You know, I'm happy about the fact that many people can acknowledge and accept that Rick fucked up the Greek myths and his portrayal of the gods-
But I also feel like the same thing can be said for MCGA and TKC. They represent Norse and Egyptian mythology and I've seen some posts on how Rick effed up THERE-but only a few. Not many others. And yes, TKC is a beautiful series, but it also has some terrible problems.
It's on the tip of my tongue. It's just slipping out of my grasp. But someone needs to talk about Rick screwing up Norse and Egyptian mythology too.
You know, I've found the fact that Rick Riordan chose to make his main black character, who is also a girl, the youngest demigod of the Seven an odd choice.
Of course, Rick done effed up with Hazel's representation, and this is my critique on her age and why she didn't need to be thirteen.
Hazel Levesque is actually fourteen years old in Son of Neptune. But many readers think that she's thirteen years old because she states that she was thirteen when she died and she never acknowledged that she was fourteen years old.
But if we fit the pieces together-Hazel was thirteen and a half when she died. She came to Camp Jupiter a month before Jason was taken, which meant that by the time Son of Neptune happened, 8 months had passed, making her fourteen years and two months old.
But as I said before, we never get explicit confirmation from Hazel or any other character that she is fourteen, leading most of the readers to think that she is thirteen years old. We must fit the pieces together ourselves.
If Rick himself didn't bother to outright say that Hazel was fourteen, then he must have written the Frazel dynamic to make a 13 year old BLACK girl date a 16 year old boy. Because why wouldn't Rick have Hazel state that she was 14 years old? Why would he just have her state that she was thirteen when she died, but not make her state that she had since turned fourteen? Nothing about her fourteenth birthday?
If he intended to make Hazel fourteen and have us know, then he would have stated that she was fourteen, but he never does, which means that he was actually writing Frazel to be a 13-16 year old dating. Wow. Just.........wow.
In fact, I personally believe that Rick was writing Hazel and Frank to be 13-16 BECAUSE HE LITERALLY HAS HAZEL SAY THAT FRANK IS 3 YEARS OLDER THAN HER. HE NEVER ARGUES AGAINST THIS EITHER.
HAZEL BEING 14 WAS 99.99 PERCENT ACCIDENTAL ON HIS PART.
If there is actually a sentence saying that Hazel is fourteen years old, please tell me and I'll change this post. But I need explicit confirmation.
(And do not get started on that Hazel is confused crap. Rick was confused-Hazel is a fictional character who has no autonomy. If Rick had truly intended her to be fourteen, he would have made her say it at some point in the series.)
All right, I'm going to tell you my thoughts about Frazel. I'm going to summarise my opinions and then elaborate beneath.
1) The Frazel age gap is controversial. Hazel is 13 and a half while Frank is newly 15. It's one and a half year (correct me if I'm wrong, please). While some accept this, to others, it's not a good age gap and the maturity levels are different
2)They feel forced and rushed. We know that they knew each other for 8-9 months, but we don't see this, so it's rushed and forced to us. They skip the pure platonic friendship and jump straight to the romance-the Frazel moments in SON were heavily streaked with romance, not just platonic feelings
3) BEHAVIOURALLY SPEAKING, however they're the best couple in the PJO universe. Better than Percabeth, Caleo, Jiper and Solangelo
4) Frazel could have been one of the top ships of PJO if Rick had made Hazel older and if he had given us more memories and reminiscences of their time at Camp Jupiter
I don't understand why Hazel had to die at thirteen years old. Why not make her die at fourteen or fifteen? It would change nothing except making Frazel acceptable regarding the age gap.
See, Frazel's age gap is controversial. I mean, if Hazel was thirteen and Frank sixteen, it would've been taboo entirely, but since she's fourteen and he's sixteen with a 1 year and few month age gap, some people like it and others don't.
And when scrolling through the Anti Frazel tag, I see that most of the posts have the age gap as their main argument, which further cements the fact that Frazel's age gap is really what makes most people dislike it in the first place.
Technically, if Hazel turned 14 in December and Frank was still 15 but turned 16 in June, this makes their age gap one and a half years, which is very weird to some people but acceptable to others.
Hazel and Frank met at 13 and a half and 15 years old respectively and started to gain feelings for each other, which is very, very odd to some people but ok for others.
But if Hazel had died at 14 and been brought back, then she would have turned 15 in December and would be biologically half a year younger than Frank, which would push it from controversial to acceptable by all.
