Alternative look at the Heroes of Olympus Series, AKA My Ideas of a Rewrite
Or my rewrite of an adventure-romance/friendship series into a Lord of the Rings-style love of friendship adventure series
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Very long continuation of this post about HoO with Frank, Hazel, and Leo as the main trio! So if you don't want to read all the text, but still see the content, that's an option too.
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I want to open up by saying that while I didn't personally enjoy the Heroes of Olympus series, I'm not saying it's the worst thing ever. I just felt like there was a lot of potential that was lost due to the fact that there were too many POV characters and a lot of unresolved/rushed plot points (once again, my opinion).
In a way, the difference in the plot build-up present in the PJO series versus the HoO series reminds me of the differences between the MCU and DCU. Captain America Civil War/Avengers was received far better than Batman v Superman/Justice League (both cuts). The script played a big role in that, but so did the time spent building up the universe before the team-up or the duel between powerhouse characters happened.
Marvel had several movies focusing solely on Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk before they met. You saw their personalities and backstories and knew there would be tension due to their different beliefs. You cared about and understood the characters' motivations and could follow along easily. Batman v Superman, on the other hand, only had Man of Steel as a predecessor, and it wasn't enough. They collapsed Batman's origin, Wonder Woman's origin, the Justice League's origin, various villains' origin arcs and future movies' foreshadowing all in one movie. It was disjointed, baffling, and confusing - even hardcore fans must admit the movie was not perfect.
Similarly, PJO focused on Percy and built up Camp Half-Blood. There was character development, memorable side characters, and a fleshed-out camp setting. In HoO, on the other hand, we had the Seven plus Nico and Reyna as main POV characters and had the focus split between expanding both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter's lore. As a result, there ended up being settings, characters, and plots that were rushed through or ignored because there was just too much to get through. Character development oftentimes took a back burner, especially apparent with Jason, and characters would sometimes become one-dimensional. Camp Jupiter was not given enough time for people to connect with at the same level as they did with Camp Half-Blood, and it wasn't that surprising when they had their villain arc.
[As a side-note, Camp Jupiter's training just seems nonsensical in comparison to Camp Half-Blood. I mean, I don't want to nitpick more than I already am, but it's kinda incredible that Jason trained since he was a toddler to be a soldier and he's basically on par with Percy, who only started training when he was 12, and that too only every summer. Truly have to wonder about the quality of training on both ends if they are on par despite one having disproportionately more training.]
Plus, you also have a lot of separate side quests for the Seven and set pairings. This doesn't give that many unique interactions between the all members of the Seven and instead we see more Percy-Annabeth, Jason-Piper, and Frank-Hazel-Leo above the rest, which is fine as splitting a large group does usually happen for plot reasons, but it's really apparent that there was missed potential on new character interaction. The focus on balancing all the romantic relationships also played a foremost role in the character interactions.
I think plenty of people on tumblr have come up with excellent one-shots or what-ifs of how the Seven could have interacted with each other. So I wanted to present my ideas for a different path on how a story with Gaea as a villain could have been written in the aftermath of the PJO series instead of a more character-focused rewrite like others have done.
For the sake of fake world-building, I actually do keep the Greek and Roman demigod universes different. Mainly because I feel like it would suit the themes I present for this fake series better. This is all just an exercise in what-ifs. Ultimately pointless, but hey, good for rambling.
Heroes of Olympus - The Lost Hero
HUGE source of inspiration is this tumblr post: https://www.tumblr.com/helpallthenamesaretaken/750786434790785024/au-where-grover-gets-manipulated-by-gaea-to-join?source=share
I think there was also another post that I read awhile back which talked about the same concept as the one above with other people also replying, but I couldn't find it unfortunately. Either way, the idea of Grover/the nature spirits being torn and manipulated into joining Gaea's army is not my idea.
I feel like I would be remiss to completely scrap the ideas of the Heroes of Olympus series. I like the idea of Gaea being the final boss, as in the myths she would frequently instigate huge (family) conflicts.
An interesting plot point in the Heroes of Olympus series was that the Greek Gods did not completely honor all of Percy's wishes at the end of PJO. Instead of blaming Percy for that, it would be great to kinda make the concept "it's hard for the gods to change their ways" a center conflict point in this series.
It's also kinda a real world thing as well - patterns of previous conflicts oftentimes re-emerge due to incomplete solutions and maybe even human nature.
Gaea is gaining influence, just like Kronos did in the past, once again because the gods are not changing with the times. Their immortality blinds them and they are mired in the status quo in a rapidly changing world. Pollution is growing worse and worse. Adult demigods are having trouble going to college/ maintaining families with the threat of monsters lurking.
The nature spirits, creatures, and minor gods relating to the environment are being swayed from being Olympian supporting to apathy and starting to feel like Gaea has a point. This is especially starting to infect the nature spirits of those who wander to and from Camp Half-Blood, or are just outside of camp grounds and prone to pollution.
Gaea doesn't recruit demigods as she feels their short lives make them mercurial and prone to switching sides (Luke, Ethan, Silena). She instead either tries to keep them neutral/out of the war or kills them if they seem like a threat (targeted killings that are covered up). She knows that only a combination of gods and mortals working together can kill the Giants, so she seeks to increase the apathy and hatred in the demigods and make them think the gods don't care about them. She prefers spirits of nature, monsters, and Giants as allies as they are easier to manipulate.
This is helped by the set-up of the older demigods. Post-TLO, the campers just want to live peaceful lives and recover from their trauma. Gaea's Army works on feeding hateful gossip about the Olympians to other demigods via "friendly" nymphs/satyrs. This creates a feedback loop where the demigods and nymphs/satyrs are all feeling more disillusioned thanks to (quite frankly) believable hearsay.
Gaea does not make an appearance in person. She is behind the scenes scheming the entire time. It is a nymph who appears in Gaea's place in the mortal world to do her bidding, a lackey.
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It could be a 11/12 year time-skip after the PJO series. A couple years after the battle, Rachel gives an ominous prophecy about the fate of the world yet again. Everyone is annoyed and they all hope they won't have to deal with it soon considering the last prophecy took decades to come to fruition.
It's understood that as annoying as following Percy's promise was to the Olympians, it was done to prevent another situation from blowing up in their face. So the gods decide to claim all their children and then not interact with them anymore after that. This would put the onus of how to live on the demigods' shoulders and not cause anymore tension, problem solved.
Instead of being super high-strung like they were with the last Great Prophecy, the gods become over-confident, still high from their previous victory.
The prophecy is similar to the prophecy of the Seven. But, it hints at nature being the threat against the gods, and the Olympians don't believe that nymphs/creatures/minor gods of nature can be a threat or swayed from their side. While minor gods are given recognition at the camp via houses, there is still a hierarchy.
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One day, the Doors of Death and Thanatos go missing/are chained. This starts to cause chaos in the Underworld, and in the mortal world, there's a huge surge of monsters. In the confusion, a mysterious figure takes Hazel's soul from the Underworld to Earth, giving her to a surprised Nico.
(Ruining the surprise - it's Hermes. Hermes decides to take an unhealthily active role in demigod lives after Luke's death, to every god's exasperation. While going on a trip to Hades for the other Olympians to see what the chaos is all about, he sees Hazel and takes her up to the mortal world, feeling pity for her. He had just learned that Luke chose rebirth and lacking closure, he did the godly tactic of messing with another mortal's life. He feels instant regret after flouting the rules of non-interference and skedaddles after dropping her off with Nico.)
Nico is just secretly living the good life with Will at college or something. When Hermes drops by, Nico is in shock. He's self-aware that while he wants to help Hazel, he's doesn't have the best resources so he decides to bring her to Camp Half-Blood. Nico lies about Hazel's age to make her seem younger. This is done to get around the whole Hades swore to not have a kid during the Great Prophecy and actually followed the oath, and to protect her from getting outed as a dead girl. Chiron is suspicious, but the Camp as a whole accepts it. Nico stays for awhile and reassures Hazel that he has her back as he is now her brother.
(Hades goes along with it because he knows there is the potential that Hazel and maybe even Nico may get dragged into fixing the mess with the Underworld, thereby giving his children the means of becoming children of the prophecy)
[This Hades goes more off of the version he was in The Last Olympian where he was harsh with Nico.]
Leo is chilling at a school when monsters attack him. He is saved by Coach Hedge and they make a hasty exit in a commandeered school bus to Camp Half-Blood, frantically trying to kill [run over] monsters that keep coming back alive.
Frank (son of Nike, descendant of that shape-shifter dude) has been at the Camp for one week, after his grandmother told him to leave to Camp Half-Blood following the death of Emily. Either Nike changed forms to be a guy or someone was trans, who knows.
As relatively new campers, Hazel, Frank, and Leo all meet. Hazel is spooked by how Leo looks like Sammy and avoids him, Frank and Leo have a terrible first meeting based on a misunderstanding and think badly of the other, Frank has a tentative friendship with Hazel but they don't really talk to each other. All three harbor secrets and are wary about how much they should give away, sabotaging their ability to connect with each other.
Rachel randomly appears in front of Frank and recites a prophecy that basically tells him to go rescue Thanatos. Her prophecy also refers to a child of Hades and a child of Hephaestus. And even more ominously, refers to someone falling - death.
This causes a bitter reaction from the campers, and people are sympathetic to Frank but don't want to join a quest they may die. The reality of living short lives is ever present considering there was a war 10 years ago.
Leo and Hazel are [suicidal] maniacs who want to go to redeem themselves of their past/prove themselves, though.
Leo, after hearing the story of Festus from the campers, declares that he will find them a fast mode of transportation to get them to their destination. Frank is hesitant, but gives Leo a chance.
Frank goes to ask Nico and Hazel which one will join him. Frank knows Nico would be a better choice since he's more established, but prefers Hazel since he's on friendly terms with her and has a gut feeling that she would be helpful. He chooses to ask them to send a person to him rather than make a choice since he's not confident in his decision-making skills.
Nico knows it is more likely for the prophecy to mean Hazel, but he hesitates on the offer. The ache of Bianca still has vestigial effects on him even though he has moved on, and he isn't keen on a repeat after just gaining a sister. Hazel's quiet strength and determination reassures him, and he makes the decision to trust her. Though he tells her to call him anytime for help.
While Leo is working on fixing Festus, Hedge follows him around, trying to give him life advice since he came to care for Leo during his time as his protector. Leo is both amused by Hedge's eccentricities and also annoyed by Hedge's hovering.
Hermes, who is now invested in this quest since he had brought Hazel back, decides to try and provide a safety net. Via dream, he convinces Hedge to join the trio on their quest by guilt-tripping him about Leo. [Hermes' watching from afar, he's not breaking any norms of non-interaction!]
Hedge agrees, and hides on Festus with Hermes' magic goods (flying sneakers, and also no one expects anyone to hide on a metal dragon) and ends up joining them on their quest in an eccentric mentor/violent chihuahua/unwitting therapist role.
As he isn't much of a fighter, he provides guidance and navigation like the satyr in the animated Hercules movie and behind the front lines support (baseball bat plus slingshot).
They all go on the quest that's essentially a mash-up of The Lost Hero and the Son of Neptune - karpoi, Amazons, Laistrygonian giants, cyclops, gryphons, Alcyoneus. (obviously hand-waving a lot of stuff here)
During the quest, at first there are a lot of shenanigans due to misunderstandings and secrets. But they all start bonding and forming close friendships. Overtime, they stop viewing themselves as 'cursed' and useless and start growing into themselves as their secrets get revealed.
To self plug-in again, more of their dynamics in this post
Leo ends up accidentally finding out about Frank's wooden stick first, causing him to become paranoid about being careful around Frank. This causes a tense dynamic with Frank being even more insecure over Leo acting weirdly around him.
Frank figures out Hazel is not from their current time period nor the age Nico gave her, but is in denial at how outlandish the theory is. Franks asks pointed questions, but Hazel thinks Frank is a history and sci-fi nerd. Hazel has several panic attacks, on the other hand, about thinking Leo is straight-up Sammy after he starts going along with her "boomer humor." His nonchalant humor makes Hazel think Leo came back from the dead too. Hazel is constantly dragged into memories of the past, and the Sammy/Leo similarities make her truly reckon with coming back to life.
Leo accidentally reveals his fire powers to Hazel first, who commiserates with him about having powers they associate with bad things. He begs her not to tell Frank about his fire which Hazel is not happy about. Hazel and Leo's obviousness make Frank insecure that they are hiding something from him - and he thinks it's about him or his life stick (not wrong).
