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

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

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