Kaz

Harper Rush is a character in CHB: The Wild Zone and is Rick Riordan’s second attempt at Transgender Representation.

Riordan’s first and only trans rep (Alex Fierro) embodies the harmful stereotype of trans people/characters being shapeshifters. (And no one calls him out on this)

So yeah, I’m worried.

I have absolutely no idea where the misconception came from that no one on board of the Argo II, except for Hazel, wanted to save, or cared for Nico, but it's starting to really annoy me. So, here’s a little summary of every member of the seven’s and Coach Hedge’s thoughts, feelings and actions when it came to Nico, backed up by exempts from the book

 (Safe for Hazel, because… it’s Hazel. Thankfully, there’s no misconception surrounding her, regarding this subject.)

Coach Hedge:

He Immediately agreed to rescue him when the topic came up

 “The giants are trying to lure us,” Annabeth said. “They’re assuming we’ll try to rescue him.” “Well, they’re right!” Hazel looked around the table, her confidence apparently crumbling. “Won’t we?” “Yes!” Coach Hedge yelled with a mouthful of napkins. “It’ll involve fighting, right?” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

Frank:

He Immediately agreed to rescue him when the topic came up

“Hazel, of course we’ll help him,” Frank said. “But how long do we have before… uh, I mean, how long can Nico hold out?” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

He got angry when Leo and Jason suggested that Nico might not be trustworthy

Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.” Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this. He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?” Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that.” He glared at Leo. “Nobody had better be saying that.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

Annabeth:

She reacted with anger and sadness when the topic of Nico’s predicament came up

She shook her head sadly when he described Nico’s imprisonment in the bronze jar. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

“One seed a day,” Hazel said miserably. “That’s if he puts himself in a death trance.” “A death trance?” Annabeth scowled. “That doesn’t sound fun.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

Hazel also seemed preoccupied. Maybe she was taking in their surroundings, or maybe she was worrying about her brother. In less than four days, unless they found him and freed him, Nico would be dead. Annabeth felt that deadline weighing on her, too.  (Mark of Athena, Chapter 18)

She was in support of rescuing him:

“Fine,” Annabeth muttered. “Hazel, now that we’re in Rome, do you think you can pinpoint Nico’s location?” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 31)

Percy:

He immediately agreed to rescue him in Son of Neptune:

Not the part about Sammy – that was still too painful to say out loud – but she told them about Gaia’s offer of a fake life, and the goddess’s claim that she’d captured her brother, Nico. Hazel didn’t want to keep that to herself. She was afraid the despair would overwhelm her. Percy rubbed his shoulders. His lips were blue. ‘You – you saved me, Hazel. We’ll figure out what happened to Nico, I promise.’ (Son of Neptune, Chapter 41)

I think my dad is turning a blind eye. I think – I think he wants me to find Nico.’ ‘We’ll find your brother,’ Percy promised. ‘As soon as the ship gets here, we’ll sail for Rome.’ (Son of Neptune, Chapter 52)

He never once considered the possibility of not saving Nico in Mark of Athena

“He disappeared.” Hazel moistened her lips. “I’m afraid…I’m not sure, but I think something’s happened to him.” “We’ll look for him,” Percy promised. “We have to find the Doors of Death anyway.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 3)

Huddled next to it was a dejected looking boy in tattered jeans, a black shirt, and an old aviator jacket. On his right hand, a silver skull ring glittered. “Nico,” Percy called. But the son of Hades couldn’t hear him. The container was completely sealed. The air was turning poisonous. Nico’s eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. He appeared to be meditating. His face was pale, and thinner than Percy remembered (…) “Nico,” Percy said, “where is this place? We’ll save you.…” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

“Nico is the bait,” she murmured. “Gaea’s forces must have captured him somehow. But we don’t know exactly where they’re holding him.” “Somewhere in Rome,” Percy said. “Somewhere underground. They made it sound like Nico still had a few days to live, but I don’t see how he could hold out so long with no oxygen.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

