Shizun

juno as jason's patron and mother / gaea as hazel's patron and mother. jason was forfeited by his mother and his father and given to juno while gaea possessed hazel's mom - and so the earth actually became hazel's mother

[I'm not trying to *expose* Rick here or anything. I only want to complain about his writing style here because rereading the books, it's frustrating me a lot. Just trying to get this off my chest.]

On a line-to-line level, Rick is incompetent at writing. He's so ass.

This paragraph single-handedly gave me the urge to write this post:

The stone walls glowed. The air felt as if we were walking through an oven. The tunnel sloped down and I could hear a loud roar, like a river of metal. The spider skittered along, with Annabeth right behind.

This paragraph is just an example among many others of Rick's inability to write engaging descriptions and the weakness of his voice when you zoom in on a paragraph-scale.

There's a blatant lack of immersive details and sensory descriptions.

He told us briefly that the stone walls glowed, when he could've described how they cast eery orange highlights in Annabeth's curls.

He told us that the air feels like they're walking in an oven, when he could've given more claustrophobic details, like how their Camp HB T-shirts clinged to their bodies, or how Percy struggled to keep a hold of Riptide because of his sweaty palms, or how it felt like the hot air was making his feet heavier, turning each new step into a weight-lifting workout.

He told us the spider was skittering along with Annabeth tailing it, when he could've said that the heat was making Percy's head so dizzy, the most he could make of the spider was a blurry black spot moving in zigzags. He could've added that Percy was grateful for Annabeth being here to lead the way, because he would've been lost otherwise.

2. There's a lack of rhythm between sentences.

To add on, there's no interesting variation in Rick's sentence structures. Far too often, sentences start in the exact same way, in this example with a noun (The stone walls, The air, The tunnel, The spider) which makes it sound repetitive and monotonous.

Thus, if I could describe Rick's writing voice with one word, it would be "staccato." Separate. Individual.

Sentences isolate themselves, as if they hate working together.

Paragaphs reluctantly give way to other paragraphs.

Scenes rarely vary in length, and the way they transition from one to the next looks like they've been cut with terrible scissors and stuck with tons of glue by a four years old. A very clumsy four years old.

Here is another frustrating example:

Annabeth went to join her brethren from the Athena cabin, who had set up a command tent and were directing operations. A gray banner with an owl fluttered outside the tent. Our security chef, Argus, stood guard at the door. Aphrodite's children were running around straightening everybody's armor and offering to comb the tangles out of our horsehair plumes. Even Dionysus' kids had found something to do. The god himself was still nowhere to be seen, but his two blond twin sons were running around providing all the sweaty warriors with water bottles and juice boxes.

3. Redundancies and unintented repetitions.

"[Greek god]'s children were running around" is used twice.

4. Impersonal and disembodied descriptions.

Where is Percy in this paragraph? The books are from his point of view, after all, yet it feels like he's not even part of the scene, as if he's observing it from high up in the clouds or something.

The effect is to detach the readers from the camp. We can't get into the scene, because Percy isn't in there either. He is not a participant.

And this fucking sucks.

Maybe Percy tried to follow Annabeth in the Athena Cabin, but was denied by Argus, who glared at him with just one of his eyes, as if he could not afford to spare the ninety-nine others.

Maybe a little boy from Aphrodite's Cabin jogged to Percy and stood on his tippy-toes to help fasten his chest armor. Maybe Percy thanked him by ruffling his hair, even though he didn't really need the help. The Aphrodite boy would grin and then run on to help the next camper, eager to make himself more useful.

Maybe Percy got shoved out of the way by an Ares child who yelled at him to move his butt, not even bothering to look back. Maybe Percy pushed back the grape juice that one of the Dionysus twin was trying to force him to drink.

i feel like a lot of the fandom is polarized by two things. There are the mainstream fans that like most of Rick's literary decision and call him Uncle Rick, I'm going to expand on this later, but bcs of that they tend to see any valid criticism of his female characters as misogyny. And then there's the one's criticizing ig. I want to try to expand on the why's the how and the what can we do with it. So I'm going to try to contextualize this as well as I can.

The time it was written's feminist ideology

The Percy Jackson books where written in the 2000's. Where the feminist ideology at the time was for one very white cis heteronomative and classist even. Most of the movements at the time where not only very centered around white dishes women, but it also ignored any type of intersectionality that were seeing today.

But even ignoring all of that. My main focus for what I'm trying to say is what the feminist women became at the time. Which was a woman who was a "girl boss" and most of the time hated men. Which culminated into this misandrist ideology romantization. That made a lot of women and young girls feel like men were like that bcs they aren't capable of better. Not because the system sets it up like that, which makes the barrier of men having to get rid partly of our capitalist ideology of need of power to actually not be misogynistic. Which could also get summarized by the fact that that wave of feminism was looking for individual empowerment and carcerall feminism, instead of trying to dismantle the system that creates the problem.

