Why Zeus Transformed Thalia Into A Pine Tree

Magnus Chase and The Kane Chronicles were also screwed up

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.

HOW RICK PORTRAYED THE GREEK GODS AND WHY IT WAS SO IMPORTANT

So people are going to notice that a lot of my complaints aren't just in PJO but extend to media portraying Greek Myths in general. But I want to focus on Percy Jackson and not other media, so I'm going to focus on Percy Jackson and not other media.

Starting off.................

The way Rick portrayed the Greek Gods was important because PJO was the most read book series that heavily centered around Greek Mythology he pretty much destroyed their images at the time.

There's an entire anti Percy Jackson tag as well as an anti PJO tag for you to scroll through to see how Rick Riordan portrayal of the Greek Gods was terrible. Be my guest and treat yourself to it. Search it up.

There are also people like @alatismeni-theitsa, @margaretkart and @katerinaaqu to ask for correct information on Greek Mythology. So be their guest too.

Today, we have PJO fans running around having incorrect perceptions of the gods and flinging hate and abuse at the real Greek Gods while Greeks have to suffer through all this bullshit.

The torture is REAL. Just ask them.

I mean, you have people claiming that they are the CHILDREN of VIRGIN GODDESSES.

Artemis, Athena, Hera and Hestia don't have any demigod children. They can't have any demigod children.

If you really want to, call yourself their chosen champion. Not their child. It's disrespectful to Greek culture and religion to do otherwise.

Rick Riordan read about and taught Greek Myths in school, so he must have read the actual versions of the myths.

And knowing these, he decided to twist them into his terrible, inferior, crappy versions.

That man literally wrote Hephaestus, a rapist, as a poor guy trying to get a girl, oh, he's so sad and pathetic, and Athena's such a mean bitch for not accepting his advances even if she doesn't want it!

I'm not joking.................and I don't have words for this. I just don't.

Riordan doesn't really have any tact, does he? None at all.

And no, Greek people cannot get away from these horrible portrayals, because there are too many Percy Jackson fans clogging up the Greek God tags with their Rick Riordan written PJO versions of the gods, which is kind of terrible for people who just want to read about real Greek Mythology, not Percy Jackson. And this happens in real life, too. I mean, people using PJO as a substitute for real Greek Mythology.

Pro tip for PJO tumblr users: if you're typing about a god, use the Greek God PJO tag, like PJO Apollo or PJO Aphrodite, not just Apollo or Aphrodite, ok? Thanks for reading this.

There are many common misconceptions about Greek Mythology due to Percy Jackson. So, if you're not sure about something, please search it up on verified academic websites or ask real people-you can do this online too.

Now I am aware that Rick has the creative license to portray Greek Gods however he wants-

but let us as educated people all be aware of the fact that we should not always take portrayals of the Greek Gods in modern media depicting them seriously and if you want to read up on the actual gods, then read the myths and the Odyssey, Iliad etc.

Now, to name another shockingly appalling writing choice-

In the very first book, WW2 is atrociously used as a plot point

Yes, that's right-Rick Riordan, beloved author of a bestselling franchise for children and adults alike, reduces WW2, one of the most bloody and complex conflicts in history with a multitude of a reasons for its existence, to a fight between fictional demigods of the Big Three simply to have a reason for the Big 3 not to have children.

Do you actually know how serious this is?

Millions of people even today are affected by the WW2 due to generational trauma and abusive parents. WW2 killed millions of soldiers and civilians alike, and the Holocaust was so horrible that some people would faint just reading about what happened. I will not go into the bloody, gory details here, but if you still don't believe this, go search up WW2.

To have Rick Riordan portray it in such a callous way, to make a literal Greek God sire war criminals in modern history, when there were other methods he could have used to intertwine the mythological world and demigods and history.........it makes you wonder what was running through his mind at the time.

There were so many other ways he could have portrayed the prophecy-make it so that Big 3 children were constantly causing natural disasters and fictional wars in the mythological world, not the real world, and constantly dividing the cabins at CHB. Maybe they had their own war parallel to WW2. There were so many ways to do this- and none of them had to do what was ultimately done.

PJO WWII IS THE ULTIMATE INSULT TO THE GREEKS

What makes this even WORSE is that during World War II, the Greeks were in fact part of the ALLIES.

