I Hate The Way The Greek Campers Were Viewed In Hoo Like These Literal Kids Who Made Up A Grand Total

Percy Jackson is a highly empathetic and compassionate character who shows kindness and loyalty to all kinds of people no matter what their background or story is. It didn't matter if they were mortals, immortals, gods, demigods, titans or monsters. He has shown kindness, compassion and loyalty to:

Tyson (his half brother, a cyclops, who he protected from bullies before and after knowing what he was. yes he faltered once but that was more of him feeling bad that he was once again the odd one at camp. he made up for his negative feelings about tyson being his brother by continuously saving him, standing up for him and finally recognizing him his brother. Percy believes so much in Tyson.)

Grover (his best friend, who he protected from bullies before finding out grover is a satyr sent to protect him. he defended grover vs the council of cloven elders, when they labeled grover as a liar regarding his news of Pan)

Rachel (his first mortal friend, who's bravery he admires. His thoughts about Rachel are very positive and he is constantly impressed by her. He has voiced out his respect for her on many occasions.)

Briares (ancient Hundred-Handed One, who was set free from his prison by Percy and his friends. He was abused and so afraid to the point where he wanted to fade like his brothers but ultimately saved chb b/c he was inspired by Tyson's faith in him. and who showed Tyson how to be brave and stick up for those in need? Percy.)

Blackjack (a pegasus who he saved from luke's ship and was so grateful to percy for it that he's always offering percy his help)

Mrs. O Leary (he adopted a literal hellhound for a pet and is fiercely protective of her. he once hesitated to kill hellhounds in TLO b/c they reminded him of mrs. o leary)

Cerberus (literally tells Hades "it wouldn't hurt to play with cerberus once in a while. he likes red rubber balls")

Bessie the Ophiotaurus (sea creature with the potential to destroy the gods but who percy advocated for in front of the 12 Olympians and asked them to save Bessie b/c you shouldn't kill an innocent creature on the basis that they might or might not destroy you)

Other sea creatures (he would lose hours of sleep doing rescue missions)

The river naiad from Geryon's ranch. He literally says he didn't want to be that kind of guy that puts his weight on being the son of Poseidon to get what he wants. He saw that she was scared and was only putting on a brave front to protect her ecosystem. She is one of the reasons why we have Percy embracing what it means to be a son of the sea god - the sea is within him.

He showed her compassion and in turn she tells him a secret. She showed him a way to save his friends.

Calypso (an immortal titanness punished for siding with her father Atlas and the other Titans. He felt extremely bad for Calypso, told her that it wasn't fair that she got punished for siding with her family and asked her how he could help free her. He couldn't stay in Ogygia but he did directly ask Zeus to release her. He also planted the moonshine plant she gave him like she asked "build a garden for me in Manhattan." He remembered her.)

Zoe Nightshade (hunter of Artemis. They had mutual respect after seeing a different side of each other.)

As soon as he figured out it was Hercules who had abandoned Zoe, he threw out his lion-skin cloak, which had been very helpful in keeping him safe from harm. He proceeded to trust Zoe and her judgement and he mourned her death. He actually didn't want to accept that she was dying at first, asking the others to give her more nectar and ambrosia and asking Artemis if she could heal her with magic.

Thalia Grace (the first person to hold her when she was resurrected, who yelled at the other campers to help her and to get her nectar and ambrosia.) For all the times they fought, he also felt protective of her:

Percy put his pride aside to beg Mr. D for help because he looked at Thalia and decided he didn't want to put her in a position where she would die to protect her friends again. Because how could he let that happen to her? He won't.

Clarisse La Rue (felt sympathy for her despite being bullied by her when he first got to camp b/c he recognized what kind of dad Ares was to Clarisse. He gave her the golden fleece, trusting her to complete the quest and save camp:

This even impresses Annabeth. Percy genuinely liked seeing Clarisse happy. He smiled when he noticed her and Chris Rodriguez hold hands at the end of botl.

Artemis (took the sky for her, which they both knew would have killed him, so that Artemis could help Zoe fight Atlas. In turn she vouched for Percy and Thalia when the gods voted on whether they were too dangerous to be kept alive)

Bianca di Angelo (he felt bad for the di angelos. they were taken out of the casino, hunted by monsters and soon after discovering that they were demigods bianca was asked to join the hunt. That is A LOT to process. Percy was the only one who asked her to consider other options before joining the hunters. He also reminded her that her brother couldn't go with her.)

He later was the first to voice out his support as long as she was happy and placed himself in her shoes to better understand where she was coming from:

Percy is the only one who saw Bianca's decision to join the hunters from both her and her brother's perspective. After asking her to consider her options and expressing initial disappointment at her decision, he adjusted his way of thinking and directly asked her how she was doing. How was she settling in with the hunters? How was her life with Nico prior to being discovered? He understood where both siblings were coming from and he tried to comfort and reassure them both (Nico at camp during capture the flag and Bianca during their quest.)

