Percy Jackson Abuse - Tumblr Posts

A couple of weeks ago, I went looking for fics that revealed Percy's childhood to his friends. I didn't find anything particularly good, but I did come across a concept that I'm still thinking about.

It was a fic about the Seven arguing about who'd had the worst childhood. It got pretty heated in the fic, but I imagine it'd be more of a playful argument, processing their trauma by comparing notes and teasing each other a little. Anyway, during that conversation, most of them agreed that Percy had the best childhood.

And the thing is- even with Gabe, that might still be true. He didn't have a good childhood, but he didn't lose his mother to Gaea, and he didn't get rejected by his family for killing her. He didn't spend months being forced to strain his powers to the limit to do her bidding - hell, he wasn't black in the '40s. He wasn't raised in the legion, he didn't run away - by their standards, he had it pretty good.

They don't mean anything by it, when they come to that conclusion. It's all in good fun, and everyone knows how much Percy adores his mother. So it's a surprise when he gets up, walks away, and slams the door on the way out.

Because Percy doesn't think it's funny. He knows it's probably true, but that somehow makes it worse. He didn't know about the monsters, he never met a dirt lady, no one threatened to kill him, and he even had his mom to coddle him. Percy has no reason to complain, not like the others.

So then why does he still feel so miserable when he thinks about it?

you know what always makes me feel things?? percy saying, "if i hurt you, i'm sorry." to reyna even though he doesn't even remember what he did. it just makes you think about how much he says sorry and how quickly he says it and if living with gabe had anything to do with it.

Percy Jackson who never picks up a bottle of alcohol. He says he hates the taste and it’s true, but he hates being even a bit like Gabe more.

Percy Jackson who feels so guilty any time he gets mad at Annabeth if they are in an argument because he is so scared he might be turning into a jerk.

Percy Jackson who looks back at a picture of him at twelve years old and younger and cries silently because how dare anyone hurt this precious baby. How in the hell did he even survive.

Percy Jackson who fights monsters regularly, but the greatest one in his life was defeated by his mother.

Percy Jackson who eats blue food because it has always given him a sense of comfort and stability.

Percy Jackson. A survivor.

Can we also adress in what a *disgusting* environment percy grew up in? Sally was working almost all of the time, she cant clean all of the filth and dirty, bear cans and cigar stumps gabe left behind, very clearly in percy' room but probably EVERYWHERE, i feel like percy should've had a strong ick towards messes&dirtyness instead of his cabin being described as just as dirty as "Gabe’s study(his old room)

Yep! And that kind of thing also commonly leads to health issues (something I left off). I can give a pass on it mostly because "demigods could be resistant to illness 🥺🥺🥺" but like- that's very much a thing too.

Also! Percy should not have reached the height he did because Sally worked long hours which means Gabe was in charge of Percy's care, and especially when Percy was young... I can't see Gabe putting in much effort to feed and/or take care of him. Percy probably would've been injured just learning to make food, and likely missed quite a few meals in times when Gabe was supposed to feed him. It's not for lack of food being there, but for lack of ability to prepare and/or access the food. And even if he could make it, it probably wouldn't be super nutritious.

I'm getting more and more frustrated with Rick Riordan, because I feel like he did a poor job of dealing with so many issues, particularly abuse. Like props to him for killing Gabe, but like there's nothing about the long term implications. There are some occasional ptsd dreams, but what about triggers and panic attacks? I feel like those are played down a lot. And what about the "smaller" the less noticeable details? Most of the 7 (but not just them) grew up with unstable, unsafe situations. Annabeth was living on the streets, hazel's power was the main source of income, Gabe spent most of Sally's money; so food insecurity is probably a pretty big deal. So what about hoarding tendencies? Why don't they eat a lot whenever food is available?

Annabeth was emotionally abused, which could explain the seaweed brain thing, but I would think she would be the opposite, and only use kind nicknames. But I feel like Rick Riordan completely forgot about the canon abuse. And like, I'm a percabeth girl but I think rr did make some problematic choices with the way they talk and interact sometimes.

Does fighting trigger percy? Does he get anxious around friends, think they don't like him or think they're angry at him? Does he avoid arguing with them?

