This Is So Very True. I Don't Hate Annabeth, But The Way She Is Portrayed Later On Doesn't Fit So Well

The biggest concern of all Perachel shippers and the most used argument used by anti Perachel shippers is that Rachel is an oracle and she took a vow of celibacy so no dating. That's not exactly how it works.

The reason they are made to make such a vow is to put serving their God Apollo first and foremost.

May Castellan had already had a child when she went to bond with the Oracle, and her not being celibate has nothing to do with that as we know .

Now, even in Ancient Greece, older women have been vessels for Oracles. They just had to put their family aside.

So, in conclusion, the vow of celibacy isn't an obligate condition.

Now for a bit of an history lesson The Oracle of Delphi is extremely unique as she has existed long before the Gods did as a spirit in Lake of Delphi and was often initially referred to as the Oracle of Gaia.

The titaness Phoebe used the powers given by the lake to divine futures. That was how Rhea knew where to hide and how to trick Kronos as she had gone to Phoebe for advice.

Now, for an even more interesting piece of fact after the Gods took control, the Lake of Delphi remained for millenias under the jurisdiction of Poseidon himself.

Priestesses used to come there to seek the power to be able to divine the futures. Only when it was attacked by Python himself and then saved by Apollo who killed the Python did the Spirit of Delphi choose to host itself in Apollos Priestesses thus abandoning the Lake.

The spirit of Delphi has no clear allegiances being able to change who she serves, and we know the Oracle spirit has some fondness for Percy given his own exceptionally prophetic dreams which is a power akin to an Oracle.

This means Rachel can probably choose to serve another God, maybe Poseidon himself, again, so he would revoke the no dating condition.

Or or this is my absolute favorite headcanon about Perachel, that given how many times Percy has managed to save her when Percy eventually ascends to Godhood Rachel and the Oracle spirit, swear fealty to him.

Take that Percabeth shippers. Your only viable argument against Perachel is no longer an argument.

In my opinion, Annabeth has more knowledge than any other character, which makes her a genius but not the smartest or the better strategist. Percy has her beat in both, and being the god of improvisation that he is just puts him in a league of his own. Leo has her beat in so many things, too. Practical knowledge, mechanics, calculations, innovative abilities, and so on.

I don't care if this is a hot take or not, but Annabeth Chase is not that much smarter than Percy Jackson, if she is at all.

Yes, she is a genius, yes, canonically she is the most brilliant living child of Athena, yes, she certainly has fullfilled some incredible feats and yes, she is, without a doubt, one of the smartest characters in any of Rick's works.

But never in those books , neither in the og series, nor in heroes of Olympus, has Annabeth done anything, that proves she is smarter than Percy to any considerable degree. At the most, it is told to us through inner thoughts or dialogue, but it is never really shown trough any actions.

I often get the feeling that her intelligence often gets overestimated in the fandom, or, at least, that the intelligence of the characters around her gets underestimated to elevate Annabeth.

Because, even if she were the smartest of the seven (which is very much debatable), it would be a very close call. Especially compared to characters like Leo or Percy, who rival or sometimes even surpass her in that regard (Leo with building the Argo II or his general mathematic genius, and Percy with his battle IQ or manipulative abilities)

Annabeth Chase is a genius and like I said, one of the smartest characters in the riordan verse, but so is Percy Jackson (and Leo Valdez)

Percy is a strategical genius, and this hasn't been said enough. I don't get why the Fandom collectively thinks Percy is dumb or needs Annabeth's help with stuff or isn't as smart as Annabeth. Even Annabeth, who should know better, sometimes treats him as such.

Reyna, Piper, Annabeth, and everyone else needs to hear this:

The truth is Percy is a far better strategist than Annabeth because Annabeth can't think quickly on her feet at all. She can weave accurate plans but only when given time and enough information, and only when she is looking at the bigger picture.

Annabeth does, however, have an almost encompassing knowledge of most things, but information is just information unless you apply it.

No one and I mean no one is better than Percy at thinking on his feet.

Mostly almost always Percy seems to be unaware of who his enemies are and yet still manages to go up against them and eventually win while Annabeth is at times left reeling.Percy has run into monsters/deities he had no idea about and still manages to figure out their goals in time to trick/defeat them.

