I Want To Draw You (Part 2)

No emotional support and heavy procrastination tendencies, this next year's going to be one hell of a year for me.

Let Vivienne hate Madoc. Just let her.

Sooooooooooo I just saw some posts saying that Vivienne could love Madoc because she only believed that she would hate him when she vowed to hate him-

and even if that is true............

Let her hate him. Just let her.

First of all, can we have a Duarte sister who doesn't forgive Madoc for killing their parents?

I want to see him face consequences for murdering them, even if he had his explanation for doing so. I want to see him feel guilty about it and not be able to forget it. And Vivienne is perfect for this.

Jude loves him (albeit in an uncomfortable manner) and Taryn seems to have some love and loyalty to him too.

And honestly, I cannot emphasise how awful their parents' murder was for the Duarte girls. They saw it right in front of their eyes, and then Madoc kidnapped them and took them away from the only home they knew back then.

(And if Justin and Madoc can both be fathers to Jude, then the same goes for Vivienne. Madoc's her bio father, Justin's her adopted. He took care of her for 9 years-don't tell me she didn't love him.)

We as the readers are not really affected by it, because Jude barely talks about her parents and their murder, and doesn't express much grief after ten years because she's bottled it up and pushed it down.

But the Duarte sisters are. They knew their parents and they miss them, especially Vivienne who knew them longer and had better and clearer memories of them.

And honestly, Madoc was an awful person for that. He's an awful person for killing two people in front of children. Justin I get, because the guy tried to axe him, but he could have knocked Justin out-don't tell me he wasn't that strong or reflexive.

And Eva? He had no need to kill her at all. He could have grabbed her-AND THERE WERE THREE SMALL CHILDREN RIGHT FUCKING THERE!

It doesn't matter if he had an instant killing instinct. He's still a terrible person for killing Eva and Justin.

And do you know how much it must have affected Vivienne that Jude and Taryn treated their parents' murderer like their own father? Put yourself in her shoes. Imagine the betrayal, the hurt, the fury and pain.

We've been thinking and looking at TFOTA from Jude's perspective for far too long. It's time to dive into other characters' minds and see it from theirs.

Eva and Justin aside-let's go to Oak.

We know that Madoc was going to put Oak on the throne for his own gain, and we know that this would have traumatised Oak. Imagine being a king, having to make so many decisions-and Oak would still have some degree of responsibility, even with Madoc as the regent. Imagine having so many people looking at you for so many things that an adult should handle when you're so young.

Oak would've been traumatized, and you know it. And Madoc knew it too, and he still decided to go forth with the plan.

But where does Vivienne come into this, you ask? Why don't I just post this under a Madoc hate rant?

(I don't hate Madoc).

Because Vivienne knew what I just told you too. She saw Oak who was young, and he was almost 9 then (I think) and she was nine when her parents were murdered and she was stolen away.

And honestly, I'm pretty sure she hated Madoc in that moment. Pure hatred.

She probably took pleasure in forcing him to adjust to the mortal world, though. That must have been nice for her.

I don't think Vivienne loves Heather in the faerie way-she loves Heather in a more human way. (I love Vivienne and Heather so much, you have no idea, as much as some of you love Jurdan). And honestly, good for her. Good for both of them.

And honestly, I don't hate Madoc. It's just that when I think of him with relation to Vivienne, then I really start to hate him. That's all. Feel free to debate with me if you want.

COMPARING JUDE DUARTE TO PERCY JACKSON AND SOPHIE FOSTER

So, I've read TFOTA, KOTLC and PJO, and I'm sure many other people have done the same. I've been comparing Jude to Percy and Sophie for a long time, so I wanted to type it out and make an analysis. Here we go now.

One thing I find about Jude is that she's different from both Percy and Sophie in the sense that she's thrust into a hostile world where she had no friends and had to fend for herself pretty early on. Her parents are murdered right in front of her eyes and she's taken to Elfhame, and we know that the TFOTA faeries don't like humans-most of them at least.