But most of the time, Nico sided with the good guys. He certainly didn’t deserve slow suffocation in a bronze jar, and Percy couldn’t stand seeing Hazel in pain. “We’ll rescue him,” he promised her. “We have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

About a hundred yards away, he spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person. “Look.” He pointed it out to his friends. Piper frowned. “That’s too easy.” “Of course,” Percy said. “But we have no choice,” Jason said. “We’ve got to save Nico.” “Yeah.” Percy started across the room, picking his way around conveyor belts and moving platforms. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He informed Hazel and the rest of the seven of Nico’s predicament the very morning after he found out

But how can Nico survive that long? We should talk to Hazel.” “Now?” She hesitated. “No. It can wait until morning. I don’t want to hit her with this news in the middle of the night.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 13)

He told them about his dream—the twin giants planning a reception for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers; Nico di Angelo trapped in a bronze jar, slowly dying from asphyxiation with pomegranate seeds at his feet. Hazel choked back a sob. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

He insisted on saving Nico immediately, once he met up with Jason and Piper in Rome

Percy pointed at Piper’s dagger. “Tiberinus said you could find Nico’s location…you know, with that.” Piper bit her lip. The last thing she wanted to do was check Katoptris for more terrifying images. “I’ve tried,” she said. “The dagger doesn’t always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does.” “Please,” Percy said. “Try again.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

Piper dropped the blade. “What’s wrong?” Jason asked. “It was showing us something.” Piper felt like the boat was back on the ocean, rocking under her feet. “We can’t go there.” Percy frowned. “Piper, Nico is dying. We’ve got to find him. Not to mention, Rome is about to get destroyed.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

“We should wait for the others,” she said. “Hazel, Frank, and Leo should be back soon.” “We can’t wait,” Percy insisted. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

He felt anxious when thinking about Nico and the possibility of him dying

The vision zoomed in again. Inside the jar, Nico di Angelo was curled in a ball, no longer moving, all the pomegranate seeds eaten. “We’re too late,” Jason said. “No,” Percy said. “No, I can’t believe that. Maybe he’s gone into a deeper trance to buy time. We have to hurry.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

Otis trudged over to the dais, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He knocked over the jar, the lid popped off, and Nico di Angelo spilled out. The sight of his deathly pale face and too-skinny frame made Percy’s heart stop. Percy couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead. He wanted to rush over and check, but Ephialtes stood in his way. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

At Otis’s feet, Nico shuddered. Percy felt like a hellhound hamster wheel somewhere in his chest had started moving again. At least Nico was alive. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He called Nico a friend

Jason and Piper closed ranks on either side of Percy (…)“We’re here,” Percy said, which sounded kind of obvious once he had said it. “Let our friend go.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

“Okay.” Percy decided not to comment on the Hawaiian shirt. “Now, about our friend…” “Oh, him,” Ephialtes sneered. “We were going to let him finish dying in public, but he has no entertainment value. He’s spent days curled up sleeping. What sort of spectacle is that? Otis, tip over the jar.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He was careful to make sure Nico would not get injured while he, Jason and Piper fought the giants:

Percy was ready to slice this giant in half and get out of there, but Otis was standing over Nico. If a battle started, Nico was in no condition to defend himself. Percy needed to buy him some recovery time.  (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

Percy glanced over at Nico, who was just starting to move. Percy wanted him to be at least conscious enough to crawl out of the way when the fighting started. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

Piper:

She immediately agreed to rescue him (There’s a pattern here)

“And he has five seeds left,” Percy said. “That’s five days, including today. The giants must have planned it that way, so we’d have to arrive by July first. Assuming Nico is hidden somewhere in Rome—” “That’s not much time,” Piper summed up. She put her hand on Hazel’s shoulder. “We’ll find him. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

“We’ll rescue him,” he promised her. “We have to. The prophecy says he holds the key to endless death.” “That’s right,” Piper said encouragingly. “Hazel, your brother went searching for the Doors of Death in the Underworld, right? He must’ve found them.”  (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