The Allies were fighting against the Axis powers, the latter of which contained Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan.

When the Nazis invaded Greece-well, it's never a good thing for a country to be invaded by enemies during a time of war.

At least 250,000 people died during the Axis occupation. And the country's economy and infrastructure were ruined quite horribly.

And generations of Greeks are traumatised because of this, even today. Not just Greeks-thousands of people. Millions of people all over the globe are still traumatized from this war, be it direct experience or generational trauma.

And to make ANCIENT GREEK GODS responsible for WWII is simply, totally and absolutely unforgivable on Rick Riordan's part.

To make the Greeks' enemies the sons of their ancient gods........no. Just no.

And yes, Hitler is a son of Hades in canon. Rick later changed it because of the backlash. He's absolutely disgusting.

WHY THE HELL ARE THE GREEK GODS IN AMERICA?

Now.........the Greek Gods are in the USA!

But..........they're Greek, right, which means that they should be in Greece! So why now are they in the USA?

Well.........here's Rick's explanation for it.

Apparently, the Greek Gods started with the fire of the Western Civilisation and then moved onto other places.

'Flame of the West' crap my ass. Search it up-there's this great article called the Whitening Thief. Read that.

Apparently, without the flame of Westernisation, there would be only darkness and chaos. As someone who's not part of a Western country, this is pretty racist to countries like mine and I'm pointing it out.

@margaretkart

@alatismeni-theitsa

@katerinaaqu

These are all good blogs to disillusion yourself with Percy Jackson and learn about what really happened in Greek Mythology.

And I just want to say-Percy Jackson is an ok start for venturing into Greek Mythology as long as you've read up some basic background beforehand, but-

But-

Do NOT, under ANY circumstances whatsoever, take RICK RIORDAN'S portrayal of the Greek Gods as the REAL Greek Gods.

Never do that. That is the one thing that must not be done.

Hera doesn't just love perfect families. She literally lives in the most dysfunctional family to ever exist. And she loves you if you try. She really does.

Hades would not threaten to eternally torture literal children just because of what their parents did to him. His literal job is to uphold justice in the underworld, and sending a child to Tartarus just because her father angered him and he couldn't punish the father isn't justice now, is it?

Ares loves his children and as for why Rick made him hate them-

Rick has a hate boner against the war god, that I will swear on. Read this post and the explanation for why Rick shouldn't have done it.

And the gods are actively depicted as cruel, neglectful, abusive parents, when in the myths they are quite the opposite.

Real Aphrodite loves her son Aeneas and frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield. She also tells him to not marry a woman (TO GIVE UP LOVE, HER LITERAL DOMAIN) so that he can fulfil his destiny of becoming a king.

Real Ares loves all his children. He tries to avenge his son Cycnus when Heracles kills him with good reason for being a cruel tyrant-and they were even riding chariots together when Heracles came across them. He avenged his daughter even at the cost of being punished by Poseidon and Zeus, neither of whom liked him.

Now, what I want to tell you is that the PJO Greek Gods are Rick's interpretation of them.

An interpretation of a Greek God by a modern author (who isn't Greek, by the way, please take note) is not the same as the real Greek God. Please understand this and accordingly adjust your views.

This also goes for Madeline Miller, Rachel Smythe, etc.

And lastly, one of the most ironic things is that though Richard uses the Greek Gods in his books, he has never ever added a single Greek character in it.

I'm talking about a modern Greek demigod who comes from Greece. Imagine them teaching the other demigods Modern Greek and Greek culture, language and traditions!

It's very ironic that he includes Chinese, African and Native American culture in his works and then turns around and pretend that Greek culture doesn't exist.

The demigods are in Athens, but for how much time before they go back to America? Barely any at all. And nothing learnt about culture while they're there.

(No hate to his already shitty representation. I'm merely making a point that there should have been a Greek character in a book that heavily centers on Greek Gods and their children, even if it's in America.)

RICK DOESN'T USE GREEK CULTURE OR RELIGION AND IN FACT INSULTS GREECE IN HIS WORKS

So, if you've read the title, let me tell you something-

Do you know that Greek Gods are still worshipped?