Leo eventually uses his fire to help rescue Frank and Hazel. He talks about his past and Frank forces him to hold his lifestick for a moment in a symbol of trust about Leo's control. Leo is shocked and moved, and reveals he is working on fire-proof material. Hazel reveals the Sammy/Leo connection and mentions that while she originally conflated them, she appreciates Leo for the friend he is, and is starting to accept her role in the present. Frank reveals he knew about Hazel's secret and opens up about the death of his mom and fire stick. He asks Hazel to hold the fire stick for him as he trusts her and he would like to know it's safe while Leo works on fire proof material and Frank works on being more confident.
Hedge thinks all this teen drama is wild and munches on popcorn in the background. He also knew all the secrets - he secretly followed Leo when Leo met Festus and was set on fire, and was not just there in the aftermath. Hermes revealed all the details about Hazel to him. And he had seen the interaction when Leo discovered the fire stick. He had just kept quiet because he didn't think it was his secret to tell.
They meet a couple of nature spirits along the way, but they are hostile or ignore them. The demigod trio is confused as the nature spirits in Camp Half-Blood are helpful to them, but outside of camp the spirits are wary. Hedge is concerned about this and notes that his friend Grover had brought up concerns about nature being less harmonious during their last meeting, but mentioned not being sure why that was.
The gods that speak to each demigod: Hades, Hephaestus, and Nike speak to each of their children; but the ones that help the most are Iris and Hermes who use their domains to flout the non-intervention rules.
Frank uses his fire stick to free Thanatos.
When Frank and Hazel fight against Alcyoneus, it's Leo, Festus, and Hedge versus a miscellaneous group of monsters. Festus eventually gets brought down near the end of the fight via decapitation. His body crushes the glacier, bringing down the monster army, fulfilling the prophecy.
Hedge saves Leo from the Festus' fall with his magic sneakers.
Leo is distraught and requests his father to bring Festus' head back to the camp so he can remake him.
After Frank and Hazel defeat the Alaskan giant and Leo and Hedge fight the army, Hazel calls Nico, asking for a way back for all of them as they are stuck.
Arcs for the "Martha? Why did you say that name?" aka "We all lost our mothers" Crew
Frank follows the quintessential arc of being insecure to becoming more self-confident and carrying the hallmarks of a leader. This is connected with his grief over losing his mother as in the beginning he avoids making decisions or deliberates way too long on the pros/cons of everything he does. He's paranoid over if he or his friends will die because of a decision he makes. He deals with the concepts of personal responsibility and honor what they mean to him. Frank is probably the least self-sacrificial of the three, and constantly fears death.
Leo learns to trust others more and rely on other people for help. He's the most avoidant of his problems of the trio, and hides his fire powers even when it could have been useful until he's ultimately forced to reveal it. While the trusting others is positive, he ends up having a more negative character arc where he becomes increasingly over-protective and self-sacrificial as opposed to more closed-off with a humorous facade as he is in the beginning. He may have gotten closure over his mother's death, but he hasn't moved on from his guilty feelings and continues to overcompensate as he hasn't learned to trust himself. He has issues related to control and knowing everything.
Hazel decides to move on from the past and her traumas and appreciate the present. She has imposter syndrome, but her growth is embracing her chance for a second life and living for herself, not for others. Her view of the world is also more optimistic than Frank and Leo's as she was originally from the early 1900s and appreciates the social and technological leap forwards.
This got really long, so I'll be making a part 2 to finish up the story beats relating to the Doors of Death, Gaea, the Argo, the Olympians, and Grover plus the creatures of nature.
Heroes of Olympus rewrite idea where the main trio is Hazel, Leo, and Frank. They're all Greek and they're the children of Hades, Hephaestus, and Nike respectively. They get drafted into a mission to find the missing Thanatos together, along with their resident violent chihuahua mentor, Gleeson Hedge. They're all peak unreliable narrators both to each other and to the readers reading their POV as they each have something to hide and endlessly misunderstand each other, obtuse to the real feelings of the others.
Hazel keeps making references to outdated things and sometimes acts like she is from the 1930s. Leo just assumes she has a boomer personality and is role-playing or something and jokingly starts going along with it. Frank takes it more seriously due to being a fan of sci-fi and starts absurdly wondering if she is a time-traveler before shaking his head because that's ridiculous. Hazel, meanwhile, is freaking out if Leo actually is a reincarnation of Sammy and remembers things, not realizing it's Frank who is closer to deducing the truth.
Frank is examining his life stick one night early in their trip when Leo stumbles upon him. Frank is then forced to explain what it is, and in a panic to hide his fear that he might accidentally kill his quest mate, Leo wavers between being speechless, sympathetic, and joking around about it. He then starts acting incredibly jumpy around Frank and flinches any time fire is mentioned and insisting that Frank team up with Hazel/Hedge more. Frank, who at first lets Leo's weird reaction go, starts to view this as Leo thinking he is abnormal and useless enough to need to be protected to an absurd degree. His insecure anger motivates him to start getting over his fear of fire. Leo starts desperately experimenting to find flame-proof material, also knowing he is accidentally messing up his interactions with Frank. The attempts at flame-proofing soften a still annoyed Frank. Hazel, lacking context, just assumes that Leo is scared of twigs burning up in flames for pollution reasons.
Leo starts trying to practice his fire in secret and Hazel catches him but he pretends he was flicking a lighter open and closed. Hazel doesn't fully believe him, but lets it go. After a second time, she mentions that Frank should know because they may need Leo's ability in the quest, but Leo insists on having more time. Whenever "fire" comes up, Hazel looks between Leo and Frank. Frank starts getting nervous and thinks Leo told Hazel about his life stick and she is upset with him for not telling her when he just didn't get the time to tell her yet. They get captured and Leo uses his fire to help Hazel and Frank escape from a trap. This kick starts a whole round of proper communication where they start fully opening up to each other.
Hedge is no help to solving their drama. He gives advice, but it's not the most usable of advice to solve their friendship issues. He's just there for the actual quest, you know?
Adding another idea to this - there's a line in the prophecy that is ambiguously dire. It references a "hero's gift" and their "fall," along with the descriptor of "glittering" or "spark."
Funnily enough, they all think "fall" means death and that the "gift" subjectively refers to their own "curse," as they aren't aware of the others' abilities or situations. But that's where their similar interpretations end.
Hazel thinks it's a reference to her gems and she has to "fall" back to her death as a ghost in the Underworld. Frank thinks it's a reference to his stick and how flames will end up being his "fall." Leo thinks it's a reference to his fire and he will "fall" under the burden of loss of control.
None of them want to speculate about the curse and they either avoid eye contact/wring their hands/laugh nervously during the one time as a group they try to figure out what it means.
It's only after all their secrets get revealed that they debate about the last line and realize that each of the trio think it refers to their own abilities respectively. They argue about who the prophecy applies to, and their inner thoughts revolve around making sure that the other two don't sacrifice themselves.
Hedge is the one that breaks them out of this cycle and gets them to communicate more. He also guides them, with his eccentric personality, into embracing their out of the box thinking which leads them to think of ways they can subvert the prophecy. But that doesn't entirely do away with the protective instincts they all feel for each other.
When they're in the final stages of freeing Thanatos, they're all resolved that they may end up dying. However, as the events play out, it becomes clear the prophecy was referencing Festus. Festus, who Leo brought to life as a gift for their quest, is shiny and breathes fire and ended up falling/dying via enemy attacks. While they are relieved they haven't died [yet], they mourn the loss of their trusty companion.
Heroes of Olympus rewrite idea where the main trio is Hazel, Leo, and Frank. They're all Greek and they're the children of Hades, Hephaestus, and Nike respectively. They get drafted into a mission to find the missing Thanatos together, along with their resident violent chihuahua mentor, Gleeson Hedge. They're all peak unreliable narrators both to each other and to the readers reading their POV as they each have something to hide and endlessly misunderstand each other, obtuse to the real feelings of the others.
Hazel keeps making references to outdated things and sometimes acts like she is from the 1930s. Leo just assumes she has a boomer personality and is role-playing or something and jokingly starts going along with it. Frank takes it more seriously due to being a fan of sci-fi and starts absurdly wondering if she is a time-traveler before shaking his head because that's ridiculous. Hazel, meanwhile, is freaking out if Leo actually is a reincarnation of Sammy and remembers things, not realizing it's Frank who is closer to deducing the truth.
Frank is examining his life stick one night early in their trip when Leo stumbles upon him. Frank is then forced to explain what it is, and in a panic to hide his fear that he might accidentally kill his quest mate, Leo wavers between being speechless, sympathetic, and joking around about it. He then starts acting incredibly jumpy around Frank and flinches any time fire is mentioned and insisting that Frank team up with Hazel/Hedge more. Frank, who at first lets Leo's weird reaction go, starts to view this as Leo thinking he is abnormal and useless enough to need to be protected to an absurd degree. His insecure anger motivates him to start getting over his fear of fire. Leo starts desperately experimenting to find flame-proof material, also knowing he is accidentally messing up his interactions with Frank. The attempts at flame-proofing soften a still annoyed Frank. Hazel, lacking context, just assumes that Leo is scared of twigs burning up in flames for pollution reasons.
Leo starts trying to practice his fire in secret and Hazel catches him but he pretends he was flicking a lighter open and closed. Hazel doesn't fully believe him, but lets it go. After a second time, she mentions that Frank should know because they may need Leo's ability in the quest, but Leo insists on having more time. Whenever "fire" comes up, Hazel looks between Leo and Frank. Frank starts getting nervous and thinks Leo told Hazel about his life stick and she is upset with him for not telling her when he just didn't get the time to tell her yet. They get captured and Leo uses his fire to help Hazel and Frank escape from a trap. This kick starts a whole round of proper communication where they start fully opening up to each other.
Hedge is no help to solving their drama. He gives advice, but it's not the most usable of advice to solve their friendship issues. He's just there for the actual quest, you know?
I was just thinking, but I would have loved a Camp Jupiter series based on [ripped off of] the Aeneid. They're chilling in Maine selling blueberries or cranberries or something and then plot disaster strikes and they have to move since their camp got razed. They get some divination telling them they must move to the West. The Romans send a trio to go scout out western America and figure out a new home base. The trio also gets told to visit the Underworld on the way and get some answers from some shades about why New Rome in Maine burned down, and why old records about their history are missing. The Underworld is, of course, in New Orleans, and they make their way down there by foot. They originally try by boat, but some pirates keep following them, and they get saved by a pirate-defector girl who joins their trip. At this point, they aren't just appreciating the sights or dealing with dangerous mythological creatures, but also facing the humidity, unique animals, and creepy insects. They pass by Florida and they don't even really have to use the Mist that much because they can just fake being the Florida Man. At this point, the divination seems like a mercy to get out of the swamp humidity and go to the Pacific Coast. They end up settling in the Berkeley Hills and decide to live there, fire danger be damned, just for the yearly 60 degree weather.
Oh yeah, and the shades in the Underworld? They tell them there's a curse on any iteration of Rome to eventually burn down, cast by Queen Dido in an era before Rome ever existed. One they must break if they ever want peace. The trio is confused as to exactly how they go about breaking the curse cast by dead people, but then it becomes clear that coincidences aren't exactly coincidences. Those pirates? Actually sea-farers who are pissed at the New Romans because of what the old Romans did. After all, it seems like Carthago delenda est didn't exactly fully take and there's a group of people out for revenge who want to salt their cranberry bogs. And who knows what blood relations the pirate-defector girl has. Definitely no ties to Carthaginian generals or royalty. Featuring divine intervention from Quirinus [faded into obscurity for Romans but alternate version worshiped by the Carthaginians], Juno, Venus [almost screws over the potential peace with another love whammy like in Aeneid], and Mercury. Oh, and a happy ending unlike the Aeneid, where they form a truce after war and breaking the curse. The Carthaginians decide to do one last petty move and troll Camp Jupiter by moving to Palo Alto [berkeley v stanford rivalry].
An Alternative Look at the Amazons' Lore AKA My Ideas of a Rewrite
Or by another name: my rewrite of a jokingly toxic society to one of a incredibly on-purpose toxic society
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An interesting feature of many civil rights cases that go to court is that the activists who pursue legal action usually choose who they think is the most sympathetic or "perfect" victim. In the 1960s and 1970s, some activists chose to fight gender discrimination against women by primarily choosing cases where men were discriminated against. Famously, one of these activists was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. If you want a specific, lesser-known example of a court case, in Diaz v Pan Am, Pan Am was successfully sued for not allowing men to be flight attendants (it used to just be women).
