Why Percy Really Had To Leave Camp In TLT
Okay. I thought a lot of this was obvious, but recently was told it’s not. Percy was not actually expected to succeed in his first quest — not even by Poseidon. It was not about finding the bolt. It was about getting him out of camp. Chiron even outright mentions this, but it kind of goes over Percy’s head. Honestly, I don’t think Percy ever fully grasped the weight of just how much danger he was in. It is important to remember that Percy is a canonically unreliable narrator. He is a twelve year old grieving child. He doesn’t understand what is going on or how much danger he is in.
So just to paint the picture here…
We know that Zeus suspected that Percy was Poseidon’s son for a long time. In the newest series, it’s even mentioned that Zeus struck Percy’s kite years before Percy was claimed. I imagine it’s kind of like how everyone is going to look at a blonde, grey eyed demigod and going to go, ‘Probably an Athena kid’. Percy is often described as looking incredibly similar to his father, dunks his class in a shark tank, and his mom goes to Montauk all the time. He lives right under Olympus so the gods are more likely to notice him. The snake incident from when he was a toddler directly parallels Hera sending snakes to kill baby Heracules. The Fury, Alecto, was already investigating Percy before he was claimed or used any of his powers.
The text very clearly implies that Percy is already a suspect before he gets to camp, but the gods cannot take action until they can officially say for certain that he is Poseidon’s son. The Fury does not attack until she witnesses Percy use his powers. Chiron decides camp is unsafe only after Percy is claimed — despite him almost certainly having an idea of who his father is. Chiron also says that they have been watching Percy for a long time, contacted his mother, and all this other stuff. He may have been referring to his time at Yancy, but I think it could be even longer. Isn’t it interesting that Chiron and Grover both pop into Percy’s life when the bolt is stolen? Yeah, no. That’s not a coincidence.
Zeus suspected that Percy was Poseidon’s son. I actually theorize that this is the real reason Poseidon threatens war. Zeus isn’t just accusing and insulting him. Zeus is threatening and accusing Percy from the start, but he can’t officially do that because Percy hasn’t been claimed.
Chiron says Poseidon is too prideful to admit that stealing the bolt isn’t his style. I think he’s trying to stick to the “official” story, because Poseidon has already denied that he stole the bolt. He’s asked for an apology over the accusations — implying that being accused is an insult. So why would admitting he wouldn’t steal the bolt hurt his pride? Is it an insult to be accused or something to be proud of? It can’t be both. The story doesn’t add up.
So when Percy is like “Well, why doesn’t he just say he didn’t do it?”
Chiron’s trying to avoid the answer. Telling Percy that Zeus threatened him months ago and that Poseidon threatened war over him would open a whole other can of worms that will only scare Percy. On top of that, that’s the unofficial story and Chiron is not going to risk pissing the big three off by talking about their secret politics. Also, Chiron is trying to get Percy out of camp ASAP for Percy’s safety as well as everyone else’s and doesn’t have time to explain or help Percy through the mental break down.
Now an important part: Why is camp dangerous for Percy?
Percy assumes it’s just because of what happened with the Hellhound, but I think that’s just the final straw.
Poseidon and Zeus are about to go to war.
Zeus is the King of Olympus.
If Poseidon goes to war with the King of Olympus, he will be going to war with Olympus.
Camp Half Blood is an Olympian Camp full of trained Olympian demigods.
So if war breaks out while Percy is at camp, he will be behind enemy lines in an enemy camp with trained enemy soldiers.
Like, imagine if Luke just stayed at camp after betraying Olympus while the war was ongoing. If the campers didn’t kill him, the gods would have.
If Percy stays at camp, he’ll either be killed or made a war prisoner the moment war breaks out.
So Poseidon. Just put yourself in Poseidon’s mind for a bit.
You are a king. This other king wants to kill your son and he is using a supposed theft as an excuse. Things keep escalating. It looks like war is going to break out. Your son is with his mom and the king cannot interfere with her so he’s safe- oh, wait. No. Now your son is at a war training camp for soon-to-be enemy soldiers behind soon- to-be enemy lines. Well, shoot. You need to get him back to his mother- oh no. She’s kidnapped by another enemy king.
You are not allowed to interfere. If you do, you will break a very important law — which will turn potential allies against you and may cause war to occur even sooner. That is not something you can risk. That law might be void (I will explain that later) once you are actually at war, but the enemy knows that and you probably won’t be able to get there in time.
You know that once your son leaves camp, he will be attacked by monsters. He’s untrained. You don’t know if he can survive.
You know that he is safe as long as no one can be certain that he’s your son. However, he sucks at subtlety and he’s your spitting image. Lots of people already suspect. It’s only a matter of time. The longer you hide it, the angrier people will be and they will take that out on him.
If he is able to survive against monsters, he may have a hard time but he will at least have a chance of finding his way to you.
If he can’t fight, though, leaving would mean certain death. He’s safe at camp for now, but that will not last. If he is at camp once the war starts, the enemy king and enemy soldiers will descend upon him. If you’re lucky, he’ll be a war prisoner. If you’re not, he’ll be killed. Maybe you can grab him as soon as war starts?
The danger is growing with each day. You have to figure out what to do.