Ethan Nakamura (they were forced to fight to the death in the arena and while Ethan was trying to kill him, Percy only knocked him down and told him to run when he saw an opening. He later asked Ethan to come back with him but he refused. Percy's choice to not kill Ethan and letting him go literally led to Kronos rising b/c Ethan pledged himself to the titan lord right afterwards. Ethan was also the one who figured out Percy's vulnerable spot. He would have killed Percy had Annabeth not taken that knife for him. Percy, even after feeling "betrayed" by Ethan, STILL remembered and considered him when turning down immortality and literally asked for the minor gods to be given recognition - which was what Ethan wanted for Nemesis - and for the gods and demigods who sided with Kronos to be forgiven. Ethan also got his own shroud:

Nico di Angelo. Yes, Nico. Percy spent six months looking for Nico after he disappeared at the end of ttc when percy broke the news to him about Bianca with the goal of wanting to make things right with him. In the labyrinth, he said he felt Nico was close and he ran towards his direction, leaving annabeth grover and tyson running to catch up with him. Nico was double crossed by the owner of the ranch, Geryon ("you should've made me swear on the river styx") and got taken as prisoner to give to Luke Castellan later. It was Percy who bartered for his release:

Percy and his friends were free to go! What does Percy do instead? He makes Geryon a deal to make sure that Nico got out safely.

Also, I find it kinda interesting that Rick Riordan went the "percy talks shit about nico behind his back" route in HOO because this is Percy talking about Nico when he's not there in the og series:

Percy Jackson told the Queen of the Gods that she only cared about her perfect family, not real people, because she didn't secure Nico's safety passage through the ranch. Percy and Annabeth both made a bad impression with Hera because they disliked her attitude towards Nico di Angelo (there's more complexities to this scene but again I won't dive into them).

Percy also literally prayed to Poseidon to help him with Nico:

More of Percy caring about both Nico and Bianca di Angelo:

He claimed the prophecy so that Nico wouldn't have to. To save Nico from more suffering. He hid Nico's parentage from Chiron and the rest of camp because he wanted to prioritize his safety.

More on Percy having compassion towards Nico:

He told Nico that he could come with them on their quest, even if dangerous, because he didn't want to leave him behind. Nico refused. He asked Nico to stay at camp and even told him he could sit with him and Tyson at the Poseidon table (which is against the rules). Again, Nico told him no and instead said he needed to find out more about his past. Percy told Nico to keep in touch. At the end of the book, Percy invites Nico in for blue birthday cake b/c he felt bad that Nico had probably never been invited to a birthday party before.

Percy is later rewarded for what he did for Nico. Nico tells Percy that he found a way to help percy survive against Luke/Kronos as a way to thank him for what Percy did for him in Geryon's ranch (we later find out it's also because nico was crushing on percy but I won't get into that).

Another scene to add to the Percy Jackson Caring About Nico di Angelo list:

Hades had quite literally planned to imprison Percy in the Underworld a few chapters before this. For as much as Percy's trust in Nico wavered after that, he STILL found it in his heart to mention Hades and Nico by name in front of the other gods, requesting that they have a place at camp. Wishing for them to not be left out. Imagine that? Zeus was the one who killed Maria di Angelo, who nearly killed Nico and Bianca di Angelo had it not been for Hades. And Percy still rejected his offer of immortality and included Hades and Nico in his wish. Here was Percy, who offended the gods by rejecting immortality and by making them swear on the river styx to do good on their oaths, who had demanded a lot from them already, asking for Nico and Hades to be recognized after being cast aside and ignored by the gods.

Even his own dad, Poseidon, told Percy that he asked for too much. He did it for them. The forgotten, the unloved, the side lined demigods and minor gods and "peaceful titans" that sided with Kronos. Because that is who Percy is. Empathetic, compassionate, kind.

Chiron. Even the immortal mentor of heroes. Percy helped clear his name when he got accused of poisoning Thalia's tree (by tricking Luke into confessing via Iris Message)

Charles Beckendorf (one of his first real friend at camp besides annabeth and grover. Besides Percy and Nico, Beckendorf was the only one who Mrs. O Leary trusted enough to get close to her at chb. Percy thought of him when turning down immortality)

Silena Beauregard (felt angry on her behalf every time he saw how she looked grieving charlie. he never once told anyone she was the spy and thought of her when he made his wish at the end of tlo)

There are many others Percy is seen showing kindness and compassion towards, including HoO (that i won't get into because percy's character becomes less himself rip character assassination) and crossovers (Magnus Chase, Carter and Sadie Kane) but this is already long so I'll end it with this:

Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. Two Roman demigods who started at the bottom of the legion. Percy saw two underdogs and went "they're under my protection now." He even promised Hazel that Thanatos wouldn't take her back without a fight. Even after Percy got his memories back he never once cared about greek vs roman beef. These are his friends, his people.

Percy Jackson is usually awarded for his loyalty and compassion (see: Blackjack, Rachel, the river naiad, Nico) and sometimes it gets him nearly killed (see: Ethan Nakamura and his achilles spot, Nico both walking him into a trap because he trusted him and later saving him). He doesn't usually ask for anything in return.