What does this history lesson have to do with the my take on the lore of the Amazons? Well, I think a great way to make the Amazons an interesting group to focus on in the novels is to present them as a vehicle for flipping the norms of gender discrimination and also ancient civilization. Ancient Athenian society was very patriarchal and hierarchical in general. Having Amazonian society be a replica of Ancient Athenian society, except with the dynamics between men and women flipped, would be a great way to rehash an old civilization in a new light.
It's a way of examining real social issues, by flipping them on their head and thinking "Wait a second. The women are re-enacting a strict patriarchal society?" And not to self-promote once again, but if you contrast this with the way the Hunters are in my re-write of them, it shows alternate ways to critically examine what we view as 'masculine' and 'feminine' tropes and get you thinking about society. It's also a great way to look at illiberal democracy - when you delineate rights, who are you excluding and why? And also corporate culture with the Amazon tie-in - what do you value in society and how far are you willing to go to accomplish your goals/ideals?
As they were written in Heroes of Olympus, the Amazons weren't portrayed as morally good people, but you would have characters like Thalia and Kinzie excuse them. Characters would say that the men that were present in Amazon warehouses were not slaves, but voluntarily subservient. I think the whole concept was written more as a joke than something to be annoyed by. Maybe a way to have powerful women, like the Hunters of Artemis, be present in the books. It also was very prescient to label Amazon as working people to the bone and aiming for world domination, but it was very jokey and surface-level. The Amazons were also later dropped and not really explored as a subject in the series.
My ideas below try to explore this idea of an illiberal society based on Ancient Athens.
On to the rewrite:
Amazon History (blatant copy of real life Amazon but with women)
The Amazons moved from their homeland at the base of the Caucasian Mountains to America in the 1990s. They were tired of living in seclusion and only ruling over the mountain area. After all, there's no challenge or excitement in eternally ruling over a small area that you've known well for hundreds of years. Back in the day, they used to raid other areas of the world, but following the fall of the Byzantine Empire, they made the decision to become more insular.
It doesn't take much persuasion for some Amazons to convince others that a way to combat this boredom and show their inherent dominance is to build a new empire. After all, who wouldn't want to reclaim their former glory? They decide to slowly but surely expand their influence to eventually take over the world and show what the greatest human society truly is.
Why America? For plot, and also because America is the global superpower in the 1990s. While they lived secluded, they were aware all along of the affairs of the human world and all the technological advancements.
In the 90s, computers are taking off. The Amazons see the potential of profitability in the online sector. Their experiences and reading of the world lead them to think that profitability is the way to start their plans of world domination. Becoming filthy rich will enable them to whisper words into the ears of the (for now) powerful and slowly change the world in their favor.
As they were not culturally isolated and knew what was happening in the world around them, they pick up knowledge about computers and the internet very fast. They decide to market books online, as they have seen the evolution of literature and its worldwide demand. It's cheap, and what they know especially well.
The Amazons are part of the Greek world. They know about all the magical items and animals. Thus, along with books for the mortals, they start a service selling items relating to warfare - chariots, swords, etc. Eventually they expand from books and swords to becoming the vast online marketplace they are known as today.
Amazon Government
The Amazons have a democratic type of government. While they do have someone in an executive role (the president, who they refer to as "queen" for traditional purposes), they still practice a mix of direct democracy and representative democracy.
They have ballot measures/propositions to decide important societal rules. They elect representatives from different administrative districts (each warehouse in America is run by an Amazon, each state with a warehouse would be a district) to run the Council. The Council is a bit like the Senate and debates matters and tries to legislate.
Any Amazon woman can vote. Those who were from more historically prestigious families in Amazon society hold more power, and are more likely to secure a leadership position in running a warehouse/being on the Coucil.
Like the Ancient Athenian society itself, the Amazonian society used to be prone to oligarchic tendencies and behavior. As a consequence of this, the Amazons became more inclined to highly favor "productivity" as a way to weed out nepotism. This influences how the warehouses are run, as everyone is focused on being the most "productive" to rise in the ranks and crack down on anyone viewed as not working all the time.
The "Queen" is an elected position with no term limits. They did away with term limits as they view it as a form of stability to have someone there for as long as the people feel confident. The Queen is a guiding role for the people, a sort of state leader who people can look to as the head of the Council, and is more connected to the community. The Queen makes decisions in crunch time.
It's essentially like choosing the president and their cabinet.
There is also an Assembly (a group of people randomly selected) which convenes once a year to commit quality checks and assess leadership capabilities.
There are still ritualistic combat duels that take place. This is mainly for glory and to show off how capable one is. While winning a duel wouldn't guarantee you any position, it makes you a more electable candidate in the eyes of the populace. Someone who can be both physically fit and mentally fit to win a duel.
Amazon Society
When they moved, both the Amazons packed their bags, and so did the Gargareans (an all-male tribe that lived next to the Amazons in Greek myths). The Amazons were a fully-functioning society back in the mountains.
The Gargareans are Amazonian citizens and not slaves. However, they are not allowed to own shares in Amazon, they don't own their houses in America, and they are not in any positions of power within the company of Amazon when they are allowed to work there. In essence, they are citizens who cannot vote.
The men are viewed as less intelligent and capable than the women. They are encouraged to just stay at home and raise children. If they are given permission to work at Amazon, it's to mainly deal with grunt work of lifting heavy equipment as they are considered "unworthy" of intelligent labor.
Some men are more respected by their partners than others. In Amazon society, it is not a requisite to marry, as marriage is not something that matters in their society. The men who are married to Amazon women are thus treated with more respect, as it is viewed as an honor to be seen as someone who has enough value to be a monogamous partner. These men are brought into Amazon political society and given more leeway in how they operate. However, they can never achieve any real position of power as they are not voting citizens. At most, they are more of a political mind in the shadows.
How do the men feel about the system? On the surface level they accept the division of labor. Due to Amazon being part of the Greek mythical world, both the company and the society are able to float by many labor and social laws that would otherwise apply to them due to the Mist. The Amazons have their own education system which reinforces these stereotypes, and their own policing which seeks to put down any "revolutionary" talk. This way of life is also what they know best. They are not absolutely oppressed in chains, but they metaphorically are, and this is the only life they are capable of living. They have little freedom.
However, despite the Amazon's best attempts, some knowledge of the outside world breaks through the various warehouses. The men know there is the possibility of a different kind of life. In addition, the knowledge that their form of government is based on the people but does not include them, stirs up revolutionary beliefs in their hearts.
Amazon Leadership
Bezos doesn't exist. I mainly just don't want to write him in, to be honest. But instead of Bezos, the CEO of Amazon is an Amazon pretending to be a man. Due to the latent discrimination against women in power in modern-day society, the Amazons decide to make their public leaders masquerade as men to advance faster in American society.
There are three positions in the executive branch. One is that of the queen, and the other two are that of the public roles of "CEO" and the "Board of Directors" that mortals see as leading the company. The CEO and Board play more figurehead roles and are on display to the mortal world (like the monarchy in the UK). The queen and the Council/Cabinet (the elected one) do not have to play a figurehead-type role so that they can devote more of their energy to the company's dominance.
This masquerade in public increases their dislike of men having control in their society. It gives them a chip on their shoulder that men have so much political, corporate, and societal control in the mortal world. They don't want to afford the men any opportunity to seize control and they decide to tighten the reigns they have over men.
Conflict Points
The tension of if the men will revolt for a more equal society
The tension of oligarchic elements in the "corporate democracy"
The tension of Amazon trying to take over the world and influence American politics
The tension of over reliance on productivity as the thing to value most in society; value profit gained from inhumane behavior
The "queen" having no term limits v someone challenging the queen
Those who favor a more militaristic society being upset at the prospect they've been trying to take over the world in a nerdy business way. Who wants to be cutthroat against bookstore owners and not, you know, literally cutthroat?
Final Thoughts
I'm self-aware that this post is pretty convoluted haha. Writing the outline of a self-functioning society is not my strong suit. But hopefully it gave some food for thought.
I've been writing up some of my takes on different ways certain characters or groups could have been written in the PJO series, and I've been thinking of what character or concept to do next. There's very obviously the Heroes of Olympus series, but my god. Nothing scares me more than falling into a spiral thinking about all the ways HoO could have been written.
Oh, the Romans. One can only wish to join a camp that seeks to emulate a fallen empire with a significant amount of archaeological and written evidence remaining and still get so much about their culture wrong.
An Alternative Look at Camp Half-Blood's Lore AKA My Ideas of a Rewrite
Or by an alternate name: there is no alternate name, this is exactly how it sounds.
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As you can expect, spoilers for the PJO series below.
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So for my next rewrite idea, I decided to do Camp Half-Blood's lore. I usually do an introduction, but I'm skipping that. If you're interested in my thoughts, those are at the bottom, after my essay regarding how I would slightly change the lore of Camp Half-Blood in the context of the PJO series.
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I use this link for Chiron's backstory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiron
I also reference the Camp Half-Blood wiki's description of the founding of the camp: https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Camp_Half-Blood
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Camp Half-Blood as we see it in the beginning of The Lightning Thief is a recent invention by the followers of the Greek Pantheon.
Originally, heroes would be trained by Chiron. Chiron was a centaur who was abandoned by his mother out of disgust. He was then found by Apollo and Artemis, who respectively taught him the arts and how to fight. With their encouragement, Chiron went on to become more studious and developed a kindness and wisdom not found in other centaurs. Chiron's reputation for wisdom would become well-known, and many chose to send children with potential to Chiron's doorstep in Greece to learn from him. He taught Achilles, Asclepius, and Jason, among many others. After he accidentally gets shot with a poisoned arrow by Heracles, Chiron is in agony and cannot heal himself. Chiron finds himself wishing for death and calls out to Apollo. Apollo tries to heal him but can't, and he goes to Zeus to plead Chiron's case. Out of respect for Chiron for educating so many heroes, Zeus decides to grant Chiron immortality. He requests that Chiron continue teaching heroes as he has done a great service to them. Chiron agrees.
To prevent Chiron from being alone, Apollo strikes an agreement with the satyrs asking them to help out in finding demigods while promising they can reside safely in the wilderness nearby Chiron's training facilities. Artemis, not wanting to be outdone by Apollo, convinces some nymphs to live in the same wilderness. Thus, Chiron's training camp becomes linked with nature spirits/gods and has a bustling atmosphere. With the help of the satyrs, more demigods are trained by Chiron. The increasing number of students ensures that instead of training demigods one by one, he has a steady stream of campers who also teach each other tricks, easing his teaching duties. However, his camp remained only a temporary stop for campers. Once they were trained, they moved on.
One night, a massive swarm of monsters finds the camp and starts attacking everyone in the camp. Chiron rallies the campers and the nature spirits to defend the camp. He sends the satyrs out to receive former students of his who had left the camp to explore the world. They come rushing back to defend the camp. After several days of fighting, the campers emerge victorious. Sympathetic to the plight of their children, the gods create a magical illusion around the camp that confuses monsters and mortals who may come nearby. Athena, the patron of heroes, sets up a security system in the form of owls who hoot when danger is nearby. The camp continues on.
Greece had always had conflicts while Chiron presided over the camp. The Greek city-states fought amongst each other, various empires ruled over Greece, the Balkan Wars, etc. However, Chiron started getting really nervous during the year 1940. The totality of the war and the advancement of technology threatened the secret nature of the camp. There were bombings from the sky and troops everywhere. No area in Greece was safe. The political instability was a sign that there was a civil war to come, one that may be deadlier than he has seen in the past. Fearing for the safety of his nature-spirit friends and young students, Chiron decided to talk to the gods about moving the camp.
In the next solstice meeting that happened after the conclusion of World War 2, Chiron asked the gods to let him move his camp to the United States. The United States was bustling and was not war-torn or ravaged like many of the other countries affected by World War 2. It was a country heading for prosperity, had wide, empty areas of land, and had the territorial advantage of not being surrounded by enemies and instead by water (and Canada and Mexico).
However, some of the gods hesitated. Here was an opportunity to blame someone else for the destructive war that just happened. Clearly, the war had to be partly the fault of Chiron. After all, the gods did not incite this war like they did with Troy, and Hitler was no god's kid, just a mortal man. The demigods and mortals are powerful, sure, but they are just mortals at the end of the day. How did this war come to be? The arguing between the gods would take up most of the meeting.
