What If Instead Of Hades, Poseidon Sent Monsters After Thalia?

I've been thinking about two lines-

One from the Demigod Files, where Annabeth says that Percy is smart but acts pretty dumb sometimes, and the second from the Mark of Athena where Piper notes that Annabeth wasn't around to 'rein Percy in' when he was taunting Bacchus.

Does this mean that Annabeth often has to stop Percy from pissing off the gods and that it exhausts her? There's reasonable evidence for this.

He pissed off Ares in TLT, Hera in BOTL and Bacchus in MOA. We know that Percy has a history of pissing off gods, which is why it's such a trademark characteristic of his in the fandom. Piper notes that Annabeth isn't around to rein him in, which means that Annabeth would have stopped Percy from pissing off Bacchus if she had been there. Given how Percy acted towards Bacchus, he wouldn't have been to easy to stop. And keep in mind that that's a god. It doesn't matter if it's Percy Jackson talking to him-there's a very real chance of them killing him, because if Zeus can give Percy 3 quests after Percy saved the world twice, then any god can kill Percy and not suffer divine consequence.

If that's the case, then I feel sorry for Annabeth because she has to calm him down and stop him from pissing off the gods. It must be exhausting for her.

A potential reason for why Rick didn't make Ares love his children, and an explanation for why he should have

So, in the PJO series, Rick makes Ares hate his children. Or, if not hate, at the very least ignore them and be abusive to them like all the other gods.

And I've always found this an odd choice, because in the myths, Ares really loved his children more than the other gods. He killed his daughter's rapist, who was a son of Poseidon, whom we also know loved his children, and so of course Ares probably knew that Poseidon would retaliate, right? And Poseidon is more powerful than Ares and he could definitely hurt him if he wanted to.

And Ares still kills Poseidon's son anyway, because he raped his daughter Alcippe, knowing that he would most likely be punished for this and he still does it. That just speaks volumes of love when he could've ignored his daughter for his own safety.

He also gives Hippolyta a magical belt that makes her stronger because she's the best out of all the Amazons, implying his pride about it.

He tries to avenge his son Cycnus when Heracles slays him-and Cycnus DESERVES IT, he literally stole Apollo's sacred grove and his offerings, and Ares still tries to avenge his death (they were even riding chariots together when Heracles encountered them, do what you will with that).

And a lot of people say that Rick made Ares neglect his children for the sake of the plot, but here's my counter argument-

Rick should've made Ares love his children TO STRENGTHEN PERCY'S BELIEF IN FIGHTING FOR THE GODS.

Imagine not knowing if you're even fighting on the right side. Imagine wondering if Kronos really was right, does your godly parent care about you?

And then imagine seeing Ares come down and talk to his children and encourage them.

And you're envious that they get to see their parent and you don't, but you also feel that fighting spirit come into you. This man, right here, he's showing that the gods can change, that they're not all bad, that there's something worth fighting for on their side.

(Also cue the angst and comedy of Ares and Percy hating each other and Ares being a good parent to his kids and actually being there for them while the whole Poseidon and Percy shebang goes on).

All right, so this was just a spur of the moment rant that I spontaneously started writing, so it might not be the best thing.

The main point of this short essay was to see how sexism free societies in fantasy aren't really sexism free. Or how supposedly 'progressive' societies aren't really that progressive. But, ah, I suppose I went a little off the rails. I might edit this later.

Ok……see, the thing about sexism-free societies is that women have rights, responsibilities and freedom like men. They can dress up in pants and shorts, not just skirts, and they're allowed to be masculine. They can fight, climb, run, punch, all of that. But………but what about the MEN? Are they allowed to be feminine? A stay at home dad? A stay at home husband? Can they fulfill traditionally feminine roles? Can they wear MAKEUP? Can they wear DRESSES and GIRLY JEWELRY? Is that ALLOWED? What about nail polish? What about growing their hair out and wearing them in styles? What about them being submissive and kind? WHAT ABOUT IT? Why do we feel so weird when this happens? I've read so many novels and series where women could be like men, but men couldn't be like women. Literally when have we seen a man wearing a dress or makeup or just being feminine? I think that throughout history, women were seen as weak and untrustworthy, so when the feminists started fighting for us, they wanted to be more like MEN to be seen as better and more dependable, so they discarded feminine things that made them seem weak. And now, today, women are allowed to be masculine and all that jazz, but men aren't allowed to be feminine without being looked at weird and avoided. And that's sexism. So if you really don't discriminate on the basis of gender, then, well, LET MEN BE FEMININE!

Completely random, but I just skipped through RR's Greek gods book and OH MY GODS. I already knew that he has a hate boner for Athena, but this? I regret having eyes. Is it weird that the ending of that fucking chapter infuriated me the most, like a cherry on top? "Well, just like that she can have kids, don't come at me with that virgin goddess bs lol" I will strangle you in your kitchen ricky you jackass

No need to worry about random posts, I'll answer all of them.

Yeah........I wonder how knowledgeable he is about the Greek Gods. Did he get a degree in Classical Studies or did he just read the myths and go 'Yeah I can do that'. It seems more likely that he did the second one.

