Preach. Finally Someone Else Is Also Acknowledgeding This.

Merlin was the love to Morgana’s hate. The subservience to her tyranny. When he was willing to believe, she lost hope. When he forgave, she sought revenge.

Too much love made him blind. Too much hate made her lose sight. He clings to the future. She stays in the past. He is Prophecy. She is the Seer. She is Destiny. He is the Choice.

While Merlin lost people, she cast hers away. When she loved, they kept her in darkness. When they loved him, he set them on fire.

Morgana is truth to Merlin’s lies. She is the revelation to his secrets, the freedom to his prison, the chasm to his light. He is loyalty. She is defection. For Camelot. For the Old Religion.

In poverty, in wealth, in status and the lack of it, they mingle. In castles, in hovels, in huts, and dugouts, they dance. Death, despair, pride and joy are known to only them.

Morgana is teamwork. Merlin works alone. He is Diplomacy to her Ground troops, both of them wage losing wars on opposite fronts. She makes her plans by the candlelight and torches. He is impulsiveness and quick thought in the dark corners. He is the sleight of hand, the hidden tricks, misdirection. She is performance and presentation. She is counsel at the shining throne. He is an afterthought by the smoldering hearth.

He murders in the shadows, she kills in the sun. She the poison, he the antidote. Life and Death are at their mercy. They are judge, savior and executioner, playing god, magic and human whenever they see fit.

He is hope and healing. She is doom and destruction. He is complicit. She is active. She fights for the people. He fights for one man. She thinks only for herself. He thinks of everyone.

Selfish and Selfless. They are the same, but also not. Fear and Courage. Affection and Spite. Oh how they attract. Oh How they clash. Sparks fly. The destruction lasts.

Bodies hang. Innocents are chained. None are spared in their ego. Only a few are saved.

Percy: “Ladies and gentlemen” is unnecessarily gendered, overly formal, lengthy, and honestly, I’m falling asleep already. “Cowards” on the other hand, is inclusive to all genders, to the point, and dramatic.

Poseidon: Percy. My dearest and favourite child. You cannot address the council of the gods as cowards.

Percy: But-

Poseidon: Even if they are cowards. Yes, I know. We should've done better in the last two wars. You still cannot do it, because then Zeus will try to smite you. I will stop him. We will fight and likely start world war 3. You might get caught in the crossfire and end up dead.

Percy: But-

Poseidon: Tyson, Sally, Paul and Estelle will all likely get caught in the crossfire.

Percy:

Percy: Fine. I'll use a different introduction.

Having the whole plot between Nico and Percy be resolved simply with “You’re not my type” in Blood of Olympus was such a huge disservice to both characters

They are pivotal parts to each others journey. No person in PJO influenced Nico as much as Percy did, aside from Bianca, and no person represents Percy’s guilt and the responsibility he had to shoulder more than Nico does. The writing for both characters really suffers through this lack of a real satisfying resolution.

First to talk about what Percy represents for Nico:

Percy, first of all, represents Nico’s introduction to the mythological world

He is the first demigod Nico ever came in contact with

He saved him and Bianca from the manticore (somewhat)

Nico stated in Blood of Olympus than Percy had reminded of the heroes of his mythomagic game come to life

Nico wholeheartedly believed that Bianca would be safe, if Percy was with her and created this image of the perfect hero in his mind, putting Percy on a pedestal

2.

In Nico’s mind Percy is irrevocably intertwined with Bianca and everything that happened to her

Despite Nico naively believing, that Bianca would be safe if Percy were around, he was instead the last person to ever talk to her, and present when she died

Percy informed Nico of her death (Dead silence. I stared at Chiron. I couldn’t believe nobody had told him yet. Then I realized why. They’d been waiting for us to appear, to tell Nico in person, Titan’s curse)

Nico turned him into the scapegoat for her death, so that he could let all his grief and anger and bitterness out on him

Bianca sent Iris-messages to Percy, so that he would find and help Nico (“Percy has been worried about you, Nico. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Her ghost only appeared to Nico when Percy was with him

Percy is the only person Nico knows of, who also grieved for Bianca (“Bianca,” I said. My voice was thick. I’d felt guilty about her death for a long time but seeing her in front of me was five times as bad, like her death was fresh and new. I remembered searching through the wreckage of the giant bronze warrior she’d sacrificed her life to defeat, and not finding any sign of her. “I’m so sorry,” I said. Battle of the Labyrinth)

3.

