The Ultimate Percy Jackson Characterization Masterpost
Because I have been talking about this for months and a lot of other people have too, but it’s disjointed. I want to compile it, since his mischaracterization breaks my heart and makes me want to scream with rage. Please add if you think of something I didn’t! I’m also starting the tag “#percy jackson defense squad”, so feel free to start dumping your salt and rage and theories and ideas in there because I wanna hear them!
Trigger warnings for mentions of suicidal thoughts, sexual abuse, child abuse, and domestic violence.
Percy had a really, really rough childhood.
Percy was abused. A lot of people don’t realize the gravity of this maybe ‘cause we were young when we read it and it’s written with sarcasm, and it has a Cinderella-story type vibe (not that Cinderella wasn’t also abused, but my point is, children’s fiction commonly glosses over abuse). BUT LISTEN. Gabe is an alcoholic who regularly drinks in front of Percy (who is twelve), Gabe verbally demeans Percy’s mother right in front of him, Gabe bullies Percy into funding his gambling, dumps beer bottles and cigar ashes all over Percy’s room (HE’S FUCKING TWELVE), Gabe physically and probably sexually abused Sally for years, Percy literally says that he would rather live on the streets or join the military than live with Gabe, Gabe literally turned THE ENTIRE NATION against Percy and branded a completely innocent child as a fugitive just for fucking money and media attention.
Percy hates Gabe so much that he barely even sees him as a human being. He uses the three-fingered claw that is used TO WARD OFF IMMORTAL FORCES OF EVIL THAT COME FROM THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS against Gabe (AND IT WORKS) because that is how much Gabe has traumatized him. Gabe makes him so angry and vengeful that at the age of twelve, Percy strategically plans to murder him (Percy’s never killed a human being before or since).
Percy was physically abused. He instinctively reaches for Riptide when he encounters Gabe at the end of the Lightning Thief, which is an instinct that he has when he feels physically threatened. And there’s this line about the gambling money from the beginning, “He called that our ‘guy secret.’ Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.” This is written with heavy sarcasm, but I got news for you: it’s a kids series, and this is too disturbing to just write flat out, but he is speaking literally.
@lililibird wrote a gorgeous post about how Percy was abused here
Percy also comes from a relatively poor background: “We were always struggling with money. Between my mom’s night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard.”-Sea of Monsters. He hates kids who throw their money around: “They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents.”-Lightning Thief. He’s really insecure about it, too: “What I didn’t tell them was that I’d have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I’d go to school in the fall.” He feels like an outsider because of it: “My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I’d never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.”
Percy was an outcast growing up, and never had a lot of friends. The education system is stacked against him because of his learning disabilities, and he probably faced a lot of ableism growing up. He thinks his neurodiversity makes him stupid and expects teachers and students to think so as well. When Chiron (as Mr. Brunner) tries to tell him that he’s a special kid, he takes it as an insult because he’s used to being singled out for his disabilities, and tears up, saying, “Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.” -Lightning Thief
Percy also grew up thinking his father didn’t want him (which really isn’t all that untrue). When he first meets Poseidon, his emotions are absolutely hearbreaking: “Wrongdoing. A lump welled up in my throat. Was that all I was? A wrongdoing? The result of a god’s mistake?”
His authority issues and his heavy use of sarcasm are a direct result from his childhood. Sarcasm is a coping mechanism that he uses to avoid thinking of himself as a victim. Authority issues stem from growing up under this domineering stepfather, and also due to his birth father leaving him and his mother. This is why Percy hates Dionysus so intensely: Dionysus reminds him disturbingly of Gabe. It’s why he’s so conflicted about helping the gods. It stays with him for all the books.
@jason-gracefully wrote a post here about how this abuse has a lasting impact on Percy that is really insightful
Percy thinks so badly of himself.
Percy literally hates himself. He doesn’t believe he’s a half-blood because he thinks he’s such a failure. He compares himself to Gabe because he feels so guilty, “between the two of us, we make my mom’s life pretty hard.” He’s constantly thinking stuff like, “What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.” -Lightning Thief
This self-hatred never fucking goes away, either, not even as Percy starts to pull of some pretty impressive shit?
“But Percy didn’t feel powerful. The more heroic stuff he did, the more he realized how limited he was. He felt like a fraud. I’m not as great as you think, he wanted to warn his friends. His failures, like tonight, seemed to prove it. Maybe that’s why he’d started to fear suffocation. It wasn’t so much drowning in the earth or the sea, but the feeling that he was sinking in too many expectations, literally getting in over his head.” -Mark of Athena
He never thinks of himself as a hero and he hates the spotlight and gets embarrassed being the center of attention and is bad at taking compliments.
Most of his internal monologue is really pessimistic and he’s constantly remarking that he said or did something stupid (literally too many examples to cite, but you can’t get very far without seeing it if you pick up a pjo book).
All Percy ever wanted was to be normal.
He’s miserable after Poseidon claims him because he’s finally found a place to fit in and no, of course not, he’s the first son of Poseidon to be born in 70 years, Zeus is trying to kill him and there’s a prophecy about how he’s going to decide the fate of the world.