It was understandable for the political climate of the time. But RR's writting really reflects that. And if it was just the first series it would be one thing. But he got stuck with that and hasn't stopped doing it. Which makes that his female characters don't actually get character development in any way on that matter.

More on the girlboss in this YT video by Quality culture.

His characterization of women

im going to try to talk about some of his main female characters from PJO and HOO and as short as I can but still tackling the main issues:

SALLY JACKSON:

She is a good mother. That can't be denied. But in a way, he creates this narrative in which she can't do no wrong. So when she makes questionable choices it is never adressed. My best and biggest offender is this:

When she's with Gabe to protect Percy she is abused by him and thinks that with that he won't touch Percy, which her trauma should have been adressed more in future books because spouse abuse is no joke. But we should also take into account that their house had the floor full of bottles/cand of beer. That is by no means a good environment for a child. And the fact that its never acknowledge how she was neglectful in that part, even with her being abused and the situation, it would have made so much sense if that created mixed feelings for Percy. Hell. It would have made it much more interesting. Children of abuse tend to latch on to their "good" parent (I surely did). But when they grow up and mature they tend to see it from an outsider perspective. And that conflicting feeling would have been very good to show Sally as the flawed character she is and a way to validate abused children's emotions and thoughts.

More on a mothers role and it's social standards in this YT video by oliSUNvia.

ANNABETH CHASE:

She could've been a very good character. Her abandonment issues and pride are some very nuanced problems to tackle. And whould've been a good example for kids struggling with them. But they get ignored. Annabeth got girlboossed so much in canon that her pride is never actually fully tackled in way where she notably grows from it.

In the latter books she still always thinks she's right. Other characters talk about her like she's some kind of perfect person that is never wrong. And with that her actions get worse and worse with each book. When Annabeth is over jealous in the OG series and can't cope with it healthily it makes sense. But when she is the same in HOO with wanting to keep Percy on his toes talking about Rachel it just feels like she didn't grow in that time. When she hits Percy bcs she has emotions, and is a teenager, and is unable to express them healthily. It makes sense. A lot of girls live through a stage where they feel like they have to hit and punch and shout to be heard. But that isn't good for her or Percy. And when it gets to the point where Percy anticipates more that she will hit him than be affectionate when they're together? Then there's no actual development in her anger issues either.

RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE:

She isn't just reduces as a catalyst to move forward percabeth by the end of PJO. But she is never actually completely fleshed out. We never know her feelings about her class/power position and how it affect the environment. We never fully get the whole mortal with sight experience. The fact that she was thought crazy? The fact that she HERSELF thought she was going crazy. The whole Percy and her romantically arc. How Annabethe treated her and called her mortal —used like a slur btw—.The whole Oracle thing. There's nothing actually. We are just told that she and Annabeth make up OFF SCREEN. But there's never even one Rachel POV.

We basically stop seeing her after she becomes the virgin Oracle. And that's because that was mostly used as a way to leave the reigns to percabeth. To stop the perachel fans. She was there to create the tension to make Annabeth kiss Percy and create tension just to make her impossible to date to stop that ship.

THALIA GRACE + CLARISSE LA RUE:

im doing them together bcs they both fall into the stereotype of girl boss that has anger problems that never get a dressed in a meaningful way and are good bcs they aren't girly. (This is the main point and bcs it's one that a lot of people agree with if you want to expand on it I'm sure there's good posts here on Tumblr or you can make me an ask if you want but this is alr long af)

Thalia (and Reyna) are also put in the hunters of Artemis bcs it's inconceivable to RR to have a girl single and not make her aroace. She literally made a point to point out that Reyna and Thalia are only friends just to discourage the fans of the ship.

More on this in the books in this post by rosabell14.

More on this socially in this YT video by Tara Mookne.

More on the ace spec in this YT video by Rowan Ellis.

PIPER MCLEAN + APHRODITE:

She's basically the staple of not like other girls. She's constantly compared with the other Aphrodite kids and how she's better bcs she isn't feminine/superficial (bcs they are treated as one). There's a whole problem with making the whole Aphrodite cabin made as superficial only bcs they're kids of the beauty goddess.

Bcs Aphrodite also got reduced here. She's also a war goddess. The love goddess, and not only romantic which was all RR made of her. She's from the sea. She's prideful. Powerful. Vengeful. But that's never touched.

More on the pick me in this YT video by Jaidyn Zehner.

HAZEL LEVESQUE:

Let me tackle her. Because making one of your only black characters the mom friend. A stereotype that black women/girls have had to endure because of racism and white people adultifying them is insane. Her relationship with blackness and her hair never being really adressed, when she lived in the 40s which was under the Jim crow laws. With segregation. With BIWOC having to relax/straighten their hair just to be able to go to places.

