Rick Riordan Critical - Tumblr Posts
How I Would Write Jason in TOA?
Sorry if any of this feels disjointed. This is my first time doing a character and plot rewrite.
I think Jason had loads of potential to be a great character, but it was messed up in TBM.
If you want more details, I wrote a post about my thoughts: https://www.tumblr.com/criminalmutantsins/698742446518091776/jason-grace-deserved-better-this-is-just-my?source=share
To add on to the post, I’ll explain what I would change.
Jason and Piper are together in TBM, but there would be dialogue explaining how it was tough “starting over” their relationship(like Blood of Olympus very much hinted) and that they had to do individual soul searching before building a better foundation for their relationship. Piper would have doubts about their relationship and still question if Aphrodite and Hera’s interference is why they are together.
Piper’s father would still lose his money but earlier, so Piper would move back to Oklahoma. Jason would go back and forth between Camp Half-Blood, building plans for the shrines. They still communicate except as friends. This would give them time to individuate and learn more about themselves(they would be broken up). Piper would realize her bisexuality and become attracted to Shel. They date, but it only last for a few months because Piper still has feelings for Jason. Her doubts of the relationship are resolved; however, she waits so she doesn’t pressure Jason. Speaking of Jason, after working for months on the shrines, he wishes to take a break and start acting/doing things for himself(hang out with friends, relaxing, etc). Jason’s feelings for Piper are still the same and, after a while, he talks to her about it. They get back together with Jason going to Oklahoma to be closer to Piper and try living a regular life. This could be good representation on how relationships take a lot of work and time, but can be worth it when there is love and communication.
By the time The Burning Maze starts, Jason and Piper have been together for a month and are a stronger team. However, Jason is having trouble adjusting to having a normal because of his sense of responsibility to be a leader and protector. Between the couple getting together and TBM, they find another entrance to the Labyrinth and Jason learns about the prophecy. Safe to say, he is really stressed.
Instead of the prophecy saying that either Jason or Piper would die, I would change it to either one having to make a great sacrifice. Jason would still fight Caligula. It would be monumental for Jason’s character, and a big fight. Jason would lose, though he would escape with the group with grievous injuries and would be out of commission for the rest of the book. These injuries would result in Jason being paralyzed from the waist down, sacrificing a big part of his identity- being a strong fighter, something he is mostly known for. Jason would have to learn to adjust to the change and further learn more about himself. Though, thanks to Leo’s skills and a battle-ready wheelchair, Jason can still fight, he decides to mostly stay in the sidelines and be a tactician.
I love being on riordan hate tumblr. I love all his series growing up, and as I’ve gotten older it feels more and more like he took something we loved and shit on it. When in reality we’re just better able to analyze the shitty writing/author that was already there. Similar to Harry Potter with JK the authors of these books no longer have claims to their stories.
being egyptian and reading the kane chronicles is so wild because it says that the egyptian gods migrate to wherever the center of western civilization is, implying that ancient egypt was a western civilization or that egypt's a was, and not an is. like why is this non-white civilization which manifests today in a real life country supposedly a western civilization but the actual people whose heritage is tied to that civilization are excluded from it? why is a white british woman (a WHITE BRITISH WOMAN!) the living incarnation of isis - the mother of egypt? there's no cultural nuance. there's no consideration. the image of the egyptian mother, through isis or otherwise, is something so fucking important in egyptian culture, and to have it represented by a british woman - a descendant of those who bastardized and stole our heritage- is just insane to me. perhaps an interesting analysis of post colonial egypt in a meta sense, but that's for egyptian artists to dissect, not riordan. and that's only one thing. egypt - the actual egypt from which everything in the series originates) in that series is so mocked. i remember at some point sadie and walt are walking through egypt and mock the fact that since the arabic language has no "p", they pronounce pepsi as bebsi. no respect. the very foundation of this series is based in racism, in colonial thinking, and, ultimately, white supremacy. why is zia, the only actual egyptian in the main cast, so irrelevant? so quiet and without agency? in a meta way, she's like egypt itself. i just wanted to bring this to light since a lot of rr crit focuses on the racism and homophobia present in pjo and hoo and mcga and toa- perfectly valid criticisms that are well deserved - but barely anyone talks about the inherent colonialist and racist foundations of the entirety of the kane chronicles, which is why i wanted to bring it to light. enjoy the series if you want, i'm not saying you're not allowed, but as long as we're criticizing riordan, let's criticize everything.
Getting downvoted on reddit for saying percbeth were better than they were friends is too funny to me. (Rick is not good at writing romance, in my opinion. Every character gets reduced to whoever's bf/gf as soon as they start dating)
Like tell me you're childish without telling me you're childish.
the dead leo valdez. the leo valdez that doesn’t appear until months after this in trials of apollo. that leo valdez. the currently presumed by everyone dead one. right