He keeps going back into the mortal world even though it’s dangerous, because he just wants to be normal.
He starts spending time with Rachel between Battle of the Labyrinth and Last Olympian because he mentions that he needs to remind himself the mortal world is still out there, and he just needs a break.
He turns down godhood, because he just wants to grow up. (people make this about Annabeth, and she’s part of it, but far from the only reason. The significance of this as far as percabeth goes is that he decided that he wanted her to be a part of his future, but there was literally no way that Percy would have accepted godhood, Annabeth or no Annabeth.)
He literally starts crying when he gets to Camp Jupiter and realizes that, yet again, he’ll be an outcast, despite not even remembering his past. Like, this need to be accepted and find a home runs so deep that it transcends memory.
So OF COURSE he starts crying again when he sees New Rome, because he’s been searching for a safe home his entire life? It’s everything he’s ever wanted?
NOBODY WILL JUST LET HIM BE NORMAL. JUST LET HIM LIVE.
Percy. Cannot. Forgive himself. For. Anything.
“Not forgiving himself for his mistakes was one of Percy’s biggest talents.” -Mark of Athena.
He feels guilty about the sacrifices his mom made for him, and is unable to accept that she did it because she loved him.
He blames himself for Bianca’s death and actually says, “It should’ve been me.” Every time he looks at Nico he thinks of how he failed both of them and he spends the entire next book trying to make up for that.
He wiped Bob’s memory because Bob was trying to kill him, and he was weak and injured and desperate to get away, so he acted in self-defense, but still feels ashamed and furious at himself for doing it: “He’d never felt so low and dishonorable, so unworthy of having a friend.” And then he’s choking on poison in the heart of Tartarus, thinking it’s his own fault for…. for not visiting a Titan who tried to kill him? (would you go visit someone who attempted to murder you? i wouldn’t.)
BOB TRIED TO KILL HIM. HE WAS TRYING TO RUN PERCY THROUGH. WITH A SPEAR. AND IT’S HIS OWN GODDAMN FAULT THAT HE GOT TOSSED INTO THE LETHE. Not to mention that Percy was already dying from a really bad shoulder wound, and acted in self defense the only way he had available to him, since he was too injured to fight. Percy barely escaped with his life. Percy’s not a bad person at all for not visiting Bob, but he thinks he is, and you can hell bet he’s never going to get over that, especially after Bob’s sacrifice at the end of the book.
He blames himself for leaving Calypso as well? As though there was anything wrong with the way he treated her? As though they didn’t only know each other for two weeks? As though he wasn’t fourteen and should not have been expected to spend the rest of his life pining for her? As though you’re a bad person if you don’t fall in love with someone who’s in love with you? As though he didn’t offer to come back and Calyspo told him not to try? As though he didn’t speak her name in the throne room of Olympus, as though he didn’t look Zeus in the eye and remember the name of Calypso, the poor girl cursed to solitude by the Fates who saved his life? As though Calypso wasn’t his biggest, What if?
I pray that Leo and Calypso aren’t endgame because otherwise he’s going to have to put up with that guilt for the rest of his life and it’s completely unwarranted.
“‘You would’ve done the same for me.’ It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like somebody was poking my heart with a cold metal rod.” -Last Olympian. Like listen, he straight up admits that he also would have taken a knife for her, but he still can’t accept that Annabeth took one for him.
whatever you do don’t think about percy mourning all the campers he couldn’t save whatever you do don’t think about himself shaking himself awake in the middle of the night crying because he can’t stop seeing the faces of all the kids who died in the war, whatever you do don’t think about him starting his life and thinking every time he does something new that there are kids who will never get this chance because he couldn’t save them, don’t think about him watching their shrouds burn and wishing it was him
Percy is suicidal and it goes completely unresolved.
“I felt like drowning myself. The only problem: I was immune to drowning.” -The Lightning Thief
“The last thing I remembered was sinking in a burning sea… and wishing I were able to drown.” -The Sea of Monsters
“He couldn’t blame anyone else for his troubles. Not the gods. Not Bob. Not even Calypso, the girl he’d left alone on that island.” -The House of Hades. Listen to me. He’s dying in Tartarus alone after sacrificing years of his life to trying to save the world and being a good person, and he thinks he deserves it. HE THINKS HE DESERVES IT.
“Thing is, as I was choking just now, I kept thinking: this is payback for Akhlys. The Fates are letting me die the same way I tried to kill that goddess. And… honestly, a part of me felt I deserved it.” A PART OF ME FELT I DESERVED IT. Like. Percy. You need help. You can’t just… that’s so unhealthy.
Percy is afraid of himself.
“I hadn’t been in control of myself in that mountain. I’d released so much energy I’d almost vaporized myself, drained all the life out of me. Now I found out I’d nearly destroyed the Northwest U.S. and almost woken the most horrible monster ever imprisoned by the gods. Maybe I was too dangerous. Maybe it was safer for my friends to think I was dead.” -Battle of the Labyrinth. MAYBE I WAS TOO DANGEROUS. MAYBE IT WAS SAFER FOR MY FRIENDS TO THINK I WAS DEAD.