She's not a girl boss. But she gets romanticized. She does no wrong. And she also never actually tackles the dichotomy of her past experience with her race and society and her new life in a basically new world for her.

More of this in this post by bayetea.

The fandom's parasocial relationship with Rick Riordan:

To understand my next point we need to talk about this. Most of this fandom calls him Uncle Rick, see him as a beacon of good writing and representation. We as a fandom have created a parasocial relationship with him via his writing. Bcs the POV he makes are relatable. Bcs his —internalized as it seems— racist, sexist, homophobic opinions that are reflected in his writing aren't noticible at first glance and need some level of critical analysis.

But he's not our friend. We don't know him. He's not a perfect person and not a perfect writer by any means. But by creating this parasocial relationship with him —which he intensifies with how he interacts with us, bcs it's a marketing strategy. You can't lose money when your fans idealize you and defend you immensely.— we've entered a point where if anyone criticizes him a lot of people feel like they're attacking him, and as his "friends" we can't let that happen.

We shouldn't do that the same way we know it's bad when it happens with celebrities.

That does not mean we shouldn't respect him as a human being. But we can criticize his writing. What he does for a living of which we are the costumer.

More on parasocial relationships in this YT video by Shanspeare.

The mainstream opinion:

It has become a personal attack. It's not seen as literary analysis and critical thinking. It's reached a point where it's seen as an attack to him —and bcs of the parasocial relationship— an attack to the fans.

It's also important to denote how this part of the fandom has gotten so into their canon idea —which is actually a rethought of canon. But bcs it's been so popularized it's seen as actual canon.— that anyone with other opinions is treated as "stupid". Fandom is to enjoy the media in any way the fans want. We should not be so canon purists, because it has made the fandom toxic to anyone who wanders even a little out of line.

The critics of this misandrist feminism:

Even if it is important to criticize this kind of ideology, it's also important to note that all the characters are victims of such biases. So just hating the female characters of the PJO series because they don't like the character without understanding the origin of this and all characters with much more other controversial characterizations, —Racism, ableism, homophobia, classes, bad understanding of Hellenistic paganism and more.— loses a lot of information that doesn't just make you have more deep and thought out characters but also gives you more understanding of this political/ethical issues.

i feel like a lot of the fandom is polarized by two things. There are the mainstream fans that like most of Rick's literary decision and call him Uncle Rick, I'm going to expand on this later, but bcs of that they tend to see any valid criticism of his female characters as misogyny. And then there's the one's criticizing ig. I want to try to expand on the why's the how and the what can we do with it. So I'm going to try to contextualize this as well as I can.

The time it was written's feminist ideology

The Percy Jackson books where written in the 2000's. Where the feminist ideology at the time was for one very white cis heteronomative and classist even. Most of the movements at the time where not only very centered around white dishes women, but it also ignored any type of intersectionality that were seeing today.

But even ignoring all of that. My main focus for what I'm trying to say is what the feminist women became at the time. Which was a woman who was a "girl boss" and most of the time hated men. Which culminated into this misandrist ideology romantization. That made a lot of women and young girls feel like men were like that bcs they aren't capable of better. Not because the system sets it up like that, which makes the barrier of men having to get rid partly of our capitalist ideology of need of power to actually not be misogynistic. Which could also get summarized by the fact that that wave of feminism was looking for individual empowerment and carcerall feminism, instead of trying to dismantle the system that creates the problem.

It was understandable for the political climate of the time. But RR's writting really reflects that. And if it was just the first series it would be one thing. But he got stuck with that and hasn't stopped doing it. Which makes that his female characters don't actually get character development in any way on that matter.

More on the girlboss in this YT video by Quality culture.

His characterization of women

im going to try to talk about some of his main female characters from PJO and HOO and as short as I can but still tackling the main issues:

SALLY JACKSON:

She is a good mother. That can't be denied. But in a way, he creates this narrative in which she can't do no wrong. So when she makes questionable choices it is never adressed. My best and biggest offender is this:

When she's with Gabe to protect Percy she is abused by him and thinks that with that he won't touch Percy, which her trauma should have been adressed more in future books because spouse abuse is no joke. But we should also take into account that their house had the floor full of bottles/cand of beer. That is by no means a good environment for a child. And the fact that its never acknowledge how she was neglectful in that part, even with her being abused and the situation, it would have made so much sense if that created mixed feelings for Percy. Hell. It would have made it much more interesting. Children of abuse tend to latch on to their "good" parent (I surely did). But when they grow up and mature they tend to see it from an outsider perspective. And that conflicting feeling would have been very good to show Sally as the flawed character she is and a way to validate abused children's emotions and thoughts.

