo thanking him at the end of Titan's Curse and declines Apollo's offer for free Archery lessons.
Percy acknowledges the change in Apollo and respects Apollo for it. Despite his annoyance Percy is one of the few to help him initially and consistently throughout the series.
2. Common family/friends circle and culture
Initially, one would question why this matters, but I think it's generally a comforting space to be involved with someone who knows your roots and is on good terms with your family. It's both wise and fosters a stronger bond. It's even more reassuring and I dare say easier when a couple shares similar cultures/family roots. It automatically trumps the trial and error phase of adjustment with another person's family and cultural norms.
Percy is a family oriented person and therefore likes that Apollo respects and thinks highly of his mother and his family.
Apollo is despite his progress, someone who considers status quo important, and he appreciates that Percy is such a high profile person on Olympus and obviously the most influential out of all demigods. Plus, he is a sea prince.
Percy is on good terms with Apollo Cabin and Will, Kayla, Austin and formerly Michael all respect Percy and are fond of him. Percy despite being mid battle and exhausted from his fight stopped everything and looked through the bridge rubble to try and save Michael and retrieve his body.
Percy is the only male demigod Artemis acknowledges and likes and he has saved her before and they are on extremely good terms. Apollo loves his sister very much so it's unlikely he would accept someone who wasn't on good terms with Artemis. No other demigod has that advantage.
Percy and Apollo also have an exclusive friend in common being Rachel, who is Apollo's Oracle and Percy's very good friend. In fact, Rachel was led to being the Oracle by meeting Percy and Apollo adores Rachel.
Percy is possibly the demigod that has been through the most hardships and Apollo has had a taste of what demigod hardship is like so he knows what it is like being in Percy's situation. And there's full understanding there.
Percy knows many gods and is aware of godly ways so he isn't a novice to divinity or the world of gods or what gods do in general. So, it's unlikely that Apollo's functions, roles and responsibilities will cause any misunderstandings between them.
3. There is no god mortal power gap that usually exists.
Percy is a prince of the Sea and Poseidon's favorite child. He has also been offered godhood before and is hailed throughout Olympus as it's Savior twice. Essentially, he is on equal footing with Apollo.
He might be mortal but given his high profile status in Olympus and in both camps, Apollo [yes Apollo already absolutely respects and thinks highly of Percy] would not be able to mistreat or hurt Percy in any major ways.
4. They have similar goals of bettering lives of demigods and are both in positions to do so and therefore collaborate frequently even in their work life. This is healthy in a relationship.
5. With Sally's own affair with Poseidon, Percy and Apollo dating create a nice sort of generational parallel.
6. Percy respects the domains Apollo stands for, and that's very important, I think to a god. Percy is grateful to healers, is friends with the Oracle and is Rachel's protector to some extent, is fond of music and is fairly artistic (writer as he does write/ narrate the whole orignal series himself) on his own. Though he sucks at Archery, it seems to amuse Apollo rather than anger him, and he offers Percy archery lessons from himself, so that could be a fun dynamic.
7. Percy and Apollo are very complementary, and their dynamic can really help both of them.
Percy has extreme self esteem issues and Apollo, proud and egoistic as he is can help Percy develop self assuredness and inner confidence. Apollo is narcissistic without understanding how damaging his narcissism can be. He learns about as much from his Trials so he can and I think he would like to learn from Percy his compassion and humility. I think they could really help each other and match each other quite well.
They are both very open-minded, so they can always try out new interests that the other likes and can develop completely new hobbies together. They both like not having important tasks thrust upon them, lol so they can find ways to dodge godly affairs together.
CONS:
1.Apollo's lovers often meet disastrous ends either at his hands or another's.
Percy is the one person who deserves to have a very relaxing and enjoyable life devoid of any excess trouble after all he's been through. So another death prophecy might not be something Percy wants and given how tormented Apollo is by memories of his past lovers, another relationship might not be the best idea especially with one he thinks of so highly. Apollo might intentionally stay away from Percy to not bring him any misfortune.
2. Percy dislikes gods.
No matter what, after all that's been done to demigods and all the wars they have suffered are direct results of godly mistakes. He generally tolerates gods and likes only Hestia and Poseidon and has antagonistic take on all other gods, rightfully so.
Therfore Percy might not be at all interested in pursuing a relationship with a god, changed or otherwise. He might have come to see eye to eye with many gods and he clearly respects Apollo now, it might still be a bit too far of a leap for him to consider getting together with a god.
3. Percy wants a quiet and peaceful life
Apollo loves grand things and grand gestures. He also loves being the center of attention as you know he is quite literally the Sun God. It might not align well with Percy's mindset for thea future or Apollo's mindset for a relationship.
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There can be a compromise found for all of these. And they all make for good fic ideas.
For the first one,Apollo being extra careful towards Percy's safety or considering the threat of Apollo's own enemies targeting Percy and making arrangements accordingly might help along with Percy's own reassurances as a powerful demigod.
Secondly, Percy might be convinced through seeing things with Apollo's eyes that even those inside Olympian systems suffer the wrath or Zeus regularly and chafe under the chains of ancient and archaic rules. He might decide to help them so that they can better help their own children. And he has made exceptions for certain gods before. Like Hestia, Pan and his father. So it's not far fetched to think that Apollo could also be potentially added to the list.
Lastly, Apollo might make Percy realize that wanting a peaceful and quiet life doesn't mean he should give up perks of enjoying his powers or his status and can and should be able to experience the joys of both.
That's my honest thoughts on Perpollo. I like them. I like their dynamic. I certainly have enjoyed my fair share of Perpollo fics and they could make a great pair together. But regardless of that, they can really help and understand each other. I love and I mean absolutely love the fics where Apollo hypes Percy up. I need more of those fics so would love recommendations. Also, fellow greek mythology enthusiasts, feel to chime in with obscure Apollo facts.