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#talking about tower of nero
tsireyast · 2 months
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WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT LEO AND REYNA ARE SIBLINGS?!??! ON TOWER OF NERO REYNA CALLS LEO HERMANO!?!?!?? AND CALLS HERSELF (AND I QUOTE) "a big sister who isn't afraid to smack him when he gets out of line" ???? CHAPTER 38??!??!? I CANT TELL YOU TE PAGE BC I READ ON KINDLE???? BUT THEY'RE SIBLINGS YOUR HONOR
AND JO AND EMMIE ARE HIS ADOPTIVE FOUND FAMILY MOMS??!? HE LITERALLY CALLS JO MOM??!!?!
WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS THEY'RE SO CUTE
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huiyi07 · 12 days
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Nico di Angelo moments I don’t think we talk about enough
- during the son of Neptune, Hazel stood up for Percy and vouched for him to join the legion; Nico then beams at her, “Good job, sis! That took guts.”
- Nico’s active gay panic during like the entire first half of Son of Neptune where he keeps actively deflecting Percy’s questions and stressing about it to Hazel
- also during SoN (clearly an underrated book for Nico) there’s this one moment where there’s all these ghosts in the room and they’re all arguing and he LITERALLY just puts a finger to his mouth and they all go silent like
- Mark of Athena, at the very end when Nico was rescued he looks Percy in the eye and tells him, “Percy, they pulled me into the pit. The things I saw…” and his voice broke, and I think that the rawness in that moment despite the really messed up relationship they had but Nico was so traumatized that he still displayed his full emotion towards Percy
- house of Hades Nico constantly just being a punching bag.. I mean he literally got thrown around so much in that damn book for no reason 😭😭
-at the end of HoH also, during the final battle, Nico cheers at some point and screams, “let’s turn this tide!” And I just think. That’s very special
-BoO Nico had tons of great moments but let’s just keep reminding ourselves of the “we had one home, now we have two,” moment
- something something the hidden oracle during the final battle with that massive giant thing and the fact that if you step back and look at it, you kinda realize that Nico was the strongest pillar the camp had at that point and that it was when he was taken out of commission that the battle turned dire
- tower of Nero, also during the final battle 😭Apollo wasn’t able to reach Nero, so he screamed, “Nico!” AND nico LITERALLY jumps 10 feet in the air and brings his sword down like some kind of shonen protagonist and tries to CLEAVE NERO IN HALF 😭 only to get tossed away like a puppy
- tsats Nico was kinda ooc but one thing that did feel so in character and funny was that he was revealed to be so smart and perceptive about romance to the point he was literally predicting Will’s confession to him
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its-your-mind · 8 months
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what the fuck. what the fuck what the fu k.
rick riordan I am a whole ass adult now how tf are you taking a wrecking ball to my emotions AT THIS POINT. SHOULDN’T WE BE PAST THIS.
what the fuck Meg took in all of her foster siblings to help them live a life after Nero. she’s showing them a world that can be kind, where people will say what they mean, and where mistakes don’t deserve punishment.
BUT THEN ALSO. Apollo. Went back.
And for Meg and her siblings, everything about their lives has changed and improved. But Apollo just… goes back to Olympus. Where Zeus continues to rule with an iron fist, where no one was even able to stick up for him, where every other Olympian lives in fear of Zeus’s anger. And he’s still there, he’s still in charge, but Apollo knows BETTER now. He knows that things can be different. He knows that he can be different, and he’s making the decision to be better now than he was before.
But now he doesn’t fit. He doesn’t fit with the Olympians, who weren’t a healthy family even before this, and he doesn’t fit with his new friends, either, because he’s a god again. He can go see them and talk with them and help them, but he’ll always have to leave again. He can never stay.
The last few chapters of The Tower of Nero were so beautiful and amazing - getting to see everyone else living their happy endings (as much as any demigod can), but they were always tinged with… loneliness. Apollo is separate from them all again. He can teleport at will, he can change his appearance to anything, he can separate his consciousness… and that’s all great, he wanted all of that back…
But by the end? He kind of wanted to stay human. And there’s no resolution for him. He’s gone through this incredible, difficult, terrifying, life-changing adventure… and he came back, and everything’s the same. Kinda makes me think of Luke, going off on his quest, coming back different, harder, sharper… and finding Camp exactly like how he left it, with everyone expecting him to just slot himself back into the place he had before, when that space doesn’t fit him anymore.
And Apollo has what Luke didn’t - friends who knew him as he was changing, who love this new person he’s become, and even a sister whose affection won’t change no matter what happens. He’s going to be okay, I know that.
But there’s just… something so quietly tragic in the end of Apollo’s story. He doesn’t get his own personal happy ending. His “triumph” is a return to a divine status that he’s not necessarily sure he even wants anymore. He has to forge his own path forward towards his own happiness, and we don’t get to join him on it. We got to be with him through his Trials - his future is up to him, now.
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aeithalian · 11 months
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Rick. Buddy. Amigo. Explain something to me. Real quick, I promise.