All of the demigods have seen death, and they've all seen friends and siblings die. Where is the trauma from that? Do they send iris messages if they'll be away longer than expected? What about the survivors guilt?

Like where are the little details, shutting down in arguments, self harm in intentional sleep deprivation and starving, overexplaining, overclarifying instructions, moving silently, etc. I feel like rr could have done a much better job with character depth, but it's so ignored.

This is more or less because of the comments, but ive been thinking more about it, and I feel like for a middle school series, they're decent. But a really good book should have layers for readers. Like when a 10 year old reads pjo, they probably won't notice the abuse very much (unless they have similar things going on), but when they reread it at 15, or at 20, the things they notice or what rings true will be different. And ultimately, I think the books should have those layers that allow for the reader to get more out of it every time they read it. And since you will only get out of a book what you can comprehend (which sounds stupidly obvious but bear with me) then if you really are too young for it, you probably won't understand it. Like what I really want from the books isn't "Jason was holding a bottle of beer and it made percy anxious because his abusive stepfather was an alcoholic" I genuinely want the minor details, the little habits and patterns, that can be unnoticed by kids who don't know any better, but are understandable and significant for older readers.

I know Rick can't do it all per se, but if he decided to make percy an abused kid in a low income household with multiple mental illnesses and adhd and dyslexia, then I wish he would follow through on that and utilize his groundwork.

I'm getting more and more frustrated with Rick Riordan, because I feel like he did a poor job of dealing with so many issues, particularly abuse. Like props to him for killing Gabe, but like there's nothing about the long term implications. There are some occasional ptsd dreams, but what about triggers and panic attacks? I feel like those are played down a lot. And what about the "smaller" the less noticeable details? Most of the 7 (but not just them) grew up with unstable, unsafe situations. Annabeth was living on the streets, hazel's power was the main source of income, Gabe spent most of Sally's money; so food insecurity is probably a pretty big deal. So what about hoarding tendencies? Why don't they eat a lot whenever food is available?

Annabeth was emotionally abused, which could explain the seaweed brain thing, but I would think she would be the opposite, and only use kind nicknames. But I feel like Rick Riordan completely forgot about the canon abuse. And like, I'm a percabeth girl but I think rr did make some problematic choices with the way they talk and interact sometimes.

Does fighting trigger percy? Does he get anxious around friends, think they don't like him or think they're angry at him? Does he avoid arguing with them?

All of the demigods have seen death, and they've all seen friends and siblings die. Where is the trauma from that? Do they send iris messages if they'll be away longer than expected? What about the survivors guilt?

Like where are the little details, shutting down in arguments, self harm in intentional sleep deprivation and starving, overexplaining, overclarifying instructions, moving silently, etc. I feel like rr could have done a much better job with character depth, but it's so ignored.

I'm totally a percabeth girlie but you're not wrong. They've absolutely got some things I'm not excited about. I feel like Rick Riordan has mishandled abuse and trauma in a way that has led to their relationship being not good in some ways. Not to mention rr seems to forget about trauma whenever it's convenient; I'm not sure someone who has been physically abused would laugh when slammed to the ground. I'm not sure someone who was emotionally and verbally abused so badly that they ran away from home before they were 10 would use degrading nicknames.

But at the end of the day, I actively choose to disassociate the toxic behaviors and interactions and traits from the characters and I try to recreate the characters for myself, using Rick's groundwork. And I think that's why I'm still a percabeth shipper.

Sometimes I just want to take every single percabeth shipper (and Rick Riordan) and stick them in a course that teaches them how to define and identify abusive relationships, and what a healthy relationship looks like.

And the final exam is writing a 1 page essay on why Percy/Annabeth is unhealthy/toxic/abusive.

The world would be a better place for it. I just know it. The level of potential domestic abuse cases would decrease (assume that these percabeth shippers are in actual relationships and not impressionable little teenagers).

I think about 6% of percabeth shippers know what a healthy relationship is based on a past poll and that's an irl problem. It's not just about fiction. It's not just a book. Its about what Rick Riordan is leading people to think is acceptable behavior.

