if we ignore all the stuff that's gone wrong ive kind of had nothing but wins

when the article is titled "17 unknown facts I bet you didn't know" but i already know five of those:

I really don't care if Miley Cyrus smoked a bong. She's 18? She can live her own life...

you all misunderstood percy’s reaction to nico saying he used to have a crush on percy soooo bad. “percy was offended he wasn’t nico’s type” this “percy is so oblivious” that HOW have we all forgotten that nico literally wanted that man DEAD in the first series. and allowed percy to walk around with kidnapppng amnesia for most of the second. WHY would percy think he was nico’s type AT ALL why ON EARTH would he NOT be oblivious to nico having a crush on him???? he is certain that nico wants him homeless on the street at LEAST

imagine writing this. imagine writing percy increasingly losing himself to his anger and his resentment, sympathizing with Luke, spiraling, being immensely powerful, burning away at his mortality, and not knowing how to deal with any of it. Desperate for help and the one time he breaks down enough to try and get it (Jason) his worst thoughts and perceptions of himself are inadvertently affirmed. He never talks about it to Annabeth. He never talks about it to his mom. Oh but everyone is aware of it. Aware of his anger. Afraid of his anger. Concerned for him and by him. They give each other looks, worried, because they recognize what a danger he could be — to himself, to others, to the gods. But no one says anything, at least not to Percy. No one helps him. No one intervenes. They don't know how to, it seems. (Or maybe they're afraid to). And so they all pretend everything is fine. Percy pretends, bottling it all up inside until the pressure gets too great and that anger boils over and he loses it all over again. He's so desperate for normalcy that he'll take anything, believes in all of the sweet, sugar-spun tales of New Rome and looks away from the rotting underside. He lets himself believe that once he's there the gods will have to leave him alone, because he's done with it all, he's retired (and the gods always keep their promises don't they?).

Imagine writing what is arguably the well-plotted, compelling, and tragic beginnings of a fallen hero arc for percy and none of it being intentional.

RR's penchant for Percy to be explosively angry and scarily powerful, alongside characterizing him as jaded and resentful and desperate, mixed with his refusal to write any in-depth emotional resolution to any time Percy snaps has created an enthralling narrative of a hero just about to fall from grace. and it's all seemingly an accident.

Oh, and another, amazing, unintentional coincidence? if you're taking RR's word that Percy is still 17, that's also the age Luke was when he failed his quest, marking the beginning of his fall as a hero. Like. The narrative parallels are all there. And without any meaning for them to be.

Camp Jupiter when Percy shows up:

God there's something about the idea that Hector was wearing Achilles's old armor when he faced him to die. when Achilles saw Hector he saw a mirror of himself, and he knew exactly where to aim

annabeth taking the knife for percy was peak impulsiveness at that stage of their relationship. because up until this point of the series. if i'm remembering correctly. all of annabeth actions were calculated. even her stubborn actions had merit. but taking the knife? knowing he was invulnerable? but taking the knife? knowing that him watching you cry out in agony hurt him just the same if he had been stabbed? but taking the knife? and then lying on a cot in the glisten of the setting sun? vulnerable and slow? grounding him like he's the one who needed saving? like watching you bleed out is enough to kill him? and touching the small of his back brings him back to life? impulsiveness turned romantic. turned angst. turned 'all the words i didn't say but you heard them anyway'. don't talk to me.

listen I hate Luke but also I love Luke he's my favorite 20-something trainwreck and he was right about everything except the things he was very wrong about and he's very dumb <3 and a lot of his problems are just the consequences of his own actions and the fates hate him and his mortal enemy is a middle schooler and he was soooo obsessed with glory and revenge when really he just needed to be an Abercrombie & Fitch model cause it was like 2005 and everything about him is so tragic and it's all so very funny

Luke being given a quest at 17, feeling like there's no glory in it because it's a quest someone's already succeeded before, but then failing that very quest he considered to be beneath him, getting a permanent scar, "ruining it" for the rest of the campers because now no one else can go on quests and earn glory in the eyes of the gods, so he turns to Kronos, and years later here comes a possible candidate for the great prophecy, 12 years old, gets the first quest the camp has done since Luke's fucked it up, and Luke is actively ensuring this quest is an impossible quest!! he's literally rigged it so Percy's gonna fail (the shoes, the bolt appearing in his bag) and then this kid somehow succeeds still??? and not only that, Percy got the unique quest Luke wanted in the first place and achieved feats no one else had and earned glory in the eyes of his father, all because Luke created the circumstances for that to happen??

oh my god yeah I don't think I'd ever recover from that either

america city

population: everyone

If you're lamenting the fact that you used to be able to shoot through a 500-page novel in like a day when you were in middle school and now you can't, it's worth bearing in mind that a big part of that is because when you were in middle school, your reading comprehension sucked. Yes, mental health and the stresses of adult life can definitely be factors, but it's also the case that reading is typically more effortful as an adult because you've learned to Ponder The Implications. The material isn't just skimming over the surface of your brain anymore, and some of the spoons you used to spend on maximising your daily page count are now spent on actually thinking about what you're reading!

oh and I sincerely believe that Poseidon telling Percy "You're my favorite child" was absolutely a manipulation tactic/power play and it worked

Luke Castellan should've been at the club

probably a huge reach but I do wonder if percy’s refusal to explain his plans to anyone was influenced by him telling bianca his plan and then her getting herself killed trying to execute it