Some of you do, some of you don't, but let me tell you, they are still worshipped.

And accordingly, you must respect them and their worshippers, just like you would do for Christians. You cannot maliciously ridicule and condemn Hellenistic Pagans who worship Greek Gods just because they are a minority.

And if you've read the myths and think that the Greek Gods being cruel......

They're not, actually. I mean, yes, you think they're cruel, but most of the myths aren't taken literally by Hellenistic Pagans who worship Greek Gods.

What the Greek Gods do is supposed to be symbolic.

Hades kidnapping Persephone symbolises death ripping children from their grieving parents' arms. It's an explanation for the seasons and it finally represents the fact that daughters could be given away by their fathers with the mother having no say in it whatsoever.

Demeter's grief and her actually being able to do something about her daughter's marriage and Persephone being returned to her is supposed to be a comforting tale for grieving mothers who have lost their daughter.

Artemis' cruelty towards certain people? It represents the cruelty of nature towards humans and what it will do to humans if they provoke it.

Zeus' infidelity and abuse of his power? Well, it represents what kings do. Zeus represented the kings of Ancient Greece, and kings abused their power and had many mistresses besides having a wife.

Many Greek kings also claimed to sons of Zeus or descendants of the gods, so it the idea that Zeus had many affairs with ladies and princesses of royal lineages was conceived.

The link above provides many good reasons for why the Greeks wrote Zeus having many affairs with mortal women, so check it out.

Also, Zeus is symbolic of storms. Storms are volatile and raging, and so was Zeus at times. He was a god of storms and as such symbolised them.

Hera punishing the mistresses and children in a jealous rage to bother Zeus? That's what queens did back in the day since they couldn't directly punish their husbands.

Dionysus being charming and fun but also being mad and wild? Well, he represents breaking away from social norms and going fully wild. Also, wine can make people fun and charming, but at the same time, it can turn people into mad, raging creatures.

The point is, most of what the Greek Gods did was symbolic to their domains. And no, contrary to popular thought, Greeks did not live in fear of their Gods striking them down every moment. In fact, many of them genuinely devotionally loved their gods.

And Greek Gods themselves are very kind and benevolent to their devotees, even today, as long as you don't provoke or seriously insult them. Just ask Hellenistic Pagans who are their devotees and you'll be surprised at the results. I'm serious.

The problem here is that we're trying to moralize divinity.

According to the Greeks, gods weren't humans. They were modelled after humans, but they were above humans and human flaws.

And the Abrahamic gods do terrible things too, but do we mock them? No, we don't, because their worshippers say that they are above humans and human flaws, so similarly, the Greek Gods are above humans and our flaws.

CONCLUSION

And no one cares about the fact that a guy is objectifying and making money off a culture all the while removing its significance and turning it into a joke.

Even though Greeks have a millennia old and rich culture, people are always bastardizing it. Non-Greeks really must stop doing this. It's very culturally disrespectful.

I've also seen grown adults saying that the Greek Gods are American so they're allowed to do what they want with them now, and that's absolutely disgusting. They literally stated that the Greek Gods were American now, right out in the open on Twitter.

Let me add one last thing here.

Rick Riordan has a series called Trials of Apollo in which Apollo is cast down to Earth as a human for the third time to defeat Python.

What I want to talk about here is Apollo's human name-Lester Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos is a common Greek Christian surname that means 'son of a priest'. One of Apollo's domains in prophecy and he has many priests, so maybe this is a reference to that.

But what is most upsetting is that this name is used for comedy.

It's belittled, laughed at and ridiculed for its longevity and hard pronunciation when it is in fact a very normal Greek surname. Even if it's not an American surname, even if it doesn't sound normal and sounds ridiculous to you, it's not ridiculous to others and you should respect it.

Can you imagine how Greek people with that last name read the books and felt bad about their last name? Or felt furious. I know that I would be FURIOUS if my last name was used like that.

And the fact is that Papadopoulos isn't even that hard to pronounce! It's literally just 5 syllables that you can repeat a few times until it doesn't twist your tongue.

And if you can't repeat this simple name, then you need to go back to kindergarten. Hell, go back to preschool even.

