i am personally an enjoyer of the "i will trust you and defend you no matter what path you choose" flavor of loyalty-as-his-fatal-flaw percy instead of the "i will burn it all down for you" or "sacrifice the world for you" flavor of loyalty as a fatal flaw
theyre gonna get rid of the herakles story arent they.
we already know rick forgot about it by hoo, as seen with percy being sad he couldnt meet him, and also we havent gotten a very good glimpse into how outright prophetic percys dreams are, i think the closest we get are the empathy link dreams which dont count and the kronos and thalia dreams, when already in the books theres been more than just that. (specifically the eagle and the horse fighting in tlt and percy knowing that he needs to stop them, the dream he had of thalia in the classroom)
with the lack of his dreams being shown in the show, we probably arent gonna get the heracles story, and if we do itll most likely be done through some shitty exposition
but again, rick forgot. he forgot that percy hates heracles because of what he did to zoe, and i really dont think its something hes going to see as 'important enough' to add into the show
Thinking about the ‘Came Back Wrong’ trope for Percy Jackson but not for death but for quests to. When’s. Demigod comes back from a quest there always more scarred, thinner, hair more unruly, teeth a little to bared, hackles raised too much, eyes wilder than they were before.
When Percy first went to camp half blood he was a wide eyed child, he’d seen how cruel the world could be and had a few scars but he was still a child, after he leaves that summer he’s thinner, his hair has been cut messily to remove mats, his eyes have bags that no twelve year old should bare, he’s jumpy in a way he wasn’t before.
By his senior year Percy Jackson has been on so many quests and ‘came back wrong’ so many times that he’s off putting, creepy, he scares the other kids. His hair is choppy and thin in some patches, from years of mats forming and being cut out. His cheeks are thin, while they fill out throughout the school year he’s still too skinny for all his muscles. His eyes that seem to shift color are constantly darting towards the nearest sound. Eye bags too deep for an eighteen year old.
Not to mention the scars. He has some on his face, paler than his skin, that stand out like stars in the night sky. Almost beautiful if it weren’t for the constant fear in his eyes. He has one friend, just one who can handle how scary and scared he is, he guards the door when Percy changes like Percy once did for Tyson. Before he had that friend though he’d change in the locker room with everyone else and his back and chest and legs and arms were covered with scars, burn scars and laceration scars and scars from stab wounds and poison.
Annabeth is even more off putting in her senior year. Her hair, constantly thrown into messy ponytail or bun is just as patchy and thin, halfway through the year she gets a choppy short hair cut, like someone pulled her hair back and cut through it with a blade and no one through to even it out after. She’s skinny with hollow cheeks and sunken in eyes, she gains weight back throughout the year but by the time her freshman year of college starts she’s lost the weight again. Her gray eyes are just a little to knowing, too careful, too calculating, there’s a glint in them that was maybe once mischief but now screams of a threat. She’s constantly tired with deep eye bags and always an energy drink in hand.
She’s scarred to, they’re redder than her skin tone and a shade or two lighter, there’s plenty on her face, but her arms are the worst, her forearms scarred from years of blocking attacks and running headfirst into battle.
When they go on dates people cross to the other side of the street, something about them just feels wrong, scary, not belonging.
once again thinking about the fact minos knew to use percy against nico in botl, somehow knew that he could get nico back into the labyrinth by saying percy needed him, that percy jackson was the key to manipulating a grief stricken, lonely 11/12 year old
and that it worked. that nico did go back for percy. and even without minos he does it again (the styx, battle of manhattan etc.)
and that percy does the same for nico countless times. constantly showing up for each other even if its not perfect but they're two teenagers in the middle of wars, of course it's not going to be perfect
and that neither of them know or talk about it. two boys who clearly care so much for each other but don't realise to the full extent just how far the other would go for them...
the amount of fics about percy and nicos friendship revolving around the fact that percy needs to apologize to nico and nico being gracious enough to eventually accept his apology makes me want to scream because i have never seen a worse take and yet it seems to be the most popular
one of hoo’s foundational aspects that made me immediately go “this series doesnt get it/doesnt hit the mark” is that rick gave each new member of the seven an insane batshit specialized set of powers to shortcut justifying their inclusion in the prophecy—leo’s case might be the worst offender, with his inclusion being practically prescribed thanks to tia callida and gaea meddling so early on in his life. so the assemblage of characters for the SGP ended up as “we were special therefore we are part of this prophecy,” as opposed to the first series’ approach wherein percy becomes the GP hero after a progressive series of events, particularly thalia’s red herring and his own choice to save nico. the first series took pains to show us that yes, fate shapes the story, but character choices are capable of shaping and even possibly rising above prophecy, in line with overarching themes of personal agency and generational cycles. in the first series, percy and the big three children are specifically, intentionally, notably outliers in terms of power, which is what makes their presence in the narrative so impactful when they do appear. the new members of the seven are part of the SGP simply because the author says they are, vis-a-vis “we are the gods’ specialest little soldiers, look how much things i can make go kaboom!” but it 1) takes away the impressiveness that initially came with the big three children’s singularity, and 2) means that hoo has no personal emotional character stakes tied into the SGP other than the vague apocalyptic threat, which we know the characters will defeat anyway. and it’s not like rick even did a good job exploring the hoo characters’ powers or their implications so it was really fucked from the start lmao
can't stop thinking about how rick really wrote the perfect parallel of luke forcing percy to fight for entertainment in a large stadium at the risk of his friends lives that were being held hostage — then of dionysus forcing percy to fight until he was entertained enough in a large statdium at the risk of nicos life being held hostage.
about how percy at that age was exactly when luke started to get angry at the gods, and percy admitted to starting to understand him as well. how he could then see so clearly that the gods were using him as a pawn in exactly the same way kronos and the "monsters" did.
