How Calypso Is Portrayed In The Odyssey.

anon because the fandom does genuinely scare me sometimes, especially within the caleo stan circles

love your posts. what are your thoughts on caleo? i personally greatly dislike it, but how do you feel about it? i think it's another percabeth situation, where people only defend the abuse that happens because of the gender (if calypso was male and leo was female, there would be a riot. same situation with the constant hitting/violence with annabeth. a genderswap would ruin these ships.) i dont think leo or calypso act happy in the relationship, whatsoever.

About Caleo.............

All right, I hate that ship, but my main problem is how Rick portrayed Calypso in PJO versus how she is portrayed in the actual mythology and the Odyssey.

Putting this under a cut because I don't want to clog your feed up.

I don't know how many PJO fans have read the Odyssey, but if you have read it before or after, doubtless you'll be surprised at how different the two Calypsos are.

How Calypso is portrayed in the Odyssey.

She is not a sad, helpless UWU teen girl like Calypso in PJO. She shouldn't have even been a teenager in PJO-she romanced two grown men!

She's not the type of person to understand and let someone go. She didn't do that with Odysseus-she kept him captive for seven years and only let him go when Hermes threatened her with the wrath of Zeus (not something you want to tempt, never ends well.)

Being a nymph and a minor goddess who was the daughter of Atlas, she supported him during the First Titanomachy which was why she lived on Ogygia in exile as punishment. She's a goddess, which means that she was leagues more powerful than Odysseus, who was exhausted, traumatised and didn't have any crew or supplies to sustain him. Going back into the ocean was also dangerous because, well, Poseidon and his rage (not something you want to have on your head either).

It's literally stated in the poem that Odysseus cried on the beach every morning, wishing to return home and missing it terribly. He literally just wanted to see the smoke that rose from his homeland and wants to die. Exact lines copied from Homey's Odyssey-

'By night indeed he would sleep by her side perforce in the hollow caves, unwilling beside the willing nymph.'

'At night-time, true, he slept with her even now in the arching caverns, but this was against his will; she was loving and he unloving'.

'But Odysseus, in his longing to see were it but the smoke leaping up from his own land, yearns to die.'

And when Hermes forces her to let him go, she makes this speech saying that gods will ravish all the women they like, but the moment goddesses start doing the same, they are furious and make them stop.

That's literally just her trying to blame the gods and not herself for something she did. She's trying to shift the blame and make herself seem likeable because others did it, so why can't she?

This is something that a lot of abusers use to make them seem better. Calypso's actions are not ok, and the narrative does not tell us that it's ok. It condemns them, and so should we.

This by @katerinaaqu is a must-read, and you should check out their blog for more info on the real Calypso.

And how she's portrayed in Percy Jackson

We should not, for example, turn this adult nymph who's a rapist into a biologically and mentally 15-16 and make her a poor little girl who's sadly living on an island and then state that she's romanced grown men while somehow being 15-16 years old and ignore it.

I'm not saying that it had to be stated that she was a rapist because this is a children's book series.

But I'm not saying that she had to be portrayed as a teenager either.

The worst part is that though Calypso is depicted as a teenager, it's said that she fought in a war, the First Titanomachy which was much more serious than the Second One, and she romanced two grown men.

All of this while being a teenager? How the hell does that work? Apollo literally says that Calypso is old enough to be his babysitter! And he's millennia old! Millennia!

There is no logic in this, honestly. I mean, there's not much logic or consistency in PJO, but this really takes the cake.

And in Heroes of Olympus, more specifically the fourth book House of Hades, she appears again.........

And, well, this is where it gets really revolting.

Leo Valdez, a fifteen or sixteen year old teenager, is thrown all the way to Ogygia. And there he meets Calypso, who, as the book series states, cannot help but fall in love with every hero that appears on her island because they're just her type.

I think we all know what happens next.

Calypso, a millennia-old goddess who fought in a war and romanced grown men, gets into a relationship.........with a traumatized, mentally unstable teenage boy who's not even a legal adult. After only, what, a few weeks?

This entire situation feels like some bizzarre nightmarish distorted version of terribly-written, unfunny comedy.

THE ATROCITY OF ROMANTICISED SUICIDE

Ok, so Caleo is abusive, but I'll get to that later.

What I want to talk about-first and foremost about Caleo-is that Leo commits suicide to find Calypso's island again-and this isn't good.

...............Sorry, did I say that that wasn't good?

No, that's a fucking understatement and underestimation.