This also goes hand in hand with being suicidal, because thinking “maybe everything would be better if I was dead” is definitely going to get you to the point where you say “maybe I’ll just do it myself.”
“My expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy, but Rachel said I’d looked just like that after the battle.” -Last Olympian
“I might have even laughed once or twice—a crazy laugh that scared me as much as it did my enemies.” -Last Olympian
And like, of course there’s the part with Akhlys, and I’m sure I don’t have to explain how he spends the entirety of the next book trying to apologize for losing control just that one time because 1. he scared himself, 2. he’ll never forgive himself for scaring Annabeth and hurting Akhlys that much, 3. and he also thinks this means he deserves to die, and that is just such a loaded character arc that I’m not even sure which heading to put it under, but I’m putting it under here because I think the linchpin in that scene is that Percy (and Annabeth) really didn’t realize that he was capable of something like that. It’s a really dark scene, and he disturbed himself (and Annabeth, which also puts a wedge in their relationship), and it causes really serious repercussions. Dude, that needs to be resolved.
Percy also like, really has a dark side and a serious temper, which is where a lot of this fear of himself comes from, but @ofswordsandpens already covered that beautifully here.
Other people are afraid of Percy.
“Something changed in Phobos’s expression. He looked surprised, maybe even nervous. ‘The son of Poseidon? The one who made Dad angry?’” -Demigod Files (Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot)
“I couldn’t kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn’t have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.” -Demigod Files (Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot)
“Believe me, revenge is coming. One of these days, he’s going to be sorry. Why am I waiting? Just strategy. Biding my time and waiting for the right moment to strike. I am not scared, okay? Anybody says different, I’ll rearrange their dental work.” -Demigod Files (Interview with Clarisse LaRue, Daughter of Ares)
“Leo’s legs trembled. The way Percy looked at him made him feel the same as when Jason summoned lightning. Leo’s skin tingled, and every instinct in his body screamed, Duck!” -Mark of Athena.This description is so Extra it’s almost funny like I can’t believe this is actually a canon line sdkfasdjk;sadf
“Piper guessed that Percy hadn’t meant to cause so much damage, but his glowering expression made her want to leave the ship as soon as possible.” -Blood of Olympus.
“Since she’d come back from Tartarus, Annabeth had told Piper about a lot of scary things that had happened down there. At the top of her list: Percy controlling a tide of poison and suffocating the goddess Akhlys.” -Blood of Olympus. AT THE TOP OF HER LIST. AT THE TOP OF HER LIST.
Annabeth then goes on to cry about how she can’t get his expression out of her head, and says she’s angry at him for frightening her.
“What would Percy be like if he wanted to act scary?” -Blood of Olympus. (we are still talking about the poison here. yes, still.)
“‘She died too easily, considering how much torture she put you through. She deserved worse.’ Annabeth couldn’t argue with that, but the hard edge in Percy’s voice made her unsettled. She’d never seen someone get so angry or vengeful on her behalf. It almost made her glad Arachne had died quickly.” -House of Hades. I mean, I also thought Arachne’s death was stupid so I don’t blame him, but.
“Everybody was looking at me—with concern, or pity, or maybe a little fear.” -Last Olympian
“Suddenly I realized that despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me. She probably thought I was going to fight her for control of the river, and she was worried she would lose.” -Battle of the Labyrinth
“‘Luke feared you,’ the Titan’s voice said. ‘His jealously and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient. For that I thank you.’” -Battle of the Labyrinth
“ I grabbed him by the shirt, which seriously wasn’t like me, but the stupid old goat was making me mad.” -Last Olympian. This is when he literally frightens Leneus so bad that he runs away into the woods.
“Hades swallowed. ‘Now, Jackson, listen here…’ He was immortal. There was no way I could kill him, but gods can be wounded.” -Last Olympian
“How was he keeping his cool? The way he talked to Bob left Annabeth awestruck… and maybe a little uneasy, too. If Percy had been serious about leaving the choice to Bob, then she didn’t like how much he trusted the Titan. If he’d been manipulating Bob into making that choice… well, then, Annabeth was stunned that Percy could be so calculating.” -House of Hades. Is she seriously kidding me with this though because how could she be stunned by that… which brings me to the next point….
Percy is incredibly manipulative, extremely clever, and very resourceful.
Canon doesn’t even represent this well, because it says stuff like “trickery and evasion were Annabeth’s tactics,” but Percy uses them constantly.
Most of the time when Percy does something “stupid” or “impulsive” it’s actually neither of those things, it’s just that he doesn’t take the time to explain things to everyone else. He has multilayered plans for how he’s going to get out of a situation, but other characters (and fandom) seem to attribute this to luck.
If Percy’s plans were genuinely stupid and impulsive there is no way he would still be alive. Just think about this realistically, okay. He doesn’t get lucky, he just knows what he’s doing.
