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#is exactly the same as what happened with persephone
maybelacrimosa · 2 years
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idk I feel bad for Thanatos, he’s been working since he was a child and like I dont think that happened with any of the other gods in the comic. Like none of aphrodites kids were being put to work and Hebe definitely wasn’t. Like IDK, his situation just seems like it sucks, his mother just gave him to Hades and wandered off to go do Nyx things. The fact that Hypnos exists and looks a lot like Thanatos suggests she probably seperated him from his brother when she basically abandoned him. Also it feels like not many of the gods actually like him? Guy has it rough.
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maeo-png · 7 months
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Of course it's fucking THESEUS
okay. i havent shut up about the greek myth aspects of Simon's story and i wont stop now. At first it was a statue of Persephone in the garden, with it's head replaced to be Betty, giving the implication that Betty is the Persephone to Simon's Hades, and it was Simon's status as an antiquarian. and now we've gotten Simon being a huge nerd and bringing up Theseus completely unprompted (so real)
a bit of context in case you need it, Theseus was one of those greek "legendary Heroes" (Achilles, Heracles, etc.), and previously King of Athens, but had managed to dodge most bad things that happen to Greek heroes. he was just stupid and i guess they took pity on him.
The Ship of Theseus or "Theseus' Paradox", which I'd imagine all of tumblr knows by now, but if you don't, is the question on whether if a ship, specifically Theseus', is still the same ship after having all of its parts replaced exactly. To me this makes for such an obvious connection to Simon. Simon's story factors around identity, first and foremost. (yknow. "I Remember You" and all that?) The concept of not knowing what you are fundamentally was originally Ice King's thing, as his previous life as Simon was essentially history. But now that's being brought to Simon. and Simon has the lucidity to process what that means for him.
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genericpuff · 1 month
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Was the Hera×Echo thing for real?! Was it like planned??? It doesn't feel like it was planned! It feels like Rachel just wanted to queerbait to gather more new readers wtf
yeah it's exactly that tbh
FASTPASS SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
like what more realistically happened is she saw people headcanon'ing Echo and Hera and went "yeah sure I'll do that!" without actually writing the fucking relationship.
This was even a problem back in S2 with Echo's character as a whole, she's introduced as this mysterious 'double agent' character who's almost definitely working for Zeus-
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-but then aside from two scenes involving Echo accompanying Hera to the motel to retrieve Persephone's things and Echo warning Daphne that Apollo clearly isn't 'over Persephone' (because he had, y'know, barged into Hera's office demanding Hera's blessing) the whole "Echo is a double agent for Zeus" thing was only confirmed after Daphne was turned into a tree and Echo said "FUCK YOU ZEUS, I'M NOT GONNA DO YOUR DIRTY WORK ANYMORE!" which ... huh? Where's the plot? It feels like there was an entire story there that just got dumped entirely so that Hades and Persephone could play golf with diamonds.
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Like this was presumably where Echo ditched her obligation to Zeus, but it had nothing to do with Hera, it was because she heard (I'm assuming from Thanatos) what happened to Daphne.
After that we only ever see Echo again when it's implied that her and Hera had some kind of falling out. No idea what over, maybe it was Hera finding out that Echo was a double agent, maybe Hera called her a slur, we have no clue what. But it's sorta just tacked on during an ongoing monologue about how Kronos has affected her.
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The only other 'hint' we got towards it was Ares calling Echo Hera's 'girlfriend' but that doesn't mean a whole lot when we've literally never seen these two have more than two scenes together.
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So now Rachel making them kiss feels more like her taking credit for writing a plotline that doesn't exist and was fabricated entirely in the audience's headcanon. And this is something Rachel does a lot, she basically relies entirely on her audience filling in the blanks for her nothingburger plot and then of course gets to take all the credit for being a "smart and inclusive writer". Where? Literally where the fuck is the actual writing?
Imagine if we had gotten a proper B-plot showcasing the relationship between Echo and Hera. Echo is working for Hera as a double agent and doesn't want to blow her cover, while Hera is suspicious because she worries her husband is up to something. Over time they work together, grow closer, Hera realizes that Echo makes her feel a kind of happiness that Zeus hasn't made her feel in a long time, Echo realizes that she can't keep lying to Hera about why she was hired and decides she values Hera's loyalty and respect over Zeus' because she has feelings for Hera now. Maybe Hera finds out about Echo being a double agent, either by overhearing a conversation between Echo and Zeus or because Echo outright tells her, and eventually it resolves with them finally admitting their feelings towards one another and Hera realizing that she's felt trapped in a loveless marriage that's essentially serving the same purpose as her union with Kronos, sacrificing her well-being for the good of a King. They kiss and Hera confronts the original perpetrator of her trauma, Kronos, ready to end the cycle of her abuse once and for all.
Like, the plot is right fucking there but Rachel keeps dumping it in favor of focusing on the boring ass heterocis nightmares that are Hades and Persephone, who get SO MUCH FUCKING SCREENTIME of just telling each other how amazing they are and how much they're in love (meanwhile we didn't even actually get to see or hear what Hera wrote in the letter to Echo, we have to just assume) but still tries to take credit for writing queer stories by just vaguely hinting at a queer relationship that has had zero development or actual screentime. It's Hestia and Athena all fucking over again.
It also doesn't bode well for LO passing the whole "bury your gays" test because Hera is literally marching to what she's expecting to be her death. So she's established as a bisexual character, just for her to be sent to her death, while Echo will undoubtedly get shoved out of the plot again.
And, I shouldn't even have to remind y'all of this, but Hera has been racist to nymphs in the past and Echo was her direct subordinate, her personal assistant.
It just makes zero sense to me why Rachel would suddenly force in a queer relationship between two characters who weren't traditionally gay in the original myths (once again removing the queer aspects of CANONICALLY LGBTQ+ GODS AND GIVING THEM TO THE STRAIGHTS INSTEAD) when Hera's story had more than enough to work with through her trauma from both Kronos and Zeus and her loyalty as the goddess of marriage that's kept her trapped in a loveless and abusive relationship. So now instead of having a subplot that could have been about the goddess of marriage realizing that no one should have to stay in a marriage that's robbing them of joy and the "sanctity of marriage" isn't worth being miserable for life, we have a subplot where the goddess of marriage who is racist to nymphs routinely cheats on her husband and now confesses her love to a nymph who we never even saw her interact with outside of two instances where it was simply a working relationship.
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reythenerdypisces · 15 days
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things that I overlooked in PJO the first time / small, funny things I noticed during my reread
Part 3: The Titan's Curse
The truth was I was kind of disappointed to hear that she liked her new school so much. It was the first time she'd gone to school in New York. I'd been hoping to see her more often.
I tried to concentrate on little things, like the crepe-paper streamers and the punch bowl - anything but that fact that Annabeth was taller than me, and my hands were sweaty and probably gross, and I kept stepping on her toes.
"The General?" I asked. Then I realised I'd said it in a French accent. "I mean... who's the General?" I want this part to be in the show
"Sweet! Let's go! [to CHB]" said Nico. this breaks my heart. he was so excited in this book
Tyson thought Annabeth was just about the coolest thing since peanut butter (and he seriously loved peanut butter).
"How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?" "Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone." "But she was like, the goddess of flowers." Grover looked offended. "Springtime." you tell him grover
"That's some serious danger you're facing." Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said you and not we.) I'm just imagining the rest of the campers not bothering to go on quests cause it's always the same few demigods and they don't care, they're just chilling safe at CHB while Percy and Annabeth do their things
The creature looked at me sadly. "Moooo!" But I couldn't understand his thoughts. I only speak horse. Percy Jackson speaks two languages: English and Horse
With a shiver, I realised that five hundred or a thousand years from now, Bianca di Angelo would look exactly the same as she did today. She might be having a conversation like this with some other half blood long after I was dead but Bianca would still look twelve years old. ouch
"It wants to kill us!" Thalia said. "Of course." Grover said. "It's wild!" "So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked.
