the jason/piper breakup and jason’s subsequent death
it is a long and angry post so you have been warned
I’m really sick of seeing Jason Grace/Piper McLean slander in their own tag, and I’m really, really sick of seeing people justify their breakup/his death as good writing.
As I’ve been studying literature and text for the past four years at Uni- I can say with absolute confidence that The Burning Maze utilizing Jason and Piper was horrible. Like a bag of shit mixed together then smeared on paper and published kind of horrible. Actually, you don’t even really need a degree to be able to point out the very basic absurdity of them appearing in TBM. So even though I have a paper due on a completely unrelated topic and a lot of homework, I naturally decided this was a much better thing to write about:
Maybe in another world, Rick’s ghostwriters will be better at writing his books. The reason why the Jason/Piper breakup was extremely confusing and done very poorly in the sense of their character arcs was that there was no buildup to the breakup. In fact, I think these two got together off-screen and broke up off-screen. Yet, I’m sure Riordan sat at his desk thinking “now why don’t people just like Jason and Piper?? I give them so much!” Actually, you gave them nothing. It’s also considerably easy to disguise their breakup as logical when it isn’t. Now, people will argue that the basic foundation of the relationship was poorly made because of Hera’s meddling and that’s why they broke up. This is a lazy way to think about it because it’s obvious you don’t care about the characters so you should just say that and go. Hera’s meddling (putting false memories of Jason in Piper’s head and wiping Jason’s brain) really only gave Piper a vague notion of Jason (based on real attributes the Mist pulls) and also gave PERCY and Jason multiple relationships after the switcheroo. But Piper actually meets Jason and then has a subsequent breakdown that maybe he’s not her boyfriend. However, once she gets to know the real Jason (very accurate to the one she knew in her memories because Aphrodite said she could sense real possibilities hinting at their romance), she is still developing romantic feelings for him. It’s implied that the reason why Piper is falling so fast is because the memories she has of Jason are based on the real Jason. It’s easy to establish that Piper has real romantic feelings for Jason, not the made up Jason because the majority of TLH is them getting to know each other. If she felt like there was some confusion on her part about developing feelings for him because of Hera switching Percy and Jason- why did it not come up EVER? The months where Jason and Piper started dating. How about that long ass quest on the Argo? It could have been a valid plot line but it never came up. If it had come up near the end of the series or maybe even if it was a small subplot in the series, it would make the breakup logical, at least narratively. But no, we end Blood of Olympus with Jason and Piper coming full circle with the moment in the stars. Flash forward three years later to TBM where everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) about Piper and Jason are thrown into the trash. They’re broken up due to the false memories and overall I guess it’s implied Piper doesn’t have feelings for him anymore or something? Or the trauma of being in something like that prophecy was a lot for her to handle and she needed some time to figure things out? Yeah of course! Just like when she will go through another trauma (Jason dying for her) and start dating someone new right after. This would be so much easier to read and digest if these things are shown- in their own series and maybe not as a side thing to Apollo’s series. Reading it in TOA was completely out of left field. I know SO MANY PEOPLE were like that makes so much sense! Good for you Piper! But I was like girl, who are you? I feel like I have not spent any time with you and none of what you’re saying is connecting to anything you were like before. Which leads me to believe people just did not like Piper in HOO but just say that and go. HOO Piper is not TBM/TOA Piper. RR doesn’t know how to characterize his own goddamn characters. Furthermore, everything in canon up until TBM implies and directly states that Jason and Piper are endgame. It’s not to say they didn’t have problems that were resolved or that the way they got together was conventional. There was not even a smidge bit of reluctance to admit they were canon endgame- I think RR even had Cupid involved. There was no prediction or even hint of what would happen in TBM in HOO, which is a very big narrative problem. Jason, always isolated by loved ones and quite frankly always shouldering way more than a human can handle dies exactly the way he suffers. There is no growth or even a small lovely moment where we can see Jason.
