Solangelo Is Not Grumpy X Sunshine

Ok, is anyone going to talk about Gunilla bullying Samirah? This is Magnus Chase from the Riordanverse BTW.

So we know that Samirah became a Valkyrie when she was fourteen and she's 16 in the MCGA series. And it states that Gunilla actively disliked and maybe even bullied Samirah because of her father.

Gunilla was 18 when she died and had centuries of experience under her belt. She should be more mature about this. And then she decides to go and bully Samirah, a teenage minor, over her parentage, something she can't control? Samirah doesn't even LIKE Loki and Gunilla still bullies her because of the whole terrible romance with the son of Loki.

Samirah, who was 14, 15 and then 16, who was living out a very stressful double life with her grandparents who COULD NOT be exposed to the magical world as it would destroy their brains, and really wanted to keep her Valkyrie job. Are you listening to this ridiculousness? And Gunilla also sabotages Samirah further editing her video footage of Magnus. Brilliant, Gunilla. Really Valkyrie worthy!

Yeah, ok, Gunilla may have died at the end of the first book, but I don't really care for her. (IMO she died because Alex was coming and Rick couldn't let them clash. Would've been so interesting to see though.)

Why not make Gunilla a mentor to Samirah? Like, she sees this poor teenage girl who's struggling to live a double life and she could help her with it. Enroll in her high school (cue the comedy). Just make excuses for her every time and cover for her with her grandparents, saying that she's a fellow tutor. It would make Gunilla more likable and her death more tragic and meaningful.

What if Gisela had been nicer to Keefe?

One thing that puzzled me was-why the hell was Gisela so toxic to Keefe?

What if she acted nice towards Keefe and gave him more love, not just small doses? Then she could have swayed him to her side way more easily!

Imagine Cassius being a terrible father, but Gisela being a kind, sweet mother-at least that's her facade.

She slowly grooms Keefe to be what she needs him to be-subtly drops hints about the injustice of the Lost Cities, pitting Cassius and Keefe against each other, playing the doting mother when Cassius is angry.

Then Keefe wouldn't have rebelled so hard-he would've been taken in. And when Gisela revealed herself, she could have told him about the injustice that she had been showing him for years.

And Keefe would have had to make a decision. Stay with the Black Swan, or join the Neverseen? And he struggles with this decision over the course of the series. Sophie or his mother?

Because clearly the Black Swan's not doing anything, but the Neverseen is trying.

But the Neverseen's methods are horrible, while the Black Swan is more passive and preferable.

Still, there's so much injustice........

It would've made the book where Keefe join the Neverseen so much juicier.

Just imagine Gisela welcoming Keefe into the ranks. Imagine her teaching him, spending time with him like the old days-

AND IMAGINE HIM BETRAYING HER AND RUNNING AWAY WITH THE STOLEN CACHES.

Imagine her disappointment, her fury. Keefe's overwhelming guilt and shame, but he did the right thing, didn't he?

Except the Black Swan's not getting closer to doing anything, and the Neverseen members weren't as evil as he thought they'd be-they actually seemed to be humane, behaving like normal elves instead of evil people. Humanise the villains.

Aah, my heart, so much ANGST.

More PJO bullshit, this time regarding Hera

I was just reading the Iliad and I came to the part where Athena tells Achilles that Hera loves both him and Agamemnon and so she sent Athena to stop them from fighting.

And I thought about PJO Hera who's stated to love only perfect families, and how untrue it was.

Agamemnon first kills his wife's first husband and son and then rapes her and forces her into marriage. He then deceives his wife and killed his daughter Iphigenia to set sail for Troy and his devastated wife Clytemnestra plots revenge against her husband and takes a lover Aegisthus. She then murders Agamemnon when he comes back.

Not the image of a perfect family, eh? But Hera still loves Agamemnon.

And Achilles' parents were separated because Thetis was an immortal and Peleus was mortal, so they couldn't stay together forever, but Hera still loves Achilles.

They both come from imperfect families, but she still loves them.

Now I wonder what the extent of Rick Riordan's knowledge regarding Greek Mythology is. Did he ever read the Iliad or the Odyssey? Is he Classics Scholar? Did he ever get a degree in anything related to Greek Mythology or did he just read the myths and was like, 'Oh yeah I can do this.'

HOW RICK PORTRAYED NYX AND GAIA

The way Rick portrays Nyx is eyebrow-raising at best, head-bashing-against-wall at worst.