"That's us," he said. "Those five nuts right there." "Which one is me?" I asked. "The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.
When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like Annabeth. I know everyone talks about this part but I can't help but bring it up again, they are so cute
"Woah, first of all, I never said anything about love. And second, what's up with tragic!" little does he know. also, Percy is so incredibly insightful in this book but he's also so jealous of Annabeth and Luke and so upset about the idea of her joining the hunters yet still can't figure out that he likes her
"Seven hundred feet tall," I said. "Built in the 1930s." "Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia said. Grover sighed. "Largest construction project in the United States." Zoe stared at us. "How do you know all that?" "Annabeth," I said. "She liked architecture." I cannot explain how much this little bit means to me.
The girl I'd just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex. "Oh my god." she shouted. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?" Rachel's here!!! I love her
Five minutes later, Zoe had me outfitted in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat. someone draw this and tag me. what an outfit
Suddenly it occurred to me: this had happened to her before. She had been cornered on Half-Blood Hill. She'd willingly given her life for her friends. But this time, she couldn't save us. How could I let that happen to her? he is the most empathetic, wholesome guy, I love Percy
"Can't this go any faster?" Thalia demanded. Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic." You both sound like my mother." I said. "Shut up!" they said in unison. I kind of wish we got more Thalia and Zoe interactions... they would've made such a great enemies to lovers dynamic, if Zoe didn't die
"Get away from my daughter!" Dr Chase called down, and his machine gun burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering. "Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.
Grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about our strange encounter with the magic of Pan. Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.
"No," I said. "I choose the prophecy. It will be about me." "Why are you saying that?" she cried. "You want to be responsible for the whole world?" It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it. "I can't let Nico be in any more danger." I said. might I remind you this boy is 13/14 and has the whole world on his shoulders (both literally at some point and figuratively)
I feel like these are just getting longer and longer but again, I will be back for part 4!
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winterspellsfrozenkit · 2 months
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In case, you see either my two posts about Epic: The Musical about "There Are Other Ways" and "I'm Not Sorry For Loving You", I want to clarify that I have nothing but respect for Jay's ability to write music. He's talented and he knows what he's doing as the songs are very clever in both music and lyrics and knowing the story makes the songs more impactful. The writing is for "There Are Other Ways" and "I'm Not Sorry For Loving You" shows that Jay knows EXACTLY the situation happening and how to disguise it to hide the nature of what is happening.
That said, I despise these songs because having read the Odyssey, I know what is going on when the songs are happening, and when Jay released snippets of these songs, I saw a lot of people misunderstand the situation because they don't have the same context I do, which is what drives my aggravation.
The second factor that drives my frustration is I have a strong feeling that people who don't read the Odyssey and hear the album are going to misconstrue Odysseus's character into someone who claims to love his wife, but cheats (which he doesn't do) and use these songs as their "proof". Even before Epic came out, people have called Odysseus a cheater and I will admit, I get a touch heated about that because this is my stance: If people want to claim Medusa's later adaptation from Ovid, Persephone, Io, etc. are victims, then they should recognize that Odysseus is one too. If they refuse to acknowledge Odysseus as one, they need to do some soul searching and ask some REALLY uncomfy questions.
I want to be clear: I'm not upset at Jay's writing nor do I think his writing is terrible. Yes, I said "I'm Not Sorry For Loving You" is the worst song ever, but if you read the post, I try to make it clear I'm not coming after Jay's writing, I'm trying to make it clear what the song actually is, rather than what it innocently looks like. Another song I would call the worst song ever is Into The Woods "Any Moment" and that's because of what the song is. Writing's great, music's great, but I still think that song is the worst song ever in Into The Woods given it's Cinderella's Prince looking to incite the Baker's Wife to cheat with him.
Ever since I've read the Odyssey, I was horrified that Odysseus has been treated like a cheater a lot. To be clear, Odysseus does shady, sneaky stuff, but where his feelings on his wife and son are concerned, that is the one consistent. He wants to be with his family. In short, those two posts are basically this:
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waywardangel-wilds · 22 days
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Okay so I know no one cares but:
Wouldn’t it be cool if instead of everyone writing the same old Hades + Persephone story someone finally wrote the only one that matters: the one that actually happened in real life. What do I mean? I mean how Goddess Persephone is the (possibly) oldest underworld diety, she predates Ancient Greek society. When Hades was invented by the ancient Greeks they needed to establish a different relationship between them that would represent Greek society at the time - which was patriarchal - and therefore, they created the rapt of Persephone, or the better known, rape of Persephone.l to establish a new power dynamic. Man on top. By the way, Demeter also predates Ancient Greece.
So what I want to see is a story where instead of the regular story of the seasons we get with Hades taking Persephone we get what really happened. The marriage of two cultures. The Mycenae (I’m not exactly sure if this is the correct spelling) who had their “darker” religious practices that focused much more on death and mystery, and their powerful goddesses. And the Ancient Greeks which we all know and love. This is really an arranged marriage, if you think about it. It’s the joining of two kingdoms.
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bomber-grl · 2 months
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Nico Di Angelo x Son of Persephone🪦
Pairing(s): Nico Di Angelo x Male!Reader
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Sorta awkward 😭 I mean you are step siblings if we really think about it
You can argue that you’re like Beckendorf and Silena but yk…
But lets ignore that
Anyway, when the two of you meet or atleast once Nico is made aware of your existence, he isn’t exactly jumping at the chance to talk to you
I mean Persephone wasn’t the best towards Nico so it’s to be expected..
However, with that he was pleasantly surprised when you were, dare he say, decent
You’re both pretty similar in the underworld aspect but different all the same
Especially since you’re able to grow plants and manage that while also being able to control darkness and such due to your mothers underworld aspect
So the two of you most likely met because you so happened to be in the underworld when he was.
He never expected to see another demigod there, especially since you looked very much alive
So the two of you got talking and once he found out u were Persephone spawn? Yea his face contorts to that of disgust
Dude doesn’t even try and hide it
Ofc because of you being there hades gives u the same treatment Persephone gives Nico and it’s awkward overall man
What he didn’t tell you is that the time you spent talking (surprising that he stayed to talk) before he found out your godly parent, he actually thought fondly of you
Well because of things you both can relate to- you two get closer and inevitably start dating after going through some hardship with Nico admitting his feelings
And thus you both start dating
Nico is pretty alert whenever he’s in the underworld outside his dads palace so having you by his side- he’s even more so
Ofc he forgets you can literally defend yourself since your mom is literally the queen of the underworld but yk
Being familiar with the underworld is what gets you two pretty close
Especially since you both know how it is to be so close to death and stuff, it’s sorta a “iykyk”
Now, just cuz you’re connected to the underworld- it doesn’t mean you’re not connected to spring and plants and the works
Ofc Nico hates when Persephone or Demeter are mentioned but he actually loves your powers since you made them your own
Was a bit weirded out since he’s basically one with death and living things hate his guts-
So ofc when you made a few plants here and there as you do and he’s surprised when it doesn’t decay
Since usually every plant around his does (only ever when he’s upset which he was at the time)
Honestly what was his thought process
Your mom is literally connected to the underworld why wouldn’t it be somewhat immune 😭
Well regardless he’s so sweet even if he has weird ways of showing it and you’re probably one of the few people he can tolerate and be patient with since you both have similar experiences.
