>Hi! I'm a 24 year old creature that believes theyna should have been canon
>PJO/Riordanverse is my main fandom, I also love PBS kids (mostly Wordgirl and Cyberchase), The Pitt, and I am a semi-retired member of the Phandom (Dan and Phil)
>Big multishipper and proship in the sense that I firmly believe people should be free to make the art they feel called to make (aka to each their own as long as you're not actively harming anyone). Fav PJO ships: Theyna (duh!), Jercy, Valdangelo, Valgrace, Pipabeth, Pipeyna, Percico, & pretty much any sapphic rarepair <3
>I do not post adult content and I do not write smut
>DMs = mutuals only; Asks = open to anyone
>I am always open to feedback on my fics, whether positive or constructive. My anonymous asks are on if you'd like to tell me something anonymously. You can find my work on Ao3 via the link in my bio (or this link)
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#status update = fic status updates
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>Don't talk to me if you have a bias against people with bipolar disorder. I don't even post about it that much, I'm just tired of interacting with people who think we're evil. We're not evil. We are people in pain. Go away.
>Lastly (and this should go without saying, but it's 2026), I strive to make this blog a friendly place for all underrepresented groups, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and those with disabilities (including neurodiversity). If you are a TERF, racist, homophobe, or otherwise unspecified bigot: leave. I am pro civil rights, pro bodily autonomy, pro human connection and anti-AI, anti-genocide, and against all forms of human suffering in general
Before we start, it should be known that I study psychology, so I, by no means, expect Rick or your average writer to know about the knowledge and ideas I'm about to dump on y'all. My standards aren't that high, though I sure wish there were more writers out there who knew their psychology. Even if you don't take it as a hobby or as a career prospect or as both, learning about it (and how little we actually know about the human psyche) can really enhance your character building skills as well as avoid writing stupid things like "psychotic snowman" in your books. Anyways.
The first thing that stood out to me in TLH and TSoN is that, whilst Percy and Jason both lost their episodic memories, their semantic and procedual memories remained mostly intact.
According to the Multi-Store Model theory (emphasis on "theory"), our long-term memory is divided into three stores:
Episodic: specific personal experiences and their contexts, as well as the chronological order in which they happen. Percy and Jason both lacks this type of memory as they are initially unable to recall moments that they've lived.
Semantic: general knowledge about the world and the self. Things like vocabulary, how an elevator works, the names of gods and creatures, but also understanding languages fit into this category. Jason and Percy's semantic memories are mostly intact, though not entirely. Percy only remembers Annabeth's name and his own, whereas if his semantic store was completely untouched he would be able to remember everyone's names and faces... just, not how he met them or what they've done together. If Jason's semantic memory was truly intact, he would know his age and that he's a demigod, son of Jupiter, but he doesn't. However he does remember what a faun is and that his name is Jason, which is just a combination of plot contrivences and cheap mystery (I hate Jason's introduction, I'm sorry).
Procedural: general know-how and muscle memory. This ranges from how to walk, eat, tie your shoelaces to holding a sword and forming words with your mouth. This store was left entirely intact for both Percy and Jason as they faced no difficulty whatsoever with how to do things. They just. Did them. Instinctively. I actually have never seen the amnesia trope include a loss of procedural long-term memory, which is. Fascinating. Probably because it would force the writer to actually tackle the amnesia as an obstacle rather than a tool, since they can't just ignore that their character can't even walk or stand up, they would have to allocate page time and attention to the character learning to do basic things they used to be able to do pre-amnesia.
Do you see where I'm going with this? The issue with how Rick (and every other writer) handles amnesia is that it's always, always episodic memory that is missing. Sometimes bits and pieces of semantic memory, if the writer needs some things to not be revealed to the audience too soon.
I think a route Rick could've gone with in TLH is to make both Jason's episodic and semantic memories go away, but leave his procedural memories intact. This means that whilst Jason wouldn't know what a titan is, his muscle memory and instincts would know how to fight and defeat one. Which is the best possible way to introduce Jason as this child soldier/godly instrument that Rick is trying but ultimately failing to portray. However the complications of the semantic memory being gone is that Jason wouldn't know how to communicate with Piper and Leo, and wouldn't understand what they're saying. It would also mean that writing the story from his perspective would be far more challenging because he wouldn't understand anything that he sees at first (basically seeing the world as if he was born yesterday) which could get redundant very quickly.
But you know what? Jason's POV has never worked for me because his lack of episodic memories made him incredibly bland and story-less. In my opinion, the amnesia trope functions best with characters that aren't the main characters. If Piper and/or Leo were the sole narrators of TLH, you would get to see Jason as this mysterious figure and get attached to him through his forming relationship with Piper and Leo, rather than because he's the POV character and yes he may not have his memories which makes him bland but you just gotta get used to it, I guess!
Conversely for Percy, to spice things up, you could have both episodic and this time procedural memories go away, but keep his semantic memories intact. This means that Percy remembers everything about the world and himself (that his mother is Sally Jackson, that he's a demigod, that Camp is in Long Island) but would have to crawl to the House of Wolves.
Honestly Percy wouldn't be the most interesting character to give procedural amnesia to (or just to have him come back as a main character in HoO, I never liked that concept), because one of the perks of having your muscle memory gone is if you had trained in your muscles to do things the wrong way. For example, I've unfortunately been holding my pen the wrong way which makes the entire writing process much more painful for me. If I could suddenly go tabula rasa ('blank slate'), I could learn to hold my pens right much quicker. Because it's easier to learn things than to unlearn them.
I'm not sure who would be the most interesting Greek demigod to explore procedural amnesia with, especially since they get Roman training which I believe is more rigorous. They could go from Average Demigod B to killing machine in a matter of weeks/months... but that's not nearly as fun if the dude is already a well-oiled killing machine (Percy). I'm gravitating towards Will, but that's just me.
Who do y'all think it should've been instead of Percy?
"ao3 exists. that sounds stupid, but i’m being dead serious. it is a constant reminder that people love stuff enough to create for one another with compensation. that is an act of love that is shared with all, bonded by adoration of story. in a weird way, it is one of the purest forms of art in the world."
So the prophecy has fulfilled and my """""""one shot"""""""" turned into a multichaptered fic. Its called The Backside of Embroidery and I think its pretty rad. We open with pre-established situationship bcs I like making them suffer, like they don't know if this is SOMETHING or they're delusional. Anyway, enjoy!
> “percy was the only non-alt big three kid in the og series” being a take that exists
> percy is canonically a skater
>skateboarding was one of the biggest youth countercultures of the 90s and early 2000s
>certainly this disabled kid who grew up working class in nyc that was bullied and mistreated by authority figures while growing up is a jock. or something.