IT'S ROMANTICISED SUICIDE.

Sink that in your head people. He killed himself to find her island again and take her off of it!

And no, that's not romantic. It's not. Fucking. ROMANTIC.

it's disgusting, unacceptable, unpleasant, nasty, disagreeable, horrid, unwholesome, atrocious, awful, deficient, revolting, lacking, unwelcome, unfortunate, inferior, inadequate, lousy, flawed, pathetic, disastrous, ill, useless, worthless, gross, damnable, vile, absymal, horrendous, shoddy, abominable, crappy, faulty, trashy, substandard, nasty, terrible, dreadful, unfavourable, grim, distressing, regrettable, adverse to morality and humanity, entirely unnecessary and not up to scratch (THAT WAS THE ITCHIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN).

How, just how am I supposed to explain how horrible this is? Especially in a children's book series?

Killing yourself just to find a loved one is never a good concept in any form of media. It's a self-destructive fantasy and suicide itself is a horrible, horrible thing-not to blame the suicidal person, but to both them and their loved ones.

And suicide should never be romanticised, never ever, period. To do so, especially in a children's book series, is absolutely atrocious writing on the author's part, no matter who they are.

He never even called it out. If he had said that it was horrible and treated it as such, it would be a little better-but no. It's cheered on and encouraged, which is a level of hell that's deeper than the Earth's core.

I don't think I've emphasized how awful this is. It's just.......let's not romanticise suicide and suicidal tendencies. Not for anything. Never.

LEO'S ARC IS RUINED

The entire point of Leo Valdez's arc was to show that being the third wheel (seventh one in this case) wasn't bad. Being single, not finding romantic love, was fine. Acceptance without romance was possible, and pure platonic love was also possible. And Calypso pretty much ruined this because in the end, heteronormativity forces romance above everything.

And he literally prioritises this random girl whom he spent a few weeks with over his friends whom he spent months with and knows them way better than Calypso.

The forced amatonormativity here is as transparent as clean air. You'' be able to see lichen growing on the trees if you look close enough.

Abuse in Caleo

Calypso is also abusive to Leo.

1) She looks into Leo's past and sees his memories. Without his permission. Which is pretty creepy and moves past boundaries in a bad way.

Now we come to the Dark Prophecy, where they star as a couple (more like a star explosion).

2) In TDP, Calypso jabs her fingers into Leo's ribs.

Why?

It's because she asked what was hiding Festus from the mortals, so he tells her what the Mist is and she says that already knows-even though she literally asked the question that provoked in the first place.

Even if she thinks he's insulting her or talking down, when he's not, she shouldn't jab her fingers into his ribs.

And that wasn't playful-Leo expressed physical pain through an exclamation. And even if Calypso thought it was playful, she didn't apologize afterwards when she saw that she caused Leo physical pain.

3) She also calls him by a name that he told her never to call him by-Leonidas.

He clearly doesn't like it, and knowing that, she still uses it, that too in front of someone they don't know very well, almost a stranger.

In the Riordanverse, names have power.

Leo chooses not to call himself that. He tells Calypso never to call him that. And she calls him that.

In this moment, she's taking his power and autonomy away from him by calling him something he doesn't like. It's probably minor to a lot of you, but honestly, it's pretty bothersome to those of us who have actually experienced this.

4) Leo often uses mechanical-related analogies, but Calypso hates them and makes him stop using them, so he doesn't even use them when she's not around.

What's wrong with him using his analogies? He uses them to help him and she makes him stop. She effectively stops him from using something that helps him. That is bad.

It's a fundamental part of him. If Calypso doesn't like it, then why is she dating him at all?

5) Leo is also bad to Calypso. He calls her Mamacita multiple times after she tells him not to. Reyna literally has to tell him to stop calling her that and intimidate him into doing it, and it's all passed off has lighthearted playfulness.

As someone who has been through this before, it's pretty damn frustrating. It's not funny or cute to do it. It's plain annoying and the person on the receiving end is completely right to want it to stop.

6) The age gap. I've mentioned this before.

But some people are saying that Calypso has the maturity of a teenager in PJO, so why shouldn't she date Leo?

All right, using that logic, let's make Apollo and Reyna date!

NO.

Calypso has lived for millennia on her island. She says that it's been three thousand five hundred and sixty eight years.

This isn't like Nico, who was in the Lotus Casino for decades but only aged a month. He was the same level of mature when he went into it and came out. Calypso was not.