Plus, once you both start dating he doesn’t not GAF what your mom or anyone else has to say he’s felt w enough bs from anyone- he’ll be just fine
Later on he feels bad for being so put off by you in the beginning especially since you’re most likely introverted and shy 😭
He feels so bad so he tries to be more appreciative towards you while you’re just confused
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vaguely-concerned · 6 months
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BEHOLD! The list of evidence for my bold claim that Pan and Freddie dislike each other ferociously on sight because they are, in some key ways and despite appearances, very similar people: 
- First instinct upon seeing Grace sad is to try to make her laugh to cheer her up. (See: Freddie’s very first lines in the game starting off as she means to go on, and about half the things Pan ever says or does lol. In the last scene with him before The Trial you can even tell him you’re there just because you wanted to talk to him and have something cheer you up.) General sources of levity and fun and play in Grace’s life if you seek them out. 
- They react with similar anxiety to the idea of Grace being really angry with them (Freddie’s surprised/dismayed “Why are you angry at me?!” in the red route of ‘I Can Teach You’, the millenia-old god of the wild hiding behind a tree for ten minutes because he thinks Grace might be about to yell at him lmao <3)
- Both of them seem to have similar interpersonal insecurities in general, judging by the enforced choice between them in ‘I Can Teach You’ (I love you both so much but oh my god. is this a constructive use of time or energy under the circumstances lol), softened and alleviated by the fact that at the end of the day the most important thing to either of them is that Grace is happy. It isn’t possessiveness, but there is an element of underlying ‘Hey. Hey I am your favorite right?? 🥺’ insecurity there that trips them both up to begin with. Once you play the game and go back to look at this scene again knowing everyone’s real motivations, they’re even coming from the same place deep down — genuine fear for Grace’s safety and wanting to help her. (Freddie uncomplicatedly out of love🥹, and Pan at that stage probably more out of a guilty sense of responsibility, though he does seem to take a shine to Grace herself pretty quickly as well. Also he demonstrably isn’t, uh. Completely wrong in saying Freddie’s involvement in this whole mess is likely to end in tears, even if he is being a real dick about it) 
- If you don’t choose either in ‘I Can Teach You’, they both show up within minutes of each other to watch Grace’s back in the Medusa quest anyway. One brain cell ping pong and no one notices because they keep trying to swat each other with the racquets whenever Grace glances away for a second
Sidenote but flirting with both of them one after the other in that quest is fucking hilarious, they’re just taking turns ‘Really? Right in front of my salad?’-ing directly at the camera (...listen I feel that there is a chance that as long as they kept Grace between them the whole time there could be a thing here. I think a possible universe out there where it happens at least once does exist if one cared to go seek it out. That’s all I’m saying.) 
- Seems a bit obvious but what else am I here for: both very drawn to Grace no matter what main trait you choose. Whether this is true vice versa is of course player-dependent, but it is one way you can play the game. 
- Incredibly similar defensive reactions to being picked on or sniped at (and no hesitation whatsoever in subjecting each other to exactly that immediately anyway haha) 
- A bit dark when you think about it, but they both express the sentiment that it would be better for them to step in and die if it means Grace lives. (Freddie very directly of course ;______; and then in ‘It’s time’, Pan in ‘The Trial’ and the little talk you have with him later in Athena’s office.)  
Matching ‘ride or die’ instincts once awoken, is what I’m getting at. Freddie gets extra points for sheer longevity and constancy, Pan gets extra points for getting there in a week. You’re both unhinged (affectionate) 
- They’re the only ones among the main cast wearing green, right? I think I’ve got that right? Well, Charon does too, I suppose, but he’s a bit more peripheral. (Persephone and Aphrodite wear blue-green, but that seems more associated with death and the underworld and the river of grief everyone keeps using as a metaphor throughout the game.) Somehow I find the idea/metaphor that once you get Pan out from under like three layers of bullshit he’s the same colour as Freddie (who is inarguably The symbol of devotion and steadfastness in this game no matter your choices) quite sweet. 
- Nerds. You know I am right. Slightly different kinds of nerd (Freddie is distinctly geek-flavoured and Pan collects rare books for sport sort of distinction), but still. Oh my god. Freddie should get the whole cast together to play D&D in the Reliquary post-game. It would be absolute carnage. It would be glorious hilarity. *GASP* no wait not the Reliquary, let’s go to the Underworld so Charon gets to play too. For the love of all that is good give this to me now please I need it 
- The only two people who think Freddie losing control of her powers and causing a dance number at a funeral is hilarious
In short this is a recognition of the self through the other (derogatory) situation for both of them and neither of them decides to take that with any dignity or grace (ahaha) in the slightest, I love them very much,  thank you and goodnight 
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winns-stuff · 7 months
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LO REMINDER:
Forever will absolutely despise both Hera and Hecate heavily because they were never the girl boss feminists that everyone believed them to be and they quite literally take the sides of men rather than their female peers. They’re the number one dick riders for Hades and both of them failed in actually supporting and taking care of Persephone.
Hecate was studying on Demeter’s land and utilizing her own resources from that said land and knew that Persephone was not supposed to be anywhere near Hades or the Underworld. Not only did she not reach out to Demeter once when her own daughter ran away, got stuck in the Underworld, and had a place to hide away from the feds but she also allowed this grown ass man to sniff around the very naive and gullible 19 year old Persephone. When Persephone was hibernating due to all of the stress and cold temperatures that both Hades and the Underworld brought her she never talked to Hades about cutting ties with her or supplying Persephone with an apartment by herself where she can get away from all the stressors she kept her near Hades at all times. She was also the second in command of ruining her social life, she encouraged Hades to do that dumbass eye pulling thing over someone he had no business knowing in the first place and she didn’t even apologize to Persephone at all. Hecate is the biggest op ever to Persephone, she never cared for her at all and she quite literally is just Hades’ hunting dog when it comes to vulnerable women.
Next is Hera, we all know why she failed Persephone multiple times but I’m gonna repeat them anyways because the amount of shit Persephone lets Hera get away with is actually criminal. First off we have to talk about the infamous match making thing, first of all she doesn’t even know anything about Persephone? She met her once at a party while she was drunk and another time when she was literally a fucking baby that’s the only flashbacks we have of her and Persephone interacting together so why would she be in such a rush to do this anyways. Besides the fact that Hera is literally picking Persephone’s own love life for her, the girl is 19 years old Hades even said so himself that she isn’t even old enough to handle the effects of magic why the fuck are you trying to hook up this (mortally) freshly new 19 year old with someone who’s old enough to be her uncles and great grandfathers? Another thing is the fact that Hera single-handedly forced Persephone to work in the Underworld despite not having any real friends, family, or other people there was actually fucked up of her in the first place. Once again, Persephone doesn’t have street smarts and she knows nothing of the Underworld and she’s a nature goddess as well, she’s literally made of fucking plants if she doesn’t have any sunlight she’s not going to do well which is why Persephone (used to be) is always cold when she went down there in the first place. Hera did not give a flying fuck about Persephone and she quite literally only used her as a puppet just so she can get over her own fling. Not only that but the fact that Hera was actively trying to find out what happened to Persephone by discussing it with other people and not even trying to question her is wild as well. Persephone’s assault is her business and if people that Hera questioned started to catch on and question Persephone about it I can imagine that that would probably trigger her. If Hera didn’t even want to see anyone while dealing with Kronos why not give Persephone that same privacy? Don’t even get me started on the dress thing too, I swear Hera acts exactly how everyone wants Demeter to act like. You cannot tell me that Hera isn’t Persephone’s overbearing mother who forces her to do things she doesn’t want to, puts an unbelievable standard on her, doesn’t let her make her own decisions, and keeps her in the dark about things.
Anyways, moral of the story here is that along with Hades these two deserve to be up there with the true villains of Lore Olympus because they’re quite literally just like Thetis but maybe even worse honestly. They both show us where their loyalty lies and that they care more about Hades’ feelings rather than Persephone so much so that they’d throw her under the bus without remorse if he asked them to.
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gabessquishytum · 7 months
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so Persephone Hades AU, but I am working on a classic studies degree, so I gave it a twist from the original original myth and added Dyspoina.
Hob finds a consort, and this being Greece where its socially acceptable to kidnap your partner, he does that.