Let me tell you about Nyx. She's a Primordial-not even a Titan, a Primordial.

First Generation, so powerful that she scared off Zeus himself. And she resides in Tartarus, where even the most powerful of gods fear to tread. All the monsters never mentioned her name, only called her 'Night', ALL OF THEM were scared of, even the worst ones.........

And when Percy and Annabeth finally encounter her...........she's portrayed as this foolish, crabby, whiny, woman who can easily be fooled by two demigods.

Rick is notorious for building up something exciting and then leaving it to crumble, but this one might just take the cake.

If Real Nyx sided with PJO Gaia, then Percy and Annabeth would never have survived. She's a Protegenoi-a Primordial. More powerful than the Titans, and Kronos himself took a whole book to defeat. And then she calls all her children, and then they're portrayed as dumb too. The minor gods, Nyx'x children, each more powerful than probably most of CHB put together..........

You understand what I'm getting at?

HOO is full of horrible characterisation, logic and retcons and this is just another feather in its pillow stuffing.

(I made that up on the spot ok-)

And Gaea-well, she could have been the grayest character ever.

She had so many good reasons to rise up and take back what's hers. Humans were destroying the planet. They were suffocating her and Pan was already dead-

and instead, all we got was a rash, screeching, morally very dark gray woman who was apparently 'too proud and took on a physical form too soon'.

It took only a few pages to defeat her. The fight was so anticlimatic, don't even get me started. Piper, only a demigod, being able to defeat an awakening primordial?

Aphrodite should've used charmspeak. She would have been powerful enough to send Gaea back to sleep. Along with Drew and Piper-that would have been a nice bonding moment, provided that those two don't fall asleep first.

How Nyx and Gaea are portrayed is really eye-twitching head-banging stuff.

(This is shorter than the others-feel free to add your thoughts in the comments and reblogs.)

Rereading PJO, I've realised that Rick Riordan manages to mock, denigrate and terribly represent literally all the gods except Poseidon and Hestia.

At this point, I don't know if it's funny or not, but someone give Rick one of those reverse award medals where it's actually an award for being the worst at doing something.

The book version of Golden Raspberry for representation of Greek Gods. For Rick Riordan.

Anyway, I'm finishing my Athena essay. Should be here any day now.

I don't think Percy Jackson is a moron.

The man who's writing him, however-

My dad is going to die. He's going to be taken off the ventilator and we're going to meet him and then he's going to die.

I didn't expect it to happen so soon. I knew that he had only a few years left, but I never thought that it would happen this soon. He's never going to come back and lie down. I'm never going to hug him at night again or kiss him or give him water or call him nicknames and laugh at his fake indignation.

It's weird because I found out yesterday evening. I thought that maybe he could get surgery or live, but he's choosing to die because it's been really hard for him for these past few years. And I wish that he could stay alive so that I could be with him for some more time.

I'm crying right now. I'm not feeling anything, but maybe that will change. I don't know how I'll cope or what's going to happen. I'll probably kill myself because the future is not going to be good or easy. God.........I don't know what to do.

I keep thinking about Piper and Hazel, the girls, being the ones who have unique eye colors and not Frank and Leo, the boys, who are allowed to have normal eye colours.

It's intersectionality-they're girls of color, so they have to be prettier, but the boys of color don't have to be as good-looking because they'e boys.

Which Riordan character do you think had the most wasted potential?

I can't choose because there are too many.

WHO HERE THINKS THAT WE SHOULD'VE GOTTEN MORE ANNABETH AND POSEIDON MOMENTS?

You know how Athena disapproves of and threatened Percy? Well………….DO THAT WITH POSEIDON AND ANNABETH! Let them meet. Let Annabeth squirm. Let Poseidon smile, but let it not quite reach his suddenly cold green eyes.

Let him size her up, and let her be found wanting. LET HIM SILENTLY THREATEN HER NOT TO HIT PERCY AGAIN!

Let him disapprove of Annabeth's nickname for him! Let Percy defend it, defend Annabeth from Poseidon!

Let Poseidon tell Percy that if things don't work out (in a way that he implies that he hopes it doesn't work out) that he can hook up with a sea nymph or naiad or something! This was SUCH a missed opportunity to show that Poseidon loves Percy and thinks that he can do better than a plain daughter of Athena! (Or at least Poseidon thinks so).

Can someone write this, please? I would, but I already have something else going on.