In Rachel's case, he asked for her help in the Labyrinth because they needed a clear sighted mortal to lead them, but he emphasized how dangerous it would be and that rachel didn't have to do it. He also apologized to her for getting her involved and reassured her when she felt bad that she seemed to have led them to a trap even though she was sure that was the path they needed to go. Percy could have died but he never held that against her ("Don't feel bad, I'm usually about to die"). His faith in Rachel never wavered.

In Nico's case, he asked him to convince his dad Hades to join the fight and to lead the the seven to the doors of death (a task that he only trusted Nico with to successfully lead).

Percy Jackson inspires loyalty for good reason. He considers people, he sees them, understands them, encourages them and he either helps them or he lets them make their own choices (which he learned from Sally Jackson - "if my life has to mean anything I have to live it myself"). They are made better for it. Percy is made better for it.

His first instinct is always to fight for those who can't or don't have anybody else to stand up for them. You don't have to prove your worth because to percy, you already are worth it.

He is either "I love you so I will help you" or "I love you so I will let you go" and to him it does not matter who or what you are.

Me casually thinking about how Thalia passed down the prophecy to Percy in a heartbeat, but Percy did everything in his power to stop it from being passed down to Nico, who had just lost his sister, his only friend, and had no one else but a(n) (abusive?) father for company cos no one wanted to be friends with him.

Thalia (basically): Yeah sure take the prophecy I don’t want to die

Percy: um ok then

Also Percy: I accept the prophecy, it is mine now and my future so no one (Nico) will be harmed by having to possibly die by it

I'm a Percy Jackson apologist, not because I think he has anything to apologize for, but because people in this fandom tend to blame him for every little thing that goes wrong in those books, even if he had little or zero control over it or even made the objectively good or reasonable choice.

"Percy choked Nico in the last Olympian"

Percy was imprisoned by Hades himself, after Nico had (although, of course, unwillingly) betrayed him, in a cell, he was convinced would suffocate him, had just woken up of a nightmare of Typhon wreaking havoc in the US, with the gods doing very little to slow him down, and didn't even know it was Nico, he was attacking at first. He only realized it was him, after he had him already pinned to the floor and he let him go only a few moments after that. For all Percy could have known, Nico could have been a servant of Hades sent to kill him.

"Percy forgot to free Calypso."

First of all, not Percy's responsibility. Not at all.

Second of all, he did free her.

Percy stood before all the Olympians and, after winning the war for them, one of his demands was specifically that she (and other gods) should be forgiven. Let me be clear, Leo would not have been able to free Calypso from her island without this specific request. There was no possible way for Percy to know, that the gods would be assholes about it and wouldn't inform her of that. Hell, he even knew, that Hephaestus visited her from time to time to chat, so there was no reason for him to doubt that he'd just tell her.

"Percy killed Michael Yew in the battle of Manhattan"

Percy probably saved the entire Apollo cabin on that bridge. And as a reminder, it was Michael's idea to destroy it in the first place. Percy even told him to run before that. His death was without a doubt a tragedy, but by no means Percy's fault.

"Percy treated Tyson shitty after finding out he was a cyclops"

When? Give me one example in the Sea of Monsters were Percy was actively being a jerk to Tyson. Not something he thought, but something he actually did. He wasn't a fan of Tyson being his brother and denied it to other campers, yes. But, as a reminder, camp half-blood, or ar least some members of it, started to bully Percy after Tyson got claimed. The one place he thought he belonged to treated his friend and him by association like shit.

Still, he was on Tysons's side. He even defended him in front of Annabeth, his best friend might I add, and didn't stop spending time with him. They were a team during the chariot race, and even while thinking that Tyson might be a liability on their quest to save Grover, Percy refused to leave him behind, because he feared, that Tyson would be blamed for their disappearance.

I could go on and on and on, because that kid (and he is a kid, at the end of heroes of Olympus Percy is not even 17 years old) gets blamed for so much it's exhausting, but I 100% believe that nothing that Percy Jackson did was ever wrong and there is absolutely nothing he has to apologize for. Prove me wrong.

I completely agree with you, and you are absolutely correct when saying that Odysseus is not the only one Athena favors. She obviously favors a lot of heroes given that she is the goddess that guides most heroes. Terribly sorry if I implied she favors Odysseus only. There's Diomedes, Achilles, Perseus, and then some.

My favorite Athena moment aside from all this is when she helps Diomedes who I honestly believe aside from Odysseus is the only hero she favors quite so highly given that she blessed him with such power; he literally managed to wound Aphrodite all on his own with just Athena's blessing so it obviously shows her favor. I just meant that she favors Odysseus the most out of any and all heroes for all the aforementioned reasons.

I am so glad to see someone with knowledge of actual Odyssey and Iliad agree with some of the points I have made. (I myself want to read those but am swamped with study)

I am obsessed with Epic, the musical as all people are and should be.

One of my absolute favorite parts (I love everything about it, the lyrical genius, the phenomenal melodies, the best cast) about the Saga itself is Athena and Odysseus's relation.