Rick Riordan's PJO book on Greek Gods is the last thing I would recommend to anyone who wanted to read about them-actually, I wouldn't recommend it at gunpoint.

It's not about the literal sense of having kids through brain magic-it's about the symbolism, the fact that Athena cannot fall in love and have kids because that is directly contradictory to her domain as a goddess of wisdom and war. If she fell in love and had children with men, then she would no longer be able to stop love from clouding her head and she'd no longer have her wits about her head and she would no longer be able to call those domains her own.

No emotional support and heavy procrastination tendencies, this next year's going to be one hell of a year for me.

Hello! I saw your post abt Annabeth and how she was born, and I was wondering if I could get your permission to make it like “canon” in some fanfics I’m writting, giving you the credits of course

Sure!

If the Real Greek Gods met their PJO counterparts, WW3 would definitely happen.

Artemis is supposed to be the protector of young girls, not trick them into joining an eternal hunting/death cult, take them to witness wars and punish them if they want to leave. She would not isolate them from society and freeze their biological development. She would not kick lesbians out of the hunt. If Real Artemis met PJO Artemis, she'd hunt her down ruthlessly and slaughter her as painfully as possible.

If Real Zeus met PJO Zeus, he'd be throwing him into Tartarus. What do you mean you're a bumbling, incompetent king that can't be bothered to take care of his own kids and doesn't let the others see them? Tartarus for you, asshole!

If Real Apollo met PJO Apollo, I think that he'd be disappointed. Kind of mad, but mostly disappointed. Apollo seems to be a good dad, but he's still vain and narcissistic when Real Apollo isn't really like that.

If Real Hades met PJO Hades, he'd be roaring at him for breaking justice by sending monsters after a twelve year old girl for no fault of her own just because of what her father did to his lover. He'd be screaming at the way Hades sent his son down into Tartarus of all places for no good reason. Honestly Hades would also throw PJO Hades into Tartarus.

If Real Hera met PJO Hera, she'd be disgusted by her. Liking perfect families only? Beefing with literal children who aren't even Zeus' bastards? Leaving a hero to wander the streets when said hero saved Olympus? No gratitude at all? No, honey, straight into Tartarus for you too.

If Real Ares met PJO Ares.........oh boy, the fight would destroy most of New York, I should think. It would kill millions of people and animals. Real Ares would be rearing to rip PJO Ares apart.

If Real Athena met PJO Athena, she'd be horrified at how Athena treated her lovers and children. She would literally fight her and make her swear on the Styx to never dump babies on men without their consent. Actually, she'd use her wits to throw PJO Athena into Tartarus.

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

How would you write PJO and HOO?

What makes Percy Jackson so interesting-being set in America-is also what makes it problematic. Any excuse given for moving the Greek Gods out of Greece and to America would have been bullshit, but combining ancient mythological creatures and modern day culture and technology can also be a really funny gag (Rick Riordan can write comedy pretty well).

I do think that it could be set in Greece and still be interesting, though, so if I rewrote PJO, I'd do a lot of research and set it in Greece and I wouldn't make fun of the culture. Also I would add the children of Greek immigrants.

I'd definitely get rid of the weird sexism surrounding Aphrodite's daughters and cabin in the books.

I wouldn't make Artemis and her Hunt hate men, I'd make them be clueless about men and turn it into a comedy (men do THIS? No wonder you're so behind! We in the wild do [something completely absurd and simply undoable in modern say society that can be done in her Hunt because it's timeless and in the wild] Far superior).

If I could rewrite HOO, I'd get rid of all the sexism and racism entirely. The characters could actually travel over the world and it would be more impactful to focus on how pollution is affecting the world.

OR, to make it an entertaining and intriguing fictional series-FOCUS ON THE POLITICS. HOO is supposed to be for older audiences, for teenagers, right? Well, plenty of people get into politics at 15-16, so focus on introducing them to politics! See my post here (it's not fully finished but it's better than nothing).

Realistically speaking, there would definitely have been a Hades cabin

Ok, so I know that the whole 'Hades is excluded and looked down upon' plot in the OG PJO series was interesting, but I just wanted to say-

Realistically, there would most certainly have been a Hades cabin at Camp Half Blood.

Hades was a feared god. People were scared to death by him (figuratively). But he was also hella respected. No one wanted to anger Hades, because he would have your soul for eternity and if he didn't like you..........not a nice way to spend the rest of your afterlife.

People worshipped him. They were scared to speak his name for fear that he would hear and kill them early. They respected and worshipped him because like all gods, he would get angry if they didn't.

So when Camp Half Blood was made, they would most certainly have dedicated a cabin to him out of fear and respect.

It didn't matter if he didn't have any demigods. They would build it for him out of respect, like Hera and Artemis. He was a major god in Greece even if he wasn't an Olympian.

And his demigods would be feared, but they would also be respected. No one would actively exclude them for fear of Hades or his children getting angry.

Not trying to criticise or hate here, just posting my honest thoughts. Feel free to debate with me.