Dream is none to happy about this and refuses the food of the dead, because once the gods hear about what happened, they will be looking for him, and he has no plans of styaing hell.
Well Hob is regretting his choices by kidnapping a spoiled prince for a new husband. But he's a bit shocked to see that despite Dream refusing to eat the food of the dead, Hell still seems to be accepting Dream as a new ruler and bending to his will the same as Hob's.
So for a while it seems to be a stalemate where Hob just wants Dream to accept the title as consort and Dream is just waiting until someone upstairs finally thinks to look in Hell.
Well Hob finds himself in Hell's library and the rules are simple, if a book or story is lost to time, it ends up in the library, which is where Hob finds a nifty little book where it explains that Dream is the child of two gods who were associated with death, and Dream at one point being so feared that his name has been forgotten to time because speaking it was one of those omens that brings Dream to the speaker.
But, because this is the lost library, Hob finds his name and goes to find his husband. He attempts to blackmail Dream as a sort of "imagine if people found out their little flower god was really a death omen"
but Dream is actually taken aback Hob isn't turned off by Dream's past Devinity. Hes lost countless lovers to it, and he had a hand in killing his name sense he was tired of people fearing him. He asks Hob if it really doesnt bother him that he, Dream, is an omen of death, and Hob says "What exactly will that do to me? In already the god of the dead. Its not exactly a work hazard to meet a death omen."
Dream practically tackles Hob to the ground and they are all over eachother in minutes. Dream finally (finally) met someone who doesn't fear him, and Hob got his consort.
Ahh this is excellent! Emo Omen of Death Dream feels very in character. He’s tried to reinvent himself as this harmless little nature god but he’s just… he’s very emo. Even before he was kidnapped he used to mope around being all sad and dramatic. It’s one of the things that Hob finds endearing about him!
So yeah, Hob isn’t entirely surprised by the revelation of Dream’s previous identity. It makes a lot of sense, and surely it’s a good thing! Dream will thrive spending time in Hell with the dead, who already serve him with great love and respect. Instead of hiding from his true nature, perhaps Dream can finally embrace and learn to love himself as he is?
Honestly Dream is just relieved. He finds Hob very attractive, despite the whole kidnapping thing. Hob has really tried hard to make the underworld a good home for Dream, and he genuinely feels like he can breathe for the first time in a very long time. So he gladly throws himself in Hob’s arms and agrees to become his consort. On the condition that he will be able to leave Hell and visit him family in the land of the living. Hob agrees readily enough, relieved that he’s finally persuaded Dream to stay (for at least some of the time).
As god of the dead, Hob also has dominion over everything that lies under the ground. He is, therefore, the richest of all the gods, and he can deck his new husband in freshly mined silver, and beautiful jewels. Dream’s crown glitters with diamonds, and he sits happily on his throne at Hob’s side while the dead pay homage to them both.
From then on, it’s always Dream who enters a room before Hob. He is an omen of death, after all. It’s his duty to let everyone know when his husband is on his way.
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apollosgiftofprophecy · 6 months
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LSJDFLSJDFKJKDSFLDJF
I LOVE IT IIT'S MY CHILD
i can't believe you actually made a fic about them
THANATOS IS SO WHIPPED AND AWKWARD AND IT'S EXACTLY HOW I IMAGINED IT
my view of what happened when thanatos finds out (and if hades finds out)
Hades: YOU LET A SOUL ROAM THE WORLD! WHY Thanatos: Um- Hades: AND THE SAME SOUL BECAME A FUCKING GOD Thanatos: ... Hades: AND TRIED TO KILL APOLLO! WAS IT WORTH IT Thanatos thinking about the kiss on the cheek and the hug: yeah... i mean no-
ehehehehehehehehahaahahahaa
They were so fun <3
Hades:
Hades: ...oh my gods.
Thanatos, sweating: Wut?
Hades: you.... *points finger* you have a crush on my favorite nephew.
Thanatos, slightly high-pitched: nO I DON'T!
Hades: YOU DO
Hades: OH MY GODS
Hades, shouting across the hall: PERSEPHONE THANATOS HAS A CRUSH ON APOLLO
Thanatos: I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON APOLLO
Persephone, kicking the doors open: OH?!? Well it's about time he's had a crush!
Hades: DON'T LIE THANATOS
Persephone: When did this crush come on?
Thanatos: no comment
Hades: ALL THE WAY BACK IN ROME
Hades: AT THE LATEST
Persephone: *gasp* Thanatos! Why didn't you tell us???
Persephone: I would've wing-women'd you!
Thanatos: Thank you, Lady Persephone, but it's not needed. It's just a phase.
Hades: A ONE-THOUSAND EIGHT-HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN YEAR LONG PHASE?!
Thanatos: ....yes?
Hades:
Persephone:
Thanatos:
Hades:
Persephone:
Thanatos: ....okay maybe not
Hades: I FUCKING KNEW IT
Persephone: THANATOS I AM YOUR WING-WOMAN NOW I AM CONTACTING ERATO WE ARE GONNA GET YOU A MAN
Thanatos: PERSEPHONE, NO
Persephone & Hades: PERSEPHONE, YES
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that-ari-blogger · 5 months
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Conflict!
It is often said that "conflict drives a story" and while that is mostly true, it isn't helpful writing advice. It's just an observation. A story is about a character wanting to do something, and their struggles to do that are the conflict, that's where the conflict stops. You don't need antagonists or villains or fights or even arguments in a story, you just need stuff, and conflict will arise.
Essentially, conflict brings about character by putting individuals in unusual situations and showing off facets of them that aren't usually on display.
But what happens when two characters are in conflict with each other? Then (if the writing is decent) you get an emotionally dense few moments, and in a musical, you get a song like Old Wounds.
Let me explain.
SPOILERS AHEAD
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This isn't a long song, and there aren't that many branching paths (you get two choices in the entire song). But there is a lot going on here, emotionally speaking.
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I noted in another post that Persephone is heavily associated purple. And that remains here, although it has softened slightly as you have got to know her to a more maroon-ish palate.
Appollo is also associated with a colour, that being blue. As in, he's the sun and the blue that surrounds him is the sky. Hence why this shot is so cool:
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It's Grace literally having to choose between her two allies. Also notice what is happening. The blue light is shining over a plant, helping it to grow, while the pink shows an image of Calliope. It could be a photograph, it could be a painting, I'm not sure. The blue represents the future, while the purple the past.
Also, Persephone has an image of somebody she knows looking regal in her office. Why does she have this? What is the history between these two? (Historians will say they were good friends)
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Anyway, what are these two characters arguing about? I mentioned conflict, and there is definitely some here, but what is it? The two of them just start bickering out of nowhere. And that's exactly it. Apollo picks fault with Persephone's wording, then they call each other blind, then the real wounds come out.
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What's interesting here, is that Persephone has been established to have an old wound, Hades, and this song explores it. But Persephone doesn't engage this, Apollo does. Apollo is the one who starts the fight. Why?
Guilt. In my reading of this song, Apollo is playing incredibly defensive here. He has accepted his guilt and his need to change earlier in the story, at least verbally. But when push comes to shove and the consequences of his actions come into play, he immediately lashes out verbally.
And it's what he takes issue with that piques my interest. Persephone has rationalised that people deserve what they get, actions have consequences. Apollo doesn't agree with that.
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Then there is this shot. As the two of them bicker and talk over each other, the camera swirls and the colours that represent them become intermingled, a neat little metaphor for the difficulty of this situation. And above Grace's head, forgotten by both of them in this moment, the reason they are both here, and the consequences for both of their actions.
"You abandoned me to a terrible fate." "You replay your injuries till it's too late." "This is not about you"
Here, the theses of both characters. One is stuck in the past; one is avoiding it. One is trying to grow away from the past without truly reconciling with it, the other has rationalised in a way that is self-destructive. Neither can move forwards without the other, there is a balance that needs to be struck.
