on Percy and Nico in HoO
I wish the pjo fandom just accepted that Rick Riordan is a bad writer sometimes or at the very least inconsistent. Maybe then they'd recognize that a lot of characterization problems are retcons and bad writing instead of taking it as fact. It's why half the fandom is convinced that Percy hates Nico/does not care about him or that Nico's relationship with Percy only brought him pain. Why Jason, Hazel, Reyna and Will are considered Nico's support system but Percy isn't.
Nico and Percy's relationship does not exist in a vacuum and you need to understand the doylist problems in heroes of Olympus.
1- Rick very much repeats Nico's arc from pjo but worse. Nico's arc in pjo dealt with grief and being ostracized due to being a son of Hades. The second problem was established since the very FIRST book. Hades is not considered an Olympian he does not have a throne and his kids don't get cabins because otherwise "it would be terrible" according to Grover(we never learn what the terrible thing is I mean Zeus and Poseidon's kids are equally destructive soooo) PERCY very much calls this out in Botl when Hera insinuates that Nico doesn't belong. HE calls her out which causes Annabeth to do the same. People talk about Hera's beef with Annabeth but they leave Percy out of it. Then in TLO Percy calls out Nico's heroism and uses it as a reason why Hades deserves a recognition. Nico gets a cabin(which he designs) and the implication is that he will be accepted. In fact Hades' kids being accepted is why the position of the Oracle is not cursed anymore
Then HoO comes along and people STILL think that Nico/hades kids are creepy? It would have been fine if it was just CJ since they didn't have the development CHB had but no apparently camp half-blood went back to treating Nico the same after like 2 weeks. And Rick cannot for the life of him decide if this ostracization is in Nico's head or not. Frank is fine with Nico in SoN and then in their next meeting he's terrified. And then the rest of the 7... I don't even have a problem with the scene with Hazel where they talk about him being untrustworthy(that's fandom exaggeration they did not want to leave him behind Y'all they just said that he might be untrustworthy and then like 3 lines later it's dismissesed hell the conversation literally begins with PERCY telling Hazel they're saving Nico. Also let's be honest with ourselves Nico IS shady sometimes and any true Nico fan would love him for it) but their general attitude is like "ooooh so creepy." and Nico doesn't even do anything to cause that he just exists and idk is a little bit sneaky? As in he can move quietly? Leo makes a joke at his expense and him and piper are surprised that Jason defends him implying he wouldn't have done so before? Percy and Annabeth find him unsettling (even though they were FINE with him in PJO I'll DIE on that Hill. Even his SISTER is like "oooh Nico is not easy to be around thank you Frank for talking to him he needs practice talking to people." bruh who IS this guy 😭 pjo Nico wasn't like that! He could hold a conversation with people he could work in a group setting even though he preferred to do things alone. He doesn't hiss at social interactions 😬 Rick uses Iapetus/Bob from sword of Hades but apparently forgets that this was the same story where Nico went on a quest with Thalia and Percy and he was FINE. In fact Hazel's very presence relies on Rick retconning the lesson Nico learned in tBotl because he apparently only found Hazel while looking for Bianca. Which is really unnecessary I mean he could have just found her in the underworld while investigating the whole Thanatos problem.
Do you see the problem Here? For Rick to repeat Nico's "people find me creepy and Because of that I self isolate until I find support" plot. Nico needs to be isolated again. Camp half-blood needs to go back to isolating him(also Rick retcons who designed Nico's cabin) we need Jason and Reyna to be Nico's first real friends so we need to scrap Nico's friendship with Percy and how much Percy cared about Nico. Hell let's mischarachterize Nico and make him even more anti social to create drama.
And perhaps the WORST thing in this whole debacle: Rick retcons this whole thing AGAIN by going "oh no the ostracization was in Nico's head he's the one pushing people away 🤪" Which like it CAN'T be in Nico's head because I was in other characters' heads and they are weird about him too is Nico supposed to be blind as to not notice that? And the fact that this author gaslighting comes out of Nico's love interest is really part of why I could never get into Solangelo. Hell the Solangelo books BOTH have a moment where Nico is talking about his experiences and Will is like " um actually 🤓☝️ non of that happened people wanted to be your friend you just were rude and sarcastic to us." And we're supposed to take his words for it. This isn't Will being unreliable this is supposed to be objective reality. And once again for the people in the back: Nico IS NOT like that. He is not constantly sarcastic and rude to people. He can very much carry conversations He can be polite. One wonders if that really was the case why didn't Will name some of those who wanted to be Nico's friends. I mean if Rick wanted to make Nico's pov sound unreliable that was his way but BoO makes it seem like this is Nico and Will's first notable interaction(which tSatS later retcons again but I expect nothing from that book).
