#modspam

So fridging is a common TV/movie/writing trope where a character is killed for a character’s development. It’s called “Stuffed in the Fridge” or “Women in Refrigerators” (often shortened to fridging), named after a scene in the Green Lantern comic book where the GL comes home to find his girlfriend murdered and stuffed in the fridge.

More often than not it is a woman that is killed of for the development of the man. It’s really lazy writing, it makes the woman nothing more than a prop- her life means nothing, she was really just there to motivate the man the entire time.

Examples of this trope in PJO are: the death of Bianca (inspires Nico to run away and seek revenge), Leo’s mother dying, Frank’s mother dying, Nico’s mother dying (for Hades not for Nico), Percy’s mom dying (later brought back to life), and probably others that I can’t think of right now. As you can tell, RR really likes killing moms. 

There was a lot of discussion about death in this series (or the lack thereof, and how it made the end a lot less emotionally impactful than the end of TLO), but I haven’t heard anyone talk about the super sexist undertones of the deaths in BoO.

We already know that RR has a lady fridging problem (no less than 5 moms are killed off for “character development”), so I expected a disproportionate amount of women to die in the book than men. What really bothers me though is the extra violent language that is used when the women die.

Only two men die in the book- one, Bryce Lawrence, is dissipated by Nico. He dissolves, which is creepy, but there is no textual evidence to say that he feels pain. He just simply fades away. Octavian (that dick) gets launched into the sky, and the reader assumes the rest. No actual description of death is given.

When the women are killed, the language is graphic and unsettling- the hunters are “cut down” by the arrows, and Phoebe, “the ginger-haired hunter who’d lived for thousands of years now sprawled unmoving, her eyes wide open in shock, and oversized black-and-red arrow buried in her gut.” The rest are burned alive with greek fire. Keep in mind a massive part of the main plot of the book is the seven searching for a death cure because RR was too afraid to kill off a main character- for a book that is so terrified of death, it does not hold back in the slaughter of minor female characters.

And they are killed by Orion, who is specifically written to be as sexist as possible. I know he is a “super-hunter-giant” so it makes sense that we would see him kill, but the sheer amount of women he manages to murder in just a few minutes and the fact that the first person who is able to hurt him at all is Nico- not Hylla or Reyna? Pretty crappy.

(And if we are really nitpicking- it could be argued that the hunters were fridged- as Reyna strangles Orion, she says: “This is for Phoebe! And Kinzie!” etc, etc)

Jason does, they are given to him in BoO by Asclepius. He is near-sighted (which you think he would have noticed before when the monsters he was fighting were blurry).

You drove for multiple days until you arrive at a small, picturesque college on a river. The wind is really bad here is the first thing you think when you get out of your car. The weather wouldn’t even be that bad if I could just stand upright. But you push the wind out of your mind. You have come here for something very important, something that strong wind cannot deter.

You walk through the campus, looking at all the doors. Quick glances is all you need, you know the house you are looking for is labeled. It doesn’t take long. It’s a small campus after all. The door says “Hobbit Haus,” and you can hear the people inside moving around. You don’t knock, your mission is important and you don’t want to waste time.

Through the front door, barely glancing at the living room. First door on the left, first door on the left. Little else occupies your mind. The food coming from the kitchen smells great, but it can wait until later. 

You reach the first door on the left, and you throw it open.

"Aha!" you cry, as you finally lay eyes on her. Blonde, small, and most definitely curled up in a ball on the floor. Are those tears in her eyes? No matter.

"I’m not ready to graduate!" the blonde cries. She wipes a few tears from her eyes. "I just have so much work, and my job is draining the life out of me, and choreographing a show took up so much more time than I thought it would!"

You ignore that, you can’t be distracted from your mission! “When is character of the month??????????????????????????????????????” you demand. You have a special talent for really emphasizing the fact that you are asking a question. Normal people use one question mark, but not you. You are special, and you use many.

The blonde looks startled. “Uh, I guess next month now that I’ve brought on a co-admin to help me run the blog. Stay tuned for an announcement.”

You turn sharply, and leave her on the floor. The house now seems so much smaller. The wind has calmed down, the walk to your car takes less than five minutes. It was time to start the drive home.

Alright, I'm going to have a go at this, and if Ginny wants to add she totally can.

Piper- Confidence. I see her flaw being very similar to Annabeth's although she would fall more to over confidence rather than to pride. A huge story arc of hers through the series was her struggling to overcome her self doubt and take pride in who she is. Like all fatal flaws, they are good in small amounts. Having confidence is a good thing, but it can be a problem when you think you can single handedly take on an army.

Leo- Arrogance. Hear me out on this one, because I almost made it insecurity. I believe that if Leo had remained in the same character arc that he was given in TLH (trying to find his place, learning what a home was) he would struggle with insecurity. However, RR totally screwed him over writing wise, and he turned into a womanizing, over the top, cocky jerk. He has a bit of what I call a "special snowflake" syndrome, where he thinks he is above everyone else around him (thinking he is smarter, coming up with dangerous plans and not telling his friends about them, etc). I could easily see him causing his own downfall because he was too arrogant to see the flaws.

Frank- Trusting others. I know that totally doesn't sound like a flaw, but it could have very easily killed him when he trusted Hazel to take his stick for him. He literally has to put his life in the palm of someone else's hands. I think trusting people is very dangerous for him. (Again, super good in small amounts. Disastrous if he puts his trust in the wrong person). 

Jason- Lack of self identity. I really do like the way his character arc ended, with him floating between the two camps. However, long distance and constant traveling puts major strain on a person and their relationships. His future could easily be a tragic one- he unties the camps and helps to recognize the minor gods, but at the cost of all the relationships and security he could have had at one camp. (Not to mention what would happen if the camps started fighting again- where would he go? He doesn't have a side to pick).

Hazel- She has no flaws, tbh. (But if I gave her a flaw it would probably be something related to her becoming way too powerful with the mist and it going to her head leading to her downfall BUT it's Hazel and that would never happen).