#toa python

In Hidden Oracle, Python tells Nero that he hopes the emperor has “learned from his past mistakes”. Maybe it’s obvious and I’m just late to the party, but Python is talking about Luke and Octavian.

In the scene, Python and Nero are discussing their plan for world domination. Python had just asked Nero how he planned to deal with the Grove of Dodona. Nero’s response is that he has “well placed help within the camp” -- which we later figure out is Meg. I’m not sure that Python knows that, but to be hidden in plain sight at Camp Half-Blood, he must know that Nero is referring to a child. Python doesn’t like the sound of that, and he says as much to Nero: “Your judgement in the past has been...questionable. I wonder if you have chosen the right tools for this job.”

Python is specifically referencing how the Triumvirate has counted on young demigods / legacies before and it hasn’t gone well. Nevertheless, here Nero is again putting his plan in the hands of a young demigod. What makes it worse is that Nero’s reaction shows that he misses the point of Python’s criticism entirely. He talks about the Triumvirate’s strength, about its pervasiveness, about how he’s learned to take swifter and more decisive action against his enemies. Not once does he consider or admit that depending on young people has been a weakness -- but Python is right to point this mistake out, because Meg falls right into the pattern.

It’s as if the Triumvirate hesitantly put a chip on the table with Luke, a young (though technically adult) Greek demigod whose plans would benefit them, but no harm done if he failed. After that, they picked a pawn closer to home: Octavian, an 18-year-old Roman legacy of Apollo, a blood relation. That play went wrong too, but it created opportunity for them. Nero picks Meg (a 12-year-old) to finish it all, but she betrays him. Third time is not the charm.

In the end, the emperors have to get involved themselves, rather than sending kids to do their dirty work. What’s funnier? That’s exactly what Nero says to Apollo in Tower of Nero. Nero (of all people) criticizes Apollo for making others -- usually children -- fight his battles. Nero has to know how hypocritical he’s being throughout that entire speech, but the fact is that he uses children just as much as Apollo ever did despite their repeated failures. That seems like a huge lack of self-awareness, even though Nero is usually on top of things like this. Idk, I feel like it’s an important thread to notice.