Percy Jackson Post

Percy: Hey, I’m Percy Jackson, and when I was 12, I accidentally blew up the gateway arch, and there was a nation-wide manhunt for me because they thought I was a terrorist. I brought Reese's Pieces.

Annabeth: My name is Annabeth, and when I was 7 years old, I ran away from home and lived on the streets with two other kids until one of them was murdered in front of me. I brought starbursts.

Leo: Hi! I’m Leo, and my mother died in a warehouse fire, but my entire family blamed me for her death, so I was put in foster care. I brought skittles!

Piper: I’m Piper, and my dad was held hostage, and his kidnappers tried to blackmail me, so I brought the m&m's. 

Jason: My name is Jason and I was abandoned in the woods and raised by wolves. I brought some Swedish fish.

Frank: I’m Frank, and when my mom died, my grandmother kicked me out of the house and told me to go to California. After I came back to ask her about our family history, the house burned down and she vanished. I brought some gummy bears

Hazel: When I was 13, I died. I’m putting in life savers :)

#1: SOM gives us our first substantial look at Camp Half-Blood. Although TLT offers a brief overview of what the camp is and its purpose, it doesn’t provide much detail beyond the basics. In Sea of Monsters, however, we’re introduced to important background characters like Beckendorf, Silena, and the Stoll brothers. These details really help to fill out the world of Percy Jackson, transforming it from just another book series to its own universe.

#2: This is a completely biased point, but I LOVE the fact that SOM is based on the Odyssey. I know it’s been pointed out that each of the 5 books is vaguely related to a mythological hero, i.e., Perseus, Hercules, Theseus, and Achilles; this is the one I feel is the most obvious. Percy and the group pretty much hit every single Odyssey plot point they can. Which is not only fun for those who already know the myth, but it also serves as a great intro into the HEU (Homer extended universe) for readers who aren’t.

#3: I’ve already hit this horse before, but the fact that Annabeth is our Odysseus throughout this story will never not fill me with joy every time I remember it. It’s just so incredible to see a female character in the media not be just pushed aside as a love interest but instead be given the lead role in a book that’s not even about her. As an Annabeth Chase stan first and a human being second, it’s just so incredible to see her highlighted so prominently in only the second book. We learn so much about her past, her flaws, her dreams, and her place in Percy’s story, which I find just brilliant.

#4: The amount of iconic moments that happen despite a lot of people saying that “nothing really happens in SOM”!? Not only do we get the siren scene, Thalia’s awakening, Guinea Pig Percy, Luke poisoning Thalia's tree, Hylla’s first appearance, the cursed trio’s backstory, and Tyson (just…Tyson in general), but we also get the first technical Percabeth kiss. It’s honestly crazy how important SOM ends up being to the overall story despite being the shortest of the 5 books.   

Percy- Spider-Man (Marvel)

Annabeth- Spider-Gwen

Hazel- Dorothy (Wizard of Oz)

Nico- Tinman

Will- Scarecrow

Frank- Cowardly Lion (Possibly just a lion. Up to him)

Jason- Superman (DC)

Piper- Wonder Woman 

Part 1: Words of affirmation

HAZEL AND WILL BONDING!! This feels pretty obvious, but I think they deserve to be besties. 

A Frank Zhang cameo, please dear god, I need to see my son again.

Most of the books have this, but I would love to get more outfit descriptions simply because I find them hilarious (shout out to the cursed HOO fits).

Hazel and Nico have an open and honest conversation about Bianca. More specifically about Hazel’s feelings on being the “replacement” sister

More Coco Puff content!! Again, I know this is pretty much guaranteed, but I feel very attached to them. 

More scenes of Will showing Nico (and Hazel) modern media. I really loved the Star Wars discussion in TSATS and think it would be fun to see another interaction similar to that.

Hazel, Austin, and Kayla teaming up against their brothers to tease them <3

More backstory on Nico and Will’s relationship. Just a flashback or two of moments that we haven’t gotten to see in the missing time between books

At least one underworld family moment. I’m a big fan of when they show the gods as tired parents, and I’d like to see Hades and Persephone attempting to parent Nico and Hazel.

