Mark confirmed on twt that Will has anxiety, and that he was intentionally written as ignorant/ clueless about all things regarding the Underworld and Tartarus. Which- as someone with multiple anxiety disorders- feels inherently contradictory to me? You're anxious about a new place, so you resolve to learn EVERYTHING about it. You're anxious about being underprepared, so you overprepare. In my experience, at least. You think of every possible scenario and try to plan for it. Will's anxiety shouldn't have made him know nothing at all, he should've done extensive research and had a ridiculously long list of detailed questions for Nico. It's not "Will didn't bring weapons because he trusts Nico and he's not a fighter so he didn't think about it", it's "Will hid a bunch of weapons all over his person and his bag just in case". Or maybe my anxiety's just weird?
This has been my experience as well as someone with anxiety, alongside everybody I know with anxiety. In all my experience, particularly with anxiety combined with other things (including ADHD & related, which as far as we know Will has), Will's portrayal of anxiety in TSATS did not feel anywhere close to any of that. I honestly didn't even pick up on anything reading as him having anxiety at all - besides maybe the overpacking? But in the context of the scene and Will's experience that didn't feel like an anxiety disorder thing, that just felt more like a comedy thing playing off of Will being nervous for his first quest. His nightmares also don't quite work for this because we're explicitly told from the beginning all their dreams are being warped by Nyx and Epiales, specifically trying to tear the two of them apart (particularly targeting Will), so that doesn't read like Will's personal anxieties either, just as Nyx trying to make him doubt Nico. There's basically nothing indicating that Will has an anxiety disorder other than Word Of God confirmation, which in basic literary analysis, with Death of the Author, means absolutely nothing.
Usually with my own anxiety, some of the common stuff includes things like me being possessive of objects (if I lose track of something or an unable to actively be the one carrying it, I may panic or break down), be very particular about how things are gone about (directing/managing things or being in charge of planning), excessively checking things repeatedly (and very frequently), etc etc. All of which could have been easily applied to Will and his position in the narrative to indicate he has an anxiety disorder and those are ways in which he is able to control his situation to feel safe - show him always holding his sun lamp and refusing to let others touch it (or being extremely nervous when others are holding on to it). Have Will going over their plan in detail with Nico beforehand and being very insistent on sticking to it, getting upset if they aren't on schedule. Show him constantly fiddling with his bag (which in TSATS honestly it feels like they forget and remember he's carrying a bag half the time), pausing every once in awhile to rummage through it and check that everything is still there.
And you're absolutely right - if the intention was to depict Will as having anxiety, I definitely don't think he would go onto his first quest unarmed, no matter how much he trusts Nico, because the entire thing of anxiety is that it's illogical. Logically, he trusts Nico, logically he knows Nico will keep him safe. That doesn't matter! Give him a weapon of some kind, or since we gave Will like 3 whole new powers anyways, show him being aware he has a reliable power of being able to summon or create a weapon of some kind. At the very least like, a shield! Back in the day the popular fandom was he could make a whip/lasso out of light! Yknow, whatever! Just give him something!
Also it doesn't make sense for Will to have specific anxiety about the Underworld in particular because a.) If he has anxiety related to Underworld stuff specifically, why would he date Nico of all people? He knew what he was getting into. And b.) Apollo has chthonic aspects! Particularly the Roman Apollo Soranus. Soranus as an individual god was identified with both Apollo and Dis Pater (Often equated to Pluto) - so Will should not only not have anxiety about the Underworld, he should actually be perfectly fine down there (Imagine how cool it would have been for Will to spend the entire book wondering why he's fine, only to finally learn about that and more of his similarities to Nico?). And it's not like we haven't seen Greek or Roman demigods have powers more associated with their Roman/Greek counterparts, so that can't even be used as an excuse. (This also doesn't get into how Nyx is literally the mother of light [Aether], day [Hemera - who is constantly leaving/entering the Underworld in cycle with Nyx, so further reasoning why Will should be fine], the nymphs of the sunset [the Hesperides], and LITERAL FRIENDSHIP [Philotes], so it doesn't make any sense for her to even be an antagonist/dislike Will but WHATEVER.) And again, because Will is dating Nico, there's no reason for him to be ignorant of the Underworld. You're telling me they've been dating for a whole year and Will hasn't learned anything about the Underworld from Nico? Even if he had fears that for some reason Nico would be lying to him, that again leads to like you said, him going even further into double-checking things and seeking out more sources of information. Nico's not the only chthonic demigod in camp, and Will seemed to be friends with Lou Ellen in HoO, so there's at least one option. Heck, Dionysus has plenty enough connections to Hades that Will could probably just go directly to him. Will not knowing anything just doesn't make sense?
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Y/N, being a weighted blanket on Keegan’s body :
Y/N, take a sniff of his scent : Your hair smells like [scent].
Keegan, just having the time of his life with his Angel on top of him :
Keegan, snapped from his euphoria : ?
Keegan, stares up at his Angel, feels himself falling in love all over again :
Keegan, almost out of breaths, locked eyes with them : I figured you'd prefer it if I smelled nice. I guess...
Keegan, forcibly tears his gaze from their addictive gaze : …It's not manly.
Y/N : . . .
Y/N, snickers :
Y/N, cups his face, gently rotate it to meets their gaze again :
Y/N, stares deep into his eyes whilst caressing his cheek : I like it. It smells nice.
Y/N, leans down to kiss his pulsating neck, and rests their head on his chest again as they’re listening to his loudly pumping heart : And... you're always manly, Kee.
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