And while Sophie is also thrust into an entirely different system, it's friendly to her. Yes, she misses her human family and Amy, but Shannon barely goes into this. Sophie's not harmed or looked down upon (except by a few people, and they're not that relevant.) In fact, she's quite important and gets a lot of help (along with a bunch of trauma, though. Not trying to downplay Sophie's experience).

Percy also discovers the world of demigods, but he doesn't have to leave much behind-the mythological and modern world are heavily intertwined, so actually gains something, which means that he can go on living his life like he used to, except with advantages now (except being hunted by monsters)

Which brings me to my first point-

JUDE HAS NO PROTECTION SYSTEM OR HELP

Sure, she's Madoc's ward, but she's not his actual daughter. But she's a human in Elfhame-and we all know what that means. Those of us who have read the books, at least. Sure, being Madoc's adopted daughter gives her some protection, but it doesn't stop her from being glamoured and traumatized. It doesn't stop her ring finger's tip from being bitten off at 9 years old, by one of Madoc's servants no less, right in his stronghold. It doesn't stop the servants from mentally abusing her by making her feel inferior and telling her that she is lucky to be raised like this. Jude herself says that Tatterfell was probably considering pricking the former with a pin, implying that Tatterfell has done it before, which is still physical abuse. It doesn't prevent her from being drugged and danced around against her will at 11, and it doesn't stop her from being bullied by Cardan and Co.

Now moving onto Percy and Sophie-they had amazing support systems. Percy had Camp Half Blood. He was Poseidon's son, a Big Three Kid, and they're practically worshipped. He had so many friends at camp. He had Chiron and his mom Sally, who was an AMAZING parental figure. And then Percy had Paul. Percy also had Poseidon at times, though the latter rarely showed up-he still helped Percy quite a lot. Percy also had the gods. Artemis and Apollo helped him. Aphrodite helped him. Poseidon helped him. Dionysus helped him. Hestia helped him. Hera guided them through the labyrinth and made Percy's arrow fly perfectly. Hephaestus helps him too. The majority of the Olympian council has helped Percy, and without their help, he'd be nowhere. He also has magic, insane magic powers and he's pretty magically powerful, which Jude is not. She doesn't have any magic-the closest thing she has to it is the geas that makes her immune to glamours, and that Prince Dain placed on her when she asked him to. Percy is basically a Chosen One after all the other Big Three kids (Thalia-huntress, Bianca-dead and Nico-too young) are pushed out.

Sophie also has a great support system. She's got many parental and trusted authority figures-Elwin, Alden, Grady, Edaline and Della. She also has her friend circle-Keefe, Fitz, Biana, Dex, Wylie, Marella, Linh, Tam-which rapidly expands and the support of the Black Swan. AND she has powerful magic and is a chosen one like Percy. Something else that Jude doesn't have.

To summarise this, Percy and Sophie had great support systems that they could lean on and they were helped by others quite a lot (especially Percy) whereas Jude mostly helped herself.

JUDE HAS NO GOOD PARENTAL FIGURES OR FRIENDS

Unlike Percy and Sophie, Jude doesn't have healthy parental figures either. But! you say. But she has Madoc! Madoc is not a healthy parental figure.