And in case you're thinking about the Great Prophecy in the OG PJO series, Hazel died before it came out, and she could have died at 14 and it still wouldn't have come out. Hell, she could die at 16 and it wouldn't have come out. It came out after WWII ended which is in 1945, and Hazel would turn 16 in 1944 because she was born in 1928.
2) They're way too rushed.
Ok, we get one book with them, and that too, they've already jumped to the romance. They were friends, but now they both romantically like each other but don't know that the other person likes them.
There's no platonic friendship here, only crushes. And a ship needs to have platonic friendship and development to be a proper ship that's accepted by the fandom, otherwise many readers will think that it's boring.
As I said above, my only bones to pick with Frazel is that I think that the age gap is weird and that they were too rushed. In the end, that's all.
3) BEHAVIOURALLY SPEAKING they are the best couple in the PJOverse hands down. No other ship compares.
All right so Percabeth is toxic. Search it up. Annabeth's behaviour towards Percy is toxic. Search it up. I do not need to tell you, it's too long for this post.
Caleo? I don't need to tell you how Calypso yells at, belittles and hits Leo, thus chipping away at his already crumbling self-esteem.
Jiper? Piper literally claims Jason as hers in front of the entire Aphrodite cabin WHO WILL MOST CERTAINLY TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS without Jason's knowledge or consent. And she's jealous when he brings up another girl, even his sister. And while she may not be physically abusive, she's still manipulative, and that's very bad.
Solangelo? Will Solace victim-blames Nico and literally tells him that he knows what's best for his health even though Nico can and has taken care of himself. There's also jealousy written terribly that's supposed to be a cute moment that never gets resolved.
Frazel, though.........they're behaviourally amazing for each other. No physical, verbal or mental abuse. No dismissing the other's intelligence. They're sweet to each other and aren't possessive of each other.
Of course, Frank gets suspicious when Hedge makes that comment about Hazel and Leo, but the way it was worded was bound to make Frank misunderstand. Also, Frank and Leo make it up and Frank does not use Leo on Hazel like Annabeth uses Rachel and the others on Percy.
Frank understands where they went wrong and accepts it. The others don't.
Of course, they're also a biracial couple where both of them are POC, so this is also a huge win. Best couple in PJOverse is also biracial POC couple. YEEEEEESSSSSSSS (Even if Rick fucked up while representing their ethnicities)
PS: I'm not anti Frazel
I've already said that Percy Jackson's Greek Gods is a terribly book at times and that you shouldn't take it too seriously, but one thing that really appalls and surprises me is that Percy calls Gaia a psycho for telling her children to overthrow Ouranous, who locked Gaia's children and the Titans' siblings in Tartarus.
Ouranous, who hated his children, locked them away in the Earth as a prison, essentially leaving Gaia to raise them, to raise them as a single mother while he did nothing.
Gaia who raised them lovingly and told them how to overthrow their abusive father and free their siblings to have a better fate.
Gaia and her children are overthrowing an abusive, neglectful father and Percy calls this..........psychotic?
This is VERY ironic, considering that Percy and Sally literally murdered Smelly Gabe for being abusive. They overthrew an abusive man, and a decade later, Rick writes a mother who wants to overthrow an abusive father and husband and free her children as insane and psychotic.
Coupling this with how he writes Gaia in HOO...........oh Gaia, wanting to overthrow an abusive father and husband for the sake of your children..........killing an abusive, domineering patriarch who abuses your children and then being demonised for it by another man.........how, oh all the women understand you. Oh, how they suffer too.
Ok, so, the OG PJO series is amazing for a lot of people. I mean, it's almost as famous as Harry Potter for a reason. It has an immersive world which is escapism which is really nice for a lot of people including me..........
But the series could definitely have been rewritten to be better. Such as not making Annabeth hit Percy so often (only playful hits, no so hard) making Ares love his children, making Artemis NOT SO PREDATORY-
But the thing is, even if the series was rewritten to exclude these.........
The very foundation of the Percy Jackson series is problematic.
The foundation of the Percy Jackson series is about overthrowing an abusive system and making the abusers pay attention and listen, and I'm not saying that that's a bad concept. It's actually one of the best concepts, but-
But it's what Rick Riordan used as an abusive system that's really wrong.
He used the Greek gods as abusive parents when in the myths they were the furthest things from it.
