Let’s Talk About Percy And Poseidon, And Their Nature And Powers Here For A Second.

Let’s talk about Percy and Poseidon, and their nature and powers here for a second.

I’m gonna start with Poseidon; I’m aware of the whole “Zeus-is-supposedly-the-most-powerful-because-he’s-king” and whatnot, but let’s look at it from a power and worship perspective.

While, yes, Zeus is extremely powerful, his typical powers in mythology consist of throwing lightning bolts, controlling the weather (rain, snow, etc.), and causing thunderstorms. And then the other powers the gods have, such as superstrength and shapeshifting and such (this is very dependent on the source, however, because there are thousands of versions of these myths). His introduction is usually along the lines of “Lord Zeus, King of the gods, god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, and justice.” He was worshipped mainly out of fear, as he was the King of the Gods, but he was also worshipped by farmers in hopes he would provide them with rain for their crops.

But then we have Poseidon. His introduction, much like in PJO, typically goes something like “Lord Poseidon, earthshaker, god of the sea and horses, protector of sailors” Along with controlling the sea, Poseidon also has control over all water in general and holds authority over all ocean/river spirits. He was worshipped almost non-stop because of how reliant the Greeks were on the ocean for travel and trade, and this worship and praise partially stemmed from fear, but a lot of it was also out of respect for the ocean. He was also commonly worshipped as a fertility god. He even had the Isthmian Games held in his honor, which was one of the Pan-Hellenic festivals held in Greece. And, in many stories, he is often worshipped for many things that have little to no relation to the sea, and have more to do with the land.

And this is from a purely mythological standpoint. If we take a look at PJO, however, we see that most of this carries through. I’m not going to reexplain everything above, but I am going to jump to TLO. In TLO we have this scene:

And, yeah, Poseidon isn’t necessarily winning, but as he said, he’s been fighting for a year, and from what we can gather he’s practically fighting the monsters in the army by himself. Also, later on, we see that the majority of the Olympians (save Demeter and Poseidon, and even Hades and Hestia) are fighting Typhoon and that the only reason they end up winning is because Poseidon comes and helps. Again, I know it wasn’t just Poseidon, the cyclopes and such helped as well.

And I’d like to briefly touch on the fact that, while Zeus’ titles are pretty straightforward, Poseidon’s, in particular, “Earthshaker,” is much more ambiguous. In the modern world, we know that earthquakes are caused by seismic activity and that tsunamis are often a result of high magnitude earthquakes in coastal areas. However, there’s something else that is caused by seismic activity: volcanic eruptions. Often, larger earthquakes are regarded as the trigger for subsequent eruptions (*cough* Percy in botl *cough*). So while a lot of his worship did stem from sea-related things, he also has a massive influence over the land itself, which explains the worship for more land-related things in some stories. This is particularly interesting because this increases the span of his domain beyond the range of water; he’s not only controlling perhaps the most important thing in Greek life at that point in time, the sea, but he’s also controlling the very ground they walk on. And, knowing what we know about the Earth today, water is roughly 71% of the surface, while land makes up the other 29%.  Poseidon practically controls the entire earth, in some form or another, simply because of the reach of his powers (Mr. sea god really said “Gaea who🤨✋”). Not to mention that there’s also water in every living thing, and even in the air that Zeus controls. 

All of this is a long-winded way to say that arguably, Poseidon is way more powerful than Zeus, and many of the things listed are reasons people genuinely have a hard time understanding why Zeus is considered to be the most powerful Olympian when Poseidon is right there….

Okay, now onto the reason I’m writing this: Percy (duh).

This is 100% brought on by Mari talking about how Percy’s powers are so deeply ingrained into him that it would be practically impossible for the gods to physically take them away, btw.

Percy is arguable the most powerful demigod child of Poseidon to ever exist. I absolutely adore the similitude between the two of them as well, and I want to talk about their nature for a bit.

The ocean has so many faces; it can be calm and welcoming, but it can also cause mass destruction in the blink of an eye. Both of those can exist simultaneously, too, like in the eye of a hurricane or the current of a riptide. The ocean can kill without hesitation, but it can also be the place where one feels the safest, embraced in the steady push and pull of the tide.

This nature is such an inherent part of both Percy and Poseidon as individuals, too. We’re all well aware of the temper Poseidon possesses—it’s by no means glossed over in mythology—but as Percy grows as a demigod and develops his powers even further, this trait is very apparent in him as well. Percy is quick to anger and has been since before he ever knew he was a demigod. In tlt it’s said that he had to go to counseling for his anger, and one of my favorite examples of this anger is in tlo where he snaps at Nico while they’re in the underworld. And, obviously, we have a multitude of examples in hoh, where we get to see Percy let go more than he ever has.

One of my favorite things about the ocean is that it’s this practically unstoppable force, and it does anything to be in control. It’s not a coincidence that both Percy and Poseidon have the drive to be in control of situations. It’s quite literally in their nature to want to be in control of everything around them. When a ship goes out on the ocean, it has no control—the ocean does what the ocean wants, and if the ocean feels like sinking the ship, then so be it. I could delve a little deeper into the psychological aspect of this, particularly with Percy, in a nature vs. nurture argument, but I’ll spare you and simply mention how this same trait (in a much more diluted way) is experienced in Sally as well, or at least hinted at in tlt when Percy mentions her rebellious streak. Also, I can’t mention Percy and Poseidon’s relationship with control without mentioning “the sea doesn’t like to be restrained” (I think that’s a cardinal sin, actually)

However, on the flip side, both Poseidon and Percy (and also Sally) are also very “go-with-the-flow” kinds of people. They strive to be in control, sure, but they don’t get discouraged when something gets in their way. They adapt and they overcome. Kind of like that line in MoA (this may be inaccurate; it might not even be from the books at all, I could be making this shit up for all I remember) that goes something like “given time, the sea could overcome any restraints.” 

And, I love this, because, for any of you who know anything about the ocean, you can’t beat it by fighting. If you get pulled out in a riptide, your best bet is to let the current pull you out. The more you struggle, the higher your chances are of drowning, and the more control you give to the ocean (which is already stronger than you’d ever be).

There’s something so poetic about the riptide metaphor, though. The way that we see Percy struggle with control in every book—the way he’s constantly fighting himself in HoO and has to restrain himself from letting go—is such a great part of his character, and it’s even better when you look at him and his control through the light of the riptide. The more Percy tries to hold on to his control, the more he struggles. It’s not until we see him begin to yield to his anger almost completely (Akhyls), until he lets the riptide of his anger carry him away, that he begins to feel okay. Which, may not make sense because of how he reacted afterward when Annabeth stopped him, but how many times do you remember him mentioning feeling like he was drowning after that? Was he ever truly scared of drowning, or was he afraid of the ocean inside of him taking control?

The way that Percy and Poseidon’s powers are so linked to who they are by nature is honestly perfect. 

In conclusion, I’m fueling my dark!Percy and Let Percy Go Apeship agendas, and also forming a new Let Poseidon Overthrow Zeus agenda.