Jude loves him in an uncomfortable way, yes. He cares about her, yes. He insisted that she be raised like the Gentry Faeries-that she learn swordplay and strategy, wear beautiful gowns and attend Faerie revels. But he still murdered her parents right in front of her eyes when she was a child. He still ran his sword through her and left her out to bleed. He still abandoned her to die when he felt that she was a hindrance. He loves her, yes, and he would do a lot for her, but he is in no way a healthy parental figure. Oriana is not a parental figure to Jude. She's only Oak's mother. Not Jude's, not Taryn's, not Vivienne's. She is, in fact, normally cold and stand offish with them, though she can be helpful at times. Taryn is Jude's closest 'friend' and we know how many times she betrays Jude during the course of the series (Locke and Madoc). Vivienne is perhaps the healthiest relationship that Jude has (besides the Court of Shadows). She's a good sister who has come through plenty of times for Jude when no one else has, supplying her and Taryn with quick magic whenever necessary…… but even she has her limits. First of all, she doesn't want to stay in Elfhame forever. She understandably hates and doesn't want to live with her parents' murderer, but where else can she live in Elfhame? Even if she could live somewhere else, she doesn't want to, and wants to go back to the Mortal Realm. She stays for Jude and Taryn, then leaves for Heather. She is also somewhat selfish and doesn't listen to Jude either. She doesn't help Jude with politics either-Jude is able to trust Vivienne because the latter stays loyal to Jude, but only for so long till she tires and goes back to the Mortal Realm. And this is where I come to the Court of Shadows. Honestly, they're one of my favorite parts of TFOTA. Their relationship with Jude is amazing-BUT, hear me out. I'm talking about Jude for the whole decade that she lived in Elfhame, and she didn't even have the Court of Shadows for a fraction of that time. So yes, they're her best support system, even if The Ghost was under Locke and then Madoc's control for much of the series-and he showed remorse afterwards and apologised. Even if the Bomb tried to kill Jude because the former understandably thought that the latter was trying to kill Cardan-and she showed remorse afterwards and apologized. And there's no time when the Roach actively tries to harm Jude. Yeah, I love these guys' dynamic so much, I'd read a whole book on them. (Honorable mention for Fand here-while she was not Jude's friend, she was friendly with her and was Jude's first personal guard as Queen).

To summarise this paragraph, Jude didn't have a good support system her whole 10 years-Madoc's protection didn't always protect her, Taryn is self-explanatory and Vivienne could be selfish and had her limits as well. Except at the very end when Jude joined the Court of Shadows.

PERCY AND SOPHIE WERE CHOSEN ONES

Percy and Sophie were also 'Chosen Ones'. Percy was the prophecy kid, the Savior of Olympus, and Sophie is the Black Swan's weapon. Jude is not a Chosen One-being a mortal in Faerie, she's quite the opposite. She's simultaneously at a high rung of a ladder due to being Madoc's ward and at a low rung, due to being a human among faeries. She never had any magical powers and was at a severe disadvantage due to this for most of her time in Elfhame until Dain gave her the geas.

To summarise this paragraph-Percy and Sophie were magically powerful 'chosen ones', something Jude was most definitely not-in fact, she was the opposite until she got Dain's geas.

Percy and Sophie were already at the top of the ladder-they only had to climb a few rungs, while Jude was quite lower than they were, though not at the very bottom, and she had to climb a whole lot more than they did.

These facts make Jude a more compelling protagonist than Percy or Sophie to some people.

TO CONCLUDE Now, I'm not trying to bash Percy or Sophie here-Jude had 10 years in Elfhame while Sophie barely has 3 years in the Lost Cities and Percy only has 2-3 years of training his powers. There's a difference between the appeal of Jude versus Percy and Sophie-the first one's appeal is a powerless person rising to power and the second appeal is being a powerful person, an important chosen one, and having people admire and look up to you. Both can appeal to different people and the same people. But protagonists like Jude have an appeal that protagonists like Percy and Sophie can never have.

I think Jude is somewhat like Luke-ruthless and willing to do anything to ensure her loved ones' safety, including killing. She also rebels against the system like Luke and changes part of it by breaking the mold to fit herself in there. I'm not sure whom she's like from KOTLC, but if I had to pick a person, I'd pick either Forkle or Fintan-ruthless, morally grey, willing to do a lot to break the system and get accepted.

Though she is WAYYYYYYY morally better than them-a lighter shade of gray, if you will. She would never kidnap and torture a bunch of children for information and she'd never leave them to find their own way home when the chances are quite low.

I also think, that if the circumstances mandated it, Percy could be as ruthless as Jude if required. I'm not quite sure about Sophie, due to the whole elf guilt mental break thing, but I think that she could also be ruthless like Jude if she can convince herself that it's for the greater good and her loved ones.

Whew, this might be my masterpiece post. Well, if you have any counter arguments, then feel free to post them.

HOW RICK PORTRAYED THE GREEK GODS AND WHY IT WAS SO IMPORTANT

So people are going to notice that a lot of my complaints aren't just in PJO but extend to media portraying Greek Myths in general. But I want to focus on Percy Jackson and not other media, so I'm going to focus on Percy Jackson and not other media.

