#riordanverse analysis

I generally don’t go on PJO fandom despite being part of it for years due to the toxicity sometimes so I’m unsure if this is a hot take but 

THE SHOW IS BETTER.

Look this is just my opinion but hear me out. The Percy Jackson show is much more thought out than the books. Yes the books are iconic, nostalgic and I wouldn’t change them but that was made by one author and editors. The show has much more resources, opinions which allows the show to be much more thought out than the original books and allows more Easter eggs etc….

Rick did a beyond magnificent job with the books but from a technical standpoint the show is better like yes did it forget things like the Gabe explanation (which has been bugging me for so long) but I also view it as the second chance. Those things that Rick wanted to change but couldn’t or things that  could have been much better are getting that chance with the show like the acknowledgement of Thalia’s chances of joining Luke which we see in some degree come to fruition in the Titan’s Cure but wasn’t portrayed earlier from Annabeth’s view, yes we know Percy doubts etc… but the allowance and acknowledgement of how short Annabeth’s relationship with her was is quite honestly so special to me. (DON’T MISINTERPRET I ADORE THALIA WITH ALL MY HEART SAME WITH ANNABETH) 

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

she has no emotional heart, no theme or message to send. she doesn't have a character you can sympathise with, she's not out-there enough to be hated strongly, she's not likeable enough to be one of those charming villains. the series flip-flops between trying to give her good qualities but never expanding on any of them, and trying to make her pure evil but never making her commit to it enough to be enjoyable.

she's just there. she's little more than a plot device, the Ultra Big Bad that we have to fight. and sometimes there's nothing wrong with that! but considering how hoo fails in every other aspect, the bland villain is just another disappointment. luke was what made the original pjo so good — the themes he carried, the tragedy of his life, the base of his character which served as the main core of the story, the balance between good intentions and the corruption of self.

as a result, gaea is just... fine. she’s not an absolutely terrible villain, but she looks second-rate compared to luke and kronos, despite being a lot more powerful, simply because they were much richer in themes and storytelling. even the decent villainous chemistry she has with leo and hazel isn’t enough to carry her to being interesting. 

because if percy wasnt born, then thalia would most likely stay in the tree. if she was poisoned, there would be no one to get the fleece (and if they did itd take longer), but i also dont think she would even be poisoned in the first place. the war had mostly started because percys 16th birthday was approaching, and so if percy was never born, there would be no upcoming war because there would be no child of the eldest god whose 16th birthday was nearing

and neither nico nor bianca would be the child of the prophecy, because hades took them out of the lotus casino in the first place because percy was going to be the child of the prophecy, and he wanted one of his kids to be that instead

so. no percy-> no upcoming war-> thalias tree doesnt get poisoned-> no thalia no percy-> hades doesnt feel threatened-> he doesnt take his kids out of the casino-> no nico or bianca

but then again this could just be me overthinking

for example, all athena kids have gray eyes and all hermes kids have mischievous smiles and crooked (i think) noses

but real people in real life, arent like this

for example, i love learning things and reading, just as i love the ocean, just as i love drawing and making things up

in pjo each of those would make me a child of different gods (athena, poseidon and apollo (maybe) respectively)