Curate, connect, and discover
WHY does no one remember that the name of Piper's ZIT is BOB.
Small Bob
Titan Bob
ZIT BOB
No thank you.
I can Almost imagine how Impressive you have to be To Pull THE percy Jackson. Like pulling any Demi-God is great but PERCY?!? The son of posiden?!? THE SAVIOR of Olympus?!?
I headcanon that Percy is really just out of Anyone's League And You gotta be Pretty damn Special to be able to Pull him
Like imagine Fumbling him or breaking his heart
THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
Like come on Rick you are telling me Percy the greatest demigod of all time Jackson has to be paired up with someone who has nothing in common with him, frequently condescends him, literally forces her own views on him, hates his father, has a mother who tried to kill Percy, is controlling and toxically possessive of him and most importantly someone who has completely different life goals than him?? It doesn't even make sense when you look at it rationally.
I think Rick himself was trying to put Percy down in post Son of Neptune books by making his personality all about Annabeth.
We are talking about the Savior of Olympus, the bearer of Achilles Curse, the strongest demigod, the man who denied immortality from the King of Gods, Poseidon's favorite son, the only demigod to have been approached by other Pantheons first and well respected among their demigod equivalents, the only male demigod to have respect of Artemis, only one to be favored by so many Gods on the Olympian Council and that's only pre-Heroes of Olympus.
The Survivor of Tartarus, the demigod whose blood even Gaia wanted to wake to due to his power, the first and only Greek to be made a Praetor and now two times savior of Olympus. This is all without mentioning his singular and unique feats, and he has many.
AND THIS IS WHAT RICK DOES WITH HIS CHARACTER ARC????
Had Rick not been so obsessed with shoving Percabeth down our throats, he could have totally made Seafam Arc, and all our fics would have not been fics. We wouldn't even have needed headcanons for seafam cause Amphitrite and Triton and all of Atlantis would have absolutely loved him cause come on, it's Percy. It's impossible not to love him. So let's assume that's exactly what happened.
So the whole of Atlantis, Seafam, and most of the Olympian Gods love Percy and not to mention Sally and Paul, who are also very protective of Percy.
The new Lord of the Wild is his best friend, The Lieutenant of Artemis is his other best friend and cousin, both the children of Hades/Pluto are his best friends/cousins, the only other demigod to be blessed by Poseidon with a rare gift is also his very close friend not to mention other members of the Seven also respect him greatly and owe him quite a bit.
Hestia, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Artemis,Hades, Hepheastus, and even Dionysus and River gods either openly favor him or have much respect for him. (Poseidon and the Seafam are implied, Bob and Damasen as well).
This isn't even taking into account all the pegasi and nymphs and sea creatures who love him and that he has a literal hell hound.
Percy not only has friends in high places and the favor of literal gods on top of being Poseidon's favorite son as told by Poseidon himself, all the people with special abilities are all close friends with him.
In Riordanverse, Percy is like the only person you don't want to cross like ever.
So you know logically if anyone needs an explanation as to why Annabeth isn't a good match for him and someone like Rachel would have fit much better. A mortal blessed with sight much like his Mother later turned Oracle of Delphi, the girl who saved his life in literally the very first two encounters they have, a girl under protection of Olympians and blessed by Apollo?
Apollo could have definitely waived the celibacy rule as there have been mentions of married women later becoming oracles in Greek mythology( May Castellan too if you count the books) and that the rule is only to prove devotion to the God nothing more. And if Apollo can't, then Delphi, who is a spirit older than Gods themselves, could just change allegiances. She once belonged to Poseidons' domain, so there's that.
But since I am biased in favor of Rachel, literally any other ship but Percabeth would have been logical and fitting and better off compatibility wise.
Post-tartarus Percy and Annabeth and even post tartarus Nico weren't written well at all. Tartarus makes them manic, always on edge, jumpy. This is PTSD and it doesn't just go away. Not to mention, they lost Bob and Damasen.
Yes, sure, one could argue there weren't many opportunities for Rick to explore how Tartarus changed Percy in Heroes of Olympus series. There still should have been mentions.
Rick focused on Bob and Damasen part for a bit and then never again. It's like after Tartarus arc, Percy and Annabeth were back to being themselves, which is such a character assassination. Here are a few ways in which I think Tartarus changed Percy:
PART 1-PERCY
Percy becomes hypervigilant at all times.
He can barely sleep, and whenever he does, he is always affected by terrible nightmares.
He feels extremely guilty about not being able to save Bob and Damasen and hence is now extremely protective of his other friends and family.
He no longer feels at all safe in his cabin or at camp and avoids it since Hera abducting him from there led to the whole thing.
He spends large amounts of time away from the camp and avoids other demigods because he is constantly afraid he is going to hurt someone.
Percy only ever feels truly safe by the sea .
Percy knows how delicate Sally and Paul act around him, and he hates it and hates himself for it. They don't say a word even when his screams wake them up. In fact, they just sit beside him, holding his hand and letting him cry or scream. Mostly, he just finds himself shutting down.
Poseidon also makes his own protective tendencies known, and when Percy gets too manic to stay anywhere, he whisks him away to Atlantis to calm him and give him comfort.
Every night, Percy finds a place to look at the stars and repeat the same message : Bob says hello.
He becomes an entirely different person when attacked when fighting monsters. A killing machine. It scares most people especially Annabeth.
Percy becomes a lot more aloof and likes being by himself (so he doesn't have to bear the responsibility for protecting someone other than him for a while)
He becomes a bit more pensive and talks less than usual.
He hates his own power but doesn't shy away from using it in dangerous situations. But this leaves him with a long internal struggle.
He begins to think of himself as monstrous.
He can't feel at ease without feeling Riptide in his grasp.
Somedays the nightmares, the memories get so worse that he has to make himself bleed to take the worst of it away.
He becomes skeptical of most things: people, and food and objects.
Everyone makes sure not to bring Calypso in the same room as him lest he kill her then and there. It takes him a long time to forgive her.
Percy is now so good at sensing monsters that he is always ten steps ahead of everyone.
The worst of it is Percy's constant need to fight something. He spars with multiple strong opponents to at least make it a bit challenging for him. It makes him feel like Ares, and he hates it.
Percy's first true genuine smile is when he finds out he is going to have a baby sister.
Will cover Annabeth's and then Nico's in the next parts. This is enough ptsd for all of us for one day.