And there are people who have the audacity to say that the Greek Gods belong to America and are American. Grown adults, actually, on Twitter, no less. Tweeting it for the whole world to see their absolute foolishness and audacity.

They're pretty tactless, huh?

The Greek Gods were and always will be GREEK. Foreigners are not their rightful descendants-the Greeks are (Greek immigrants included). I mean...........this is bizzarre.

To conclude, (really conclude this time) though it's a series heavily entwined with Greek Gods, the only Greek thing about the series is the Gods. There's no Greek culture, religion or language, and even the Greek Gods are heavily Americanised, which is pretty disappointing.

(Side note: If you think anything I've said is wrong, tell me. I'll correct it immediately.)

@fandomloverangel

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

I've seen this post before, and I wanted to argue against it.

Now, bear in mind that this is supposed to be a friendly debate and I don't want to offend you.

With that being said, let's look at the bullies that Percy's called out.

The teachers and students who bullied him at his old schools for his learning disabilities, Nancy Bobofit, Gabe, Dionysus, Tantalus, Ares, Hades (yeah he qualifies, he made Percy feel bad and Percy stood up to him. Go Percy, boss moment honestly) Clarisse, Matt Sloan and his gang.

These are people that Percy heavily dislikes (well, Clarisse is an exception, but at the time she bullied Percy, he heavily disliked her.) This makes it easier to call out their bullshit.

Annabeth is someone he likes. It's difficult to call out the bullshit of people that you like-very rarely can people can do this.

And we're forgetting that Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty. He's loyal to the people he loves and blind to their flaws, so he is the exact opposite of a person who'd be fair with both their friends and enemies.

Take Sally Jackson, for example. Sally herself admitted that she was selfish and kept Percy with an abuser so as not to be attacked by monsters instead of dropping him off at Camp where he would have been safer, especially with Poseidon's influence. Logically speaking, Percy should have resented her for this a little bit, right?

Now, for the morons who'll come to this conclusion, I am not saying that Sally Jackson is the devil incarnate. She was a struggling single mother stuck in between a rock and a hard place-there was no completely good option for her to choose here.

But she still chose to marry an abuser to keep Percy and herself safe. She knowingly married him knowing that he'd make Percy's life terrible and that Percy would be affected by this. This was definitely not a good choice on her part and it doesn't make her a good person (though she still is a good person, just not as good as one would make her out to be).

But Percy doesn't even think about this-he just idolises her (understandable, considering the circumstances, but still) and he never thinks about the situation from this point of view.

And Grover in Wrath of the Triple Goddess. Percy calls him out, but Percy later feels guilty for the stupid reason of Grover thinking he's going to be lonely when they (Percy and Annabeth) go to college, which is why Grover almost ruined the quest. Percy literally says that he should have been thinking about what Grover felt (Grover, who is responsible for his own self, Percy is not responsible for Grover) instead of, you know, thinking about himself and his future.

This is complete malarkey. It's a terrible reason for Grover's terrible actions. And what does Percy do?

He shoves it down, takes the blame, forces himself to be calm even though he should rage. This is another example of Percy not wanting to call someone's bullshit out because they're a loved one.

And Percy loves Annabeth. She's his friend, she went on his first quest with him, she's saved his life and she has a lion's share in his view of the mythological world since she was pretty much the first demigod that he really knew (discounting Luke who left after the first book).

All of this makes it pretty difficult for him to call out her bullshit-especially when she hates being called out on her bullshit, which she does.

Of course, he called out her bullshit during TLT and SOM regarding himself and Tyson respectively, but this is when they're not really friends. In the later books, where they're better friends and he likes her more, he doesn't do it.

And also, Percy has called Annabeth out on her bullshit, but she doesn't listen to him, so he becomes resigned to it.

Her calling him Seaweed Brain? He says that he's gotten used to it in TTC, meaning that he didn't like it but she didn't stop, so he just became used to it.

He says in TLO that he wanted to argue with Annabeth regarding his cabin inspection marks, but no good would come of it, so he just resigned himself to his marks.

He says that he wouldn't argue with her because she would beat him up.

Annabeth yells at Percy and blames him for leaving even though they both know that he was kidnapped. Does he call her out on this, tell her that she was wrong? No.

