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godeyed · 1 year

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a novel based , independent , highly private and mutuals only portrayal of

𝖆𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖆𝖗𝖞𝖊𝖓 : kinslayer , aemond one - eye.

second son of king viserys the i and alicent hightower. based on george rr martin's fire and blood.

triggering themes will be tagged / include : anger and violence, murder, death, particularly child death and the celebration of it ( especially when it comes to lucerys velaryon , rest in peace king ) misogyny, mentions of incest ( but never explicitly written. ) 20+ only.

interest tracker . . . prompts

please read my rules before following : i will not follow first as i want writers to read my rules and decide for themselves if they want to follow <3

my boundaries include:

since incest unfortunately is a huge part of the ' a song of ice and fire ' universe, it can't be avoided, and so it will be mentioned ( and tagged ! ) however, it will never be explicitly written.

do not follow me if you write lucerys x aemond / lucerys x aegon.

anti - daemyra. and i just generally will not be cool w ppl writing incest in anyway which includes aemond and helaena and aemond/aegon .. pls no thank u ! i firmly rebuke all of the canon / fandom ships for aemond sorry fjdjf. this includes aemond x alys , who i don't ship for my own reasons. ( i am uncomfortable with age gaps mostly but am willing to write them in a non - romantic way ! ) i also ask if you do ship them in a romantic way and decide to follow me, to please tag it so that i can block the tag.

there will most likely be criticism of house of the dragon found here. it will be tagged as : hotd crit / with that said i do not mind writing with hotd based muses at all, this is just a personal thing when it comes to the way they decided to depict aemond / it goes directly against my portrayal.

i assume if you follow me, you have an interest in the greens in some capacity ( as do i ! ) however : if you are anti - team black , anti - rhaenyra , anti - alicent , anti - targaryen women , please don't follow me. criticism of all of the above are welcome , but i tend to avoid people who proudly claim they hate any of the those characters / especially targaryen women. if you can't acknowledge the fact that a lot of them ( especially dany and rhaenyra ) are the heroes / victims of the story , who have flaws along with any other character , then maybe i am not the person to follow.

this blog is an attempt at writing aemond in a very novel - based way. he's cruel , a loser , narcissist , definitely a misogynist etc. he kills his poor nephew because he wants to kill him, it wasn't an accident. despite this, i'm interested in writing a very nuanced character who does bad things bc he feels entitled to it , as well as stepping away from the way media always needs a reason for a character to do bad things. sometimes there is no rhyme or reason. if you don't like that, then this blog may not be for you. <3

with all that said, i do think aemond serves cunt. he has a lot of qualities that i like and want to portray / really love the idea of his position within his families dynamics. i'm going to try talking about all his cool and cunty qualities a lot here without erasing the bad.

writing , shipping , general etiquette:

multi - verse, multi - ship, i do and will practice mains and exclusives. duplicate, crossover, and oc friendly. ( for ocs please have a bio or at least some stats ! )

very important note : do not approach me immediately for shipping purposes. i hate feeling like someone doesn't care about my character beyond a ship that they can offer.

with that said, shipping is so fun, and i'm not gonna pretend that i don't want to do it ... but it's just not a priority for me. if you'd like to, we can discuss it only after we have already established some sort of foundation whether that is through a thread or through plotting. keep in mind that he's not a particularly fun guy so ... just you know, please remember that when you approach me.

please do not god - mod! please also keep in mind that my activity is very low. you can remind me about a thread you might think i missed, but please leave it at one reminder and do not pester me. i have a full time job and writing is just a hobby. if i do not reply to a meme you sent me, or if i don't continue a thread, it doesn't mean i'm uninterested.

if you want to unfollow, please hard block so that i don't forget and try to refollow you. i'll do the same.

i don't care to see vagues or ooc drama, we're all adults and if you ever have a problem with me, i'd love it if you communicated that or simply just block me!

this really doesn't need to be said but i'll say it : if i see racism, transphobia, homophobia, white washing, etc. i will simply hard block.

thank you for taking the time to read this. i know it's a lot but i just want to make sure that i'm comfortable in this space, and set clear boundaries so that there is no confusion in the future. i am super excited to explore aemond's character in a way that feels right to me and to the depiction that we received of him in fire and blood!

#pinned.#dni.#mun info : im lucia! 27. she / they. based in north america.

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amazingdemigodstuff · 3 years

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I am thinking about the Percy Jackson series and I'm about to make it y'alls problem

Okay so we all know Camp Jupiter? Well if you think about it for more than 5 seconds the whole thing makes less and less sense and I'm gonna pick it apart then make up a completely new system for them that I like more(because by god this series lives rent free in my mind and therefore I have so many thoughts on it)

So Camp Jupiter is a camp made up of, mostly legacy, demigod children that protect New Rome, a city full of adults.

Firstly, what fucking adult would just be *chill* with having a camp full of literal children who just so happen to be their children? It does not really make sense. This is my main issue with CJ because... Really? Are you really going to tell me they have a child army for what? Fun? Tradition? The thing is, do y'all really think OG Rome had an army comprised of solely children? I think the fuck not.

However, maybe in the past they were more akin to CHB, maybe there was only children in the past. Again, this still does not make sense, because there are adults *now*. Adults that are the parents of most of these children. The children they they send to die... 😐

Yeah... No.

Now besides how it doesn't make sense that parents would emotionally be against sacrificing their kids, there is the technical aspect to consider as well.

We know these kids are talented af, but they are still children. Children that are not fully developed. They're not fully grown, their brains are not fully developed, they are emotionally unbalanced. They are more likely to die then 20-30 y/os while fighting. We know CJ has the numbers and that's how they avoid dying(besides being well hidden) but imagine how much more their population would be if the kids could grow up happy and healthy. Imagine how many more people would want to have kids since they don't have to send them to be child soldiers.

Furthermore how does their collage system work, because it is heavily implied that they don't really have consistent education. They are constantly doing drills/training/patrolling so when do they find the time? When they do have the time how do they have the energy to learn and focus? Furthermore with that system they wouldn't have much personal time which is integral for development. Again, it does not make sense.

Now, I have a few thoughts on how I think CJ could have been set up with it making more sense(obviously these are just my thoughts and are not the only right way to do it)

For one, if the Roman camp had adult members then RR would have had the chance to have his cast age fit with his readers, the long time fans of which are now grown. The books could have matured with the viewers and it would've been awesome.