Who figured out Ares's motives? Percy

Who figured out Luke's scheme? Percy

Who tricked Crusty without lifting a finger? Percy

Who figured out the use for Hermes's gift? Percy

Who came up with a way to show Luke's betrayal to the camp? Percy

Who tricked Atlas? Percy

Who made up the entire battle plan in the Battle of Manhattan? Percy

Percy tricks Phineas by literally goading Gaea. He could only do that if he himself understood how Gaea's mind worked.

He singlehandedly subdued Chrysaor (Yes, Frank was the key player, but we are counting the plan only)

Came up with the plan to defeat Polybotes and also executed it singlehandedly

Effortlessly argued and out debated the Roman Senate all by himself

Figured out how to defeat Geras (personification of old age)

Outsmarted Antaeus in his own ring

Managed to negotiate and attain the loyalties of River gods in the Battle of Manhattan.

Manipulated the entirety of New York Law department/ journalists into believing his fabricated cover story and dropping all legal charges against him at 12 years old.

There's so many instances of Percy being far more strategic than Annabeth herself.

Not only this, but Percy is extremely and terrifyingly perceptive and just a damn genius at getting people to give up secrets. [Done this to literally everyone since Book 1]

Athena is the personification of cold hard logic and facts hence Annabeth follows and so she isn't nearly good enough at reading people's intentions or body language.

Yes, Annabeth can be quick on her feet, but it's not very natural to her as it is to Percy because Annabeth believes in pre-planning, but Percy understands and embodies adaptation.

It's a flaw of many of Athena's children. The problem is Athena is a God with the mind of one, nothing stumps her so at any given moment she can and will always have the best plan because her mind is much more rapid than the surrounding circumstances.

Her children, however, are mortal and hence always vulnerable to surprises.

It's the reason why Athena favors Odysseus the most, over everyone. He was quick on his feet, along with being a great planner. He was a strategic genius, and my headcanon is that part of the reason Athena hates Percy is because her greatest enemy's son reminds her of her most favored person.

I recently edited this, and I am sure it's still missing some stuff. That's how underhighlighted Percy's intellectual feats are.

I hate the way the Greek campers were viewed in hoo like these literal kids who made up a grand total of 40 (maybe 100 max with hunters + party ponies + satyrs) defeated an army that consisted of hundreds possibly thousands of monsters on their own including a couple of rouge titans and Kronos who was their leader. And won. Don’t get me wrong the Romans destroyed the Palace and all which was probably filled with their remaining resources but there were hundreds of them including adults who had retired after a decade of experience. And the army they fought was probably smaller cause everyone was off at New York in the main fight so give the Greek campers their due respect cause not only did they win, they pulled off the impossible

Having the whole plot between Nico and Percy be resolved simply with “You’re not my type” in Blood of Olympus was such a huge disservice to both characters

They are pivotal parts to each others journey. No person in PJO influenced Nico as much as Percy did, aside from Bianca, and no person represents Percy’s guilt and the responsibility he had to shoulder more than Nico does. The writing for both characters really suffers through this lack of a real satisfying resolution.

First to talk about what Percy represents for Nico:

Percy, first of all, represents Nico’s introduction to the mythological world

He is the first demigod Nico ever came in contact with

He saved him and Bianca from the manticore (somewhat)

Nico stated in Blood of Olympus than Percy had reminded of the heroes of his mythomagic game come to life

Nico wholeheartedly believed that Bianca would be safe, if Percy was with her and created this image of the perfect hero in his mind, putting Percy on a pedestal

2.