It was brought up that the consequence of Chiron's students being so bright and studious was the exacerbation of the war. During the previous wars, and most notably World War 2, some of the demigods Chiron taught used their knowledge and powers in the service of war, adding to the trauma the world had experienced. Other Olympians, especially Apollo, Artemis, Athena, and Hermes, [champions of Chiron and heroes] argued that the camp was not to blame. It was instead the fault of the Big 3 demigods. They are the ones who wield the most power and are thus the most dangerous. Dionysus and Hera also add to this argument and blame demigods in general, as they hold grudges against heroes, like Theseus and Heracles, and believe that demigods are more of a threat than people realize. Ares argues that his kids can outdo anyone's kids any day. Hades argues that maybe the Olympians are losing their touch and the mortals are more powerful than they think. Zeus blames the exacerbation of the war on Hades' and Poseidon's kids and argues that his kids were in the right. This causes even more anger. Amidst this argument, the oracle speaks the Great Prophecy into existence.
The gods and Chiron are shocked. The Great Prophecy concerns the fate of Olympus, and they had just witnessed the emotional volatility and dogma that mortals are capable of. Zeus proposes a solution - he, Poseidon, and Hades shall agree not to have any more children. Zeus knows deep down that he is just putting off the inevitable, but they all agree that the atmosphere post-World War 2 is not one in which they want to have a demigod decide all of their fates. Hera argues that simply agreeing to not have children is not enough of an accountability mechanism and that they must all swear on the River Styx. The Big 3 gods agree to do so, and they all know that if they break it, their children will bear the consequences of their parents' actions.
Chiron takes the next step and says he will not teach warfare strategy anymore, just monster-hunting and Greek culture. He will personally take a step back from teaching, and will just focus on archery and Greek culture classes. He also proposes allowing his students the option to live long-term in the camp, rather than just as a temporary stop. The idea of this was to make the camp more isolated in nature from the rest of the world, but still provide enough of a base for the children not to die. They can grow up in safety before they traverse the world. After all, they will no longer be in the familiar homeland of Greece and will have to live out their lives in America.
The Olympians agreed. The new camp will have cabins for the campers to stay in based on their parentage. Honorary cabins will be made for Artemis, Hera, Zeus, and Poseidon (they aren't supposed to be having children). As a resident of the Underworld, Hades will have no cabin, and Hestia also doesn't have a cabin either due to no throne, just a hearth. The Olympians will connect their base at Mount Olympus to the tallest building in the world - The Empire State Building. This way, Chiron and the campers can have an ease of access than flying out to Greece. Chiron chooses Montauk, New York for the location of the new camp. The gods once again gift the Camp with a magical border that hides the camp via an illusion, and they transport all the nymphs and satyrs to the new camp.
[Keep in mind, the immortals' thinking was that the demigods can just live long-term in the cabins in the camp. This is why no one is kicked out of Camp Half-Blood. But no one wants to stay with a bunch of pre-teens in a cabin, and that's why the campers end up leaving the camp.]
Chiron and the rest of the camp come up with the idea of the Delphi Strawberry Service as a cover for the camp and a way to cover the expenses.
Several years later, it becomes apparent that while America is safe, the threat of nuclear weapons still exists. Amidst the paranoia, the Hephaestus Cabin comes up with an idea to build Festus as a better mechanism for defending the camp. It doesn't actually do anything against nuclear weapons, but hey, Festus can kill some monsters. Around 15 years before Percy enters the camp, Festus malfunctions.
Around this time, Zeus becomes concerned with the state of the world again. Zeus, knowing Dionysus is wary of heroic demigods but not entirely unsympathetic to their cause, asks Dionysus to watch over the camp to see if any campers fit the bill of the prophecy and will fulfill it. Dionysus disagrees as taking care of a bunch of kids and not being allowed to travel or do anything is terrible. Zeus is terribly annoyed. He watches over Dionysus and sees him making moves on a dryad. He warns Dionysus twice not to go after her as he is "interested" in the dryad, but Dionysus doesn't listen and goes after her. Seizing upon this opportunity, Zeus chooses to punish Dionysus by making him camp director for 100 years and not drink/grow any wines/grapes. Dionysus, now seeing the trap for what it is, angrily and grumpily becomes the camp director. He knows why Zeus punished him like this and chooses to flout Zeus' requests and stew in his grumpiness by never remembering the names of any of the kids and doing his best to be unapproachable to the campers.
When Thalia, Luke, Annabeth, and Grover approach the camp, they are followed by a huge group of monsters. While the border of the camp does help with creating an illusion, the number of monsters following the group was too much, and it would be no help. Luke, Annabeth, and Grover are sent into the camp not only for safety but to get help. Thalia decides to make a final stand against the monsters. Sensing Thalia is close to death and knowing that Hades may block her from Elysium, Zeus decides to turn Thalia into a pine tree. Feeling regretful that he brought her to this fate, Zeus makes the pine tree a magical barrier to protect the campers in Camp Half-Blood from dying like Thalia did. This act causes Thalia's name and tree to be treated with reverence, as it is her sacrifice that granted Camp Half-Blood a barrier from the monsters.
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My thoughts:
To be honest, I haven't really done that much scrolling online to see how much people like the lore of the camp. I can imagine though that the lore that the camp and the gods supposedly move to new core countries of Western Civilization throughout history has gotten some reactions. It's definitely an interesting concept, but it's a complicated one considering that there wasn't always a hegemonic power in world history. I understand that connecting it to Western Civilization is a way of moving Camp Half-Blood around the world and out of Greece and into America, but it's kinda weird.
In another vein, the connection of mortal conflicts mirroring demigod conflicts and the reveal that some important figures are demigods does kinda bother me. I get that the point is to raise the importance of demigods in the eyes of the reader and get them to see how consequential and powerful demigods can be. George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army and America's beloved first president. Of course, he was a demigod. And it's (hopefully) not like people in 2025 have any real-life sentiment to care if he's a mortal or a godly figure in a piece of fiction.
However, things start getting dodgy with the wars. World War 2 was so bloody and brutal because it was a war between the children of Zeus and Poseidon versus the children of Hades. The children were the leaders of the major countries that fought in WW2. Hitler is implied to be a son of Hades. The Big 3 took the pact to not have any more kids because their kids were having too much of an impact on history. The American Revolution and the Civil War were fought between Romans and Greeks.
Now this gets even more dodgy. To my understanding, there was a demigod civil war going on and a mortal civil war. Some demigods took part in the actual war and many Romans fought for the Confederates, but it wasn't just the Romans and Greeks fighting for each respective side. To be honest, the Civil War explanation is pretty confusing and vague. I could just be getting this all wrong. I'm assuming it was done to side-step having all of Camp Jupiter support the Confederates. Even Hazel briefly mentioning that her grandmother was a slave is still a side-step. Where does slavery actually come into play here? Are the Romans just fighting against the Greeks, for slavery, or for both reasons? Is it a situation where it's just the leaders being demigods again? See what I mean, the motives are confusing. And this isn't even bringing up how the Olympians were in the US in the 1860s, and the US wasn't even a superpower so it doesn't make sense for them to even be in the US.
My problem is that these are actual wars that happened and were started by us human beings that have real-life political (and physical and mental) consequences on the people today. Emphasis on the political effects felt today. I feel like if someone chooses to delve into this, you either have to have the characters/setting be involved in a respectful matter (Captain America fights Nazis, and mainly HYDRA), be completely silly to the point of absurdity (Moses parting the sea with a Beyblade), or just side-step it entirely. In any case, it would just be proper to not half-ass it and to actually take a little bit of time to plot it out. Now, it is true that World War 2 is an oversaturated topic with some truly terrible takes that essentially desensitize people to the issue areas, but I find that is a symptom of the problem and not an excuse.
I think having Hitler as a demigod would bring up some moral questions that are not going to be appropriately delved into in a YA series. The whole "banality of evil" term was coined in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the Eichmann trial. If Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, Shiro Ishii, and other people in the Axis Powers were demigods, were they then truly supernaturally evil people rather than ordinary people who did/authorized evil acts via complacency or ideology or hatred or ambition?
Furthermore, there's the American Civil War. If there was a mirror war with Romans and Greeks that apparently created tensions and made the American Civil War more bloody than it was, doesn't that take away from slavery? One can argue that in an ideal world, people know the cause of the Civil War was slavery and you can have this parallel war happen and say that Romans mainly fought for the Confederates and some Greeks did as well due to some rivalry, or whatever was said by Jason to Hazel. But the fact of the matter is that we live in a world where people claim the Civil War was over states' rights or the economy, not slavery. Both Ancient Romans and Greeks had slavery, yes. But their version of slavery was different than the slavery that arose from the Atlantic Slave Trade and was continued on until 1865 in the United States, due to how tied it was to race. I think it's a subject area where the dehumanization arising from slavery can often be forgotten about when painting the war in broad strokes.
Maybe I'm just touchy on the subject of World War 2 and the American Civil War. After all, when I read about how during the American Revolution the Colonial leaders were Greeks and the British leaders were Romans, I just sighed and rolled my eyes. But I just think it's a bit irresponsible to vaguely throw in supernatural/godly interference in subjects that are still being debated upon today. I would prefer it to either not be discussed at all or to be explained better.
You would think with this long essay I would've proceeded to not include World War 2 in my take on the lore. After all, I just talked about how it brings into question too many moral questions and it should be treated with care. Nope, I included it. And I did so to try and tackle it in a more respectful way that's just ambiguous enough to be respectful and also avoid any unnecessary entanglements. Or so I hope. I don't have an editor checking my work. But I did take out the American Civil War. I'm sorry, but I just can't stand that part. Not to mention the Greek v Roman rivalry is kinda silly to me.
Despite my long rant, I think the fact that so much of the backstory is left up in the air is probably its saving grace. Ambiguity does a lot for imaginative storytelling.
An Alternative Look at Bianca di Angelo AKA My Ideas of a Rewrite
Or by another name: My rewrite of a passively doomed innocent character to one that actively accidentally causes her doom
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As always, this post contains spoilers for the Percy Jackson series, especially The Titan’s Curse.
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This post is intended to be a sequel to my post about how I would change the Hunters of Artemis. However, it’s not required to read that as I’ll summarize the relevant parts of that post in a couple of sentences.
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Continuing on with my new tradition of writing long posts about different ways to write controversial characters/concepts in the PJO series, I decided to make this one on Bianca di Angelo.
Bianca is a complicated character that readers have mixed feelings for. Bianca is known for immediately joining the Hunters after finding out she and Nico are demigods. This action is one of essentially leaving Nico behind. Some don’t like that she left Nico at all, some don’t like how she left Nico before determining Camp Half-Blood was a safe place for him. Some think she was manipulated by Artemis and Zoe, some think that she was escaping having to parent/babysit Nico. I personally don’t think she actually was parentified into taking care of Nico because of the timeline established in the book, but that is her stated reason in said book, so to each their own interpretation.
In any case, Bianca mainly died to serve as a source of guilt for Percy, a source of tension between Nico and Percy, and as a motivator for Nico to turn emo and become “the Ghost King.” Because she was basically there to serve the plot of others, her actions were all done in service to that. I wanted to present my ideas of a rewrite of her character in order to give her more of a consistent inner logic and motivation for why she chose her actions. To flesh her out before she inevitably dies for Nico’s [and Percy’s] character development, so to speak.
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In order to make Bianca a more active character, I give her a made-up power. Here’s a link to my inspiration:
I will be presenting two ways of how Bianca could be rewritten in the story. The first one is shorter and follows more consistently with The Titan’s Curse. The second one is longer and starts with The Lightning Thief for no other reason than to give more time to bond with Bianca and feel her doom more acutely. I ended up changing her personality as well. I’ll expand more upon my reasoning after the rewrite parts where I delve more into the themes, but essentially I made her more obsessed with being rational and focused on long-term planning.
Onwards to the first rewrite:
The Hunters of Artemis is a group of talented hunters who forswear worldly pleasures (most notably romance) for the sake of the Hunt. The Hunters are usually made of women as women have less opportunities to form a hunting posse than men and have more reasons to want to escape the restrictions of society. Exceptions are made for younger children, especially young maidens, who prove to have a lot of potential and have nowhere else to go. During the events of the third book, the Hunters are all women.
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While in danger from the fighting arising from the manticore attack and desperate to protect herself and Nico from the flying projectiles, Bianca reaches her hands out [Magneto style] and the ground starts to shake. However, soon after, the drama with Annabeth and Dr. Thorn happens and they fall off the cliff. As the danger is gone, Bianca has no reason to continue and she stops. She’s certain that she could have done more, but she keeps quiet about it and remains shaken. Nico is excited and thinks she is a hero, but Bianca is wary and concerned.