Percy has a functioning knowledge of Greek mythology that he uses to his advantage constantly, and actually, he directly explains most myths to the reader. For some reason (?) most of fandom thinks he’s clueless. (just kidding, I know why, and @ehlihr explains it here)
Possibly the best example is Procrustes, who, at the age of twelve, Percy successfully swindled into laying down on his own torture device.
Gets into the Underworld on pure manipulation. Bribes Charon with Italian suits and a pay raise. Bribes Cerberus with a toy. Remember that scene where he dramatically stacks drachmas on top of each other right under Charon’s nose? Yeah. This kid could talk his way out of a paper bag, mark my words.
Lies on national television convincingly enough that the reporters take up a collection to buy them plane tickets to New York at the end of the Lightning Thief. And also gives the phone number to Gabe’s store and tells everyone to ask for free appliances.
Figures out Kronos’ plot entirely by himself, which is quite complicated, then breaks it down for the reader, Annabeth, and Grover. I bet you didn’t even realize that the reason the plot of the Lightning Thief wasn’t hopelessly confusing was because Percy explained it to you.
Percy is the first person to realize that Kronos is waking (aside from Kronos’ forces, of course). He predicts that he’s going to gain a solid form again. He and Annabeth simultaneously reach this conclusion around the same time without discussing it with each other, but Annabeth doesn’t anticipate the gravity of the war the way Percy does (and the gods won’t listen to him until literally the end of Titan’s Curse).
In the Sea of Monsters, he guides one of the cannibals into breaking down the locker room door by standing in front of it and dodging out of the way at the last minute, because he needs to get his sword from the locker room.
Withholds the Gray Sister’s eye until they explain “the location he seeks” and even rolls down the window and threatens to throw it into traffic.
That glorious scene where he manipulates Luke into giving himself away by IM’ing Mr. D behind Luke’s back. Possibly my favorite Luke and Percy moment ever.
He also challenges Luke to a fight at the end of Sea of Monsters because he needs a way to buy time so that Clarisse can get the Fleece to Camp Half-Blood, and it works, because he backs Luke into a corner where he’ll look weak if he turns down the fight.
Literally sneaks onto a quest. A quest which Zoe Nightshade, a Hunter and tracker, was on, and she didn’t even realize he was there until he literally ran up to her and showed himself.
Kills the Nemean Lion by throwing astronaut food from the gift shop in its mouth.
Percy is the one who figures out that Talos has a maintenance hatch that a person could fit inside. Otherwise they would have literally all died.
Convinces Nereus to jump into the water by feigning that he’s afraid of going in water, and then uses his increased strength to tackle him.
Cleans Geryon’s stables with a petrified sea shell.
Figures out how to navigate the Labyrinth.
And one of the greatest fight scenes in all the books (I think so, any way): jumps off Antaeus’ face and grabs the chains of skulls hanging from the arena ceiling, ties them in a knot, hooks Antaeus by his loincloth and suspends him above the ground by a chain of skulls, and then kills him. Can you imagine him crawling through the chains, “like some kind of deranged monkey.” Like that’s dark, but it’s also insanely resourceful and clever holy shit.
Percy made a bargain with Gaea using his own place in her creepy ass plan and in the prophecy to manipulate her into saving his life.
Gets the gryphons to stop attacking in Son of Neptune by threatening to stab their eggs.
Herds Polybotes over the boundary line so that Terminus will get angry and attack.
And, of course, the entire scene with Chrysaor is brilliant (and like the most in character moment for percy in all of hoo lmao).
Percy tries so hard to be a good person and he has such a good heart.
Remember after he saves Clarisse’s butt in Sea of Monsters, and once they make it back to land, he feels bad about stealing her quest and making her look bad, and doesn’t want her to get into trouble with Ares, so he sends her home with the Fleece alone? Tyson even says: “Percy is nice” and Annabeth says “Percy is too nice.” And then he never tells anybody about how she totally would have died if not for him and Annabeth because he doesn’t want to humiliate her?
And in the Demigod Files, when he encounters Phobos and Deimos with Clarisse and agrees again to keep quiet about it because he doesn’t want to humiliate her?
Percy searches for Nico all throughout Battle of The Labyrinth and never stops looking out for him, even when Nico curses him and wishes he was dead and repeatedly screws him over.
He forgives people? Like I know he’s vengeful and I know it’s hard to regain his trust, but he does forgive. He doesn’t even think twice about forgiving any of the demigods who fought with Kronos because he understands where they’re coming from and recognizes that they’re just kids. He honors Luke and Ethan’s dying requests despite the fact that they both tried to kill him about seven hundred times. He mourns them: “‘They were brainwashed!’ I said. ‘Now they’re dead and Kronos is still alive. That’s supposed to make me feel better?’” -The Last Olympian. And he completely and immediately backs Clarisse up in saying that Silena was a hero, and refuses to tell anyone that she was a spy. He also forgives Nico who, let’s be honest, is such a little shit in Battle of the Labyrinth.
Every time he realizes that he’s done something wrong he immediately pulls back and modifies his behavior.