Sometimes you hear a song and a fic pops into your head full formed. This is a trap. The fic may be fully formed in your brain, but you still Have to write it down. This is an important step that most people forget about.
really wishing i could draw rn bc the percy jackson and other characters i visualize in my head are objectively the correct and best versions of them and i wish everyone else could be privy to my genius
they should’ve been able to keep small bob. percy walking around with a little kitten napping on his shoulders only to be confronted by a monster and he just sets the little kitty down on the ground and people are horrified that he’s sacrificing him, only for sb (“small bob”) to grow in size and tear the monster apart. sb shrinking back down and purring as he nuzzles against percy’s leg and percy lifts him back up to set on his shoulder before going on about his business, unphased
that weird era pjo fandom went through where fanon Percy was this happy-go-lucky-human-golden-retriever-frat-bro becomes even weirder when you realise Percy barely smiled or laughed over the course of five books
smiling: 5 (1 uneasily, 1 under a spell, 1 during Cerebus face-off, 2 for Annabeth)
laughing: 3 (1 nervously, 1 making fun of Annabeth, 1 about Grover)
som:
smiling: 1 (grudging smile for Clarrise)
ttc:
laughing: 1 (the dam debacle)
botl:
smiling: 3 (1 with Calypso, 1 with Nico, 1 for Clarisse and Chris)
lauging: 1 (with Tyson)
tlo:
smiling: 5 (tried for a smile for Nico, 1 for Paul, 1 tried for a confident smile for Chiron, 1 at Hera sending cows at Annabeth, 1 at Bessie)
laughing: 2 (1 crazy laugh during a fight, 1 with Annabeth)
total smiles: 14
total laughs: 7
tlt:
"Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt.’ I laughed nervously. ‘A what?’"
"I laughed. ‘You? An architect?’"
"I smiled uneasily at the fat lady."
"I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable – rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket."
"I thought he was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, ‘I was pretty amazing, wasn’t I?’ Annabeth and I laughed."
"I took the big stick out of my backpack – a bed post I’d broken off Crusty’s Safari Deluxe floor model. I held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts towards Cerberus – Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants. I tried to smile like I wasn’t about to die."
"‘Reconciliation,’ she said. ‘Athena and Poseidon together.’ My face felt a little warm, but I managed a smile. ‘Thanks.’"
"She pursed her lips. ‘You won’t try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least… not without sending me an iris-message?’ I managed a smile. ‘I won’t go looking for trouble. I usually don’t have to.’"
som:
"I gave [Clarisse] a grudging smile. ‘What?’ she demanded. ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Just good to be home.’"
ttc:
"I cracked up, and I probably would’ve kept laughing all day, but then I heard a noise. ‘Moooo.’ The smile melted off my face."
botl:
"[Calypso] would look at me and we’d share a smile"
"I laughed. ‘Yeah. He throws really good rocks. Come on, big guy. Let’s have dinner.’"
"‘I smiled. ‘Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while,’ I tossed [Nico] the statuette."
"And as I watched Clarisse and Chris singing a stupid campfire song together, holding hands in the darkness, where they thought nobody could see them, I had to smile."
tlo:
"I was afraid I knew why Nico was here, but I tried for a smile"
"I couldn’t help but smile. Paul was a pretty cool guy, even if he was my English teacher as well as my stepdad."
"That didn’t exactly reassure me, but I nodded and tried to give him a confident smile."
"‘I tried not to smile. ‘Cows? In San Francisco?’"
"Despite all the serious stuff going on, I had to smile. Two years ago we’d spent a lot of time trying to save the Ophiotaurus from the Titans, and I’d got kind of fond of him."
"I might have even laughed once or twice – a crazy laugh that scared me as much as it did my enemies."
"Annabeth was laughing, and I couldn’t help laughing, too, even though my face was completely red."
reading tlt is lowk heart-wrenching because percy’s is genuinely so resigned that his life is and forever will be full of teachers that don’t care and peers that exclude him and an abusive step-father that belittles him.
there’s no dreaming of more, just thinking about the next school the next job the next whatever to get by. resigned to the fact that he’s not normal and never will be and that he shouldn’t expect anything else shouldn’t expect things will get better.
but he still tries he wants to be a good kid!!! he wants a different life he wants to succeed, but thinking his best isn’t worth anything because the cycle keeps repeating.
and all of this sticks with him even as he finds home in camp and his home situation improves and he finds belonging in life. there’s that part of him that thinks this won’t last, that he doesn’t truly really belong here
forever feeling out of place, just the most intense imposter syndrome ever ohh baby percy 🥲
his father’s nature gives him resistance to heat and fire, however when the fire has overcome that resistance and begins to hurt him, water struggles to heal the marks it leaves behind. #percy with burn scars from mt st helens
areudirty
stormborns
kaledo-art
turnnoffyourmind
dededos
