I genuinely think the Romans' disrespect of Neptune and fear of water/sea comes from RR's inability to write Percy as anything other than an underdog.
If you're so afraid of a powerful god wouldn't you do anything to not piss him off, like maybe giving him a large and impressive temple instead of a falling apart shed? But Percy has to different than Jason others, so his father has to be feared and disrespected. The same goes for Nico and Hazel with Pluto, as all children of underworld deities have to feared.
The Romans weren't afraid of water, moreso they had great respect for sea and enjoyed fresh water. (As you should, gods or no gods, the sea is a powerful force that should be respected.) But Percy has to struggle and be different somehow so the Romans are afraid of water.
The Romans had a navy, which was considered un-Roman, wasn't as powerful or impressive, but it did exist and helped with the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean. But RR has to show how different and powerful Percy is so the trio doesn't even get a (functioning) boat.
Even the fact that Octavin argued against sending the trio to quest was stupid since he literally saw with his own eyes the fact that Mars, one of the most important deities of Octavian's religion, sent Frank and Percy specifically. You know, the Father and Protector of the Roman people. He wouldn't have sent them if wanted the quest to fail. It literally goes against everything Mars stands for.
My analysis on Ares'/ Mars' and Percy's relationship throughout PJO and HOO, which mostly focuses on the fact that Percy is their idealized version of a demigod come to life, is way too fucking long, because my analysis of these few sentences alone is already almost 4500 words long.
The entire analysis is already almost 10.000 words :')
When I say the relationship Percy has to the Olympians (at least in PJO and partially in Hoo) is one of the aspects I am most fascinated by, I mean that. This is seriously getting out of hand
You've talked before about Apollo's relationship with Ares and Ares' position in the whole fucked up Olympian family dynamic, so I was wondering what you think about how that might've changed with the move to Greece. Like, given how different Ares and Mars are treated in their respective mythologies, I can't imagine Mars is Jupiter's least-favorite the same way Ares is Zeus', and that's gotta mess with his dynamic not just with Jupiter, but a good portion of his siblings as well.
This IS a very interesting thing to think about because Mars is DEFINETELY not as reviled in the Roman pantheon as he was in the Greek one. It was because of this that in ToA, Ares and Apollo have that 'failure son-favorite son' dynamic, and obviously that likely changed with the switch to Rome.
Ironically, Jupiter gives me the vibe of not picking favorites - or at least, not having a least favorite, because let's be real, Apollo is still wildly popular after Augustus comes to town, so I think the 'favorite child' playing field gets leveled out during this time...
wow. that's something to think about. can you imagine Apollo bracing himself for a sibling to throw him under and it just...doesn't happen? or it's not as bad as he thought he would be?
this isn't to say that Rome was better than Greece, because they are far less inclined to pay their kids a visit and all that, but I think it's something to stew over - how they have less contact with their kids, but potentially more contact with each other.
Anyway, Mars to me gives off the vibes of much more willing to play big brother than Ares, who tries to keep those instincts a secret lol There is this one myth I referenced in Silence is Death where Mars, not Ares, kills Cinryas for challenging Apollo, and I LOVE the implications of protective big brother Mars.
What's tragic is I can totally see Mars and Apollo's dynamic being what Ares and Apollo's could have been. I can imagine Apollo being a little more open with Mars, and more willing to discuss things he normally wouldn't - things he keeps from Ares because of how much tension permeates between them, despite the fact that they get along quite well.
The idea that Rome, despite the devastating changes it brought, allows Apollo to perhaps be a touch more relaxed but is then thrust into this confusion between his family torn between Greece and Rome...muwah
Mars, Mars, Mars...the emotional conflict you could bring to your little brother <3
Am I the only one who doesn't care about Frank as a character?
I have been wondering if I should read some snippets of HOO to learn more about certain characters. So far Reyna, Hazel and Jason seem really interesting. I find Reyna and Hazel really refreshing because Annabeth and Piper seem to have typical rich-kid issues. And think that gives them the right to act self-righteous and obnoxious. Meanwhile, Hazel had to deal with fierce racism and hell.
Anyway, I'm not impressed with Frank. At all. The comment about wishing he were dyslexic because he only has lactose intolerance sounded so off-putting and obnoxious. I don't know why he has to be the odd one out to be spared from a disability. And the fact that he is a legacy of Poseidon/Neptune (don't give enough off an eff to find out which one) and he has such powerful shapeshifting abilities is giving off Percy levels of OPness. Then I find it so unfair that Mars treats him better than Ares treated Clarisse. Mars literally praised him in front of the legion. And then he has the nerve to constantly bitch about his dad. Wasn't this dude blessed like two or three times? While Clarisse was blessed once. Then, this dude got a magical glowup to look buff instead of earning a fitter body or just embracing his body fluff Kung Fu Panda style.
The only thing I like about Frank is his relationship with Hazel. I have never seen a Black-Asian relationship in real life. And I find it refreshing that both of Hazel's love interests were non-white. That a Black girl can be adored by a guy who is not white or black.
Other than that, Frank is not a character I care to know more about. Instead of adding him, I wish Rick had given Clarisse a deeper backstory.
Fandom: Trials of Apollo
Rating: Teen
Genre: Family
Characters: Ares/Mars, Apollo, Jupiter, Diana
Neither Ares nor Mars care much for Olympian politics. They're certainly not going to let politics keep them from interfering when it comes to war.
@toapril-official TOApril day 6 - In Friends We Trust. This was supposed to be an Ares fic. Mars barged in partway through and decided to take over.