Really what I think should have happened was CJ's army being made up of 18 and older adults, with enough down time so that they could still raise their kids and be active parts of their lives(CJ is big enough for this, New Rome is an entire city with businesses and a college). Then have the kids be taught by and looked over by retirees and people unable/unwilling to be part of the military.

Since they are demigods the kids should still have some form of physical training, but it should not take precedent over their lives. (I believe this is at least part of the reason CHB is primarily a summer camp)

I also believe that this would be even more inspiring for Percy and Annabeth than CJ simply proving that demigods can live till adults.

You see, they have a problem with the fact that children are sent to fight adult wars(hell, that's part of the reason Luke did what he did). To see that not only can they live past adolescence, but that they can change the system? That they can help kids live relatively safe(smth Percy used a fucking godly wish to help achieve?) I think it would affect them more than some place to go to college.

I think it would give them hope for the future.

Hey, if the romans can do it, why cant they?

#my post #I would LOVE to hear your guy's thoughts on this #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #hoo #pjo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #luke castellan #meta #hoo meta #camp half blood #camp jupiter #chb #cj #(do I need to add any tags? lmk if I do pls)#please please PLEASE talk 2 me about this I have so many thought #rr crit

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cranberrykissel · 3 years

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GUYS I UPDATED THIS! (27.O9.21) i've seen some posts about Alex being unnecessary mean, caricatured, inaccurate, and as genderfluid person I agree with a majority of them as Riordan clearly messed up big time with her lack of character development, but think about why she's acting like this, why she's so defensive. guys, gals, and all nonbinary pals, it's victim blaming because

mcga is incredibly transphobic. it's ~everywhere~

a quick study of the case of alex fierro

and here a long post with me picking a few examples (there's more)

The amount of transphobia which definied Alex's whole live (her father threw him off the stairs, rings a bell?? and the man got away with child abuse, Rick?), ultimately forcing her into homelessness. Only to it not being properly adressed, no- while no one tries to (on-screen; we don't get to know what happened while she was homeless) assault him after her father, calling her names... continues? Argr means so much more than "unmanly". The characters are clearly aware (!!!) of this:

‘Literally, it means unmanly,’ Mallory said. ‘It’s a deadly insult among big loutish Vikings like this guy.’ ‘Bah,’ said Halfborn. ‘It’s only an offence if you call someone argr who isn’t argr. Gender-fluid people are hardly a new thing, Magnus. There were plenty of argr among the Norse. They serve their purposes. Some of the greatest priests and sorcerers were…’

According to this logic, calling a cis person a tr**ny is bad but when it's a trans person, that's fine? It's justified? Alex rebukes them for it numerous times, and they act like Alex feels offended for no reason ("was not an Alex-approved term"), as they had done nothing wrong. She's misunderstood and, what's worse, ignored. That's not how you treat your friend (trashtalking, insulting each other a day after first meeting as a love language?) And Magnus, who has had met many non-hetero-normative peers before, and knows how abuse works, does nothing to stop his ignorant neighbours?

Even Jack, who has been there for the longest, says this:

‘I LOVE argrs!’ Jack somersaulted with glee, nearly slicing off my nose. ‘Frey’s Fripperies! We have an argr across the hall? That’s great news.’

...Did Riordan just turn historical trans folks into comedic relief? Trying to be supportive? Try walking around telling everyone how you loves tr**nies because that's what Jack did... also Halfborn, who we know isn't as open-minded as he claims, straightway sexualizes gnc ppl while being portrayed as straight:

‘You know, Frey’s priests were very fluid. During the harvest festival, they used to wear dresses and do some amazing dances–’

TJ's story of a transgender person he met in the past begins the narrative that a transgender person must prove their worth to compensate being somewhat "flawed", which Riordan continues to drag through the story over and over; in his narrative gender non-conformity and fluidity is strongly associated with being untrustworthy, tricky, coward, weak, not suitable for fighting, and incapable of heroism- which Alex have to break through and prove wrong on a daily basis.

"[...] [Loki] He’s fluid, unpredictable, untrustworthy – I don’t want to be like that.’

"[...]You can’t trust an argr in combat."

"[...] They serve their purposes. Some of the greatest priests and sorcerers were…’

‘I still don’t trust an argr to do this job–’

She has to be something extra in order to be accepted.

‘Not only that,’ Helgi added, ‘but such heroism from an argr!’

‘Ow!’ Halfborn complained. ‘You hit hard for an argr.’

‘The larger point,’ Thor butted in, ‘is that you’re not even a proper girl! You’re an argr!’ The air became still, like the moment before a thunderclap. I wasn’t sure which possibility scared me more, Thor attacking Alex, or Alex attacking Thor.

To note, canonically there hardly are any gnc people at Valhalla- suggesting that these stereotypes had been real in the past. She impresses everyone at Valhalla because they don't expect her to be able to such brave acts, treating trans (fem) people like a different human species. Magnus too, is fascinated with her because he finds it

hard to believe that a few hours ago those same delicate fingers had taken down a dragon – and cut off my head – with a wire.

And guess what, she's not the only trans character introduced! Here comes Loki- together they play GOOD TRANS vs BAD TRANS. Loki is like every negative trans stereotype introduced incarnated, no jokes. Good trans has to be nice (looking at u fandom), brave, sass, and help the main character. Bad trans tries to kill the main character, mind controls his kids, and tricks people to bed them.

Moreover, Alex has the ability to shape into any sort of animal, which is fine (and cool). But only given to transgender characters? Poor choice at best- it leaves the door open for headcanoning a trans character shape-shifting to solely fit society's mold of what a woman or man looks like. I've no problem with him being very gnc in appearance in terms of clothing, but "petite", "delicate fingers", "sharp and beautiful facial features" (Magnus is smitten I get it)... raise the bar pretty high for trans ppl as a representation, which is what I'm not 100% okay with. And-

Her genderfluidity and shape-shifiting are very strictly connected, believed to be hereditary (like how!! why it's canon!) and have some sort of a cause-effect relationship? Samirah looks down on her own shape-shifting (and why it's wrong- 'Oh no, fluidity is bad, makes you treacherous'):

‘Magnus, true shape-shifting isn’t like my hijab’s camouflage. Shape-shifting doesn’t just change your appearance. It changes you. Every time I do it, I feel… I feel more of my father’s nature trying to take hold of me. He’s fluid, unpredictable, untrustworthy – I don’t want to be like that.’

