Percy And Annabeth Literally Have A Relationship Based On Shared Trauma - Blog Posts

Percy's amnesia in SoN gave him the perfect excuse to build his confidence to where it should be and break up with Annabeth, with very few consequences, and I will always stand by that. Annabeth may be easier for the Greeks to back due to her history there, but she has nothing at Camp Jupiter, where he quickly and firmly established himself as a powerful, capable and trustworthy entity, getting promoted to Praetor within a week. I honestly believe that, after his SON quest and the "greeting" Annabeth gave him on their reunion, Percy should've broken up with Annabeth, stayed with Camp Jupiter and thrived there.

Not only would the structure help him long-term in the way it canonically did in the (maybe) three days we saw him spend there, but he has a proper support system without biases in favour of Annabeth. It would also provide a fun narrative contrast to Jason, which RR was trying to push in-story, where they thrive in the other's camp despite the shadow of a figure they kind of feel they have to live up to. Jason does better in the looser structure of CHB due to his having picked up many wolf-ish traits from Lupa, while Percy almost *relaxes* in the strict routine of CJ because it helps with his ADHD symptoms.

And this confidence he very clearly has in SoN, and the way he almost romanticized the possible relationship between him and Annabeth when he didn't have his memories, would lead to a very jarring experience when his memories are settled and he reunites with Annabeth. Because, woah, that was not just a subconscious bias from preferring his new friendships/camp structure, but she actually is like that.

Boom, he now has recontextualised memories and perspective of Annabeth, and a place where she doesn't have a stronger reputation than him, and he can fairly safely break up with Annabeth and escape attempts at retaliation.

He might wait until after the quest the Seven go on, so that he can immediately cut her out of his lfe, but this new perspective changes how he approaches her.

The canon would never, but fortunately for us, there are fic writers. If I get enough time somewhere in this month or next, I might end up writing this, but I will have to see, no promises.

Back to your point; you have covered mostly everything so I don't see what I should be adding to this exact scenario but yes it is one of the few perfect pit stops for a percabeth break up to happen. I am going to go down a slightly different avenue for this one as my thoughts vary a bit from yours, so bear with me. It is going to be long, but I need to recap and clarify a few things for others; I will get to your specific questions near the end. [Everything's numbered, so if you are in a hurry, just scroll to the final four points]

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The breakup could have been mutual, too, if Rick had written it well. If we follow the proper timeline, Annabeth was still hung up over Luke up until the end of BoTL and had just started to get over him at the start of Last Olympian. Percy had just been informed of the Prophecy and under massive stress between end of BoTL and start of TLO and was obviously arguing with Annabeth over it as she repeatedly got angry at him for reasonably freaking out over his then "assumed death" prophecy. To find some relief from all this, he was dating Rachel, who he really liked, had a kiss with, and overall a good relationship with.

Then the whole plot of the Last Olympian occurs in what can be considered to be a few months at best. Then both Percy and Annabeth get together but to recap the events leading up to this:

Rachel breaks up with Percy despite their good relationship due to understanding the role she needs to play in saving the Oracle.

Luke who had previously visited Annabeth to make her join him and who Annabeth was somewhat hung over still, dies.

The war ended up killing a lot of close friends and companions and was a generally traumatic event for everyone involved.

Percy is very high on mixed emotions, reeling from everything that's happened when he gets together with Annabeth, so neither of them have had any time to process anything that's happened properly enough.

They have their one month anniversary on September 18th[The Staff of Hermes short story], and Percy disappears in October. [Riordan.wiki has years and dates of important events].

So they have barely been together for two months, and Percy's already missing.

This is Annabeth's thought process when they do reunite. It implies she has been doing a bit of thinking about their relationship and might not be as sure about it anymore.

She also seems to heavily dislike Percy's initial idea of settling in New Rome and seems to have no intention of taking a break from quests like Percy does.

She also seems to dismiss Percy's unwillingness to go to NRU after the news of Estelle's birth and the events of CotG.

Those were a few key points of contrast between them both on their future plans. Not small ones either.

Now, back to their reunion and the events following; here are a few things:

She judo flips him in front of the Argo II and almost entirety of Camp Jupiter.

If Annabeth didn't know that Percy had lost the Curse of Achilles then she was judo flipping him on the small of his back where his mortal tether was located ; which she knew about and therefore would have killed him in her anger and hyper emotional state.