She felt anxious when she thought about Nico’s predicament

Piper tried to imagine what Nico di Angelo was feeling, stuck in a jar with only two pomegranate seeds left to sustain him, and no idea whether he would be rescued. It made Piper anxious to reach Rome, even though she had a horrible feeling she was sailing toward her own sort of prison—a dark room filled with water. “Nico must have information about the Doors of Death,” Piper said. “We’ll save him, Hazel. We can make it in time. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 25)

Piper slipped it back into its sheath, trying to keep her hands from shaking. She hoped that Percy was right, and Nico was still alive. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 41)

She protected Nico, once he had escaped from the bronze jar:

Nico stirred. Otis looked down at him. His snaky feet flicked their tongues at Nico’s head. “Plus!” Piper said quickly. “Plus, we could do some dance moves as we’re escaping. Perhaps a ballet number!” Otis forgot all about Nico. He lumbered over and wagged his finger at Ephialtes. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

He caught a brief glimpse of Piper leaping across a hopscotch pattern of fiery pits, making her way toward Nico, who was dazed and weaponless and being stalked by a pair of leopards. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 46)

At the dais, Piper stood guard over Nico as the leopards advanced. She aimed her cornucopia and shot a pot roast over the cats’ heads. It must have smelled pretty good, because the leopards raced after it. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 46)

Across the room, sandbags rained down around Piper and Nico. Piper tried to pull Nico to safety, but one of the bags caught her shoulder and knocked her down. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 46)

Jason & Leo

I’m going to sum Jason and Leo up together, because their perspective is very similar on this subject.  

Now, obviously, both of them had some doubts at the beginning:

Uh…” Leo shifted in his chair. “One thing. The giants are expecting us to do this, right? So we’re walking into a trap?” Hazel looked at Leo like he’d made a rude gesture. “We have no choice!” “Don’t get me wrong, Hazel. It’s just that your brother, Nico… he knew about both camps, right?” “Well, yes,” Hazel said “He’s been going back and forth,” Leo said, “and he didn’t tell either side.” Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.” Hazel shot to her feet. “I don’t believe this. He’s my brother. He brought me back from the Underworld, and you don’t want to help him?” Frank put his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody’s saying that.” He glared at Leo. “Nobody had better be saying that.” Leo blinked. “Look, guys. All I mean is—” “Hazel,” Jason said. “Leo is raising a fair point. I remember Nico from Camp Jupiter. Now I find out he also visited Camp Half-Blood. That does strike me as… well, a little shady. Do we really know where his loyalties lie? We just have to be careful.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 14)

If I am being honest, this is actually a completely valid point. The way that both of them phrased it was pretty harsh, especially considering the fact that Hazel was sitting right next to them, but the point in of itself, is not preposterous.

Leo had never even met Nico, and Jason had only seen him a couple of times in Camp Jupiter, before this quest. Finding out that a demigod, neither of them really knew, had known about both camps long before any other half-blood did, and is now being used as part of a trap is suspicious (even if none of that is Nico’s fault).

But ignoring that, this hesitance to saving Nico, only lasted for like one or two chapters. After this conversation, both Leo and Jason were completely in support of saving Nico throughout the entire rest of Mark of Athena:

Instead, we could send out a decoy to trick the eagles. We take the ship on a detour, go the long way to Charleston, and get there tomorrow morning—” Hazel started to protest, but Leo raised his hand. “I know, I know. Nico’s in trouble and we have to hurry.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 17)

Hazel glanced at the evening sun, which was almost to the horizon. “We need to go fast. We’ve burned another day, and Nico only has three more left.” “We can do it,” Leo promised. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 21)

“She’s right,” Hazel said. “After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He’s essential to the quest somehow.” She looked around defensively, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 25)

Jason suddenly looked as though his brownie with peach preserves didn’t taste so good. “Which will put us in Rome on the last possible day for Nico. Twenty-four hours to find him—at most.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 25)