Starting off.................

The way Rick portrayed the Greek Gods was important because PJO was the most read book series that heavily centered around Greek Mythology he pretty much destroyed their images at the time.

There's an entire anti Percy Jackson tag as well as an anti PJO tag for you to scroll through to see how Rick Riordan portrayal of the Greek Gods was terrible. Be my guest and treat yourself to it. Search it up.

There are also people like @alatismeni-theitsa, @margaretkart and @katerinaaqu to ask for correct information on Greek Mythology. So be their guest too.

Today, we have PJO fans running around having incorrect perceptions of the gods and flinging hate and abuse at the real Greek Gods while Greeks and Hellenistic Pagans have to suffer through all this bullshit.

The torture is REAL. Just ask them.

I mean, you have people claiming that they are the CHILDREN of VIRGIN GODDESSES.

Artemis, Athena, Hera and Hestia don't have any demigod children.

If you really want to, call yourself their chosen champion. Not their child. It's disrespectful to Greek culture and religion to do otherwise.

Rick Riordan read about and taught Greek Myths in school, so he must have read the actual versions of the myths.

And knowing these, he decided to twist them into his terrible, inferior, crappy versions.

That man literally wrote Hephaestus, a rapist, as a poor guy trying to get a girl, oh, he's so sad and pathetic, and Athena's such a mean bitch for not accepting his advances even if she doesn't want it!

I'm not joking.................and I don't have words for this. I just don't.

Riordan doesn't really have any tact, does he? None at all.

And no, Greek people and Hellenistic Pagans cannot get away from these horrible portrayals, because there are too many Percy Jackson fans clogging up the Greek God tags with their Rick Riordan written PJO versions of the gods, which is kind of terrible for the Hellenistics who just want to be able to read devotional things about their gods and other people who just want to read about real Greek Mythology, not Percy Jackson. And this happens in real life, too. I mean, people using PJO as a substitute for real Greek Mythology.

Pro tip for PJO tumblr users: if you're typing about a god, use the Greek God PJO tag, like PJO Apollo or PJO Aphrodite, not just Apollo or Aphrodite, ok? Thanks for reading this.

There are many common misconceptions about Greek Mythology due to Percy Jackson. So, if you're not sure about something, please search it up on verified academic websites or ask real people-you can do this online too.

Now I am aware that Rick has the creative license to portray Greek Gods however he wants-

but let us as educated people all be aware of the fact that we should not always take portrayals of the Greek Gods in modern media depicting them seriously and if you want to read up on the actual gods, then read the myths and the Odyssey, Iliad etc.

Now, to name another shockingly appalling writing choice-

In the very first book, WW2 is atrociously used as a plot point

Yes, that's right-Rick Riordan, beloved author of a bestselling franchise for children and adults alike, reduces WW2, one of the most bloody and complex conflicts in history with a multitude of a reasons for its existence, to a fight between fictional demigods of the Big Three simply to have a reason for the Big 3 not to have children.

Do you know how serious this is? Do you actually know how bad this is, though?

Millions of people even today are affected by the WW2 due to generational trauma and abusive parents. WW2 killed millions of soldiers and civilians alike, and the Holocaust was so horrible that some people would faint just reading about what happened.

I will not go into the bloody, gory details here, but if you still don't believe this, go search up WW2 and Holocaust torture and treatment of Jews and other minorities as well.

Jews today still have gaping holes in their family trees because of it. And to have Rick Riordan portray it in such a callous way, to make a literal Greek God sire war criminals in modern history, when there were other methods he could have used to intertwine the mythological world and demigods and history.........it makes you wonder what was running through his mind at the time.

There were so many other ways he could have portrayed the prophecy-make it so that Big 3 children were constantly causing natural disasters and fictional wars in the mythological world, not the real world, and constantly dividing the cabins at CHB. Maybe they had their own war parallel to WW2. There were so many ways to do this- and none of them had to do what was ultimately done.

PJO WWII IS THE ULTIMATE INSULT TO THE GREEKS

What makes this even WORSE is that during World War II, the Greeks were in fact part of the ALLIES.