If Annabeth did know that he had lost the Curse of Achilles then she was still judo flipping her boyfriend who had been missing for six months after surviving an already very traumatic event where he barely managed to survive and was then put through kidnapping, six months of amnesia, and brainwashing against his will by a goddess and then thrust into an unknown land with enemies on his trail.

Further, she blames Percy for disappearing for all of the things HE suffered through against his will and HAS THE AUDACITY TO MAKE HIM APOLOGIZE FOR IT.

Annabeth says and I quote that she likes keeping Percy on his toes.

She also agrees with Piper that Percy needs to be leashed and controlled.

Then Percy's side gives us a few more concerning tidbits:

Percy repeatedly notes that he is scared of Annabeth or thinks she might hit him

He also says that she often brings up Rachel to make him uncomfortable.

Percy also doesn't feel comfortable confiding in Annabeth about Gabe or past trauma.

He repeatedly feels he isn't good enough for Annabeth, and obviously Annabeth's behavior consciously or subconsciously on her part enables his thought process.

He ends up almost killing himself because Annabeth makes him promise not to use his specific ability despite it being used in self-defense by Percy, which ended up saving them both because she was afraid of Percy's powers.

Yet another thing to point out is that Annabeth's fatal flaw hubris and her abandonment issues feed too much into her behavior, and until that is fixed, nothing can be helped.

Annabeth punched Percy in ttc just because he didn't ask her to dance like she wanted him to. She also gave Percy a very hard time just because he knew another girl (Rachel) and immediately acted controlling and toxically possesive towards Percy over Rachel and Calypso despite her and Percy not being in a relationship at any of those points. In fact, despite her supposed crush on Percy, she defended Luke all the way till Botl, despite his repeated attempts at murdering Percy, and even went as far as to say Percy was unreasonably angry at Luke. She also displayed rude and downright awful behavior when interacting with Rachel; and Rachel, being the better person, handled her with class and grace. This all is not even including her demeaning remarks against Percy's intelligence and condescending behavior.

We can conclude from all this that Percy and Annabeth are not compatible, with different future goals and clashing perspectives and most importantly due to lack of proper communication, terrible misunderstandings, and Annabeth's consistent toxic behavior.

But neither the characters nor the author and not even most of the fandom acknowledge any of these glaring issues, so nothing can be done, but their break up can go several ways:

1.

Percy and Annabeth both break up amicably with Annabeth apologizing and understanding the gravity of her behavior and her mistakes and consistently making up to Percy for all the things she has been doing terribly. This is only possible for pre Tartarus or pre MoA situation.

Annabeth could have had a good arc in overcoming all of her problems while Percy too dealt with his self esteem issues and past trauma and they could have given their relationship a shot again in the future; they are both too young right now.

2.

Percy confronts Annabeth on her behavior and breaks up with her. Things get ugly, and it ends up being horrible for both of them. This is a traumatic situation on both ends, but the reason why this is unlikely is that Annabeth and Percy have a case of trauma bonding, and there's hints of codependency more on Annabeth's end. Which makes Percy mask Annabeth's toxic traits easily and for Annabeth to ignore Percy's devolving mental health and self-esteem issues that she has been enabling unknowingly.

3.

The other likely option is third-party intervention. Sally or Poseidon/Athena or other campers.

I also disagree that the camp half blood would back Annabeth. Percy's their [CHB] unofficial leader and a good friend to all of them plus he is the reason the children of other non-Olympian gods have cabins and get claimed early so he definitely has a higher status than Annabeth does in both camps. Camp Jupiter also does respect Percy more than any other Greek, and he is the only Greek to ever be made Praetor. So in social or reputation terms, Percy's winning.

But I don't think other campers would dare meddle in Percy and Annabeth's business. Maybe the seven would. [Leo and Frank would never. Jason probably doesn't understand the whole situation. Piper’s misguided and would probably feed into Annabeth's behavior, so either Hazel or Reyna? Hazel would definitely help Percy understand, and Percy would totally hear Hazel out. Thalia, hmm, I don't really know what Thalia would do, but I don't think she would blindly back Annabeth. She does seem to care for and respect Percy just as much. Nico isn't touching it with a 20-foot pole, plus I don't think he is over his Percy crush at all, so he's not an unbiased party either. ]

4.