We don't really get to know about Alex's human form. Has she any control over it? When introduced everyone assumes she's a boy when she's clearly a girl. Even the (unfortunate) pronouns dialogue suggests she can't:

‘But you’re a shape-shifter,’ I said. ‘Can’t you just… you know, be whatever you want?’ Her darker eye twitched, as if I’d poked a sore spot.

But then she drops this:

"I can look like whatever or whoever I want. But my actual gender? No. [...]"

Rick, you tell me Alex can shape-shift into a different person but never does it for some reason? Have you ever heard of gender dysphoria? Does this mean she's probably able to voluntarily appear male while being a girl and vice versa, or can she take the shape of Magnus/Samirah/anybody? (Why didn't she make use it during the "suicidal bridal mission"?) Magnus notices his hair seems longer when he's a boy. In "9 from nine worlds", he noticeably "sounds male" to Amir (and that isn't impossible, voice manipulation is a thing)... This feels like a middle finger to trans people who don't have any control over their physical appearance/anatomy. Shape-shifting is cool but I'm tired of lazy storytelling where character's supernatural abilities validate their trans identity.

Again, looking at you fandom- stop shaming Alex for being confident! A tRaNs PeRsOn wOuLdN't CoRrEcT tHeIr PrOnOuNs LiKe ThAT my ass. Sometimes it's self-harmful to remain humble, patience is virtue etc. If she wasn't 'strong' enough nobody would ask and respect her, because, apparently even nordic undead warriors and gods are assholes: and that's what living as transgender person taught her, first in her own house (!!) and then on the streets. Her rough attitude is a coping, defensive mechanism. Guys, victims come in all shapes as everyone deals with trauma differently. She literally DIED and STILL gets misgendered. She owes them nothing. There are times when she appears unnecessary rude and defensive- which made me dislike her during my first read (internalized transphobia, self-hate, jealousy over her confidence, etc.):

‘Call me she? I’m gender fluid and transgender, idiot. Look it up if you need to, but it’s not my job to educate–’ ‘That’s not what I meant.’ ‘Oh, please. I saw your mouth hanging open.’

It's called 'defensive offence'. She assumed the worst based on her previous experiences, and decided to strike at Magnus. Despite of being unwilling and uncomfortable with this, till the rest of the story Alex's treated as a living dictionary because Magnus doesn't take time to look it up, and neither does Halfborn, TJ, or Mallory. Coming to her gender identity, Alex's her own prosecutor, judge, and defendant. Unfortunely, it comes out as a "trans person will eat you alive if you misgender them" trope.

Rick clearly didn't try to contact anyone to check his facts or look over imporant Alex's lines, as if he understood how it works. Maybe he 100% unironically listened to Alex (and thus his own advice, jokes aside) and looked it up himself, huh? Here's the comedy peak of his ignorance (Alex's pov in "9 from the Nine Worlds"). I'll never end cracking up over this:

Now I returned to my wheel. As I worked the slick spinning clay under my fingers, I felt myself undergo a subtle shift. I’d been identifying as male when I was with Mallory and Halfborn, and earlier, when I was with Samirah and her fiancé, Amir. Now I was female. And yes, the change really is that simple sometimes. Hence the term gender fluid. I was deep into my new pot when Jack suddenly leaped up from his stand. The runes running down his blade pulsed an alarming red. “Señor! Señor!” he cried. Then he paused as if looking at me. Again, hard to tell because of the whole no-eyes thing. Regardless, he picked up on my gender change. “Sorry. Señorita! Señorita!”

Now not only Magnus but also a talking sword can miraculously pick on Alex's gender without exchanging a word with her. "Undergoing a subtle change." ... WHAT. Can't say for other genderfluid folks but personally I've to be very self-focused and on time to be able to immediately tell something has changed (there were like two times in my entire life when I was hyper-aware when it happened (and it blew my mind). Most of the time it's a itchy feeling when I incorrectly gender verbs, and that's due to my native language) And you know what's wrong? Alex is treated as a trans representation, making it her main. character. trait. when canonically she's not comfortable with educating others, and does it out of necessity- as many trans people have to in real life, suffering from the pressure of a constant need to be prepared to defend their existence. Don't shame ppl for knowing their worth.

UPDATE: I said we don't know how Alex was treated outside of his home, where he was verbally and physically abused by his father. In fact, we get an idea of what it was like: that's what Magnus expects to see when he heals Alex. Last time, it was exactly what he saw as the most 'relevant' memory (showing how deeply hurt Alex was because of this, as a lot of time has passed since this). (Magnus remembers this, and 'gets' that Alex's been hurt and mistreated, which tbh tells a lot about his empathy.)

I steeled myself for more painful images. I was ready to face her awful father again, or see how badly Alex had been bullied at school, or how she’d been beaten up in the homeless shelters.

But what Magnus finds at the top of Alex's memories? Himself acting dorky. It's a hopeful moment, and leaves me with a thought maybe that's how Alex heals and makes peace with his past.

#mcga #rr crit #cw: transphobia #cw: child abuse #cw: rick riordan #that should be a tag #long post #magnus chase #riordanverse #the scene where alex tells others about her grandfather and tj cuts in to tell smth about the other trans person he knew #i hate when ppl do that #also her meeting with thor #alex fierro #rick YOU HAD ONE JOB why did you make FLUID a synonym to TRAITOR and then have a GENDERFLUID good™ character strive for approval #cw: victim blaming #transfemme alex fierro but that not the point #it kinda is because she suffers from the same treatment as many riordan's female characters #also samirah 'my sibling's gender is the least PROBLEM of mine' bruh

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canarhys · 4 years

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sorry ok sorry but every time i hear someone say “rick has good intentions, he’s trying his best!” ok sure, if he was trying his best he wouldn’t have samirah marry her fucking cousin in an arranged marriage while being underage; if he was trying his best he wouldn’t have put feathers in piper’s hair for decoration and framed it as her stubborn streak; if he was trying his best he wouldn’t be comparing frank’s body to baby sumo wrestlers or panda bears or have leo’s only description be ‘a latino santa’s elf’ or force hazel, a young black girl who’s in middle school, in a relationship with a junior year high school student and claim that she is mature for her age. maybe he had good intentions, maybe he was trying his best — but don’t fucking use that as an argument to excuse the ignorant and stereotypical elements in his writing. if he was ‘trying his best,’ he would listen to his fans of color and promise to be more mindful in the future but instead he uses his platform to excuse what he wrote in the past! so i literally don’t care if he has good intentions when he writes ‘diversity’ when he doesn’t seem to even listen to criticism.

