#solangelo analysis

Like there is a popular trend of making Will Secretly A Violent Psycho With a Gun because *checks notes* he’s from Texas? I’m not even from there but I am from the south and it just feels like an icky headcanon? Like Texas has its issues but it’s not a gun-toting hell scape that many people think it is for the times I’ve been. Like we hear from his own mouth in BoO that he’s “just a healer” when we meet him first TLO is’s introduced as a healer and isn’t fighting. In ToN he stops the fight by yelling then taking Nico and leaving. And (even though many of you didn’t read it or hate-read it and ignored all the good parts of it) in TSATS Will says that he enjoys being a healer and doesn’t want to be a warrior. And that’s SO COOL from a world building perspective. Nearly every other character is a fighter in some way — even Leo with his fire powers, even Rachel throwing a hairbrush at a newly risen Titan King. Will gives us a chance to see a different type of strength but for some reason fandom hates kind, gentle characters (I have a suspicion it’s internalized femmephobia but that’s for later).

And when you add Nico, this headcanon is paired with Etherial Pretty Princess Nico and I don’t get that either? He’s canonically unsettling? He freaks everyone out with the dead-eyed stare and defaults to a sorrowful glare for the majority of the series. We know from Reyna that he is softer when he sleeps so best faith interpretation that’s where that hc comes from but you don’t need to make Will this hypermasculine Alpha Male to make Nico softer around the edges. It’s a disservice to both characters and their relationship.

Nico does NOT need a hero. I know Rick loves to give him the damsel treatment (and I will die mad about that) but he doesn’t need Will to come save the day or defend him from bullies or some secret third thing. All Nico needed was support and to know he is cared for and Will (and Jason and Hazel and Reyna and Hedge) does that from day 1 (even though you all jumped him and called him toxic for not wanting to let Nico die but whatever). Nico can save himself and Rick made that clear. The fandom is the one who made Will into Captain Save a Hoe. Fics frequently have Nico honestly suck? As a boyfriend? He doesn’t offer any real support to Will, sometimes doesn’t seem to like Will, or will have his flaws glossed over because he Traumatized and that trumps Will getting any real closure from the conflict of the story.

It depends on how you headcanon the characters outside of that aspect as well though...

For example I do headcanon them with a decent height difference but if I'm extremely extremely oversimplifying my thoughts on them, Nico is the protector.

Will being so large gives him depth- he's going to be scared of being too strong and of breaking the things he loves. (Kind of like Frank?)

He's always been extremely kind, and not exactly the most masculine- he likes flowers, and cries when birds fall out of trees, those silly childhood "dog's life's" movies never failed to make him cry, he's canonically a worrier, he just wants to help people and save lives- he's the type of person who sometimes cries himself to sleep because the world is so twisted and cruel and he doesn't understand why people just can't be kind. Will "see's the world for what it could be rather than what it is" (if you want me to compare him to another YA character I would give you Dante Quintana)

Nico on the other hand, he was never allowed to cry or to show emotion- stiff that lip, don't let the tears fall- he was trained for war from the day he was born, his emotions can be shut off from the trauma of his life. He picks up that fallen bird and buries it out of a sense of duty and respect, but he doesn't cry any tears or think too hard about it. He doesn't spend much time thinking about "what ifs" unless they're necessary, he's worried about making sure everyone is safe and cared for rather than why people are cruel- he's accepted that people are generally cruel. Nico see's the world through tinted glasses, everything is a little messed up and he's got to fight so he doesn't end up messed up too.

Nico never had anyone to look out for him, and he was always perceived as small and weak- an easy defenseless target- he had to learn how to fight and how to fight good.

Will tries not to cry over little kids skinning their knee, and he grows angry when he hears about injustice across the globe, cries for all the poor children who will suffer and tries to give up his whole paycheck. His sole purpose in life is to build and repair, he couldn't destroy anything if he tried. Nico picks that little kid up, brushes off their knee and sends them off with a bandaid if they need one, he has to keep Will from spending his whole check and remind him that they'll be in a bad situation and won't have food for themselves if they give away their money- Nico is constantly shocked at how much Will tries to help others, because Nico accepted suffering as something that just happened.

In the face of adversity Will constantly rises to the struggle, and tries to just be good and kind (a real Patroclus type). Nico makes the right choice too, but he takes a more logical and calculating approach- Nico likes the element of suprise ("let's turn this tide!") he keeps his cards close to his chest so nobody knows what he's doing until the last minute. Will being tall is the perfect ploy in their relationship. People will expect Will to be dominat and commanding (he isn't at all unless someone is in danger), so when they see Nico they still don't expect anything- Will isn't paying attention and they think "huh- easy target?" only for Nico to swoop in at the last minute and save Will.

Nico is the one who has to wipe up Will's tears and wrap him in a weighted blanket because Will's worried about climate change, and that bill proposed by Congress, and how they're upping the price of insulin again- Will's lost everything and everyone and worries about it happening again. Nico doesn't worry about insulin prices or the famine in the same way Will does, he gives them money sure- he's got it and they need it- but that emotional connection never existed.. Nico lost everyone and when he thinks about loosing more people he does worry about it and it hurts, but he thinks "I've lived through worse"

They're too perfectly opposing ends of the same bridge- you can divide them any way and see equal parts similarities and differences. Their life experiences have led them to the same morals, same goals, and same wants- but the adversity in their life's have changed them to polar opposites in how they reach these conclusions and why.