Last option and what probably is the most likely is that things continue as they are and Percy eventually snaps due to endless pressure and his mental health issues and Annabeth can't deal with it and then all their other issues which they have both ignored come spilling out and then it's just a clean break but it's going to be the most excruciating way out and given their luck definitely happening.

This might be a genuine Controversial opinion of mine. Really because I Always see The Black Percy fanart or POC Percy and I love them, even though i still love the book version...it had me thinking...

But I highly think that if Percy were Black or Any minority I Doubt he would Take Annabeth's Bs or let her treat him the way she does

What do you think?

I have mixed opinions on this. I think it's a bit controversial but not for the reasons you are going for. Bear with me.

I think all this diversity propaganda has warped our perspectives on characters and their roles. Rick is shit at diversity roles cause he is trying explicitly to write them as diversity characters. I mean yes coming from a certain race, culture or ethnic group does play a large part of who you are but most authors make that the entire point or personality of their character.

In a world like Percy Jackson, where far greater things are at stake, I don't think a character's race or ethnic group should be prioritized so much. In fact, their motivations, how they choose to cope with their trauma and insecurities, how they love, how they fight is what makes a character.

In contrast to Rick, Leigh Bardugo writes tons of diverse characters who are just that, characters in her eyes. It's not because she needs to meet some quota or write diversity for the sake of it. She writes as it comes to her, and I think anyone would appreciate that far more.

Now, coming to your point, I don't think Percy being a minority or person of color would have changed him much. Because the points that you are trying to make should already be valid for Percy as he is.

He had an abusive stepfather who not only physically and mentally abused him but also always harassed him for money. Percy has grown up in that environment, he knows abuse well.

Percy can't stand bullies or people who impose their will, which is a fundamental part of his character which we are actually introduced to very. early on

Not to mention, Percy grew up in the streets of NYC all on his own, also moving from one boarding school to another. He is seasoned player when it comes to cops or law enforcement.

Plus I headcanon that all demigods have issues with any kind of normal organization or law enforcement cause what explanation are they supposed to give for their actions when the person across from them can't fathom it, see it or let alone imagine it. So they are all kind of in similar situations despite whatever culture or ethnic group they are from.

Percy's actions are also a reflection of his self-esteem. That's the thing driving his behavior. Percy wouldn't stand for this from a stranger, but Annabeth is his best friend. The first person he got close to in Camp. She represents his demigod life in a way. To him, the fact that someone like her wants to date him seems unbelievable. He goes in that relationship or any relationship feeling inferior. Then he begins dating her, and he desperately wants to meet her expectations cause Percy Jackson can't take her walking out on him, not because he disappointed her. Cause what sort of shit boyfriend is he if he can't even stand and accept Annabeth as she is. So he takes it as it is. He takes her demands, her violent way of expressing her emotions and her need to be in control. She wants to go to University and study, she wants to be involved in the demigod business, wants to be the heart of it and Percy isn't about to leave her to be on her own. He is Percy, he would go to the ends of earth and beyond for people he loves and cares for. So he goes along with that too.

The question shouldn't be what it would take Percy to be done with Annabeth's bullshit or what would finally make him snap. That shouldn't be the focus.

The focus should be at what point will Annabeth realize that she is stifling Percy, leashing him. (Before you snap, percabeth stans hear me out, not my words. Literally a bloody conversation from Mark of Athena, in which Piper word to word says and agrees with Annabeth that someone needs to leash him and Annabeth can do it.)

And I love how the fandom just glossed over it. What the hell??? Are you people blind? How is that a healthy relationship??

Annabeth should realize how badly she is hurting Percy or how badly she has misunderstood him. How awful her actions have been and how her actions are enabling his lack of self esteem. (For confused people who think Annabeth can do no wrong, please check other posts. There's nothing wrong with admitting that your favorite character is flawed and can make mistakes. )

And then if she truly loves him they should separate, go their ways, still be friends but not romantic partners. Or they should go on a long break in which Annabeth needs to sort out her behavioral issues, come back to Percy, apologize to him earnestly, then to Rachel and even Reyna. And then if Percy (after he too understands the problems in their relationship and how disastrous his lack of self esteem and self deprecation is) is willing to give her a chance or even willing to be in any romantic relationship then and only then should they get back together.