#i am tired of those posts i am sick!!!!!! ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!#i just want to write a pjo old guard au but people are like 'uwu stop bullying rick' as if critique equals bullying #i'm so tired of the argument that he is doing his best because people are too afraid of holding him accountable after jkr #like.. ok.. shut up! just let poc be angry and say what needs to be said and stop invalidating them saying that rr actually cares about them #if he cares about us he would have gotten a sensitivity reader in the first place when writing piper but nooo #pjo #mcga #txt #piper mclean #samirah al abbas #vent tag #am i at my limit? probably #rr crit

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a-mysteriouys-batsrard · 3 years

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for all rick riordan did terribly, i must acknowledge that he didn’t fall into the super common trope that is “order=good chaos=bad”. at least. not in the same way most western writers do

i’m gonna start comparing the kane chronicles to atla/tlok bc im trash that way (mild spoilers for tkc and legend of korra s2)

in the legend of korra we see the two “original spirits” aka raava and vatu. and the issues with the writing in season 2 stem.... almost exclusively from their introduction. bc theyre introduced as two equal forces who’s battle keeps the world balanced. except,,,, the writers go on to destroy vatu and keep raava bc “order=good chaos=bad” now. aside from being a bad westernization of a story drawn completely from asian mythos and history, it sort of reminded me of the ending of the kane chronicles. at the end of the story, carter and sadie execrate apep (apophis) and the law of equal and opposite comes into effect. the gods draw away just as apep was pushed away. ra and apep are two equal forces who’s nightly battle keeps the world going round. that’s why ra had to “sleep” when he imprisoned apep. you cannot push away the forces of isfet without simultaneously distancing yourself ma’at. idk i just really appreciated that detail because a lot of the time chaos is framed as “evil and wrong” instead of an equal and opposite force to order that’s required for the world to exist

#i give the man a lot of shit (rightfully so) but you know. he did do a few things right here and there and i believe in a fair trial #doesn’t mean i like him tho <3 still a rich old white man who’s willfully ignorant #criticism of a work can also be positive so this is going in the crit tag argue w the wall <3 #rr crit #rr criticism #the kane chronicles #tkc #the legend of korra #tlok #i also really like that he had the gods disappear for most of history #mainly bc then we don’t get into the gross area that is -hitler was a child of hades- and -roman demigods were confederates-#bc boy oh boy did i hate both of those in pjo #but yeah i thought he worked in the gods disappearance and reappearance really well #and it tied into the ending of the story and just. the worldbuilding was quite strong in the kane chronicles and i really enjoy that abt it #q

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bunkernine · 4 years

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is there anything problematic about the first pjo series? obviously hoo is a shitstorm but i haven't really seen a lot of posts about pjo being problematic

everything rick has shat out of his brain has been poisoned by his problems. orig pjo... anon, please name at least 5 poc from that series. now how many of those are alive by hoo? how many of the rest are monsters or evil? .... anon. please recall the implied romantic relationship between luke and annabeth, in which he genuinely asks her "do you love me" and she hesitates to look at percy before saying no- the only other person she was having a romance with? dare i mention the entirely blond athena children 🤔 or the piss-poor adhd representation as the books continue? the ableism in all of rick's works? the unnecessary ostracization of children? the lack of conversation of ptsd and abuse? the "gods don't have dna" argument? these are just to name a few off the top of my head.

bigoted people don't suddenly become bigoted. the reason why there's all this sudden burst of color and diversity in hoo, is because there was none in the first books. "I haven't really seen a lot of posts-" that's because the original pjo series is clouded with nostalgia, and the problems in hoo are so gold-eye glaringly obvious, that we have to talk about it.

if you are not seeing posts or not recognizing patterns/problems in ALL of rick's work, you are A, not following the right people, B, not thinking hard enough or critically, C, need to be more aware, or D, probably a little bigoted yourself

#askingasks #anon did a thing #orig pjo #color coded things #i have nothing else to say except this is ridiculous and you do not need me to literally gi through the rr crit tag yourself

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artemx746 · 2 months

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Richard Fucking Riordan: And this is the Hunters of Artemis; it’s a group that doesn’t have any romance at all! It’s only for girls though!

Me as an 11yo who was very unsure about their gender Identity but definitely knew that I really did not want to date:

#rr crit #rick riordan critical #Rick Riordan crit #hunters of artemis #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #Also for the people who make all the hunters lesbians; This isn’t about you and your excessive need for romance #This is about ME being a little nonbinary aroace child realising that even in Fucking fiction I couldn’t have a safe space #Also just fuck you!#You’re allowed to have your own interpretations of myths #But changing an entire group that (at least in this adaptation) just does not do romance into an all lesbian group that does do romance #Is just asshole amatonormative behaviour #I’m not even sorry #Also Rick Riordan excluding any young aro boys who might’ve wanted a safe space is wrong on so many levels #Stop putting amatonormative standards onto young boys challenge #Wouldn’t be a post written at 1am without a wall of tags

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leefletcher · 4 years

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so this might be an unpopular opinion

but do you guys think the Amazonians effectively utilized girl power by hoarding most of the nation’s wealth through their company called Amazon and not even deigning to give their workers a livable wage while also treating them like anything less than a human being?