The Allies were fighting against the Axis powers, the latter of which contained Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan.

When the Nazis invaded Greece-well, it's never a good thing for a country to be invaded by enemies during a time of war.

At least 250,000 people died during the Axis occupation and its Jewish community was pretty much killed off. And the country's economy and infrastructure were ruined quite horribly.

And generations of Greeks are traumatised because of this, even today. Not just Greeks-thousands of people. Millions of people all over the globe are still traumatized from this war, be it direct experience or generational trauma.

And to make ANCIENT GREEK GODS responsible for WWII is simply, totally and absolutely unforgivable on Rick Riordan's part.

To make the Greeks' enemies the sons of their ancient gods........no. Just no.

And yes, Hitler is a son of Hades in canon. Rick later changed it because of the backlash. He's absolutely disgusting.

WHY THE HELL ARE THE GREEK GODS IN AMERICA?

Now.........the Greek Gods are in the USA!

But..........they're Greek, right, which means that they should be in Greece! So why now are they in the USA?

Well.........here's Rick's explanation for it.

Apparently, the Greek Gods started with the fire of the Western Civilisation and then moved onto other places.

'Flame of the West' crap my ass. Search it up-there's this great article called the Whitening Thief. Read that.

What's meant by Chiron's explanation is that apparently Greece is too bad for Greek Gods now, which is terrible, because that's literally where they originated. And their explanation for leaving it and coming to America is extremely half-baked and just reeks of white American superiority.

@margaretkart

@alatismeni-theitsa

@katerinaaqu

These are all good blogs to disillusion yourself with Percy Jackson and learn about what really happened in Greek Mythology.

And I just want to say-Percy Jackson is an ok start for venturing into Greek Mythology as long as you've read up some basic background beforehand, but-

But-

Do NOT, under ANY circumstances whatsoever, take RICK RIORDAN'S portrayal of the Greek Gods as the REAL Greek Gods.

Never do that. That is the one thing that must not be done.

Hera doesn't just love perfect families. She literally lives in the most dysfunctional family to ever exist. And she loves you if you try. She really does.

Hades would not threaten to eternally torture literal children just because of what their parents did to him. His literal job is to uphold justice in the underworld, and sending a child to Tartarus just because her father angered him and he couldn't punish the father isn't justice now, is it?

Ares loves his children and as for why Rick made him hate them-

Rick has a hate boner against the war god, that I will swear on. Read this post and the explanation for why Rick shouldn't have done it.

And the gods are actively depicted as cruel, neglectful, abusive parents, when in the myths they are quite the opposite.

Real Aphrodite loves her son Aeneas and frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield. She also tells him to not marry a woman (TO GIVE UP LOVE, HER LITERAL DOMAIN) so that he can fulfil his destiny of becoming a king.

Real Ares loves all his children. He tries to avenge his son Cycnus when Heracles kills him with good reason for being a cruel tyrant-and they were even riding chariots together when Heracles came across them. He avenged his daughter even at the cost of being punished by Poseidon and Zeus, neither of whom liked him.

Now, what I want to tell you is that the PJO Greek Gods are Rick's interpretation of them.

An interpretation of a Greek God by a modern author (who isn't Greek, by the way, please take note) is not the same as the real Greek God. Please understand this and accordingly adjust your views.

This also goes for Madeline Miller, Rachel Smythe, etc.

And lastly, one of the most ironic things is that though Richard uses the Greek Gods in his books, he has never ever added a single Greek character in it.

I'm talking about a modern Greek demigod who comes from Greece. Imagine them teaching the other demigods Modern Greek and Greek culture, language and traditions!

It's very ironic that he includes Chinese, African and Native American culture in his works and then turns around and pretend that Greek culture doesn't exist.

The demigods are in Athens, but for how much time before they go back to America? Barely any at all. And nothing learnt about culture while they're there.

(No hate to his already shitty representation. I'm merely making a point that there should have been a Greek character in a book that heavily centers on Greek Gods and their children, even if it's in America.)