This brings me to the most unnecessary death I’ve ever read in my life. I know RR’s ego hurt from the complaints about Jason/Piper/Frank/Hazel/Leo (basically a non-Percabeth character) being underdeveloped. I know his ego was fucked when he “killed” Leo but didn’t really kill Leo so everyone was like what the fuck. I know he wanted to prove he is a good writer but like any other bad writer, he decided to jump the shark. And I know he wanted Jason and Piper to be more likable but the fandom really wanted a Leo-esque character. The breakup really happened because he wanted to demonstrate to critics that he could live with couples not being endgame and knew Jasiper was relatively unpopular compared to Percabeth/Caleo/etc. He wasn’t thinking in terms of ‘does this fit what I’ve created’ but in terms of ‘people might be like oh shit this is violent and they’re finally gone!’. I don’t know what idiotic thought process made him reach the point of killing one of them but he obviously got there. See, there is no difference between Jason or Piper dying in TBM. It could’ve easily been Piper who was impaled by Caligula and reminded Apollo “what it’s like to be human”. They were made *that* insignificant in TBM. Pretty much fucking interchangeable. IN DEATH. It also could’ve been anybody else in the world. It could’ve been that cheerleader from The Battle of the Labyrinth. It could’ve been Piper’s dad. It could have been Sally Jackson. Not a single part of Jason’s death was really related to Jason or his growth. Jason was the main/lead from HOO and if he was destined to die (which he wasn’t because RR doesn’t think anything through anymore), he should have died in his own series. That would make his sacrifice more compelling and important, but dying in TOA is just a big fuck you to his character. I think the only equivalent I can think of is if HOO had solely been Jason’s series but RR pulled up Percy to simply kill him and then just kept writing. What the fuck does TOA have anything to do with Jason or Piper? Or even Leo? I usually love when characters make cameo appearances to remind us of the past we loved them in. Kind of like when Lynda Carter appeared as Asteria in WW1984. Conversely, involving them in the plot and then using them as a plot device for the main character- AKA USING YOUR MAIN CHARACTER AS A PLOT DEVICE FOR ANOTHER MAIN CHARACTER IN A SEPARATE SERIES- is not only dumb but it truly makes everything else you’ve written for the first main character devoid of any real significance. Jason was never a fully fleshed-out character, the way he deserved to be written, because RR couldn’t world build as well as he thought and that ‘every single character gets a POV’ didn’t do the legendary thing he thought it did. However, anything that mattered about Jason was pretty much killed in TBM because he was easily killed by a villain that was not even remotely interested in Jason or aware of his existence. What does FUCK does Caligula mean to Jason? Nothing. Did the final battle create a full circle for Jason other than the line “remember?” which is not really related to his amnesia- no. His character arc was about an identity crisis- being pushed and pulled in two directions. Jason barely means anything to Apollo so RR using Jason as a convenient kill to send home a message is also shitty for Apollo. Lead hero characters can die- they sometimes just have to. Marissa Cooper’s death in the OC narratively makes sense due to the nature of the character being a damsel in distress from the very beginning- a foil to her counterpart, Ryan Atwood. But in this case, RR knew he had to shock people to keep getting $$$. I never got the impression RR cared about Jason or Piper, especially since he was incredibly disrespectful and lazy when writing about Piper. (For that- I can link really detailed posts explaining his racism). The truth is Riordan cannot live without putting his characters in relationships- Frazel, Caleo, Tyson/Ella (?), Hedge/Mellie- but he wanted to prove that he could which is why Jasiper broke up.
Piper’s girlfriend in TON- I didn’t read TON for the reasons above and I don’t think I’ll ever read a Riordan book again: I did find out that Piper gets a GF in TON which at first I thought was incredibly neat but then later became angry when I learned it was only months after Jason’s death? I have always wanted Piper to explore her sexuality but RR has this case of never giving important things the development it deserves. He’s incredibly messy and inconsistent when he creates lgbtqia+ characters, usually only including them so he can get credit for including them. He’s never actually explored Piper’s sexuality fully in the series, but he threw her in yet another relationship we didn’t get to read about right after she was almost beaten to death and then witnessed the murder of her ex-boyfriend. If you think that is representation, please rethink that. We don’t get to hear her talk about anything at all, except maybe mentioning the girl’s name. A subtle hint. Just representation is not good representation and it is right that we demand better representation. Don’t settle for less. For fuck’s sake, Riverdale is only really good at queerbaiting but they get so much praise. (Do they? At this point I can’t tell). If we wanted to explore Piper’s sexuality, it could have been done while she was with Jason or even broken up with him in her own series- why didn’t RR explore the nature of being lgbtqia+ in an Indigenous family? He had the chance to demonstrate an awareness of intersectionality through Piper but he fucked up. He had so much to write about. So, people who are yelling happily about that Piper appearance in TON-???
This was long and frustrating to write. But I had feelings.
“If I could go back and rewrite our stories I think I would rip out all the pages where you become the h e r o. I know that you might hate me for robbing you of what could have been: the glories the adventures the challenges the legends– But at least you might still be here. At least we might still be happy.”