#rr crit #it's a joke #mostly #like hey it's fun and funny to think abt a bunch of teen girls running amazon #but considering jeff bezos is literally an incarnation of evil #rick having them run amazon Did Not Age Well #don't even get me started on the fact that in-verse they make the men wear orange jumpsuits and collars #like there's something v wrong abt that that i can't quite articulate #but it has something to do with dehumanization; prison; and presumed free labor #which...not great #like yes the joke is men ''''deserve'''' it or whatever #bc patriarchy #but the patriarchy only /really/ benefits cishet white men #and hurts everyone else who doesn't conform to this ideal #which is to say those who literally cannot conform to that ideal bc they are moc or fat or disabled and/or 'not man enough' etc etc #or trans; that's another one #i seriously need a tag for these #lee.txt

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yourlocalfrenchie · 4 years

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The only thing I'm going to say is please own up to your mistakes. The people are just asking for that. Own up to yout mistakes and try to do better in the future like you've said you were doing. That's all.

#im not gonna look more into this #im not gonna comment it more either #im choosing to trust the ppl represented/tried to on the mistakes he made #but i dont want to think this is just going to turn to shit more and going to end horribly #i want to hope he can own up and do better #bc this thing is the only reason i survived my childhood #i might block the tag for my own sake so pls tag your things too #rr crit #ig

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sparkysparklightning · 2 years

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Okay listen

Yes this is the “longass post” I mentioned in my previous Tratie HoO post hgjkfsh I decided to publish it and see what y’alls think!

Anyway, I saw this post, like...a week ago?? And all of a sudden, everything related to the HoO series that I’ve held back just came charging full-force. So I’m here to grace y’alls with my ideas and thoughts about HoO.

Honestly, if I talked abt everything that went off-kilter in that series, we’d be here all day, so I’ll just stick to the mere basic point that was also the basis of my HoO conceptual rewrite idea, and that point is...

Percabeth shouldn’t have been a part of the Seven.

Yeah yeah, half of you guys must be throwing stones at me, the other half is probably nodding in agreement. But seriously, Percabeth already had their time to shine--they had an entire five hecking books, they ( and their characterizations ) definitely do not need another five more, yeesh! I love Percy and all, but pls, five more books in which his and Annabeth’s and their relationship’s character were diminished? Yeah, no thanks.

I love Percabeth, but in HoO, they became so...bland??? Idk how to properly explain it, but I didn’t like what happened to their character arcs at all lmaoo

But then, I got an idea: what if, instead of Percabeth, it was TRATIE who was a part of the Seven, instead?

Now this idea was inspired both from the post mentioned above plus another post that talked abt Tratie as a part of the Seven in a bit more detail, which I cannot find no matter how many times I scoured the rr-crit tag ( smh, if anyone else knows of this post, pls lmk and link it, I’m sorry 😭 )

And yeah, I know a lot of ppl have been hopping on the ‘Nico & Reyna as part of the Seven’ train when it comes to making HoO rewrites, but see, hear me out, just think about the potential of Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner--two children of minor gods--getting their spotlight in a series of their own ( plus more indirect spotlight on the minor gods in question ) plus a slowburn ( kinda ) relationship?? Heck, I already have some ideas for this, that I’ll jot down below the cut along with some conceptual ideas about the rewrite. If any of y’alls end up reading this whole post, can you...just, idk, lmk whether it’s a solid plan and if I should actually take it forward and plan on writing it? Bc I’m being rlly indecisive rn ahaha 😅

So. Tratie instead of Percabeth. Let’s take a closer look at the potential:

Honestly, I hate to admit it, but Percabeth didn’t do much to the plot as a whole, so it wouldn’t make much of a difference if they’re taken out. Though there are some things they did to move the plot forward, although little, and that’s what I’ll touch on before I discuss Tratie in general:

( oh yeah, disclaimer: I read the HoO series about five years ago?? I’m trying ( key word: trying lmao ) to reread the series currently, but it’s just not sticking lmfao. Probably the main reason why I wanna rewrite it so badly, other than the two posts that boosted my inspo )

--> THE ATHENA PARTHENOS: Annabeth went on a solo quest in MoA to track down the Athena Parthenos bc it was crucial to sealing the rift between Greek and Roman. BUT, any other demigod could go on that same quest instead of her. Like Piper, whose mother had told her that she was essential to sealing the rift but never ended up doing anything for it bc RR just...flopped idk; or someone like Leo who has similar abilities as Annabeth and would be able to outsmart Arachne in a similar fashion as well; or even Reyna could come earlier than she did in the series and work with the Seven or some of them to track down the statue? Idk, there are lots of options, tbh, there’s honestly not that much relevance to Annabeth being the daughter of Athena so she has to track down the Athena Parthenos. I mean, sure there was the Arachne ordeal, but other than that, nothing major rlly happens

Percy, himself, didn’t rlly...do much for the entire series, other than fight. I mean, there were some minor aspects of HoO where his powers or relations to other characters vibed well, so we’ll check those out:

--> KANSAS: In MoA, Jason and Percy fought each other bc they were forced to. That could easily happen even without Percy. Instead, of Percy, it could be Hazel and Jason fighting each other due to their connections as the Big Three children being taken advantage of. It could be sort of like a mirage of Thalia and Percy’s fight back in TTC. Plus, again, it gives way for more bonding and discussion after between two other characters that never got much interaction time together in canon

--> KYM AND POLYBOTES: okay this is the scene that takes place in BoO where Percy and Jason face off against Kym and Polybotes. But, Percy...does literally nothing here other than get poisoned lmao. It was Jason who did the heavy-lifting bc Percy got a t a d bit arrogant, thinking he was invincible underwater. So honestly, you could take out Percy and replace him with another member of the Seven (who would seem reasonable, in the context, so no Piper or Annabeth or Leo, etc bc none of them can survive even a minute under the water and doesn’t have a way like Jason to breathe). Tbvh, I can see Frank and Jason go together to face Kym and Polybotes. Frank can shapeshift into a sea-creature while Jason can use his ventus vacuum thingie, so it all works out, and nothing too drastic is changed!

There’s probably a couple more of little scenes where Percabeth was mostly significant in some way to the series, but let’s be very honest...there weren’t a lot of them. So long story short: if you want to, you can easily take out Percy and Annabeth from the series and replace them with another pair and it wouldn’t be the end of the world, lmao.