There are lots of opinions on how Athena doesn't treat Odysseus as a person but as a property, which I think is slightly misinterpreted. Odysseus is the only one in the whole Greek mythology to be so favored by Athena. She sees her very self reflected in him and hence sees him as an extension of herself given that she takes time and effort to teach Odysseus everything she can.

Yes, Odysseus gets ahead of himself and gets sentimental of sorts, but in the end, the mistake that causes his initial falling out with her is also something that mirrors Athena. Hubris is Athena's fatal flaw, and it's the same for Odysseus.

Athena's greatest ability is critical thinking in the heat of the moment, something Odysseus himself lives by and represents.

Gods are not flawless. No, they are every bit flawed, and deep deep down, they know it.

To Athena Odysseus giving into his flaws is a slap to the face because despite knowing her own and knowing how Odysseus reflects hers, she fails to make him overcome it.

He is also perhaps the only person to have insulted Athena to her face and lived to tell the tale without any repercussions because she knows he tells the truth but most of all because she accepts that if anyone has the right to reprimand her its Odysseus someone who has lived by her principles.

Even after their falling out, Athena defends him against the Olympians, and despite everything, Odysseus does his best to stick to Athena's teachings and doesn't hate her.

Athena does her best to advice Telemacus and even calls him her friend.

Throughout the Greeks myths, it is cemented that Athena and Odysseus had a strong relationship and were equals more so than a hero and his patron

The most ironically beautiful thing was that I was rereading Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books to find Odysseus references through Mark of Athena and the part where Annabeth finds Athena at the subway, lost and frazzled,turned into Minerva due to the Roman and Greek demigods being together.

Minerva is nothing like Athena, she is Athena who is bitter and enraged and consumed with vengeance against the Romans who attacked her city and turned her into a just a Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts taking from her the domain of war and strategy. And in this emotionally heightened, unstable state that goes against her very nature, Annabeth hears her mumbling, "If Odysseus were here, he would know the way, he would know how best to help.."

And that to me is so raw and beautiful that in this terrible state that's basically a mental breakdown, The Goddes of Wisdom and Strategy thinks that Odysseus would be able to help. A mortal, yes, a great hero but still a mortal, and help in what? In guiding Athena herself as she tries to find her way back to her place of power, in guiding the lost goddess of wisdom.

Through the whole Percy Jackson series, it is repeatedly iterated how Odysseus is Athena's most and all-time favorite.

I also like how those books portray Odysseus as he was, a great hero and the most loyal husband.

I just had to rant on this. It's kept me awake for so long.

Percy is a son of Poseidon. Unlike Thalia or Jason who are children of Zeus/Jupiter, when Percy was claimed, he was ostracized by the Camp at the start of it and only integrated properly after Titan's Curse. Percy watched the Campers revere Thalia where he was barely accepted and the Romans have an even worser treatment since Percy was a Son of Neptune. Plus he had to hear all about Jason's heroic activities which meant he realized he had big shoes to fill [Partly because he didn't have his memories so he doesn't remember all the things he himself did].

You also have to understand that Percy has abysmal self-esteem and given the sudden burden of expectations on him due to the Great Prophecy and such he was forced to conform to expectations of the other campers, Annabeth and so on when Percy dislikes being told what to do or being restrained and yet his fatal flaw doesn't allow him to just drop and leave the sheer amount of expectations attached to him.

So naturally, when he noticed Jason seemed to know to some extent what he needed to do as a leader and seemed comfortable in the position. Percy was obviously slightly envious despite being a natural born leader himself because he doesn't like taking charge unless he has to, but he almost always ends up having to.

Not to mention that despite everything Percy is used to doing his own thing but the fact that there were many other people than usual on the quest with the Seven and in group discussions, initially Jason's word seemed to hold more weight than his [Piper is self explanatory, Leo is Jason's best friend, Hazel and Frank are Percy's friends but Jason is a Roman Praetor so they had to side with their superior and Annabeth well usually she and Percy have very different takes on handling the situation]. Percy was obviously not used to needing someone else's approval for what he wanted to do, which may have been a contributing factor . And he isn't the sort to pull rank and go [I am the Savior of Olympus, listen to me] so at least for a while Jason must have made him feel jealous and a bit inferior. He's Percy, though, which means he can go along just fine with most situations; he is just that good at improvisations.

There's a post I need to make on how Percy views himself as not some hero but as someone who is just getting by, but that's too lengthy to add here. I hope this is somewhat coherent, at least.

We all know Jason was jealous of Percy, and in some way Percy was jealous of Jason. Jason finds out one day and is just utterly confused.

What could Percy be jealous about? He has a mother who loves him, his godly parent actually cares for him. He is a celebrated hero, with even the gods fearing him. He was offered immortality and on his own terms REFUSED. His siblings who share the same godly parent actually LIKE him. When he went missing, people actually cared enough to look for him.

So what in Jason's life would make Percy jealous?

kind of related to your post about zoe just now but: what do you think of the hunters in general? I've got a lot of thoughts on them myself.. most of them not that positive lmao lots of "could have been good, but very poor execution" and "sounds cool on the surface, but very questionable when thought about more"

First of all, thank you for the question :)))

Oh god, this might become a slightly longer post, because I have a lot to say about the hunters of Artemis.