“Good idea,” Percy said. “How about we plan to meet back here at… what?” “Three this afternoon?” Jason suggested. “That’s probably the latest we could rendezvous and still hope to fight the giants and save Nico. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 31)

About a hundred yards away, he spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person. “Look.” He pointed it out to his friends. Piper frowned. “That’s too easy.” “Of course,” Percy said. “But we have no choice,” Jason said. “We’ve got to save Nico.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 45)

Leo was even prepared to open Nemesis’ fortune cookie to find out where Nico was being kept:

One of the biggest things that makes me fall in love with characters is how they interact with the people around them. That’s probably a big reason why the main characters are often my favorites, like Luffy in One Piece, Aang in Avatar, or obviously Percy in Percy Jackson, since most relationships center around them. Creating relationship dynamics with a bunch of different characters makes not only for a fun time, but it also fleshes out the character, gives them opportunities to face their flaws and grow and show off traits that I personally love, like kindness, empathy, loyalty, and emotional intelligence.

And robbing Annabeth of that opportunity really drags down her character for me in "Heroes of Olympus".

While Annabeth’s relationship to other characters, aside from Luke and Percy, was already a bit underexplored in the original five Percy Jackson books (for example, we barely saw her interact with Thalia, which is actually criminal, or, aside from some implications, we barely saw her relationship to the wider camp half-blood crowd, despite the fact that she lived there since she was seven), it makes sense, since everything was from Percy’s POV, so our view of Annabeth was limited by what he saw.

But that excuse doesn’t work for "Heroes of Olympus".

Annabeth is one of the seven (nine, if you count Reyna and Nico) main characters in the series, and yet she’s the only one who doesn’t really get the chance to form close bonds with the others. She’s the only POV character who doesn’t go on a trio quest with two other demigods for an entire book. In "The Lost Hero", Jason, Leo, and Piper get to bond. In "The Son of Neptune", it’s Hazel, Frank, and Percy. In "The Blood of Olympus", we follow Nico, Reyna, and even Coach Hedge.

And this pattern continues in "Mark of Athena" and "House of Hades", books that really should have focused on deepening the connections between the seven. Percy, Jason, and Piper have several moments, where they work as a group, like fighting the eidolons, visiting the Nymphaeum or battling the twin giants and Hazel, Frank, and Leo have a whole subplot with their love triangle thing.  

All the while, Annabeth gets a solo quest in "Mark of Athena" that removes her from most of the group for a relatively huge chunk of that book, and then spends all of "House of Hades" in Tartarus with Percy, again isolated from everyone else, together with the only character she already has an estalished relationship with.

Because of that, I can barely name a single meaningful moment she shares with Frank, Hazel, Jason, Leo, Reyna, or Nico. Like, I’m genuinely not exaggerating when I say Percy had more emotional development and heartfelt moments with Zoë Nightshade and Thalia in "Titan's Curse", a book that’s only 300 pages long, or with Nico in a few short chapters in “Battle of the labyrinth”, than Annabeth has with any of the seven over the course of "Mark of Athena", "House of Hades", and "Blood of Olympus".

The only new relationship Rick tries to give her is with Piper, but even that’s more told than shown. Yeah, they get along fine in a few scenes in "The Lost Hero" but then we jump to "Mark of Athena" and suddenly they’re best friends without us ever seeing that friendship form. They barely interact in that book, are separated in "House of Hades", and only really get meaningful scenes together in "Blood of Olympus", the last book in the series, and while those scenes are admittedly very sweet, it’s too little to late for me.

We’re also told that Leo and Jason respect Annabeth, but again, we rarely get scenes that actually show that dynamic. By the time Mark of Athena happens, it’s been about six months since Jason, Leo, and Piper arrived at Camp Half-Blood. You’d think there’d be some solid relationships by now, but instead, Rick writes Annabeth as if she’s barely interacted with Leo and Jason in Mark of Athena.

