Curate, connect, and discover
Sorry if any of this feels disjointed. This is my first time doing a character and plot rewrite.
I think Jason had loads of potential to be a great character, but it was messed up in TBM.
If you want more details, I wrote a post about my thoughts: https://www.tumblr.com/criminalmutantsins/698742446518091776/jason-grace-deserved-better-this-is-just-my?source=share
To add on to the post, I’ll explain what I would change.
Jason and Piper are together in TBM, but there would be dialogue explaining how it was tough “starting over” their relationship(like Blood of Olympus very much hinted) and that they had to do individual soul searching before building a better foundation for their relationship. Piper would have doubts about their relationship and still question if Aphrodite and Hera’s interference is why they are together.
Piper’s father would still lose his money but earlier, so Piper would move back to Oklahoma. Jason would go back and forth between Camp Half-Blood, building plans for the shrines. They still communicate except as friends. This would give them time to individuate and learn more about themselves(they would be broken up). Piper would realize her bisexuality and become attracted to Shel. They date, but it only last for a few months because Piper still has feelings for Jason. Her doubts of the relationship are resolved; however, she waits so she doesn’t pressure Jason. Speaking of Jason, after working for months on the shrines, he wishes to take a break and start acting/doing things for himself(hang out with friends, relaxing, etc). Jason’s feelings for Piper are still the same and, after a while, he talks to her about it. They get back together with Jason going to Oklahoma to be closer to Piper and try living a regular life. This could be good representation on how relationships take a lot of work and time, but can be worth it when there is love and communication.
By the time The Burning Maze starts, Jason and Piper have been together for a month and are a stronger team. However, Jason is having trouble adjusting to having a normal because of his sense of responsibility to be a leader and protector. Between the couple getting together and TBM, they find another entrance to the Labyrinth and Jason learns about the prophecy. Safe to say, he is really stressed.
Instead of the prophecy saying that either Jason or Piper would die, I would change it to either one having to make a great sacrifice. Jason would still fight Caligula. It would be monumental for Jason’s character, and a big fight. Jason would lose, though he would escape with the group with grievous injuries and would be out of commission for the rest of the book. These injuries would result in Jason being paralyzed from the waist down, sacrificing a big part of his identity- being a strong fighter, something he is mostly known for. Jason would have to learn to adjust to the change and further learn more about himself. Though, thanks to Leo’s skills and a battle-ready wheelchair, Jason can still fight, he decides to mostly stay in the sidelines and be a tactician.
I think about apollo and artemis so often. apollo is physically and emotionally abused by his father and his support system is basically non-existent, the only person he could've talked to is artemis because she knows how to deal with victims of abuse, she has been doing this for centuries but artemis unknowingly contributes to apollo's abuse by the nagging/lecturing (boo)which makes apollo believe that his father is in the right and the problem lies with apollo and this renders apollo even more unable to speak up. they're literally so special to me.they slowly drift apart because of the facade apollo puts on as a result of the abuse. artemis starts being constantly annoyed at her brother's presence because apollo now acts even more impulsively and triggers zeus' wrath and he's just an idiot in general who flirts with her hunters but she still gets worried when apollo doesnt drop in at the hunt atleast once every 3 weeks but tells herself that he must be fooling off on olympus with the other pompous fools or persuing some mortal. apollo doesn't listen to his father, doesn't pay attention at olympian meetings, calls her little sis despite knowing she helped delivered him and this all just makes her madder at him but he's her brother so she tolerates him. she thinks he's an idiot but is unaware of the fact that her dear little brother is an abuse victim, that too at the hands of their father. there's no way artemis has corelated apollo with abuse because cmon, apollo is an olympian, one of the most powerful beings, what creature would dare hurt him? and even if any did, he would take artemis' help because they're meant to fight side by side, as siblings, as they did against typhon and all the enemies of olympus.plus,apollo is very dramatic and expressive so either he'd tell her or she'd find it out herself.artemis is a daddy's girl, she knows that zeus is sometimes hard on apollo but it's because apollo was being an idiot again, and her father was just doing his job as king. apollo and artemis slowly drift apart as apollo tries to sheild his sister from the dark parts of his life and artemis is blissfully ignorant to the abuse happening behind the scenes and apollo thinks he's succeeded but he's left with loneliness and a constant sense of despair. he thinks his sister hates him because she never attends any of his concerts and she snaps and bickers with him whenever they meet and never has anything to good to say about him (ttc, boo) and doesn't want him around. as godlings they were so close and told each other everything ̶ ̶(except the truth about the python incident) and had secrets they kept from their mother but now they hardly have any meaningful conversation and all they do is bicker which is why artemis never told apollo about moonwater and the waystation. artemis never even defends his name in front of others (boo->its athena that steps in).