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What strikes me, however, is how similar these two characters are. They use the same insults for each other, they believe extremely similar things. When we met Apollo, Phantom Pains was almost exactly Persephone's current viewpoint. That's why they are so irreconcilable. These are two characters with some deep self-loathing issues who see themselves in their opponent. Specifically, they see the worst parts of themselves. Guilt, loss, anger.
That's what this conflict is about, looking to the past or looking to the future. Grace needs to take a middle road, but she can't because these two can't get over themselves. That's why this final choice is so difficult, because they are both so right, and both so very wrong.
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algumaideia · 8 months
Text
Jason Grace was the bastard son of King Jupiter, which was far from being an impactful information. The King was known for his affairs and the amount of bastard children that came from them. The only unusual thing about the situation would be how Queen Juno dealt with the situation. She liked to be in charge of all of them. The boys became guards. The girls cleaners. All of them being supervised by the Queen constantly, working in the palace. She had trusted people in charge of them, reports were sent weekly. They could amount to no problem with the Queen herself controlling them.
It was because of this situation that Jason found himself in the Queen’s presence. He was a kid. Maybe twelve. Maybe younger. He had barely seen the Queen throughout his life. He had seen his father even less times. This was all to say that the kid knew something was wrong, he just had no idea what.
Jason was standing straight, not looking directly at the Queen. He hadn’t received enough instruction on how to behave. What if he made her annoyed and she asked to decapitate him? Could she do that?
“Your performance has been unsatisfactory.”
The Queen looked at Jason like she expected an answer. So the boy gave her one.
“I.. I don’t understand, Your Majesty. I’m as good as every other boy.”
“Exactly. You need to be better. No one can think the bastard children are being favored. This situation is already messy, don’t make it worse.”
The Queen waved her hand. Jason should go. How could he do what the Queen asked?
Nico di Angelo was the son of Hades. There weren’t many of them. The King loved his spouse dearly and it was very rare for any woman to catch his attention enough to be made concubine. Maria di Angelo was one of these rare women. Nico was one of the rare children. Persephone, Hades’ favorite woman, treated the situation with grace. She made sure all children received the same education and treatment, it didn’t matter who the mother was. Some people said she treated the combine’s kids like hers out of kindness and generosity. Others said she was only aware that the King wouldn’t see any sort of discrimination with good eyes. In the end the reasons didn’t matter, not to Nico anyway.
When a little boy he was allowed to be as hyperactive and enthusiastic as he wished. After the death of his mother and sister he was allowed to be as quiet and alone as he wished.
Some years later, Jason Grace was summoned to the Queen's chamber again. He was taller, bigger, stronger. No one could call him a child, but he was still a boy. He couldn't be more than 17 years old.
It was the second time Jason would have a conversation with the Queen. He was analysing his behavior in the past months, had he committed a great mistake? Was it a problem with his performance again? Someone heard that one time he complained about his father?
Regardless of all that, Jason was a boy with a mission. He would ask the Queen about his mother.
The Queen stopped working with her papers when Jason entered the room.
"You must be aware that Hades' ambassador is coming." Jason nodded. "He will bring his own personal guards, but whenever he leaves the palace he will have our guards to protect him. You'll be one of them. I believe I don't need to tell you how important this is."
"I'll do my best, Your Majesty."
The Queen seemed satisfied and went back to her paperwork without waiting for Jason to leave. The boy took a deep breath.
"Your Majesty, I do not mean to bother, but I was wondering if you could tell me about my mother."
"What about her?"
"You keep track of all the King's lovers, right? I wish to know what happened to her."
"Didn't your sister tell you? She died less than three years after you left."
Jason wasn't sure what to do with what the Queen had told her.
"I met her. You don't find many people who are not only aware of their shortcomings, but also honest about them. I admired her for that."
If you asked later, not that you'd know about it, but if you did Jason wouldn't know how to explain why he did what he did. But he'd tell you he was satisfied with the results.
"Aren't you like this, Your Majesty?"
The Queen blinked. She looked more amused than annoyed. Maybe Jason was lucky, maybe the Queen wasn't so bad.
"I'm not allowed to make mistakes. This whole deal with you and the other bastards… Sometimes I think that if one of you steps out of line, Jupiter will divorce me. I know in some moments it looks like I want to punish you all, and I'm gonna be honest sometimes I do, however in the end I just want to keep it up together."
The ambassador was handsome or so would Jason tell his sister. He had black hair that fell to his shoulders when free, olive skin, deep brown eyes, slim figure.
On his visit to Olympus, one guard caught Nico's attention. Hazel, his sister, convinced him to describe the guy to her so she could draw him. Nico spent an embarrassing amount of time starting the ready drawing.
Hazel loved horses, she would ride them as much as she could. Sometimes Nico would go with her. It was in one of those moments that Nico told the news to Hazel.
"Father wants me to become a permanent ambassador. He said I looked happier after the trip."
"Does he know about the guard?"
"He wasn't…. I didn't…"
"I'm just kidding Nico. I do think traveling to new places would be good for you. Would you take me to some of your trips?"
"Of course, as long as you want and Father allows, I'll be more than glad to have you with me."
Whenever Nico went to Olympus, which happened once every couple of months, Jason would be assigned to guard him. Some years have passed, they were both men now and Jason had guarded a lot of information about the ambassador. He enjoyed learning about the differences in cultures, didn't talk much until he did, he enjoyed playing games, silent places, liked listening to music more than going to the theater, had a specific taste in clothes, adored his sister, was good at sword play and could be really threatening.
Nico, on the other hand, knew nothing about the knight. He liked to imagine what the guard did on his spare time.
There was an attack. Long short story, they ended up locked in a room together in silence. For hours. Until Nico couldn't deal with it anymore.
"Can we please talk?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but this could distract me and endanger your life."
The guard wasn't even looking in Nico's direction.
"Please, I'm going crazy."
With a sigh, the guard nodded. Nico was surprised it didn't take any longer to convince him.
"What do you want to talk about, sir?"
"I don't know, anything. What is your name? What do you do in your spare time? What do you like? What do you dislike?"
"My name is Jason Grace. I like to read, tragedies are my favorites. I enjoy when we go to work on some construction, it makes me feel helpful. I like the rain. I don't like swimming."
"You did answer them all."
"I did as you asked."
Without knowing, Jason killed the opportunity to continue the conversation with the ambassador. Nico didn't want to feel like he forced Jason to do anything. So the silence came back.
On the next visit, Jason fought with Nico daily. He was the best sword fighter and therefore was chosen as Nico's partner when the man showed desire to train his skills. On those days they talked. Both men thought about the conversations all the months they spent away.
The next time Nico went to Olympus, the Queen asked to talk to him privately. He never told anyone about it. The effects of it were felt regardless. The Queen started playing matchmaker and the result was Nico and Jason spending more time together.
It wasn't a normal relationship and maybe it would never be. But it made both of them happy.
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genericpuff · 2 months
Text
Can you call Tina Belcher driving through a parking lot at an anxious snail's pace a driving "style"? So why do we try to use "style" as a defense for LO's pacing problems?
There's something about how Lore Olympus engrosses people within its weekly doses of H x P content and cliffhangers that makes people not realize just how long Lore Olympus takes to get to the point of, well, anything. Many plotlines are setup, and then go untouched for weeks, sometimes months at a time, before seeing any sort of progress, much less a resolution. In this, I'm going to actually give you time ranges on some of the more egregious payoffs and continuations of plotlines that were setup - some that are now resolved, others that have yet to see the light of day.
CONTENT WARNING: I will be discussing the SA plotline, and there will be spoilers for Episode 265. I will also be showing pictures of some rancid ass tattoos, I know that sounds random for what we're discussing, but trust me on this one, I have a point to make. Also there's a Junji Ito panel from The Enigma of Amigara Fault... yeah, that one.
