Yk, I've always wondered why Jason and Thalia, though sons of Zeus and Jupiter, weren't as powerful as Percy- a son of Poseidon, that, while still one of the Big Three, is in a lower rank.
And, like, I get it, he's the protagonist, maybe it's the genetics, it's a once-in-a-century-thing, blah blah.
Still, that doesn't explain how some demigods are way stronger than their own siblings. Why is it that Leo has abilities that none of his siblings have? Or like, why is Clarisse stronger than all fellow Ares kids? How come Luke is the only one that had pick locking abilities?
That made me wonder, what if there was something else into it? What makes a demigod be born with such powerful abilities while others either don't or are weaker?
I mean, we know that the gods in some way kind of "lend" a bit of their powers to their children in an unconsciousness level, as we also know they consider giving their children-cough Athena, cough- to the mortal parents as some sort of "gift".
What if the power that the demigods have is kind of a consequence of how much the gods loved their mortal parents when conceiving said demigods?
Like, we know that Hades loved a lot Ms. Di Angelo, and that Bianca and Nico, even if the first one didn't get to show her power, were both a neon sign of "come and eat me!" for monsters, which, yeah, it might be because they're Hades's, but Hazel wasn't persecuted by every monster in a five kilometer radius, so I like to think my point still stands.
Although, it might be because of Gaia.
...Anyways-
Another case is my beloved Meg. She's a child of Demeter, and we were told prior to this saga that both Aphrodite's and Demeter's were the safest demigods to roam outside of camp, hence them being quite "weak", most of them with barely any powers (Katie and Drew might be exceptions, considering the plant powers and charmspeak).
Yet, we have Meg. A ten(?) year old that can summon cereal demons, grow plants outta nowhere and (kinda) communicate with trees.
This girl is insanely powerful, and even Lester admits it.
Let's not forget Demeter really loved Meg's real dad, who had a nature sanctuary where many driads lived, and truly believed nature was beautiful. They both appreciated each other a lot, and for what I can remember, even after Meg they kept in a somewhat from of contact until you-know-who ruined everything.
I think Demeter was truly in love with him.
Let's go back with Thalia, Jason and Percy for a second.
When I say that these two arent as powerful as Seaweed, I don't mean to say that Zeus didn't love their mom. In fact, I believe he did a lot, specially considering he fell for her in both his Greek AND Roman form.
What I do believe is that she didn't love him the same way. I think she loved more the idea of being with a god rather than the god itself. They both are highly egoistical people as far as I've seen, so my guess is that, while they felt attracted to each other, they liked themselves more, which is what drove them apart in the first place.
There's also Percy himself, who is my last point to concrete my theory. Him, the son of the sea god, who thought Sally was the Queen of Ninphs. Poseidon, who said Percy's mom was the most beautiful woman in the world. The Earthshaker, who admitted to have never loved someone as much as he did with Sally.
He, who said he'd never forget her.
What I'm trying to say is, I think demigods strength and godly abilities are heavily caused by the love their parents felt for each other.
After all, Love is one of the most powerful feelings to exist, being even older than gods themselves (Aphrodite is technically a Titaness when it comes to mythology accuracy).
So to believe that love is the source of power of the children of two creatures that, godly or not, are motivated by their primal emotions and feelings, it doesn't surprise me to think their power comes from the strongest of said emotions.