More on a mothers role and it's social standards in this YT video by oliSUNvia.

ANNABETH CHASE:

She could've been a very good character. Her abandonment issues and pride are some very nuanced problems to tackle. And whould've been a good example for kids struggling with them. But they get ignored. Annabeth got girlboossed so much in canon that her pride is never actually fully tackled in way where she notably grows from it.

In the latter books she still always thinks she's right. Other characters talk about her like she's some kind of perfect person that is never wrong. And with that her actions get worse and worse with each book. When Annabeth is over jealous in the OG series and can't cope with it healthily it makes sense. But when she is the same in HOO with wanting to keep Percy on his toes talking about Rachel it just feels like she didn't grow in that time. When she hits Percy bcs she has emotions, and is a teenager, and is unable to express them healthily. It makes sense. A lot of girls live through a stage where they feel like they have to hit and punch and shout to be heard. But that isn't good for her or Percy. And when it gets to the point where Percy anticipates more that she will hit him than be affectionate when they're together? Then there's no actual development in her anger issues either.

RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE:

She isn't just reduces as a catalyst to move forward percabeth by the end of PJO. But she is never actually completely fleshed out. We never know her feelings about her class/power position and how it affect the environment. We never fully get the whole mortal with sight experience. The fact that she was thought crazy? The fact that she HERSELF thought she was going crazy. The whole Percy and her romantically arc. How Annabethe treated her and called her mortal —used like a slur btw—.The whole Oracle thing. There's nothing actually. We are just told that she and Annabeth make up OFF SCREEN. But there's never even one Rachel POV.

We basically stop seeing her after she becomes the virgin Oracle. And that's because that was mostly used as a way to leave the reigns to percabeth. To stop the perachel fans. She was there to create the tension to make Annabeth kiss Percy and create tension just to make her impossible to date to stop that ship.

THALIA GRACE + CLARISSE LA RUE:

im doing them together bcs they both fall into the stereotype of girl boss that has anger problems that never get a dressed in a meaningful way and are good bcs they aren't girly. (This is the main point and bcs it's one that a lot of people agree with if you want to expand on it I'm sure there's good posts here on Tumblr or you can make me an ask if you want but this is alr long af)

Thalia (and Reyna) are also put in the hunters of Artemis bcs it's inconceivable to RR to have a girl single and not make her aroace. She literally made a point to point out that Reyna and Thalia are only friends just to discourage the fans of the ship.

More on this in the books in this post by rosabell14.

More on this socially in this YT video by Tara Mookne.

More on the ace spec in this YT video by Rowan Ellis.

PIPER MCLEAN + APHRODITE:

She's basically the staple of not like other girls. She's constantly compared with the other Aphrodite kids and how she's better bcs she isn't feminine/superficial (bcs they are treated as one). There's a whole problem with making the whole Aphrodite cabin made as superficial only bcs they're kids of the beauty goddess.

Bcs Aphrodite also got reduced here. She's also a war goddess. The love goddess, and not only romantic which was all RR made of her. She's from the sea. She's prideful. Powerful. Vengeful. But that's never touched.

More on the pick me in this YT video by Jaidyn Zehner.

HAZEL LEVESQUE:

Let me tackle her. Because making one of your only black characters the mom friend. A stereotype that black women/girls have had to endure because of racism and white people adultifying them is insane. Her relationship with blackness and her hair never being really adressed, when she lived in the 40s which was under the Jim crow laws. With segregation. With BIWOC having to relax/straighten their hair just to be able to go to places.

She's not a girl boss. But she gets romanticized. She does no wrong. And she also never actually tackles the dichotomy of her past experience with her race and society and her new life in a basically new world for her.

More of this in this post by bayetea.

The fandom's parasocial relationship with Rick Riordan:

To understand my next point we need to talk about this. Most of this fandom calls him Uncle Rick, see him as a beacon of good writing and representation. We as a fandom have created a parasocial relationship with him via his writing. Bcs the POV he makes are relatable. Bcs his —internalized as it seems— racist, sexist, homophobic opinions that are reflected in his writing aren't noticible at first glance and need some level of critical analysis.

But he's not our friend. We don't know him. He's not a perfect person and not a perfect writer by any means. But by creating this parasocial relationship with him —which he intensifies with how he interacts with us, bcs it's a marketing strategy. You can't lose money when your fans idealize you and defend you immensely.— we've entered a point where if anyone criticizes him a lot of people feel like they're attacking him, and as his "friends" we can't let that happen.

We shouldn't do that the same way we know it's bad when it happens with celebrities.

That does not mean we shouldn't respect him as a human being. But we can criticize his writing. What he does for a living of which we are the costumer.

More on parasocial relationships in this YT video by Shanspeare.