Will is kind simply because he doesn't have a mean bone in his body, Nico is kind because he wants to be better than everyone who came before and said he couldn't. Both of them are the same level of kind but Nico had to learn that kindness because to him it wasn't a given, Nico had to choose to be the person nobody ever was for him. Will was kind the day he was born, and he works on the idea of self improvement- if he has a bad thought he analyzes it (and over analyzes it) until it is corrected and he knows the right and kind solution. Nico doesn't have to do this he just chooses the opposite of what people would expect a son of Hades to do, Nico chooses to be the person he wishes he would have had looking out for himself.

None of this means Will can't handle himself though- he lost two brothers and became cabin counselor and is still that kind when he got screwed over just as much as Luke- Will is strong too- just in a different way.

So yes, headcanoning one character as very tall and another as very small can bring up those concepts of "uwu protect me" but that's not everyone's interpretation of why two characters are the way they are- and that's not everyone's only understanding of a relationship model, and some people quite literally turn that concept on its head when they see two characters.

I get it, it was a vent post- that's why I'm not adding to it- because you deserve a space to vent, but you also can't sum up what someone thinks of a specific relationship dynamic just based on how vastly different they make character's heights.

If you want my other reason why Will is tall it's because he's closer to the sun, like Timothy Green or whatever the kids name was and I think it's a funny concept.

Nico and Will don’t have any of that. Yeah technically they were both in Manhattan and did interact during the war with Gaia, but they didn’t actually fight together. Will is a long-term camper. Nico is a traveler. Neither one of them has any idea what the other went through outside of what they’ve been told and with that comes a level of intimacy no other couple has been able to meet for me. They won’t just Get It. Will won’t just Get that sometimes quests require you do to Dumb and Reckless Shit to survive and Nico won’t just Get that being the one Left Behind and Hoping that your loved ones Come Back while you can’t go after them (and no I don’t even think his experience with Bianca would save that, Bianca was Leaving Leaving either way that that was the issue, not the dangerous quest).

I don’t subscribe to Total Opposites Solangelo, but there are quintessential differences that would make a relationship a lot of work for them and I love to get into that. I already beyond Camper Will and Traveller Nico, Will is the Healer and Cabin Leader meaning he is rarely allowed to express his actual feelings. Nico, on the other hand, can and will tweak out whenever he sees fit. Nico lashes out with his anger and Will internalizes. I can see this being an issue with arguments — Will not truly expressing how upset he is with something and building up negative feelings that he never deals with or expresses to Nico which is Not Good.

I think a lot about Nico’s traveling — Ambassador duties, Ghost King duties, general Nico Just Doing Shit duties (i.e. the Trogs) — and how that works with Will’s anxiety and desperate for Nico to be safe mentally and physically. How would they manage that? Nico is used to going where he wants when he wants for as long as he wants but obviously when you’re in a relationship that doesn’t work. I would think that would be one of their first fights — Nico not used to having to explain himself and inform people of his plans and whereabouts and Will struggling with his anxiety and control/abandonment issues. They would figure it out because I would die if they didn’t but I do think it would be a rough fight that would reveal some of their fundamental differences.

And that’s what it all comes down to. They need to work on themselves and relationship in ways that no other canonverse couple has to in my opinion. They have a lot in common, sure, but the differences are so interesting and have the potential to not only cause issues in their relationship (TSATS you will always be famous) but also trigger so much communication, understanding, and mutual care and support that they give me unparalleled brainworms. The intimacy that comes from willingly sharing the Bad parts yourself and your life. The relief that comes your partner actively going outside of their experience and worldview to understand those parts of you.

But I think it was a miss opportunity to delve into the aftermath of at least Lee and Micheal. Technically I want the entire aftermath of the death of the Apollo cabin. We don’t get an exact number, but you cannot tell me that 1) Apollo’s slutty ass (pos) doesn’t compete with Hermes in terms of number of kids, 2) that Will was the eldest and cabin councilor at 13 without him loosing a large about of older siblings, and 3) that that loss didn’t fundamentally fuck with him and contribute to his unhealthy sense of responsibility. But I’m willing to ignore that part only because we don’t get the names of the other Apollo kids (but we could have changed that in that book if they let Will stand his own character but whatever). Not addressing Lee and Michael though? Nope not buying it. This is worse when you remember Michael was never found as far as I know and therefore never got a proper funeral? Wouldn’t that at least imply that his spirit is just out there? And given that we’ve seen he can hold a grudge it would have been interesting to see him become a mania and have them come across him in Tartarus instead of the satyr the do see.

I think ignoring the loss of Will’s siblings not only undercuts what Will has gone through, but his burden as the Healer. Unlike every other demigod, Will isn’t allowed to die. If he’s gone there’s no hope anymore. No healer means no fighters which means losing the war before it starts. He, more than anyone, has to deal with the consequences of war and combat. He either heals deadly injuries only to send them back out to fight again or (like touched on in the book) is the last thing those demigods see before going to the underworld. And then he has to just move on to the next person because war waits for no one. He doesn’t even get to celebrate the end of war because while the fighting stopped there are countless injuries that need to be dealt with for however long it takes to get them better with 4 people (if you’re generous enough to add Kayla and Austin and Chiron).