In Nico’s mind Percy is irrevocably intertwined with Bianca and everything that happened to her

Despite Nico naively believing, that Bianca would be safe if Percy were around, he was instead the last person to ever talk to her, and present when she died

Percy informed Nico of her death (Dead silence. I stared at Chiron. I couldn’t believe nobody had told him yet. Then I realized why. They’d been waiting for us to appear, to tell Nico in person, Titan’s curse)

Nico turned him into the scapegoat for her death, so that he could let all his grief and anger and bitterness out on him

Bianca sent Iris-messages to Percy, so that he would find and help Nico (“Percy has been worried about you, Nico. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Her ghost only appeared to Nico when Percy was with him

Percy is the only person Nico knows of, who also grieved for Bianca (“Bianca,” I said. My voice was thick. I’d felt guilty about her death for a long time but seeing her in front of me was five times as bad, like her death was fresh and new. I remembered searching through the wreckage of the giant bronze warrior she’d sacrificed her life to defeat, and not finding any sign of her. “I’m so sorry,” I said. Battle of the Labyrinth)

3.

Percy is the person who protected and cared for Nico more than anyone else in pjo

Tried to convince Bianca to think more deeply about her decision of joining the hunters, especially thinking of him (“Biance, this is crazy,” I said. “What about your brother? Nico can’t be a hunter.” (Titan’s curse)

Searched the woods in the dark for hours after he had disappeared (Annabeth and Grover helped me search the woods for hours, but there was no sign of Nico di Angelo.)

Didn’t tell Chiron about Nico’s parentage to protect him from the Gods. (I don't think Nico understands who he is. But we can't go telling anyone. Not even Chiron. If the Olympians find out—") Titan’s curse)

Decided to completely commit to the prophecy, solely so Nico didn’t have to bear that burden and go trough any more suffering(It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it. "I can't let Nico be in any more danger," I said. "I owe that much to his sister. I… let them both down. I'm not going to let that poor kid suffer any more." ) Titan’s curse)

Searched for Nico in the months after Titan’s Curse (Now, six months later, I hadn’t even come close to finding him. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Battle of the labyrinth, chapter 3))

Saved his life on Geryon’s farm. (“Either way, you get my friends,” I said. “But, if I succeed, you’ve got to let all of us go, including Nico.”)

Always offered Nico a place at camp half-blood to the best of his abilities (“We missed you at dinner,” I said. “You could’ve sat with me.”“No.”“Nico, you can’t miss every meal. If you don’t want to stay with Hermes, maybe they can make an exception and put you in the big house. They’ve got plenty of room.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Invited him to join him on his birthday (“Is that… is that blue birthday cake?”He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he’d ever been invited to one. “Come inside for cake and ice cream,” I said. “It sounds like we’ve got a lot to talk about.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Reminded him that he was still a child (I smiled. “Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.” I tossed him the statue, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Helped him to get the sword of hades back to impress his father (Then I looked at Nico. Unfortunately, I recognised the expression on his face. I knew what it was like wanting to make your dad proud, even if your dad was hard to love., Sword of hades)

Acknowledged everything Nico did in The last Olympian and is one of the main reasons why Hades has a cabin at camp. ( “But your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that.”)

4.

Percy was Nico’s first, and after Will, his biggest love

Nico had feelings for Percy, which didn’t leave him for around 2 1/2 years, and accompanied him throughout the most challenging parts of his life. 

Feelings, which were so deep, the god of love personally acknowledged them.

Favonius even called Percy, the person Nico cares about most in House of Hades.

This was more than just a mere crush

Percy is so completely intertwined with most aspects of Nico’s character arc, in both PJO and Hoo, be it his feeling of ostracism, his relationship to Bianca or him coming to term with his own sexuality, that them not having a final interaction, makes his writing feel shallow and unfinished. Especially Nico coming to terms with his crush on Percy opens up the opportunity for a really heartwarming conversation and a moment of character growth and maturity for both of them, instead of it being wasted on one throw-away line.

And it’s the same the other way around. Nico is also a huge part of Percy’s journey.

He especially represents Percy’s biggest failure.

The first five Percy Jackson books are characterized by Percy having to take up responsibility and him being afraid of not being able to fulfill them. Be it responsibility for camp, the world, Bianca’s death, the prophecy, his friends, teh unclaimed demigods, or everything else. Most of the time, Percy was able to make sure everything turned out fine. He saved camp, he saved Olympus, he finished his quests, made the right decision for the prophecy, and he made the gods swear upon teh styx. But there’s one exception. And that is Nico.

