hey! hope this isn't weird but i wanted to know why you think artemis wasn't up to standards even in the original pjo series. you reblogged from me and so i had front row to your tags on the post about zeus jaja i've not seen people talk a lot about her and it got me interested as i'm a classics student!
- @zoebelladona 🌙
HELLO OH BOY okay so I have half a rant already about Artemis in terms of Rick and general aphobic tropes in the series. see: that open letter on twitter. i still need to transfer that to tumblr. fun fact: Rick replied to that post but deleted his reply at some point. probably because two replies after he replied to my post and word-of-god confirmed Reyna to be ace-coded he left social media for a bit.
Fun times! Anyways.
The thing I dislike about Artemis as she's depicted in the series, besides her constantly appearing as a teenager and the aphobic tropes with that [see: open letter linked above] - which on some level is slightly more excusable than other examples given she's a goddess of young women, but given how he writes Athena, Hestia, and the Hunt instead leaves a bad taste in my mouth - and other similar aphobic tropes with her, is her whole weird anti-men thing (which is also, in itself, also an aphobic trope in this particular circumstance). I understand TTC was written in 2007 so that flavor of radical feminism that Artemis and the Hunt is clearly supposed to be was only just coming into major public awareness and the flaws in the ideology (and the inherent bigotry, particularly transphobia and racism that often comes with it) weren't as well recognized at the time. But in hindsight it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth for obvious reasons and is one of the things from the first series that severely aged poorly in my opinion, and I greatly dislike that in every subsequent retcon of the Hunt for other reasons Rick more or less retains that aspect.
Secondly... it doesn't make sense from a mythological standpoint? Because there are multiple examples of men being Hunters in Artemis' retinue. Even ignoring Orion, no matter how you go about shaking that stick (which for the record I really dislike how Rick retconned him in the series/wrote him in HoO), Hippolytus is a very notable example. Literally his big whole original shtick was he joined the Hunt because he didn't like romance and Aphrodite got so pissed about him not needing her (romance) that she killed him. And even when Aphrodite was trying to ruin his life he held on to his virtues and vow to Artemis (refusing advances even when his life was on the line). He is otherwise totally chill and devoted to Artemis. Some versions of his myth has Artemis have him resurrected after he dies (by Asclepius, which is why Asclepius is punished for reviving the dead). This also obviously doesn't address the major glaring logical flaw in Artemis hating all men which is... Apollo. Especially within the series he seems to be an exception for no reason, despite Artemis also very overtly having a "brothers are not an exception to the no-men rule." And from a modern queer standpoint, it obviously begs the question of stuff like gender identity within the Hunt and if you bring back the radfem stuff it gets real bad vibes real fast. Which also sucks when you particularly look at historical/mythological descriptions of Apollo and Artemis and how they very poignantly encompass defying gender roles and expectations particularly within their cultural contexts.
And every time Rick tries to retcon the Hunt, he somehow manages to make it kind of worse, particularly with the oath. I have a whole personal thing for how I think to best rectify all that nonsense in a way that isn't horrible and is related to some of Artemis' aspects in a more sensible way (buried somewhere in this monster of a post. Honestly i'd just recommend ctrl + f search "Hunters" on that post and it should be somewhere near the first ping there). In there I also go into some of my other thoughts for the general meh way the Hunt is written in the series, mostly being aphobic tropes and random death fodder.
So yeah. Basically, tl;dr: I am personally not a huge fan of how Artemis in the series is halfway to being a terf and chock-full of aphobic tropes. And I need Rick to stop retconning things into the ground.
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Happy Halloween!!! 🦇🦇🦇 Can you write something about Word of Honor? Otherwise anything of the identity porn will do
a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Sizhui doesn't hear what's happened until nearly dinner. All he knows is that his father is furious and Lady Xuanyu has shut herself away in the library with stern orders for no one to disturb her. Their marriage has seemed amicable enough so far, considering they're strangers under an arranged marriage, so he doesn't understand what could have happed.