Ares took pleasure in the simple things. The heft of a spear in his hands, the weight of a helmet settling on his head, the warmth of blood and ichor alike splattering against his skin – unlike most gods, Ares would proudly say that he had skin, the same way the mortals that fought and bled had skin.
There was something about the simplicity of it, the same between gods and mortals. They both had bodies, were both capable of bleeding even if other gods wrapped it up in evasive words and claimed bleeding was for beings with blood, and that ichor wasn’t blood.
Mortals needed blood. Gods needed ichor. Ares didn’t care if it was red or gold; it spilled out after a good strike, a lucky strike, a skilled strike. It spilled out, it signified weakness and strength in equal measure, and as far as Ares was concerned that made it the same thing. Let the blood flow, let the ichor flow. Let emotions heighten and rationality fall away until nothing was left but raw instincts, the strong and the weak and the desperate all snared up in a fight for survival.
War wasn’t pretty. War wasn’t one of those beautiful things for all Athena wove tapestries depicting it, for all that Apollo wrote songs designed to wrench at the innermost parts of the listener. War was brutal and ugly. War was Ares’ and there was no reason to overcomplicate it, to dress it up with pretty words and pretty pictures. War was the looming threat of death and destruction and the lengths anyone would go to so it wasn’t them. War was screaming and crying and pushing past limits until only one side was left standing, wrecked and ruined in their victory.
War was simple, and that was how Ares liked it.
Ares didn’t like complicated. Not because he couldn’t keep up – Mars could keep up just fine, could strategise just as well as Athena, and he was welcome to it – but because he didn’t see the point. It was one of the reasons he didn’t care about the politics of Olympus. Once upon a time, they’d been simple enough, but then the pantheon had formed properly, twelve Olympians on twelve thrones, and Ares was never not going to be one of them, not when war reverberated through everything, simmering beneath the surface waiting to be unleashed, waiting for an opportunity to dominate.
Being one of them didn’t mean he cared about the politics. He was brash, he was violent, and he thrived on it. Being Zeus’ son, being Hera’s son, didn’t give him any special privileges but he didn’t want them, anyway.
Special was complicated, opened up the door for falls from grace, and Ares had been quite close enough to that without inviting it in. Olympus was every god for themselves, the same way war was, and Ares wasn’t going to bring the wrath of Zeus down on his head.
That didn’t stop him watching, though. Didn’t stop Mars watching as the younger god some might call his brother, as though the fact they shared a parent mattered – it didn’t matter, not to Ares and not to Mars, brother was not a title for familial bonds – stumbled through his camp.
Jupiter might have laid claim to the name, but Mars was the god that mattered when it came to Rome. Rome knew war, loved and worshipped war, and New Rome didn’t forget its roots.
The Greeks had Apollo. The Romans had Mars.
Right then, the Greeks had no-one, and the Romans had both, but Apollo was mortal, Lester with the lack of combat skill Apollo boasted, so he didn’t exactly count.
He counted only because of what he could do, who he could call, and Mars watched.
It was his camp. He should be called, but he knew he wouldn’t. Not with Jupiter breathing down his neck, lightning crackling in his grasp waiting to be unleashed. Apollo wouldn’t anger the older god, even though Jupiter wouldn’t fight the way the Romans needed, would let Mars’ mortal soldiers lay down their lives to prove a point.
War was brutal, senseless violence, but it rewarded the strong, the brave, the most desperate, and so did Mars. New Rome was strong, brave, and desperate. Mars would reward them.
Apollo considered him.
It was brief, a flicker that Mars wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t already been watching, but the mortal god’s eyes flickered over to his temple, his statue, the same way a warrior’s eyes flickered to their possibilities, cataloguing what they could do, what they could use to win.
He didn’t choose him, but Mars hadn’t expected to be chosen, anyway. There were too many of those Olympian politics at play for that, and he and Apollo both knew that Jupiter would never forgive the slight of being passed over for Mars.
Diana was a ballsy call, and Jupiter hated it, which meant Mars loved it. There was no-one Apollo could, should call above him in Jupiter’s eyes. His twin sister, though? Not even Jupiter could lash out at that and still seem fair and just.
War was neither, and Mars didn’t care to be, either, but Mars wasn’t Jupiter. He didn’t want to be.
Diana answered, desperate to see her twin, and the swathe she and her army cut through Tarquin and the Triumvirate’s forces to get to Apollo was the same cruel and brutal display that Mars loved so much about war.
He wasn’t one to sit by and do nothing when other people got to have all the fun, though. Maybe Apollo hadn’t called upon him and summoned him to fight in this war, but the Ancient Laws hadn’t stopped Ares or Mars from joining in whichever wars he pleased, and Jupiter wouldn’t stop him, either. He didn’t need Apollo and his prayer to call him to fight, and, well. New Rome was his.
Showing up in person was a sure fire way to get the wrath of Jupiter descending on his head, so Mars fell back on his usual tricks when showing up in person was a bad idea. A boost in skill here, a weapon slipping there… Sowing carnage on the battlefield in favour of whichever side, or particular warrior, had earned his favour that time, was a trick he was an old hand at.
Diana took all the credit for it, of course, and Ares would’ve grunted and complained about his achievements being attributed to another, but Mars was a little more shrewd, more calculating. Let Diana take the credit, let Diana take Jupiter’s heat for responding to the call and shifting the tides of battle. It kept Mars off of Jupiter’s radar, away from the wrath he wasn’t interested in triggering, and it wasn’t like his Romans were stupid. This wasn’t their first rodeo. This wasn’t Mars’ first rodeo.
They knew Diana wasn’t the only god to interfere in their favour.