I love artemis unknowingly contributing to the abuse. themz<3
Thinking about Jason Grace, a kid who fought for approvl for a parent he never really knew yet still feared. Felt like he couldn’t do anything without his father, praying to him for power. Boy who died and his father barely cared, boy who DIED FOR THE GODS and ultimately died for nothing, STILL not getting tbe one thing he wanted for most of his life. Jason Grace is really a sixteen year old kid isn’t he? Because god knows I felt the same. God knows Jason Grace. I know. i know.
This is one of my many gripes with HoO. Rick should have really not included Percy in the main plot if he wanted others to shine. Or just done the whole "Romans were involved in the Titan War, and they fought against Kronos by assaulting his stronghold at Mt. Othrys" thing but with Percy and Annabeth. Because realistically, when everyone meets up for the first time, the Lost Trio should have absolutely known all of Percy's exploits. I refuse to believe that the campers at CHB didn't absolutely rave on about Percy. And the whole who should be the leader situation shouldn't have been a question at all. I mean the Savior of Olympus and the Commander of the Demigod Army of Olympus is among you, but by all means, fight about who to pick as leader. It's not like it's self-explanatory.
Plus, most of the time, they traveled by the sea routes. And it's hard not to make it all about Percy when they are literally in his domain. Plus, the whole Tartarus situation obviously highlighted Percy as well since he was the only realistic choice for someone who could survive Tartarus and fight his way through the pit.
And then some stans have the audacity to blame people who were hyped for Percy the most over the new characters arguing that they are the main characters not Percy. Come on you can't expect all the people who grew up with Percy Jackson books and absolutely love Percy to not be more hyped about his return.
Plus it would have been manageable if Percy was in only one or two books but Percy is 4 of the 5 major books and not just as cameos but literally a main character. So it is natural that he would overshadow the newer characters in comparison no matter what. Because at that point, no one in the Seven had anything that even remotely compared to Percy's feats.
Rick realized how much he fucked up by adding Percy into the story and had to change things up last minute. That's why BoO is such a shit finale. Percy didn’t even have a pov for the entirety of Blood of Olympus but he still he was the one whose blood Gaea awoke to and he was the key player in the last fight at Camp Half Blood. If Rick had been actually consistent throughout HoO and had the balls to continue with the story as is, then Percy would have been the Storm part of "To Storm or Fire the world must fall." Obviously, Percy can summon storms, hurricanes, and so on, but more importantly, we have clear information on which God is associated with storms. Poseidon is literally called Stormbringer multiple times throughout the original series, and Percy is his son so lore wise, logically, and also keeping with plot consistency. The Storm part should have been Percy.
Now, not only does it ruin the entire buildup leading up to the finale, but it also undermines the other characters who were almsot hastily shoveled into their roles in the finale. Jason deserved more and should have ended up in Octavian's position or higher. The Pontifex and so on. Frank should have made Praetor anyway, but I hate that all of his insecurity was resolved by giving him Mar's blessing and pulling a magical transformation. He deserved his own arc and to shine through his own strength and mindset. Leo's was decently done save for the whole Calypso Leo situation. Hazel was awesome in the last two books, but we totally needed more of her. Piper’s arc, I am not really sure about her. Feel free to reblog with your own ideas.
Don't even get me started on the whole Gaea being put back to sleep thing. That's an entire conversation in itself but the point is Rick chose not to exclude Percy or limit Percy's appearances in HoO then realized his monumental mistake and fucked it up at the last second.
when you get kidnapped and get your memories wiped by the queen of the gods for six months, have to trek across california, find this new camp of demigods, go on a quest to find their legion standard, get your memories back by gambling your life, fight off an army to defend this new camp of demigods, reunite with your girlfriend, get chased across the country by the demigods you fought to defend, fight your way through the deadly mediterranean, arrive in rome, send your girlfriend off for a suicide quest, fall into tartarus with said girlfriend, fight your way to the doors of death, escape tartarus, fight giants, get slapped back to camp half-blood, and then you get sidelined for the big fight because apparently you need to "take a step back"