2- Now let's get to Percy. As I've said Nico's problems with Percy does not exist in a vacuum there's a doylist reason that goes back to Nico but there's also a problem with Percy's character arc as well. Rick has like 2 arcs for Percy and they're both ass. One is about his fatal flaw which goes nowhere and the other is that Percy apparently needs to learn to be a better Friend. You hear that? PERCY Loyalty Is My Fatal Flaw JACKSON needs to be a better friend. The culmination of that Arc is basically that scene is Tartarus where Percy realizes that he's been a shitty friend and needs to do better and the examples used here are: Calypso, Bob, and Nico.
For that to work the narrative needs to bend over backwards to either blame Percy for things that are not his fault or retcon Percy's whole ass personality.
A- Percy is in NO WAY responsible for the gods not freeing Calypso. They swore an OATH to make Percy's request come true and if Rick Riordan actually allowed oaths to the River Styx to matter this would not be a problem but again doylist problem. Rick wants Calypso in the plot for Leo's arc so Calypso needs to be in her island so uhhh apparently the gods didn't free her and it's Percy's fault even though he was kidnapped. Calypso needs to fall in love with Leo so Leo needs to succeed where other heroes have failed. Caleo can only work if Leo proves himself different/better than Percy.
B-Iapetus/Bob. Idk if this is unpopular or not but Percy does not owe Bob SHIT. I know that Rick doesn't really remember Sword of hades so let me remind all of you that the only reason why Percy erased his memory was that this TITAN(practically impossible to defeat) was trying to KILL him, Thalia and Nico. He was very much gung ho on murdering them (it's why I roll my eyes at HoH trying to make him somehow different than the other Titans like oh Iapetus was always softer/morally better than the other Titans. No the fuck he wasn't. If we go by personality Prometheus and Krios had a much more nonviolent and calm personality in PJO). If Nico wants to befriend Bob in spite of the murder attempt good for him, it's very much in character but Percy is not a bad person for not thinking of Iapetus more. My brother in Christ they had to deal with the aftermath of a WAR and Percy was kidnapped and had his memories erased and right after that he had to deal with ANOTHER WAR 😭 plus Percy isn't Nico. His relationship with Hades is rocky at best last time he went there he was imprisoned He can't just stroll down the underworld and visit Bob whenever he wants.
C- Nico. I can't believe this needs to be said but Percy was NOT a bad friend to Nico. "Not giving people a second thought" is NOT a problem Percy and Nico had. Percy took on the prophecy because he did not want Nico to shoulder this burden. Annabeth points out that he could be the prophecy kid and Percy actively CHOOSES for it to be him so that Nico doesn't get noticed by Luke/Kronos. He hides Nico's parentage from Chiron. He(+Annabeth) look for Nico for months in between TTC and BotL. When he has a vision of Nico with Minos he's so freaked out by it that he destroys his cabin's fountain and states at it for hours until Tyson checks up on him. He RUSHES to The labyrinth. He RUNS to the dangerous as fuck labyrinth because Nico might be in there and he does so while convinced that Nico wants him DEAD. When Gerion allows him and his friends to go on with their quest but not Nico, Percy gambles his and EVERYONE ELSE' freedom to free Nico. PERCY is the one who calls out Hera because he learned that Hera paid for Gerion to let them leave but not Nico.
It's because of Nico that Percy is so pissed off that he calls out Hera's toxicity when it comes to people like Nico or Hephaestus. Hera dismisses this and turns to Annabeth and Annabeth's response is basically: "Percy is right you DO suck." (This is very significant because it highlights Percy's role as an agent of change in his friends and his role as a cycle breaker because of his empathy. Which makes him a new type of hero. Percy constantly stands up for those who are outcasts. He stands up for Tyson in book 2. In book 3 he is the one person that tries to remind Bianca that Nico would be alone if she joins the hunters. He gives grace to both Bianca and Nico and later finds empathy for Zoe as well. In book 4 he constantly tries to help Nico and he dismisses the prejudices people have against mortals with Rachel. Both Chiron and Annabeth(due to Chiron's teachings most likely) view mortals as stupid and helpless but Percy trusts Rachel's competency and abilities. It is very much a pattern. One can even say it's a parallel between Percy and Nico. Percy stands up for outcasts while Nico takes notice of those in the shadows, those other people wouldn't think about. Like Hestia or Bob).
