#pjato analysis

camp half blood.

where he watched his mom get crushed by the minotraur. where he was betrayed by someone he thought was his friend. where his entire life was turned upside down. where he was bullied and outcasted for being his fathers son. where he learned he will be in danger constantly simply because of whos kid he is. where he was sent on a dangerous quest because of something he didnt even do.

that camp?

honestly thats depressing

like. im fully aware he did have good moments after his quest in tlt, but like. we do know in the books that he was mostly still an outcast, people were constantly weary of him. hes a forbidden child, a kid whos not supposed to exist.

even in the one place that was said to be able to keep him safe, he was still harmed and looked down on.

i do like both versions of percy, the black hair with green eyes vs the blond hair with blue eyes, and i wanna talk about what each of those could actualy mean on a narrative level

blond hair/blue eyes: the usual pretty boy look. a lot of main characters, i think most often in ya fantasy, have blond/e hair and blue eyes (cough jason cough), and while i dont hate this, it isnt my favorite, mostly because i feel like the narrative reason for percys book look is just more interesting (to me). percy has light hair now, a stark contrast to his original black hair. light hair i feel like is most commonly associated with the 'good guys', even though it has also started being used for the 'bad guys', and this 'it could go either way' thing could also fit with what i have to say about book!percys green eyes. speaking of eyes, blue eyes are most often given to good characters, as opposed to evil characters

and i feel like at this point i have to adress the elaphant in the room. book luke. blond hair, blue eyes. and i think that design choice fits his characters really well. luke is supposed to look like the perfect person, and while i really dont like the 'light hair and blue eyes' being shown of that, it was pretty popular at the time the books were written, so it makes sense.

this isnt saying i dont like show!lukes desgin, i think they can both work in different ways but this isnt about luke. its about percy so bye bye bitch

black hair/green eyes: the dark hair and striking and bright sea green eyes gives a more darker feel imo. dark colors are usually associated with evil, and green is often seen on either the good or bad side of things. green is a neutrual color in a narritive sense, it has been used to show good and evil before. it could be good with its meaning of 'go' like with traffic lights or it being the color of something you need to press with smth. idk. while it could also be seen as evil with green being associated with poison. and honestly. percy having black hair and green eyes is my favorite design choice, not just because i like the aesthetic of it, but because of what it could narratively symbolize. the black hair can show his dark side and how quickly he can get angry, while his green eyes can show how he could either be really good or really bad, or sometimes even neutral, as its usually seen as the balance between warm and cold colors (which i dont agree with, three warm colors: red orange yellow, three cool colors: green blue purple argue with the wall) but the point is. green has been associated with evil as much as its been associated with good, and in my mind this shows how he probably couldve and wouldve turned on the gods, if luke had gone about destroying them in a better way.

there is one thing in common with both designs, and i breifely mentioned it when i talked about show!percys hair, how the light hair and green eyes could be seen as either a 'good guy' or 'bad guy' as theyre both often used to show both of those (though usually not together) and i find that really interesting because it works! it fits! percy is not the 'perfect hero', we know that since the start. hes angry, hes mad, he s ready to fight. several times throughout the books he has been described as a villain or something akin to that, something that was evil. that could work with both the green eyes, a color used to show both the good and evil side, and the blond hair thats also been used to show both sides. its also worth mentioning that people with blond/e or light hair usually dont keep it, their hair usually darkens later in life, usually to a dark brown