#hoo analysis

A pretty impressive trick, considering the kid didn’t look like much. [Son of Neptune]

Octavian is repeatedly said to look harmless or unintimidating. Despite warnings, Percy doesn’t believe Octavian could be a force to be reckoned with. This is done to show that Octavian’s power is not physical.

“You’re a warrior. Octavian is a talker. Put him in front of the senate, and suddenly he becomes the powerful one.”

Now, being a good politician isn’t necessarily feminine - it's gender neutral, especially in the "underhanded" portrayal of Octavian's politics.

However, I want to point out Octavian’s favoured weapon. We know that Octavian would be well versed in all the weapons of Rome, and since he’s part of the most prestigious cohort, he should have access to any weapon he wants. But Octavian is almost always using a knife – whether it be his augur’s knife, the iron knife of a pontifex, or something unspecified (I’m assuming a pugio). No other male main character uses a knife as their favoured weapon, but there are two female characters who fight with knives: Annabeth and Piper. Like Octavian, they fight don’t fight with their physical strength. But in the case of Octavian, who is male, this is viewed in a negative light.

Now these things should be seen in the context of Octavian's character as a whole. These could be easily dismissed when we consider that everything Riordan does with Octavian is done to 'other’ him. Octavian often described as a scarecrow. At once point he’s called ‘ghoulish’. So Octavian’s character isn’t just made to see effeminate. All of this is simply done to make him different, regardless of how that need be achieved. That’s why Octavian is often said to be coded as disabled, or coded as autistic, etc. Riordan hit a lot of check boxes when he was creating this character.

Yes, he has the power of prophecy. Yes, his favoured weapon is a knife. If that was it, I think we could all pack up and go home. No coding happening here. But that’s not where it stops.

Let's get into Octavian's voice.

Octavian screamed in a shrill voice – maybe ordering the First Cohort to stand their ground, maybe trying to sing soprano – but Percy put a stop to it. [SON]

Soprano is the highest vocal range and of course ‘shrill’ itself means high-pitched and piercing. If this was a one off thing, we could probably ignore it, but Octavian often showed to have a high-pitched voice.

Time for the shrieking speed-run! (btw, definition of ‘shriek’ is a high-pitched piercing sound or words)

“I was just there!” Octavian shrieked. “I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Surrender to Rome!” Octavian shrieked.

Over by the docks, a familiar voice shrieked over the wind: “Kill them! Kill them all!”

‘You will be destroyed!’ Octavian shrieked.

Bonus:

Octavian made a squeaking sound. “What as that for?”

“Reyna!” Octavian cried. “You can’t seriously be considering this!

Now, this might just be because Octavian yells constantly. He’s almost always yelling or shouting, or in this case, shrieking. But it’s still a very consistent thing that happens with his character.

I want to point out, as well, that Octavian’s voice only goes higher when he lacks control over a situation. In Son of Neptune, he’s fully capable of shouting without his voice being high-pitched:

“Silence!” Octavian’s voice sounded a lot more commanding than it had the previous night on the battlefield.

This comes back to Octavian's feminine traits being considered negative. I'm not expert, but I wouldn't be surprised is this was all part of the "queer-coded villain" stereotype.

Now, let's talk about Octavian and... men.

Reyna had always liked Mike Kahale. Unfortunately, Mike was very loyal to his sponsor. And his sponsor was Octavian. [BOO]

Please note the italics here – why are there italics, Rick? He already added the word "very", but then he put that modifier in italics. Is something more significant is being hinted at?

“That’s one of Octavian’s right-hand men, but he’s a good legionnaire. I may be able to reason with him.” [BOO]

From this line, we learn that Mike is not the only ‘right hand man’ Octavian has. Which is unusual because, by definition, you should really only have one. And it's not "right-hands" but "right-hand men". So we've gendered it. But we do know, from previous scenes, that Octavian is often followed around by more than one burly guy.

By himself, the skinny augur wouldn’t have bothered her, but the two other guys looked like seasoned warriors – a lot bigger and stronger than Annabeth wanted to deal with, especially since Piper and she were armed only with daggers. [MoA]

Two centurions leaned casually on their javelins, chatting with a tall skinny blond guy in a purple toga. Leo stumbled. It was that freak Octavian, the augur from Camp Jupiter, who was always screaming for war. [HoH]

For the second quote, we don’t know the gender of the centurions but, well, most of the centurions are male – so it wouldn’t be so shocking to learn these are men too.

We don't know Octavian's relationship with these people. However, it does feel like the cherry on top of a cake, you know?

First Up:

Jason’s Memories and Past

There’s a running theme thought out Heroes of Olympus, even after Jason supposedly recovered from his amnesia at the Wolf House, of Jason either not remembering his past or feeling disassociated from it.

