so i know there isnt as much disccussion on percys show appearnce vs book appearance now, but i do wanna throw my two cents in
i do like both versions of percy, the black hair with green eyes vs the blond hair with blue eyes, and i wanna talk about what each of those could actualy mean on a narrative level
blond hair/blue eyes:
the usual pretty boy look. a lot of main characters, i think most often in ya fantasy, have blond/e hair and blue eyes (cough jason cough), and while i dont hate this, it isnt my favorite, mostly because i feel like the narrative reason for percys book look is just more interesting (to me). percy has light hair now, a stark contrast to his original black hair. light hair i feel like is most commonly associated with the 'good guys', even though it has also started being used for the 'bad guys', and this 'it could go either way' thing could also fit with what i have to say about book!percys green eyes. speaking of eyes, blue eyes are most often given to good characters, as opposed to evil characters
and i feel like at this point i have to adress the elaphant in the room. book luke. blond hair, blue eyes. and i think that design choice fits his characters really well. luke is supposed to look like the perfect person, and while i really dont like the 'light hair and blue eyes' being shown of that, it was pretty popular at the time the books were written, so it makes sense.
this isnt saying i dont like show!lukes desgin, i think they can both work in different ways
but this isnt about luke. its about percy so bye bye bitch
black hair/green eyes:
the dark hair and striking and bright sea green eyes gives a more darker feel imo. dark colors are usually associated with evil, and green is often seen on either the good or bad side of things. green is a neutrual color in a narritive sense, it has been used to show good and evil before. it could be good with its meaning of 'go' like with traffic lights or it being the color of something you need to press with smth. idk. while it could also be seen as evil with green being associated with poison. and honestly. percy having black hair and green eyes is my favorite design choice, not just because i like the aesthetic of it, but because of what it could narratively symbolize.
the black hair can show his dark side and how quickly he can get angry, while his green eyes can show how he could either be really good or really bad, or sometimes even neutral, as its usually seen as the balance between warm and cold colors (which i dont agree with, three warm colors: red orange yellow, three cool colors: green blue purple argue with the wall)
but the point is. green has been associated with evil as much as its been associated with good, and in my mind this shows how he probably couldve and wouldve turned on the gods, if luke had gone about destroying them in a better way.
there is one thing in common with both designs, and i breifely mentioned it when i talked about show!percys hair, how the light hair and green eyes could be seen as either a 'good guy' or 'bad guy' as theyre both often used to show both of those (though usually not together)
and i find that really interesting because it works! it fits! percy is not the 'perfect hero', we know that since the start. hes angry, hes mad, he s ready to fight.
several times throughout the books he has been described as a villain or something akin to that, something that was evil. that could work with both the green eyes, a color used to show both the good and evil side, and the blond hair thats also been used to show both sides. its also worth mentioning that people with blond/e or light hair usually dont keep it, their hair usually darkens later in life, usually to a dark brown
and im actually gonna be using myself here as an example to possibly give someone a design idea for percy: when i was younger, i had blonde hair and blue eyes. very bright blonde very bright blue, you could see it from a mile away, similar to what show percy has, when i was around my teens (14-15) my hair started to darken and my eyes changed color, my hair is now a dark brown, not so dark that it looks black but still dark, and green eyes. several people have said that my eyes are similar to book percys eyes, if they were darker.
so. if you have a hard time deciding if you like the show or book percy design better, why not do both. he could have blue eyes when he was younger, and as he gets older (and more angry) his eyes turn more green as his hair gets darker
