Completely Random, But I Just Skipped Through RR's Greek Gods Book And OH MY GODS. I Already Knew That

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.

Can we talk about how much the Aphrodite kids are a wasted/lost potential? How RR made them vain, vapid, mean and only useless pretty faces until Piper came? (Which is one of the characters I dislike in the books for all her internalized misogyny and the way she judged her siblings and cabinmates before even getting to know them properly). Aphrodite was worshiped as a goddess of war in her own right. Give me children of Aphrodite who are as beautiful as they are deadly, they wield their beauty both as a shield and as a sword. Give me Aphrodite kids that are so deeply loving and loyal towards each other, willing to move mountains and brave the harshest storms to keep their loved ones safe. Give me cabin 10 members being the ones that other campers go to because they know there will be no judgement there.

Can we talk about how much the Aphrodite kids are a wasted/lost potential? How RR made them vain, vapid, mean and only useless pretty faces until Piper came?

Aphrodite was worshipped as a goddess of war in her own right. Give me children of Aphrodite who are as beautiful as they are deadly, they wield their beauty both as a shield and as a sword. Give me Aphrodite kids that are so deeply loving and loyal towards each other, willing to move mountains and brave the harshest storms to keep their loved ones safe. Give me cabin 10 members being the ones that other campers go to because they know there will be no judgement there.

Exactly! Your vision for them is amazing. Of course, if they had had a writer who actually cared about fleshing them out, they could have been amazing, but unfortunately, Rick is too much of a misogynist to think past 'pink, pretty clothes, concerned about looks' = 'vain, shallow, conceited'.

The fact that his main female characters are able to look good without trying is such a cliche. A girl who looks good because she takes care of herself and is concerned about her looks (though not to the point of vanity) is much more interesting than 'Effortless Without Trying'-which is present ad nauseam in 2000s YA literature.

A son of Aphrodite would be extremely interesting to read about. How would he deal with his feminine side when he was a boy? How would others have seen and treated him? We all talk about masculine girls and feeling uncomfortable in masculinity, but talking about a feminine boy and his feminity would have been so interesting, especially in the PJOverse where Aphrodite is seen as weak. How differently is he treated from his sisters? Do they expect him to be tougher or weak just like them? How does he feel about his heritage and his mother?

Wasted potential, though we have fanfiction, discussions and headcanons, so there's that.

(Piper is one of the characters I dislike in the books for all her internalized misogyny and the way she judged her siblings and cabinmates before even getting to know them properly).

I do think that it's unfair to dislike Piper for that because she was raised in Hollywood, where it would be easy to take on such a mindset and lose yourself in it. Besides, the girls that were bullying her (both at the Wilderness School and Drew Tanaka) were all pink and feminine, so it would be easy for her to dislike them and think that they were shallow and stupid.

I'll have to reread the Lost Hero to look at her arc and how it was handled, so I'll add my thoughts after this happens.

On an unrelated note, I wish that we had gotten Piper and Drew making up. The fact that two teenage girls of color fight over a white guy and presumably don't make up again is just so aggravating to me, because female solidarity and platonic relationships are absolutely wonderful to read about.

One of the most annoying things I find about Solangelo is the lack of development, the lack of progress from platonic to romantic in their relationship.

What, you're telling me that Nico, Nico di Angelo, an important character in the original PJO series and also HOO, who gets his own POV, just suddenly gets together with a random doctor………Will Solace? We see Will in what, The Last Olympian? And then we see him again in The Lost Hero, BARELY, just a few lines, and then again in Blood of Olympus, where he tells Nico that the latter that he's dense but not stupid? Which would be enough to piss Nico off? And then in Trials of Apollo……….they're…………TOGETHER? We barely got any chemistry or screentime, and what with Nico's internalized homophobia and years-long crush on Percy……….. HE WOULD NOT DO THAT. You don't just kiss someone your gender after only MONTHS of internalized homophobia, especially when Nico is from the LITERAL 1930s, where people were MURDERED for being gay.

It's clear that Rick only gave him a partner to 'confirm' it, which is annoying, because people can be gay without having partners.

And also, Will is so random and such a random, thrown-in character that I find it funny at times. Of course, he has somewhat of a personality outside being Nico's boyfriend, but not enough to make him a good sole character.Also, he's a terrible doctor for giving Nico's medical information to other people without Nico's consent-and he's 16. He clearly knows that he shouldn't do it. And he still does it.

Everyone who's blaming Bianca should really be blaming Hades.

The man never even took his children down to the Underworld despite the fact that Maria would literally be there, she'd WANT to see her children, despite the fact that they'd be safe there with people to look after them. Zeus already knew of their existence, right? So what would Hades have said to him if Maria had agreed to come down to the underworld? And why didn't he use that excuse for Nico and Bianca?

Ok, but what if Piper was a boy and Leo was a girl?

Think about it. The male Cherokee son of Aphrodite and there can actually be a son of Aphrodite for once, not just a daughter, subverting the feminine pink beauty love goddess stereotype.

And then the Hispanic daughter of Hephaestus-we could get a muscular main character female for once, and it would inspire so many young girls! And she and Percy could bond over their mothers or something. And we wouldn't have the horrible romantic subplot with Calypso.

People who say that Hades and Persephone are the best couple in Greek Mythology sound ridiculous to me.

Have you never heard of Perseus and Andromeda?

Hades kidnapped Persephone and tricked her into eating pomegranates to stay with him for half a year; Perseus saved Andromeda from a sea monster!

Also, there are versions where Hades and Persephone both cheated on each other with Minthe and Adonis respectively. These are versions, they don't always have to be used, but they still exist.

Perseus and Andromeda? Never cheated on each other.

Hades kidnapping Persephone was symbolic, but we're taking this literally, right? And we're writing about the beginning of the story, where he kidnaps her, and that doesn't exactly sound like a great premise for a love story.

Perseus rescuing Andromeda from a sea monster on the other hand? Her marrying him? Them loving each other and never cheating on each other?

Solid love story premise right there.

Now that I've lost my dad, I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed about next year, which is important for me. I thought he'd be there to help me, but he's gone. It feels scary honestly. I don't know what to do.

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.

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!

'I miss you more than I remember you' 100 percent seems like something that Nico would say to Bianca........or Maria.