RICK DOESN'T USE GREEK CULTURE OR RELIGION AND IN FACT INSULTS GREECE IN HIS WORKS

So, if you've read the title, let me tell you something-

Do you know that Greek Gods are still worshipped?

Some of you do, some of you don't, but let me tell you, they are still worshipped.

And accordingly, you must respect them and their worshippers, just like you would do for Christians. You cannot maliciously ridicule and condemn Hellenistic Pagans and Greek Gods just because they are a minority.

And if you've read the myths and think that the Greek Gods being cruel......

They're not, actually. I mean, yes, you think they're cruel, but most of the myths aren't taken literally by Hellenistic Pagans.

What the Greek Gods do is supposed to be symbolic.

Hades kidnapping Persephone symbolises death ripping children from their grieving parents' arms. It's an explanation for the seasons and it finally represents the fact that daughters could be given away by their fathers with the mother having no say in it whatsoever.

Demeter's grief and her actually being able to do something about her daughter's marriage and Persephone being returned to her is supposed to be a comforting tale for grieving mothers who have lost their daughter.

Artemis' cruelty towards certain people? It represents the cruelty of nature towards humans and what it will do to humans if they provoke it.

Zeus' infidelity and abuse of his power? Well, it represents what kings do. Zeus represented the kings of Ancient Greece, and kings abused their power and had many mistresses besides having a wife.

Many Greek kings also claimed to sons of Zeus or descendants of the gods, so it the idea that Zeus had many affairs with ladies and princesses of royal lineages was conceived.

The link above provides many good reasons for why the Greeks wrote Zeus having many affairs with mortal women, so check it out.

Also, Zeus is symbolic of storms. Storms are volatile and raging, and so was Zeus at times. He was a god of storms and as such symbolised them.

Hera punishing the mistresses and children in a jealous rage to bother Zeus? That's what queens did back in the day since they couldn't directly punish their husbands.

Dionysus being charming and fun but also being mad and wild? Well, he represents breaking away from social norms and going fully wild. Also, wine can make people fun and charming, but at the same time, it can turn people into mad, raging creatures.

The point is, most of what the Greek Gods did was symbolic to their domains. And no, contrary to popular thought, Greeks did not live in fear of their Gods striking them down every moment. In fact, many of them genuinely devotionally loved their gods.

And Greek Gods themselves are very kind and benevolent to their devotees, even today, as long as you don't provoke or seriously insult them. Just ask Hellenistic Pagans and you'll be surprised at the results. I'm serious.

The problem here is that we're trying to moralize divinity.

According to the Greeks, gods weren't humans. They were modelled after humans, but they were above humans and human flaws.

And the Abrahamic gods do terrible things too, but do we mock them? No, we don't, because their worshippers say that they are above humans and human flaws, so similarly, the Greek Gods are above humans and our flaws.

CONCLUSION

And no one cares about the fact that a guy is objectifying and making money off a culture all the while removing its significance and turning it into a joke.

Even though Greeks have a millennia old and rich culture, people are always bastardizing it. Non-Greeks really must stop doing this. It's very culturally disrespectful.

I've also seen grown adults saying that the Greek Gods are American so they're allowed to do what they want with them now, and that's absolutely disgusting. It's cultural appropriation, that's what it is. Do not condone it.

Ah, sorry, not conclusion-let me add one last thing here.

Rick Riordan has a series called Trials of Apollo in which Apollo is cast down to Earth as a human for the third time to defeat Python.

What I want to talk about here is Apollo's human name-Lester Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos is a common Greek Christian surname that means 'son of a priest'. One of Apollo's domains in prophecy and he has many priests, so maybe this is a reference to that.

But what is most upsetting is that this name is used for comedy.

It's belittled, laughed at and ridiculed for its longevity and hard pronunciation when it is in fact a very normal Greek surname. Even if it's not an American surname, even if it doesn't sound normal and sounds ridiculous to you, it's not ridiculous to others and you should respect it.

Can you imagine how Greek people with that last name read the books and felt bad about their last name? Or felt furious. I know that I would be FURIOUS if my last name was used like that.

And the fact is that Papadopoulos isn't even that hard to pronounce! It's literally just 5 syllables that you can repeat a few times until it doesn't twist your tongue.