Excuse me. Zeus was not an abusive father to Apollo. He genuinely loved him. He only punished him when Apollo needed to be punished and deserved it. Zeus was a loving father to Artemis as well. He gave her what she requested and let her live in the wild as she pleased. Zeus also stopped Athena from practicing divination at Apollo's request. Zeus would not leave two children with an abusive alcholic mother.
Poseidon was not abusive and neglectful. In the myths, he punished Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus. And he let Sciron do as he pleased in the ocean, though Sciron was a terrible person.
Aphrodite frequently came to her son Aeneas' aid on the battlefield of Troy. She loved him very much and even told him to give up LOVE to fulfil his own destiny of becoming a king.
And it also depicts Athena and Hades as having demigod children, when in the myths, Athena has no children at all and Hades is faithful to his wife Persephone, only cheating on her with TWO people in only a few variations of the myths, while other myths have Hades loving Leuce and Minthe before Persephone.
It's problematic for Athena to have demigod children, even brain children, because she was a virgin goddess who had no children in the myths. Ancient Greece associated marriage and having children with losing your virginity.
It was symbolic, so Athena having children, even brain children, makes her lose her virginity.
And about Hades being faithful-he's stated to have had multiple children with women when Persephone goes to her mother, which is why she's so unhappy.
This is incorrect and terribly wrong.
But if Athena and Hades didn't have children, and if the Greek Gods weren't abusive parents, then this series wouldn't exist. These problematic themes are essential to the story, which is why PJO is so problematic itself.
Not to mention the whole 'flame of the West' crap that is a big collective forehead smacking moment.
So even if Percy Jackson could be rewritten, it'll always be problematic in one way or another.
(Not saying that you shouldn't enjoy it. I have a love-hate relationship with it).
You know, one thing that makes me unhappy about Percabeth in WOTTG is that Percy feels like he has to be the perfect boyfriend for Annabeth and feels pressured around her.
Because you shouldn't feel like you have to please your partner all the time. You should be able to relax and be yourself with them. If they're really your partner, they'll accept you, flaws and all. If you're with strangers at a party, uncomfortable, and they walk in, you should be able to light up and relax with them.
The way Percabeth is written, Percy would freak out and stress out even MORE about Annabeth being there because he'd want to impress her too much.
But I'm not blaming Annabeth for this-because I don't know if she knows what Percy's thinking.
Has Percy ever told her that he feels like he has to be the perfect boyfriend for her and always please her? Because if he has, and if she hasn't shot down that ridiculous notion, then it's bad writing on Rick's part-
But if Percy HASN'T told her that, then how can we blame her?
In the end, I blame Rick Riordan and his terrible writing.
But can someone please tell me if Percy ever told Annabeth about wanting to be the perfect boyfriend for her? Has he ever told her about ANY of his insecurities?
Ok, listen-
If there is one thing that is unrealistic about Juno and Jason in PJO, it's that she wanted him to be her champion.
That is one of the most unrealistic things about Hera/Juno. In reality, she would most likely kill Jason painlessly if he was lucky, or she'd kill him painfully if not, or she'd turn him into an animal or something.
She would not take him as a champion. It's explicitly stated that Hera sees her husband's mistresses and bastards as embarassments and threats to her status as Queen Consort. She wouldn't just take one and make him her champion and give her glory.
If we were talking about real Hera/Juno-she wouldn't let Jason survive at all.
Heracles was named after Hera to appease her and it did not work. His name literally meant 'Champion of Hera' and she still cursed him pretty badly. Jason being named after Hera's last champion, who was cast out of her good graces because he did not keep his word of marriage to Medea and offended her, was not going to help him. It was never going to help him.
There's nothing wrong with liking PJO Juno and PJO Jason, just wanted to say this.
Have you noticed how both Percy Jackson and Cardan are often characterised as dumb and Cardan weak because they love their significant others? I think this is some weird sort of misogyny because 'only weak men will love these women' when that's simply not true!
Tell me if I'm crazy lol
You're not crazy. This is a real phenomenon that needs to stop.
The PJO fandom tends to dumb down Percy a lot and hype up Annabeth, when in reality it is Percy who comes up with brilliant strategies and fights very well. It seems to me that people think Percy is foolish and/or impulsive because he doesn't communicate his plans very well.
It's frustrating to read canon PJO and then go to the fandom PJO and see how much Percy is dumbed down. Even canonically, Percy is put down a lot-unfortunately, I think this is because Rick is influenced by the fandom, which he should stop.