Annabeth makes Percy feel scared every time she brings up Rachel. This makes Percy feel bad and he does not call her out on it.

All of these are examples of Annabeth not listening to him and bulldozing her way over his protests, so he becomes resigned to it.

That's a common abusive tactic that I've experienced myself-don't listen to the victim and bulldoze your way over them until they become silent and resigned.

Now, I don't want to go so far as to call Annabeth abusive, but she is definitely pretty toxic towards Percy at times. I know that she loves him, I'm not denying that, but you can love someone and be toxic towards them.

Again, I don't want to be disrespectful and I respect your opinions. I'm just providing valid arguments as to why I think your statement was wrong.

when you say that percy is stuck in an abusive relationship with annabeth, you are not only insulting annabeth, you are erasing one of percy's best character strengths: how he is NOT afraid to call out people's nonsense and stand up against bullies no matter how bad or insecure they make him feel

What if instead of Hades, Poseidon sent monsters after Thalia?

Yes, you heard me right. You know that PJO kind of sanitises Poseidon a lot? Yeah, Percy's his son, but we could still get a few moments where Poseidon is the bad guy. I mean, this was a huge missed opportunity for telling us how bad the gods were as parents. Well………..imagine that Poseidon was annoyed that Zeus broke the oath, so he sent monsters after Thalia to show Zeus that this was not a good idea. It fits him perfectly and then Percy and Thalia could have even more angst (which is resolved at the end). And Poseidon can get ahold of monsters-don't tell me he can't.

website

Quick question regarding one of your reposts.

What makes you think that Annabeth would stop Percy from having his depressive thoughts?

Like yeah, I agree we can't blame her for Percy's mental state/thought process into the poison drowning scenario but she's not really completely washed out of fault?

Percy, who only ever wanted to be a normal guy, who was just desperately trying to protect himself and his girlfriend, was treated as a monster when he did. His gf instead of being happy that he's not dying anymore/dead is more focused on how terrified she was OF him, rather than, idk being happy that they are both okay?

Like, wouldn't that affect someone very badly? Realistically speaking? You try your darnest to keep yourself and someone you love safe only for that someone to essentially condemn you for doing that. When you were literally delirious in pain and dying. And just trying to survive and protect her too.

And in a world where it's either they get killed or others do, what was the logic/wisdom behind asking Percy to never do something like that again?

Idk, tbf, I genuinely do think that Annabeth is too self-absorbed to even notice that Percy might have some issues in this regard in the first place. And even if she does, and he speaks to her about it, she won't know what to do with it because in this entire series, it's always Percy comforting Annabeth— never the other way around.

Or worse yet, would see it as an attack/Percy telling her she did something wrong when Percy was only opening up/telling her how he felt.

Idk, pls let me know if you think otherwise though. I do see that you're pretty into the Percabeth/Annabeth crit side of tumblr sp ig it's a bit intriguing to see you defend Annabeth in that post. (Again, which I agree with but also, huh, this would be an interesting convo)

I think I know which repost that is though I deleted it sometime ago. This is going to be a long answer, so I'm putting it under a read more not to clog your feed up.

MY TUMBLR HISTORY

I'm going to digress here and tell you more about my tumblr history, which is necessary for this post to make sense.

The thing is, I joined Tumblr less than a year ago and I soon got into the anti Percabeth/anti Annabeth Chase discourse without looking at both sides.

Back then, I was pretty naive and barely questioned what I saw at all. I just ate up those sometimes unconvincing (and frankly ridiculous at some points) arguments. I just ate them up and made posts that supported them without really thinking my stance through.

It was only recently that I actually started to question if all the anti Percabeth and anti Annabeth Chase content that I'd been consuming and I found out that hey, not all of it is true!

I thought and called Annabeth abusive which is not the case-I think she's toxic and their relationship is unhealthy at some points, but there's a difference between toxic and abusive.

By then, a lot of damage had already been done and I felt pretty embarrassed at some of my posts which I deleted, though they had been reblogged, so I couldn't fully wipe them off. If you see a post that you don't like from me, please come and check my blog for it because chances are that I've deleted it.

The thing to be said is that I've learnt a valuable lesson on tumblr-that I should look at both sides before rashly posting and that I should really remain neutral and not blindly jump into one side without questioning their points and critically thinking about it.

WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT PERCABETH?

Ok, moving on from that-I'm hesitant to call Percabeth abusive.

I do think that the judo flip and bringing up Rachel to keep him on his toes are abuse, but abusive is a pretty strong word which is why I still don't call it abusive, though I understand why you would.

I still, however, think that it's toxic at many points. Yes, there's a difference between toxic and abusive.

REGARDING YOUR ASK

What makes you think Annabeth would stop Percy from having his depressive thoughts?

Well, canon makes a pretty good argument for this.

See, the thing is-Percy loves Annabeth. He loves her wholly, truly, completely. His love is enormous, gigantic-like the raging sea, like a blazing fire, like a calm, sunny afternoon.........eh, I'm getting poetic here, but he really, really loves her. He loves her like he's nothing loved anything before (not even Sally. I'm sorry, but the books just don't expand on Percy-Sally as much as they devote time to Percy-Annabeth).

When she comes into a room, he lights up instantly and wants to meet her. He loves her and she's not his entire world, but she's the hugest portion of it. She was with him all throughout, she's seen him at his most vulnerable (I think) she's just.........irreplaceable at this point.

Percy loves her and she loves him. They love each other and are happy with each other (because yes, you can still love someone and be toxic with them. And you can have happy moments with someone and still have a toxic relationship with them. These two are entirely possible.)

The thing about toxic relationships is that it's extremely complicated. It's not just black and white-it's varying shades of gray.

You think that toxic relationships are constantly miserable, which can be true for some of them, but a lot of toxic relationships have their happy and angry moments.

That's why people stay in them. If it was constantly bad, they'd say, 'Nope I'm out of here' but since there are plenty of good moments, they think- 'No, we can make this work, this won't happen again, it's not that bad, I can give them a second chance' multiple times.

Your toxic partner can make you anxious, but they can also make you pretty happy. They can make you feel black and white at different times. Annabeth makes Percy feel scared multiple times, but she also makes him feel warm and fuzzy and happy and content, which is entirely fitting for a toxic relationship.

So yes, Annabeth can make Percy stop having depressive thoughts, at least for intervals until he lapses back again (based on what we've seen from the books so far).

Like yeah, I agree we can't blame her for Percy's mental state/thought process into the poison drowning scenario but she's not really completely washed out of fault?

Percy, who only ever wanted to be a normal guy, who was just desperately trying to protect himself and his girlfriend, was treated as a monster when he did.

His gf instead of being happy that he's not dying anymore/dead is more focused on how terrified she was OF him, rather than, idk being happy that they are both okay?

Ok, anon, here is where I am going to become pro Annabeth Chase which is probably going to give you whiplash, so I'm just going to warn you.

Annabeth's reaction was entirely realistic and understandable and there was nothing wrong with it. Yes, that's what I'm saying and I will stick to it (go ahead and debate if you want to, though. I'm open to that).

They were in Tartarus. Literal hell. Their surroundings were horrible, it was grim and there was a huge chance that they would not survive. How could she be happy in those circumstances? Let's keep in mind that a goddess just got horribly tortured in front of her. Really badly tortured.

And her boyfriend is doing it-and he's terrifying her with his look and he's reminding her of Luke, whom she loved so badly, who rebelled against the gods, who was so angry and then he died and Annabeth is just so terrified right now.

Blaming her for not being happy that her boyfriend survived and for crying because of everything that happened is extremely dense and imbecilic.

Of course, the fact that she's angry at Percy for making her feel scared when he was just trying to save both of them and was at his wits' end is questionable on her part. He was just trying to save both of them and did not mean to scare her just like she didn't mean to make him feel suicidal (which, again, is not her fault.)

I would've made her feel grateful but also feel angry and have an internal struggle because of that. Percy saved her, he saved both of them and they got out of Tartarus, so why is she angry at him?

But Luke. He looked like Luke. And he was so angry and he was choking a goddess, he was turning against her, even if the goddess was trying to kill them-he went against the divine gods, just like Luke. And look what happened to Luke. Luke shouldn't have done that. Percy shouldn't have done that. But they both did it for the greater good. And look what happened to Luke. And what will happen to Percy?