— but I guess I was never much of a writer ( j.p. )
some jason and piper … i have this idea of piper using those pony beads on jason’s air forces as one of those cute couple things idk! i’m in denial about the burning maze can you tell… anyways they’re such a comfort pair for me i do adore them a lot
i actually don’t rlly know what jason looks like but here’s my take on him :>
I am under a very heavy nostalgia lately, so I just keep on drawing things that I haven’t for a while;; If you’d like to see a process video for this one, here’s the link:”D
Would you ever consider making a post about why you ship jasiper and why its awesome? I see so much crap about them (that rarely makes sense) and you word things so nicely! unless you already have post like that or are too busy! please and thank you!
disclaimer: you don’t have to ship this couple, just please don’t mindlessly hate them because they are not percabeth
So in this hp au what houses are these losers in? Is Jason newly appointed to prefect? How long has Piper been a trouble maker? Is is just to screw with Jason? How long until he angrily confronts her for making his job hell and she blushes because he's very close to her and damn is he cute when he's frustrated?
…….i hope you don’t mind me posting this because–
imagine newly appointed gryffindor prefect jason grace, kind of struggling to keep on top of his studies and quidditch practice (this boy is a natural flier, honestly–he’s aiming for team captain) and prefect duties, which include nightly patrols. thalia’s letters always come with a “only someone as brave or stupid as you would try doing all those things at one time” and he kind of takes it as a compliment. and yes, he takes all things seriously, particularly the prefect bit, because, hey! now he has more power to stop bullies! (and he has always, always hated bullies, and has no qualms about standing up to them).
now ALSO imagine: resident prankster piper mclean, who traded her nervous insecurity for pride in her place the moment she got sorted into slytherin. that pride comes in so many forms, but most of all seems to be pride in how much she can make people laugh, feel better–no cheer up charms necessary (though, nobody would be at all surprised if she’d mastered a few of those. she is the best at charms in her year for a REASON) (the pranks. she puts those charms to use in every new, daring, ambitious stunt she pulls). but here’s the thing: piper hates bullies with the same kind of fervour jason does. she likes to make people LAUGH, and anyone doing the opposite, on PURPOSE especially? man, are they in trouble with her later.
and that’s where the problem lies. jason’s only been prefect for three weeks (three! and already he’s neck deep!) when he starts to realize he’s bitten off more than he can chew with trying to catch piper at this.
the first few pranks are, fair enough, tame. a few gibberish related jinxes, a few well aimed hair growth charms (travis deserved it for accidentally chopping one of her braids off, honestly), little spells that made fruit sing obscenely loud in the great hall to wake students up at breakfast. minor inconveniences jason and the other prefects could correct (bar percy; he just LAUGHED. annabeth was deeply unimpressed with the high fiving, especially since now clovis is a little frightened of oranges). but then there are instances where jason has to pry fighting students apart, glare and talk the situation down until it’s okay–and hours later, he’ll find the aggressor of that situation in the hospital wing with feathers shooting out their nose, or dancing violent looking jigs uncontrollably, or speaking in nothing but shrill french. and THAT is when he knows piper is involved.
and to be quite honest, he’s torn between laughing and being unbelievably pissed off. yes, they deserved it, but no, she shouldn’t be doing this. she could get in trouble. BIG “we’re writing to your father to say you’re going to be suspended” kind of trouble. so when dylan mysteriously walks past him in the halls one night during his patrol, with fruit SHOVED up his nose by some unholy magical means, he knows he has to put a stop to it. she’s pranking people from her own house, and it’s only going to end WORSE for her.
so he goes to find her, and yep, he DEFINITELY confronts her. no WAY is he giving piper a chance to disarm him with a joke, because if he laughs, he’s screwed and she knows she’s out of trouble. nope. not tonight, mclean. but he doesn’t find her cackling away at her prank, he doesn’t find her prepping for a new one. he finds her comforting a first year lacy, wiping away tears and speaking softly.“dylan is the kind of slytherin that gives the rest of us a bad name. you’re not a blood traitor, and he’s learned his lesson now. if he HASN’T, i think i might try shoving a watermelon up his nose. there’s enough room left in that empty head of his, eh?”
and he laughs. damnit, he was supposed to be firm and authoritative and–not giggling at that image. but piper looks up, sighs because she knows it’s time for their usual “STOP MAKING MY JOB HELL, MCLEAN” discussion, and waves a teary, but smiling, lacy away.
and he’s going to give her detention. he’s GOING to. he SHOULD–
“you know, you’re supposed to tell the teachers or prefects if someone is bullying another student.”“mhm, like anyone cares if a slytherin is being picked on.”“…i care. you know that. or does that matter less than forcing fruit up nostrils?”“then actually do something about him, grace.”“if it’ll stop you doing it yourself, fine. next time, i’ll fruit him–got any oranges?”
and she laughs. despite herself, she laughs. he’s an idiot. but sincere enough that she knows he’ll either actually take to aggressively fruit salad-ing bullies, or talk to dylan about THIS later.