LEUCE
Let's start with an easy one that's not exactly tied to the main plot. The Leuce plotline. She was first introduced in Episode 201 as a 'bargaining chip' from Zeus to Hades, in a misfired attempt to get Hades to call a truce over the embargo between the Underworld and Olympus.
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At the time of this episode's release, by all accounts this seemed to be a cut and dry reference to Hades' first wife, Leuce, unfortunately reduced to a mail-order bride who Hades, of course, turns down, because he doesn't want the "I can't believe it's not butter" Persephone, he wants overpriced, tastes-the-same-but-costs-more-because-of-the-brand-name Persephone.
But then she came back, 36 episodes later - in real time, this was roughly 38 weeks for free-to-read users as the series went on a 2 week hiatus near the start of S3 - only to be used as a cliffhanger leading into a recycled Minthe plotline, in which she attempted to seduce Hades in Episode 238, only to be shot down for the second time.
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If you're having a tough time wrapping your head around how long 36 weeks really is, that's nine months. If you got pregnant when Leuce was first revealed, you'd be entering the final window of pregnancy by the time she returned, assuming the baby didn't come pre-term.
Another 7 weeks later, enough time to actually get pregnant again following that first baby, we got the sudden continuation of that plot, with Persephone invading her home and filling it with barn animals, with a not-so-subtle threat to Leuce to stay away from her husband.
"But what about the text messages? Were they really from Hades?" Well, if you were someone reading this comic in real time, you wouldn't have this question answered for another SIX EPISODES - that's a month and a half in real time - and the answer would ultimately be "she made it up, she was 'manifesting', none of it's real, they should call her Deleuceional!" Six weeks for a nothingburger answer to wrap up a nothingburger sideplot, all in the pursuit to 'prove' for the 1275903729 time that Hades and Persephone are truly meant to be together.
EROS AND PSYCHE
This is a big one. The Eros x Psyche plotline was one of the most popular romance subplots, second only to Hades and Persephone, throughout the comic. And yet, despite people holding their breath to see what would become of the star-crossed lovers, a mortal and a god-
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-readers in September 2021 would not find out how their recent skirmish with Apollo in Episode 171 would resolve itself until Episode 218, A YEAR AND TWO MONTHS - ROUGHLY 60 WEEKS AND A MIDSEASON HIATUS - LATER, and even then it would only show us Eros, who quickly summarizes what happened to him during the entire trial and Kronos arc that his anticipated romance storyline got sidelined for - he got married and now he has a child.
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And it wouldn't be for ANOTHER six weeks that his wife and the mother of his child would actually show up, not alongside Eros, but Aphrodite and Hephaestus, in Episode 224.
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What happened to her after finally having her 'true form' revealed to Eros? Well, that's not shown for another three weeks in Episode 227. During this a bunch of info about how Psyche got out of that sticky Apollo situation is dumped on us and we just have to go along with it as she becomes a goddess, not because she earned a place among the Olympians, but because Zeus needs her to spy on Apollo, which was actually shown one episode prior in 226.
So let's say you got knocked up again after that Leuce baby, when Eros and Psyche were shot out of the sky. Welp, in the time it took for Rachel to get around explaining what happened to the both of them, now you just had your second baby and for all we know, you could have gone for a third and already be well into or near the end of your first trimester, if you really wanted to get busy. You'd have a Dionysus, a Melinoe, and maybe even a Demophoon. Congratulations.
And speaking of Melinoe-
MELINOE
Turns out the interloper and the child in Tartarus were one and the same, or at least that's what I'm assuming, because otherwise that would mean there's some whole ass other baby to worry about that we haven't even been introduced to yet.
Melinoe, or "the child deity", was first established in Episode 218.
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But as per LO tradition, the child would only mentioned in passing every now and then until finally being revealed as Melinoe in Episode 252, a whopping... THIRTY EIGHT FUCKING WEEKS LATER.
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And that waiting is still ongoing as Melinoe is, of course, still trapped in Tartarus, with no end in sight. Since then, Hades and Persephone have gotten married, kidnapped a child, Persephone has terrorized a nymph and caused yet ANOTHER genocide, and they've resurrected a child that was suddenly revealed to be Demeter's. Thirty eight weeks and counting of dragging on a plotline that we're supposed to believe is dire while the characters do sweet fuck all.
What was the name of that other dream baby that Rachel referenced from some obscure non-legitimate source?
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Riiiight, Brimos. Congrats, there's pregnancy number 4. But can we find a way to make a fifth happen?
KASSANDRA
We're first introduced to Kassandra, another implied victim of Apollo's, in Episode 226 when a photo of her is found on Apollo's pen drive which was conveniently left on the ground for Psyche to swipe.
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In Episode 227, they theorize on how they could track down this mystery woman, using either Eros or Aphrodite's abilities to find her through the power of
✨love✨
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How will that actually work though? Has anyone ever been in love with Kassandra, or has she ever been in love with anyone else?
Any bets on how long it would be until we'd get our answer?
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Episode 251. The same episode where we're finally told about Leuce's delusions, we suddenly skip to the reveal of Kassandra being Apollo's personal oracle.
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And it still doesn't end up answering our question as to how Kassandra was tracked down, by the way. Eros and Psyche sorta just conveniently find her at the same time Apollo happens to be there when he's getting her to deliver her big prophecy to him.
That's twenty four weeks, meaning you're now near the end of your second trimester with child #4. Whoever the child is remains to be seen but I'm sure Rachel will find a way to shoehorn another helpless baby into the plot for Hades and Persephone to rescue who we can use for this metaphor.
But none of these come close to the greatest unresolved plotline of them all, the one plotline that has outlasted even the main H x P plotline of Lore Olympus' story-
APOLLO
Or more specifically, the SA. Rachel has tried so hard to twist Apollo into a villain of Disney proportions, through his sudden involvement with Ouranos, while also using him as a mouthpiece for her own critics by having him literally dish out word-for-word the criticisms that have been made towards Rachel's writing of Persephone-
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But the core foundation of his plotline goes all the way back to 2018, when he assaulted Persephone, a plotline that has yet to resolve itself or show any progression beyond Rachel's half-baked attempts at speedrunning Persephone's healing process, while Apollo is still at large and hasn't been brought to justice.
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We've seen her in very poorly-written therapy where her assault was addressed once. We've seen her grapple with the potential consequences of the SA through a gynecologist scene that, as I've discussed before, does more harm than good in helping the discussion around women's sexual health. And of course, Rachel will pepper in vague references to the SA every now and then when she's bothered to remember that it's a plotline she wrote and still hasn't resolved:
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And judging by how the story has been progressing, Rachel seems far more intent on simply using Apollo as a mouthpiece for criticism and a puppet for Ouranos rather than focusing on the bigger issues, all while Persephone has helped more people cope with the assault that happened to her rather than receiving help herself.
What's really telling is that despite half of the Olympians at this point knowing what Apollo did, not one of them even tries to convince Persephone to come forward, or say something themselves. Daphne has more than enough reason to come forward. Artemis, Hera, Eros, Hermes, and Hephaestus all know what he did, and yet none of them say a thing, even when those of them who haven't been conveniently shoehorned out of the plot are still in the same room as him-
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The assault scene happened in August 2018. It's been five and a half years since it was established, and while there have been small efforts made to resolve it - from Hera and Hephaestus having the photos deleted to Persephone seeking therapy - there's less reason now than ever for it to not be addressed, especially with so much at stake. I could side with Persephone not wanting to say anything in the beginning, when he was blackmailing her with the photos and her TGOEM scholarship was on the line, but now that she's a Queen, rich, and married to Hades, living in the Underworld where he can't get to her, without any schooling or scholarship or job to worry about or the photos hanging over her head, it comes across as flat out irresponsible that not a single person thinks it's worth mentioning. Even the narrative itself seems to be trying to undo the SA entirely.
