I actually really love the whole "I'd let it all burn". I get why people got hung up on that particular line, but the entire scene is fantastic. Yes, it's a testament of how much he loves Annabeth, but it isn't an out of the blue romantic expression. It's an oustandingly juicy exploration of Percy as a character.
That scene starts after Circe strips him down to show him his fatal flaw, theme that was been building up in previous episodes with the prophecy and Annabeth's fear of the "million little human choices." And even all the way to the first episode (Annabeth not being able to connect with her human side and Percy only being able to connect with it).
Percy, who has been an outcast everywhere he goes since he can remember, but had a mother that loved him through everything and therefore can't help but cling to everyone who accepts him, and love them and protect them as fiercely as Sally loved and protected him.
But he doesn't realize exactly to what extreme that applies until this very moment, and all these themes collide. Because that fundamental part of him that wouldn't hessitate to sacrifice it all for the ones he loves, is the part he got from Sally. His human side. And THAT, is also what Annabeth fears the most.
Annabeth, who rejects her human side and can only see the flawed part of it, (in great part because of what happened with Thalia) the unpredictability that can put her loved ones in danger and scares her to death. And Percy, who has only known being human and has being told he is flawed and a problem his entire childhood.
Without realizing, Annabeth dug into a very raw insecurity of Percy when she told him about her fear of all the little human choices.
(Hence: "Human choices, that's all I am")
This is what I loove: conflict that feels coherent because it's slowly build and it's created through unmovable traits of the characters. This is who Annabeth is and this is who Percy is. And they can't help but collide.
This is Percy telling Annabeth "You were right, human choices are a danger, but that's all I know how to be and now I'm too scared of what I could do. I'm scared I'm a danger to the world."
A very cool interpretation of the prophecy paradox in the original acient myths and why fate seems unmovable is that they speak on these kind of fundamental traits of the heroes. The course of events were a result of their own character, and they always failed because they tried to change it: they tried to change who they were. It never worked. Trying to betray themselves only trapped them in the same cycle.
I can't wait to see how this keeps being explored.
andulkaphoto
origamiaround
theartofmadeline
jbbartram-illu
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