From what you’ve written, it sounds like we might have a very similar opinion. I personally think they are one of the worst-written parts of the original Percy Jackson books. I love their idea, I love their basic concept, but their execution was pretty atrocious.

There are four main points regarding them that I want to talk about.

The portrayal of Artemis (though this one is by far not as bad as the others)

2. The behaviour of the huntresses

3. Bianca

4. Lacking Development

Artemis

Now, I know that the gods and goddesses of the Riordan verse, are sanitized caricatures, and shouldn’t be compared to their actual myth versions. I think everyone in this fandom has at least heard some well-founded criticisms regarding the portrayal of Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo or any of the other gods.  

I even understand why Rick Riordan made most of the decisions that he did. Obviously, the gods had to be sanitized for a book series primarily aimed at children, and, to be fair to him, even if their characterizations are a far-cry from their myths and sometimes overly stereotypical (Aphrodite), they are fulfilling the roles they have in this story as deeply flawed, but powerful individuals, because of whose careless mistakes and pride demigods, and other ‘lesser’ beings have to suffer.  

And I actually do not hate Artemis’ portrayal that much, if we exclude the behavior of her hunt, and the initiation of Bianca. Her taking Annabeth’s place in holding the sky and her loudly arguing against killing Percy and Thalia at the winter solstice was a great portrayal of her being a patron goddess of children, and the idea of including the hunters of Artemis as a group of girls, both from mortal and immortal parents, who have been hurt by the world, and found a safe place with one another is actually really great. Generally, whenever she appears in the books, I have the feeling she is handled with far more graze and respect than a lot of other godly beings.  

However, as someone who very much loves Greek mythology, I just want to point out some small parts, which are not entirely accurate, though, again,  I understand Rick’s reason for omitting them in the context of what he wanted to do with her character and the hunt , and I acknowledge that even in ancient times, there existed a variety of different interpretations of the gods.

(Please note, that while I read original sources like the works of Diodor, Apollodorus, Hesiod, and Euripides, I am not a classicist, and that my knowledge of the greek gods primarily stems from personal research and my own interest. If anyone knows more about Artemis, please feel free to correct me if necessary)  

While Artemis is primarily the goddess of the hunt, and in later interpretations of the moon, she is not only the protector of girls, but the patron goddess of children in general and a goddess closely linked to childbirth.

Yes, she expects her followers to remain chaste, but to say that she is completely against men would be a grave mistake. Male followers of Artemis did exist in mythology, most famously Orion, who later became a constellation, and Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and the Amazon Hippolyta.

So, her cold behavior towards Nico and her degrading words towards boys in general is an attribute primarily added by Rick Riordan.

Though, like I said, I understand making certain changes to gods and goddesses, or rather choosing different interpretations of them to have them fulfill a certain role in a book series, so Artemis portrayal itself doesn’t bother me that much.

But if we’re talking about the hunters themselves, things easily take a turn for the worse.  

The behavior of the hunters

Now, I understand the hunters point in the story.

A huge theme of Titan’s curse is to explore the difference between old ideals of what heroism entails and the modern take on it, represented through Theseus and Herakles on one side, and Percy on the other. The hunters, and especially Zöe, represent a group, who have suffered through the actions of those old, primarily male heroes, and have developed a strong bias against all boys and men as a result. A bias, Percy is supposed to break in this book.

This, in itself, is a pretty awesome concept. But, like I said, the execution mostly failed.

Most of the Hunters of Artemis in Titan’s curse were written without any nuance, without development and without any sense of self reflection.

To express it plainly, they completely suck. And that hurts to say, especially as someone who is asexual-sex-repulsed and aromantic, because, like I said, they could have been an absolutely amazing part of the overarching story and theme of the book series, but with the way Rick Riordan wrote them, they suck. They’re insufferable.  They’re a group of immortal teenagers with a superiority complex, who act the way right-wing republicans and trump supporters think feminists act like.

They’re completely antagonistic towards the campers at camp half-blood for absolutely no good reason, act really childish and immature, and their overwhelming bias against every male character, especially Percy and Nico, is just plain annoying and goes to a point, where it makes them act like absolute idiots and assholes.

Zöe’s behavior at the meeting to decide who should go on the quest to save Artemis is a pretty good representation of everything I dislike about the hunters.  

She doesn’t want to take campers with her on the quest, even though the oracle plainly stated that them working together was the only way for them to succeed:

“You’re missing something as usual,” Thalia said. “Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We’re supposed to do this together.”

“No!”, Zoe said. “The Hunters do not need thy help.”

Immediately afterwards, she makes fun of Silena Beauregard (who is around 14 or 15 at the time, might I add.):

“Percy is right,” Silena Beauregard said. “Two campers should go.”

“Oh, I see,” Zoe said sarcastically. “And I suppose you wish to volunteer?”

Silena blushed. “I’m not going anywhere with the hunters. Don’t look at me!”

“A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at,” Zoe scoffed. “What would thy mother say?”