At the end of the Lost Hero, we get this passage,

His memory was still foggy, but bits and pieces were coming back. The night Lupa had tested him at the Wolf House, to decide if he would be a pup or food. Then the long trip south to… he couldn’t remember, but he had flashes of his old life. The day he’s gotten his tattoo. The day he’d been raised on a shield and proclaimed a praetor.

The first two events happened when Jason was very young – a toddler. And the final one, happened when Jason was fifteen. That’s a massive gap to have in his memories.

Which is why it makes sense that Jason defines it as “foggy” and “bit and pieces”. His memories didn’t return to him with the same clarity as Percy’s. And that was purposeful (which I'll be digging into later).

Throughout Mark of Athena, Jason is incredibly close to his chest when it comes to his feelings regarding the Romans.

And we see why in House of Hades, months after Jason supposedly recovered his memories,

It was hard to talk about his life before Juno wiped his memory. His years at Camp Jupiter seemed made up, like a movie he’d acted in decades before. [House of Hades]

And this is observable as well,

“And Jason… well, he has changed. He seems distant, no longer quite Roman.” [Mark of Athena]

So Jason hasn’t been able to reconnect with his Roman past. Some of his old memories he can accept, like those with Reyna; but everything else haunts him.

He’s no longer Roman, true.

However, with his memories back, he can no longer be the boy who adventured in The Lost Hero.

Which Piper notices,

But sometimes he acted so distant, like last night, when he’s been reluctant to talk about that old Roman legend. [Mark of Athena]

Jason surely has more memories of life than being a toddler (a few months at most) and his friendship with Reyna (which was approximately 2-3 years long). But he doesn’t dwell on them. He refuses to dwell on them.

So let's discuss why - and to answer that, we have to answer the question: Who was Praetor Jason?

Tradition, Romaness, and their Facades

Both Jason and Octavian are often presented as traditional Romans, upholding that structure, but they both desired change – a new start for Rome.

Because I've gone into already in other posts, I'll cover Octavian's facade first. Octavian wears his Romanness as a defence mechanism; it's a lie, an act. It's not who he is. Underneath the picture of a "good Roman" Octavian is a revolutionary. There are certain traditions and rules he simply doesn't believe in, and so he ignores them as much as possible. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on what he does and who it affects.

We can see his shifting mentality in how he dresses throughout the series. Whether he's in a toga, whether he takes it off, or if he removes all modern clothes (hiding his true self, his personality behind tradition).

So what about Jason?

Once he’d become praetor, he’d campaigned to rename the legion the First Legion rather than the Twelfth Legion, to symbolize a new start for Rome. The idea had almost caused a mutiny. New Rome was all about tradition and legacies; the rules didn’t change easily. Jason had learned to live with that and even rose to the top. [House of Hades]

Jason was praetor for only a 4-6 weeks before he disappeared. In that time, he almost caused a mutiny with his desire to change the legion. Despite what Jason says a little later, that he learned to live with the traditions – it’s clear from that action that he didn’t.

Jason isn’t the only on who wanted to change the legion. To give it a new start. The same can be said for Octavian, who wanted to make Apollo the patron god of the legion, replacing Jupiter. In the same way that, outwardly, Jason learned to accept the Roman way, Octavian goes “full Roman” in Blood of Olympus. He dons the full regalia of a Roman. Yet he retains his desire to reform the legion; to control it’s future.

Despite the facades, neither Jason nor Octavian fully abandon their desire for change, for a new start. And even more in parallel, both of them die before those visions could come close to fruition.

Jason could not help but die a Roman, as he feared. For that was his fate.

Octavian could not help but die in the fight against Gaia, as he (seemingly) feared. For that was his fate.

So what did Jason become, when he accepted the traditions of Rome – when he took on that façade?

Who was Praetor Jason?

Stripped of his memories, Jason still retained a personality. That personality isn’t a very likable one at first, especially in how he views Leo. Jason looks down on the people around him, not in a cruel way, but he still looks down on them. He is the type to “help”, but not as an equal. Instead, he believes – knows – that he is moral, physical, and social superior of all those around him.

He’s also fully prepares to save and protect those around him. He is selfless, almost a martyr in his actions. And that is where he becomes a likeable character. As much as he is arrogant, he is also kind and compassionate.

By the time Jason was elected praetor, he had gained himself quiet a legend – a legend, I suspect – that was built upon the character he had constructed for himself.

“You… the great Jason Grace… the praetor I looked up to. You were supposed to be so fair, such a good leader. And now you…” [Mark of Athena]

But it is a façade, it’s not real. Hazel admired him, she “looked up to” him. Jason was put on a pedestal from the moment he arrived at Camp Jupiter. So the arrogance makes sense, but I don't think it's Jason's most natural form. It’s something that was taught him, expected of him.

Jason lists Hazel as one of his friends at the end of the Lost Hero, but we can see that they weren’t really friends. They weren’t equals.