The first time we’re even introduced to blue food in the series is when Sally gives Percy his welcome home candy bag in TLT. Which is immediately followed by Percy explaining that it's not actually supposed to be a random detail at all. It’s one of the few ways Sally is able to fight back against Gabe and his treatment of her. It’s this small bit of hope and rebellion she’s able to share with Percy despite everything. I think the Lightning Thief musical actually really nails how important the use of blue food is to both of their characters (they never miss tbh). For Sally it is this subtle but powerful act of rebellion that lets her maintain this small power above her abuser. While Percy is able to recognize himself in the food, blue food isn’t quite natural, but it exists, and there are still people out there like his mom who love it despite that fact. Blue food isn’t normal, it’s strange, but it’s special to them, and that’s all that matters.

It’s not like he had bad birthdays, at least at first. He remembers his mom trying to make them the best that she could. He’d always get a small bag of candy from her work, a handwritten card, and a few cupcakes or cookies if things were good. Things weren’t always good though; he could see the stress in his mom’s eyes from overspending their limited budget and the dark bags under her eyes from having to come home late and stay up to bake. It made him feel guilty no matter how many times Sally reassured him that things were okay and that he deserved to have a good birthday. Then Gabe came along.

Gabe didn’t like the idea of Percy getting a whole day to himself. He’d ruin things on purpose, like eating the cookies and bag of candy the night before and insisting that they didn’t have the extra money to spend, just to turn around and buy himself something new. So, Percy’s birthday became a quiet affair, something secret. His mom wouldn’t even wish him a happy birthday out loud; she’d just make him blue pancakes and kiss the top of his head before he had to go to school. When he got to school, he’d open his bag to find that she snuck in a card with a bit of cash and a bag of candy. His birthday became a day of fear as he wondered what Gabe would do if he found out about their little tradition. Then Gabe was gone.

Once Gabe was gone, his birthday became a countdown. Every year that passed was just another year closer to the prophecy or to his untimely death. The celebrations got better at least. His mom would bake a blue cake and set out blue cookies, his friends would come over, and he even got a few gifts from everyone. But the smiles on everyone’s faces were just a bit too strained, and there was a nervous undercurrent to the day that he couldn’t quite shake. His birthday was better now, but it made him nervous as he marched another day closer to his fate. Then the prophecy came true.

Percy’s birthday turned the island of Manhattan into a battleground. A day that ended in a great victory at the cost of unimaginable losses. It feels wrong to celebrate gaining another year when he knows what it cost so many others. So, he doesn’t really celebrate his birthday anymore. He gives a tight-lipped smile when he sees the blue cookies. Sally sets out, and he tells Annabeth thank you when she hands him a small gift. Percy’s birthday becomes a day of mourning, and it feels wrong to overshadow such sorrow with such selfish joy.

She’s chipped nail polish that’s been on for weeks, she’s purposely ripped tights, she’s old silver bracelets that have lost their shine, she’s smeared lipstick that was applied in a haste, she’s a mirror that’s been shattered but still works perfectly fine, and she’s dried roses that you just can’t part with.

She’ll never be the perfect vision of beauty, but she doesn’t want to be. She’s tried it, but there’s something about it that just feels too polished to feel real. She’s been through too much to think she’ll ever be that kind of version of beauty. She likes to find the beauty in the broken pieces.

The way the nail polish chips off to reveal sharp and uneven designs, the fact that each bracelet is so distinctly different from one another, the way the cracks in the mirror catch the light just right enough to send a series of rainbows across the room, and the fact that dying roses are a sign that someone loved you enough to buy them for you. 

I just keep thinking of how scary and confusing those first few days back were, hell even just the first hour alone. The last thing that Thalia remembers is standing her ground against an impossible battle, knowing that she was giving her life so that her new family could survive. She had no idea what would happen after; she just believed that those were her last few moments.

Then she wakes up. She wakes up, and one of the first things she sees is the 7-year-old girl she helped raise. Except she’s not a little girl anymore; she’s a 13-year-old, a whole year older than Thalia was when she died. Then they take her inside, and what? Do they break the news to her that Luke, her first friend and one of the people she sacrificed her life for, had betrayed their family and her memory? Do they tell her that Luke brought her back to life just for her to be another pawn in a game she thought she had already lost?