#the labyrinth

Y'all should follow Drea D Art on Instagram/Facebook/whatever. She makes these GORGEOUS works of art - prints, pins, stickers, etc - for a TON of franchises. She has a whole section on her website for Labyrinth, tons of other 80s media, Disney princesses, and WAY more.

It's quite evident that the Labyrinth, as a concept, wasn't something Riordan had put much thought into until he needed it to exist for this book. I mean, yeah, arguably, he had an inkling of it while writing Titan's Curse, as Clarisse had that secret mission, and I think an actual inkling is possible, but mostly I suspect Riordan just left that as something open, a slot that he could put any plot into that he wanted.

The reason I'm thinking about this is because people talk about how recently, Riordan's not been great about continuity, and it seems as if he makes it up as he goes, with him even saying in an interview for Court of the Dead that he didn't do much planning ahead.

And so here is the Labyrinth: an incredibly important, world-spanning maze that could potentially solve the protagonist's problems or destroy their hopes if only one side or the other could master it, and no one has so much as hinted at it until four books into the series, where the characters in the know insist that it's been there all along.

It reminds me a bit of Camp Jupiter, something that Heroes of Olympus insists was there the entire time, and clearly wasn't. Camp Jupiter feels like an odd appendage grafted to the story. You're telling me there was actually a highly-organized camp of demigods working in close proximity to the Plot, right there near the Titans' base, and no one had a clue? Yeah, sure Jan.

Of course, the difference with the Labyrinth is that there's a much stronger, better justification for the Labyrinth not being used up to this point. We're told that no one has been navigating through it because no one can--it's an untamed maze that will either kill you or drive you insane. No one on the heroes' side thought of using it because they can't. Luke's continued efforts to find a way through is what kicks off the story here.

And like a lot of Riordan Plot Devices, it's destroyed when it's no longer useful for the story/Riordan can't think of what else to do with it (see: Percy's shield, Diocletian's scepter). Again, though, I think it works here because the story justifies it. We get Daedalus as a fully-realized, developed character, and so his choice behind getting rid of it makes sense to the readers, rather than being, like some Plot Devices, hastily disposed of for BS reasons. It also helps that this being Riordan's first series (or rather, his first series in his mythological book continuity), it comes across as a lot less egregious than when we see him do this over and over again.

Is your username a reference to labyrinth? I love the film so much

And your blog is so cool I love it

Okay that's all byee

YES YOU’RE THE FIRST PERSON TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THISS