Remember the confrontation with the river nymph before cleaning the stables? “She probably thought I was going to fight her for control of the river, and she was worried she would lose. The thought made me sad. I felt like a bully, a son of Poseidon throwing his weight around.” -Battle of the Labyrinth.
Percy befriends Grover, who is scrawny and gets bullied, and spends all year trying to defend him from the bullies? He even says that he’s lost sleep thinking about how Grover will survive school without him when he gets expelled from Yancy? Literally the reason the confrontation with Ms. Dodds even happens is because Percy was defending Grover.
Percy befriends Tyson, who, as far as he knows, is a homeless teenager with special needs who lives in a cardboard box and smells funny and cries a lot. He meets Tyson at the subway every morning so that Tyson won’t get overwhelmed being by himself. He stands guard outside Tyson’s stall so that Tyson can change in privacy. Like, Percy is so good to Tyson it breaks my heart? And he had no angle at all, he just genuinely likes Tyson and sees him as a friend. And he literally makes himself a social outcast by association; Matt Sloan even tells him, “You might have friends if you weren’t always sticking up for that freak.” And Percy says, “I was pretty much his only friend, which meant he was pretty much my only friend.”
He’s captain of the other dodgeball team against Matt Sloan because all the other kids who get picked on look to him for protection.
His life is terrible and nothing ever works out the way he wants it to, but instead of being a whiny pissbaby about it he just fucking…. he just fucking keeps saving the world? He just keeps putting himself back in mortal danger despite hating it more and more each time because… because it’s what he has to do? He doesn’t take it out on anyone? He just fucking keeps accepting it? And he gets bitter and jaded, but he never stops saving the world.
He literally finds out in Last Olympian that the entire prophecy, this whole time, they were all waiting for his death? Like he was a ticking timebomb, raising him to be slaughtered and lying about it? AND HE NEVER EVEN GETS BITTER? HE DOESN’T TRY TO RUN AWAY OR BLAME ANYONE? hE JUST FUCKING? DOES WHAT HE HAS TO DO?
(wouldn’t you be angry about that? even annabeth lied about it to his face for years? wouldn’t that feel like a slap to the face? because i’m pretty sure if the girl i loved did that to me i wouldn’t be able to accept it and would never look at her the same way? but maybe that’s just me?)
He snaps into Leader Mode in Last Olympian so quickly it’s amazing. That character development is just… gah, it’s so good. People start depending on him without question and nobody even blinks when Chiron addresses him as the leader of the group, because it’s just natural for them to follow him.
This piece by @llttledipper is gorgeous and covers a lot so I’m not even sure which heading to stick it under, but it’s worth the read.
Percy is really compassionate and a caretaker.
Running with everything mentioned above, of course.
Checks in on Annabeth and makes sure she’s sleeping and eating.
Comforts Annabeth a lot during the pjo series because like… for the brunt of it, he’s really all she has left, especially in Sea of Monsters.
He’s always very cautious about discussing Luke with her because he doesn’t want to upset her (but let’s be honest: he was right and she was wrong about Luke. She was pretty delusional for most of the series and it actually got worse as she got older).
Percy only really yells at Annabeth once. Which is pretty big of him, considering she yells at him practically once a chapter.
Apologizes to Reyna for something he doesn’t even remember. His exact words are, “If I hurt you, I’m sorry.”
He wants to help Reyna so badly in Son of Neptune because he feels for her. Once, he even opts to leave her alone, because he recognizes that she’s having a hard time projecting the image of a leader and needs some time to herself.
He goes on the quest in Son of Neptune because he knows Frank is scared and needs help, even though he wants to stay put.
The way he treats Hazel and Frank all throughout Son of Neptune is so sweet and brotherly. Especially the scene when he and Hazel are talking alone in her old house is so sweet, when he tells her that she’s definitely going to make it out alive, and the scene when he encourages Frank after killing the basilisks.
He’s constantly encouraging people to chase their dreams, like his mother’s dream to be a writer and Annabeth’s dream to be an architect and Grover’s dream to find Pan.
He wants to help Nico so badly, and he’s a total mother hen.
He even takes care of the readers by editing scary and disturbing stuff out! I mean, I know it’s because it’s a kid series and it’s convenient to water it down by having Percy edit stuff out, but narration is important to pay attention to, because Percy is talking directly to the reader, which is the easiest and most obvious way to develop a character. The warning in the beginning has a very “please save yourself” kind of vibe. He admits more than once that he’s not describing something because it’s disturbing: the fresh skulls in Antaeus’ arena, the tortures in the Fields of Punishment, etc.
And, like I said before, really has empathy for Kronos’ kids and genuinely wants to save them from themselves.
Annabeth’s quote in Mark of Athena, “Percy has a knack for making good friends” is so unbelievably accurate (like 10/10 on that one Annabeth because you definitely get some other stuff pretty wrong lol.)
Percy is actually quite intuitive.
His dreams are the most prophetic of all the demigods that we’ve seen.
Knows Luke is bad news right of the bat, but fights it, because he doesn’t understand why. (the foreshadowing is so BLATANT it’s embarrassing to reread)
Immediately mistrustful of the gods, for good reason.