And then, she decisively refuses Percy’s help for the quest, even though he is objectively the best person for the job. I really can’t reiterate enough that Percy is the most accomplished hero present at that meeting. He has successfully led two quests, one to stop a civil war between the gods, the second to recover the golden fleece. Even in comparison to Thalia, Percy is more accomplished and has gained more respect within the mythological world.

As I walked back through the city of the gods, conversations stopped. The muses paused their concert. People and satyrs and naiads all turned towards me, their faces filled with respect and gratitude, and as I passed, they knelt, as if I were some kind of hero. (The lightning thief)

Yet Zoe refuses his help to save the goddess she serves and increases so the risk of failure, simply because he is a boy.

“Oh,” Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. “Whoa, yeah. I forgot! Percy has to go. I didn’t mean… I’ll stay. Percy should go in my place.”

“He cannot,” Zoe said. “He’s a boy. I won’t have Hunters travelling with a boy.”

Another huge problem in their characterization is their immortality. Here I want to focus again on their ongoing beef with camp half-blood, because, yes, while the campers also act pretty antagonistic in return, I think it’s important to note that most kids at camp half blood are between the ages of 10 and I’d say maybe 17 years old, while the huntresses are immortal.

Now, it’s obviously possible that most of them are still teenagers and haven’t been part of the hunt for that long, but considering the fact that Zoe is over 3000 years old, and could very well be older than most Olympians, the chance of most hunters being older than at least 30, is pretty high, which makes their behavior seem even more ridiculous.

And obviously the whole situation with Bianca paints the hunters in the worst light possible.

Bianca

There are already some pretty good and detailed posts on tumblr regarding the subject of Bianca and the hunters, so I don’t want to dig into this subject too deeply, because this post is already way too long, but you can’t possibly write about the hunters without mentioning her.

The hunters, especially Zoe and Artemis convinced Bianca to join them in a moment of huge distress. Bianca was a twelve-year-old, vulnerable girl, who just found out she was a demigod, almost got kidnapped by the manticore, and watched a girl fall down a cliff, yet they expect her to swear allegiance to them after only a couple of minutes of knowing them.

They paint her this beautiful picture of having no responsibility and a new family, telling her exactly, what she wanted to hear without giving her even a moment to breathe or give her time to talk to her brother or fully think this through.

I want to point out that at this point in time, Artemis had already decided that she needed to go after the monster alone, and knew, that her hunters would spend some time at camp half-blood. But instead of giving Bianca these couple days/ weeks to accept this new reality of the mythological world and get to know both camp half-blood and the hunters, she wants an answer at this very moment,

Yes, Bianca’s answer was rash, and yes, I do think it’s rather cold that she didn’t first talk to Nico about it, but it’s pretty plain to see that she was overwhelmed and pretty much manipulated during this entire conversation.

Later, Zoe decides to take her with her on the quest, even though Bianca is completely unprepared for it. She is probably, aside from Nico, the most unprepared person in the entirety of camp half-blood to go on a quest.  

I don’t think I have to explain how terrible of a decision that was.

The hunters are objectively the worst thing that could have ever happened to Bianca and the main reason why she died.

Lacking Development:

Now, all of this, every single flaw I just pointed out, could have actually worked out, if there would have been some sort of change in the hunters’ way of thinking and an acknowledgement that their opinions on boys and males in general are misguided and lead to more harm than good during the course of the books.

Especially after their actions led to Bianca’s death.

Them seeing how much love Nico had for his sister and how much he suffered from her death could have been a great moment for some character development.

But nothing happened.

Camp half blood and the hunters grieving together at the end of Titan’s curse for both Zoe and Bianca could have resulted in a genuine moment of friendship between the two groups, leading to understanding and change.  

But nothing happened.

The only person who took responsibility for Bianca’s death at the end of Titan’s curse was fourteen-year-old Percy. The only person who cared enough about Nico to search for him and make sure he was safe, was Percy. The hunters didn’t care at all. Took no responsibility whatsoever.

All that happened at the end of that book was that Thalia became a huntress, and that Zoe and Artemis acknowledged Percy as a hero.

This, while admittedly, a great moment for Percy’s characterization and also somewhat for the character development of Zoe, had very little effect otherwise.  

Because, in the end, Zoe and Artemis treated Percy as if he was the exception. As if they had been only wrong about him, and not boys in general. They didn’t revisit their line of thinking, they didn’t self-reflect and they didn’t acknowledge that their bias was utterly flawed, and that they should treat male demigods generally better.

She (Zöe) grasped it contently. “You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like… like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword.”

Then, she (Artemis) turned to me. “You did well,” she said. “For a man.”

Percy Jackson is fundamentally a story about the circle of abuse, and, Percy specifically, breaking that circle, but nothing of note happened with the hunters.

Because even if Zoe had confronted her own bias, (and there is admittedly an argument to be made that she did) she would have been the only hunter to do so. And she died.

Thalia becoming the lieutenant of the hunters as someone who is best friends with Percy and Grover, and who misses Jason more than anything, could have confronted this distorted line of thinking, but the other hunters remain pretty much unchanged in the last Olympian and The Lost Hero.