You get my drift. Of course, I understand Annabeth's reaction in Tartarus, but the fact that she was angry at him afterwards (out of Tartarus) is questionable and could have been written better.

Like, wouldn't that affect someone very badly? Realistically speaking?

Yes, it would affect them! And it does affect him because he feels horrible and tries to commit suicide. And he never actually thinks about this and it's never brought up again and no one ever talks about it because Rick is a coward.

You try your darndest to keep yourself and someone you love safe only for that someone to essentially condemn you for doing that. When you were literally delirious in pain and dying. And just trying to survive and protect her too.

Annabeth did tie Percy's hand behind his back by asking him to not use his powers again, but she didn't condemn him-rather, he condemned himself.

I want to emphasize that Percy's suicide attempts and horrible feelings were not Annabeth's fault nor would she have wanted him to feel that way. The fact that Percy didn't use his powers again is not fully Annabeth's fault.

We can't blame either of them here. Doing that would take away from the greyness and nuance of the situation. Yes, Annabeth asked Percy not to use his powers, but in the context of the situation, we can't blame her and her reaction. Yes, Percy was foolish to follow her orders and do what he did, but using something that horrible when someone you love asks you not to, when you feel horrible that you made them feel horrible, even though it wasn't Percy's fault and he had to do what he had to do.

Their feelings overpowered them and emotion took control over logic and we can't blame either of them since they're two traumatised teenagers who just got out of a horrible situation and their feelings are all over the place and.......nothing comes of it.

Nothing comes of it because Rick is a terrible writer at this point. He never expanded on this or even gave it any thought at all. They never have a scene in which they talk about or discuss it or reflect on it and nothing is learned from it. Percy's attempts suicide and everything's fine. Annabeth doesn't think about the usefulness and gravity his powers and everything's fine. In COTG and WOTTG, Percy and Annabeth........they don't talk about it at all. Everything is fine.......even when it shouldn't be.

And in a world where it's either they get killed or others do, what was the logic/wisdom behind asking Percy to never do something like that again?

This part........yeah, there's no logic in that.

I would have had Annabeth think about Percy's poison powers and realise that they weren't morally bad-they were morally neutral. They could be used do to bad things, but they could also be used to do good things. The person who uses them is morally good or bad, not the powers themselves.

I would also have her grapple with how she disliked them but how she realised that they were useful as well, because I think that her internal conflict about this would be very interesting to read.

Idk, tbf, I genuinely do think that Annabeth is too self-absorbed to even notice that Percy might have some issues in this regard in the first place.

I'm divided on this sentence. I think that she does love him, but half in a normal way, half in a weird, twisted way. Given the current state of their characterisation, when they're just ignoring everything, I don't think that they'd be able to talk it out-they'd just fight really bad and then go back to a false, toxic 'normal' state.

And even if she does, and he speaks to her about it, she won't know what to do with it because in this entire series, it's always Percy comforting Annabeth— never the other way around.

Or worse yet, would see it as an attack/Percy telling her she did something wrong when Percy was only opening up/telling her how he felt.

I think you're right about these last two ones. They really need communication therapy ASAP.

Does anyone else think about this?

You know, I have to tell all of you something. It's really important, so please read this before any other post that's caught your eye.

I'm glad that there's a large majority of people who accept that Rick kind of fucked up Greek Mythology in Percy Jackson..........

But does anyone feel the same about The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase?

The way Rick portrayed Anubis as a hot white teenage emo boy who was SIXTEEN years old when in Egyptian Mythology he was a GROWN ADULT WITH A WIFE AND A DAUGHTER really nags at me.

And, what's more, Anubis 16 while Sadie is at first twelve and then thirteen.

Walt's age is debatable because he's said to be fourteen and then sixteen. It's generally accepted that he's sixteen, but some people also think he's fourteen, so ok, your choice.

BUT ANUBIS IS SIXTEEN AND HE'S DATING A 12-13 YEAR OLD?

If Anubis DID indeed have the maturity level of a sixteen year old (weird choice, Rick) then he wouldn't even LOOK at Sadie romantically, because sixteen year olds don't do that!