Percy did everything in his power to make sure Nico would be spared any more hardships. He took up the burden of the prophecy, explicitly, so that Nico doesn’t have to go through any more hardships

He searched for him after Titan’s curse, kept his identity a secret and even risked himself, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson dying if it meant saving Nico

Still, Nico is one of the characters, if not the character, who has suffered the most in PJO and Hoo, even partly because of Percy (though, of course, Nico having a crush on him was not Percy’s fault at all)

He lived alone at 11 years old on the streets and in the labyrinth, while getting manipulated by an ancient evil spirit

He was isolated and ostracized at camp half-blood

He experienced the horrors of Tartarus completely on his own

He got captured by the giants and slowly suffocated to death in a small jar

He had to deal with internalized homophobia and his complicated feelings regarding Percy

He has been a vital part of two wars at only 15 years old

Had to admit his crush involuntarily in front of Jason, etc.  

One of the things Percy battles with in Heroes of Olympus is this overwhelming sense of guilt. He blames himself for almost everything that went wrong over the last few years. Be it for Iapetus, Calypso, or especially Nico. Having Percy acknowledge this complicated relationship he has with him during House of Hades, but not allowing the two of them to talk it out is genuinely baffling to me, and one of the (albeit many) reasons why I really don’t like most of Percy’s writing during Heroes of Olympus, despite the fact that he is my favourite character by far. This could have led to a moment of character growth, where Nico helps Percy to aknowledge that he feels guilty for things he had little to no control over, while Nico himself realizes how important he actually is to Percy.

They are also so similar in terms of who they are and what they’ve been through, that even if you ignore their history with each other, it seems insane, that they didn’t interact in any meaningful way:  

Both were ostracized at camp half-blood because of their parentage, and so far are the only two half-bloods we know of with that experience

They are (together with Hazel) the most powerful demigods in the Riordan verse, and have feats which far surpass anyone else’s

Both are in some way afraid of their powers

Both went through Tartarus

Both have relatively similar relationships to their godly parents

Both have gone through immense trauma and loss

And if you read heroes of Olympus, it actually very much seems to build towards a final resolution of their relationship

Percy and Nico were, aside from Frank, the two people closest to Hazel; both saw her as a little sister, and Hazel treated them both like her brothers

Nico was the first person Percy met from his old life

Percy was the one, who received the visions of Nico being captured

From everyone present, Percy trusted Nico to lead the others to Greece in his moment of greatest desperation

They both had introspections about the other in house of Hades, Nico having to deal with his crush and Percy with his guilt in Tartarus

But, in the end, after they met again, nothing happened. The only scene we really got was the “You’re not my type” line and Percy being surprised by it for a couple seconds. That’s it.

We saw no meaningful conversation between the two of them, no acknowledgement of what they’ve been through together, no lasting feelings. Nothing.

In regards to their relationship, Percy acknowledging everything that Nico has been through led to nothing. Nico acknowledging his feelings for Percy and finally letting go of this pedestal he had placed him on led to nothing. You could argue that their entire relationship, which has been built up since Titan’s curse led to nothing. And considering that they are so important characters for each of their character arcs, their characterization very much suffers from this writing decision.

The two of them, together with Hazel, are my three favourite Riordan verse characters by a long shot, but some very important aspects of both of their characters fall so flat to me through this lack of a satisfying resolution.

 Both of them deserved so much better.  

They are the friendship with the most missed potential in the entirety of the Riordan verse and probably the most fleshed out and nuanced relationship Rick ever wrote.

R.I.P.  Nico di Angelo, and Percy Jackson, you will always be brothers in my mind.

Did we all just collectively forget that Percy sat on his father’s throne?

THIS! Do stans think we would try and create false and toxic interactions just to convince them? The bunch of almost conditioned fans who neither hear nor see reason?

The number of people I have heard says that anti ship posts are spreading hate and being toxic. If the very insinuation of a ship other than the supposed canon ship is considered taboo and the very idea of critically analyzing the character dynamics is frowned upon, then it says more about the ship than it says about anti posts and anti bloggers.