It's Jingyi who finds out the truth, probably by breaking several rules against gossip and enticing others into uncouth behavior.
"Jumped off a cliff?" he repeats incredulously. "That can't be right. She wouldn't do that."
Lady Xuanyu is bright and warm and affectionate and she always has a smile for him and time to listen about his day, pushing her scrolls away to tug him to her side so she can give him her undivided attention. She keeps pressing sweet buns into his hand, telling him to share with his friends and only winking at him when he asks where they came from.
Jingyi shrugs, although he seems equally dubious. "Your father went after her and caught her as she fell. Now they're fighting, I guess."
He won't disobey his step mother's orders. But he does kneel outside of the library to wait.
Dinner time comes. He does not leave.
It's approaching curfew when his uncle comes down the path and pauses next to him. "I heard you were here. What are you doing, Sizhui?"
"Lady Xuanyu ordered everyone away," he says, keeping his eyes on the door. She has to open them eventually. "I'm waiting for her."
"I'll get her," Lan Xichen says, moving towards the library.
Sizhui grabs onto his sleeve. "Don't. Don't rush her. It's fine. I don't mind waiting."
"Sizhui," he says, pained.
He shakes his head. "It's fine. You were all so worried she'd be cruel to me, but she hasn't been. If she'd ordered me to kneel in the courtyard every day just because she didn't like me, then we would have all thought I was getting off lightly. I don't mind waiting until she's ready to leave."
His uncle sighs. "It's been a long time since I've done this."
Sizhui doesn't know what he means, but Lan Xichen just sighs and stands slightly behind him, hands clasped behind his back. "Uncle! What are you doing?"
"Waiting with you," he says.
"You can't do that," he insists, "you're our sect leader, it's not proper!"
"I am also your uncle," he says gently, "if you're here, then I'm here."
Sizhui sputters, trying to come up with some sort of argument that will get his uncle on his way when the doors are shoved open and Lady Xuanyu tumbles out, grumbling, "-texts that haven't been updated in - what on earth are you two doing?"
Her hair is in a sloppy bun atop her head, strands hanging down, and she's holding her spotless pale blue over robe in her arms while her gold Jin robe is covered in ink marks.
"Sizhui has been waiting for you," Lan Xichen says. "He missed dinner."
Lady Xuanyu frowns and Sizhui blurts out, "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" she repeats, eyebrows pushed together. "Of course I am, what are you - you've been her since before dinner? Growing boys need to eat! Let's find you something. I'm a terrible cook unless you like sp-spoiled food, so hopefully some of the cooks are still up."
Lady Xuanyu grips his forearm and pulls him to his feet with strength it doesn't look like she should have. She stars brushing off his robe, still scolding him for not eating properly, and he lunges forward before he loses his nerve.
He wraps his arms around her waist and presses his forehead into her shoulder.
Her voice cuts off and after a stunned moment she returns the hug, squeezing him hard enough that it's almost like she's resettling him into his own skin. "Sizhui? Are you okay? Was someone mean to you? Tell me who it was, I'll beat them up."
He laughs but it comes out kind of choked. "I'm really glad you're here. Don't be too mad at my father. Please."
Not mad enough to throw herself from a cliff, at least.
She's the only mother he's ever had.
She's not that much older than him, far too young to have had him herself, but she acts like his mother, has treated him like he's always seen all his friends' mothers treat them growing up.
"Oh, Sizhui," she says softly. "Don't worry about me and your father. My relationship with him has nothing to do with my relationship with you, okay? You don't have to worry about that."
"Okay," he says, although he is very much going to worry about it now. He hadn't before, and she'd jumped off a cliff.
"Now let's get you some dinner," she says, stepping back but keeping an arm around his shoulders. "Are you coming, Lan Xichen?"
"No," his uncle says, seeming extremely satisfied for no reason that Sizhui can think of, "You two have a good night."
Lady Xuanyu gives his uncle a suspicious look, but nods and guides them towards the kitchens.
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