“Jason was so boring” “Jason had no personality” what are you talking about
Jason Grace was a child soldier and the son of the KING OF THE GODS. The pressure on him was so huge and the training of the Roman legions was so intense all he ever really did was train. As soon as he was old enough he was put in positions of leadership and power cause he’s the son of Jupiter, leader of the gods, he must be a natural born leader, right?
But his entire character arc revolves around him realising that he can be more than what the Romans made him into, that he can have his own opinions, his own hobbies, love who he wants, live where he wants.
He was the first person to start defending Nico, the first to accept Nico and tell him sincerely that there was nothing wrong with him and that everyone at BOTH camps would accept him and have his back - and if they didn’t they’d have Jason to answer to.
He was sure to always give Reyna the credit she deserved and constantly felt guilty for when he made her shoulder the responsibilities. Throughout HoH he’s got half of his mind on her, praying she’s okay, tracking her progress in his dreams because gods FORBID anything happen to that brilliant woman whom he loved platonically but wholeheartedly.
When they found Leo again after he was at Ogygia, Jason recognised in an instant just from the way Leo was sitting that something was off. When everyone pestered him with questions, Jason took charge to get the limelight off of Leo as much as possible, and checked in with him the minute they were alone.
Jason Grace is fiercely loving, always looks out for those who need support, always sides with the underdogs, always does what’s right even when it’s hard, often does what’s expected even when he doesn’t want to, but if he can take the burden off of someone else he will ALWAYS step up.
He has the honour and bravery of a soldier and carries all of the trauma and doubt that comes with it.
And on top of all of this he was just seventeen years old.
Jason Grace isn’t boring, it just took some time for us to understand why he acts the way he does - always composed and in charge. He is not perfect, but he was always trained/expected to be, and watching the perfect mask crack and seeing his true inner thoughts throughout HoO is what makes his character so interesting.
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atwow hot take:
if jake had said his "son for a son" shit out loud and spider had heard him, he would have been so beyond pissed, he would be seeing red.
spider loved his little siblings so much, neteyam included, even after they grew apart. he loved them like they were his own blood and protected them like they were too (we see a lot more of them together in the comics, where spider is the big brother without a doubt). neteyam's death most certainly rocked him hard, even if he hasn't really been able to show it (how could he? he's already going through all the shit with his dad and the RDA and their nonsense, he can't grieve around neytiri, he's just so tired after it all. he doesn't have the room or the energy to grieve yet)
so if jake had the audacity to say that to/around spider not even a few hours after he watched his little brother get shot after coming to save him, after he stared at the bullet hole in his back, after he watched him take his last breaths, after he watched the light leave his eyes, after he watched his little brother die for him; if he said that while his little brother's body lay in a pool of his own blood not even ten feet away, not even cold yet, blood still clinging to his chest, the scent of it still filling the air: he would have lost his shit.
because the disrespect for his brother is wild.
jake was an active player in spider's neglect and abuse for the last 16 years, he let it happen, he helped it happen. he tried to send spider with the humans, tried to take him away from his siblings, from the forests, from eywa to live with his foster family that didn't love him (not to mention Nash was an asswipe of epic proportions) and the RDA of all people. he had referred to spider as a stray animal since he was little. he was the reason spiders life was hell.
and after all that, years and years of putting him in shit positions and allowing him to suffer the fate of being forever unloved and uncared for (by an adult authority figure, cause I love the kids, but they don't make up for the gap left by a parent), this is what it took for jake to care about him? his little brother had to die in front of him first? he had to be traded out to fill the space of a corpse, to fill in the gap left by his little brother's death?
in canon, spider was in deep in shock with nothing to break him from it, he wasn't in the place to really think about any of it, and I'm sure we're gonna see this anger in the coming movies, but if jake had said it out loud, that would have been enough to snap spider right out of it, and he would have given jake a piece of his mind, I just know it.
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𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗲, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲. That isn't to say the Weave, however, the very source well of magic, was made any lesser for Gale. Rather, it was Gale's ability to draw from it that was egregiously stunted. While every other mage may experience fatigue, weary with that effort to manipulate magic, Gale's body was slowly wasting. In his case, his body could only take so much, and unfortunately, no amount of rest would do him well. For a time, casting to Gale brought him a conflicted feeling of joy, elation, and the chronic hollowness of a ruthless ache. His skin cracked apart, nails stained black with the ruptures beneath them, and under duress with incurable exhaustion, plainly put: every spell Gale would cast could've been his last. The realization? Well, it was gutting. Abstractly, he knew one day, on a day likely balmy for cruelty, he would've burned himself out to the end of his wick. One day, he would fan out his fingers and conjure nothing at all. Unable to absorb more Weave, it would have been the beginning of the end.
Honestly, at that point, he'd believe death comparatively merciful.
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I think there's an interesting slight shift in Leonidas' attitude between chapters 8 and 12, and one that kinda makes a bit more complete narrative between the more obvious 12-16 jump.