In fact, Annabeth would have died without Percy. LOTS of people would have died without Percy.
Thankfully, there are many people who DON'T dumb Percy down, like @cynthiav06, @hermesmyplatonicbeloved and other people-I forgot the blogs, tell me if you want to be tagged.
Check out the blogs I mentioned above if you want Real Percy, not dumb Percy who's not even real.
And this happens with Cardan too.
All right-I will say it again and again.
REAL CARDAN IS NOT A DUMB, HELPLESS UWU POOKIE!
HE IS POWERFUL. HE IS SMART. HE IS CUNNING AND CAN RUN AN ENTIRE KINGDOM WITHOUT JUDE OR MADOC.
I think most of the TFOTA fandom forget that Cardan did, in fact, run the kingdom without Jude or Madoc between and at the beginning of The Queen of Nothing!
And he's no helpless pookie. Does ANYONE remember the scene in TWK where the sea mermaids and their retinue come and read the poem that's a threat in disguise?
Does anyone remember how Cardan reacted? I DON'T THINK THEY DO!
He did NOT whimper or look to Jude for help. Jude DID NOT step up and deal with things directly.
Cardan dealt with it. He gave a clever response and effectively dealt with it while remaining powerful in the eyes of his subjects. Jude herself notes how powerful he looks in that scene.
And his meeting with Orlagh? He looks and feels regal and intimidating, like a true ruler. He saves his kingdom from war, literally threatens to encase Nicasia in a tree to keep Orlagh in check like a true boss, is prepared to fulfil his theat and calls up AN ENTIRE ISLAND. AN ENTIRE NEW ISLAND, LIKE THE THREE ISLES, EXCEPT NOW IT'S THE FOUR ISLES.
And he also comes up with a smart plan for Jude's safety, thus ensuring that she can come back when she wants to. It's not his fault that she interpreted it differently and chose to ignore the real meaning when she finally found it.
And in The Prisoner's Throne when he saves Jude from the knives? 100 percent amazing scene. He really has a heavy regal ruler aura there. My favorite scene of Cardan.
Yet fandoms need must girlbossify the females and woobify the males to make us see that the females are oh so powerful and the males need them for everything apparently.
The fandoms make the males characters that are entirely dependent on the females and don't exist without them. And I can't emphasize how frustrated this makes some of us.
Annabeth is smart on her own without Percy and vice versa.
Same goes for Jude and Cardan. They deal with threats in their own effective ways, though said ways are different-but those ways still work for both of them.
This is a reverse form of misogyny that is still sexism to both males and females and this really needs to stop. Whenever a couple get together, people tend to not see them as equals-either the male or the female is dominant, and if it's the female, she has to be oh so strong and muscular and dark and serious while the male has to be soft and submissive to her at all times, oh noooooooooo.
Not to say that muscular and masculine women CAN'T be dominant, but please remember that this is not always the case. Submissive partners are not always soft and feminine, and dominant partners don't always need to be commanding and aggressive.
Being equals in a relationship is a big charm, and that's why Percabeth worked so well for a lot of people. That's a huge part of their charm. To take that away would be to push what made Percabeth good into an abyss and watch it disintegrate.
TFOTA fandom members, please remember that Cardan is a person on his own without Jude. Same goes for Percy and Annabeth, PJO fandom members.
What gets to me about Percy Jackson and the sequel series is that there's so much fridge horror in it.
For those of you who don't know, fridge horror is something that seemingly innocent but has very disturbing undertones.
Like the climbing walls in CHB. What do you MEAN that they clash together, hurting the campers who haven't reached the top, and that there's also fucking lava which BURNS THE CAMPERS, NO LESS. And that Chiron allows it?
And there's lava below? Do you know how serious fucking lava burns are? They're horrible. Campers might have even died before.
And there's a full lava and earthquake mode too, and boulders roll down on the campers, which is pretty serious and can make for some fatal injuries. Jesus, Rick, what the hell were you thinking?
I wonder if Luke saw the horror of this and if this was a small part that motivated him to join Kronos. I really do wonder.
And in ToA, the Three Legged Death Race?
Chiron wants to reward who come back..........alive. Because it's so dangerous that it has fucking exploding Chainsaw Frisbees and iron orbs falling from the ceiling. And apparently it's so dangerous that you can find fucking Python in there too. Oh hey Python, wazzup old mate-AAAAAAHHHHHHH-gets swallowed and painfully digested.