[The Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero, Chapter 4]
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Good genetic package, Rick/Apollo? Are you sure about that?
Listen.
Estelle's physical description *clap* makes *clap* no *clap* sense. Why on earth does one of the only fully human characters in this series have to have unique and weird physical traits? Also, it makes no sense in the larger scope of Rick's writing style to have chosen this unless he had some sort of larger intention behind it. Not to mention the theories by fans haven't really done much to fully flesh out any perceivable reason as to why this might be:
Poseidon blessed Sally when she was pregnant - By far, this is the most believable to me, but it's still eh, because this feels very weird and I don't get the vibes from Poseidon that he would have done so to the extent that it shows up in Estelle's physical traits. Also if that were true, it doesn't make sense for Rick to just fully drop it in the story without the intention to flesh it out further, because to my knowledge he doesn't have plans for another novel that takes place after ToA.
Paul isn't Estelle's father - Firstly, this is out of character for Sally, and this doesn't fully justify why Estelle has Percy's eyes. PLUS, salt-and-pepper hair still wouldn't be natural for a newborn
Paul is Poseidon in disguise - This explains her traits the best, but Paul's character is so much more satisfying if this isn't true. It's also total bullshit.
Enter me. I have a theory. Yay. But first, we must discuss.
Firstly, I want to talk about her eyes. Going back to the theories, and based on my fair amount of knowledge of genetics (clarification: I write this as I procrastinate studying for my final genetics exam), the eyes are mostly interesting because Apollo specifies that they are immediately similar Percy's. The thing about eye genetics, though, is that they are what we consider to be 'complex traits', meaning that they are influenced by the interactions of multiple genes from both parents. What I mean to point out here is that Sally could definitely have the genes to produce two children with 'sea-green' eyes, considering her canonical eye color is blue. We don't know what Paul's eye color is, which makes my job a whole lot easier because I can assume that it doesn't directly contradict the possibility that Sally just has really strong eye genes (?). ALSO, who's to say that Poseidon didn't just change his eye color to match Percy's when he was born? Ah, yes, the perks of having a shapeshifting dad who seemingly loves you and your eye color a lot (but is still absentee, WHOOPS).
But what I actually found the most interesting about Estelle was her hair color. More specifically, the fact that Apollo says he's never seen an infant with that color hair. And we know Apollo is somewhat of an unreliable narrator (although this rarely affects his descriptions of people other than himself, and has also mostly evolved into a more honest narration since the end of book 3), but I believe we're supposed to trust this dude who just so happens to have been alive for over four millennia. Based on Apollo's previous descriptions of his own powers (see his conversations with Percy in TTC, when he pulls a Mufasa and basically admits to seeing everything the light touches), we know that Apollo knows and has seen a lot of stuff. So, how is this the first time he's seemingly witnessed this type of hair mutation?
I did some research, as one does. To me, it seems as if Estelle has what's called Griscelli syndrome, which is a type of rare autosomal genetic mutation that typically results in phenotypic hypopigmentation of the skin and hair. (It can also result in neurological disorders and immunodeficiency, based on the type, but I digress.) It's also pretty rare, considering both parents have to be carriers, and even then the child still has a one in four chance of being affected. Current statistics from the NIH say that Griscelli syndrome currently presents in less than 1000 Americans, and is rapidly fatal in 1-4 years without aggressive treatment.
That sad note aside, it's weird to me that the way Rick wrote Estelle's physical description makes it seem as if Apollo had never seen anything similar. I feel like a god of both medicine and knowledge would probably be a bit more up to speed with rare genetic disorders, especially because he's so old. The only explanations are that Apollo, in his mortal state, can't make a diagnosis, OR what he's seeing isn't actually something he can diagnose.
FURTHERMORE, from the same chapter, Apollo says something that muddies the waters even further:
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It doesn't make sense that Apollo thinks that Zeus would take such an interest in Estelle. Her nature alone doesn't make me think that the king of the gods would take a sudden interest in a literal newborn, regardless of how much Apollo loves her (and honestly, I don't blame him).
What I think? Rick pulled the strings just tight enough that he has a very interesting plot point to go off of if he ever decides to pick up the pen again and write a new book.
What I think? Estelle doesn't have Griscelli syndrome, she is in much more danger than anyone realizes, and Apollo's subconscious put this together from the second he saw her.
Actually, let's rewind. I'm in the process of writing a fic (stay tuned!) and I had a random thought: do the Greeks have an apocalypse story? You know, like Ragnarök in the Norse mythos, and the Revelation stories in the Bible.
The answer? They don't. I guess that's what you get when the Greco-Roman gods are fully immortal and literally can't be killed.
That didn't stop the rabbit hole, though, and what I found was actually very interesting and I couldn't believe what I was reading.
I give you: Hesiod. More specifically, his poem Works and Days. More more specifically, his 'ages of man'. More more more specifically, the iron age.
For context, Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet who lived in the 8th century BC, and was walking right along with Homer in terms of fame at the time. The poem Works and Days is actually more of a really long Facebook post where he complains about anything and everything, especially in his section on the ages of man.