There were hugs and greetings al around- or at least Thalia was friendly. The other hunters didn’t like being around campers, especially boys, but they didn’t shoot any of us, which for them was a pretty warm welcome. (The last Olympian, chapter 10)

“Oh, no way,” Leo said. “We’ve been sitting in a cave and you get a luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!”

Phoebe sniffed. “Boys,” she said, like it was the worst insult she could think of. (XXXVI Leo, the lost hero.)

Conclusion:

So, yeah. They had huge potential, both as individual characters and as part of the overarching plot and theme of Percy Jackson, but their execution was absolutely abysmal.

The only possible positive thing I could say about them is that they are at least better than the Amazons (though that is not particularly hard)

I hope my rambling was understandable, it's already pretty late:')

The entire Fandom needs to listen to this:

Percy having a thing for Rachel was so absolutely deserved like he should have been head over heels for her. Here's why:

First meeting? Runs her through with Riptide, and where anyone would have spent the whole time yelling and arguing, Rachel quickly gauged the situation, helped Percy hide, deviated the skeletons from their orignal path all at the same time.

Percy is so awed and he should be and Rick Riordan doesn't do justice to the whole thing.

It ends on Percy saying he owes her one, almost an indication that they would meet again.

Yet Percy is terrified of running into Rachel again because he isn't sure if he could answer all her questions, most definitely because he doesn't want to drag her into the whole thing. So much so that when he sees her at Goode, he calls her "my redheaded nightmare " .

Not only has he thought of her since they last met, but he may or may not have dreamed about her, not to mention he remembered her full name after listening just once.

When he does meet her again she yet again warns him about monsters hence saving both of them.

The most important thing is Percy, who all his life has been judged blamed ridiculed, and mocked is for the very first time understood so instantaneously by Rachel. She who has been put in mortal danger every single time she meets him doesn't blame him, doesn't judge him for it, and openly takes the blame for the burning school. Even Annabeth's first response to seeing the smoke is blaming Percy despite being around him and knowing well enough for 3 years; she chooses to blame him as if she doesn't know that it's never Percy's fault. Yet Rachel, someone who he has met only twice and that too for meager few minutes, understands him and his situation so well.

All the people in the Fandom ask yourself this: Will Percy Jackson not for all that he is be absolutely head over heels and in awe of someone like that?

He can barely give her any answers at the moment, but she agrees to a death quest to help him save the world.

Throws a literal hairbrush at the Titan King and stands her ground.

Stays by him and comforts him through his depressive thoughts about dying due to the prophecy.

Falls in love with him despite knowing he has little time left.

Does her best to help him while still keeping his mind off from spiraling into dark thoughts.

Rides a literal helicopter mid-apocalypse to get to him just to warn him of the dangers?

Percy would be so absolutely over the moon in love with Rachel, were Uncle Rick not so fixated on Percabeth agenda.

The last bit is for toxic Annabeth stans:

Rachel is a genius too.

She is ambidextrous and can draw with both hands and legs; probably has exceptional memory, and her composure and quick thinking are on par with Percy himself.

I hate bringing this to looks, but I will if I get to shut up toxic fans. Annabeth is certainly beautiful, and her grey eyes are quite unique, but Rachel is the most underrated and definitely the most beautiful out of all Percy Jackson females.

The woman literally won genetic lottery with red hair and green eyes, and the only reason Uncle Rick doesn't rave about her beauty is to not make Annabeth insecure.

Also, for those overly concerned about the Oracle celibacy thing, I will address that in my next post and how it's not a problem at all. (Now posted link is here:

Expect more Pjo-centric posts along with Perachel headcanons and more.

If I had a nickel for every time Percy Jackson turned down immortality/godhood, I would have two nickels. Which is a lot, and it is absolutely iconic that it happened twice!

headcanons for Percy?

WHOOP WHOOP okay just to preface this, most of this is me going “hey i think being a kid of poseidon is a weirdly complex experience”

i think this is canon officially but percy’s music taste is one of the 78378837 things in his life he got from his mother; sally’s an old-school rock and old-school rap diehard, and percy follows right in her footsteps, because on days when gabe wasn’t home sally would turn their shitty little radio that sat on the kitchen countertop on and bang her head while cleaning or cooking or shuffling bills. trips to montauk were sally shouting the lyrics to an AC/DC song and tiny percy not knowing the words but wanting to join in, so he’s just shouting nonsense. a lot of the things percy likes, he likes them for sentimental reasons, and music’s just another one of those things.

when percy was first born for three weeks he would literally not stop screaming. he would not shut up. he would sleep for half an hour and then he’d scream for three. and then sally gives him his first real bath, and percy is the happiest he’s ever been since he’s been alive. i have in my head a very comical image of sally pulling percy out of the little tub and he starts screaming like a banshee, and then she sets him back down and he’s back to giggling happily, rinse, repeat - so eventually sally learns that she can clean the kitchen sink really good, stop it, and just drop percy in. after she figures that out he’s an insanely easy baby, and also toddler, because imagine if you could just dump a cup of water on your kid’s head and he’d just instantly be less upset. the downside to this is that water gives percy a lot of energy, but sally would rather be chasing a giggling toddler than a screaming one.