So you observe your son’s capabilities from afar. He manages to survive a couple attacks — a fury and a minotaur — without any training. Is that talent or luck? You honestly can’t tell. You wait a bit. Maybe he’ll do well at the training camp? Hm. He’s doing fairly average, honestly. Though, his swordfighting class goes particularly well. Maybe you’ll wait and see if he can handle the war games — and oh! Would you look at that! He’s beat a bunch of Ares kids and then a Hellhound?
Alright, then. It’s clear that his best shot is going to be to survive outside of camp until war breaks out.
And what is the easiest way to get Percy out of camp without breaking any laws? What is something Percy can do that Zeus isn’t allowed to interfere with?
A quest. Especially a quest to find the very bolt that is the “official” reason for the war. On top of that, this particular quest forces him him to travel and keep moving — which might make it a bit harder for Olympus to find him. Way better than him being a sitting duck at camp just waiting to get brutally murdered.
If Percy succeeds (amd he does), that’s great. War won’t break out! Yay! It seems pretty unlikely, but that would be the best case scenario.
There are three main ways he could fail.
1-He’s too slow and he just doesn’t make it in time.
2-He gets stuck in the Underworld.
3-He gets killed in the process.
If he’s too slow, at least he’s not at camp surrounded by enemies. He’s also not on the East Coast where Olympus is. That buys him time to get to safety.
If Hades captures him, it’s not ideal but it’s also not horrible. It means Percy is out of Zeus’ reach when war initially starts. The problem is that Hades could try to trade Percy for some kind of treaty or boon. Obviously, Poseidon will try to bargain for Percy, but if Hades chooses to give Percy to Zeus? Well, that would be pretty bad. Plus, Hades could also kill him— which leads to option 3.
If Percy gets killed… that’s the worst case scenario. However, if he’s out on his own, he has a chance to survive. At camp, he’d die for sure.
Poseidon is worried about what might happen, so he gives Percy the pearls — which take Percy right to the beach.
This means that if Percy had failed, Poseidon could just yoink him into the ocean and drag him to Atlantis. If Poseidon goes to war with Olympus, then he has no reason to follow Olympian rules and avoid interfering. (From what I understand of canon, the ancient laws are binding but they just say not to interfere with mortals or quests. Zeus is the one who says not to interact with demigods. Hades is never accused of breaking the ancient laws when he has Nico literally living in his palace, but Nico starts living at camp once Hades becomes an Olympian. So I kind of think that the rule that prevents gods from raising demigods is an Olympian rule — which also might be another reason why Luke thought overthrowing Olympus was the answer.)
But then Percy blew everyone’s expectations out of the water and prevented the war, so none of it mattered in the end.
But when people are like, “Why did Poseidon send his twelve year old on such a dangerous quest? That’s so irresponsible!” I always think it’s kind of silly.
I mean… What do you think would happen if Percy stayed at a Camp owned and run by Olympus when his father was at war with Olympus? He didn’t have any friends there yet either.
It’s kind of funny when you think about it.
Percy: Oh, cool. New friends.
Poseidon: Not friends! Not friends! Percy, no. They’re gonna fucking kill you!
Percy: Oh, look a pretty girl is paying attention to me. Oh. Why is she kinda mean? I wanna be her friend…
Chiron: Shit. Zeus is so gonna kill this kid, but I’ll be betraying Olympus if I warn him. Uh… Let’s just pretend everything is fine…
Percy: Can I know who my dad is? Please? Please! Pretty please! Come on, please?
Dionysus: … You are literally asking to get murdered right now. Shut up and go train.
Percy: Aw… That’s so mean! Oh, wait. It’s Poseidon? Cool!
Chiron: Percy, your father is going to war with Olympus. You need to go. Quickly.
Dionysus: This child is going to die a very brutal and horrible death. I will make sure to turn you into a dolphin before they get to you, because I don’t want that for you.
Percy: What? Hey! That’s so rude!
Annabeth: You have the survival instincts of a rock. You fucking idiot. You’re my ticket out of here, though, so somehow I’ll keep you alive.
Percy: Yay! I made a friend!
(Also Dionysus’ offer to turn Percy into a dolphin rings a little differently when you remember that Chrysaor is canonically the captain of the ship of people Dionysus turned into Dolphins. So what he’s really offering is to have Percy go hang out with his half brother. He tells Percy outright that he actually discussed it with Chiron and that it would be a mercy. While the other times Dionysus mentions turning Percy into a dolphin he seems to be joking, I think this time he’s actually serious. He’s convinced he’s going to be forced watch his father torture an innocent twelve year old to death and Chiron won’t let him save Percy, because Chiron thinks Poseidon’s plan will work. Dionysus doesn’t agree.)
Some of this is more theory and some of it is more headcanons, but that’s my TLT conspiracy theory! Hope you enjoyed!
TLDR: 1) Poseidon is going to war with Olympus and Camp Half Blood is an Olympian camp. Camp will turn on Percy the moment war starts. 2) Once Poseidon realizes Percy is capable enough to survive, he decides Percy has a better chance of survival on the quest than at camp. The quest is a ploy to ensure that Percy is not behind enemy lines or near Olympus when war breaks out. Chiron knows this. 3) Zeus also was likely targeting Percy from the start and that was the real reason Poseidon declared war — it was never about the bolt. It was about Percy, but god politics prevented anyone from saying that.
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