At this point, I'm not confident it will be mentioned at all, and that Apollo will be conveniently dealt with as a pawn of Ouranos rather than as a perpetrator of violence towards women.
A FINAL ANALYSIS OF LO'S PACING
There are certainly far more examples of this weekly edging happening throughout LO, but I hope the ones I provided get across the point I'm trying to make about its pacing.
Of course, none of these gaps in time are happening back-to-back-to-back. This is Lore Olympus' writing "style", if you can call it that - constantly bombard the reader with separate plot points so that they'll either not remember the ones that were left behind, or so that Rachel can buy herself time to get herself out of the corner she wrote herself into. It's the equivalent of clickbait, constantly grabbing your attention with shiny new things that will replace whatever you just saw in your brain, on a constantly repeating cycle. It's the writing process of inexperienced amateurs, like what you'd see in short stories written by fifth graders - "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened", with no theme or overarching meaning tying them together; and if you were to ask them why a certain thing happens, especially if it logically doesn't make sense, the answer is just, "well, because it does." There's no rhyme or reason, they just thought it was cool.
And I say "style" because while fans of LO have definitely defended the story's pacing as just a writing style, the actual execution of what they're implying is painful to watch and not what any experienced writer would call a legitimate style. It's not uncommon at all in long-running series like this to jump from plotline to plotline, often times longform stories like these have to balance multiple side plots at once to keep things engaging and to bulk up the plot with more actual content.
But in most cases, the reader will expect the speed of a plot's resolution to be relative to its urgency. If a casual B plot with low stakes is introduced, it's not necessarily doing any harm if it just sits there for a bit before finally being resolved. After all, it's low stakes and no one is being hurt by it existing on the sidelines. It might feel a bit like pointless fluff, but there's nothing necessarily wrong with fluff and it can offer fun and relaxed reprieves from the overarching narrative, assuming you integrate them well so they're not drawing attention away from those more urgent plotlines at the worst possible times (looking at you, Stranger Things S2 Episode 7-)
But when even the high stakes plots are being hung out to dry and treated like distractions and fluff, it comes across less like a decisive writing "style" and more just directionless pantsing from an inexperienced writer who's gotten themselves in way too deep.
And that's what really separates Rachel's writing problems from "style". Style is decisive. Style is the act of referencing over a set period of time, crafting what you like and what you've learned into something new, with rounds and rounds of fine-tuning. Style is experience put into action.
And, while I don't typically like using my own work as a comparison, LORE | REKINDLED is meant to try and recapture the original magic of Lore Olympus' art style and writing foundations - and even then, you can still see the clear difference between Episodes 14 and 44, which use the same panel from the same scene, but look vastly different due to the improvement and refinement that's happened over time.
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Same style, but different levels of experience and skill, which is to be expected after weeks and weeks of fine-tuning and deliberate practice.
If you're lacking in your fundamentals, whether in art or writing, you can't equate that lack of skill to "style" because you're not choosing to be inexperienced, you just are. And that's okay! But to try and pass it off as 'style' implies that you're choosing to be inexperienced - when in reality, if you tried to put out anything beyond your skill level, you simply wouldn't be able to, because you haven't gained those skills yet. Like fifth graders writing short stories with the "and then this happened" model, "it's just my style" is often used as an excuse by young artists and writers who don't understand that style is not exclusively an end result of inexperience.
I'm gonna go on a tangent here, but there's this controversial but trendy style in tattooing called 'ignorant', and it's best defined as "tattooing badly on purpose".
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These tattoos are regularly praised for their simplistic ingenuity and visual aesthetic but equally criticized for being the opposite of what many artists have worked to overcome - being "bad at art". After all, who would willingly pay for a bad-looking tattoo? It's because it's the style that's in demand. I would argue that it takes a lot of confidence and mastery of the craft to be purposefully bad at it and make it look good, as contradictory as that sounds.
As much as the lines may be wobbly and the anatomy poor, ignorant style tattoos are done purposefully by experienced artists who still know how to properly tattoo. As much as they may look like they were drawn by a middle schooler, they will still heal properly, the lines will hold up, and the client will not (or at least, should not) experience any excessive scarring or unhygienic practices as one would experience from an actual inexperienced artist-
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In a genuinely poorly-done tattoo, the evidence of the inexperience is literally written all over the body. The skin swells, the ink bleeds out, the lines are inconsistent in their depth, and there's clear signs of trauma to the skin that will undoubtedly result in a poorly-healed tattoo (and that's not even getting into the larger health risks such as contracting blood diseases due to a poorly kept space). It's not hard to see the difference between a bad tattoo and a tattoo that's intentionally bad.
It's the age old saying in a different medium - only once you learn the rules can you properly break them.
Rachel never learned these rules in her writing and it's evident to anyone who knows these rules and is viewing LO through a critical lens - or in my case, experiencing it on a week to week basis. It's a regularly occurring problem in the medium of webcomics as a whole - thinking that knowing how to draw is enough, and that writing comes dead last, if at all. When in reality, comics are a marriage of art and writing, you can't simply do one really well and allow the other to drag behind. That's not to say there aren't comics that succeed at having bad art and good writing, if anything a well-written comic can save bad art-
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But if you have a comic with good art and bad writing, that's when a comic opens itself up to harsher criticism. As much as art may be the visual forefront of comics, if you want to keep your audience along for the long road that stretches ahead, you need to have a strong foundation in writing, or at least, enough of a plan to ensure you're not driving in the dark. The art can be as gorgeous as you want it to be, but if the plot is weak, then no one will have any reason to check back in week to week.
And such is Lore Olympus' biggest weakness. Much of what we praise LO for back in its first season was simply its foundation. It's very easy to praise a story's writing when it hasn't had to payoff what it's setup. Having ideas is easy, and early LO is rife with good ideas - but many of those ideas have since fallen flat, even the ones you wouldn't expect.
Ideas are a dime a dozen, but actually executing them in a way that can be engaging from start to finish and resolve itself in a way that's satisfying is a whole other challenge that many creators, including Rachel, find themselves unable to tackle; and nothing is a greater example of that than LO's third season, which is now fumbling its plotlines that have failed to resolve themselves properly after 5 years, while introducing new ones that serve as mere distractions, as if they were a laser pointer aimed at a cat.
I hear the argument, "LO is a better story if you binge read it" a lot, which - while I can certainly understand in today's culture of content that's churned out to be binged - I still fail to see how it actually makes LO a better story. Binge-reading LO doesn't remove the pointless plotlines. It doesn't fix its blatant timeline problems, its retcons, or its inability to stay focused on one topic for more than 5 panels. All it really fixes is the waiting, the ritualistic toiling over each and every cliffhanger that caps off the weekly episodes just for them to either be resolved in the next week or left behind with no in-between. And while having all that waiting removed certainly makes the reading experience a lot smoother, it doesn't make the story or its writing better.
The relationship between a story's writing and how the audience experiences it shouldn't be overlooked. Many stories depend on how the audience experiences it within the mind to succeed and leave an impression.
Junji Ito utilizes the dreaded page turn to scare his audience, an effect that can only be truly gained and appreciated if you read his books in traditional print.
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Marvel spent years meticulously building up its Avengers franchise, culminating in a once-in-a-lifetime cinematic event through Avengers: Endgame, which is truly the epitome of "you had to be there", because if you watch Avengers: Endgame in 2024 in your living room, you're likely not going to experience the same level of hype as audiences experiencing it in the theater in 2019.
