Hey! It's me!
So I have some questions about Gaea and Camp Jupiter.
If you were to have Gaea be the antagonist of HOO, what would be her motives, plans, etc? Would she still need to open the doors of death? If not, which other Greek or Roman mythology figure would be a better antagonist without mischaracterizing them?
Also, with CJ, the world building is an interesting concept but, of course, failed in the final draft (WHY THE CONFEDERACY WAR ARC MUST BE APART OF THE BOOK?! RICK WHY?!) And Lupa (Idk if she's a part of Roman mythology, but still, why she gotta be so cruel? Those are children, especially in Jason’s case)
The split personalities thing in the books is.. odd because while roman mythology was inspired by the Greeks, they should be separated, at least being their own person.
Honestly, I'm not making the roman gods cruel either, but the traditional mindsets of the past affects how the demi gods/legacy treated and viewed as along with their parents relationship. That's what I got, let me know if I need to fix or add on.
Thank you for reading and cya later!!
If I'm being honest, I think that Rick shouldn't have written Heroes of Olympus so soon, but should have waited for some time (a few years) before starting on it.
(I also think that that his publishers should not have demanded that he pump out books that big every goddamn year, because good writing can take time, you absolute morons-this is towards Rick's editors, not the guy himself.)
I think that there are two potential avenues for HOO:
I) Making Gaea not a villain, but a morally gray character who does bad things but has good motivations. It's like with Luke and the Titans, except it's with Gaea and the nature spirits.
I would make Gaea's army be WAY larger than Kronos' army, since there's so much pollution on the Earth, many nature spirits, gods and goddesses would join her side. Also, she's not just a Titan-she's a Primordial, second only to literal Chaos and above all who come after her-by order of birth and chronology, at least.
I would have had some of our heroes in the OG book series join her to add tension and further the narrative that the world is not black and white, it's full of nuance, complexity and moral grayness. I might even go so far as to make Grover join Gaea and think that he could make a new world with her.
I might make a combination of his joining her-she manipulates him into thinking that they can build a new, better world without many ramifications and he also exercises his free will by joining her, though he wasn't with full autonomy under her influence.
Also, it would be cool if Percy encountered the river spirit that he had talked to in BOTL on Gaea's side. She's pretty minor and doesn't appear again
Since HOO was so popular along with the PJO franchise, I truly believe that the series would've made a good impact on many people if it were written like this.
2) Not have Gaea be present at all and focus on the politics and tension between CHB and CJ.
The first thing I would do is add adult demigods and legacies. This is what sets Camp Jupiter apart from Camp Half Blood-demigods can actually live there, grow old and have children! Not have to fend for themselves in the mortal world and die early deaths. This is the most special feature that distinguishes it from CHB, so why not show it in person instead of telling us and not showing it?
I do think that there's potential for tension between the demigods and the legacies-the demigods thinking that they're superior because one of their parents is actually a god, while the legacies are only descendants and their parents are mere mortals (or demigods, but not gods).
Also, the reactions of the adults looking at Percy, a freshly traumatised 16 year old straight from a war would be pretty interesting. It could be hilarious, heartwarming or depressing-or a combination, choose your pick.
I would make Chiron and Lupa meet. Imagine the possibilities!