And all this, while the rest of the seven very much bond with each other in some way, shape or form:

Jason develops his friendship to Leo, and his romantic relationship to Piper during “The Lost Hero”, has an (albeit weirdly written) rivalry-friendship with Percy in “Mark of Athena”, gives his title of praetor to Frank in “House of Hades” and builds a very sweet friendship with Nico during “House of Hades” and “Blood of Olympus”.

Leo has his friendship to Jason and Piper during “The Lost Hero”, the love triangle to friends plot with Frank and Hazel in “Mark of Athena” and “House of Hades”, the beginning of a friendship with Percy in “Blood of Olympus” and his romantic relationship to Calypso in “House of Hades” (though, to be fair, that one did far more harm than good to him.)

Piper has her romantic relationship to Jason, and her friendship to Leo in “The Lost Hero”, her friendship to Annabeth (though, again, very underdeveloped), and at least a couple of scenes together with Percy during “Mark of Athena” (though it sadly would be a stretch to call their interactions a friendship)

Hazel has her romantic relationship to Frank, her familial relationship to Nico, and her friendship with Percy in “The Son of Neptune”, and develops a friendship with Leo during “Mark of Athena” and “House of Hades.”

Frank develops a romantic relationship with Hazel and a friendship with Percy during “Son of Neptune”, and also develops a friendship with Leo in “Mark of Athena” and “House of Hades.”

Percy, who was like Annabeth in Tartarus in Mark of Athena, and not present at all during “The Lost Hero”, still develops friendships with Hazel and Frank during “Son of Neptune”, forms a trio together with Jason and Piper during “Mark of Athena” and has the beginning of a friendship with Leo in “Blood of Olympus”.

Even Nico, who was only present in Heroes of Olympus at the very beginning of “Son of Neptune”, the very end of “Mark of Athena”, and then for “House of Hades” and “Blood of Olympus”, manages to form really heartwarming friendships with Jason, Reyna and Hedge, and also has his familial relationship with Hazel.

Like, Annabeth’s relationships with the rest of the Seven end up feeling so underdeveloped and a bit shallow for me, which is such a shame. Annabeth is a character who’s deeply driven by her emotions, her loyalty, her pride, and her intellect. The potential for her to build meaningful relationships with the rest of the group, especially characters like Jason, Reyna or Leo, was huge, and it’s really disappointing that the series never really explored that.

Like, completely ignoring the whole eidolon plot, everything they do before that just makes me cringe on a different level.

They not only approached New Rome, a place they have a centuries long history of war with, a place they know highly distrust them and a place where not only soldiers, but also families, and little kids live in, in a fully equipped flying warship, but they also didn’t even properly warn camp Jupiter of their arrival.

Their “warning” consisted of a two-minute-long video created by Leo. A video, where Jason, their old praetor, one of the people who led them during the titan war, and the only link camp half-blood has to camp Jupiter, doesn’t appear in.  

‘Hey!’ said the guy in the video. ‘Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera. This is Leo. I’m the …’ He looked off screen and yelled: ‘What’s my title? Am I like admiral, or captain, or –’ A girl’s voice yelled back, ‘Repair boy.’ ‘Very funny, Piper,’ Leo grumbled. He turned back to the parchment screen. ‘So yeah, I’m … ah … supreme commander of the Argo II. Yeah, I like that! Anyway, we’re gonna be sailing towards you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship. We’d appreciate it if you’d not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the Romans that. See you soon. Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out.’ (The Son of Neptune, Chapter 52, Percy)

The only reasons why they did not get blasted out of the sky the second they appeared near New Rome is because Percy is a phenomenal public speaker, because he miraculously managed to gain Camp Jupiter’s trust in three days, and because Reyna was gracious enough to give them a chance:

‘Why should we trust these Greeks?’ Octavian was saying. He’d been pacing the senate floor for five minutes, going on and on, trying to counter what Percy had told them about Juno’s plan and the Prophecy of Seven. The senate shifted restlessly, but most of them were too afraid to interrupt Octavian while he was on a roll. (The Son of Neptune, Chapter 52, Percy)