Ngl it would’ve been rlly interesting and meaningful for Percy and Leo—two ppl who’d been abused in the past—to have a conversation where that topic was brought up somehow and they discussed it and realized that they’ve, at last, found someone who genuinely understands their pain and emotions abt it. It would’ve been a great way to bond and become closer—and I can see the two being more supportive and protective of each other, after; especially whenever a situation relating to or that could have similar connotations to their respective pasts occurs. It def would’ve made things more real and healing, in a sense, and touched on the interactions of two demigods who barely got any canon time together

but of course, Rick’s main priority in HoO was the romances, wasn’t it 🙄

So I saw @hermesmyplatonicbeloved 's post and had some thoughts. I agree and disagree. I am a percabeth fan but I also know that some of it is screwy, and if you are familiar with my blog, you know this. I think RR screwed up and wrote out a LOT of trauma, I think he really should have dealt with that better. I think it's not good that he wrote trauma and mental issues and abuse into the foundation of many characters and then has ignored it when it became convenient for the plot.

I would love to see specific quotes and books for these because some of them I have no memory of and would like to revisit them.

I'm gonna talk my way through all of this so I'm gonna text break here

The first point is Percy scaring her to tears. I can only imagine in Tartarus? Like when they're both in their worst state? I don't know. I agree they should have talked about it, but I think they should have talked about all of HoH, which brings me back to saying: Rick really failed at dealing with trauma and processing and long term effects. Honestly, being scared *of* him, yeah I agree that's bad, but is that the situation? If she's scared by his power, then I'm not sure of where I stand on this, I don't know anyone with demigod powers, but I don't think I'd be scared simply because I know someone is capable of hurting me. Plenty of people are capable of hurting me. Like I don't know, what situation is this?

"Percy has been suicidal the whole time annabeth has known him, in BoO Percy attempts suicide and annabeth said nothing, noticed nothing" I'd really like a page or quote because i remember him being suicidal but never attempting. (Im rereading what i wrote, is this maybe referring to percy deciding it would be better if he drowned when hes with Jason? If so, I thought the book said annabeth wasn't told that he wanted to give up) But really my bigger issue with this statement is the fact that it's not necessarily a bad relationship just because a person doesn't realize someone is suicidal, or if their suicidal thoughts are fluctuating. If he's been suicidal the entire time she's known him, how should she know? And why is it the girlfriend's job to stop him from suicide? Like yeah she should care, but that's not her responsibility. No one should feel responsible for a significant other's suicide unless they encouraged the SO to do it.

The judo flip, I agree, annabeth should have been more sensitive to Percy's past and again, I blame Rick for conveniently forgetting that an abused kid is not going to laugh or even take well to being thrown on the ground. This also reminds me of a post I made a while back, because I was so frustrated by media portrayals of women getting upset (usually worried) about another character and shaking them or hitting them or using some form of violence, and that's portrayed as acceptable and normal and as a sign of love. I'm not a fan of that.

"Annabeth likes to keep percy on his toes" this point, I want specific quotes, cause I'd like to go over it again. I agree this is funky. Percy says he feels more comfortable with annabeth and feels like he can talk to her blah blah, but yeah, I think I remember him saying she makes him anxious and that's a problem for me. Like genuinely, to anyone who reads this: if your SO makes you feel uncomfortable, anxious, nervous, or unsafe, please reevaluate your relationship and be safe. That's not good. And back to percabeth, I'm really not sure why RR would say that.

Bringing up abusive stepfather. If annabeth didn't already know about Gabe...I don't know, that says to me that percy was too traumatized to talk about it, in which case, why can annabeth see it in his actions, his comments, his reactions? I don't know that either. But I do know that having met my fair share of traumatized kids, it's not at all uncommon for them to share trauma as a joke and for multiple kids to laugh it off, not to mention suicidal jokes or jokes about their own abuse. Now I want to be clear, I'm not saying that's healthy, I think that's bad, but I also think it's common. And if annabeth doesn't realize what he's really talking about, or is caught up in her own experience, or is uncomfortable, laughing is not an uncommon response. And I don't think that makes their relationship toxic. (And I'm saying it again: I think Rick wrote that so that people could say oh poor percy and feel strongly about how horrible the situation is, but he didn't want to get into the trauma, so by annabeth laughing it off, he can move on with the scene but include little details that show how bad tartarus is)