Apollo has also lived for millennia. And he has a teenager's maturity. Does that mean it's ok for him to date Reyna.

No. It does not. And the same logic applies to Calypso and Leo.

I've also heard someone saying that Calypso is cursed to fall in love with whoever washes up on her island, which isn't true.

She says that the gods send her the type of person whom she can't help herself from falling in love with. Not that she's cursed to love them.

7) In TDP, Leo is working on something to try and find Georgina, a missing child.

And then when he says as much, Calypso sharply asks him if he can imagine losing his child.

He can, in fact, do that. He lost his mom, which was just as horrible if not more than Jo and Emmie losing their child, since there was a chance of Georgina coming back, but Esperanza could never come back.

He also has a little brother-Harley. He says that he would be furious if someone did something bad to Harley! So yes, he can in fact imagine what losing a child is like!

After this, Calypso for some reason gets frustrated and tells him that he can't reduce everything to a program.

He's not doing that. He's not reducing this problem to a program-he's working on a program to reduce this problem.

She tells him that Jo and Emmie don't need gadgets or jokes. They need someone who will listen.

And how is that going to help exactly? Leo is actually doing something. He's working on something to find Georgina.

A good listener is something nice to have, but a person who actually does something helpful is even better. And if Calypso thinks Jo and Emmie need a good listener, then she can listen. What else is she doing anyway?

Calypso willfully misunderstands this and wrongfully accuses him of not listening and trying to reduce everything to a machine when he's not. This is what a toxic partner does. They twist the narrative to make you think that your actions are wrong when they're not.

TO CONCLUDE

Neither Leo nor Calypso is happy in their relationship. It was built on naive dreams and false passions-the moment they became a real couple, they didn't know what to do. They thought that they loved each other, but it was only the idea of love and having a partner that was compelling to them. The moment they actually got what they wanted, which was to be in a real relationship, they didn't know how to actually be a couple. Then the problems of a real relationship began to hit both of them.

The logical solution would be to talk it out, apologise on both ends, realise that they wouldn't work out together and finally break up while remaining good friends or just stop contacting each other entirely-either one is fine.

They're taking a break now, so hopefully Rick Riordan will make them break up, but I think that he'll just never mention them again, which wouldn't be as great, but would be fine, honestly, regarding the current state of Rick Riordan.

Tags

pjo rick riordan critical rr crit Percy Jackson Critical anti caleo pjo discourse rr critical pjo crit pjo critical percy jackson crit

Vivienne and Madoc angst part one

So this is what a car looks like, Madoc thought. He had forgotten what they looked like. The models that Eva had showed him were 'old-school' and 'practically ancient', as Vivienne had put it. She had screamed with laughter when he asked about cars, using his fairy terminology.

Heather had politely smiled, but Madoc could tell that she was holding back laughter too. Her trembling lips conveyed as much. Madoc internally groaned. He was banished to the human realm, and he needed to brush up on his already scanty knowledge of it. And Vivienne seemed to delight in showing him how terrible he was at it. Laughing at every single thing he did wrong and condescendingly showing him how to do it better. He grunted in annoyance. 'This baby right here,' Vivienne patted the car, 'is a Toyota. Great model, very nice for a secondhand car, and holds four. Though with you in it,' she added casually, 'it'll probably be quite stretched, so be careful.' Madoc chose to take it as a compliment. His daughter was complimenting his muscular physique that could flatten any of these odd, lightning-speed, roaring vehicles. And anyway, the car was somewhat roomy at the back. He was studiously avoiding going to the house where it had all happened years ago. He would NOT remind himself of that time. Everything was better now. Jude and Taryn liked Faerie, and Vivienne- Vivienne, ironically, had been the only one who hated Faerie. She only stayed there for her sisters, and the moment she got a real chance to, she dropped everything and left to live in the human realm. Madoc had wondered at her loving a human girl. Just like him. And not understand her. Just like him. (And unintentionally hurting her. Just like him. Only this time, they were both well and good, while his hands were bloodstained and Eva lay six feet below). He had wondered how Vivienne would deal with Heather's death, but decided not to point it out. Vivienne was only 20 after all, and when she had lived centuries as he had, she would gain more experience. Oriana had chosen to come with him. What a wonderful woman and wife. Prim, thoughtful, proper, careful to consider he next move. Not like Eva, who was a restless whirlwind and broke more than one rule of faerie etiquette. (But then again, that was why he had liked her.) The human realm, however, was different from Faerie. No servants, no big grand mansions, only their little apartment in the building adjacent to Vivienne's, as she had absolutely refused to get him a flat in the same building as hers. He had already started playing politics with his neighbours and was making wonderful progress. He avoided telling Vivienne about this. Oriana rolled her eyes and shook her head. 'What will you do to the human world?' she had jokingly asked him. Maybe I'll take it for a spin, he thought, just like Eva did with my world. He had asked Vivienne to take him around the city to see what to catch up on. Now he stared at the glowing neon signs, recalling the ones from the 1970s, when he'd travelled around the city. He looked at the small stores whirl by. Vivienne wasn't even driving slowly-she simply drove ahead, telling him about the city and its modern developments. 'My goodness, humans really do evolve fast.' he said. 'I haven't been here since-well-' He fell silent. He hadn't been there since that fateful day-when he had killed Justin and Eva. 'You haven't been there since you killed my parents,' Vivienne said cheerfully. The car sped up. Madoc opened his mouth and closed it again. It shocked him that she said that, even when he had internally acknowledged it. My parents. My.