The fandom compares Jason/Will' reaction to Nico wanting to leave CHB with Percy's to somehow dunk on him because "Oh Percy let Nico leave. Nico said he didn't belong to camp half-blood and Percy didn't contradict him that means-" lemme stop you right there. The conversation literally began with Percy trying to invite Nico to his table for dinner because he worries about Nico missing meals. Percy tells Nico that it's dangerous outside of camp half-blood. Both Percy and Nico are RIGHT. Nico WOULDN'T belong to camp half-blood if he'd stayed there. There was no cabin for him. Percy himself had to take people's distrust due to being Poseidon's child he'd know that things are even worse for a Hades kid, Hera literally proved how little Olympians cared about Nico. He trusts Nico's capabilities because Nico has proven that he can survive on his own, and tells him to keep in touch and then actually DOES something productive and asks the gods for a cabin basically giving Nico a home. Do I even need to talk about the birthday cake scene? Even when Percy is mad at Nico in TLO, he still Carries him through the underworld he does not leave him behind. He calls Nico a Friend by the end and uses him as an example of why Hades' kids deserved recognition.
So what the hell gives in HoO? I mean even in HoO' inconsistent ass writing, Percy still has in Character moments of worry over Nico. He dreams about Nico in the jar, and tells him they'll free him. The controversial conversation about saving him literally begins with him telling Hazel that they're saving him(Leo and Jason only comment after that) when they're saving him he's so worried he forgets about Annabeth for a while and feels guilty about it afterwards. And no Percy isn't being mean when he thinks about wanting to throw bread at Nico, he also thinks about doing the same to Grover in book 1 when he's fighting the minotaur. It's just a Percy thing. Are we going to argue that Percy doesn't care about Grover?
But then you got these weird things like "He had a rocky history with Nico di Angelo. The guy had once tricked him into visiting Hades’s palace, and Percy had ended up in a cell. But most of the time, Nico sided with the good guys." Yeah okay it's Completely in character for Percy to be pissed at Nico for hiding the truth/lying to him AGAIN. But Nico always sides with the good guys or whatever. He was completely neutral in tBotl. He didn't care about the war only reviving Bianca but after that plot is done, Nico rushes to save Percy because Minos told him Nico is in danger Percy even takes note of this. He reveals his heritage and helps them escape from the TA. from then on he's on Olympus' side. Even with the trick with Hades. Percy is pissed about Nico LYING to him. He knows that Nico's goal was always to give him the Achilles curse. Percy knows this. Which is why he sends him back to convince Hades to join the fight. I hate the idea that the new books/fandom perpetuate that "Percy only remembers Nico when he needs something." It's NICO who approaches Percy trying to prove himself with the Achilles curse plan. Percy invites him in simply because he wanted to give Nico a good experience. NICO assumes that Percy doesn't trust him anymore. Percy himself doesn't even know how he's feeling. "Not giving people a second thought-" If there's a distance between Percy and Nico it's NICO who pulls away.
And again, while it is in character for Percy to be angry at Nico, I'd argue that an in character Percy would have also spoken up during the scene with Leo and Jason. Percy wanted to save Nico when he thought Nico wanted to sacrifice his soul for Bianca's. He didn't leave Nico behind even in TLO. I'd argue that it would make Jason and Percy's bullshit conflict into something actually meaningful if we turned it into Percy's Greek individualistic thinking and loyalty VS Jason's collective view and non trusting nature due to his upbringing.
And "Percy had shared some disturbing stories about Nico. His loyalties weren’t always clear. He spent more time with the dead than the living. Once, he’d lured Percy into a trap in the palace of Hades. Maybe Nico had made up for that by helping the Greeks against the Titans, but still-"
And bfr right now. Percy is not the type to gossip about people/talk behind their backs like that to someone he'd recently met. He doesn't tell Chiron about Nico's parentage, He doesn't Annabeth and co about his visions in tBotL. I'm pretty sure he doesn't talk about what happened with Hades in TLO. He refuses to let anyone call Silena anything but a traitor but you expect me to believe he'd be trading stories with Jason of all people? Jason Could have simply distrusted Nico because of his secret keeping. It would have still worked. I mean let's be real what else could Percy say about Nico? Nico's loyalties are not the question here. But sometimes Nico has his own agenda also and he hides things. And it wouldn't be slander, it's the truth. Sometimes Nico is a liar. Jason could have just taken that and become suspicious and it would highlight his personality even more.