because of that, growing up, whenever percy was angry or upset and sally couldn’t immediately calm him down because she had to wrangle gabe, she’d tell percy to take a shower. percy takes showers based on his current mood. he thinks everyone does this, and one time at his first summer at CHB, annabeth is upset about a fight she had with someone in the athena cabin and percy’s helpful advice is, “maybe you should take a shower?” and annabeth gets so pissed because she’s 12 and she thinks percy’s telling her she smells. percy is extremely confused.

if he’s ever landlocked far away from the coast for a long time, he gets antsy and irritable and depressed, which is not something they figure out until annabeth’s first job involves her relocating to denver for six months and percy goes with her, and it is a truly hellish six months. they figure it out when they stop off at CHB on the way home because maybe percy just needs something familiar, maybe he’s just homesick, and then he proceeds to stay under the ocean for three days straight

while i’m thinking about headcanons relating to percy being half sea god, this kid drinks a truly astronomical amount of water. he’s like the king of the hydration nation. he has a reusable water bottle of truly monstrous size that he has to fill up every hour, because he is the most hydrated person alive, and he has been known to sometimes just stick his head under the faucet and drink directly from the sink like an oversized dog. beverages that are not water are unacceptable. annabeth, who lives off of tea, coffee, and red bull, thinks this is weird.

half sea god metabolisms go hard because percy’s body, although he doesn’t realize it because he’s never lived in the ocean, works doubletime when he’s not in the water. he eats so much because it takes more energy for him to exist on land than it does for literally anyone else. zeus and hades kids have it easy, they’re literally always breathing air or walking on land, they’re in their natural element just all the time. percy’s magic godblood is just screaming “what the fuck is this what the fuck is this what the fuck is this” and that’s why percy eats almost an entire meal every three hours.

further Percy’s Blood Is Half Seawater headcanons include: he has never owned an umbrella in his life because he just trots through the rain like nothing in the world is wrong, he’s not only more resistant to heat but also resistant to cold because the ocean’s pretty damn cold most of the time, he has a high tolerance to mortal drugs so when he gets sick not even the tamiflu can’t save him, if he’s near the ocean he gets really bouncy at incoming tide when the waves are strongest, always knows whether it’s an el nino or la nina year, and he doesn’t know it because NYC isn’t exactly at risk for hurricanes, but the closer he gets to natural ones the more batshit he goes. completely chaotic, can’t focus on anything, running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

living on a fault line or near a fault line is a NO GO he CANNOT DO IT. not just because percy accidentally triggering an earthquake on a fault line could Fuck Shit Up, but because the constant tension of the colliding of the tectonic plates puts him on edge. he gets stress migraines near transcurrent faults. being near intense volcanic activity for a prolonged amount of time, like living near an active volcano, just makes him angry. sometimes he gets inexplicably frustrated when traveling, it’s just because they’re over a failed ancient rift in the middle of a tectonic plate. and percy accidentally triggers a lot of earthquakes, but since they’re all intraplate quakes and he has no idea he’s doing it, they turn out to be more like lil tiny tremors, and people just kind of... don’t notice it. no one figures this out until after the giant war and percy’s struggling with night terrors and those tremors start getting a lot more noticeable. percy, annabeth, and grover have to go on a Recovery Roadtrip because staying in one place means percy’s doing a lot of damage to one specific area of a gigantic tectonic plate and creating a weakness in the earth’s crust increases the tectonic stress making subsequent earthquakes worse and also i fucking think they deserve a roadtrip what the fuck!

being a kid of poseidon needs to come with a goddamn handbook, but it’d be 1000 pages of the wildest shit imaginable, like “if you need a blood transfusion there’s not going to be any human that can help. you’re going to have to find a willing horse or ocean creature, and pegasi do not count” or “if you ever have the urge to just knock back a salt shaker like it’s a shot of vodka, that’s also normal, and encouraged”

i’m pretty sure canon contradicts this but lol canon is mine to ignore, but i think because of gabe’s tendency to be a gross human being, percy has grown into being a neat freak. annabeth leaves one (1) empty can on the table and percy makes distressed percy noises about how they HAVE A RECYCLING BIN, BABE, TRASH DOESN’T BELONG ON THE TABLE - also because of gabe, percy gets weird around alcohol and the smell of beer makes his heart hammer. which is awkward, because sometimes the older CHB kids who survived the titan war and the giant war celebrate being alive by sneaking in alcohol, and chiron will turn a blind eye to it because CHB is one of two places in the world where demigods are safe to be off their game. mr. d is seething, but, you know, that’s fine. so percy spends those parties cleaning up after people and cutting people off when they’ve had too much and chatting with the people who got drunk but accidentally got sad drunk. if they’re on the beach and the waves are crashing harder than usual, well, they’re a bunch of demigods excited about being alive, and no one really notices.

extremely good taste in sneakers he just wears those sneakers with like, the worst outfit imaginable