It might not be the answer you were hoping for anon but I had to give my honest thoughts on this. Feel free to comment your own opinions on this as well.

Exactly. Percabeth is not just a rebound relationship but also completely based on trauma bonding. Percy and Annabeth have literally nothing in common in terms of personality, goals, and hobbies.

Reasons why I hate Percy/Annabeth that doesn't include character bashing.

THEY GOT TOGETHER LESS THAN HALF A DAY AFTER PERCY GOT DUMPED BY RACHEL. IT WAS FUCKING REBOUND. A FEW HOURS AFTER. WHAT THE LITERAL FUCK.

They got together in the middle of fucking funerals and burning dead bodies. And some of their close friends died - Silena, Beckendorf. What the fuck. Using the relationship to avoid processing grief, much? doesn't make for a good start. fUCKING RICK AND HIS STUPID "ROMANCE HEALS ALL THINGS-"

Preach. Finally someone else is also acknowledgeding this.

A big issue I’ve just realised while looking at P*rcabeth again, is something I haven’t really seen discussed. I think while a large portion of their relationship was forced by outside perspectives and everyone thinking they should be together, I think another factor that makes it just as toxic is the trauma bond aswell.

I whole heartedly believe that they didn’t stay together after canon because there is no way that is a functioning long term relationship. I think they relied on a connection they thought was there while they were literal children fighting wars, but after that it becomes harder.

I think Percy in particular should’ve stayed single, because I think there’s a lot of things he hasn’t dealt with and needs. He was (heavily implied) to have been abused growing up, he watched multiple friends die and handed Luke the knife he killed himself with (which even with everything that happened there, it would still weigh on him either way), all the pressure that had been put on him to save the world, Sally making the Blofis family after the fact (which again would be hard for Percy, no matter how welcoming, because he never got that like Estelle will). Not to mention all the other trauma over the years. The blame that others put on him (Bianca was the first death he saw, he was maybe fourteen, and he canonically has always felt guilty about it). Boy needs a therapist, and I think being with Annabeth only exacerbated both of their issues.

Do you ever feel like Percy just can't Say No To Annabeth? Like has he ever realized that she isn't good for him? I mean I believe that Annabeth is definitely a Toxic partner and not a good Gf for percy and people say "Oh Percy would no what abuse is because he lived with Gabe" but that is what abuse looks like from an Adult. but Percy has never had a Gf so he would have nothing to compare Annabeth too, so he wouldn't know what a abusive/toxic relationship is, Cause an abusive relationship isn't all about how many bruises the victim has, it's about the control and Power the abuser has on the victim and tbh some of the parts in the book make it seem like Percy is in abusive and toxic relationship and the stuff Annabeth does or how she acts towards Percy and as a Character regardless just doesn't sit right with me and made me not like Percabeth at all

Your question speaks to my soul. Thank you for asking.

Personally, I believe Annabeth as a character devolves as the series progresses, and her worst character flaws are somehow never addressed. The worst is this sense of codependency she projects on Percy.

The Fandom, for some reason, has her put on a pedestal even though it's Percy who gets himself out of most trouble, who makes the most strategies, and takes the most efforts. Even Rick's demigod life updates say Percy scores higher in studies than Annabeth.

Yet for someone reason everyone degrades Percy while they worship Annabeth. Nothing ticks me off more. The only thing Annabeth has on Percy is her extensive knowledge and nothing else, yet every character behaves as if Percy would be nothing without Annabeth. Nothing nothing could be more wrong.

The Fandom is so eager to call out every character's flaws, yet Annabeth's are never addressed. The toxic and possessive way she acted throughout the Battle of Labyrinth towards Percy, treating him as if she owned him and her repulsive behavior towards Rachel, should have been Percy's greatest Red flag.

Not to mention Percy gets taken to Romans, his memories taken and altered by Hera left to fend off for himself and Annabeth shows no lick of understanding or supportiveness to Percy's troubles not just then but ever.

Not only that, she had the blatant audacity to criticize Percy for leaving her as if it were a choice on his part.

Annabeth literally spends the start of The Last Olympian in which Percy is dealing with the immense pressure of his looming death and the fate of the world being oh his shoulders and she is neither supportive nor understanding when he is reasonably panicking but also instead gets mad at him.