‘Oh, come on!’ Octavian shouted. ‘He’s making things up, now.’ Reyna frowned. ‘It is a lot to believe. Jason is coming back with a bunch of Greek demigods? You say they’re going to appear in the sky in a heavily armed warship, but we shouldn’t be worried.’ ‘Yes.’ Percy looked over the rows of nervous, doubtful spectators. ‘Just let them land. Hear them out. Jason will back up everything I’m telling you. I swear it on my life.’ ‘On your life?’ Octavian looked meaningfully at the senate. ‘We will remember that, if this turns out to be a trick.’ (The Son of Neptune, Chapter 52, Percy)

‘Praetors!’ the messenger cried. ‘What are your orders?’ Octavian shot to his feet. ‘You need to ask?’ His face was red with rage. He was strangling his teddy bear. ‘The omens are horrible! This is a trick, a deception. Beware Greeks bearing gifts!’ He jabbed a finger at Percy. ‘His friends are attacking in a warship. He has led them here. We must attack!’ ‘No,’ Percy said firmly. ‘You all raised me as praetor for a reason. I will fight to defend this camp with my life. But these aren’t enemies. I say we stand ready, but do not attack. Let them land. Let them speak. If it is a trick, then I will fight with you, as I did last night. But it is not a trick.’ (The Son of Neptune, Chapter 52, Percy)

All eyes turned towards Reyna. She studied the approaching warship. Her expression hardened. If she vetoed Percy’s orders … well, he didn’t know what would happen. Chaos and confusion, at the very least. Most likely, the Romans would follow her lead. She’d been their leader much longer than Percy. ‘Hold your fire,’ Reyna said. ‘But have the legion stand ready. Percy Jackson is your duly chosen praetor. We will trust his word – unless we are given clear reason not to. Senators, let us adjourn to the forum and meet our … new friends.’ (The Son of Neptune, Chapter 52, Percy)

Then, their plan to gain Camp Jupiter’s trust and create an alliance with them involved using Piper’s charm speak against them. A power, which is literal brainwashing, and which both Terminus and Reyna immediately recognized, and which immediately made them both distrust Piper:

Piper paced back and forth between the mainmast and the ballistae, practicing her lines. “Lower your weapons,” she murmured. “We just want to talk.” Her charmspeak was so powerful, the words flowed over Annabeth, filling her with the desire to drop her dagger and have a nice long chat. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 1, Annabeth)

 “Oh, I remember you, Jason!” Terminus grumbled. “I thought you had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome!” “But they’re not enemies—” “That’s right,” Piper jumped in. “We just want to talk. If we could—” “Ha!” snapped the statue. “Don’t try that charmspeak on me, young lady.” (Mark of Athena, Chapter 1, Annabeth)

“Your friend Piper has sorcery in her words. I spent enough time with Circe to know charmspeak when I hear it. I can’t trust what she says. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 4, Annabeth)

Later, after they’ve been allowed to enter New Rome, the very first thing Annabeth does is judo flip one of their praetors, without any warning in a moment of anger. An action, which almost caused them to get attacked by the Romans had Reyna not intervened, and had Percy not reacted with humor:

“Gods, I never thought—” Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, “Hold! Stand down!” Annabeth put her knee on Percy’s chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn’t care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest—a tumor of worry and bitterness that she’d been carrying around since last autumn. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 2, Annabeth)

Then, Piper and Annabeth make fun of their augur, a person in a high, and respected position, who has many friends in the roman senate, and disrespect him for no reason whatsoever on multiple occasions. (also, again, by using charm speak)

 “Impossible!” Octavian broke in. “That’s our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there—” “They would’ve destroyed her,” Piper said. “And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish.” Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Annabeth really loved Piper’s charmspeak. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 3, Annabeth)

Reyna nodded. “We call it the Prophecy of Seven. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?” “Of course,” he said. “But, Reyna—” “Recite it, please. In English, not Latin.” Octavian sighed. “Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—” “An oath to keep with a final breath,” Annabeth continued. “And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.” Everyone stared at her… (Mark of Athena, Chapter 3, Annabeth)

Like, it’s one thing when Jason, Percy and Reyna do that, because they are appointed praetors, rank higher than Octavian, and, in Percy’s and Reyna’s case, actually have reason to resent him, but outsiders like Annabeth and Piper doing the same as ambassadors of peace in a place that already distrusts them is so fucking dumb.

