It's Been A Little While But I Want To Know : Have You Read The Bacchae Now ? If Yes, What's Your Opinion

What other Greek mythology based books would you recommend

Greek Mythology based books? Well, if you're looking for stories like PJO, I don't know-

But I would really recommend reading the Odyssey and Iliad, even translated versions of them with easier-to-read language. I would also recommend reading Euripedes' Bacchae and his other works like Medea.

@margaretkart

@superkooku

@katerinaaqu

The tagged people will be able to recommend more books like the ones I listed above.

The ultimate tragedy of Bianca di Angelo

The tragedy of Bianca di Angelo is that she was written to be only an older sister to Nico.

She revolves around Nico. She’s a moon to his planet. She’s an auxiliary character for the sake of his development.

But…..for a brief moment………Rick Riordan accidentally created some figure of hope for older siblings, more specifically older sisters who were conditioned to always be the soft yet firm column for their younger, or sometimes, even older brother to lean on, because in this society, it is expected that women will light themselves on fire and smile and be loving and sacrifice their lives for the men. 

So many older sisters saw Bianca as someone whom they could relate to and grew to love her, even after she only got half a book and died.

And this is where the tragedy comes into play, because after her death, she’s always mentioned only in relation to Nico. She’s never her own person, only the feeble but potential Earth to Nico's brightly blazing sun of well written character development. 

And that’s what happens to the older sisters. They simply vanish, are only mentioned in passing and always in relation to their male relatives. And they’re mere children, forced to take care of another child like a fully grown adult, and it gets exhausted, and one day they’ve just had enough.

And what does society do when women finally lash out, scream and protest and put themselves first?

Selfish. Cruel. Cold. Uncaring. A pussy bitch. 

Bianca has gotten so much backlash from her haters. But we all forget that she was twelve-a terrified, immature child who shouldn’t have been taking care of Nico.

(I think that she had to watch him in the Lotus Casino, because he’s her younger brother. Annabeth and Grover weren’t like that to Percy, only friends. Also, they both knew that their parents were dead, so it was different. Nico did mention that Bianca was strict with what she let him watch, so she probably watched over him in the Casino too).

And the older sisters were let down. They watched and silently cried, disappointed, as Bianca was never her own character, always Nico’s older sister first and foremost. They were tortured inside as they watched so many people condemn and put down a literal child who was manipulated by two much older figures simply for a rash decision. That’s how they knew that society would perceive them negatively too. 

We barely know anything about her. Whenever people think of Bianca, they’ll most likely ALWAYS think of Nico too, think of her in regards to him, because that’s how she was written. That’s how she was meant to be written from the start. Bianca's biggest fans will always have only the first half of the Titan's Curse as her actual appearances when she was alive, and herself, and not linked to Nico.

But there’s more.

This post is dedicated to all the older sisters who despaired after reading about Bianca di Angelo and seeing people who had never actually had to parent someone hate on her. 

It’s ok to lash out. It’s ok to want some you time. Literal parents want the same, so it’s ok for you, a child, to do so. It’s ok to ignore their needs for your own and put yourself first. They’re your sibling, not your child-you don’t need to take care of them and always put them first, because you didn’t bring them into life by choice, and so, you are not wholly responsible for their needs and comfort. 

It’s ok to be a child.

Not to get political or anything, but is anyone else wondering how our beloved fictional characters would react to everything that's going in America and consequently the rest of the world right now?

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Solangelo first meet rewrite-making it better

So, I've been thinking, and I really think that Will should've strongly and firmly advised Nico, but never ordered him. And in case you're wondering what I mean, just read this-

Will blew out a breath. 'Nico.......listen, can I tell you something?'

Nico frowned at the healer. 'What?'

'I'm a healer. And when I touched your hand........well, I've never felt so much darkness.'

Nico raised his eyebrows. 'And?'

'And, simply put, in my medical opinion-' here Will held up his hands, palms facing Nico, '-you're in no shape to shadow travel anywhere, much less that tent. One more shadow slip and you'd never come back. I strongly advise you not to shadow travel anymore as an experienced healer and probably the best camp medic.'

'But the camp is about to be destroyed. My powers are necessary to defeat the Romans!'

'We can stop the Romans without your powers. I'm pretty sure of it. We can do it our way-Lou Ellen can control the Mist. We'll sneak around, do as much damage as we can to those onagers. I very, very strongly advise you not to travel shadow again in the next few hours. Literally.'