Now onto Tratie ideas in relation to if they were a part of the Seven instead. Here are some bullet-points of some ideas that I thought of:

It could be a lovely parallel, where when Jason woke up, all he could remember was Thalia, so when Travis wakes up, all he remembers is Connor, his younger brother. I think it would be nice bc it shows that not everything has to be romantically coded like how Percy only remembered Annabeth in canon. It would emphasize Travis and Connor’s sibling bond more so, and I can just imagine Connor giving Travis reuniting noogies and trying not to burst into tears in MoA, and Travis whispers something like “you’re here” and the floodgates open, and it’s just crying and hugging and the like 😭😭

Katie is a daughter of Demeter, so she would have a somewhat connection with the Earth aka Gaea, hence there is now a plausible reason why Gaea would want to spill her blood to rise. Also, when the time comes to defeat her, instead of charm-speaking her to sleep or whatnot, Katie could be a significant crux to the primordial’s defeat bc her powers tie in with the land/earth, so she could use her powers to forcibly push Gaea back into the earth.

Instead of them going to Tartarus, they end up going to Cupid (so some other pair will fall into Tartarus instead), and instead of a stupid forced outing, Cupid takes one look at them, senses their underlying emotional tension and goes “oh boy, yeah, you two have a lot to talk about” and actually (tries to) help guide the two into confessing the feelings they’d hidden, instead of being a little shit like in canon. Plus I just adore the idea of Travis calling Katie “flower” after they get together, and Katie calling him “key” not just bc he steals stuff but also bc he’s like the key to her heart and all that sappy bs, I literally love them sm 🥺 literally such wonderful nickname opportunities that have a deeper meaning

Travis and Jason might have a subtle rivalry, but unlike Percy and Jason’s weird ‘I’m stronger than you’ thing, it could be bc Jason felt a bit jealous of how everyone was looking for Travis, including his sister, while no one pulled much of an effort to look for him? It’d give an opportunity for them to talk things out and end up growing closer after talking

Juno/Hera saw Travis’s need, his desire, to redeem the Hermes name and as a result, used that fire to kickstart her plan by plopping him in Camp Jupiter while Jason got switched to CHB. Hence there is now a reasonable concept as to why the switch happened, because honestly, the whole Percy-Jason switch didn’t make all that sense bc Jason, yes I can sort of understand why he got switched, but Percy?? There was literally no solid reason that was explained as to why he was chosen to be switched lmao. But with Travis, Juno/Hera takes pity on him and uses this as an opportunity for him to bring glory to the Hermes name after the Titan War

I have a ton more ideas for the rewrite as a whole tbvh. Stuff relating to ways Gaea could actually be defeated, more on Octavian’s backstory and why he hates the Greeks so much, and other tiny scenes between the demigods that could bring about more characterization and details to their arcs.

The only problem is...with the way this is going in my head, I think things might end up diverging more or less from canon as the series progresses? Like there will obv be the canon scenes, but there might also be non-canon scenes that might change the series plot a little bit?? And idk how many of y’alls will appreciate that lmao ghjksfgh but I have started writing it. It’s a super long process lmfao, so idk when I’ll publish it (probably on Ao3, if I do), but I just wanted to let y’alls know bc a lot of you guys liked my first post abt this and I saw your lovely tags and it made me super happy and honestly, those tags are the reason why I even started writing this in the first place! So thank you guys so so much for the positive feedback!

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rynnaaurelius · 3 years

Text

So There's Solangelo Discourse On My Dash Again. . .

And I apparently have time to fight today, so let's talk about Solangelo and the critiques of the ship (And the critiques of that).

Disclaimer/Warnings: Extensive discussion of ableism, mentions of homophobia, discussion of forced outings.

This is a long post. I've done my best to turn my thoughts on Solangelo, the Riordanverse fandom in relation to it, and criticism of Solangelo into a coherent stream of thought, for both my reference and others', if they want.

I do my best to give credit where credit is due, and if you think I owe credit/should link to someone else, message me/leave me an ask.

NOTE: I am not saying it's immoral to ship Solangelo. I'm a Ship-And-Let-Ship person.

I am saying that this ship's canon/fanon portrayals have a lot of valid criticism surrounding it, and am breaking it down in this post. If someone hates a ship, let them hate it in peace.

I am not a Solangelo Anti. I don't like bashing. Everyone can and should leave each other alone if they've got nothing nice to say. Block who you need to for a nice time on this fair hellsite.

While I'm not about to beat up on a ship/characters themselves—because they're hardly writing themselves—I'm about to take their characterization and Rick Riordan to the cleaners.

If that's not what you want to see, blacklist the tags 'anti solangelo', 'rr crit', 'riordan critical', and get on with your day, please.

Fandom isn't activism, but it can be hella racist, sexist, ableist, and queerphobic. We need to fight that.

Now, on with the show—

I. Context

I'm queer, NB, and have been well-acquainted with Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus since I was a small child. I write a lot of PJO fanfiction.

(Yes, I'm writing this instead of an update. Don't look at me like that)

Solangelo is the canon ship of Will Solace/Nico di Angelo from the Riordanverse. As of today (08/09/2021) in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians - All Media Types fandom tag on Archive of Our Own, despite the time gap between Solangelo becoming canon—let alone Will and Nico officially sharing their first scene together—versus other ships being canonized/getting shipping material (Annabeth/Percy, Rachel/Percy, Nico/Percy, Jason/Piper, Jason/Leo, etc), it's the second most popular ship:

(Note the drop-off after Nico di Angelo/Will Solace in fic numbers. That's important)

Frankly, with Trials of Apollo complete, smart money's on Will/Nico overtaking Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson within the next twelve months.

So. Popular ship in a massive, active fandom (That's about to get a massive Disney TV show adaptation).

II. Meet The Shippers

(Disclaimer: A lot of this section is based on anecdotal data/accounts of other people in fandom. No scientific surveys have been done, and thus feel free to take this section with a grain of salt)

Maybe I should be more accurate: A massive, active, young fandom that's only known a very specific age of fannish activity. Obviously, there are outliers, but PJO/HoO/TOA is written specifically as children's lit, and unlike, say, Harry Potter, not only hasn't massively changed tone to grow up with its audience, has been written within the last decade or so, for the most part.

As such, the Riordanverse fandom skews almost unusually young, when you compared it to fandoms of similar magnitude of size (Think BBC Sherlock, Supernatural, ATLA, etc).

