all I truely need in the pjo show is:
1. Thaluke
2. Tratie
3. biblically accurate "no one touches her" scene
thats literally it
I have seen some takes saying the war was inevitable and no one's denying that. But Luke let monsters feed on so many humans and sacrificed even more demigods, the very people he was doing everything to save. Forget Percy whom Luke already hated with passion but Luke tried to murder Annabeth, his supposed little sister twice, not to mention Thalia. He tried to kill an innocent 12 year old with a pit scorpion and took joy in that. He was practically torturing the trio in Sea of Monsters and smiling as he did so. In Demigod diaries, Thalia notes that by the end of their time together on the run, Luke was getting into fights just for the sake of it and bringing in even more danger because of his outbursts. Let's not pretend Luke wasn't already going insane since Book 1. Kronos's influence only worsened it.
What I will agree with is that Luke did do all this because of just reasons. He was so fucking desperate for anything at that point. He had seen the horrors that happened and wanted to stop them. He was so angry, so resentful, so full of hatred that he let Kronos manipulate and exploit him completely. He could no longer see the bigger picture at that point. His way caused even more catastrophe. He completely lost control of what he initially intended, and by the end of it, Luke was just an insane, bitter man who wanted to watch the world burn.
It's so tragic, and it's so ruthless, and it's entirely messed up. I despise Luke and I pity Luke. I like him, and I hate him. He is an absolutely phenomenal character and yet a completely messed up bastard. Yes, these opinions can coexist. You can appreciate the masterpiece of a character that is Luke Castellan and still be of the opinion that if he ever returns, you would be the first one to kick him back in his grave.
Does no one ever stop to think that even if Percy hadn’t sided with Olympus he might not have ended up with Luke.
Like the first time Luke even tries to offer. And that’s a vain offer to begin with. Luke is trying to kill him with the scorpion
And that’s not even starting on the amount of other issues with Luke that are separate from the Kronos thing
Like y’all ever stop to think about the fact that in a war against the gods a sword made to kill mortals should be unnecessary.
Or is this just a black and white thinking thing.
Luke having a point does not mean he was necessarily safe to side with.
Annabeth stans and Percabeth shippers are talking about how ooc Annabeth is in WOTTG with her thinking Percy is stupid as if she hasn't constantly made fun of Percy's intelligence since the very beginning. As if she doesn't do it in every book, multiple times. Rick's characterization of Annabeth isn't changing, people are finally just growing up and realizing their fave ship when they were 12 isn't healthy. But instead of actually acknowledging that it's a bad ship they just blame the author.
Warnings: This is going to be a rant; bear with me. People from the "take everything as a personal offense" group stop reading. Will give us both the luxury of a peaceful mind.
It's easier to blame Rick, I think, given his series of shit decisions. The Wrath of a Triple Goddess is a complete abomination, and so is Chalice of the Gods in many ways. But at least it has helped readers understand the glaring flaws of Percabeth as a ship. How Percy's character is butchered to hype up Annabeth.
And I am completely exhausted of trying to get any of them to think rationally and in an unbiased manner. I can't make a willfully blind individual see sense after all.
But yeah, Annabeth has many, and I mean many character flaws throughout the series. The number of times I have made a post on Annabeth's flaws or even why Percabeth is incompatible.... At this point, I believe open-minded and careful readers are going to see and make their own conclusions, and the blind shippers will keep doing their own thing. This , I think, was my most recent post and will probably be one of my last ones on a similar topic. Unless I get newer asks that have some different viewpoints that I can actually explore cause, all has been said so far, I think.
I had a feeling that things would get better as they got older, more mature, you know, an Annabeth character arc of some sort. Maybe exploring the positive and negative nuances of Percabeth or even Percy's suicidal thoughts, non existent self esteem and how Annabeth has been unknowingly feeding into those.
She is one of the more iconic characters to people even outside the fandom. One from a very, very , and exclusive pool of actually strong female characters and the way her character is devolving isn't helping anything.
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All of Riordan's characters have such high potential, and the amount of plots he could explore is staggering, and yet he still dishes out the same generic plot again and again. He is in it for the money now, has been for a while, and so there's no hope there.
This might be a very hot take, but I think romance ruined the series. Rick kept slapping romantic relationships on every character as if that would suddenly make things better. Give them a relationship rather than explore their trauma. I guess it's the easier of the two.
But seriously, Caleo? Jiper? Solangelo ? (I can see the hate comments already). Whatever he was doing with Reyna, but at least she wasn't completely butchered.
Rick's problem is that he keeps giving more importance to romantic relationships and makes that the entire personality of a character.
He butchered Percy, even Jason at times, Leo bloody Valdez and Nico more prominently.
The way Percy and Nico's very deep and volatile bond and heavily dynamic relationship was butchered and distorted to feed into Solangelo and Percabeth, and I can't possibly understate how highly that's been going on.
Then Luke and Thalia's relationship was completely butchered for no absolute reason. I have no idea why. They were in love or at least had romantic feelings for each other, and Thalia just woke up and wanted to kill him? He literally gave all the angst to Annabeth even though Thalia had known him longer, and they had a more nuanced bond.
Jason's relationship with Camp Jupiter individuals was completely scrapped, his and Reyna's dynamic completely watered down, or even his and Leo's great friendship discarded all for Jiper or whatever else was shoved at him.
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As opposed to this whole shit show, I loved the relationships in the Magnus Chase series and Kane Chronicles. That was good stuff. Both character relationships and romantic ones even though I am pretty sure he got a lot of diverse representation wrong or so I have read recently.
Then there's the stupid, blind, bigot part of the fandom that just can't help themselves. I mean dumb Percy takes, Annabeth stans ruining Percy's character arcs and overinflating Annabeth's character, which in turn made Rick do the same.Then the boring Jason thing? What the hell was that? It's like everyone missed the point of why Jason is the way he is. I am going to make a post on that soon, but seriously, the shit that's been going on.
Then the shippers. Solangelo stans and Percabeth stans. They have single handedly ruined the ships for me with their distorted ideas of character dynamics. And their blatant and brutal hate against other Percy or Nico ships is just ridiculous and heavily toxic.
It's a fandom, not a monopoly. Everyone can have their own little thing as long as you don't meddle in someone else's own thing. Let everyone enjoy their own thing.
And for all our sakes, at this point, just pick your own version of canon. Choose which books to stop at. Trust me, it's less frustrating that way.