NICO IS SMART AND YOU CAN'T CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.
Okay actually like why does nobody talk about Leo and Echo bc that chapter is gonna make me cry.
“Leo closed his eyes, but the memory of her smile was already fading”
why don’t you just kill me now actually
Annabeth's fatal flaw is hubris until Percy is in danger and she takes a knife for him out of loyalty. Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty until he has to relent his pride to reject Godhood and let Luke defeat Kronos to become the true hero of Olympus. A young Annabeth didn't need loyalty, because people never stuck around for her. A young Percy had his pride of self beaten out of him in every rejection from teachers and classmates.
Annabeth learns loyalty from the boy that sticks around for her, that sneaks onto a deadly quest just to find her. Percy learns pride from the girl that believes in him and trusts his judgement, unlike every other person who deems him too unintelligent to be a leader. Even when Percy seems to draw closer to Rachel, Annabeth has learnt not to give up on those who drift away from her. When Percy believes he will be killed by Kronos, he has learnt to still fight because he--"troubled, useless" Percy--can make a difference. They taught each other this.
They are always unknowingly synchronised, following the same journey of growth and borrowing from each other, the good and the bad. They are each other's fatal flaw and greatest strength.
“It's taboo to admit that you're lonely. You can make jokes about it, of course. You can tell people that you spend most of your time with Netflix or that you haven't left the house today and you might not even go outside tomorrow. But rarely do you ever tell people about the true depths of your loneliness, about how you feel more and more alienated from your friends each passing day and you're not sure how to fix it. It seems like everyone is just better at living than you are. A part of you knew this was going to happen. Growing up, you just had this feeling that you wouldn't transition well to adult life, that you'd fall right through the cracks. And look at you now, it's happening.”
“Burn the witch! Burn the witch!” shouted the crowd, drowning out the distressed warnings of one person. “No, you fools! She can control the flames!”
rip "we drowned in a bathtub." "all three of you?" scene. gone but not forgotten.
㋡🥀
This exchange between Leo and Jason is really poignant. I like it. Rick Riordan gets almost philosophical with that line from Jason, and I really like it.
"Trust me, Hephaestus cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare. When a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen. Really bad".
"Maybe it's the other way around," Jason suggested. "Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things are happening because that's when they're needed most."