They've been lucky enough to only know an arguable golden age of fandom: AO3 has been and up running for over a decade now, the Anne Rices of the world are largely a thing of the past. With access to Twitter, Tumblr, and other socials, it's easier than ever to contact the writers/creators of your favorite media.

For better, but for a lot of the time, also for worse, as I think anyone who's spent any measurable amount of time on this hellsite has seen.

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up 'The Johnlock Conspiracy', November 5th/Supernatural—Anything Supernatural, really—or the racist backlash to The Last Jedi/resultant Rise of Skywalker, just to name a few.

Or don't. Really, don't. You're better off not knowing.)

Anyway. This also means Riordanverse shippers are also unusually young. "Awareness of what the world was like before gay marriage was legalized in the USA in 2015" is a much rarer phenomenon than other fandoms.

We don't really have active Fandom Moms, or grizzled vets who remember the heady days of Livejournal, pre-Strikethrough/Boldthrough.

We do have a young, extremely online, and often (Especially in terms of gender/sexuality) diverse fandom; something that Riordan, if anything, has actively courted since at least the publishing of The Lost Hero, where he began to debut a much more racially diverse cast than his previous series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

For many fans, Nico di Angelo was their first queer (Or, to be honest, character at least read as queer) character, and Solangelo was their first queer ship in media—canon or otherwise.

And, not to be mean, but it fits a lot of familiar surface-level stereotypes to people who've seen ship fixations come and go #OnHere.

III. A Quick Aside on the Riordanverse Fandom and Shipping

This doesn't contribute much other than a possible explanation for certain trends, but as for additional context, as someone's who been in and out of the Riordanverse fandom since at least 2015—we, as a fandom, have long had a very weird relationship with non-canon shipping.

I'm old enough to remember when Percy Jackson/Rachel Elizabeth Dare shippers were the bane of everyone's existence, because it wasn't canon. Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson shippers, pre-House of Hades, got more of a pass, if only because they automatically were working from a non-canon framework and were therefore no "threat" to the Percy/Annabeth ship. But. . .still. Wasn't canon.

Then not only was Nico confirmed as gay, but he was saddled with a convenient boyfriend by Riordan by the end of Heroes of Olympus, with perfect traits to flanderize into a popular ship for a fandom full of preteens and teenagers.

Pretty much a perfect storm.

IV. Why Are People Shipping It?

Okay, so I'm obviously coming at this from a critical standpoint. I don't ship Solangelo, I'm here to break down why the canon portrayal of it sucks, etc.

In the interests of being fair, I trawled the Solangelo tag on Tumblr, read some of the most popular fic recs with it as the main ship, and looked into what made it tick for people, beyond my own pathetic attempts at psycho-analyzing part of a fandom.

Four most popular elements, by my judgment, regardless of how I personally feel about it: (Mind, I kept a rough tally chart on Excel for this bit)

A. It's a canon ship with two gay male protagonists, neither of whom die or are killed off for shock value (Thereby avoiding the Bury Your Gays Trope).

B. Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, as most popularly portrayed in canon and fanon, fall into the beloved "Angry Dark-haired Tortured Goth Who Is Soft For The Extroverted Smiling Sunshine Blond" trope.

C. The "Doctor and Death" imagery that surrounds the both of them in later canon portrayals/fanon, considering their parentage (Son of Apollo v. Son of Hades).

D. . . .they're a canon gay ship featuring one of the Riordanverse's most popular characters falling for a character with enough of a framework to be identifiable out of a lineup and enough left blank for easy projection.

I tried, y'all. I swear.

Anyway, there's Solangelo and the people who ship it. Onto the dreaded criticism.

V. Critiques of Solangelo: Ableism

(Major shout-out to the bloggers I link back to. Warnings in this section for extensive discussion of ableism, mentions of PTSD, and me seeing red for a bit)

Okay, we're going to back up real quick for this one to discuss Nico di Angelo in Heroes of Olympus. Here's a list of the things he canonically has to deal with in HoO/post-HoO:

-Post-Traumatic Distress Disorder (Though I think an argument can be made that Nico is specifically suffering from C-PTSD, and oh boy, do I have a rant in me about Nico di Angelo, the only canonically queer main character, being the one to canonically suffer from PTD and being considered mentally ill)

-Chronic pain and fatigue, post-Tartarus (This one is danced around a bit because Riordan's a coward/translated as magic problems with Nico struggling to use his powers without dying, but it's a safe claim to say this is canon and not just fanon)

Here's the profession of Nico di Angelo's canon boyfriend:

-A medic.

. . .look I'm not saying this ship is impossible in canon, I'm just saying that to pull it off without looking gross, it required significant legwork/characterization that Riordan—and fandom, 'cause don't think y'all are off the hook—simply refused to put in.

This article from the Read Riordan site is an excellent distillation of the problem. It and canon fetishize Will being a very unsettling mixture of doctor/romantic partner for Nico, of the "healing power of love and connection." (Quote taken directly from article to describe the two)

And in case this isn't already clear enough, I will be blunt:

Disabled people are not people for their partners to "heal" or "fix". To build an entire romantic dynamic explicitly on the idea of someone "healing" their partner of their disabilities is to build a dynamic that is disgusting and toxic.

This is all canon. As for fandom. . .

-Portraying Will Solace as a savior figure towards Nico di Angelo, infantilizing the latter—especially in regards to writing/imagining a scenario where Will does something "for Nico's own good", or writing Nico as incapable of looking after himself in any manner without Will—is so common it's depressing.

-Look, I have a lot of problems with characterization in HoO (That we'll get to), but for now: To victim-blame Nico or portray him as silly for "imagining" the isolation Camp Half-Blood imposed on him is gross.

I'm not going to link to any specific examples here because I'm not the people who wrote that and therefore can't explain their rationale behind it and the intent of this post is not to punish "bad writing".

I will say that portraying able-bodied, medical worker Will Solace as consistently "having to save/heal" disabled Nico di Angelo and portraying it as perfectly SoftTM and RomanticTM is ableist as hell and you should re-think that fic prompt before you hit "Post".

VI. Critiques of Solangelo: Characterization

This section is going to be shorter, since we're focusing on Solangelo and not, um, the rest of the characterization in Heroes of Olympus (I'm going to write that essay one day).