All in all, Annabeth spends the entirety of their relationship complaining, projecting unreal expectations on Percy, being controlling and toxically possessive.

I could rant all day about it, but essentially, Percy's first intimate connection with any woman other than his mother was with Annabeth.

Everyone knows Percy's deep deep seated self esteem issues, so in his mind Annabeth is too good for him, and he doesn't deserve her. Annabeth should be proving to Percy how awesome and great he is, how they both are equally deserving of each other instead of further worsening his self-esteem.

But Percy is so afraid of losing her that he goes by whatever she says. Rick himself literally writes how relaxed and better Percy feels with Rachel yet never mentions it ever again.

I agree that Annabeth was understandably terrified in Tartarus but by what right does she make Percy promise to not use a power he would obviously need for self defense, a power that just got them out alive from a Primordials clutches?

There's not one thing Annabeth has done that is truly selflessly for Percy. Yes she took a knife for him which is very good of her but honestly are you telling me anyone who has traveled with Percy for so long for whose sake Percy has frequently risked his own life wouldn't do the same?

Aside from that one action, Annabeth has never never done anything purely out of consideration of Percy's comfort , his trauma, and his insecurities.

She plays by fear as Percy says he has a healthy fear of her. There's no such thing as healthy fear. No healthy relationships should contain a hint of fear.

So yes Percy can't say no to her because he fears no one would love him if Annabeth doesn't, he never wants to lose her believing her to be the only person that would accept him despite all his flaws. And these delusions make him agree to everything Annabeth says. This is both wildly untrue and extremely toxic and unhealthy in a relationship.

Random question that popped in my head.

what if The Percy Jackson universe was Real??? Like I mean the characters, the Gods, The monsters, Everything. And do you think that Percabeth would last if they were a Real Life Couple?? Would any of the relationships last if they were Real??? Would Percy and Annabeth even like each other if they were real people??? Im genuinely curious

I think Percy and Annabeth as two people are realistically very incompatible.

1. Annabeth literally projects her mother's Poseidon hate on Percy for no absolute reason in the first book, and let's just say her behavior is nothing short of absolutely unpleasant towards Percy.

When they finally do bond, it's never because of something they have in common but because they have gone through the same set of circumstances.

2. Their whole entire relationship is completely based on trauma bonding. Their relationship is entirely based on being each other's only company through dangerous experiences.

3. Percy due to his deep self esteem issues sees Annabeth as the only person who will love him despite all his flaws and thus has this blatant misconception that no one except for Annabeth will ever love him which is a complete and utterly horrible misunderstanding and an absolute lie.

But he is so terrified of losing the one person he thinks loves him for himself that he doesn't even try to entertain other relationships even if it's to get an idea about how relationships work.

And when he finally does with Rachel, he finds himself much more relaxed, happy going, and content with her than Annabeth, and despite all that realization, Uncle Rick chose to shove Percabeth down readers' throats.

4. The purely toxic way in which Annabeth assumes some sort of ownership over Percy is truly repulsive.

And don't get me started upon how awfully toxic her response to Rachel's mere presence was both to Rachel and to Percy despite them not even dating yet or at all.

5. Not to mention Percy is a character who has extreme issues with self-esteem and yet Annabeth insists on calling him a nickname that at its core means dumb and Percy is no way dumb at all maybe oblivious but not dumb.

Percy is shown repeatedly on edge around Annabeth, and due to her controlling nature but he, in his own words, chalks it up to healthy fear. (There's no such thing as a healthy fear when it comes to your significant other)

No healthy relationship should, never I mean, never ever contain even a hint of fear. NEVER.

6. Annabeth is and has always been openly insensitive or disregarding of Percy's trauma with Gabe and even when he tries to talk about it she shuts him up by laughing at him, laughing at an ABUSE victim trying to open up.

All in all Percabeth shippers may preach what they want but Percabeth is a very toxic relationship. Because it doesn't matter how many other good moments there were it matters that there were this downright horrible moments.

7. And think on this logically. Percy and Annabeth have literally nothing in common. NOTHING. No hobbies, not aspirations in life, not their perspectives on life literally nil.

So if you are telling me two people like that are going to end up having a long, fulfilling relationship, then yeah, no, you are only fooling yourself.

In real life with actual dating they wouldn't even last six months, even that's too long.