And if you can't repeat this simple name, then you need to go back to kindergarten. Hell, go back to preschool even.

And there are people who have the audacity to say that the Greek Gods belong to America and are American. Grown adults, actually, on Twitter, no less. Tweeting it for the whole world to see their absolute foolishness and audacity.

They're pretty tactless, huh?

The Greek Gods were and always will be GREEK. Foreigners are not their rightful descendants-the Greeks are (Greek immigrants included). I mean...........this is bizzarre.

To conclude, (really conclude this time) though it's a series heavily entwined with Greek Gods, the only Greek thing about the series is the Gods. There's no Greek culture, religion or language, and even the Greek Gods are heavily Americanised, which is pretty disappointing. I hope that other authors will do better handling the Greek Gods than Rick Riordan.

(Side note: If you think anything I've said is wrong, tell me. I'll correct it immediately.)

@fandomloverangel

Let Nico speak Italian

One thing that bothered me when I reread The Tower of Nero was Nico only speaking Italian when he's really upset.

Nico only speaks Italian when something really bad has happened and he feels bad........so Italian is associated with something horrible happening.

But why does he only speak Italian when he's really upset? Why can't he just speak Italian normally? What's wrong with it? What's the reason to make him speak his mother tongue only when he's extremely emotionally distressed?

Taken on its own, it's not particularly bothersome to me, but when it's combined with Rick's other instances of racism, it's extremely annoying.

Sally shouldn't have gotten pregnant

Am I the only one that thinks that Sally Jackson shouldn't have gotten pregnant? Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Estelle or Paul or Sally, but it just feels like the woman gets to be 'happy' with a new husband and child to look after-just a generic happy ending. She could've been writing and publishing a book, and while I have nothing against her getting into a new marriage and finding someone who makes her happy, I just wonder why she had to have a baby directly after-she's 41 years old, and she's going to be raising yet ANOTHER child, which isn't as nice as it sounds, and it's not clear if Percy is going to help, as he has a lot of demigod-related challenges going on.

Just an opinion of mine-it's perfectly fine if you think that her ending was happy.

I haven't read KOTLC or Shadowhunters in quite some time but if Cassius was Sophie's father (this is never happening, but hypothetically) do you think Shannon would pull some Clary/Jace incest pining type of shit.

Misogyny against PJO Calypso

I have to say that PJO as a fanbase can be surprisingly biased against Calypso and sometimes their misogyny shows. You have a right to dislike Calypso and how she was written and retconned, but some of the posts I've seen about her are just plain misogynistic.

Calypso doesn't owe her life to Leo just because he rescued her from her island. She doesn't have to cater to him and his desires. She's entitled to live her own life on her own terms.

If she wants to stay back at her school instead of spending time with Leo, if she wants to travel the world with or without him, if she wants to make new friends and hang out with them, she is entitled to all of that and she's not morally bad for it.

Not to disappoint Caleo shippers or anything, but I honestly think that the best arc for Caleo would be for them to break up. Calypso wants to travel the world and make new friends; Leo wants to stay at the Waystation, teach kids and help them. The natural solution? A breakup. It doesn't even have to be messy and sad either-just a simple, amicable breakup, an acknowledgment that they like each other as friends, but that they can't stay together because they just don't work out.

I also think that this breakup arc would be healthy for young children and teenagers who read this because it shows them that not all breakups have to be messy and sad. That you can breakup with someone politely and remain on good terms with them, which makes the readers less apprehensive about breakups.

Just my thoughts, feel free to add on.

On ToA: Octavian was Roman. He died when a strategy of his failed, and Apollo was punished. Did I get it right? So, the pjo! gods have both a "Greek" and "Roman" self , "they prefer to keep separate from each other". Now, we see time and time again how that custom / "law" creates a loophole usually working in the pjo! gods favor, but why didn't "Lester" end up in Camp Jupiter? Ok, in English, both of his names may not differ. However, irl, they'd be spelled like this: Apollon (Greek), Apollo (Latin). Even after Octavian's death, there were still "enough" children and legacies to "make suffer for godly mistakes". Why it's CHB that must watch Olympus' raging? I repeat: What does CHB have to do with CJs "hybris"? Can you help me understand ToA (better)? I like the series very much and don't want to criticize something that may not need improvement.