Basically, it boils down to the fact that in the eyes of the reader, Will Solace and Nico di Angelo are not equal characters. Nico was a major secondary character in the original series from The Titan's Curse onwards, and becomes a deuteragonist in his own right by the end of Blood of Olympus.

-We know Nico. We've been through a lot with him, regardless of opinions on the characterization course changes (I'm dying on this hill alone but I will die on it, damn it).

-Meanwhile, Will gets a glorified cameo in TLO when the Cabin Seven counselor bites it, gets maybe one or two namedrops from then on, and then shows up in Blood of Olympus to be Nico's fix-it love interest.

-This makes for easy projection, sure, but also. . .come on. You can't do better for Nico?

-See previous section. What little characterization Will Solace gets is that.

-Mind, I think part of this is due to Riordan's desperate urge to pair everyone off, no matter the cost (Who the fuck is Shel?). If I'd been as traumatically outed as Nico had been in House of Hades, finding myself a partner in the aftermath would've been the last thing on my mind.

-Nico is solidly shown to be Not Okay and in need of some serious empathy, support, and downtime by HoH and BoO. To immediately have his head turned by Will Solace instead, when he's fresh off trying to save the world and Octavian's death is just. . .no, man. Romance isn't the end-all be-all here.

-Obviously, one can argue that Trials of Apollo is a different ballgame, but I'd argue that whatever shipping there is should come second to Nico finding the platonic/familiar love and support he needs.

VI. Backlash to Criticism: Homophobia

Saying a ship isn't perfect and has some ableist overtones to it in canon and popular fandom portrayal is not homophobia. Next!

. . .but seriously, y'all, I promise you and Riordan will survive some mild criticism. This isn't a call for you to stop shipping, and it's a call for you to look critically at what you're writing and reading.

Trust me, the white gay ship will survive some angry people on Tumblr. You do not need to justify yourself to me or anyone else.

Also, other queer ships exist in the Riordanverse, if non-canon ones, because Riordan is a coward. I highly recommend going and shipping those, too.

VII. Backlash to Criticism: Characterization

I'm including this section to point out that a lot of claims that Nico and Will, just being themselves on equal ground, actually can have a fun dynamic.

This isn't completely incorrect, if rather subjective, of course. However, I would point out that this is still a pretty surface-level analysis, and absolutely no excuse for not looking deeper at your ship and its dynamics.

This isn't a "Sail the USS Healthy Ship only" post. I would point out that you should be aware of unhealthy/toxic/hateful elements of the ship in question, so that you can scrub, say, ableist elements from the ship you're writing in question.

VIII. Queer Representation in the Riordanverse

Quick rundown of confirmed, canonical queer characters in PJO/HoO/TOA. I haven't read much of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, so I can't speak for characters like Alex Fierro:

-Nico di Angelo

-Will Solace

-Piper McLean

Worth noting that neither Will nor Piper have made mention or had conversations about bisexuality, and Nico, as the only queer main character in HoO, was forcibly outed, and. . .look.

There is no one "good" queer representation. We're infinite diversity in infinite combinations, with "good" rep for some of us is "bad" rep for others (Excepting a few things, such as clear examples of Bury Your Gays in media, erasure, transphobia, biphobia, transmiogyny, racism and sexism, etc).

But to have your only queer character have his sexuality treated like a dark, horrible secret, and then have him be traumatically outed by Cupid is just. . .not great.

Speaking as someone for whom forcible outing was, at one point, a real threat in my life: That entire sequence left me feeling shitty.

We can do better than "One out of a dozen primary and second characters is gay and fixed up with a tertiary character, and another may/may not be a lesbian, bisexual, or pansexual now, and is dating a character without a surname."

To say nothing of Riordan's treatment of the Hunters of Artemis, or the entire mess with Reyna, where, among other things, he did an excellent job conflating aromanticism and asexuality, or the fact that his treatment of relationships is still very heteronormative in a cast that's still majority straight and cis.

(And, hell, he can't even get those relationships right)

(And "Tragically straight Percy", my ass)

(But this essay isn't about my personal headcanons of Percy Jackson's sexuality. Among other things)

No, any rep is not better than no rep. I understand that Nico might mean a lot to some people, but that rep aged. Quickly.

Rep doesn't have to be perfect or can only be written by queer people, but there should be an honest attempt made to push the boundaries of what's "acceptable", and we should do better than to shower the bare minimum of "one sad white gay cis boy from 2013" with accolades.

You had the social capital, Riordan. Use it.

IX. Disabled Representation in the Riordanverse

I will be honest in this section: I can't speak for it very well, beyond general terms. I have ADHD, sometimes-debilitating anxiety, and PTSD. I can speak for the Riordanverse's rep in terms of that—spoiler alert: most of it sucked—but not in terms of, say, the treatment of Nico's chronic pain and fatigue beyond what I've already talked about.

I can say this: Romantic partners aren't going to be fix your problems, and to portray them as such in media is gross. Riordan should be less afraid to make his characters "unattractively" scarred, considering the world they live in—and how a lot of the cast, particularly Jason, Percy, and Luke, fall into the Good Scars, Evil Scars Trope.

To say nothing of the fact that physically disabled demigods don't really, uh, exist in the canon Riordanverse. Which I find very difficult to believe.

The disabled representation in the Riordanverse is fairly minimal at best (There are demigods with ADHD, but no autistic demigods; one demigod is confirmed to have PTSD, but none of the others; and so on), and outright ableist and offensive at worst (Solangelo as portrayed in canon).

X. Conclusions

Like I said at the beginning, this is not a call to stop shipping Solangelo, or an indictment of the Riordanverse fandom as a whole. This is an explanation of a lot of very valid criticism. I hope.

I'm of the firm belief that just about any ship can work, given enough time, creativity, and effort. I don't think Solangelo is an exception of that, though I can definitely understand where the people who do are coming from.

To make ships work, healthy or otherwise, we need to have a self-awareness of the dynamics and context for the situation. The canon material is flawed. Riordan is a severely flawed author (Sayeth the penniless college student who writes fanfiction, but I don't give a shit).

I love the material anyway. I try my best to analyze it and write stories from it that I'm happy with.

This post is not a call to harass Solangelo shippers or an excuse to yell at me for internalized queerphobia or what-have-you. It's me getting some things off my chest and hopefully giving other people catharsis/some feelings into words.

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