Heroes of Olympus fundamentally misunderstands Percy’s fatal flaw
The subject of Percy’s fatal flaw of loyalty is a relatively important object of discussion throughout Heroes of Olympus, especially in connection to Leo’s sacrifice at the end of Blood of Olympus, and Frank’s decision to support him in that.
For example, during son of Neptune, Mars visits Frank and the following discussion ensues.
Mars shrugged. ‘Maybe. Maybe so. But every hero has a fatal flaw. Percy Jackson? He’s too loyal to his friends. He can’t give them up, not for anything. He was told that, years ago. And some day soon he’s going to face a sacrifice he can’t make. Without you, Frank – without your sense of duty – he’s going fail. The whole war will go sideways, and Gaia will destroy our world.’
And this conversation and all the other conversations about Percy’s fatal flaw in Heroes of Olympus are incredibly frustrating to me. Simply, because they’re completely wrong. Percy very much understands duty and sacrifice. This whole idea that he can’t give up his friends, no matter what, is actually a huge misrepresentation of who Percy is and gets contradicted constantly, not only in Heroes of Olympus, but also in the original five Percy Jackson books.
He has chosen saving the world over people close to him, including characters like Sally and Annabeth, who are the two most important people in his life, at several instances.
As early as “The Lightning Thief” Percy got confronted with the decision between saving the world and rescuing his mom from the underworld. Percy chose saving the world, not knowing for sure if he would ever see Sally again:
I desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and use the last pearl on her, but I knew what she would say. She would never allow it. I had to get the bolt back to Olympus and tell Zeus the truth. I had to stop the war. She would never forgive me if I saved her instead. I thought about the prophecy made at Half-Blood Hill, what seemed like a million years ago. You will fail to save what matters most in the end. “I’m sorry,” I told her. “I’ll be back. I’ll find a way.” (The Lightning Thief, Chapter 19)
A thought process that stays consistent throughout the rest of this book. After Percy had regained the helm of darkness from Ares, he didn’t even attempt to use it to barter for his mom. He immediately returns it to Hades with the sole request that he calls of the war:
“We saw the whole thing,” she (Alecto) hissed. “So … it truly was not you?” I tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise. “Return that to Lord Hades,” I said. “Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war.” (The Lightning Thief, Chapter 20)
Similarly, during “Titan’s curse”, after Percy had managed to capture Nereus, the god told him he only had one question to ask him. Instead of asking about the whereabouts of Annabeth, which is what he wanted to do, Percy asked about the “bane of Olympus”, simply because he knew that saving Olympus took precedence.
This wasn't good. I needed to find Artemis, and I needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was. I also needed to know if Annabeth was still alive, and how to rescue her. How could I ask that all in one question? A voice inside me was screaming Ask about Annabeth! That's what I cared about most. But then I imagined what Annabeth might say. She would never forgive me if I saved her and didn't save Olympus. Zoe would want me to ask about Artemis, but Chiron had told us the monster was even more important. I sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting." (Titan’s Curse, Chapter 15)
Important thing to note here: the text even points out, that Percy is currently making a decision, that Zoe herself would probably not make. It highly implies that Zoe would probably choose saving Artemis over finding the doomsday monster. Percy, in this instance, understands duty better than her.
This is a trend that continues in Heroes of Olympus. If Percy was incapable of making hard decisions like that, he would have never been okay with Annabeth going alone after the Mark of Athena, while knowing that none of her siblings had ever returned alive.
But he didn’t try to stop her. Percy understood, for one, how important that quest was for her personally, but also, how important it was for their overall quest. He didn’t like it, but he let her go:
If he tried to argue, he would only make things harder for her. Or worse, he might convince her to stay. Then she would have to live with the knowledge that she’d backed down from her biggest challenge…assuming that they survived at all, with Rome about to get leveled and Gaea about to rise and destroy the world. The Athena statue held the key to defeating the giants. Percy didn’t know why or how, but Annabeth was the only one who could find it. “You’re right,” he said, forcing out the words. “Be safe.” (…) Percy hated it. He would’ve preferred to fight any monster in the world. He would’ve preferred a rematch with Chrysaor. But he forced himself to stay in his chair and watch as Annabeth motored off through the streets of Rome with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 32, Percy)
Or, he would have never stepped into that elevator in Tartarus and leave Damasen and Iapetus behind.
Let me be clear here.
I’m not trying to downplay Hazel’s and especially Frank’s feelings in regards to Leo’s sacrifice in Blood of Olympus. That was still an incredibly hard thing to do. But to say Percy wouldn’t have understood that Leo had to sacrifice himself, especially knowing they had the physician’s cure, is completely unrealistic and out of character since he already made a far bigger sacrifice as far back as “The Lightning Thief” and continued to sacrifice all throughout his life.
Yes, it would have probably broken him, yes he would have become even more depressed than he already is afterwards, and yes, he would have blamed himself immensely, but in that moment, he would have completely understood what Leo had to do.
(Also why I despise the “I would burn down Olympus for you Annabeth” line from the show, because… no, he wouldn’t. At least og Percy wouldn’t. But, I guess fanfiction, romance protagonist Percy might.)