Everyone can tell that Bianca and Nico seem powerful. The Hunters suspect that she may be a daughter of Demeter as Bianca was able to control the ground and that seems like a Demeter power since Poseidon and Hades are not potential options. Even though everyone now knows the Big 3 are capable of breaking their oaths, it seems unlikely as Bianca and Nico are two years apart (twice the opportunity to get caught), and the ground shaking is more associated with Demeter/Poseidon anyways and Percy is already right there to cancel out Poseidon.
The Hunters are impressed by Bianca and tell her and Nico about being a demigod and about the Hunters. They bring Percy in to talk about Camp Half-Blood. Same events happen, but the Hunters do not recruit Bianca. They just abstractly mention that she could consider joining them next time they’re in town. As Nico is still a kid and didn’t do anything during the fight, they mainly ignore him. They acknowledge he may also show potential if he’s like Bianca and that’s it.
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At camp, Bianca and Nico are put in the Hermes Cabin. However, the campers make sure to heavily emphasize introducing Bianca and Nico to the Demeter Cabin due to the manifestation of Bianca’s powers and the assumptions of parentage. During this introduction, a few Demeter kids showcase their powers and describe what their powers feel like to them. Bianca absorbs the knowledge and remarks that her powers feel different. The campers reassure her that it isn’t quite the same for everyone, but Bianca knows intrinsically that her powers are not the same. She keeps quiet about it and moves on. Nico, meanwhile, is excited about the potential of having Demeter as a parent and lists her Mythomagic stats.
As someone who had no parents and just Nico, Bianca is naturally wary of other people and their intentions. Getting attacked in DC and then suddenly thrust into a new world where myths are real certainly didn’t help Bianca’s mistrust and wariness of others. Bianca starts to realize that things aren’t adding up. All the campers have at least one parent they know of, the mortal one or the godly one. Bianca has no memory of either. She just remembers a lawyer acting like a pseudo-guardian who told them that their parents died and they were left with a trust fund. That combined with the rumors and dynamics of the campers with Percy and Thalia make Bianca deduce that something is wrong. She knows she is stronger than people realize and that someone was trying to cover the presence of her and Nico up.
Bianca decides to keep quiet about her deductions because she doesn’t trust the campers enough and she doesn’t want to rock the boat. After all, it is apparent that the camp is not the same after the betrayal of some previous campers that the Hermes Cabin discusses in not-so-hushed tones. She theorizes that the manticore attack means that she and Nico have to either remain year-long campers or they have to join a group like the Hunters, who are semi-immortal and in the company of a goddess. Bianca decides that the Hunters seems like a better long-term option for her and Nico as an Olympian and a talented group of Hunters could be helpful allies, they would learn how to fight, and they could see the world and not be holed up, like they were at the Casino and the military school.
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Bianca tells Nico her plan for them to join the Hunters before Capture the Flag. Nico heavily disagrees with Bianca’s plan. To him, the camp has a more worldly atmosphere with people who are potential Mythomagic players. While the Hunters of Artemis have song and dance, it’s clear it’s more of a military setting and he wouldn’t be able to live a fun life. He wishes to try and make friends with the campers; after all, all of the younger people who helped them out, including Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover, are from the camp. Bianca argues that they need to make short-term sacrifices for a better long-term future and that Nico is thinking too immaturely. She says that they can’t trust the campers and they will never fit in. Nico argues that Demeter will eventually claim them. Bianca is frustrated that Nico isn’t just agreeing with her and snaps at him. She angrily states that she’ll join without him and if Nico wants to remain a kid forever, he can stay at Camp Half-Blood while she joins the Hunters. She is about to say that Demeter is likely not their parent when Percy interrupts them to tell them they have to go play Capture the Flag. Bianca and Nico go to their places with Nico then being extremely friendly to Percy, both because of his usual inquisitive nature, but also to show to Bianca that they have friends at camp.
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Similar events happen with the Oracle. Zoe chooses not to take Percy because he is a boy and reminds her of Hercules. Percy stumbles upon Nico spying on Bianca and Zoe. Bianca argues with Zoe to go in Phoebe’s place as Bianca wants to prove her potential to be a Hunter as she knows she is too young to join otherwise. Zoe would rather take a more experienced Hunter, but Bianca argues that Artemis had previously acknowledged her potential during the manticore attack and that the Hunters are all about proving themselves. Zoe relents.
Same thing with Nico making Percy promise to keep Bianca safe.
During the quest, Bianca shows hints of power. But it’s never fully released. She also eventually opens up to Percy and reveals that she is doing this quest not just for herself, but also for Nico. Bianca hopes that by saving Artemis, she can generate enough goodwill for herself to also ask for Nico to be able to join the Hunters without having to prove himself. She plans on apologizing for the fight and convincing Nico to join the Hunters with her.
At the junkyard, Bianca dies in the process of getting a Hades Mythomagic figurine as an apology bribe for Nico.
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Second rewrite:
Grover accidentally meets Bianca and Nico during the events of The Lightning Thief. He can sense that they are demigods but the Lotus Casino screws with Grover’s brain. He only realizes the significance of it after Percy and Annabeth drag him out, thus making him determined to go back and rescue them once the trio finishes their quest.
He later tells Chiron and they figure out a way to get Bianca and Nico out. Afterwards, Grover starts searching for Pan.
Bianca and Nico can’t remember much. It is chalked up to the magic of the Lotus Casino, and they are encouraged to make Camp Half-Blood their home.
Bianca and Nico have a hard-time interacting with their fellow campmates. The memory loss is one thing, but Nico is way more hyper than most campers, and Bianca is way more distrustful of others. Bianca keeps her distance and listens around to the gossip. She learns that Percy is an unusual case. She has concerns that she keeps to herself about how she ended up in the Lotus Casino with Nico at such a young age, and can only vaguely remember some lawyer talking about dead parents and a trust fund.
Nico has an easier time feeling like he fits in, however, as he is more optimistic and happy. He doesn’t feel like an outsider nor does he think he is one.
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Bianca and Nico are around for the events of The Sea of Monsters. Bianca does not yet have enough training to fight the Colchis Bull, so she was more of an observer.
The series of events arising from this book make Bianca realize that Camp Half-Blood is really not as stable an environment as it was originally presented to be. The protective tree barrier came down, and she and Nico could have very well died in the bull attack. Bianca starts analyzing her future options and theorizes that trying to live a normal life might be worth taking a chance. Pretending to be a mortal is certainly better than dying to a bull, no matter what Nico says about how cool-looking it was.
Bianca asks permission to be able to enroll in a school with Nico as they have a trust fund to their name. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be done, but Bianca points out they have limited life experiences as it is, and they need to explore school to see if it works. She promises that they will call the camp if anything goes wrong. No one wants to agree as their safety isn’t guaranteed and they have no outside family, but Chiron feels bad for Bianca for not being able to experience school when she wants to.
Nico is unhappy as Camp Half-Blood is a dream come true for him, but he goes along with Bianca’s decision in order to stick close to her.
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[Connecting this to my Luke rewrite. If Luke trained Bianca and Nico throughout the second book, he would help them get stronger while also imparting a mistrust of the gods. Bianca sees no future in Camp Half-Blood for either her or Nico. But she never trusted Luke enough for him to get an opportunity to persuade her to join Kronos. His betrayal just strengthened her belief that the camp is too volatile to trust and that she should keep her cards close to her chest.]
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This kickstarts the opening to the third book. Grover was sent to check-up on Bianca and Nico and he suspects Dr. Thorn is up to something and calls in Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth.
Bianca ends up creating a fissure in the ground when protecting Nico. The others suspect that she is a powerful child of Demeter and was about to create a mega root or tree or something. Bianca felt like she was about to drag something dark and alive up, not a root. She keeps quiet about this, but asks Nico if he ever felt something. Nico says no.
The Hunters talk to Bianca and say she has potential. Zoe mentions that Bianca is doing a good job with Nico, but if she ever wants to leave her responsibilities [to Nico] behind and join the Hunters in the future, she should. And if Nico later wants to join her in the future when he comes of age, he could.
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Bianca secretly experiments when they go back to camp and summons a skeleton out of a fissure she created. She realizes she is a daughter of Hades and that is probably why she was left in the Lotus Casino and why she and Nico are still not claimed despite being siblings (double the time to get caught) and her displaying powers.
Bianca knows that being a daughter of Hades is not a good thing. Percy is involved in a quest every year and everyone gossips that there are not supposed to be kids of the Big 3. She knows Thalia was turned into a tree and then came back. Hades sent monsters after both Percy and Thalia, who knows what Zeus and Poseidon would send after her and Nico for revenge.
She realizes that joining the Hunters would allow her to join a group of competent individuals who would have her back and she would gain the competency to fight all the monsters and win. Going to school is no longer an option as she and Nico had to get bailed out, thus the Hunters are their only way to leave Camp and be safe. Plus, Artemis is on the Hunters and could provide a safety net.
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She and Nico argue about this before Capture the Flag. Bianca reveals that she suspects that they are Hades’ children and makes Nico swear to her not to reveal his powers. She says they are not safe in camp and they have to get out. That there is a real world out there that she and Nico are missing out on, but being a kid of Hades will give them a black mark. Nico balks at this. He feels like he is making friends at camp, and that it is a magical place. He argues that she just sees the bad in everything and she is ignoring the good in Camp Half-Blood. Bianca argues that he is naive, she doesn’t like the Camp, and will join the Hunters without him. Percy interrupts the conversation with his presence.
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Similar events happen with the Oracle and Zoe. Percy stumbles upon Nico spying on Bianca and Zoe. Bianca argues with Zoe to go in Phoebe’s place as Bianca wants to prove her potential to be a Hunter as she knows she is too young. Zoe would rather take a more experienced Hunter but Bianca argues that Artemis had previously acknowledged her potential during the manticore attack and that the Hunters are all about proving themselves. Zoe relents. Nico makes Percy to make sure that Bianca is safe.
Bianca does not use any of her abilities during the quest. She does not want to reveal her identity as a child of Hades as she does not want to bring more attention to herself and give a reason to the Hunters to not accept her. She also doesn’t want any blowback against Nico.
She tells Percy she is committed to joining the Hunters as she wants to be able to explore the world. She would like it if Nico came along, but if he doesn’t, she knows she can make the world safer for him by killing off monsters. She feels that Zoe is right that she has been responsible for Nico, and she doesn’t want to lose herself or for him to lose himself while caring for each other. She still doesn’t think the camp is safe, but asks Percy to keep an eye out on Nico and make sure he is safe. She tells Percy that she and Nico need to talk to Chiron about their plans. [Bianca plans on either getting Nico to join her, or telling Chiron their heritage under the promise that he keeps Nico well inside camp boundaries.] Percy argues against Bianca’s plan, saying she would be leaving Nico behind and the Camp isn’t deserving of her mistrust. Bianca stays strong to her arguments, and it is clear that Bianca doesn’t truly think that she and Nico will be separated for a long time.
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Bianca steals a Hades Mythomagic figure from the Junkyard because she knows Nico is missing that one, and she thinks it’s a good apology and starting point for their future conversation. And she dies.
When Percy tells Nico, Nico unleashes his powers due to his emotions. However, Nico already knew he was a kid of Hades at this point, he just didn’t have the capability of controlling it. Percy realizes their heritage and why Bianca was so secretive yet insistent about asking Percy to keep an eye out on Nico.
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My theme for this rewrite revolves around dreams and contrasts between siblings. Bianca and Nico were both memory-wiped by the River Lethe and suddenly introduced to the outside world after spending a lot of time in the Lotus Casino. Due to not having much lived experience to base her reactions on, Bianca is more wary of the world. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen, what people’s reactions may be, nor who is on her side. All she has are her fears, and she is scared of a world that they cannot control, like the Lotus Casino. Bianca had no idea how long she was there, and she wasn’t able to control coming in and out of it. She dreams of a future that is secure and stable. A future where she controls where she goes. She is thus obsessed with using rationality to plan out something that she can control.
Nico also does not have much lived experience to base his reactions on. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen, what people’s reactions will be, nor who he could trust. But he sees all the potential in the world, all the magic that’s apparently alive from Mythomagic. He dreams of a future in which he and Bianca are heroes and are a part of something. He likes spontaneity and going along with the adventure as life has many paths he can go on. They went through the same thing, but Bianca and Nico have different takes on life and this affects the decisions they make.