First, in a niche Dragalia trivia, Leonidas (and Chelle) in his technical ch.7 debut says this:
"And so Aurelius's brilliant star falls as a new and dark star rises—as well as another dim light at the periphery. But the flames of battle will not reach Valkaheim. Should any fool approach, it is they who will be reduced to ash."
While there's a lot to say with later context in these lines despite their initial ambiguity of his character, note here of the 'dim light' refers to Euden. He's starting to cause a fuss in the world after ch.6's shakeup in the official rebellion and new kingdom-starting he's engaging in, but to Leo, this is all mostly meaningless compared to the true power players.
Ch.8 Leo, though, comes out swinging with his general attitude regarding the world and his family:
There's something funny that he's aware enough of Euden starting his own kingdom, but still seeing him and going 'nope, I care not a whit about you, grain of dust' is amusing. Maybe after Valyx, Leonidas just got tired of having baby siblings?
Regardless, Leonidas mostly spends this chapter leaving them to presumably die bad deaths, having deemed them too weak and unimportant to even bother attending to personally.
But even within chapter 8, as Euden and co refuse to die and keep up their dogged pursuit, Leonidas starts to acknowledge Euden as a brother. Not enough to stop him from trying to leave him to get torn apart by beasts, of course, but, y'know, baby steps for someone who was denying kinship not a day ago.
He also continues his star metaphor.
For Leonidas, who viewed himself as the absolute pinnacle of the family, it was surprising anyone could survive him, however narrowly. He's being forced to consider that perhaps those beneath him in the family aren't quite as useless as perceived. Heck, Euden's 'reputation' overall in the family before canon seemed to be largely one of weakness, -even Valyx outright claims he thought him feeble, and Emile's earlier fondness of him stemmed from being 'better' than Euden. That's how Euden framed himself, to appear non-threatening to attempt to maintain harmonious relations so his elders didn't see an upstart threatening their power, as I've went over a long long time ago.
Now he's being forced to consider and wonder how high, how powerful Euden's dim star can rise before it will be crushed by someone or something greater in his 'one star' viewpoint.
Enter chapter 12. One of the things that makes Leonidas so dangerous, I've also said, is his adaptability. He learns and changes behavior.
And in this chapter, he takes a much more personally involved attack, sending in his 'big guns' (before he acquired a real one) in much quicker. He now views Euden as a threat enough to warrant the measures, even if he doesn't believe in his capacity to win.
Moreover, he's starting to oddly (at least, to me?) stress a quick death for Euden and his group, whereas before, it was of absolutely no concern to him whether they died slowly and agonizingly from Mars' burns to getting torn apart by fiends. It comes across to me as a sort of recognition of Euden's ability and/or bravery, a sort of respect for him as a warrior enough to not prolong his death or otherwise make it painful.
He's also starting to actually communicate on some level what his true goals are and why, whereas ch.8 Leo largely seems to think even that level of communication would be wasted on such 'insects'. And while he doesn't entertain Euden's counterarguments for long, it might indicate a sort of acknowledgement of Euden as a opponent to lock ideals with instead of a simple obstacle to hurdle mindlessly?
All in all, it reads to me as if he's made the shift of viewing Euden as an insect to an opponent, a weaker opponent, of course, but one nonetheless. Able enough to be acknowledged as being kin, even as he's seems like he's trying to distance himself when preparing to kill him.
This trend continues immediately after the tables are turned. Leonidas acknowledges Euden as brother and king, and is more upset at the notion that Euden doesn't want to kill him since he likely thinks that now Euden sees him as the 'able to be safely ignored weakling' as well as wanting to die of shame.
Continuing into ch.13, Leonidas immediately then protects Euden from Phares, even incorporating a new word into his vocabulary in the process!
Then, of course, is his and Chelle's conversation to further bridge the gap, in which he starts establishing Euden has earned a more complete respect as kin now despite not actually sharing a true lineage, and respect enough to ask another sibling to protect him.
So yeah. Even if ideally I do think some more dialogue would help to bridge the gap between before-16-Leonidas and after-16-Leonidas, I do think that they overall tried to make a cohesive progression even in the 8-12 shift from 'insect' to 'opponent I can somewhat respect' to 14-16's more complete respect. Alas, since the writing team only had so many story sections they could have and a lot of characters and plotlines to juggle, they could only spend a bit of time re. Leonidas, but for what it's worth they did a decent job with what they had.
Extra aside: I find it funny Leonidas was the first to 'exit' the main campaign. He features in 8, 12, and 16, with smaller appearances in 7, 10, etc, but after 16 he's effectively poofed even if he's still influential in the plot. Even Valyx lasted longer for on screen chapters since he was tagging along with Nedrick and Zethia, before he and most all siblings exited at ch.23 to then die in ch.25 (this is why leaving the protagonist's party isn't a good idea Chelle-)
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