Immediately trustful of a lot of good people, like Grover and Chiron and Hazel and Frank and Tyson, even if he can’t always explain why.
If Percy doesn’t realize people like him, it’s because he can’t imagine why, not because he’s unable to pick up on the signs.
I don’t know where the idea came from that Percy was clueless that Annabeh liked him? Because he absolutely was not? He knew all through the end of Battle of the Labyrinth and all through Last Olympian, it’s just that it wasn’t that simple. They had a lot to work through before they could throw romance into the mix (and I do mean a lot).
He’s also not oblivious that Annabeth is jealous of Rachel, it’s just that he’s mad about it because he thinks that she doesn’t have any right to be.
He’s not oblivious that Rachel likes him, either, it’s just that he’s not sure how he feels about it so consciously tries to avoid talking about it.
And as far as Nico goes, I mean, the majority of fandom was also oblivious about Nico’s crush and called it “THE SICKEST PLOT TWIST EVER” so what makes y’all think you’ve got any room to talk
As for Calypso, when she admits that she loves him, he literally says, “But…I’m just…I mean, I’m just me,” so I think that about proves my point.
He’s meant to directly parallel Luke, and that’s made pretty damn obvious by the end of pjo. And if it wasn’t, Percy directly compares himself to Luke later on:
“Percy remembered what Luke Castellan had told him years ago, when Percy had come back from his very first quest: Didn’t you realize how useless it all is? All the heroics–being pawns of the Olympians? Percy was almost the same age now as Luke had been then. He could understand how Luke became so spiteful. In the past five years, Percy had been used as a pawn too many times. The Olympians seemed to take turns using him for their schemes. Maybe the gods were better than the Titans, or Gaea, but that didn’t make them good or wise. It didn’t make Percy like this stupid battle arena.” -Mark of Athena
His anger motivates him most of the time. Percy’s knee jerk response to all of the trauma that he’s been through is to get angry (probably because it keeps him going).
Percy constantly talks about feeling angry, far more often than feeling sad or scared. This is so common that I couldn’t even cite one example, because it’s just a theme through all the books. When he gets angry, he kills stuff (like the Minotaur, twice).
It really comes to a head in the scene with Akhlys, but again, goes totally unresolved because that kind of anger doesn’t just fucking evaporate (it also gets partially replaced with guilt, which is just. so unhealthy).
@lililibird, @ofswordsandpens and @accioangelo wrote something really cool about that here
Percy is definitely mentally ill.
Like yeah, he’s neurodiverse, but he’s also canonically mentally ill. I’m not sure what type of mental illness it would best fit, or maybe more than one, but there’s absolutely no way this kid is mentally healthy.
He has insurmountable guilt.
He develops a phobia of his own element and never… never resolves it? He talks about feeling “unclean” after Phorcys aquarium and Annabeth notes how shaken up he looks, even the next day. He almost drowns two more times since it’s brought up (Nyphaeum-whatever-it’s-called and the Cocytus-however-you-spell-it) which means it probably got worse so I’m just gonna assume that he has a paralyzing fear of his own element? he also joined the swimteam which is literally like WHAT HOW WHY but i’m trying not to turn this into a wankfest
And in that same vein, this fear of suffocation, like you’re a fraud and don’t deserve the people who love you or the recognition you get? That’s super unhealthy. It’s important to accept people’s love, but he hates himself so much that he can’t see that.
He has frequent nightmares. Like, not the weird voodoo demigod nightmares, like night terrors. Nightmares that don’t have dream messages attached to them, just straight up nightmares. He’s constantly saying stuff like “I still had nightmares about it.” He mentions losing sleep because of it. The night when Bianca sends him the IM of Nico in the graveyard, he sits on the floor staring at the remains of the shattered water fountain all night and doesn’t move until Tyson gets him in the morning. Like, he’s really affected by the things that he’s seen. Also he’s been having nightmares about Tartarus since the Lightning Thief so I can only imagine how hard it’s going to be for him to recover from actually being there (they’re actually quite vivid: one time, he has a conversation with Kronos on the edge of the pit of Chaos).
“He glared at the poison flood encroaching from all sides. He concentrated so hard that something inside him cracked – as if a crystal ball had shattered in his stomach.” -House of Hades. He actually shattered a part of himself to be able to unlock that kind of power. And after Akhlys leaves he mentions it kinda starts to subside, but listen: broken glass doesn’t get fixed. He literally is admitting that he’s broken inside. Not to mention that this kind of misery doesn’t just come from no where; this is the combined effort of all the terrible things he’s been feeling his whole life. That’s pretty horrifying, and someone should help him through that instead of making him feel like a monster for doing it. it’s actually almost identical to nico’s dilemma except that people actually try to help nico.
Suicidal thoughts, pervasive guilt, self-hatred, self-blame, self-distrust, frequent nightmares, developing a phobia, using anger as a coping mechanism. This sounds like depression to me (how I experience it, at any rate), possibly with symptoms of PTSD, although I’m not a psychiatrist. Even if it doesn’t fit a specific mental illness it’s still a deeply unhealthy mental state to be in.