This also affects their weaknesses. Bianca leans more on rationality, control, and her dreams of the future which doubles up as her weaknesses. She discounts the impact of her personal emotions on her long-term plans, forgets that in order to make her long-term goals happen that there will be short-term consequences that may be different than she theorizes, and is very distrustful of others. Nico leans more on emotions and short-term goals which turns into his weaknesses as he forgets about rationality and leans more into his anger, discounts the long-term effects his short-term plans may have, and is more trusting of others. After Bianca dies, Nico becomes angrier at the world and more secretive, as he never forgets Bianca telling him that they can’t trust everyone. Nico is both too trusting and naive, but also secretive and mistrustful. His anger and grief clash with his previous mindset of loyalty and optimism.
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As a recap, Bianca feels that Camp Half-Blood has too many variables. She’s observant and realizes that the Camp is going through it right now with all the various prophecies. It’s not something that she or Nico can control. She thinks the Hunters, a group that is more timeless, allows her more agency. In the first rewrite she makes the snap decision to join them, but her snap decision has a logical basis and she does plan on taking Nico along.
What hampers her, is that in the process of idealizing a goal and mapping out her long-term future, she forgot about the short-term reality. She does not have much command over her powers to protect herself, almost no training with weapons, and she’s a kid who is prone to mistakes as much as she would like to think otherwise. She underestimated the amount of control she actually had over her life. Joining the quest to prove herself to the Hunters was always going to be a risky gamble, and dangerous for one in her situation. She joined it anyway, as she is a dreamer, just in a different way than we may usually think of one. She stole the Hades figurine to resolve her argument with Nico, an emotional decision where she wasn't concerned with the consequence of stealing as she was more focused on a future goal [of reuniting with Nico]. True rationality would probably be accepting that there are things you can’t control and moving on, something Bianca realized too late.
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In the second rewrite, Bianca is at the camp for a longer period of time and is more disgruntled and desperate. She sees the prophecies and danger in action numerous times. She realizes that she is potentially a daughter of Hades and doesn’t want to deal with the trouble that would bring. Her mistrustful nature leads her to not ask for advice and she makes the decision to join the Hunters for the same reason in the first rewrite. To her, the Hunters are less of a found family and more of an opportunity to escape what she saw as a short life-span spent solely in a summer camp.
Her gamble to join the Hunters is probably worse in the second rewrite though because she actively could be using her powers to make herself safer, but she chooses not to because she fears the potential backlash in the distant future.
In this version, she spends more time with Nico and looks after him more. While she loves Nico, she does not exactly see eye to eye with him, and she is frustrated that he won’t go along with what she says. Her time with the Hunters forces her to realize that she does not want to have parental responsibility over Nico for all time. She starts to move from thinking she would always be with Nico, to being okay with him being at Camp Half-Blood, albeit in a safe role in the Camp. Bianca dreams of exploring the world and becoming highly proficient to be safe in life, but she realizes that Nico would prefer to explore the camp and form connections there.
She has this complicated internal feelings, where she seeks to protect Nico, but not be responsible for him, but also to plan out his life and make sure he is safe. The sides of her that care for Nico are stronger than the ones where she doesn't want to be responsible for Nico, as she would rather be able to ensure and be in control of his safety. But she becomes more open to actually leaving to join the Hunters without him as she views the Hunters as a group that Nico can also join in the future and they can travel together. And she thinks his attachment to the camp should be respected by her.
In either case, she wants to have a better conversation with him where they discuss their future when she returns to camp. She does not actually think that they will have a long separation, as her exposure to the Hunters is one that is a group that visits Camp Half-Blood. She dies in the process of getting the figurine as an apology present and a conversation starter for when she gets back.
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I didn’t truly change that much in the plot, but I think changing Bianca’s characterization gives her more motives and logical reasoning for why she makes the choices she does. Either way, I kept up with keeping Bianca as a doomed innocent character with a life cut too short.
As a note, I’d like to say that I kept Bianca in the dark about the prophecy. While it would be interesting to make her join the Hunters to escape the prophecy (lol like Thalia), I decided against it. There’s just something about information asymmetry. Bianca knows more than others think, but they also know more about her potential future of being a kid of the Big 3 than she thinks. Bianca could have accidentally escaped the prophecy if she lived and joined the Hunters, but she never was destined for the Great Prophecy as her end was foreseen by the prophecy the Oracle told Zoe.
An Alternate Look at the Hunters of Artemis AKA My Ideas of a Rewrite
Or by another name: My rewrite of a cult-like group into a less toxic and more Greek cult-like group
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As a warning, this does abstractly contain spoilers for the series. I also mention non-consensual actions such as rape, sexual assault, and abuse as there are instances of the followers of Artemis in Greek Mythology having to suffer through them.
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Brief sidenote: I realized that the title should be “ideas for a rewrite,” or something that flows better, but I’m committed now. After my first post about my ideas regarding how Luke could be written to fall more into the category of a “fallen hero,” I’ve decided to do one regarding how the Hunters of Artemis could be written differently to be more fleshed out. I already put some of my ideas in the Luke post, but I thought I could do more than to just toss them into the post of Luke as a side note. It was too ironic for me to leave it be. Following this will be a post about my ideas regarding how Bianca di Angelo could be written differently.
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The Hunters of Artemis are an interesting idea. A group of maidens who gain semi-immortality and eternal youth in exchange for pledging loyalty to Artemis, joining the Hunt, and swearing off love. In a society that is male-dominated and on a higher level, in a mythology that is also male-dominated, it presents an unique opportunity for women (and those who may have aro-ace sexualities) to have more of a spotlight. However, similar to Luke (but not as much), the Hunters of Artemis and Artemis herself are also controversial. When pondered upon, some people point out (rightly in my opinion) that the Hunters are a cult that recruits young girls before they hit puberty. And they aggressively recruit, as seen with Bianca. Considering Artemis appeared as a 12 year old, and it’s stated that she appears as the average age for a Hunter, that means that there are girls younger than 12 in the semi-immortal group who just hunt monsters all the time. In addition, they are often associated with misandry. Zoe hates/distrusts men over her experiences with Hercules, and Artemis turns boys/men into jackalopes for accidentally stumbling on camp.
I don’t think this was originally written to be viewed as problematic. Artemis’ actions could be excused as just cruel things gods do, but it’s presented uncritically in the text and more as a gag in contrast to some of the other gods’ actions that cause harm. And the ages for the Hunters line up with the ages in the PJO series in general. And also, the Hunters being anti-men was probably supposed to be focused more upon being a safe place for women escaping from abusive situations. But the more you think about it, the reality of the lives of the Hunters just feels off.
It’s also not necessarily just romantic love being sworn off. Being on the Hunt endlessly means that you cannot really form meaningful, long-lasting platonic relationships with people not in the group. You would rarely be able to keep in contact with non-Hunters and would hardly be able to form a new friendship while on the Hunt. Another thing is that in the original Percy Jackson series, the Hunters of Artemis were mainly just in one book and show up again during the battle of the fifth book, and as such are not delved into. It’s understandable as authors can’t necessarily flesh out everyone all the time, but considering that the Hunters were used as a plot contrivance to cause tension between some of the girl characters and the boys in their life and for Thalia to escape the prophecy, it would have been nice to see.
Coming to the basis of my post, I will be presenting my ideas for a rewrite of the Hunters of Artemis and Artemis herself to be more willing to accept the reality of the endless cycle of fighting that being a Greek demigod subjects you to, and to be more sympathetic to the plight of demigods respectively. The Hunters would be more focused on chasing kleos (renown) and arete (personal excellence). This would make the Hunters a direct contrast to Percy and some others in Camp Half-Blood who are reluctant heroes, and more desirable of a prospect to join for those in the camp who desire glory/ambition/fame. In order for these concepts to be realized, I will be reducing the misandry that is implied and also outright stated, and making them instead more distrustful of outsiders and arrogant of their abilities (callback to the origin of the word “barbarian” and the arrogance that ancient Greeks sometimes had). However, this does not mean I will take away from the sympathetic origins of their misandry. I think it is an interesting concept for the Hunters to also be a refuge for those escaping either societal norms (of what a woman should be, of valuing sexuality/romance) and abusive situations (escaping unwanted sexual advances, the gods).
If you’re interested more in the origin of Riordan’s Hunters of Artemis, this post goes into how the followers of Artemis were like in Greek mythology: https://www.reddit.com/r/camphalfblood/comments/108e0mg/the_hunters_of_artemis_in_greek_mythology_general/
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Now for the rewrite, which focuses more on the concepts of the Hunters, rather than actually going for a book for book rewrite of how they are written:
The Hunters of Artemis are a group of hunters. When Percy meets them in Titan’s Curse, they are made up of all women. However, it is not a necessity to be a woman to join them. Artemis accepts all talented people who forswear worldly pleasures (most prominently romantic love) for the sake of the Hunt. Artemis’ group has a reputation for being mostly made up of women due to how society historically has been structured. Men have more opportunities to freely hunt monsters and animals, solo or otherwise, than women who are bound by societal norms to the household and ostracized for having more “masculine” capabilities. Some women are able to throw off the yokes of society, but usually those who do are either born in noble households or use tricks to deceive people into thinking they are men. While the goddesses are respected, it is rare for a mortal woman or nymph to go down in history as a famous [Greek] hero. Many who join the Hunt do so in order to have an opportunity to be known for fighting alongside a goddess or be famous for taking down a mythical beast or prey. They constantly strive to hone their capabilities to be the best. A struggle to be known, to be great.
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As a goddess associated with the hunt, Artemis highly values competence. As such, most of her hunters are 16/18 and older as they are more athletically capable, mature, and better at strategy when they are older. However, as she is also associated with children and chastity, she has a fondness for children and maidens. She allows younger teens/children to join if they prove they have the capability for greatness and have nowhere else to go. (The way to still allow for the tension caused in Titan’s Curse)
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Due to historic prejudices against women and terrible experiences, some of the women Hunters are distrustful of men. They warily accept the men who join the Hunt, but consider them ‘different’ as these men swear off romantic love in order to serve Artemis and are not considered a danger to them or their chastity.
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Some gods like Aphrodite, who considers it an affront that the Hunters are swearing off her domain, are a threat to the chastity and well-being of the hunters. She performs tricks of temptation to get both men and women Hunters’ chastity vow broken or imperil them. This causes many Hunters to become distrustful of outsiders and the potential danger they carry to be an agent, accidental or otherwise, of the gods using them as pawns. [I would make it worse, but I don’t think PJO has that many instances of rape/sexual assault as done by the gods. I haven't read Riordan's book on Greek Mythology, but I don't think he would as it would make the gods pretty horrific and unsympathetic in modern times considering how many people they raped. My apologies in advance if I'm wrong about this].
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Artemis was once highly petty towards any slight. Anyone breaking the vow of chastity without asking for permission would face her wrath, whether it was voluntarily breaking it or by being subject to non-consensual actions by other gods. Overtime, as Artemis spent more time with her followers, she became less wrathful and more understanding of the dilemma of mortals to be disregarded by the gods. While she is still petty and takes any betrayal of trust seriously, she is less vengeful. She will willingly let people leave the Hunt if they ask, as she has no tolerance for incompetence arising from people straying from making the Hunt their main goal. But she will take revenge if someone breaks their oath consensually without asking her. As like the wilderness, if you do not respect her and take the dangers seriously, you will face the consequences. She is more of a patron and protector of her dominions of the wilderness, children, and the hunt.
She has two main differences from a majority of the other gods in the PJO series. She does not have any demigod children. She spends a lot of time with her Hunters. This gives Artemis an unique perspective - she can better understand the struggles of demigods/mortals trying to fit into a world trying to kill them, and as she is the one taking oaths from the Hunters, she personally takes responsibility for all the Hunters who she takes into her crew. It is a way of life that features direct, sustained contact with mortals and their deaths that the other gods do not have. She still is unable to truly empathize with mortals due to being a goddess and holds mortals who are more capable at hunting as better than the rest, but she has the capability of being more sympathetic than the rest of the gods.
I think portraying Artemis as having flaws that comes from being immortal is important, but showing a goddess who doesn’t just mess with mortals is a good example of what the gods could be and shows a vision to Percy that gods may be capable of change and taking responsibility. As it stands, most of his exposure to the Olympians is that of dead-beat parents who don’t really acknowledge their children and only sometimes help when the children are in mortal danger. And that too, it can be a form of help like turning someone into a tree. This would be a contrast to that and another way of showing that Luke/Kronos are not right that all gods are terrible and don’t care about demigods.
