What if Zeus had swallowed Beryl to prevent Thalia from being born.
The thing about Jurdan is that their romance is ACTUALLY RELEVANT TO THE PLOT.
See, with Percabeth and Sokeefe, leaving out their romance wouldn't change anything. They could just be really good friends or best friends.
But with Jurdan, well, if Cardan didn't romantically love Jude, if he hadn't been OBSESSED with her, then he wouldn't have offered to make her queen, which would have changed a lot in the plot.
(Not saying that this makes Jurdan superior to Percabeth or Sokeefe)
This is my two cents-feel free to disagree and give me arguments why.
THE WORLD CAN'T END BEFORE AMOS KANE AND AUSTIN LAKE MEET
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.
Thinking about going through the next year without my dad is literally so terrifying that I start to cry.
Now that I've lost my dad, I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed about next year, which is important for me. I thought he'd be there to help me, but he's gone. It feels scary honestly. I don't know what to do.
This is an amazing critique of Rick's misogyny that most of the fandom is apparently incapable of seeing-they most likely intentionally turn a blind eye to it, which is very problematic. Authors are allowed to use their versions of the myths, but we must not take the media too seriously and we DEFINITELY should not think that that was the only version. Also, the fandom needs to differentiate between the OG myths and what goes in the modern piece of media that uses them (Lore Olympus, Percy Jackson, etc).
Also, I can commiserate with you about Demeter and Persephone, as it's tiring to see their loving relationship being destroyed and twisted into something horrible.
Rick really fucked up Athena and Aphrodite too.
One thing I find so interesting about the PJO fandom is how they actually accepted how Rick fucked up 90% of the goddesses. Even when he uses a version of a myth that specifically talks about men being idiots, he villainizes women. Like, no one complained about how fucked up is that he used the story of Hephaestus trying to rape Athena and turning it into a “poor guy cried bc he was rejected by a girl” thing?
The true story is literally Hephaestus trying to rape Athena, she fights him off but his semen falls into her skirt and cleans it with a piece of cloth and tosses it into the ground (earth, which is Gaia) and from there, Erictonio is born. And Athena raised the child as her own even tho he was the product of the assault she suffered. The guy ruled Athens.
Rick turned it into Hephaestus falling in love with Athena and crying on her lap, making her reject and KICK him plus being disgusted by the tears and the dirt.
He also used all of Ovid versions he could possibly find to fuck Athena up. Arachne doesn’t happen with Greek writers and Medusa was never cursed (or assaulted) when we talk about the OG Myth. She was already born a monster and Athena only helps Perseus kill her bc yeah, Medusa killed people.
Also, Medusa’s version by Ovid is a lot alike Cassandra of Troy story, and let me tell ya, Cassandra was cursed but it wasn’t by a woman. And when she was raped by Ajax, Athena made sure that he didn’t made it back to Greece.
Now I’m gonna talk about Demeter. Demeter, who had her daughter kidnapped, raped and imprisoned, and was turned into the typical “mother in law who hated son in law bc she thinks her daughter could do better” when yeah…she has all the right to feel angry bc her daughter was KIDNAPPED.
Artemis doesn’t hate men and her followers also don’t hate men. Feminism isn’t about hating men.
Aphrodite. I cannot even describe how dirty they made Aphrodite’s children. Like be fr one of her children helped build what it would’ve been Rome. He was a fighter. And her cabin there is just so different of what she is truly like. They should have a lot of other powers.
Also, a lot of women from the books follows the same stereotype of “omg I hate makeup it’s so girlish and I’d rather fight” like you can be feminine, wear makeup and STILL FIGHT. One doesn’t erase the other.
Another thing, but this one is about MOTHERS! I truly cannot understand the way Rick creates his women. I’m serious tho. Like, I’m sorry but sometimes it seems that his thing some goddesses (Athena, for example) are personal. The “abandoning Athens” thing, the “should’ve chosen Poseidon”, the way he wrote her as being cold towards her kids…in one of the versions, Athena was the one who saved Dionysus from Hera. She raised a child and made him a king even though he was the product of her almost rapist. She was there helping heroes all along. She fought for Odysseus for ten years.
Also, this fandom is incapable of seeing the difference between Minerva and Athena. Minerva gave Annabeth the mark, Athena had nothing to do with this. Annabeth is her favorite daughter, she made her architect of Olympus, protected her through her journey to find Luke and Thalia, disobeyed her fathers orders trying to help to find Annabeth, made battle plans with her and all…and she always claimed all of her children.