The mainstream opinion:

It has become a personal attack. It's not seen as literary analysis and critical thinking. It's reached a point where it's seen as an attack to him —and bcs of the parasocial relationship— an attack to the fans.

It's also important to denote how this part of the fandom has gotten so into their canon idea —which is actually a rethought of canon. But bcs it's been so popularized it's seen as actual canon.— that anyone with other opinions is treated as "stupid". Fandom is to enjoy the media in any way the fans want. We should not be so canon purists, because it has made the fandom toxic to anyone who wanders even a little out of line.

The critics of this misandrist feminism:

Even if it is important to criticize this kind of ideology, it's also important to note that all the characters are victims of such biases. So just hating the female characters of the PJO series because they don't like the character without understanding the origin of this and all characters with much more other controversial characterizations, —Racism, ableism, homophobia, classes, bad understanding of Hellenistic paganism and more.— loses a lot of information that doesn't just make you have more deep and thought out characters but also gives you more understanding of this political/ethical issues.

People on here acting like Rick's writing of Jason is the personification of allyhood or something. As if he didn't want to leave Nico in a jar to die, suffocating to death. As if he wasn't judging Nico as a creep before the incident. After all that, it's the least he could do. That's the modicum of human decency.

If anything, it just makes everything worse. Somehow, losing an elder sister, his only family (which Jason himself experienced), going through literal hell and horrifying imprisonment wasn't enough to sympathize with Nico. The fact that Nico was a child dealing with harsh circumstances, trauma and mental illness wasn't enough to sympathize with him.

Instead his romantic orientation was used as a sympathy card for him. Like what if Nico wasn't queer? What if the Cupid Scene just happened to be a pedestrian embarrassing moment where it's confirmed that he had a crush on beth? Then what? He's just the Argo 2's fresh gossip?

She's written like the typical "crazy woman next door", serves little to no purpose outside being a plot device - merely an appendage to Luke' story. If that's not enough, after the oracle curse is lifted, no one bothers to check on her. It's outright pathetic how that lady was left to fend for herself all on her own - Dionysus can help cure insanity in a heartbeat as we see, but she's never helped?

Writing Harriet Tubman as a daughter of Hermes was just a big no. Her parents were Harriet "Rit" Green Ross and Benjamin Ross (also known as Ben Ross) - black people who had been enslaved, and later freed. Making her a daughter of Hermes was such a problematic choice on so many levels. It low-key felt like sidelining their stories.

Circling back to Kellie, the empousae are female monsters preying on young men. It's got a lot of connotations considering the fact that black women have often been portrayed with a lot of racial prejudices, a popular one being the 'Jezebel' stereotype where black women were portrayed as hypersexual and even creepy in that sense. It really doesn't help Riordan's case when Kellie is atleast about a thousand years old ("no demigod has bested me in a thousand years" - something like that was what she said once) and implied to be in a relationship with Luke who was about 23 when he died. Then we also have this:

Yikes, Richard.

Ethan Nakamura, one of the few significant PoC characters is a villain.

Charles Beckendorf, the only significant heroic PoC character is killed off.

Hmm. Interesting. Oh, and this man has a degree in history by the way.

The Ares cabin was mainly a bunch of bullies (with one exception).

The Aphrodite cabin was shallow, had no real purpose aside from focusing on looks (with one half-baked exception).

The Hephaestus cabin is pretty much forgotten, and one of the main things we know about them is that they 'aren't lookers'.

The Hermes cabin is mainly a troop of thieves and tricksters (with one exception, the main villain).

The Hunters of Artemis, while not demigods, also happened to be a bunch of weird man-haters.

See the pattern? It's a lot of blanketing. I think it's a tad weird that in certain cases (like Aphrodite and Ares) the demigods' personalities somehow just take after their godly parents' domains in a decidedly flat way.

Even if Riordan did want to go that way in the original series, there were so many creative ways of doing it?

For instance, Hermes also had associations with the underworld in his form as Hermes psychopompos, so some children from the Hermes cabin could've had such affiliations.

It's also questionable how he flattened most of the Aphrodite kids to "shallow, obsessed with looks, haha they can't fight, romantic love blah blah" when some of her oldest portrayals included "Aphrodite Areia" a cult epithet sometimes attributed to martial interpretation of the goddess where she was portrayed with weapons and armour.

The Ares cabin was mainly a bunch of bullies (with one exception).

The Aphrodite cabin was shallow, had no real purpose aside from focusing on looks (with one half-baked exception).

The Hephaestus cabin is pretty much forgotten, and one of the main things we know about them is that they 'aren't lookers'.

The Hermes cabin is mainly a troop of thieves and tricksters (with one exception, the main villain).

The Hunters of Artemis, while not demigods, also happened to be a bunch of weird man-haters.