I don't remember any comments about poseiden, but I agree her interactions with Tyson are problematic. I have zero explanation or excuse, I really don't know what rick was thinking with that, unless it was maybe a way to signify how all halfbloods feel about monsters? (Now that I've said that, that kinda makes sense, if percy sees a monster who was his human friend, but everyone else just sees a monster who is just like the other monsters who have killed their siblings. But still. Annabeth saying he was gross was uncalled for, Rick could have said she was scared or concerned this was a trick or something, but disgust?)

I agree about Percy's unresolved trauma manifesting as fear of annabeth. I already commented on the judo flip, see comments above.

Percy absolutely has horrible self asteem. I'm not sure that's annabeths problem. Yeah she should support him in every way she can, but it's not her responsibility or anyone else's to make him feel better about himself. She should want to, and she should be positive and encouraging, but I don't think Percy's lack of growth is her problem or necessarily a sign of a toxic relationship. It can be, but I'm not certain it is in this case. I think, as I'm sure you know if you've read this much, Rick doesn't know how to write characters who are further along in their trauma- processing, healing, discussing- rick fails to deal with anything besides a currently traumatized kid and a unresolved but out of the directly abusive situation. (This is where I'd like to note, the whole seaweed brain thing, not funny to me, not cute. I'm not a fan because I do think that encourages negative self image. I am aware that that could be link to annabeths childhood, but again, I would expect her to be hyperaware of this sort of emotional abuse. And I blame Rick. Why does she never have her actual abuse mentioned?)

I don't recall annabeth pushing percy to choose between them. I would have said she had doubts about him still wanting to go to CA and he said that he regretted not being there for Estelle but didn't want to be without annabeth (which is kinda cute, kinda codependent to me, and I agree, codependency is not cute)

I would argue the last point "Percy has no interest in going to New Rome or University" is clearly false. In SoN (2nd book of HOO) Percy discovers there are full families living in New Rome, and how it's safe there, and he says multiple times that he wants that, how he remembers he had a girlfriend named annabeth and he wants her to be there and wants to be able to settle down *there*. And in ChaliceotG he's torn, because he does want to stay in New York for his mom and sister, but he really wants to be with annabeth and he loves new Rome. He says multiple times how he wants to go to New Rome. Its true, if the only reason he wants to go is for annabeth, that's a bit funky. But new Rome is the safest place for demigods, and he's been in wars for years, of course he wants that. And wanting to be out of school- okay? New Rome isn't just about the university, not to mention the New Rome university is focused on kids with dyslexia and adhd, obviously. So it will be tailored to him, his struggles are understood, accepted, and aided. Who wouldn't see the appeal in that?

And finally, I agree, that if a character or couple is going to have broad reach, they should be healthy. That's a problem i have with Colleen hoover and all her toxic relationships that have a large audience and are so loved by that audience. And back to this, I hate that the pjo hoo couples are so focused on in the books because fans always pay attention to the couples, but the focus amplifies them, and I think having a relationship be the main focus of a kids/teen/ya book sets up horrible mindsets, and idolizes relationships and all in all is not good for kids. Percabeth or not, healthy or not, I don't think the emphasis on relationships is good.

I might link some of my other posts that I mentioned or that address similar issues in the reblogs

Here's my post about pjo trauma:

And my post about women and violence in media:

So I saw @hermesmyplatonicbeloved 's post and had some thoughts. I agree and disagree. I am a percabeth fan but I also know that some of it is screwy, and if you are familiar with my blog, you know this. I think RR screwed up and wrote out a LOT of trauma, I think he really should have dealt with that better. I think it's not good that he wrote trauma and mental issues and abuse into the foundation of many characters and then has ignored it when it became convenient for the plot.

I would love to see specific quotes and books for these because some of them I have no memory of and would like to revisit them.