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Artemis and her Hunters are independent, free, and wild. Free from romantic bonds and free to be skilled. They are also, however, untameable, arrogant, and slow to change their opinions. They are, afterall, semi-immortal. They are not just distrustful of what some men may do out of extreme lust, but they also look down on the capabilities of those who are not Hunters. They believe that due to them eternally honing their skills, they are better than the rest of the nymphs/mortals and they have the skillset to back that up most of the time.
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As some join the Hunters to seek glory, they immensely value their skills and eulogize their dead comrades. It is important for them to pass down the memories of those who are dead, to honor those who they think are heroes, regardless of gender. They hold campfire bonfires and sing songs of their glorious deeds during the Hunt. They actively seek out the Hunt and do not shy away from danger nor the threat of death. They recognize that the life of a mortal who is aware of the Greek mythical world is oftentimes short and unpredictable, and they ironically choose to embrace that by eternally chasing after glory and accepting they may die via battle. Afraid of just being a footnote in the long list of short demigod lives.
This is sort of a homage to the oral traditions of the Iliad and Odyssey and some of the values in those epic poems.
It’s also a subversion of it. In the Iliad and in Greek mythology, the concepts of arete and kleos are often associated with men and famous poets and storytellers are men, with a few exceptions made for women. The Hunters, on the other hand, are mostly women with some men. They are the ones continuing on the culture/traditions of the Greek heroes.
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When the Hunters interact with the demigods of Camp Half-Blood, they do not get along. The Hunters believe they are better than the rest of the demigods and prove this by repeatedly trouncing them in Capture the Flag. On a few occasions, with strategies that the Ares and Athena cabin came up with, Camp Half-Blood beat the Hunters, but it is not common.
A lot of the Hunters are also very blunt and free with the words. They are not expected to be charismatic or speak nicely to others, only to focus on the Hunt and training. As such, the campers view the Hunters as jerks who do not have a filter.
The demigods of Camp Half-Blood have mixed reactions to the Hunters. Some feel awed by the Hunters’ skill. Most feel slighted by the arrogance (and the superior skill) of the Hunters. [Who actually likes being beat down and talked down to over and over again, even if they may be right in being more skilled.] As such, the Cabins are split on their reactions to the Hunters. Some try to prank them and brag about the worldly pleasures they can indulge in (not just romantic relationships, but technology and movies and free time). Others just avoid the Hunters, wanting to not deal with the headaches of the contentious relationship.
Whenever Camp Half-Blood and the Hunters meet there is an exchange of people. Some Hunters leave the group, lured in by the promise of either a more peaceful life or being able to be free to engage in romantic relationships. Some campers join the Hunters, longing for the chance to prove themselves or not interested in pursuing romance or other worldly pleasures.
The Hunters get along best with the Apollo Cabin. It is a chance for them to spread the songs and poems of their deeds and dead comrades, and to get ideas for songs from Apollo’s children. Due to Apollo and Artemis being siblings, the Hunters trust Apollo’s children and vice versa. They are the only ones who do not get into arguments. Just disagreements on composing verses and dancing.
The Hunters are especially distrustful of the Aphrodite Cabin and get into frequent arguments and fights with them. Both Hunters and the Aphrodite Cabin view the other’s lead goddess as being disrespectful to their values, and take it upon themselves to school the other cabin. This ranges from physical fights, to pranks, to verbal fights, moral arguments, and such.
For this to work, the Aphrodite Cabin would need to have a more varied representation so they aren’t just trounced by the Hunters. Some should be war-like and fierce in their protection of love, as Aphrodite is considered more war-like in Sparta. Some should have abilities over charm-speak and use it defensively or as a manipulation tactic offensively. Some should be vain, some should be hopeless romantics. Some should be femme fatales, some should think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All variations on tropes associated with beauty, love, and lust. And all passionately believing in the things Aphrodite rules over. They all should have some basic self-defense skills as they are demigods living in an unfriendly world. They don’t need to be good at battle, just have basic self-defense. As Aphrodite is not good in battle in the Iliad, it would make sense for most of the Aphrodite Cabin to not prefer battle, but to have some very capable fighters. Kinda playing on the different aspects of gods and how it can affect children.
My themes for this interpretation stem mainly from concepts present in Ancient Greek literature. Heroes who hold glory, renown, fame, and personal skill paramount to all else. These concepts and skills in warfare are usually associated with men as it was men who went out to battle. By having the Hunters of Artemis exemplify the personalities and values of the Ancient Greek heroes, it calls into question what concepts we identify as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ and why that is.
What makes a group of people or a society hold one value above the other? What is worth dying for? Who tells the tales our culture rests on, and how are people remembered? Some people may value romance, and some people may not value it. Is there a true way to live? What makes a god sympathetic to mortals, and can they come to care for those weaker than them? Does being immortal make you slow to change your opinions, think you are inherently better than others, and distrustful of others?
These are all questions that I sought to make apparent in my idea for an alternate way of how the Hunters of Artemis could be written.
An Alternative Look at Luke Castellan AKA My Ideas of a Rewrite
or by another name: My Rewrite of an Inconsistent Villain to that of a Tragic Fallen Hero
*Spoilers ahead, if anyone doesn't know Luke's fate yet.*
I’ve noticed that a lot of discourse on Luke is complicated and full of headcanons. Some posters believe he did go to Elysium, some do not. A lot of it revolves around how he is an interesting villain with understandable motives in concept, but actual execution of his character was not consistent. This is because Books 1-2 in the series present Luke differently from Books 3-5. As several posters have discussed before at length, arguably Luke was not fleshed out to have meaningful relationships and his motives are conflicting (is he a sadistic villain as he wants to watch the world burn, or a sympathetic one who just wants to improve the lives of demigods?). A good example of this is his relationship with Annabeth. He abruptly started caring about Annabeth in Book 3 after ordering her to be killed a book before. Adding onto that is how he had no romantic interest in her before Book 5, but suddenly asked her if she did love him, with several characters in-universe later saying that question was asked romantically. Thus, sparking different interpretations of Luke's character that depends on what books you remember the most. (Credit to this post in particular for the ideas mentioned above: https://www.reddit.com/r/camphalfblood/comments/xkjwuk/my_many_problems_with_luke_castellan_pjo/ )
The previous long intro paragraph is mainly just to get into the topic of how Luke’s character could have been written to be more consistent throughout the series. I will be presenting my ideas for a more tragic/fallen hero type of antagonist that is sympathetic enough that more people may feel like he should have ended up in Elysium after earning “redemption” via committing murder/suicide. This will involve trying to lessen the crimes Luke committed and making him have a sadder backstory to try to achieve the sympathetic part of sympathetic villain. Of course, when I originally started thinking of posting this idea, I had mere bullet points featuring just motives. But then I realized this would actively change the plot of several books (which I didn’t originally want as I myself am not attempting to rewrite the plot of the books lol) in an attempt to make him not evil, and more of an antagonist. In the process, I also found myself realizing that my ideas only work in an alternate universe in which the side characters in the camp are more fleshed out and more of Percy’s time is spent at the camp so you care more about them. And care enough about them that you understand why some may join Kronos’ Army willingly. And just a side note, I found myself wishing that the characters were aged up. That the prophecy was at 18, and that Luke would be 22/23 when Annabeth and Percy were around 17/18. I suppose when you start writing about trauma, you start to not want to involve even younger ages than you have to.
But here you go, the overly elaborate and unnecessary rewrite:
Background/Before the books:
Thalia/Luke are around the same age and meet up a year or two after running away from their respective homes. They have the same adventures, meet up with Annabeth, run into Grover.
When Luke starts getting more aggressive with monsters after meeting Hermes in a bid to get recognized as a hero by him, Thalia tells him off for his reckless nature, as it would put Annabeth in danger and make it harder for Thalia to lead their trio. Luke agrees, promising to put his found family first, over his grudge against his father.
Annabeth is around 9, Luke and Thalia are around 15 when they come across Camp Half-Blood. Thalia sacrifices herself and becomes a tree.
Luke and Annabeth are distraught. Luke feels anger and loss acutely, but remembers his promise to Thalia about taking care of Annabeth. He splits his time in camp training to be stronger and taking care of Annabeth in an overprotective manner as he sees her as his last family member. The other camp members interact with Luke, trying to give him support and get him to ease up. They respect him a lot for being able to survive so long on the run with two other demigods. He eventually starts bonding with them, seeing them as like-minded people who have also suffered like him.
A year later, when Luke is 16, Hermes thinks that maybe giving Luke the glory that comes with a completed quest may stop him from going down a dark path. He gives Luke the quest of the golden apple, thinking that a quest of Hercules would be pretty glorious and that maybe stealing something would be right up his alley.
Luke takes two campers with him on the quest. A kid of Aphrodite/Apollo to try and see if they can sweet-talk Atlas (like Hercules) and an unclaimed kid from the Hermes cabin who Luke doesn’t necessarily get along with but recognizes their ability
He has misgivings about the quest being a repeat, but follows along with the excitement of his two buddies. The Aphrodite/Apollo kid dies before they make it to the garden, maybe in an indirect way because of the gods (like Bianca’s death in Titan’s Curse). The unclaimed kid dies saving Luke’s life while fighting Ladon. Luke is able to grab a claw of Ladon’s, but not an apple, failing his quest.
He ends up with a massive scar from his hairline down to chin that also blinds his right eye.
At the funeral of the unclaimed, they use a funeral shroud with the symbol of Camp Half-Blood or that of a knight defeating a dragon on it. Upon realizing that the kid would remain unclaimed, Luke feels even more anger at the thought that not even a glorious death at the gods’ bidding would get their parents to acknowledge them. He realizes the neglect of the minor gods and unclaimed kids in the camp runs deeper than he thought.
Half-blind, grieving, and upset that their losses were in vain for a repeat of Hercules' quest (one in which not even Hercules fought the dragon), Luke withdraws from people and stews in his anger.
At this point, Kronos appears in Luke’s dreams. At first Luke rejects Kronos because Kronos is also an immortal, but Kronos gains Luke’s attention by saying he knows a way to revive Thalia from the tree. That the gods knew all along that Thalia could be revived, but chose not to do so, instead giving Luke a pointless quest. With the promise of Thalia being brought back, Luke dreams of a world in which the demigods no longer have to obey the gods and die due to the gods’ neglect, and he can be happy with Annabeth and Thalia in Camp Halfblood. Half-blind, both literally and in resentment, Luke forges a deal with Kronos wherein Luke swears upon the River Styx to help resurrect Kronos while Kronos brings back Thalia and doesn’t hurt Annabeth. Kronos, arrogant enough to think a few mortals won’t hurt his plan, and uncaring of breaking an oath after he gets revived, agrees.
Luke starts preparing plans to revive Kronos. He is blinded by his wrath against the gods and doesn’t think of what exactly would happen post-downfall of Olympus, a topic Kronos doesn’t focus on. Kronos mainly feeds Luke’s short-term rage by triggering his protectiveness of the people he loves against the gods, and his latent resentment towards his father for not being present in his life and sending him on a useless quest. (Hermes did not think about the Golden Fleece’s potential effect on Thalia, not as cruel as Kronos portrays)
He continues to check in on Annabeth and socialize with campers, but he is no longer overprotective. Instead, he’s a little more distant as if he’s thinking of something important, and he is quicker to stew in resentment.
He learns to adapt his swordplay to adjust for his blind eye, but he is no longer as accomplished as he would have been with two eyes.
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Book 1 - Luke proves his loyalty to Kronos by stealing the lightning bolt and helm. He does not attack Percy at the end of the book, instead choosing to question the actions of the gods and their carelessness with their children’s lives. Obviously something will have to change foreshadowing wise to not make it so obvious to everyone that Luke is a traitor. As Percy is not yet 16, Kronos is aware the plan may not work, but uses it to test the personal lengths Luke will go for him, his luck with capturing Percy and turning him, as well as the bonds of the gods.
