What do you think are the major key differences between pre-HOO Praetor Jason Grace, HOO Jason Grace and post-HOO Jason Grace? Thematically, character-wise, personality-wise, and/or headcanon-wise? And.... What do you think about Octavian, Reyna and Jason being a trio before the whole amnesia mess? (I headcanon Octavian and Jason to have been very good friends, like brothers, who slowly drifted apart due to ideological differences which later evolved to resentment. Also that, as a trio, Octavian and Reyna always butted heads, and Jason acted a mediator). I think them being a trio would be beautifully tragic. What about Jason's powers? What do you think- did being a champion of Juno grant him special abilities or heavily influence his character and personality? What do you think of his political position in Camp Jupiter? How do you think the campers reacted differently to their two praetors- Jason and Reyna? Their reactions, receiving, etc.? (Sorry for bothering you! Most of my questions wer heavily fanon-tainted, but I really am pissed at canon when it comes to the vagueness of the Camp Jupiter characters. Fanon's fun. But I would so LOVE to see your insights and opinions! Please do share!)
First of all, anon, I would like to deeply apologize for how long I took to answer this. I usually look at questions like this and think; “Okay, I want to really take my time answering that,” and just forget about it, lmao, but I will try to answer it all for you now.
TOA spoilers and answers below;
I just got done writing a character analysis paper on Jason through the lens of multiple psychological theories, so this is going to be a little influenced by that.
What do you think are the major key differences between pre-HOO Praetor Jason Grace, HOO Jason Grace and post-HOO Jason Grace? Thematically, character-wise, personality-wise, and/or headcanon-wise?
I think one of the major differences between pre-HOO Jason, HOO Jason, and post-HOO Jason, is definitely his sense of self. I didn’t get to talk about this specific theory in my paper, but James Marcia has an interesting theory on identity development which includes a few stages, those being Identity Diffusion (People who have never explored options, or made a commitment to an identity), Identity Foreclosure (those who made a commitment to an identity without ever exploring other options), Identity Moratorium (those who are exploring identity without commitment just yet), and finally Identity Achievement (Those who, after exploration, have made a commitment).
I think there is a very likely possibility that if Jason had never lost his memory and gone to Camp Half-Blood, he would be damned to Identity Foreclosure, imo. He was just surrounded by too many influences who were pressuring him to be a certain way (take leadership roles, become a great hero, etc.) from such a critical development period (toddlerhood), I seriously think him losing his memory and being taken to Camp changed his whole life trajectory.
We see him exploring his identity in House of Hades, when he states this; “...in his heart he wanted to be at Camp Half-Blood. The months he’d spent there with Piper and Leo had felt more satisfying, more right than all his years at Camp Jupiter.” (Riordan 2013, p. 264), showing signs of him being in Identity Moratorium, and then later in BOO, he seems to have experienced some semblance of Identity achievement when he decides to become Pontifex (Riordan 2014, p. 283), and when he states that he is both “a child of Greece and Rome” (Riordan 2014, p. 42-43).
However, I have always thought that it is subtextually to be inferred that Jason has experienced a sort of identity regression when we see him in TOA. It’s stated that Jason’s hair, which was described to have grown out and become wild during HOO, symbolizing his changing identity(Riordan, p.195), is cropped short again (Riordan 2018, p.133). He also seems to have lost his sense of purpose after despairing due to the prophecy he gets, bequeathing it to Apollo instead (Riordan 2018,p.142).
What do you think about Octavian, Reyna and Jason being a trio before the whole amnesia mess? (I headcanon Octavian and Jason to have been very good friends, like brothers, who slowly drifted apart due to ideological differences which later evolved to resentment. Also that, as a trio, Octavian and Reyna always butted heads, and Jason acted as mediator). I think them being a trio would be beautifully tragic.
I really like this idea. I, like you, think it’s really unfortunate that Rick didn’t build upon Camp Jupiter or its characters more. Really some of the only things we get from Jason about Octavian canonically is that he joins Percy in dunking on him as soon as he gets back to Camp Jupiter (Riordan 2012, p. 18), and he knows Octavian is dangerous/powerful (Riordan 2012, p. 70). It’s a missed opportunity imo, and it also doesn’t make sense that Jason doesn’t seem to know him at all, because it's stated that Octavian’s family is known to be wealthy and powerful in New Rome (Riordan 2014, p.73), and Octavian clearly knows who Jason is (Riordan 2011,p.23).
As for Jason being their mediator, I would believe it, as it was his nature (Riordan 2014, p.25-26).
What about Jason's powers? What do you think- did being a champion of Juno grant him special abilities or heavily influence his character and personality?
I think Jason’s powers were undermined in favor of Percy’s, but that was a writing choice. I also think being a champion of Juno would probably just add to the pressure Jason was already dealing with from other power structures in his life. I am curious though if Jason seeming to have a more positive or reverent view of the gods was influenced by his status as Champion of Juno. I do think it is interesting that, at least after he regains his memory, compared to other characters, Jason typically only really expresses mild frustration or agitation at the gods, rather than anger or wrath like Percy or other characters (Hazel, Frank, his own sister,Thalia,etc.).
What do you think of his political position in Camp Jupiter? How do you think the campers reacted differently to their two praetors- Jason and Reyna?
I think we can infer that out of the two, Jason would be the one you would want to talk to more, lol. Hazel says about him; ““You… the great Jason Grace… the praetor I looked up to. You were supposed to be so fair, such a good leader” (Riordan 2012 p. 86)-and yes, I am aware she is reading him to filth here, lmao- but I think the implication is that he had a good reputation. He was thought of as amiable and just, and probably pretty reluctant to actually do any disciplining because he didn’t really want the job in the first place lol (Riordan 2014, p.39).
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