Okay, by popular demand I am going to breakdown the challenges of Tartarus! Specifically how those challenges could apply to one William Andrew Solace! This might be something I do in multiple parts if I miss something or I want to take a break.
Right off the bat we haveĀ
Iām bringing this up because our boy likes wearing sandals and if he does that when travelling to Tartarus heās gonna have a Bad Time. Hopefully, Nico makes sure to remind Will to wear actual shoes. Preferably ones that donāt melt in hundred degree weather.Ā
2. Air thatās sulfuric and acidic and super hot and hard to breathe. Not to mention smelly. Someone once mentioned that perhaps Tartarus smells like whatever is least appealing to you. Annabeth smelled rotten eggs, Percy said it smelled like Smelly Gabe.Ā
Now, the heat might actually be where Will comes in handy. Unlike Nico who can to an extent control the cold and give things around him a bit of frostbite, Will is the son of a sun god. He probably has a bit of heat resistance. (Kinda like Magnus Chase if youāve read that trilogy.) He might even have a lot of heat resistance. Although, Tartarus heat is surely different from regular sunlight so maybe he wonāt have any resistance at all. Plus, heat resistance doesnāt necessarily equate to acid resistance. Itās just nice to imagine the air wonāt be as painful for him as it was for Annabeth and Percy.Ā
The smell thing would be more annoying than deadly, so I wonāt spend time on theorizing all the different awful things Will might smell. Just picture the worst smell ever and magnify it by 1,000x.
3. Thereās no healing in Tartarus. Actually, the opposite. Wounds that arenāt completely healed already will get worse.Ā
Does this mean Willās healing abilities wonāt work? Probably not. And thatās kind of, like, his main thing, what he prides himself in, his strongest skillset, etc. Heās The Head Healer of the camp. Of course this is all theoretical. Perhaps Will is a good enough healer that with significantly more effort he can muster up a little something to help. (You could argue he heals by singing hymns of Apollo and Apolloās powers donāt extend to Tartarus. But by that logic his healing shouldāve been put on hold when Apollo became mortal. No, his powers are his own and not reliant on his dad. Nevertheless, they might not work in Tartarus.)
That said! Even without magic healing, even if he finds hymns and ambrosia and nectar and magic do little to nothing to heal someone, heās still a medic! He can wrap up a wound, make a splint, do basic mortal first aid. Stuff like that is invaluable knowledge to have in Tartarus.
4. Letās talk rivers. TheĀ five rivers that run through the Underworld- the Lethe, the Styx, the Cocytus, the Phlegethon, and the Acheron, all flow into the heart of Tartarus.
Cocytus, the River of Lamentation. Itās pure misery. Itās freezing cold and hypothermia could kill someone if they donāt decide to give up and drown first. Now, Will and Nico might not have to worry about that river. Unless maybe they needed to escape a monster or something.Ā
I do think swimming in pure misery might be too much for Will. I think this is an instance Nico would be the one to really save them because Nico has lived in total misery and survived. Misery herself said he was āperfect.ā (Iāll come back to her later.) Then again, maybe being in a better mental state and of better mental health would help Will. After all, the river lost power when Annabeth gave a simple laugh of pleasure. Perhaps Will determined to keep the situation optimistic for the sake of Nico might save them.
But again, I donāt see why theyād have to swim in it in the first place.
The Phlegethon, River of Fire. This is the one river theyād absolutely have to worry about. Drinking the fire is the one way Tartarus allows someone to heal. Itās not a pleasant experience. Itās disgusting and super spicy. And Will is white af so, like, itās gonna be difficult for him on every level. Although, again, being the son of Apollo could give him a little heat resistance that might help. Maybe.
Will, in the mindset of a healer, I imagine would try to bottle or contain some of the fire to help with healing later on, particularly if he realized things like nectar and ambrosia donāt work.
The Lethe, River of Forgetfulness. Hopefully they would avoid this river altogether. After all, Nico has been dipped in the Lethe once, he knows getting those memories back is a pain.Ā
The River Styx. Used to cool stygian iron and make it invulnerable. Itās filled with lost hopes and dreams and wishes that never came true. If you bathe in the river and survive, you get the curse of Achilles. Invulnerable except for one small spot.
I can only imagine theyād really need to worry about this river if Nico or Will wanted the curse of Achilles. Will actually has a living mom who could give him the needed blessing to survive, so I mean, itās possible. Iād imagine it as more an emergency backup plan than something Will wants to do, though. Andddd I guess the ghost of Maria di Angelo could maybe give Nico her blessing? I donāt know if that counts. I also donāt know if Maria would willingly give Nico her blessing. She knows too much about how the Underworld works. She wouldnāt want her son to take that risk. Itād be a lot easier to convince/trick/persuade Naomi Solace to give a blessing instead. But swimming in the Styx isnāt something you do unless youāre desperate. LikeĀ āOh no my boyfriend is going to die unless I become invulnerable in the next two minutes.ā
Acheron, River of Pain. The fifth river. This river is used as punishment for the worst of the worst, particularly murderers. It calls out to you, draws you in, tries to convince you to jump into the river and live in eternal pain. When Annabeth heard it, the guilt of all the people she couldnāt save and everyone who died for her called out... It was hard to resist caving into the guilt of being aĀ āmurdererā even indirectly.Ā
Will Solace would definitely struggle if he got close to this river. Heās lost at least three siblings, (Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, and at least one unnamed child of Apollo we know of) probably more. Heās lost a lot of friends, and there were a lot of people he as a medic couldnāt save. The river would say things likeĀ āIf you were any decent healer they wouldnāt have died, itās all your fault.ā OrĀ āIf you knew how to fight better then maybe you couldāve stopped them from getting hurt.ā Hearing stuff like that in the voices of Michael or Lee... Yeah, that would suck.Ā
Also worth mentioning, Nico has murdered people since the last time he was in Tartarus. The river might call out to him more intensely compared to the last time he visited. Just saying.Ā
Okay, enough about rivers. Letās move on.
This one is obvious but every single monster from Greek mythology reforms in Tartarus. So even when you kill a monster itāll immediately begin to reform, slowly but surely. (Hopefully it takes quite a while. Hopefully.)Ā
Going through every single monster ever in Greek mythology could be a whole book by itself so I wonāt try making a list, but if itās Greek and a monster rest assured Will might fight it.
Good news, monsters canāt smell demigods as well as they can on the surface. Sneaking around and hiding should be a lot easier, especially since monsters arenāt expecting or looking for anyone whoās not a monster.
6. General darkness. Multiple places in Tartarus are dark with little to no light.Ā
If you read ToN or just keep up with the news, youāll know that Will Solace glows! And he can glow pretty dang bright when he wants to! So, maybe thatāll be super helpful! Or maybe his light will somehow get sucked up and snuffed out by the darkness altogether. Or maybe if he glows by accident heāll become a beacon to every monster for miles āHey look itās me a demigod, wanna snack?ā
Although, thereās a lot we donāt know about Willās power to glow. Is it partially controlled by emotion? Is it solar-powered? Does he need sunlight to recharge? That could definitely be a problem.Ā
On the bright side (pun intended), itās so ridiculously dark that Will could easily blind his opponents in a sudden flash of light. Assuming his power works at all, his ability to glow could be vital to the mission.
(Okay, Iām going to take a break. But next reblog Iāll start going through gods and titans, includingĀ Akhlys and Iapetus! Let me know your thoughts and theories on this so far)
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