It's disgusting, really, to do something like this. And don't start on Anubis not knowing the cultural practices of today. They're not real. Rick Riordan wrote this knowing how disgusting it was. It's unacceptable.

I honestly don't get why Anubis had to be a 16 year old. TKC could have been rewritten with no change if Anubis wasn't a 16 year old and was a proper god. No Saltnubis, which is an added bonus. Polyamory should be for adults, not children or teenager minors.

Also, Anubis did have a wife and daughter-Anput and Kebechet respectively. And they never even get mentioned.

Ok, even if Rick didn't mention them, that Saltnubis plot was horrible.

Also, Isis possessing a British white woman is a little odd when she's Egyptian. Why don't they possess Egyptian people instead. Is it because the main religion is Islam? Then why didn't they just possess Egyptian immigrants? Oh well. not sure about this one.

I mean, I'm not Egyptian or a Kemetic Pagan, but I just wanted to point this out. Sorry if anything I said is rude-tell me and I'll change.

But TKC had something that Magnus Chase did not. It actually respected its gods and reminded the readers that while they took on human forms and possessed humans, they were in fact, still gods. We could tell that they were gods and they inspired a certain amount of awe when they were around.

The gods in MCGA.......just don't have this spark.

I mean, yes, they WERE funny and human at times, but there's a reason that they were worshipped and respected as gods.

And it's frustrating because they should have had that spark. Yes, we see Odin's cunning by disguising himself as a troll, but Heimdall is also made out to be a complete idiot who just takes selfies and neglects his duties of guarding the Bifrost Bridge which is very important.

And Loki.........actually, Loki was kind of evil in the myths, so this one is ok. I'm still a little disappointed at how he never cared for Alex or Sam, though.

I know I'm treading sensitive waters with this one, but there is something nagging at me about how they're portrayed.

I want to draw you (Part 2)

Heather showed Vivienne her drawings. They were amazing-Vivienne loved how they portrayed her cat eyes and faerie ears, making them pop. 

‘How long have you been drawing?’

‘Well, since I was a toddler. I’m going to attend community college and major in something involving art. I just love drawing and painting-it’s my central passion. I’d die if I couldn’t draw anymore.’

‘So, drawing is the thing that calms you down?’ Vivienne said.

‘Most of the time, yeah. It doesn’t always help me, though-sometimes my emotions are so intense that even if I draw, I can’t calm down, and when I have art block, it’s the worst.’

‘Yeah, art block sounds bad if your main thing is drawing,’ Vivi agreed. ‘Um, hey, want to go get some Chinese food? Just you and me-I can pay for it.’

‘Ooh, really? That would be great! I’ll pay for my own food, though. You can pay for yours.’

They went to that great Chinese restaurant-the one with the amazing fortune cookies. Heather had been there once and she’d gotten the funniest fortune-there is money in your future-that doesn’t belong to you.

‘They have really funny fortunes, though you find generic ones too.’ she said. She started talking about the restaurant and telling Vivienne all about it, though Vivienne had been there a few times before (in glamour disguise). Still, Vivi nodded her head and pretended that she was just going there for the first time, just to hear Heather talk about it.

They ordered spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken. Heather talked about her life and family and Vivienne listened to her. 

Before she knew it, hours had passed and Heather had to go home. They exchanged numbers and she left, Vivienne staring after her. 

When Vivi returned home, Taryn asked her why she was smiling so hard, and she blinked and noticed that she was. She simply shook her head and went to her bedroom, then jumped onto the bed, squealing and giggling. Maybe life wasn’t so bad after all.

(I recently learnt that there's a short story on Heather and Vivienne in Faeries Never Lie-The Honest Folk. If I've made any mistakes in this short story, please let me know! Thanks for reading!)

One thing I feel that isn't talked about enough is that Athena helps Penelope by giving her sleep.

Some of you probably don't think that that's anything that's worthy of attention, but that's just not true. What Athena did for Penelope was amazing.

Do you know how torturous it is to toss around and constantly worry about something? Especially what Penelope was worried about?

Do you know how relieving it is to just go to sleep and banish these worries from your mind, at least for a short while?

It's absolutely wonderful. Athena was so sweet for giving Penelope sleep when Penelope was extremely distressed. It's a great example of a woman helping another woman that people should use more.