See the pattern? It's a lot of blanketing. I think it's a tad weird that in certain cases (like Aphrodite and Ares) the demigods' personalities somehow just take after their godly parents' domains in a decidedly flat way.

Even if Riordan did want to go that way in the original series, there were so many creative ways of doing it?

For instance, Hermes also had associations with the underworld in his form as Hermes psychopompos, so some children from the Hermes cabin could've had such affiliations.

It's also questionable how he flattened most of the Aphrodite kids to "shallow, obsessed with looks, haha they can't fight, romantic love blah blah" when some of her oldest portrayals included "Aphrodite Areia" a cult epithet sometimes attributed to martial interpretation of the goddess where she was portrayed with weapons and armour.

The subject of Percy’s fatal flaw of loyalty is a relatively important object of discussion throughout Heroes of Olympus, especially in connection to Leo’s sacrifice at the end of Blood of Olympus, and Frank’s decision to support him in that.

For example, during son of Neptune, Mars visits Frank and the following discussion ensues.

Mars shrugged. ‘Maybe. Maybe so. But every hero has a fatal flaw. Percy Jackson? He’s too loyal to his friends. He can’t give them up, not for anything. He was told that, years ago. And some day soon he’s going to face a sacrifice he can’t make. Without you, Frank – without your sense of duty – he’s going fail. The whole war will go sideways, and Gaia will destroy our world.’

And this conversation and all the other conversations about Percy’s fatal flaw in Heroes of Olympus are incredibly frustrating to me. Simply, because they’re completely wrong. Percy very much understands duty and sacrifice. This whole idea that he can’t give up his friends, no matter what, is actually a huge misrepresentation of who Percy is and gets contradicted constantly, not only in Heroes of Olympus, but also in the original five Percy Jackson books.

He has chosen saving the world over people close to him, including characters like Sally and Annabeth, who are the two most important people in his life, at several instances.

As early as “The Lightning Thief” Percy got confronted with the decision between saving the world and rescuing his mom from the underworld. Percy chose saving the world, not knowing for sure if he would ever see Sally again:

I desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and use the last pearl on her, but I knew what she would say. She would never allow it. I had to get the bolt back to Olympus and tell Zeus the truth. I had to stop the war. She would never forgive me if I saved her instead. I thought about the prophecy made at Half-Blood Hill, what seemed like a million years ago. You will fail to save what matters most in the end. “I’m sorry,” I told her. “I’ll be back. I’ll find a way.” (The Lightning Thief, Chapter 19)

A thought process that stays consistent throughout the rest of this book. After Percy had regained the helm of darkness from Ares, he didn’t even attempt to use it to barter for his mom. He immediately returns it to Hades with the sole request that he calls of the war:

“We saw the whole thing,” she (Alecto) hissed. “So … it truly was not you?” I tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise. “Return that to Lord Hades,” I said. “Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war.” (The Lightning Thief, Chapter 20)

Similarly, during “Titan’s curse”, after Percy had managed to capture Nereus, the god told him he only had one question to ask him. Instead of asking about the whereabouts of Annabeth, which is what he wanted to do, Percy asked about the “bane of Olympus”, simply because he knew that saving Olympus took precedence.

This wasn't good. I needed to find Artemis, and I needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was. I also needed to know if Annabeth was still alive, and how to rescue her. How could I ask that all in one question? A voice inside me was screaming Ask about Annabeth! That's what I cared about most. But then I imagined what Annabeth might say. She would never forgive me if I saved her and didn't save Olympus. Zoe would want me to ask about Artemis, but Chiron had told us the monster was even more important. I sighed. "All right, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting." (Titan’s Curse, Chapter 15)

Important thing to note here: the text even points out, that Percy is currently making a decision, that Zoe herself would probably not make. It highly implies that Zoe would probably choose saving Artemis over finding the doomsday monster. Percy, in this instance, understands duty better than her.

This is a trend that continues in Heroes of Olympus. If Percy was incapable of making hard decisions like that, he would have never been okay with Annabeth going alone after the Mark of Athena, while knowing that none of her siblings had ever returned alive.

But he didn’t try to stop her. Percy understood, for one, how important that quest was for her personally, but also, how important it was for their overall quest. He didn’t like it, but he let her go:

If he tried to argue, he would only make things harder for her. Or worse, he might convince her to stay. Then she would have to live with the knowledge that she’d backed down from her biggest challenge…assuming that they survived at all, with Rome about to get leveled and Gaea about to rise and destroy the world. The Athena statue held the key to defeating the giants. Percy didn’t know why or how, but Annabeth was the only one who could find it. “You’re right,” he said, forcing out the words. “Be safe.” (…) Percy hated it. He would’ve preferred to fight any monster in the world. He would’ve preferred a rematch with Chrysaor. But he forced himself to stay in his chair and watch as Annabeth motored off through the streets of Rome with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. (Mark of Athena, Chapter 32, Percy)

Or, he would have never stepped into that elevator in Tartarus and leave Damasen and Iapetus behind.