Like listen: Percy needs help.
Percy’s fatal flaw is so not a big deal.
Leaves his mother in the Underworld at the age of twelve. His mom. His mom, guys. Is there anyone he loves more on this earth, besides Annabeth? He’s twelve years old, and he comes to the understanding that he needs to let her go, leave her in mortal danger, because the fate of the world depends on him getting the bolt to Zeus, and, furthermore, that his mother would never accept his life in exchange for her own.
I mean, that’s really case closed right there, but there’s quite a bit more.
“I was leaving her in good hands after all. Her own.” -Lightning Thief. This is right after his mother tells him ‘you need to let me take care of myself.’ And he respects that so much that he actually leaves her with her abuser, which is really hard for him because he can’t bear to leave her in danger, but then he realizes that she’s capable of dealing with it and, more importantly, he lets her.
Encourages Grover to go off on an extremely dangerous solo quest to find Pan which no satyr has ever returned alive from, because he realizes that it’s really important to Grover and doesn’t want to hold him back due to his own fears.
Encourages Tyson to go join Poseidon’s forges because he recognizes that while he would like Tyson to stay, this is really important to Tyson.
Even in Titan’s Curse he wants to immediately throw himself off the cliff searching for Annabeth and he doesn’t because that’s dumb and he understands that. And then he goes on the quest but it’s like… everyone on that quest was looking for someone they loved so it’s really not a good example of Percy’s fatal flaw in action. Additionally, when Percy captures Nereus, his first instinct is to ask about Annabeth, but he doesn’t, because again: it’s not the best choice, and he understands that, so he asks about the monster Artemis was tracking instead.
Splits up with Grover and Tyson in the Labyrinth because he knows that Grover needs to find Pan and it’s really important to him. Annabeth is the one who keeps saying that splitting up is a bad idea because it’s not safe.
His first instinct is always to take care of people but he never infringes on their rights to make their own choices, even when he doesn’t agree with them. He never holds anyone back from reaching their full potential and usually encourages them to go for it, even if it means they have to leave him behind.
It was really fucking hard for him to let Annabeth go searching for the Mark of Athena but he did it. He even recognizes that she’s terrified and doesn’t want to do it and she needs him to believe in her and so he fucking sends her off because he never wants to hold her back from doing all the amazing things that she can do. I’m crying.
@greenconverses explains this a little more in depth here
Percy’s never jeopardized… anything? because of his fatal flaw? And it’s just kind of like… for something that is discussed so often it’s really kind of… not important?
Most important of all: he lets Beckendorf die. He looks into his eyes, Beckendorf tells him to go, he protests, but Beckendorf doesn’t waver. And Percy lets it happen, because it needs to happen.
Now, I mean, if he understands that Beckendorf’s death is inevitable (mind you, Beckendorf was one of Percy’s closest friends), and he understands that it’s illogical to rescue his mother from the Underworld, then I think it’s safe to say that Percy understands and controls his fatal flaw. You could make the argument that maybe he wouldn’t if it was Annabeth. In which case, I say to you, that’s really not about fatal flaw, it’s just about human beings.
Annabeth takes a knife for Percy, which makes it pretty damn obvious that she’s willing to die for him? Beckendorf, Silena, Thalia, and Leo actually do die for their friends? Like, a willingness to die in place of their friends is something we see in every single main character in this series, and most of the minor characters too.
The only moment you really see it get him in danger is Tartarus and Mt. St. Helens, but listen, is there any other member of the Seven that would have let go of Annabeth’s hand like be serious. Can you honestly believe any of them would have let her fall alone and pulled themselves out of the pit like there’s just no fucking way that would have happened. Frankly, how much would you have to hate someone to let them get dragged to hell to die alone.
As for Mt. St. Helens, I mean, honestly? This scene could have gone the other way around just as easily. In fact, Percy actually stood a chance and Annabeth didn’t, so it makes a lot of fucking sense that he should be the one to stay behind.
It doesn’t take away from anything Percy’s done for his friends. In fact, it kinda makes it better because it’s not overshadowed by the lurking threat of the Elusive Fatal Flaw.
I’m not saying it’s not actually his fatal flaw, except that….. well, it’s not, really, is it? He’s got a good handle on it, which pretty much tells me that it’s not going to kill him any time soon, and more than that, it’s not unique to Percy. Who doesn’t struggle with wanting to protect the people they love?
Maybe let’s talk about Percy’s rage instead because that is something that actually comes up very often and usually gets the better of him.
Percy is incredibly capable and really powerful.
and all y’all are definitely going ‘lol like we didn’t know that’ but listen: no, i’m not sure that you did. and if you did then imma talk about it anyway because we don’t talk about it enough.
Percy spends just as much time saving Annabeth’s ass as she does his. It’s mutual. Their relationship is very balanced and I think it’s cheap and stupid to try and make her look better by belittling him. Oddly, this tactic is used by a lot of characters in the series? “I doubt Percy could find his way out of a paper bag without Annabeth” like okay how about the part where she would have dove straight off a cliff in the house of night like lmao where the fuck does this argument come from.