Thinking about how easy it is for fanfic writers to twist Percabeth and Solangelo into toxic, unhealthy relationships whilst maintaining a surprisingly good portion of the official content's nuances - as if all materials are already there and all they need is just a soft push towards to right (or wrong) direction.

And Rick tells me they're supposed to be canon's exemplary, top-shelf, happily-every-after couples? He's not doing a good job at it.

Also R.I.P to the version of Percy that was commanding and calm and extremely unfazed when dealing with outside threats, whose aura alone put a magician of Brooklyn House like Carter on edge and who compared Percy's aura to Horus, the literal God of War and the Skies. So much so that he called Percy "a natural born leader" outright.

This more confident leader persona that Percy was supposed to evolve into through the years was most hinted with his short story with Carter Kane and best executed in Son of Neptune after which somehow Rick decided to throw all that down the drain.

Need more solo books of just Percy doing stuff. I have noticed the pattern that most consistent and peak Percy characterization is seen in books like Titan's Curse, Sword of Hades, The Stolen Chariot, Son of Sobek, and obviously Son of Neptune. Coincidentally, these are all books without Annabeth around, so go figure.

I think we can all agree that Rick has a habit of putting Annabeth on a non-existent pedestal and pushing Percy down to shore her up for no absolute reason. It might be hard for Annabeth fans to hear, but it's true.

R.I.P. the version of Percy Jackson, who spoke competently in front of the senate, fairly easily ridiculed Octavian, and managed to sway the romans to his side simply by providing good arguments and being a natural born leader in Son of Neptune, you will always be famous to me

Let's look at this rationally. I will be considering feats, raw power, abilities and their versatility, variable experiences, training environment, and last but not least Percy’s realistic motivations for gaining more and more power while Jason's powers stifling due to a stagnant environment, all based on the amount of information provided to us.

(I am not considering the fight op is talking about, because they were both being controlled by eidolons and the fight was prematurely interrupted and contrary to op's opinion Jason was also very biased to himself after the fight and if we are considering unreliable narrators, Piper whose pov we have for this fight is infatuated with Jason and that also counts as grounds for unreliable narration)

Percy has got Jason beat in feats before they even met, and especially after they met. Cue Tartarus. As for Jason, we know very little about the things he did and what other feats he has. We really don't have much to go off of regarding Jason's expertise in either hand to hand or power based combat but I assume everyone is leaning towards Jason in terms of hand to hand because he referenced that he fought Krios with his bare hands. Percy had wrestled with Geras, the very personification of old age who is impossible to overpower and managed to hold his own.

So the hand to hand combat is a maybe. But Jason isn't a solo fighter. Percy is, and also Percy's way better at thinking on his feet. Percy has had a very non-linear approach of learning about the demigod world and his own powers, almost all through practical experience with little traditional training. Which make his mindset towards battle superior to Jason's as Percy has no preconceived notions about domains and their limits and can actualize most things he visualizes while Jason is a bit hindered by Camp Jupiter's approach towards training for the betterment of the legion, more so than honing individual capabilities. This makes Percy terrible at teamwork and synchronized fighting as his experience lies mostly in going solo in combat while Jason is much better at the former than him.

We have also seen that Greek demigods have more volatile powers than Romans do; Thalia, Nico and Percy all show a strong innate raw power as compared to the Roman aspects as evidenced by the Gods themselves saying that their Roman aspects are much more restrained and disciplined while their Greek aspects are more wild and primal. Another canon evidence for this is how Greek demigods have such strong scents that monsters hunt them for childhood, leading to much lower life expectancy as compared to Roman demigods.

Percy has probably the most volatile as well as versatile powers. He can heal himself something Jason can't do, something no other demigod can do. Most fictional magic systems almost always associate the water attribute to healing, so it is unlikely that Jason will be able to self heal, even after unlocking his full potential.

Not to mention, Percy's abilities might not be the best[Hades children have better abilities], but in terms of raw power, no one is close to Percy. Blowing up an entire volcano, lifting an entire river off its riverbed, holding the weight of the sky, jumping an impossible distance to get to the House of Night, causing hurricanes, storms, a tidal wave so great the God of War was smothered, summoning water by will, going toe to toe with Chardybis in her own domain, and then some.