Let me be clear here.

I’m not trying to downplay Hazel’s and especially Frank’s feelings in regards to Leo’s sacrifice in Blood of Olympus. That was still an incredibly hard thing to do. But to say Percy wouldn’t have understood that Leo had to sacrifice himself, especially knowing they had the physician’s cure, is completely unrealistic and out of character since he already made a far bigger sacrifice as far back as “The Lightning Thief” and continued to sacrifice all throughout his life.

Yes, it would have probably broken him, yes he would have become even more depressed than he already is afterwards, and yes, he would have blamed himself immensely, but in that moment, he would have completely understood what Leo had to do.

- Hera is obsessed with the "perfect family" and is reduced to Zeus' angry wife. Zeus gets reduced to a simple villain later on, but in the original series we do get to see that he does have some redeeming qualities in his care for Thalia.

- I really hope Demeter got some more character development in ToA since one of the main characters is her daughter, but in PJO HOO she's just the cereal lady. Hell, doesn't she hide in the underworld with Hades and Persephone during the fight with Typhon? Smh. Compare that to the development Poseidon got with how he does care for Percy but regrets that hid existence will be so full of suffering.

- Athena gets reduced to "cold, emotionless strategist who has really high expectations for her kids." I won't compare her to Ares because he also got hit with the de-nuance-ification beam, but look at how Hermes agonizes over Luke and May's fates and then look at how Athena has been feeding kids to Arachne for thousands of years because she really really wants her statue back.

- Artemis probably gets the most depth of all the goddesses in the original PJO series in that she's a man-hater but still stands up for Percy after he rescues her, but why was she reduced to "hates men" in the first place? Meanwhile, Apollo gets five books about himself.

- Poor Aphrodite, you'll always be more than a ditzy airhead to me. We don't see much of Hephaestus, by comparison, but when we do see him we get a very clear sense who he is.

How can you tell me that Jason killed a titan with bare hands,without a weapon or his powers,but Percy should be stronger than him? That Nico a 11 was able to banish people in the Underworld without a problem but he now can't stand a normal trip without getting tired? That Thalia is weaker than Percy when she is hunting ancient powerful beasts every time we see her,and every day for her is about survival? That Hazel was able to sink an island at 12 all alone,while killing a giant during it,but now she is focusing on the myst and not her own powers?

Percy I love you,but you definitely aren't the most powerful demigod between the Big Three children. At the very least,they should all be on the same level. Riordan put himself in the corner and decided to stomp on their growth because of the "Percy is the most powerful demigod of this century" agenda he created. The way all of their powers went to 100 to 0 in just a couple of books,while Percy's powers stayed at 100 and more,is fascinating.

Y'all are missing out big time. How can you not like perpollo? The pairing is so scrumptious to me. Powerful God falling in love with a powerful Olympian hero. That shit is sooooo gooooodddddd

"Percy's a mi---"

Percy is fictional, and his age can be changed according to fanon. I mean, if you can age up Percy for your ship, why can't I? Percy's an adult when I pair him with Apollo.

Anyway, an arrogant god falling in love with a demigod or human being humbles while cherishing the human. But Percy, who's strong and powerful, gets princess treatment and learns he doesn't need to be on guard, and it's okay to lean on others--- I will never not get over it. Makes me emotional and happy.

Then, having Poseidon get all protective over his pearl!

So delicious.