“and here i thought you were going to put me into detention, grace”“why, do you want me to punish you?” (cue jason going beet red when he realizes what he just said, and piper just SMIRKS) “…no. wait, that came out wrong–”“ooh, is that what you’re into?”“MCLEAN, I SWEAR TO GODRIC….”
and yep, he is damn cute when he’s frustrated. piper hopes she isn’t blushing like he is now.
pjo hogwarts!au for my wife’s birthday<3 featuring: post-battle grief, quidditch, leo being a little shit, slytherin captain/big brother!percy and last, but not least, jasiper.
“You punched him. Twice. Got yourself banned from playing Quidditch for the rest of the term. Mister. Grace.” If Professor Lupa’s voice dropped any lower, Jason is sure it would have sounded like a growl. But Jason doesn’t intimidate easily–does anyone in his place? One word to his father about this would have her sacked from her position. But that thought doesn’t even cross Jason’s mind, and all thoughts like it, no matter how mild in bitterness or how rage-satisfying they might be, would stay out of this boy’s brain. Jason was not one to abuse his power. Ever.
Maybe punching Octavian and calling it ‘upholding school values’ had been a little…unnecessary. It had made Percy laugh, and had certainly knocked the little wart back on his ass. Piper, however, hadn’t reacted, but she had eyes full of angry tears at the time, and that more than anything, was what had guided his knuckles right into Octavian’s nose.
the way r*ck thought he did something by breaking up Jason and Piper..... dude if you wanted to show a relationship that was forged only to cope up with the trauma of a war when in actuality the couple are better off as friends.... Frank and Hazel were just there....
also if some author really put attention to his work and didn't mess up plot points and timelines and just like used basic common sense he'd realise that he didn't have to k*ll off Jason, a character he gave no personality in the first place, so he could have his former girlfriend get a girlfriend as a... consolation gift to the fandom when he's shut down criticism of so much misrepresentation from people of colour and queer folks before. Jason didn't have to die for you to make Piper being a bisexual a plot point man. She could've been in a relationship with him and a proud bi...
This is why y'all should delete canon from your memory and read the greatest pjo fic of all time
13. “Are you going to keep pacing outside my door, or are you coming in?”
20. “I… am uncomfortably aroused.”
i am still marinating on 37... but i won’t forget it. 👀
Jason was early. Too early. Embarrassingly early. If he knocked on her door now, she would probably think he was crazy. And she'd be right. Jason had absolutely lost his mind.
Ten more minutes. If he waited ten minutes he would no longer be too early and simply be early. Politely early. Considering he'd already been standing outside her door for ten minutes, that would mean his crazy ass had been out there for a full twenty minutes before he announced his presence. Jason had to fight the instinct to pull out his phone and text Thalia to ask her which would be worse – his being too early or the waiting awkwardly outside Piper’s door for twenty minutes. He'd already had to ask his sister too many dumb questions, though. His pride could not survive another.
There ended up being no time for him to decide, though, because at that moment Piper's front door opened and Jason found himself standing face to face with her. His heart jumped into his throat as he took her in. Piper had braided her hair down either side of her face, wisps already falling loose. That evening she had dressed simply, in a pair of jeans and a royal purple, thick knit sweater. Jason's favorite color. He doubted it was a coincidence.
"Are you going to keep pacing outside my door, or are you coming in?"
"Saw that, did you?" he replied, trying to fight the blush creeping up his neck.
Piper nodded, her lips pressed into a tight line. "I heard something and decided to check the peephole. How long have you been out here?"
"Not long." A lie, and an obvious one at that, based on the way she laughed. "If you're not ready, I can wait."
"Do I not look ready?" she asked, and it felt like she was teasing, but he didn't know her well enough to be entirely sure.
"No," he quickly corrected. "No, you look…" And then his heart was stuck in his throat again, because Jason didn't know how to tell this woman he'd known for all of two weeks that she was the most beautiful person he’d ever met.
Offering him her hand, Piper finally smiled, shoulders shaking in a silent laugh. “Come in already, you weirdo.”