And sure, Percy seems less experienced than Jason, but he has been in more life-death situations than Jason in such a small amount of time that he had to adapt far more. Then, he has the added experience from Tartarus. And even without it, Percy gets the edge cause in mere span of 5 years of being in the demigod world, Percy has killed almost every monster that walks, fought Titan, fought minor gods and even a god. Fought and won.

Even without sea, Percy has higher raw power, more versatile abilities, and has experimented more with his powers than Jason. The latter has not even honed the lightning aspect of his powers. He has killed multiple titans, fought Kronos to a standstill, fought giants singlehandedly, fought a protegeneoi, and won against it in her own domain. That scales Percy on a level that is unattainable by any current demigod in the verse. Not even a god to our knowledge of Riordanverse has bested that feat.

I love Jason as much as the next person, and I always consider Jason to be a stronger demigod than Nico, who is generally scaled after Percy. Cause of stamina reasons. Nico’s powers are beyond exceptional, but they have limited usage time while Jason has higher stamina reserves than Nico and is a better combatant than Nico. But you can't apply this metric to Percy. Percy disarmed Luke in their first fight with little knowledge of sword techniques. Luke, who was considered the best swordsman in the last 300 years. And Luke taught Percy after that, too.

I know everyone likes to cry plot armor over Percy's powers, but technically, it is his series. There would be no point to it if he didn't get stronger. That's literally the definition of a main character. And not to mention that every time Percy gets stronger, it's always due to a strong emotional, physical trauma, or an equally terrible price that is a result of a curse/blessing. Moreover, Percy has realistic motivations to try and grow stronger since he did all he could to survive since he was 12 and was basically thrown uninitiated as a bait to the strongest monsters and was repeatedly told his birth was a mistake so much so that gods voted on whether to keep him alive. Percy has to be strong in a world where everything is out to get him. The literal head and commander of the Titan Army was out to kill Percy since he was 12 and quite dedicatedly, and if that wasn't enough, he was wanted in multiple states for a false terrorism charge. And if you remember, he was rather ostracized at camp until after Titan's Curse.

Jason was the head of a legion, a praetor, revered by his comrades and already strongest among those he led or worked with. He had little exposure to any other extreme life death fatalities or any experience with being persecuted aside from the usual monsters and the legion training.

In conclusion, Percy beats Jason on land with a considerable margin; Percy beats Jason in the Underworld by an even bigger margin since Jason can't do much in the Underworld while Percy can control all the rivers of the Underworld and is used to the noxious environment present there. My apologies, but the near the sea comment made by op is practically delusional; Percy could literally sic any sea creature on Jason to take him out, doesn't even have to do it himself. Percy absolutely completely demolishes and disintegrates Jason near the sea.

Hot take. Jason is actually stronger and better at fighting than Percy. If they fought each other, Jason would win, even if they were at sea. Reading them fight together I'm now convinced. Percy making us believe otherwise is just him being an unreliable narrator

It was Annabeth's own quest, too. She is just jealous that she has to do stuff like punch Percy and tell him to ask her for a dance, stalk him all the way to his home to get to know stuff about him and find a quest to spend time with him, while Rachel just meets him twice and immediately gets his trust.

She gives him her number and Percy memorizes it, accepts her painting of him as a gift and shows initiative in spending time with her and going on a date with her, while Annabeth's wondering how Percy could be so blind and hurtful to her and her advances. The said advances include her being aggressive with him, passive-aggressive with him, demeaning his intelligence; constantly defending his enemy and not hearing his side of it, and immediately blaming him for things he had no control over.

Like Rachel who has met Percy for barely two minutes knows Percy couldn’t have done anything about being attacked at school and offers to cover for him while Annabeth immediately gets angry at him and puts the blame on him when she knows the situation could not have been instigated by Percy. This is one of the many examples.

I know Percabeth is considered a gold standard among ships, but I will never be able to see it.

Annabeth: *calls Percy impossible for not being in the mood to empathise with a guy who's tried to kill him multiple times the last time being five minutes ago and then immediately insults the girl who's risking her life to help them just because she's territorial over the guy she refuses to confess her feelings to*