I'm gonna talk my way through all of this so I'm gonna text break here

The first point is Percy scaring her to tears. I can only imagine in Tartarus? Like when they're both in their worst state? I don't know. I agree they should have talked about it, but I think they should have talked about all of HoH, which brings me back to saying: Rick really failed at dealing with trauma and processing and long term effects. Honestly, being scared *of* him, yeah I agree that's bad, but is that the situation? If she's scared by his power, then I'm not sure of where I stand on this, I don't know anyone with demigod powers, but I don't think I'd be scared simply because I know someone is capable of hurting me. Plenty of people are capable of hurting me. Like I don't know, what situation is this?

"Percy has been suicidal the whole time annabeth has known him, in BoO Percy attempts suicide and annabeth said nothing, noticed nothing" I'd really like a page or quote because i remember him being suicidal but never attempting. (Im rereading what i wrote, is this maybe referring to percy deciding it would be better if he drowned when hes with Jason? If so, I thought the book said annabeth wasn't told that he wanted to give up) But really my bigger issue with this statement is the fact that it's not necessarily a bad relationship just because a person doesn't realize someone is suicidal, or if their suicidal thoughts are fluctuating. If he's been suicidal the entire time she's known him, how should she know? And why is it the girlfriend's job to stop him from suicide? Like yeah she should care, but that's not her responsibility. No one should feel responsible for a significant other's suicide unless they encouraged the SO to do it.

The judo flip, I agree, annabeth should have been more sensitive to Percy's past and again, I blame Rick for conveniently forgetting that an abused kid is not going to laugh or even take well to being thrown on the ground. This also reminds me of a post I made a while back, because I was so frustrated by media portrayals of women getting upset (usually worried) about another character and shaking them or hitting them or using some form of violence, and that's portrayed as acceptable and normal and as a sign of love. I'm not a fan of that.

"Annabeth likes to keep percy on his toes" this point, I want specific quotes, cause I'd like to go over it again. I agree this is funky. Percy says he feels more comfortable with annabeth and feels like he can talk to her blah blah, but yeah, I think I remember him saying she makes him anxious and that's a problem for me. Like genuinely, to anyone who reads this: if your SO makes you feel uncomfortable, anxious, nervous, or unsafe, please reevaluate your relationship and be safe. That's not good. And back to percabeth, I'm really not sure why RR would say that.

Bringing up abusive stepfather. If annabeth didn't already know about Gabe...I don't know, that says to me that percy was too traumatized to talk about it, in which case, why can annabeth see it in his actions, his comments, his reactions? I don't know that either. But I do know that having met my fair share of traumatized kids, it's not at all uncommon for them to share trauma as a joke and for multiple kids to laugh it off, not to mention suicidal jokes or jokes about their own abuse. Now I want to be clear, I'm not saying that's healthy, I think that's bad, but I also think it's common. And if annabeth doesn't realize what he's really talking about, or is caught up in her own experience, or is uncomfortable, laughing is not an uncommon response. And I don't think that makes their relationship toxic. (And I'm saying it again: I think Rick wrote that so that people could say oh poor percy and feel strongly about how horrible the situation is, but he didn't want to get into the trauma, so by annabeth laughing it off, he can move on with the scene but include little details that show how bad tartarus is)

I don't remember any comments about poseiden, but I agree her interactions with Tyson are problematic. I have zero explanation or excuse, I really don't know what rick was thinking with that, unless it was maybe a way to signify how all halfbloods feel about monsters? (Now that I've said that, that kinda makes sense, if percy sees a monster who was his human friend, but everyone else just sees a monster who is just like the other monsters who have killed their siblings. But still. Annabeth saying he was gross was uncalled for, Rick could have said she was scared or concerned this was a trick or something, but disgust?)

I agree about Percy's unresolved trauma manifesting as fear of annabeth. I already commented on the judo flip, see comments above.