“Are you sure you should be letting a weirdo into your apartment?” he asked, slipping his hand into hers and allowing her to lead him inside. Just holding her hand had his heart racing, something he couldn’t remember happening even when he’d been a middle schooler.
“Probably not, actually,” she said with playful severity. The door closed behind him and Jason stopped to slip off his shoes and remove his jacket, then Piper claimed his hand again, threading her fingers through his. “It might be a good idea for you to go.”
Even though, again, he was pretty sure she only meant to tease him, he might have actually doubted himself if she didn’t immediately tug him toward the living room once his shoes were off. “Too late, you already let me in.”
She hummed softly, the corners of her lips turned up into a surprisingly shy smile. “I guess I’ll have to take my chances, then.”
They settled together on the couch, Piper curled against his side, and he really hoped she couldn’t feel the way his heart pounded. Piper had already queued up their first movie for the night – ET, because she’d told him she’d never seen it and Jason found that personally offensive. Almost immediately she was talking, commenting on everything and anything that came to mind. He’d seen the movie enough that he didn’t mind the running commentary.
Actually, he found his attention on Piper more than the movie in general. Jason liked watching her talk. Her face was so expressive, brow, nose and lips quirking and scrunching in slightly different ways with every thought. He could tell she wasn’t enjoying the film about halfway through, even though she hadn’t expressed a single complaint verbally, and there was something refreshing about her openness. It disarmed him, and it kind of scared him, but the kind of disarming and scary that had Jason wanting to jump head first into her.
“Jason,” she said, when her very obvious boredom had reached a boiling point, “are you going to wait until the day after our date to kiss me again?”
If that was where her mind went when she got bored, Jason didn’t think he would mind if she found him absolutely drab. “No.”
Piper’s eyes narrowed, her body shifting toward him. “I’m not sure I bel–”
He didn’t let her finish the thought before he leaned in and put his lips to hers. Just like the first time, a quiet sound of contentment sounded in the back of her throat, which served to encourage him. Jason inched closer to her, his hand coming up to her neck as his other arm pulled her a little closer. Her lips tasted faintly of cherries and the more he got of them, the more he realized he would never get enough. It was more than just the taste or feel of her mouth, though – it was how she leaned into him, her hand resting on his chest, the brush of her nose against his.
“Sorry for doubting you,” Piper whispered when they finally parted. Her breaths came in short puffs, hot against his skin. He definitely hadn’t gotten enough.
Jason smiled, resting his forehead against hers. “I kind of deserved it.”
“You kind of did,” she agreed, the sound of her giggle the sweetest thing he’d ever heard.
In a rush of courage inspired by that sound and the warmth that had settled in his chest, Jason said, “Can I ask you something, Pipes?”
A frown formed on her lips as she sat back scanned his face. Jason still didn’t know exactly how to read her expressions, but he felt like he’d said something wrong. Piper took a deep breath and nodded before he could even form the apology on his lips, though. “Yeah. Anything.”
“I, uh,” he started, that bravery fading almost instantly in the wake of her confusing frown. Still, he powered through, deciding to finish what he’d started. “I don’t exactly know what the etiquette for this is, because it’s been a long time since I’ve even thought about it.”
“The etiquette,” Piper said softly, her hand dropping to his thigh. That was a dangerous position, but when he tensed, she noticed, drawing it back and quirking an eyebrow at him. “For what?”
“I know this is only our second date,” he started, trying to find the words to express himself from another angle. It was annoyingly difficult, and his face already felt warm from the embarrassment. Piper watched him closely, trying to discern his train of thought without rushing him. “It’s just that I– I really like you, and I want to keep doing this – seeing each other, I mean, going out with you, or staying in. I’m just wondering, because I’m not… I’m not seeing anyone else…”
Piper reached for his hand, once again threading their fingers together. The credits to their movie played in the background, but neither of them moved to turn it off. “Are you asking if this is exclusive?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, relieved that she understood and that her smile had returned. “If you’re not ready for that, it’s fine, I don’t mind see–”
This time she cut him off, catching his lips in a way that was more smile than kiss, and he could hear her giggling into it. For once Jason didn’t mind her pulling away relatively quickly, if only because he still felt so nervous about her response. “I’m not seeing anyone else, either, and I really don’t want to.”
A tightness in his chest began to fade, and Jason wasn’t sure whether it had developed over the course of that conversation or if it had been there all his life. He breathed another sigh of relief, tilting his forehead against hers again and smiling. “Good.”
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