Firstly, I must say that WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE CURSE OF ACHILLES ENOUGH but I could rant about it for literal hours, so I’ll just link you to where I did that already.
KILLS THE MINOTAUR AT THE AGE OF TWELVE BY RIPPING ITS OWN HORN OUT OF ITS SKULL AND STABBING HIM WITH IT. like. The Minotaur. THE MINOTAUR. D’you know that in the myths, the Minotaur just fucking ripped up entire towns and cities and killed hundreds of people and nobody could stop it, until finally they built the fucking Labyrinth to lock it up because nobody knew what to do with it, and then it was still alive for years because nobody could kill it, and like, the culmination of Theseus’ entire hero career was killing this thing because that’s how fucking intense the Minotaur was. AND THEN PERCY JACKSON. TWELVE YEARS OLD. NOT A DAY OF TRAINING. NO WEAPON. JUST FUCKING. TAKES HIM DOWN. WHAT THE FUCK.
Kronos tells him that Luke is afraid of him.
Kronos also tells him that he wishes Percy had supplied his host body. Kronos is surveying bodies to possess and is like, “I want that one.” THE FUCK.
Jumps like, 120 yards off the House of Night and over the river Acheron????? With a person on his back?????? HOw????????? SINCE WHEN CAN HE FUCKING DO THAT???? (i will become FILLED WITH RAGE if anyone answers this with “he’s got skillz”)
Remember when he tells the Roman Senate that he fought Kronos himself and Reyna stumbles back in shock and is like???? how????
Kills a giant alone. Like, completely alone, except for Terminus who really doesn’t do anything, it’s just about the logistical need to have a god kill a giant.
Blows up a volcano and wakes Typhon. Like, wakes Typhon. And it wasn’t even on purpose! He was just being tortured and needed a way to escape like it was on pure instinct. And then when Hephaestus tells him so, he’s literally like, “I’m not that powerful.” And Hephaestus just kinda laughs like UM YEAH YOU KIND OF ARE, LOOK AT WHAT YOU FUCKING DID, SON OF THE EARTHSHAKER INDEED.
Wipes out Hades entire army like, basically without even realizing it.
Literally holds back Kronos’ entire army by himself. LIke, ALONE. A WHOLE ARMY.
“Part of their problem was Percy. He fought like a demon, whirling through the defenders’ ranks in a completely unorthodox style, rolling under their feet, slashing with his sword instead of stabbing like a Roman would, whacking campers with the flat of his blade, and generally causing mass panic.” -Son of Neptune. I love to think about this scene (these are the scenes that we need movies for, okay, think of how great this could be)
Kills the Clazmonian sow alone.
Holds off a drakon alone, although Clarisse is the one that kills it.
At the age of thirteen, he totally beats up Polyphemus, who is at least two times his size, just because he gets angry.
The first time he summons a hurricane he doesn’t even do it on purpose it just fucking happens instinctively. Grover’s like “bro what are you doing” and he’s like “what.” LIKE PERCY. SERIOUSLY.
He blows stuff up when he gets angry??? Like the plumbing incident in boo? That’s fucking intense okay like wow just one more reason for him to be afraid of himself
I saved this for last because this is my favorite: CONTROLS POISON. AND ALSO BODILY FLUIDS. I think we talk about the poison scene a lot but do you remember the part when Akhlys starts crying and he’s like “Oh, good, more water.” “OH GOOD MORE WATER” LIKE JESUS PERCY. And then he imagines her nose and throat filling with her own tears like HOLY SHIT. that’s some bloodbending level shit right there.
Please tell me I was not the only person cheering during that scene okay because I was like THIS IS IT, HE’S FINALLY SNAPPED, LET’S GO MOTHERFUCKERS, like I have been waiting and waiting and hoping and hoping for a scene like that for years. but annabeth ruined it because she clearly underestimated him like the signs were all there she should not have been surprised
Percy is not a lovable idiot.
Like, I mean, he’s just not. He’s a hugely complex character with a lot of conflicting traits. He’s vengeful but caring, loyal but resentful, capable but insecure, a natural leader but intimidating and sometimes even scary.
Like yeah, he’s got a sense of humor, but like???? That doesn’t cancel out any of the things I mentioned above.
Percy is also not an asshole.
In an attempt to get away from the “lovable idiot” fanon characterization, I think the pendulum swung too far the other way.
Percy is very compassionate, and very caring. He apologizes for his mistakes. He’s not cocky or arrogant in the slightest.
Yes, he can be intimidating and vengeful and once you break his trust you better look out, but that doesn’t cancel out his instinct to take care of people and his efforts to help people and his desire to be a good person.
Looking for more + References made in this post:
This post by @ofswordsandpens, with additions by @lililibird and @accioangelo (I have a special place in my heart for this post because it showed up miraculously on my dash from my main blog one day, and this is what convinced me to get back in this fandom because OTHER PEOPLE GET IT I COULD CRY)
And the (updated) original by @ofswordsandpens
This post by @jason-gracefully
This post by @llttledipper
This post by @greenconverses
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