Percy is the person who protected and cared for Nico more than anyone else in pjo

Tried to convince Bianca to think more deeply about her decision of joining the hunters, especially thinking of him (“Biance, this is crazy,” I said. “What about your brother? Nico can’t be a hunter.” (Titan’s curse)

Searched the woods in the dark for hours after he had disappeared (Annabeth and Grover helped me search the woods for hours, but there was no sign of Nico di Angelo.)

Didn’t tell Chiron about Nico’s parentage to protect him from the Gods. (I don't think Nico understands who he is. But we can't go telling anyone. Not even Chiron. If the Olympians find out—") Titan’s curse)

Decided to completely commit to the prophecy, solely so Nico didn’t have to bear that burden and go trough any more suffering(It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it. "I can't let Nico be in any more danger," I said. "I owe that much to his sister. I… let them both down. I'm not going to let that poor kid suffer any more." ) Titan’s curse)

Searched for Nico in the months after Titan’s Curse (Now, six months later, I hadn’t even come close to finding him. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Battle of the labyrinth, chapter 3))

Saved his life on Geryon’s farm. (“Either way, you get my friends,” I said. “But, if I succeed, you’ve got to let all of us go, including Nico.”)

Always offered Nico a place at camp half-blood to the best of his abilities (“We missed you at dinner,” I said. “You could’ve sat with me.”“No.”“Nico, you can’t miss every meal. If you don’t want to stay with Hermes, maybe they can make an exception and put you in the big house. They’ve got plenty of room.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Invited him to join him on his birthday (“Is that… is that blue birthday cake?”He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he’d ever been invited to one. “Come inside for cake and ice cream,” I said. “It sounds like we’ve got a lot to talk about.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Reminded him that he was still a child (I smiled. “Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.” I tossed him the statue, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Helped him to get the sword of hades back to impress his father (Then I looked at Nico. Unfortunately, I recognised the expression on his face. I knew what it was like wanting to make your dad proud, even if your dad was hard to love., Sword of hades)

Acknowledged everything Nico did in The last Olympian and is one of the main reasons why Hades has a cabin at camp. ( “But your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that.”)

4.

Percy was Nico’s first, and after Will, his biggest love

Nico had feelings for Percy, which didn’t leave him for around 2 1/2 years, and accompanied him throughout the most challenging parts of his life. 

Feelings, which were so deep, the god of love personally acknowledged them.

Favonius even called Percy, the person Nico cares about most in House of Hades.

This was more than just a mere crush

Percy is so completely intertwined with most aspects of Nico’s character arc, in both PJO and Hoo, be it his feeling of ostracism, his relationship to Bianca or him coming to term with his own sexuality, that them not having a final interaction, makes his writing feel shallow and unfinished. Especially Nico coming to terms with his crush on Percy opens up the opportunity for a really heartwarming conversation and a moment of character growth and maturity for both of them, instead of it being wasted on one throw-away line.

And it’s the same the other way around. Nico is also a huge part of Percy’s journey.

He especially represents Percy’s biggest failure.

The first five Percy Jackson books are characterized by Percy having to take up responsibility and him being afraid of not being able to fulfill them. Be it responsibility for camp, the world, Bianca’s death, the prophecy, his friends, teh unclaimed demigods, or everything else. Most of the time, Percy was able to make sure everything turned out fine. He saved camp, he saved Olympus, he finished his quests, made the right decision for the prophecy, and he made the gods swear upon teh styx. But there’s one exception. And that is Nico.

Percy did everything in his power to make sure Nico would be spared any more hardships. He took up the burden of the prophecy, explicitly, so that Nico doesn’t have to go through any more hardships

He searched for him after Titan’s curse, kept his identity a secret and even risked himself, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson dying if it meant saving Nico

Still, Nico is one of the characters, if not the character, who has suffered the most in PJO and Hoo, even partly because of Percy (though, of course, Nico having a crush on him was not Percy’s fault at all)

He lived alone at 11 years old on the streets and in the labyrinth, while getting manipulated by an ancient evil spirit

He was isolated and ostracized at camp half-blood

He experienced the horrors of Tartarus completely on his own

He got captured by the giants and slowly suffocated to death in a small jar

He had to deal with internalized homophobia and his complicated feelings regarding Percy

He has been a vital part of two wars at only 15 years old

Had to admit his crush involuntarily in front of Jason, etc.  