Nico snarled. 'Are you ordering me not to use my powers?'

Will Solace glared daggers at him.

'Nico di Angelo. Don't ever say that to me.'

His tone make Nico stop and stare.

'I'm a healer. I'm a combat medic. And I give great medical advice. But one thing that I'm never supposed to do is order someone not to do something. Patient consent is always necessary, and doctors aren't allowed to do something that the patient doesn't want even if they're at the risk of dying. So I can give you very strong advice that I think you should follow, but one thing I'll never do is demand that you follow orders. I don't even know the extent of your powers, but right now I'm pretty sure you couldn't summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, but if you think that your powers will help us? By all means go ahead. Please, just remember.........keep yourself safe out there. And you're not the only fighter in Camp Half Blood. There are more experienced fighters and magic users than you are, and we're all working overtime to defeat the Romans. You're not the only one fighting this battle.'

Nico stared at Will Solace. He'd never imagined that Will could be like this-sure, he had seen him in action, the best combat medic in Manhattan, but he'd never thought that he could be so firm or even say something that was actually true.

Nico wasn't the only one fighting this battle. There were Hecate kids, and even Clovis could make people fall asleep in battle, which was more dangerous than it sounded. There were so many magicians and fighters both on the frontlines and back in the camp, and all of them were doing their part too.............

Vivienne Duarte short analysis

So, we talk about Vivienne not being there for her sisters in Elfhame and letting them get bullied by the other children of the Gentry, but I raise you this-

Vivienne WANTED to go back to the human realm, but Jude and Taryn wanted to stay in Elfhame, and when they were actually able to finally go to the human realm, Jude and Taryn hated it and wanted to go back, which broke Vivi's heart and immensely saddened her, because have we ever considered what Vivienne wanted?

Jude also recalled how angry Vivienne was when she and Taryn finally 'gave in' to Elfhame. I think that Vivienne thought that by choosing Elfhame, Jude and Taryn didn't just choose its perquisites, but also its perils, so one side of her mind decided that she didn't need to protect them so that they could learn a lesson. The other side of her, however, felt guilty that she wasn't protecting them, so she stayed for them. And so this cycle continued-angry one day, guilty the next. Just a theory of mine.

Two times Percy harmed Annabeth

You know, in Percabeth, Annabeth is usually the one harming Percy, but there are two interesting moments where the tables are turned.

Let me explain

When Percy tells Annabeth that her mortal parents aren't so bad in TTC on the flight home and that she should stay in touch with them.

Percy.........what? Rick...........WHAT?

I..........I can't say how horribly written this was.

Annabeth was a child. Her stepmother signed up to raise her when she married Frederick. She literally had night terrors which isn't uncommon in children-

And what did her stepmother do? Did she stay and try to comfort her? Did she take Annabeth to her room so that Annabeth wouldn't be alone? Did she check the room for spiders?

No. No, she did none of this. She just told Annabeth that it was a figment of her imagination and told her to stop scaring her baby brothers.

That's not what you do to a scared child. Her stepmother fucked up with that one. Her stepmother was bad for that.

Mrs Chase also called Annabeth a big girl when she was seven.

SEVEN years old is NOT a big girl. Mrs Chase knowingly did what I listed above and that makes her a terrible person. She's not entirely bad, but she's pretty morally black when it comes to Annabeth.

And Frederick is also horrible. He neglected Annabeth and let Mrs Chase not call him home for his daughter when she needed him. Granted, he was working, but he couldn't have called Annabeth and tried to comfort her?

Percy shouldn't have said that and Rick shouldn't have written that. End of discussion, period.

2. Now, here, Percy isn't even there in the scene and he's not trying to actively harm Annabeth, but I still wanted to include it because I do think that it was still harmful in a way.

'Annabeth shook her head. Percy would hate her getting so philosophical.'

I don't remember which book this is from-I think it's from the Mark of Athena.

Annabeth doesn't want to get philosophical because Percy hates it?

All right, there are certain habits that you might have to change because your partner doesn't like it. Smoking, drinking, watching porn, all harmful activities.

But getting philosophical? There's nothing wrong that. And if Percy doesn't like it, well, that's just too bad. There's nothing wrong with a little compromise there.

Annabeth is allowed to have her own thoughts without her thinking about how Percy would like them. Annabeth doesn't always have to get philosophical with Percy-she can do it on her own or with her other friends. This applies to relationships in general.

