what is your opinion on the whole thing with akhlys? cuz i really like the way you address(?? talk about??) percabeth scenes that some of the fandom might find 'abusive'
i'm talking, more specifically, about annabeth telling percy not to use his (for lack of a better word) bloodbending ever again?
cuz i feel like that was sooo ooc for her!
especially cuz of the fact that she's known she was a demigod for like forever and managed to survive a year out in the wild with thalia and luke. so she definitely knows that anything that demigods can use to tip the scales in their favour is free game, so i don't understand why she reacted the way she did
(sorry if i was rambling)
I think this is one of those scenes where there are just too many factors involved for us to be totally objective. Both Percy and Annabeth were completely valid in how they acted and what they said. They were in horrible mental and physical states. Percy even said he felt like something inside him snapped when it happened—so clearly, he wasn’t acting like his usual self. Annabeth saw that, and it scared her.
Personally, I think Percy was fully within his rights to do what he did. (And yeah, I also think it was cool as hell.) That goddess was going to kill them and make them suffer. The gods have already messed with his life so much, and he was done. They’d hit his last nerve. In my opinion, Akhlys deserved it. So yeah—what he did was totally justifiable.
That said, Annabeth was already completely terrified and worn down by Tartarus. Seeing Percy—her safe person, the sweetest guy she knows—do something like that was understandably upsetting. It probably reminded her of Luke, too. And I really don’t think it was the act of turning Akhlys’ poison back on her that bothered Annabeth. Percy does something similar in Wrath of the Triple Goddess, when he reverses the paralyzing potion Phaedra throws at Annabeth and paralyzes Phaedra instead—and Annabeth doesn’t seem bothered at all. If anything, it’s kind of implied she’s impressed. He also manipulates his and Grover's bodily fluids to save them from poison (and accidentally dehydrates them lol) and again, it's not a problem. So no—it wasn’t the turn-poison-back-on-the-posioner action itself. It was the fact that Percy was enjoying it. Akhlys was shrieking and wailing and choking... and Percy looked like he was getting satisfaction out of it. That’s what scared Annabeth. Especially in the nightmare environment of Tartarus, when her anxiety was already through the roof.
Also, earlier in Tartarus, after he kills Arachne, Percy says “she died too easily” and “she deserved worse.” Annabeth internally notes that his tone unsettled her and that she was glad Arachne died quickly. Arachne—who was her own personal nightmare... So yeah, Percy was already being affected by Tartarus (which he later admits), and Annabeth saw that happening. She loves Percy exactly the way he is. She doesn’t want him going dark like Luke did.
I genuinely don’t understand how people are calling her abusive for being scared. Like… god forbid a 17-year-old girl in the toxic depths of hell shows fear because her sweet boyfriend is suddenly smiling as he tortures someone?? Yeah, it was Percy—someone she knows and loves—but he wasn’t acting like himself. And there’s nothing scarier than seeing someone you love become unrecognizable, even for a moment.
One more thing I want to add. People act like Annabeth treated him like a monster afterward, but here’s what actually happened:
Annabeth stumbled toward him. She looked like a corpse wreathed in smoke, but she felt solid enough when she gripped his arms.
"Percy, please don’t ever…” Her voice broke in a sob. “Some things aren’t meant to be controlled. Please.”
His whole body tingled with power, but the anger was subsiding. The broken glass inside him was beginning to smooth at the edges.
Then… they move on. It comes up a few more times individually, but not between the two of them.
She was obviously scared, heartbroken, incredibly anxious and traumatized—from everything—but she wasn’t trying to hurt him or call him a bad person. She just wanted him to come back to her. And he wasn’t himself—he says that. You have to remember: this was right after it happened. Annabeth didn’t know he was going to stop. She didn’t know he was going to come back. For all she knew, that could’ve been his breaking point. He might’ve gone full dark mode, never to be himself again. Like Luke.
She wasn’t yelling or lashing out—she used logic, touch, and a gentle voice to reach him. And it worked. He came back. But she had no way of knowing he would. So how else was she supposed to react in that moment? Calmly? Gracefully? Tell him “nice torturing skills!”?? It doesn’t matter that he saved them. It still scared her. She’s allowed to feel that way. Just like he was allowed to lash out and turn some of his pain back on the goddess. They were both shaken up by it. It was a terrible situation they were forced into.
They may be half-god, but the half-human parts of them are still allowed to feel and react like humans. They are also still kids, in some ways. Neither of them is the villain here.