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The same can be said for James' Cameron's Avatar, which entranced audiences with its innovative motion capture CGI and immersive 3D effects, an experience that could only be lived to the fullest if you saw it in 3D in IMAX theaters back in 2009. Without that experience, most people in 2024 find the movie to be pretty generic and uninteresting, a reverse Pocahontas with blue people in space, but when it first released in IMAX theaters in 2009, it was a cultural and technological phenomenon due to how advanced it was in its VFX. I can't even share with you clips of it, because obviously it would just be proving my point to try and show you how groundbreaking Avatar was in theaters through a bad shaky cam Youtube upload of its IMAX release on Youtube, but let's just say that it wasn't uncommon for people to brag about how many times they'd gone back to watch the same movie just to feel what they felt from the first showing all over again.
All that's to say that while Lore Olympus may offer a 'better' reading experience when binge-read - regardless of whether or not it actually helps the story's pacing problems - the reality is that LO is still being written exclusively with the weekly format in mind, and its been very much to its detriment, both in the short-term and in the long-term. Readers are often left in the dark on plotlines for weeks at a time, Rachel loses track of what she has and hasn't addressed, and the extended waiting times trick readers into believing that weeks have passed in the comic's story, when in reality it's only been a day or two, sometimes as little as hours depending on the sequence; meanwhile, if you binge episodes that had those problems in hindsight, you'll likely be a lot more quick to notice how many plot beats are either retconned or abandoned entirely, because you don't have the weekly waiting times artificially inflating the pacing of the story and causing you to forget what was established weeks before, because when binged, those weeks are reduced to hours and minutes.
And worst of all, with the assumption that you're reading on a weekly basis - as it wants you to do - Rachel tries to pull clever stunts by matching up LO's episodes with real life dates and holidays, which often just makes the story beats feel rushed or random in their execution - because to the vast majority of readers who haven't caught on to this or are reading the episodes through the physical books, they are rushed and random, and they can't exactly explain why.
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Binging these episodes doesn't solve the problem, if anything it exemplifies them because, as a shining example, Hades and Persephone suddenly get married right in the middle of an ongoing issue, which isn't exactly the best time to wrap up the story's main plotline. Since then readers have become less and less interested in their story, and can you blame them? By all accounts their story is over. Everything now just feels tacked on to give them something to do in a story they no longer fit into.
There's an episode behind the FastPass lock right now, Episode 265. It unlocks for free on February 17th, three days after Valentine's Day. Guess what episode it is?
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Ah yes, the episode where Hades' initiates sex without consent with his wife who's suffering from panic attacks, who also happens to be a rape victim. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.
I actually made this particular discovery while writing this essay, so that was a very unwelcome surprise, but it explains the sudden random shift from Persephone being so stressed over the ongoing situation that she's passed out to Hades just deciding for the both of them that now's the time to have sex. As much as the fans will defend this as a husband and wife's last chance at intimacy before diving into a dangerous situation, they'll also still conveniently forget - just like the narrative and Rachel herself - that Persephone is a rape victim, and Hades initiating sex with her after nearly having a panic attack isn't exactly a good look.
This is why our theories as to when LO ends are so firmly cemented in one specific time range, because the story's pacing and distractions seem only intent in one thing - getting the story to last until spring, when the series will most likely conclude. It's basically been all but confirmed by Rachel, from her stating the series would be ending in early 2024, to Inklore - an imprint that seems designed specifically for Rachel and LO - launching officially in spring of this year, undoubtedly just in time for Rachel to wrap up LO for good.
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(and boy, do I have some words about Inklore and its plans for "Rachel Smythe Presents", but that's another essay entirely.)
At the end of the day, LO's pacing is equivalent to paint drying on the wall, but it relentlessly convinces us to keep watching because the paint is blue and pink and maybe, maybe it'll turn into a piece of art. But as is evident in the comment sections of the newest episodes, even the fans are starting to realize that paint will not magically turn into the final piece of art they've been waiting to see if the hand that wields it doesn't know what it's doing.
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Though style may be gained as an accidental side effect of one's influences and experiences, what Lore Olympus' intent is remains to be seen, and the longer the story goes on, the blurrier whatever intent it could have becomes. Unless it somehow manages to pull off a twist of Attack on Titan proportions that thoroughly explains and ties together the plotlines that have been left in the rearview mirror, the vehicle that is LO will continue to trudge along at a snail's pace, until it inevitably either crosses the finish line or crashes - but by that point, anyone waiting for it could very well be gone, their good faith left behind at the starting line when there was still plenty of time to change its trajectory or stop.
Such a time is long, long gone.
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mewskit · 1 year
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Saw this little exploration by @rustytrident about Obey and how the Mc is kinda like persephone and I agree 100% with the concept. In the story they kinda hint the brothers don’t exactly act the same when the mc isn’t around compared to when they are. Like not specifically with the economy but I like to think the brothers kinda just indulge in their sins way more and are just harder to handle when mc isn’t around compared to when the mc finally is allowed back. Like an example of what could be happening would be Asmo’s sexual escapades get rampant and intense. Mammon goes/plans long elaborate heist to fill the time. Beel destroying kitchens with his stomach, Lucifer not really bein around cause he’s deep in his work, etc. The HOL is mostly empty or just kinda quiet. Mind you it’s not as bad as when the MC wasn’t around at all, but ya’know, could be better. But the moment they catch wind that the mc is coming or even close? They immediately start acting right, they make plans with eachother that always include mc. Their demeanor changes and all the boys become more approachable. Though, now they still are chaotic but it’s a controlled chaos in a since. And everyone notices, which is a fun idea in a way. Cause I’m sure some demons would try to pull favors or whatever while their distracted or more happy. Even envying the mc a bit. But overall the mc being the demons “spring” and “summer” is cute and I love it so much.
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dreamerswriter · 5 months
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The Burning Revelation
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I actually like the fact that they are here. Makes this feel like a genuine school event to have other students besides us attend this. On the flip side, Idia, don't tell Pina about that! (Though, he's got a soft spot for my Persephone OC)
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Pfft, it is not the worst thing that has happened to me in terms of adventures and games. I do love how traumatized the man is. The look of fear is wonderful.
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Idia's reaction to everything is amazing. I love how he talks in this event so much.
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NO! I actually dropped my phone! I love Chenya and Neige is too sweet! You shall be avenged! Gods, you can tell how much both care about their friends so much. Hey, since Rollo got a card, can they please?
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This is exactly what I am hoping for in the next book. Idia's the smartest person in that room right now. He's trying to think and solve the problem. He knows what's going on and tries to tell the others what to do. Yes, that's my boy!
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Azul: I AM GOING BACK TO THE OCEAN AFTER THIS!
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Oh gods, that almost killed him. I WAS RIGHT! YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE LET YOUR HEIR GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY WITHOUT PROPER BACKGROUNDS AND CHECKS! THERE GOES DRAGON BOY!
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Ok, so he did go with his guards, but still. Actually, ok, again, KH fan first, but lore-wise, Silver could purge the darkness, so he's pretty powerful. Sebek is trained and also a fae. They did their job of protecting their king. That being said, who told Lilia this happened. Bat Dad must've had a heart attack. Death really is trying to take him, huh?
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Azul and Idia are going to drive Rollo insane. That being said, I love both their lines so much!
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Hey man, I'm mortal and even I didn't use magical flowers to kill other mages for their magic. I am pretty sure you're the villain here. Which is definitely saying something since we have Azul.
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Idia's definitely believes that he's in some RPG right now. He's trying to cope, Azul. Let him. But also, I laughed.
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NRC Boys: Oh? We don't have magic? That's fine. We will just beat the living crap out of you!
To be honest, I didn't expect that to be their go-to option, but then again, these are mostly the same cast who wanted to fight a literal ghost bride and her ghost knights.
Side note, I like to imagine Idia carrying about an invasive species of plants is a reference to Hades and Persephone.
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Huh. He actually knows our name. Well, I already saw your sleeves and ankles, when are you proposing to Yuu? That being said, he really tried to save us from being hurt. He really does care about Yuu's safety. What a nice dragon boy!
Also, wow, everything is on fire. That's about right for Catholics and how to solve most of their problems. That and not actually reading the Bible.
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