One of the things Percy battles with in Heroes of Olympus is this overwhelming sense of guilt. He blames himself for almost everything that went wrong over the last few years. Be it for Iapetus, Calypso, or especially Nico. Having Percy acknowledge this complicated relationship he has with him during House of Hades, but not allowing the two of them to talk it out is genuinely baffling to me, and one of the (albeit many) reasons why I really don’t like most of Percy’s writing during Heroes of Olympus, despite the fact that he is my favourite character by far. This could have led to a moment of character growth, where Nico helps Percy to aknowledge that he feels guilty for things he had little to no control over, while Nico himself realizes how important he actually is to Percy.

They are also so similar in terms of who they are and what they’ve been through, that even if you ignore their history with each other, it seems insane, that they didn’t interact in any meaningful way:  

Both were ostracized at camp half-blood because of their parentage, and so far are the only two half-bloods we know of with that experience

They are (together with Hazel) the most powerful demigods in the Riordan verse, and have feats which far surpass anyone else’s

Both are in some way afraid of their powers

Both went through Tartarus

Both have relatively similar relationships to their godly parents

Both have gone through immense trauma and loss

And if you read heroes of Olympus, it actually very much seems to build towards a final resolution of their relationship

Percy and Nico were, aside from Frank, the two people closest to Hazel; both saw her as a little sister, and Hazel treated them both like her brothers

Nico was the first person Percy met from his old life

Percy was the one, who received the visions of Nico being captured

From everyone present, Percy trusted Nico to lead the others to Greece in his moment of greatest desperation

They both had introspections about the other in house of Hades, Nico having to deal with his crush and Percy with his guilt in Tartarus

But, in the end, after they met again, nothing happened. The only scene we really got was the “You’re not my type” line and Percy being surprised by it for a couple seconds. That’s it.

We saw no meaningful conversation between the two of them, no acknowledgement of what they’ve been through together, no lasting feelings. Nothing.

In regards to their relationship, Percy acknowledging everything that Nico has been through led to nothing. Nico acknowledging his feelings for Percy and finally letting go of this pedestal he had placed him on led to nothing. You could argue that their entire relationship, which has been built up since Titan’s curse led to nothing. And considering that they are so important characters for each of their character arcs, their characterization very much suffers from this writing decision.

The two of them, together with Hazel, are my three favourite Riordan verse characters by a long shot, but some very important aspects of both of their characters fall so flat to me through this lack of a satisfying resolution.

 Both of them deserved so much better.  

They are the friendship with the most missed potential in the entirety of the Riordan verse and probably the most fleshed out and nuanced relationship Rick ever wrote.

R.I.P.  Nico di Angelo, and Percy Jackson, you will always be brothers in my mind.

Knowing Jay, he will probably include waiting snippet in one of Telemachus's songs too, just to sucker punch us into an emotional breakdown.

ok i have chills

so at the end of the challenge (penelope’s song) she sings waiting, waiting over and over again. to the same tune as anticlea’s (odysseus’s mom) last words in underworld. JAY THE MASTERMIND ARTIST YOU ARE-

FINDING NEW WAYS TO PUNCH US THROUGH A SCREEN AND EARBUDS-

absolute CHILLS i have GOOSEBUMPS i can’t FUNCTION i need HELP

someone has probably already pointed it out but i needed to say it AGAIN AND LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

like that is actually so depressing. the desperation there, but also the overwhelming hope that odysseus will return… its heart wrenching. except the only difference is odysseus gets to reunite with his wife, he will never ever get to see his mom again.

@epicthemusicalstuff

Did we all just collectively forget that Percy sat on his father’s throne?

Yes, absolutely yes. Gaea is literally the first of the Primordials. Dragging her into anything, be it major or minor, makes most plots baseless or completely entirely unrealistic even by fictional standards. Unless it's a war between primordials or divinities themselves.

Even in core Greek myths, Gaea or most primordials have extremely limited appearances, and Rick has no basis nor nuance for Gaea to appear or for it to be reasonable enough.

It should have been Greco-Roman conflict, which should have culminated with both camps teaming up against Giants [not Gaia, just the Giants] and which would have hopefully ended in changing the rigid ways of Camp Jupiter and certain problematic aspects of Camp Halfblood. That would have been so much better and with less plotholes.

Hot take I think hoo should’ve had NOTHING to do with Gaia and should’ve been completely about the war between the Roman’s and the Greek’s

If there was a love triangle between Hayley/Klaus/Caroline in The Vampire Diaries, who do you think Klaus would prefer?