I think people just don’t like her bc she doesn’t trust Percy. And she shouldn’t. I love him, but Athena IS the goddess of wisdom after all and as such, it would be pretty dumb to trust a demigod that won a battle against the god of war when he was only twelve. Not to mention that everyone kinda thought the “preserve or destroy Olympus” was on his hands. And he tortured a goddess…I’m sorry but she was pretty much right. Wouldn’t trust someone that had the power to fuck me and my family up either. She dint made the choice based on “omg I hate my rival and his children” even more so bc she was trained by one of his children and bunch of grandchildren. She made the choice based on what she thought was less risky.
If she was so against Percabeth, I can assure you she would’ve killed Percy and probably wouldn’t even suffer much consequences. She admires some things about Percy but she was right about his flaw. And she also helped him during one of his quest to go to college. Does she loves the idea of the relationship? No. But that’s bc she is precisely the opposite of love. She doesn’t make decisions based on what her heart says, but on what her brain says. If she succumbs to the heart, then she would seize to be goddess of wisdom, reason and all of what she values. That’s why she vowed to never marry.
And, as Helenist, I do not take the myths that seriously bc when we talk about religion, I have a clear mind that those myth were made by humans who used the gods as a tool to justify some of their actions, and I hate almost all of the retellings that those authors do, but is so wild to see how much power they have on society bc now I cannot see anything about the gods without someone saying shit about them. But I do know all about the myths and I gotta say, doesn’t make much sense to use a Roman author to talk about Greek Gods. He made them dirty. Also doesn’t make much sense to use this versions of Ovid but still change it to make it more sweet for the men. Poseidon and Athena didn’t spend that much time beefing, they even have a city together (Troezen) and she definitely doesn’t hate his children. Her best friend was literally his grandchild.
Safe to say that y’all should probably question Rick on how he treats women bc I was seeing the PJO series (the cast is amazing btw, safe to say that Leah/Annabeth is my fav) and by the looks of it, saying on how he changed Athena’s personality one more time, I legit think that Annie won’t jump to save her friends on season 3, she will probably be pushed by her mother or whatever.
Another thing: apparently only the women that like and have a friendship with Percy are treated as cool. But that’s on the fandom, not the author.
I forgot to add one thing and I’m gonna fix the grammar later but the “this is for children” excuse isn’t really valid considering that we saw Gabe being aggressive with Sally, we also saw Ares being a jerk to Clarisse (which also doesn’t make sense) and the story clearly states cheating, fights, death and a lot of other terrors. If you’re gonna use a rape version of a myth bc you chose to fuck a Goddess up, then you should state that the man is to blame. In the books we see Medusa saying she was Poseidon’s girlfriend/lover…she was his lover on the og myth, not in the version Rick chose. In the version that he chose, she was clearly raped. But he erased that and replaced rapist with boyfriend. He could’ve chosen to do another path if he didn’t want to talk about sexual abuse, I can tell y’all a hundred of ways this could go, but he chose this path and changed it, favoring the man. Again.
He could’ve gone with the theogony and said what was there that basically is: she was a monster, BORN a monster, daughter of other two monsters, no one wanted to get close to her, but he did. They slept together in a camp of flowers.
Athena only enters the story wayyy after this. And, as y’all can see, no curse. Yet, he chose to go with the rape version were Medusa is a maiden, loyal to Athena, gets raped on Athena’s temple by Poseidon and Athena curses her. And what did the author do? He made this: Medusa, loyal to Athena, fell in love with Poseidon and they did things on her temple. Athena cursed her. Again erasing the men’s fault.
The hate on Athena doesn’t make any sense at all. Y’all love some other male characters that don’t have a single sense of responsibility and possibly did everything wrong in the book. I saw people condemn Athena for her treatment of Deadalus when the guy literally killed his nephew bc he was more praised than him. And Athena gave him a mark that burned and did some shit to teach him a lesson. Poseidon wanted a trial to avenge his rapist son that was killed by Ares bc he tried to rape one of Ares daughters. A RAPIST. And Poseidon is treated like and angel bc what??? He likes Percy? Is his father and got him a gift? And Athena is being hated bc she isn’t his number one fan and her Roman part decided to give Annabeth a Mark? And mind you she’s just like that with him bc she knows more than everyone else and knows that he is dangerous. A good guy? Yes, Percy is the most amazing guy. Still dangerous. Still had the power to torture a goddess and win against the god of war. And she doesn’t dislike him, she dislikes his relationship with her daughter. And even so, she didn’t stop the relationship. So yeah I won’t ever get why the women always get more hate than the men considering this.