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Book 2 - Luke goes on to poison Thalia’s tree to get the camp to ask the Oracle where the fleece is. This time, Luke acts as a spy in the camp. In Luke’s place on the ship would be another demigod who was recruited, maybe Alabaster Torrington. Hermes still helps, as he hopes that getting the Golden Fleece may prevent Luke from his destiny. Events happen similarly enough except when Sirens happen, Annabeth sees a happier Luke and Thalia, and Annabeth and Percy talk about Luke’s anger becoming more apparent. Percy does the Iris Message, Alabaster reveals that Chiron was framed and their army poisoned the tree during the attack as Thalia is a major player. Chiron saves the trio from Kronos’ Army. Back at the camp, they put the golden fleece on Thalia’s tree. Luke and Percy are on guard at the tree when Thalia falls out. Luke’s hope of getting Thalia back is too much for him to remain stoic. He stares at her tree hopefully and is conveniently positioned to catch her as she falls out of the tree unconscious, saying now he won’t be alone. Percy, suspicious of Luke knowing Thalia will fall out and remembering how Annabeth had suspicions after Alabaster’s speech of someone on the inside of camp poisoning the tree, as well as inconsistencies with the lightning bolt theft, asks Luke how he knew Thalia will fall out of the tree. Luke confesses to the thefts and the poisoning, saying it was all for the greater good of demigods. Luke tries to convince Percy to his side but fails, causing Percy to challenge him to a duel. Luke wins, and he apologizes to Percy saying he must do what must be done even if there is some sacrifice, but Annabeth runs towards them, seeing a commotion. Luke tries to convince Annabeth but she yells at Luke for gambling Thalia’s life and putting them all in danger for Kronos. As Annabeth is about to take action, convinced Luke is mentally unwell and being controlled by Kronos, Luke uses Backbiter to teleport away to avoid a conflict with Annabeth and capture. He leaves Thalia to get medical care from the camp, confident that they will meet again later.
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Book 3 - The camp realizes that Thalia aged in real-time while in the tree, and was vaguely cognizant of being a tree. This places Thalia at 19/20 years of age, well over the age of 16, and thus not the half-blood mentioned in the prophecy based on a technicality. However, some people have doubts if tree-aging counts as real aging or not. Thalia learns of Luke’s betrayal and is shocked, but also is unusually quiet about it, not revealing her feelings. Atlas and Luke formulate a plan where Thorn kidnaps a Hunter or Percy, then they bait Artemis nearby, Luke takes over for Atlas, and then trick the person using magic/plot armor to take over for Luke, ultimately using Artemis’ sympathy for an innocent mortal to trick her to hold the sky. However, Thorn comes in with Annabeth, causing Luke distress as he didn’t want Annabeth to be involved. He holds up the sky for a longer time on his end so that when Annabeth holds the sky she is not on the brink of death but still severely exhausted, and Artemis can come in to save her. Luke angrily refuses Atlas’ insistence on killing her, saying they can use Annabeth as bait (trying to hide his true feelings of regret and self-hatred). Luke starts to feel regret as he realizes that a war will inevitably hurt Annabeth even if she is on a winning side (his side). War starts to feel like an actual looming threat with consequences, rather than just a means to the end. In the confrontation at the end of the book, Luke faces off against Thalia. Thalia questions why he turned and Luke argues that Thalia should join him as the gods never gave him a way to heal her tree, but Kronos did. They would have freedom under Kronos. (It’s apparent that in a bid to avoid the prophecy and unnecessary risks, those immortals with the necessary knowledge avoided the topic of the Golden Fleece.) Thalia is shocked but she holds her ground, arguing that while the gods are imperfect, there is a chance demigods can live, unlike Kronos who is cruel enough to kill them all by starting a war. Luke feels betrayed by Thalia and they come to blows, each saying that the other is brainwashed. Thalia wins, but is unable to bring herself to kill Luke due to their past history and the reveal he was motivated by her. Some monsters swoop in on the mountain as a distraction and Luke disappears. Thalia does not join the Hunters as she would like to live out her mortal life and relive the years she lost as a tree. She instead decides to live solo in New York and visit Annabeth for a while before going back to the camp, as while she is not a fan of the gods either, she will help them to prevent the deaths of demigods from war.
{Might as well change the Hunters of Artemis premise while I'm writing this. Change them to a group of hunters, all women at this time, who accept talented people who forswear worldly pleasures for the sake of the hunt. It is usually women who take up the role as historically men have had more opportunities to be free-spirited and hunt monsters on their own with no questions asked than women have. Exceptions are sometimes made for younger children who prove themselves to be talented and have nowhere else to go. During the manticore attack, Bianca realized she had some latent powers connected to the ground, but was saved by Annabeth before it could manifest completely. The others suspect she may be connected to Demeter somehow, but after reaching camp and hearing the rumors surrounding Percy and Thalia, she suspects that with her upbringing, there is more to the story than just being a child of Demeter. Thinking that the Hunters would provide a safe place for her and Nico to travel around the country, under the guidance of an Olympian, she tells Nico that they should join the Hunters. Nico disagrees as the camp has a more worldly atmosphere and he wouldn’t be able to play mythomagic with anyone in the Hunters. Bianca and Nico’s argument ends with Bianca angrily saying she’ll join without him, and she joins the quest in order to prove herself (and Nico) as talented enough to be a Huntress. But dies in the process of getting a toy as an apology for Nico.}
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Pre-Book 4: Luke finds Annabeth, on Thalia’s last day of visiting Annabeth. He asks Annabeth to run away with him and Thalia, and is rejected, as she is angry and doesn’t trust him after his trick with the sky. Annabeth closes the door, sure that Thalia will reject Luke again after their previous battle. He then leaves to ask Thalia. He is even more desperate and pleads for her to listen to him for old times’ sake. He expresses regret at following Kronos as he didn’t expect the reality of the sacrifice of war and that the future of what Kronos may lead him to do scares him. He wanted to help the campers but now he is in over his head, doomed to hurt them. Thalia proposes that they run away, just like old times, to escape the immortal beings chasing after them. (Thalia, still struggling to adjust to a new world after 5 years as a tree, one that is cruel and pits her against the first person who called her family outside of Jason, selfishly wants to keep the people she loves close by and not worry about the world). Luke hesitatingly tells Thalia about how he swore an oath to help Kronos in order to get Thalia back and keep Annabeth safe. Thalia says running away will just delay Kronos’ rise, technically not breaking the oath. They know that they run the chance of breaking the oath, but decide to try to reforge Luke’s broken destiny. Ultimately, on the run, they end up falling into one of Kronos’ traps for Luke to get him to accidentally break the oath - too lazy to think of how. The consequences are dire and the fates converge where Luke and Thalia are captured, Typhon’s seal is weakened (Percy later deals the final finishing blow to the seal), Luke is forced to bathe in the River Styx and become the host for Kronos. Whereas there might have been another way to get Kronos to rise, now Luke is doomed and fast tracked onto this plan. Somehow during this, Thalia is able to send a confusing, hurried Iris Message to Annabeth, mentioning a labyrinth.
Book 4 - Pretty much the same happens. Except Annabeth vacilates between being mad at Luke, mad at others for speaking the truth about Luke, and mad at herself for being mad with others, unable to properly grieve for Luke’s betrayal and Thalia’s absence which she suspects has to do with Luke. Thalia joins in for the Battle of the Labyrinth. After the battle she explains what happened and that Luke is now the host of Kronos, but she doesn’t know how he became one as they were separated when captured. Thalia is upset, wondering if demigods can truly live as their lives are always fated for something tragic, no matter what they try. Destiny always catches up with them.
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Book 5 - Pretty similar. Except Thalia joins in the fights more actively.
{Changing Silena’s backstory to be one where she felt alone at camp and like Ethan and some other unclaimed, she felt neglected by the gods. Luke’s charismatic nature and his words about a world in which she did not have to suffer their carelessness made her want to join his army. She served as a spy until Beckendorf’s death as she was willing to sacrifice everything, except her boyfriend, to make a peaceful world happen for demigods to live well. Kronos/Luke convinced her that she’s already committed to this, so she should continue to be a spy until the end to make Beckendorf’s death worth it. She goes along with it, but leaks less important information, growing more disenchanted until she decides to re-enact Patroclus, realizing that Kronos wouldn’t make that peaceful world happen.}
The ending throne scene is similar enough. When the Hera statue falls on Thalia, Thalia tells Annabeth that the oath Luke swore upon included a provision that would ensure Annabeth would not be harmed by Kronos (holding the sky was Luke hurting Annabeth). The trio leaves and face off against Kronos. Kronos is on the defensive against Annabeth, but by using his strength to throw her off, she whacks against the wall and reminds Luke about their broken family. Luke regains possession of his body, a combination of his willpower and the oath being broken, enabling him to ask Percy for the dagger. Percy originally deliberates, but upon realizing that Luke’s motives have always centered around Annabeth and Thalia, trusts Luke enough to hand him the dagger. Thalia enters right after Luke stabs himself. Luke apologizes to Thalia and Annabeth, asks Percy to make sure it doesn’t happen to others again, wishes Grover luck, and says that maybe in another life, he can make up for leaving their family behind. Then he dies. Same end scene with Percy and Annabeth. Since I changed Thalia’s character more (my theme for her was more centered around the fatal flaw of selfish personal loyalty and the consequences arising from that), I will also have to change her ending. Thalia is bitter about the fate of demigods, but she remains trucking towards the future. She sticks around at the camp, choosing to help go out and bring back young demigods to ensure that what happened to her, Annabeth, and Luke doesn’t happen again.
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Outtake 1: In Book 3, instead of having Annabeth hold the sky, it’s someone from Camp Half-Blood who Luke knows and accidentally kills when he is trying to kill Bessie. This makes the final scene with Annabeth make more sense as he never hurt her before, and also gives him a scene where he personally kills someone he had said he is protecting and has to deal with the consequences
Outtake 2: In Book 3, Thalia accidentally kicks Luke off a cliff. Luke is rejected by Annabeth on the proposal to run away (doesn’t ask Thalia because he doesn’t want to get kicked off a cliff again). Luke, in despair, rationalizes becoming Kronos’ host as a necessary sacrifice to save the demigods and reluctantly goes along with it. Sunk cost fallacy hits hard, guys. Presents a more dogmatic Luke who is ready to die for his ideals makes him a better antagonist I think.
A key piece of this rewrite was mainly changing it so that Luke doesn't really put Annabeth in mortal danger until Book 5 and he isn't so gung-ho about killing Percy, so that her bleeding in front of him hits him harder and his motive about helping campers makes sense. Changing his betrayal to be post-Lightening Thief and just having him not be sadistic in Sea of Monsters would work too.
Why change Thalia’s story beat? I thought the Hunters of Artemis was just a way to write her off so Percy is destined to be the chosen one, albeit a creative one. I don’t think it was a bad idea, Thalia probably does like hunting monsters and utilizing her powers. I just always liked the foreshadowing of Percy dooming the world for personal loyalty and the idea in the OG Greek myths that you cannot run away from destiny as you will make it worse. Percy never actually did run away from destiny nor put his friends and family first over the world, so seeing the consequences of a fatal flaw in action would be nice. The idea that with all the power that Thalia, the daughter of Zeus and a powerful demigod with good leadership capabilities has, she is still powerless when against destiny. A kind of ultimately hopeless story that the Greek myths are infamous for. I personally think it’s an interesting story at least. Adding that with the way she grew up, she and Luke were probably very close and thought the world of each other as they felt like the other was the first person on their side.
Technically speaking Hermes would also fit into the category of "powerful but unable to change fate." The few times he did try to help out Luke, he accidentally would make the situation worse. And he does know that as a god, he shouldn't interfere with fate.
Other story beats that would need to be focused on is that while the war is terrible, it isn’t exactly known if the gods would have started to change their behavior without it. It was the catalyst for Percy to be granted his boon. The gods aren’t necessarily evil, but their carelessness/neglect negatively affects demigods and something needs to be changed (especially since the demigods are in a democracy, not an old monarchy where they are used to being given orders and following them without a say). I guess a personal thought that I have is that I’m unsure how the demigods would have brought up to the gods a way to change the system. Kronos seemed like a better option to demigods as he would point out flaws in the current system, but he would never answer questions about the future. All Kronos cared about was revenge and taking back power, he would have used the demigods as pawns as well, and maybe end up killing them due to their connections to the gods. Kronos is direct cruelty with no hope for the power of leverage for change, while the gods have mostly indirect cruelty.
Some themes I tried to focus on: the road to hell is paved with good intentions, a lack of an adult support system preying upon the minds of kids, doing things for personal loyalty due to codependency arising from unstable childhoods, can’t escape destiny, revolutions are hard to manage, the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend if you don’t know all the facts, the harsh reality of spilling blood, change is hard to come by, resentment can cause you to be blinded to reality, trauma envelopes you if there is no help given
I tried to keep as much in line with the books as I could. I realize that this rewrite seems to take away Luke's agency, but really, helping Kronos and endangering people was his fault, even if he was manipulated. Just once he merged with Kronos, he had no agency until the ending. If you managed to reach the end of this monstrosity, thanks for reading!