It's frustrating to see how Percy and Annabeth always cater to each other first and never even think about their own selves or relationships outside of each other.

I ultimately blame Rick Riordan for making them obsessed with each other.

Of course she's not a lifeless strategy making machine! She's so much more than that. It's a shame how she's reduced to some cold-hearted girl when she's often the opposite in the books. Flanderisation and misogyny at work again.

Your point regarding her history and trauma is valid.........I think that this is a case of respectfully agreeing to disagree.

I think that something interesting to do would be to have her realise that Percy's powers WERE useful while maintaining her discomfort and having her explore this.......this isn't really a response to your reblog, just my thoughts on how it could be more interesting.

I think I do vaguely remember Piper saying that Percy was dangerous and disliking him, though it's been sometime since I've read the books so I could be wrong about that. I'll search for it later.

If I'm being honest, I'm not sure if Annabeth actively wants to control him, but there are a lot of moments in their relationship that aren't very healthy. Percy is scared of her at times (at the beginning of TLO, in the Staff of Hermes, in the TKC and PJO crossover-he literally said that he had a healthy fear of her) and she herself said that she likes to 'keep him on his toes' which is not healthy at all, so I think my assumption is coming from there.

No offense meant! I'm glad you don't any. It feels like I come off as rude sometimes when I really don't mean to.

you'd think that Annabeth would be grateful for the many times Percy saved her life in Tartarus (falling after her, slowing their descent with the river, killing Arcahne, guiding her when she was blinded, scaring off Akhys, carrying her over the river in Nyx's mansion and protecting her at the doors of death) but nooo she's too angry about the fact that he scared her - by being strong enough to protect her :/

Percy Jackson's foundation is problematic

Ok, so, the OG PJO series is amazing for a lot of people. I mean, it's almost as famous as Harry Potter for a reason. It has an immersive world which is escapism which is really nice for a lot of people including me..........

But the series could definitely have been rewritten to be better. Such as not making Annabeth hit Percy so often (only playful hits, no so hard) making Ares love his children, making Artemis NOT SO PREDATORY-

But the thing is, even if the series was rewritten to exclude these.........

The very foundation of the Percy Jackson series is problematic.

The foundation of the Percy Jackson series is about overthrowing an abusive system and making the abusers pay attention and listen, and I'm not saying that that's a bad concept. It's actually one of the best concepts, but-

But it's what Rick Riordan used as an abusive system that's really wrong.

He used the Greek gods as abusive parents when in the myths they were the furthest things from it.

Excuse me. Zeus was not an abusive father to Apollo. He genuinely loved him. He only punished him when Apollo needed to be punished and deserved it. Zeus was a loving father to Artemis as well. He gave her what she requested and let her live in the wild as she pleased. Zeus also stopped Athena from practicing divination at Apollo's request. Zeus would not leave two children with an abusive alcholic mother.

Poseidon was not abusive and neglectful. In the myths, he punished Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus. And he let Sciron do as he pleased in the ocean, though Sciron was a terrible person.

Aphrodite frequently came to her son Aeneas' aid on the battlefield of Troy. She loved him very much and even told him to give up LOVE to fulfil his own destiny of becoming a king.

And it also depicts Athena and Hades as having demigod children, when in the myths, Athena has no children at all and Hades is faithful to his wife Persephone, only cheating on her with TWO people in only a few variations of the myths, while other myths have Hades loving Leuce and Minthe before Persephone.

It's problematic for Athena to have demigod children, even brain children, because she was a virgin goddess who had no children in the myths. Ancient Greece associated marriage and having children with losing your virginity.

It was symbolic, so Athena having children, even brain children, makes her lose her virginity.

And about Hades being faithful-he's stated to have had multiple children with women when Persephone goes to her mother, which is why she's so unhappy.

This is incorrect and terribly wrong.

But if Athena and Hades didn't have children, and if the Greek Gods weren't abusive parents, then this series wouldn't exist. These problematic themes are essential to the story, which is why PJO is so problematic itself.

Not to mention the whole 'flame of the West' crap that is a big collective forehead smacking moment.

So even if Percy Jackson could be rewritten, it'll always be problematic in one way or another.

(Not saying that you shouldn't enjoy it. I have a love-hate relationship with it).

Simon and Jacqueline both died? Unexpected.

I was just reading Death on the Nile, and in the middle of the book I predicted that both Jacqueline and Simon had teamed up to kill Linnet and take her money; I WAS RIGHT-