Again, as a Helenist, I don’t take the myths seriously when I talk about the religion in general bc the Gods are superiors. They don’t have human flaws. But, as someone who knows about the myths, is safe to say I hate those stories that uses myths like that and turns it against the Goddesses and make them out to be the worst ever. All the gods deserved way better than what they got with those retellings.
How did Annabeth Chase even bag Percy?
Listen he has his flaws (like all the other characters) but he's still too good for her, especially with how she treats him.
Let me guess. Anti Annabeth Chase and anti Percabeth?
Yeah, if you're @hermesmyplatonicbeloved or @cynthiav06 in diguise, then ok. They share the same views as you.
Annabeth treatment of Percy is sometimes pretty unhealthy, to be frank. They love each other and there are many sweet moments and poetic parallels (that I can't be bothered to find, go dig through the Percabeth blogs for those theses.)
They had a pretty good friendship when she wasn't punching him or calling him a nickname that he had to grow used to simply because she wouldn't stop or making him think really hard about what he had to say or calling him a coward for the crime of *Checks notes* being stressed about a high chance of possible death!
Hm. Even their friendship was somewhat unhealthy at times.
And if you pull out the emotionally stressed card, then why didn't she apologise to him for it later? Not everything requires an apology, of course, but this does.
They also have a really nice romantic relationship when she's not judo flipping him and victim-blaming him for getting kidnapped, when she's not bringing up Rachel to keep him on his toes, when he's not almost scared to death by her and when she doesn't hit him.
It baffles me how Rick is able to write such toxicity in his relationships. Like. Rick. You know that this is unhealthy behaviour, right? You do know that having a healthy fear of your partner is not normal. It's not normal for them to hit you either (and don't get me started on the 'but they're demigods!' because Annabeth is the only one whom we see exhibit this kind of behaviour. Clarisse and her cabin don't count because this behaviour is negatively associated with them and they're called out on it while Annabeth is not.) It's not normal for you to get used to a nickname that they keep calling you (this was in TTC too, before he went off his rocket.)
You know that, right, Rick? You know it?
She was pretty much the only girl that he really interacted with throughout the series. Sally doesn't count (I'm talking about people of his age, plus she's his mom) Thalia went away after one book and Rachel came in later and left soon. Annabeth is also one of Percy's only friends (apart from Grover and Nico, who don't interact with Percy that much after HOO and then there's Rachel who drops out of his life fast after becoming the Oracle.) In fact, she's the person with whom he interacts the most. So that explains a lot of it.
I don't think that he's too good for her, but I would really like her unhealthy behaviour towards him to be called out and fixed. It would be absolutely amazing if it was treated as a character flaw, which, unfortunately, won't happen.
How would you write PJO and HOO?
What makes Percy Jackson so interesting-being set in America-is also what makes it problematic. Any excuse given for moving the Greek Gods out of Greece and to America would have been bullshit, but combining ancient mythological creatures and modern day culture and technology can also be a really funny gag (Rick Riordan can write comedy pretty well).
I do think that it could be set in Greece and still be interesting, though, so if I rewrote PJO, I'd do a lot of research and set it in Greece and I wouldn't make fun of the culture. Also I would add the children of Greek immigrants.
I'd definitely get rid of the weird sexism surrounding Aphrodite's daughters and cabin in the books.
I wouldn't make Artemis and her Hunt hate men, I'd make them be clueless about men and turn it into a comedy (men do THIS? No wonder you're so behind! We in the wild do [something completely absurd and simply undoable in modern say society that can be done in her Hunt because it's timeless and in the wild] Far superior).
If I could rewrite HOO, I'd get rid of all the sexism and racism entirely. The characters could actually travel over the world and it would be more impactful to focus on how pollution is affecting the world.
OR, to make it an entertaining and intriguing fictional series-FOCUS ON THE POLITICS. HOO is supposed to be for older audiences, for teenagers, right? Well, plenty of people get into politics at 15-16, so focus on introducing them to politics! See my post here (it's not fully finished but it's better than nothing).