His friend’s faces: Dakota, Gwendolyn, Hazel, Bobby. And Reyna. Definitely there’d been a girl named Reyna. [The Lost Hero]

Even with Reyna, the relationship was built on expectations. Not on true connection. There was a fundamental disconnect between how Reyna saw things and how Jason did. One I’ve spoken about when I analysed her character.

Later in the Lost Hero, I think we get a really interesting quote, in context of what we know from the rest of the series,

The statue said nothing. Its painted eyes seemed to stare at him. “I wish I could talk with you in person,” Jason continued, “but I understand you can’t do that. The Roman gods don’t like to interact with mortals so much, and – well, you’re the king. You’ve got to set an example.”

We know that gods do come and visit New Rome a lot. There are multiple examples/quotes about this – too many to list here. So, it seems to me that Jason has been lied to, or perhaps simply lies to himself, so that the abandonment of his father doesn’t feel so wrong.

Furthermore, Jason phrases this message to his father regarding leadership and setting an example. His father is a king. And, in many way, Jason is as well. A “king” of the legion (or as he puts it "a prince in waiting"). To be king means to be above – to be isolated. And I believe the old Jason played into that. Always setting the example, never opening up, showing his true self. Never reaching out; in many ways, following the example of his father.

Having Lived on a Pedestal

So we have some insights into who Praetor Jason was.

I want to go in deeper by what I mean by Jason’s selfless arrogance with a few quotes from the opening of the Lost Hero. Because while his memories might be gone, that haven’t been replaced by anything – in the way Piper’s and Leo’s had been. And for that reason, Jason retains some of his old self.

None of them looked like hardened criminals, he wondered what they’d all done to get sentenced to a school of delinquents, and he wondered why he belonged with them. - Page 8

He’s confused as to why he could be considered a “bad kid”. He knows himself well enough to believe he wouldn’t belong among these kids. He immediately others himself from the crowd.

He’s also shown to be judgemental of others.

Sometimes, Jason turns out to be justified in his opinions, in the case of Dylan,

He smiled like he was God’s gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. Jason hated him instantly. – Page 9

But sometimes not really,

Leo got up and brushed himself off. “I hate that guy.” He offered Jason his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. “‘I’m Dylan. I’m so cool, I want to date myself, but I can’t figured out how! You want to date me instead? You’re so lucky!’”

“Leo,” Jason said, “You’re weird.”

“Yeah, you tell me that a lot.” Leo grinned. “But if you don’t remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!”

Jason figured that if this was his best friend, his life must be pretty messed up. – Page 9

Straight off the bat, Jason dismisses Leo. He met Leo ten minutes ago, and has already decided Leo is, more or less, beneath him.

This is the arrogance I’m talking about. The Jason we meet at the beginning is uptight, quick to assume people aren’t up to the same standards as he is. Whether that’s Dylan (who’s a misogynist) or Leo (who’s ‘weird’).

Even if he decides he’s going to be friendly with Leo, it’s from that place of being socially “higher”.

In addition to this, Jason has a bit of saviour mentality (which is a good trait for a hero, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility – Jason certainly knows that!). But we need to discuss it regardless, because sometimes Jason does try to step in, even when his help isn’t asked for.

Piper ignored them, but Jason was ready to punch them himself. He might not remember Piper, or even who he was, but he knew he hated mean kids.

Leo caught his arm. “Be cool. Piper doesn’t like us fighting her battles.”

What makes Jason a good guy here is that he accepts that. He doesn’t ignore Leo’s advice and charge into save Piper. This shows his willingness to listen to others. So yeah, he’s not a bad guy, he’s just used to being put on a pedestal.

Jason's arc is about taking down the facade, the persona.

The True Jason

One thing that I find interesting about the false memories Hera created of Jason, is that I believe they lined up with the person Jason wanted to be, the person he could be without his persona interfering.

All semester she’d worked on a relationship, trying to get Jason to notice her as more than a friend. Finally she’d gotten the big dope to kiss her. [Lost Hero 33]

This version of Jason is reminiscent of how he was unaware of Reyna’s affection for him. How she hoped they would one day date.

Jason stood right next to her: those sky blue eyes, close-cropped blond hair, that cute little scar on his upper lip. His face was kind and gentle, but always a little sad. [Lost Hero 33]

“My memories aren’t fake. They’re so real. The time we set Coach Hedge’s pants on fire. The time Jason and I watched a meteor shower on the dorm roof and I finally got the stupid guy to kiss me…” [Lost Hero 49]

She had liked Jason from the first week they’d met. He was so nice to her, and so patient, he could even put up with hyperactive Leo and his stupid jokes. He’d accepted her for herself and didn’t judge her because of the stupid things she’d done. [Lost Hero 49]

In many way, I find the “Jason” Piper describes to be the person we come to know. He’s a little reckless, he's ready to break the rules. But he’s also patient and caring. He is far less judgemental than the Jason at the start of the Lost Hero.