And this is all because a MILLENIA OLD TUTOR WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER AND A FUCKING GOD WHO'S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THESE CHILDREN couldn't say no to a fucking eight year old who came up with the terribly dangerous and impractical idea for this race. An eight year old, folks.
Chiron is........a terrible person for this. No, fucking seriously. He sent those kids in knowing that they might die and have serious trauma if not. How anyone can like Chiron after this is beyond me. No wonder Luke joined Kronos. Such a shame he lost, though.
And Paolo Montes' limbs just casually being ripped off and then reattached? What the fuck was this, Rick? A child's limbs, that too, sawed off! Dismemberment is so comedic, especially when it happens to an unprepared child!
FUCKING NEWS FLASH, RICK, THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENS! DISMEMBERMENT IS SERIOUS AND PERMANENT TRAUMA! IT'S NOT JUST REATTACHING LIMBS AND OH EVERYTHING IS SUNSHINE AGAIN.
Feel free to add your own fridge horror that you've noticed.
So anyone who's read about Greek Mythology probably knows that Athena is a virgin goddess-and Ancient Greeks considered marriage and children as losing your virginity.
Ancient Greek were also taken very seriously. In fact, if you lose your virginity whether consensual or not, you were executed. Even MoA says this-you die in a horrible way if you lose your virginity, which is why the Romans ignored Annabeth so much.
So............Athena did not need to have children. Even brain children formed from her's and her lover's thoughts, because they're still children.
But! you say. But Annabeth!
Uh, let me speak, please. Some silence is required. Yes, thank you.
ANNABETH SHOULD'VE BEEN ATHENA'S CHOSEN, HER CHAMPION, NOT HER CHILD.
Let me explain about this.
So, Athena fell in love with Frederick, right?
Well, let's change it to she platonically liked Frederick and was impressed with his intelligence and wit, so she told him and his wife that as a gift, she could bless their daughter Annabeth with demigod powers, a chosen champion of Athena-
but she warns them of all the risks that'll happen, and tells them that Annabeth will be turned into a demigod directly, and she tells them how to raise Annabeth in the right environment.
And have Annabeth's parents be thrilled because both of them can fully see through the Mist. And honestly, they didn't think that it would be so hard to raise a demigod!
And once Annabeth is blessed, they keep pushing her-they think that she should be smart enough, but they don't put her in a proper environment for all of this because they're unable to get one because 1) It would be difficult to get tons of books in Ancient Greek
2) They didn't realise the actual consequences of having a child with ADHD and dyslexia because they were too excited with Annabeth becoming 'magical' as they put it, so they thought that she'd be insanely smart even though Athena warned them against this, and they keep pushing her, they're disappointed that she's not in middle school by only seven years old.
3) And by then, the monsters start coming and the spiders start coming too and they realise how difficult it is so they blame her for it.
And so she runs away and then everything else happens, and Athena feels guilty and angry about making Annabeth her champion when she was just an infant, so she guides her and helps her.
And then Annabeth could be isolated at camp without anyone in her cabin, because Athena's demigods aren't 'real' demigods-they have two mortal parents and are only blessed by Athena, so the camp doesn't treat them like demigods and kind of looks down on them.
So Annabeth feels the need to prove herself and this also makes her cling to Luke more. Also, she finally finds a real friend in Percy, which makes more sense, because how come she just makes friends with a random guy at camp, even a son of the Big 3, when she's been there for 5 years?
This makes Annabeth more relatable because there are people who's parents didn't think twice before having children and there are people whose parents pressure them academically too much.
And now you're probably wondering about Malcolm.
Yeah, what about Malcolm?
He's barely there in the original PJO series. Once in BOTL where he walks in on Percabeth hugging? Well, have another demigod walk in for another purpose.
Malcolm in TLO? Change it to another cabin. Simple.
BOO when he's attending the meeting? Have it be Clarisse.
TON when Apollo interacts with him? Have it be an Ares camper (Sherman Yang, maybe) who's gathering information, because Ares campers aren't just violent dickheads, they can gather information too. Information gathering is a part of war, and Ares campers don't just fight.
When he's mentioned coming out as gay because of Nico? Put another camper there. Whichever one you want.
Malcolm Pace lovers, I'm sorry about dissing Malcolm-I don't hate him, it's just that he's not even that important. If you took all the children of Athena (ruling out the historical ones which can be cut out) then Annabeth Chase is more important than all the other three combined. I'm not even sure if Zane is canon or not.