And then Jason, again, the only link they have to Camp Jupiter, who has been missing for months, doesn’t actually interact at all with his old friends or tries to wash away any doubts that he might no longer be on their side, and instead wanders around New Rome with his greek girlfriend. An action, which caused even Reyna, his supposed closest friend and ally to doubt him.

“Uh, Reyna,” Jason said, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to show Piper around before the senate meeting. She’s never seen New Rome.” Reyna’s expression hardened. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 3, Annabeth)

And Jason… well, he has changed. He seems distant, no longer quite Roman.” The hurt in her voice was as sharp as broken glass. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 4, Annabeth)

Like, bro…

I’m currently rereading Mark of Athena and specifically chapters 17-20. The second batch of Annabeth POV chapters.

Because me and my account here are so focused on Percy, I sometimes forget how much Annabeth’s writing also suffered in these books, which is especially sad since moa is supposed to be her book and since it’s the first time we’ve ever gotten chapters from her POV.  

Like, this was supposed to be Annabeth’s Son of Neptune.

Instead, it became her…well, her Mark of Athena.

Because, wow, these four chapters can be really rough at times and remind me how Annabeth, who is my third favourite character if we go strictly by the PJO books, doesn’t even make my Top  5 overall Riordan verse characters and is only in my top ten because of how much I love her PJO portrayal. Simply Hoo Annabeth would probably not make it.

There are just so many things in these four chapters alone that (more or less) bother me about her general portrayal in hoo or are more minor examples of ongoing annoying trends in her writing.

I’m probably going to split this into multiple posts because this might take a while.

One of the main reasons is because this sentence exists:

Annabeth was instantly jealous. She’d always wished she had dark hair. She felt like nobody took her seriously as a blonde. She had to work twice as hard to get recognition as a strategist, an architect, a senior counselor— anything that had to do with brains. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 18, Annabeth)

I really dislike this sentence for a multitude of reasons.

For one, it has absolutely no basis in canon.

As a little reminder:

Annabeth has lived at camp half-blood year-round since she was seven years old. By the time Mark of Athena happens she has trained for around ten whole years. She has fought in two large battles and survived. She has fought against furies, bronze bulls, the manticore, other demigods, a lot of other, unnamed monsters and she even survived fighting against Kampe herself for a couple seconds/minutes.

She has consistently been characterized as a person who is talented at hand-to-hand combat and who can hold her own in a fight even against physically stronger opponents.

Yet these few chapters in Charleston make it seem as if she is not that capable of a fighter at all. It fact, they almost make her seem like she is worse than the average roman.

Bianca and Nico were raised by both Maria and Hades until Maria’s death. Afterward they were in the lotus casino for two months where Nico and Bianca wanted for nothing. Then, at Westover hall they had grown adults looking out for them and providing their basic needs. Furthermore, if Bianca had remained at CHB with Nico, they both would have been looked out for by Chiron and the much older campers.

Even if Bianca felt as though she had to step up and be a parent at times, this was an isolated incident confined to their time at the casino and Westover hall. (A span of two to seven months depending on when they arrived at Westover hall). (And likely this was small things, like “stay by my side/don’t wander off,” “remember to do your homework,” never massive things)

It makes no sense for Bianca’s character to have joined the hunters of her own volition, because as a 12 year old “orphan” she would have wanted to remain with her last remaining family member. Not because she owed anything to Nico, but because she was also a scared child.

Feel free to use these however you like.

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