And yes Nico finds some aspects of Nico's power creepy but he also finds some aspects of them cool. They're friends. Annabeth also cared about him. The three of them joke around with each other in one of the side book interviews. But we know that Rick is inconsistent. Wether it's with Nico both in personality, or lore(I count 4 birthdays for Nico according to the timeline) and so I don't know why people just accept these new versions of Percy and Annabeth.
There's this wired clusterfuck of Nico, Percy and Annabeth being flamderized by both the fandom and the text. Percy and Annabeth have long since stopped being themselves so that they could neatly fit into the "dumb BF x Smart girlboss GF" trope. It's either Annabeth suddenly being way less emotional than she was before so we could make her "cold and logical and needs Piper's help to face her feelings." Or Percy being dumbed down. Compare Percy's speech to the campers in TLO to the one he makes in BoO. His humor becomes more juvenile. The moment Annabeth shows up they become each other's whole personalities, to hell with Percy's connection to Frank, Hazel and the ones he had in PJO. Oh Percy is a troublemaker who needs Annabeth to keep on a leash. He needs Annabeth to help him out of a paperback. She is the brains. Percy's own strategic mind? Never heard of it. It's also Rick's "girlboss not like other girls feminism" that circle backs to misogyny. Because the girls need to all be mature and emotionally competent so they can roll their eyes at the immature, dumb boys. 🙄 Percy just gets it the worst here. Is it really a surprise that the senior year trilogy have basically turned Percy into a complete dumbass who needs his mom- sorry girlfriend to carry all the braincells? Annabeth is basically the mom Friend whose job it is to be perfect and smart and sigh at the boys' stupidity. Hell even the other boys get some of it Jason is somehow a dumbass oblivious Boy for wanting to involve Reyna or trusting her in front of Piper even though they never dated. Frank and Leo get to have teen bickering while the girlies all get along and roll their eyes at the boys bring immature and therefore don't get to have any conflict or any relationship with each other.
Hell let's circle back to the Reyna thing because that's Rick's second problem. He can only resolve love triangles by erasing/downplaying the platonic connections that existed before. I mean Reyna and Jason do not have a SINGLE conversation that is one to one/not related to the plot. Reyna has more conversations with Annabeth and Piper. Rachel and Percy used to be good friends. He was very comfortable around her but then in HoH he gets nervous after her name gets mentioned and Annabeth is amused because oh they became friends off screen but she needs to keep her boyfriend on his toes(they're in Tartarus btw) Reyna? She believed that Percy was competent enough to be co-Praeor with her but then she meets Annabeth (and an in character Annabeth would have had a more interesting relationship/bigger conflict with her and not even because of romantic jealousy but as a proud daughter of a war goddess meeting another daughter of a war goddess who implied that CJ is better than CHB but god forbid Annabeth gets to be immature) and suddenly she's like "lol Yeah Percy can't find his way out of a paperbag without Annabeth" it's so jarring specially since Percy was complimenting Reyna prior to this. And then she gets to compliment him but bam! Annabeth arrives and suddenly Percy needs to be a dum dum in comparison. It happens with Calypso and Leo where Leo needs to succeed where Percy failed(hell even outside romantic relationships this still applies. Nico can't be Bob's friends him being Bob's friend needs to be highlighted by comparing what a shitty friend Percy is. Jason needs to be Nico's first buddy. We can't have Nico be the one to push Percy away because of his feelings no we gotta make Percy into the failure)
And is ANYONE surprised that the same principle applies to Nico as well? Nico can't move on from Percy after a conversation or some closure. Apparently he holds Percy on a pedestal, even after Percy "failed to save Bianca" and Nico realized that the world didn't work like his card game. No Nico STILL help Percy up on a pedestal and the only way he can move on from Percy is by diminishing how much Nico mattered to him by implying that Percy is a bad friend who failed Nico somehow. And Nico suddenly realizes that Percy is annoying and immature and sees how normal and unimpressive he is after he sees Percy... Right after Tartarus. Right after Tartarus when Annabeth and Percy are complete messes Nico looks at him and goes: wow he looks so normal/not heroic. That doesn't make Nico seem shallow not at all! What are you talking about? I mean in the same book Percy is called the person Nico cares for the most but we need to Speedrun this moving on shit so Nico finds belonging(times 2 but it will stick this time promise) and his new besties and his perfect boyfriend and him and Percy never have a moment to finish their ass conflict(same as Reyna and Jason) just a high five with Annabeth and into happily ever after we go.