(Part one, since the whole thing is too long to post)

Tags

THE CRUEL PRINCE tfota vivienne duarte vivi duarte madoc tfota Vivienne tfota

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bassiascoparia

6 months ago

How Bianca thought that she was parentified

Ok, so, regarding the Nico and Bianca situation in PJO. So, people argue against the parentification of Bianca. First, her memories were wiped, then she and Nico were taken to the Lotus Casino, which made them forget all their worries! How could she have raised him then? And, yeah, you're right. But, hold on, we know that they were taken out of the Lotus Casino sometime after TLT. Now, they in there for 70 years. We don't know their reaction to modern technology, but I'm pretty sure that they DEFINITELY weren't used to it. Kids their age (biologically speaking) would know how to use basic technology in that era, and they didn't. Hell, they barely knew anything. Their syllabus was probably different, too. And can you imagine being snapped out of a month-long fun vacation, having to leave the literal LOTUS CASINO, and then being told that for a second time that hey, your parents are dead, but don't worry! They left a HUGE trust fund for you! Well, a trust fund wouldn't be enough to alleviate Bianca's fears. She and Nico only have each other right now, and yeah, they were in different dorms and classes, but is that really enough? Like, imagine your parents are dead, and you go to a hotel to have a month long fun vacation, but suddenly YOU'RE RIPPED OUT and then you remember that and you have a younger brother to take care of, and now you're in a whole different era and you don't really KNOW anything, you don't know what to do, what to study, maybe you're even falling behind in class. And now you know that sure, there might be a trust fund, but how long till it runs out? And then you'll have to fend for yourself AND your brother. It's just, I think being thrown into a whole new era really subconsciously affected Nico and Bianca in a bad way. I think Bianca thought that she was somewhat parentified because their parents were dead, and the trust fund wasn't eternal, and one day she'd have to fend for Nico and herself.

If you want to argue, please do.

Tags

nico di angelo bianca di angelo hades (pjo) maria di angelo

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bassiascoparia

4 months ago

Have you ever received any death threats?

So, just curious to know, have any other anti Percabeths ever received any death threats?

You don't have to answer if you don't want to, just asking.

Tags

pjo anti percabeth

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bassiascoparia

2 months ago

Which Riordan character do you think had the most wasted potential?

I can't choose because there are too many.

Tags

pjo this probably wasn't the answer that you were hoping for but it's the only one I can think of honestly you can comment or reblog with character of your choice though

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bassiascoparia

5 months ago

Heather, Cardan and Garrett meetings

Ok, so we have Vivienne, Jude and Taryn-

But who's going to give me Cardan, Heather and the Ghost?

I NEED to see interactions with Cardan and Heather, I just feel like they would be hilarious. Like Cardan would casually be explaining something odd about Faerie, or something bad that Jude did (murder for politics, IDK) and Heather would be terrified. And maybe the Ghost would be comforting her or something. And Vivienne would be furious afterwards.

Oh my god, Duarte sister spouses meetings would be so funny. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see all of them meet.

Tags

THE CRUEL PRINCE tfota heather tfota The Ghost tfota Larkin Garrett Gorm Garrett tfota

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bassiascoparia

6 months ago

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

Tags

apollo (pjo) hades (pjo) aphrodite pjo poseidon pjo ares pjo demeter pjo zeus pjo athena pjo persephone pjo dionysus pjo

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