This ask was very interesting.

On ToA: Octavian was Roman. He died when a strategy of his failed, and Apollo was punished. Did I get it right? So, the pjo! gods have both a "Greek" and "Roman" self , "they prefer to keep separate from each other". Now, we see time and time again how that custom / "law" creates a loophole usually working in the pjo! gods favor, but why didn't "Lester" end up in Camp Jupiter? Even after Octavian's death, there were still "enough" children and legacies to "make suffer for godly mistakes". Why it's CHB that must watch Olympus' raging? I repeat: What does CHB have to do with CJs "hybris"?

It seems to me that Rick prefers the Greeks over the Romans, CHB over Camp Jupiter. I'm not sure if he even did that much worldbuilding when plotting out Camp Jupiter-in any case, he definitely knows CHB better than CJ, so that was where Apollo was going to go.

That's the best explanation that I can give-though it would be very interesting to see Apollo at Camp Jupiter and have a Roman daughter of Ceres. Being Roman (with all their strictness and discipline) would also contrast with Meg's wild, free nature which would have been extremely interesting to read about.

Can you help me understand ToA (better)? I like the series very much and don't want to criticize something that may not need improvement.

Oh, trust me, Trials of Apollo could definitely have been improved on and you absolutely should allow yourself to criticise things because everything should be subject to criticism (which is not hate, by the way. Criticism does not equal hate).

Two Hunters of Artemis were kicked out just because they were lesbians, and no, this is not ok. Ace lesbians do exist and love does not equal sex.

Its theme of abuse are amazing and well done, but the ending of it just defeats the entire point of the first series, which was to break the system of abuse.

Also, the way Rick portrays the troglodytes and the pandai is......definitely a choice. Not a good one either.

The way he sexualised Piper (her body was softly curved in all the right places) was extremely disgusting.

You should search up TOA crit on tumblr to get more information. Fair warning that some criticism is really just what the posters wish would have happened or their personal thoughts, not actual criticism of the story, so watch out for that.

Also, if you want to criticise or hate on TOA, then tag it under 'toa crit' or 'anti toa' because people want to look at things that they like about TOA.

Oh my god, ok listen, I need to fucking vent.

I'm rereading PJO and I'm reminded of how much I hate how Rick portrayed Ares in Percy Jackson.

A BULLY? A THIEF? A CRIMINAL?

YOU KNOW WHAT RICK DOES TO ARES? HE TURNS HIM INTO THE BULLY WHO GIVES KIDS WEDGIES, WHO TEASES YOU AND STEALS YOUR LUNCH MONEY.

AND THAT'S FUCKING WRONG, BECAUSE ARES IS NONE OF THAT!

ARES IS THE GOD YOU PRAY TO TO GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO FIGHT AGAINST THE BLOODY FATHERFUCKERS AND DICKSUCKERS. HE'S THE GOD WHO HELPS YOU GET UP AFTER YOU BREAKDOWN FROM THEM. HE'S THE GOD WHO MOTIVATES YOU TO FIGHT AND DEFEND YOURSELF FROM THEM.

Percy hates Ares, BUT RICK IS WRITING PERCY!

So either Rick Riordan or his son HALEY RIORDAN (because Rick writes Percy mainly for Haley) hates Ares.

And you know what's so sad?

That this could've been a moment for self-growth from Percy. That he could've looked at Ares, what the god did, and think, 'Hey, I kind of hate him, but he's not all bad. He loves his kids and has done good things. Not everyone I hate is a bad person just because I hate them.'

But no. No, he has to end Ares' section in PJ'S GREEK GODS AND HEROES BY REWRITING ARES' MYTHS AND TWISTING THEM TO MAKE HIS OWN VERSION.

I'm so sick of how Dick Diordan writes Ares. I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of how he villainizes the crap out of him, because there's no fucking reason to do so.

Same with Aphrodite. I don't know what Rick's fucking deal is. Let the gods be gods.