Let's consider this scenario for after he sleeps with her. I am certain Klaus would choose her, it would take time but he would definitely choose her not because she is pregnant with his child but because eerily enough she accepts him and understands him without judgement, is his mirror in fact and it's not just a one sided thing, they both complete each other.

Caroline "Klaus is root of all evil until I need something" Forbes would manage to string him along only so long. If he wasn't so intent on getting back at Tyler and so caught up in the thrill of playing hard to get he wouldn’t look at her twice. Caroline has on multiple occasions betrayed his trust, used his affections for her own gain and demeaned and disrespected him. Let's be real it would take Klaus two months tops, my bet is one really to get bored of Caroline, (when I say bored I mean irritated, annoyed, disappointed at Caroline).

Yes Klaus would initially be furious he lost precious hybrids due to Hayley's schemes but he would come to admire it instead.

Her ambitions to do everything under the sun and otherwise for the sake of mere information on her family(she was born to be a Mikaelson), her exceptional cunning, wit and survival instincts all stemming from roots of abandonment leaving her to face the world alone quite like his very own and her strength and perseverance despite it? It would awe and mesmerize him, I would say he would be falling for her so fast and so hard given their compatibility and chemistry.

Plus Hayley has what it takes to stand on equal grounds with Klaus Mikaelson and she would also get along swimmingly with his family (and if he have any evidence to go off of from The Orignals she would even unite them like never before). Caroline would be nothing short of a frivolous and insignificant distraction in the grand scheme of things between Klaus and Hayley.

Give it up for Rachel Elizabeth Dare people. The most level-headed person in the entirety of the PJO. And while I think her hitting Kronos with a hairbrush was beyond iconic, her entrance was just as epic. Literally saved Percy's life the two other times they had met prior to this. And literally got everyone alive through the Labyrinth and then again saved Percy's life twice through her visions.

idc idc Annabeth being petty and mean to Rachel in battle of the labyrinth is everything to me

Percy got one minotaur horn when he was twelve and another two when he was 15, he should ditch the sword and make a trident out of them. Imagine the flex

Percy is a son of Poseidon. Unlike Thalia or Jason who are children of Zeus/Jupiter, when Percy was claimed, he was ostracized by the Camp at the start of it and only integrated properly after Titan's Curse. Percy watched the Campers revere Thalia where he was barely accepted and the Romans have an even worser treatment since Percy was a Son of Neptune. Plus he had to hear all about Jason's heroic activities which meant he realized he had big shoes to fill [Partly because he didn't have his memories so he doesn't remember all the things he himself did].

You also have to understand that Percy has abysmal self-esteem and given the sudden burden of expectations on him due to the Great Prophecy and such he was forced to conform to expectations of the other campers, Annabeth and so on when Percy dislikes being told what to do or being restrained and yet his fatal flaw doesn't allow him to just drop and leave the sheer amount of expectations attached to him.

So naturally, when he noticed Jason seemed to know to some extent what he needed to do as a leader and seemed comfortable in the position. Percy was obviously slightly envious despite being a natural born leader himself because he doesn't like taking charge unless he has to, but he almost always ends up having to.

Not to mention that despite everything Percy is used to doing his own thing but the fact that there were many other people than usual on the quest with the Seven and in group discussions, initially Jason's word seemed to hold more weight than his [Piper is self explanatory, Leo is Jason's best friend, Hazel and Frank are Percy's friends but Jason is a Roman Praetor so they had to side with their superior and Annabeth well usually she and Percy have very different takes on handling the situation]. Percy was obviously not used to needing someone else's approval for what he wanted to do, which may have been a contributing factor . And he isn't the sort to pull rank and go [I am the Savior of Olympus, listen to me] so at least for a while Jason must have made him feel jealous and a bit inferior. He's Percy, though, which means he can go along just fine with most situations; he is just that good at improvisations.

There's a post I need to make on how Percy views himself as not some hero but as someone who is just getting by, but that's too lengthy to add here. I hope this is somewhat coherent, at least.

We all know Jason was jealous of Percy, and in some way Percy was jealous of Jason. Jason finds out one day and is just utterly confused.

What could Percy be jealous about? He has a mother who loves him, his godly parent actually cares for him. He is a celebrated hero, with even the gods fearing him. He was offered immortality and on his own terms REFUSED. His siblings who share the same godly parent actually LIKE him. When he went missing, people actually cared enough to look for him.

So what in Jason's life would make Percy jealous?