So, in the PJO series, Rick makes Ares hate his children. Or, if not hate, at the very least ignore them and be abusive to them like all the other gods.
And I've always found this an odd choice, because in the myths, Ares really loved his children more than the other gods. He killed his daughter's rapist, who was a son of Poseidon, whom we also know loved his children, and so of course Ares probably knew that Poseidon would retaliate, right? And Poseidon is more powerful than Ares and he could definitely hurt him if he wanted to.
And Ares still kills Poseidon's son anyway, because he raped his daughter Alcippe, knowing that he would most likely be punished for this and he still does it. That just speaks volumes of love when he could've ignored his daughter for his own safety.
He also gives Hippolyta a magical belt that makes her stronger because she's the best out of all the Amazons, implying his pride about it.
He tries to avenge his son Cycnus when Heracles slays him-and Cycnus DESERVES IT, he literally stole Apollo's sacred grove and his offerings, and Ares still tries to avenge his death (they were even riding chariots together when Heracles encountered them, do what you will with that).
And a lot of people say that Rick made Ares neglect his children for the sake of the plot, but here's my counter argument-
Rick should've made Ares love his children TO STRENGTHEN PERCY'S BELIEF IN FIGHTING FOR THE GODS.
Imagine not knowing if you're even fighting on the right side. Imagine wondering if Kronos really was right, does your godly parent care about you?
And then imagine seeing Ares come down and talk to his children and encourage them.
And you're envious that they get to see their parent and you don't, but you also feel that fighting spirit come into you. This man, right here, he's showing that the gods can change, that they're not all bad, that there's something worth fighting for on their side.
(Also cue the angst and comedy of Ares and Percy hating each other and Ares being a good parent to his kids and actually being there for them while the whole Poseidon and Percy shebang goes on).
Ok, I am once again wondering why Rick didn't just put PIPER in DREW'S PLACE.
Piper could have been the head counsellor of cabin 10-exhausted, burnt out, and she and Silena could have been the ones to have charmspeak, which would give them an extra special bond as the only ones who had it.
And when Piper gets really emotionally intense after the Titan War II, she just uses charmspeak on her cabin members. Of course, she feels guilty afterwards, but they still start to be scared of her.
And this way, we can learn more about what happens at camp, because maybe she could be a year rounder so as not to harm Tristan, but she could still have her trauma from her younger days.
Just another example of wasted potential in PJO, which is surprisingly easy to come by.
Ok, ok, LISTEN. THIS IS IMPORTANT. I HAVE LITERALLY NEVER HEARD ANYBODY TALK ABOUT THIS, AND I WOULD LOVE IF EVERY PJO FAN COULD SEE AND TALK ABOUT THIS! Does ANYONE ever wonder what Camp Half-Blood was like in the centuries before the 21rst? What about the 15th or 16th century-where did they go then? The concept of a summer camp is very modern, so what was Camp Half-Blood like? Did more demigods stay there? Did more demigods SURVIVE to adulthood because there was no technology? Was Camp Half Blood a sanctuary of some kind-how many demigods stayed there for a full year? And what were the cabins like? Did boys and girls have separate cabins or something? How were Christians and other Abrahamic people affected knowing that the Greek Gods existed? What did girls and boys DO in the camp? How did Chiron manage all of them-how many children filled up the Dionysus cabin?
And Camp Jupiter, what was it like there?
Oh my god, please reblog this! I would like as many fans as possible to see this so we can discuss it! Thanks for reading, and I will DEFINITELY read ALL comments, so don't be shy!
You know what Rick should have done to make Athena more sympathetic?
Simple. Make Frederick ask Athena for a child so that he can have an actual demigod to raise and observe, rather like a science experiment or something (which makes him a bad parent, treating Annabeth like a project instead of an actual child, that Rick could've gone into later).
She's unsure, because he doesn't seem like the type to be able to raise a child, but he insists, so she gives him one. INSTEAD OF THE WHOLE NONCON WEIRD MENTAL THING WE GOT.
And then Frederick finds out that hey, kids aren't always the way you picture them, surprise! So he just kind of leaves Annabeth alone and then we get the whole stepmother plot and it continues in canon.
There are definitely parents like that in real life, so it would be more realistic and I think that more people might be able to relate to that.
And Athena guides her daughter and is angry at Frederick for not helping the child enough and with herself not to see how bad he would be at parenting, because she is the literal goddess of wisdom.