Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Percabeth Analysis Throughout the first books
Spoilers for the first book series, the developing of their relationship and multiple character deaths are mentioned!! You have been warned!!
Percabeth likely seemed like a ridiculous idea at the time only the first book (The Lightning Thief) was out. Poseidon and Athena are enemies, Annabeth hated Percy on sight, Percy and Annabeth are supposed to be enemies out of pure principle because of their parents—yada, yada, yada.
The fourth book (The Battle of the Labyrinth) rolls around, and Annabeth kisses Percy. And then he goes on to say "Oh, must've been a friend-kiss!" and be stranded on Ogyia for a little while with Calypso, who he claims to be his "biggest what if". (That is something I also want to talk about sometime.)
The fifth book (The Last Olympian) comes around, and they finally kiss as Percy isn't dense enough to think that Annabeth only likes him as a friend. Doesn't mean Athena approves (probably), but who cares about what Athena thinks?
Their relationship in TLT is rocky at first. Percy arrives at camp and is pretty much claimed the first day he's actually awake, no less as a Poseidon kid. Then, a prophecy rolls around and he's the one chosen for it.
Annabeth is jealous, as I viewed it—she's been waiting on a quest to prove herself for so long, and then this little guy comes around and steals her quest right from underneath her nose. Now, I don't quite remember how the choosing for the quest went, but Annabeth went with in the end, so that's at least something? During this quest, the two get to know each other more. They become reluctant allies and in the end, do sort of become friends.
In The Sea of Monsters, Annabeth distances herself from Percy because of the prophecy. Ultimately, I believe it was because of the Great Prophecy—with him maybe dying, and her being unable to already think of it at this age? This definitely causes a drift in their relationship, which is healed when they go to find Grover and the Golden Fleece to protect both Thalia (or her tree, better said) and Camp Half-Blood.
The Titan's Curse is where it starts to worsen a little. Annabeth is missing because of the Manticore and is also taken hostage by Kronos' crew before being forced to carry the sky instead of Luke. Percy sneaks on to the quest to find Artemis (though we all know that isn't why he came along) and somehow even gets on board.
Unfortunately, Bianca dies because of this. At least, that's how I saw it? Percy's arrival to the quest, to me, felt like it influenced Bianca's death in a way, but obviously, the fact that she took the Hades figurine was also a factor as they were told to not take anything.
Meanwhile, Artemis is now stuck underneath the sky because she took the burden from Annabeth. She's taken by Luke, who likely just keeps her? I can't remember well, but he didn't do much to her, IIRC.
When Thalia, Zoë, Percy and Grover find the goddess Artemis and fight against Luke (well, it's more just Thalia and Luke), Percy carries the sky for Artemis to be able to defeat Atlas with Zoë. In the end, Zoë dies as well, but Artemis and Annabeth were saved.
Due to Thalia having pushed Luke off of the mountain, both she and Percy believe that he's dead as they head back to Mount Olympus. Annabeth doesn't think so, which makes Percy jealous in that moment, though he himself has no idea why that is when Annabeth is showing that sort of affection towards Luke.
Thalia joins the Hunters of Artemis on the Winter Solstice and asks Annabeth if she would like to join as well. In that moment, Percy seemed quite scared that she would leave him, considering that in the books, Annabeth seemed to have a brochuire of the Hunters in her bag? That's what I remember, at least.
Annabeth rejects eternal maidenhood and immortality under Artemis' guide and instead remains with Percy, which he's elated about. (Yeah, wonder why that is.)
TBOTL is… quite the ride of jealousy and other teenage emotions. Annabeth finally gets her first quest to delve into the Labyrinth, and Percy sort of ruins it by bringing Rachel the second time around? Obviously, she's there because she's able to see clearly through the mist, but it definitely ruins Annabeth's and Percy's relationship a lot.
As we know, Annabeth has been waiting for this quest for years upon years—a quest, just for her. To have a mortal, as bad as it sounds, dragged into it and basically have to rely on her to be able to navigate the Labyrinth stings, especially when said mortal and her crush are so close. I totally get the falling out of Percy and Annabeth, but in no way do I blame the three of them.
Rachel was there to lead them, Percy was a little dense, Annabeth was jealous and they're all teenagers. Obviously feelings and relationships will be messy, and that's also okay, especially for a literal demigod on a quest that might kill them.
Though, on the first run, Annabeth kisses Percy while they're in the volcano, before he blasts himself on to Ogyia and vanishes for who knows how long. Calypso is his biggest "what if", but he ultimately returns to camp, where he was pronounced dead and sees his funeral.
Annabeth goes to hug him as soon as she notices him, but I'm pretty sure stops once she realises she's making a scene? She's likely embarrassed, which I find adorable.
In this book, I'm pretty sure Annabeth still believes that Luke can be redeemed. It's a dumb thought, but I do understand her as well—it's hard to think of someone you've known a majority of your life as bad when they were so nice, but I also understand Percy's frustration with her relentless hope for him when he knows he's long gone.
So, TLO is something. It opens immediately with Percy and Rachel in Paul's car, where Rachel kisses Percy all of a sudden??? I didn't quite get what her point was, especially because Beckendorf was already there from my knowledge, but I suppose she simply wanted to do that before Percy had to go off with Beckendorf to attack Luke's ship, where he dies. Too many people are dying, dam.
Anyway, moving on from that little fact, this is also the book where Percy learns the Great Prophecy that Annabeth was worried about. He learns that a "hero's soul must be reaped by a cursed blade", which he assumes is him. Well, everyone assumes it's him. In the end, it's Luke who is the hero, but we'll get to that later. With that thought in mind, he still goes on to fight against Kronos and his army.
Percy also bathes in the Rivery Styx in this book, after being led down into the Underworld by Nico and tricked by Hades to make Nico the child of the prophecy? It's a mess, but whatever.
When they're finally at war with Kronos' army, Ethan almost stabs Percy in his Achilles heel, which is at his back. Before that can happen, Annabeth steps in and takes the poisoned blade, which is only revealed later. He's furious, obviously, and does something to Ethan that knocks him unconscious for now.
Kronos threatens to kill Annabeth if Percy doesn't surrender when he realises that Annabeth is pretty much his weakness, but I think Blackjack comes to take her to the hotel where they basically set up camp and all? So, she's safe for now.
Will Solace gets dragged into healing Annabeth when Percy finds him, where he then confesses to having the Achilles spot on his back, asking Annabeth how she knew. Apparently, she just had a hunch that she needed to protect that little spot.
However, the moment that leads up to it??? Percy leading her hand to the spot??? Holy, I might've squealed at that if I hadn't been reading in class the first time around.
The fight in Mount Olympus comes and goes. Annabeth allows Luke to resurface against Kronos and the whole ordeal that I already explained in my Luke Castellan analysis occurrs—he dies as a hero and the world is saved.
This time around, Percy is offered the chance of godhood, which he declines almost immediately because of his feelings for Annabeth—it's like the whole "declining being a Hunter of Artemis" again but instead, Percy can become a god.
Then, when they head back to camp, I'm pretty sure they kiss twice? They kiss one in the mess hall, and then the iconic kiss underwater when they're tossed into the lake.
So, in conclusion, their relationship is rocky and drifts apart sometimes, but they still find back to each other. The Fates were working overtime to make it as rough as possible for them, I suppose.