Percy absolutely has horrible self asteem. I'm not sure that's annabeths problem. Yeah she should support him in every way she can, but it's not her responsibility or anyone else's to make him feel better about himself. She should want to, and she should be positive and encouraging, but I don't think Percy's lack of growth is her problem or necessarily a sign of a toxic relationship. It can be, but I'm not certain it is in this case. I think, as I'm sure you know if you've read this much, Rick doesn't know how to write characters who are further along in their trauma- processing, healing, discussing- rick fails to deal with anything besides a currently traumatized kid and a unresolved but out of the directly abusive situation. (This is where I'd like to note, the whole seaweed brain thing, not funny to me, not cute. I'm not a fan because I do think that encourages negative self image. I am aware that that could be link to annabeths childhood, but again, I would expect her to be hyperaware of this sort of emotional abuse. And I blame Rick. Why does she never have her actual abuse mentioned?)

I don't recall annabeth pushing percy to choose between them. I would have said she had doubts about him still wanting to go to CA and he said that he regretted not being there for Estelle but didn't want to be without annabeth (which is kinda cute, kinda codependent to me, and I agree, codependency is not cute)

I would argue the last point "Percy has no interest in going to New Rome or University" is clearly false. In SoN (2nd book of HOO) Percy discovers there are full families living in New Rome, and how it's safe there, and he says multiple times that he wants that, how he remembers he had a girlfriend named annabeth and he wants her to be there and wants to be able to settle down *there*. And in ChaliceotG he's torn, because he does want to stay in New York for his mom and sister, but he really wants to be with annabeth and he loves new Rome. He says multiple times how he wants to go to New Rome. Its true, if the only reason he wants to go is for annabeth, that's a bit funky. But new Rome is the safest place for demigods, and he's been in wars for years, of course he wants that. And wanting to be out of school- okay? New Rome isn't just about the university, not to mention the New Rome university is focused on kids with dyslexia and adhd, obviously. So it will be tailored to him, his struggles are understood, accepted, and aided. Who wouldn't see the appeal in that?

And finally, I agree, that if a character or couple is going to have broad reach, they should be healthy. That's a problem i have with Colleen hoover and all her toxic relationships that have a large audience and are so loved by that audience. And back to this, I hate that the pjo hoo couples are so focused on in the books because fans always pay attention to the couples, but the focus amplifies them, and I think having a relationship be the main focus of a kids/teen/ya book sets up horrible mindsets, and idolizes relationships and all in all is not good for kids. Percabeth or not, healthy or not, I don't think the emphasis on relationships is good.

I might link some of my other posts that I mentioned or that address similar issues in the reblogs

I really appreciate this take. If Rick had explained Percy's absence in the kitchen this way, I wouldn't have thought twice.

I can't express the disappointment I felt when rick Riordan was like nah percy can't cook like ?? Cmon it would make sense that with Gabe gone, and percy at a local school, he could make dinner with Sally every night. Like we all know he's not doing homework, duh, he wants to be around his mom ?? And it would be a really good way to avoid the stereotypes around women cooking and men being helpless.

But on a slightly different topic, I did appreciate the explanation for annabeths cooking skills because there was no way she learned any food skills while she was homeless

I've talked about this before, and I'll say it again and again, it bothers me how much Rick lays the foundation for talking about trauma and then just ignores it. Like bro made the choice to make it traumatizing but then doesn't talk about it. For instance, multiple characters grew up with food insecurity, Annabeth was on the streets, Hazel was in poverty, etc, but Rick doesn't ever talk about that. What about hoarding tendencies? What about carrying food with them all the time, or buying more food than they need whenever they have money? Or eating a lot whenever food is provided? Or eating disorders? Or another example, the abuse? Annabeth was verbally/emotionally abused growing up, why would she use an insult as a nickname for Percy? And he was also abused, why would he be comfortable and appreciate the nickname? Or what about physical abuse? What about flinching or shutting down? What about triggers? What about different relationships among the 7, kids who share triggers protecting each other and looking out for each other?

Tldr; Rick Riordan mentions a lot of things that cause trauma and then never brings it up again. He uses trauma for the plot and not the characters. He doesn't use the foundation he laid.

I feel like no one ever really talks about how bad Demigods nightmares really effect them

like this scene

where Percy was so traumatized and terrified of what he saw he couldn’t bring himself to even move. He sat on his cabins floor all night where Tyson had to find him in the morning.

It makes me so incredibly sad because of course on top of everything else these kids have to deal with they can’t even find peace while sleeping. ): it’s so sick