ALSO!!! not only apollo learning how to be human BUT!! percy learning that he can be a little selfish sometimes, that he doesn't have to hate himself cause hes powerful and that hes not inherently bad for that, and even if he was, if he was a monster, given poseidon is "the father of the monsters", he would still be loved. Apollo, one of the "darkest" greek gods, falling in love with Percy Jackson, who puts other needs over his own, who has personal loyalty as his fatal flaw, the "chosen one" who has had so much responsibility since he was 12, and before that he had an abusive step dad since he was like 4yo, soaking in self loathing and survivor's guilt cause he survived 2 wars, while he was soo sure he was gonna die at 16 after knowing the prophecy, while so many of his friends died, thinking most of this deaths could've been prevented in some ways, but he thinks it's all his fault, after all he destroyed the bridge, but surely if he had trained harder, if he learned to control his powers, if he wasn't so destructive, they would all be alive and well, wouldn't they? if he sacrificed himself instead of them, things would've gone way better, right?? he didn't deserve to live, hes not better than them, but because hes the child of poseidon, hes has to accomplish the prophecy, they have to sacrifice themselves for him, for the gods, for the greater cause. They all were watching him go towards his doom, his death, and were ready to die for him. he knew he had a choice, how thalia chose to join the hunters to escape the prophecy, he could do something to escape it, even something as drastic as suicide, but he really couldn't do that to nico, knowing how it feels, he couldn't betray nico like that, he was just a kid. So he walked to his death, chose to. And then he survived. He gave Luke Castellan the knife to kill himself. He was as ready as a 16 yo could ever be to dying, but he didn't. Not eve 4(?) months after, his memory is wiped and then he has to fight another war. He falls into tartarus, almost drowns in his sorrows, makes plans for annabeth and their future together. He drowns a primordial with her own poison. He enjoys doing that, she deserved that for what she has done. Annabeth is scared of him, Annabeth is scared of him, not of the primordial who tried to kill them, of him. She didn't deserve that, did she? He's a monster, he tortured someone, he enjoyed torturing her, he used her own domains against her, if annabeth hadn't stopped him, he wouldn't have, he would've killed a primordial, and Gods, was he laughing doing that? He was crazy, a monster and crazy, absolutely batshit insane. He understood why the Gods always wanted to kill him, he was too powerful, this wasn't supposed to happen, he shouldn't have been able to do this, why could he control poison? He was sure this wasn't his father's domain, that was surely something else, can he even be considered human after that? Something cracked inside him at that moment, Tartarus changed him for the worse, in a way that didn't change Annabeth and Nico, that was something else entirely, was he always like this? Able to do something so vile, terrible, cruel? He was always praised for not being like other demigods, was he just lying to everyone, himself included? He promised Annabeth that he wouldn't do that again, could he control himself though? He didn't know that, but the look on her face? That was the worst thing of it all, nothing could ever be the same after that, she knew what he could do, the oh so wrong thing he has done, she would remember him that every day, unconsciously, her scared look engraved in his memory. Not only is he an idiot, a disappointment, he is now a monster.

This is who apollo, who always spoils his lovers, protects them, allows them to be themselves, is in love with??? BOYYYY SIGN ME UPPPP LIKE WTFFF

And honestly... well. OP isn't entirely wrong. Not entirely right either.

First thing, I'd argue that the hunters of artemis aren't a "group who provided a safe space for young girls." From what we know, they live in tents and travel across western civilization hunting down monsters Dr. Thorn level - which multiple big three kids had trouble with. That's not safety. You could make the argument that since Artemis is there it's safe but the thing is: Artemis's hunters still die. Artemis can't give 100% assurance that her hunters won't die, that even with her godly healing powers, they won't die of any wounds they get while fighting. Just look at Zoe Nightshade; Artemis is reluctant to even try to heal her because Artemis knows that when the Fates decide that one of her hunters have to die, there's nothing Artemis can do about it.

Artemis does offer isolation from boys/men - but the way Artemis framed it, describing how she only took hunters in before they "become smitten with boys. become silly, preoccupied, insecure. forget themselves." (ttc, chp3), Artemis's goal isn't to protect her hunters from boys/men who "lash out against women when they can’t get what they want." If she's protecting them, it's from romance and/or sexual attraction. Not men/boys that can't control themselves.

Next thing, "[Percy is] exhibiting the traits of the men the hunters were made to protect against." I mean. We just established that the hunters aren't about protecting girls/women from boys/men.

Also. Percy does think about strangling them, but does he ever do it? No. I'd argue that everyone is entitled to their own thoughts - even rageful/violent ones - and what actually matters is if one acts on those thoughts. Percy never does. Even with his history of anger issues. I think it's also very understandable that Percy is emotional at this point because Annabeth fell off the cliff and now she's in Luke Castellan's/the enemy's grasp. He's worried about her. The next line literally says "worried sick." People don't act or think rationally when their loved ones are in mortal danger.

But to take that anger out on the hunters of Artemis? It's... definitely a choice on Rick Riordan's part.

The hunters are portrayed as this elite antagonist group that Percy is immediately set against - better than him, and stealing the demigods he was trying to bring to camp. I can see why Rick chose to have Percy mentally vent his worries on the hunters - narratively it makes sense, especially when you consider Percy's abandonment issues (Sally with boarding school, Poseidon staying away, Grover constantly leaving, Tyson leaving for Atlantis etc.) Annabeth is the only one who hasn't left him so far or sent him away. So when he finds out that she was considering it? the only person that hasn't 'abandoned/sent him away' yet? yeah, it makes sense that he's angry. It's understandable that he's emotional. He's not lashing out because he can't get what he wants, he's mentally lashing out because he feels like he's losing a loved one.

It would make more sense for Percy to be angry at Artemis and definitely less of a sketchy choice - thinking of strangling a millennia old goddess instead of, what, 10-14 year old girls (most of which are his age/slightly younger, btw)? I agree with OP's point on this - "it’s very clear that [Rick] is a straight white man who didn’t really look critically at what he was writing."