In summary, Hesiod wrote about what he perceived to be the five stages of human life since the creation of mankind by Zeus' hand:
gold: perfect in every way, pious, and blessed by the gods
silver: real bitches, the ugly middle child, so Zeus killed them
bronze: were so violent they wiped each other out
heroic: golden child, contained the heroes of the Greek mythos
iron: middle-aged men still living in their mom's basement
Hesiod wrote his poem during what he perceived to be the Iron age (it's really just him complaining about being born in the wrong generation), but he ends up listing a lot of qualities: 'everyone works too hard, the gods hate us, nobody respects family values anymore', blah blah blah.
I know what you're thinking: Tia, what does this have to do with an apocalypse?
Well, dear reader, bear with me. You see, every time Zeus didn't like an age of mankind, or it became too violent, or it generally wasn't pious enough, Zeus wouldn't hesitate to destroy that race and start over. Basically, an apocalypse.
So, you may ask a new question: what is the criteria for Zeus to destroy the Iron age? And, assuming that this is the age we're currently in, what would it take for Zeus to destroy everything our beloved Riordanverse characters know and love?
My friend, that is where Estelle comes in. Yes, a baby.
Take this excerpt regarding the Iron age:
"And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth."
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I think you see where I'm going with this.
My theory? Estelle, in her unique position as a bridge between not just the mortals and the demigods (eg. her relationship with Percy), but also the mortals and the gods (eg. her great impression on Apollo), is a living, breathing prophecy. A prophecy that the end is nigh for this current age of mankind.
Furthermore, I also think that Apollo made this connection, somewhere in the back of his mind, the very second he realized that her hair was entirely unique. According to Hesiod (who Apollo also mentions later in the book, so we know he knows who Hesiod is), the day that babies are born with gray hair (or, salt-and-pepper for the sake of the theory) is the second Zeus basically get the go-ahead to commit genocide.
This also brilliantly explains why Apollo suddenly, and seemingly without reason, makes to keep Estelle's existence a secret from Zeus, because he knows that it might be the easiest way to get everyone he knows and loves killed by his own father for "the greater good" as I'm sure Zeus will put it. Plus, in his mortal state, Rick didn't have to explain why Apollo did what he did, since Apollo's been having memory issues since the beginning of the series: why would he remember one line from a poem written almost three thousand years ago?
Frankly, Zeus doesn't care about mortals: the only reason he really cares about anyone is if they have enough power to threaten his own, or if they have some sort of power he can benefit from. This, certainly, falls under the category of the latter. Wouldn't you want a chance to remake humanity into the perfect image that it used to be? You would, if you hadn't gone through a five book long grow-a-conscience speedrun like our lovely Apollo over here.
Fortunately for Rick, this is such an outrageous theory that if it never comes to fruition, I won't be surprised. If he ever writes something similar, though, know I called it first.
EDIT: here's the fic i mentioned i was (am) writing
EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas
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marvelmymarvel · 1 year
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Crawling Back to Me
Jiraiya x NarutoMotherFigure!Reader x ???
Synopsis: You had broken things off with the Sannin, but when he arrived back in Konoha 2 years later - you were feeling things you wished you didn't.
Song: Guilt by Nero (Link: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=r1ATFedwjnk&feature=share)
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He angered you, angered you more than you'd like to admit. "You could go talk to him... You know?" Kakashi muttered, annoyed with the way you were ignoring him. You let out a huff, arms crossing as you looked at the white-haired man beside you. "I can't just go talk to him, Kashi... I broke it off remember"
Kakashi let out a hum, he knew quite well how that convo went down two years ago. There was a lot of screaming, crying, and throwing of shoes. You two were toxic for each other, so he wasn't sure why you wanted to talk to the idiot across the field. You turned back to watch Jiraiya as he walked Naruto through a couple of moves. "I just wish he would just, I don't know-"
"Beg for you back?"
"Yes! Exactly!! That's exactly how I-"
Your mouth slammed shut as you turned to face a disappointed Kakashi. He didn't have to say anything, the look in his eyes alone told you that what you were wishing for was not okay. "What did he do to you again?"
His question didn't mean to come out condescending, but it did anyway. You pursed your lips before facing forward. Your eyes dropped to the gravel below your feet, what did you break up with him for? He didn't cheat, never hurt you in any way... There had to have been a reason though.
Kakashi's glare softened as he took in the way your face crinkled in pain. "Why don't you go talk to him..." his hand went to your back, rubbing at it in the hopes it would alleviate some of the angst coursing through your bloodstream. "He won't listen to me, I don't think I deserve the chance to talk to him-"
"Hey"
Both you and Kakashi looked up in shock. You were so focused on trying to remember why you broke it off and Kakashi was so focused on you that neither one of you saw or heard the man walking towards you. "Jiraiya" you breathed out, eyes sparkling hopefully as he towered over you. "Naruto needs some supplies for our next trip. Can you get them for him before we leave?"
Kakashi bit back a snarl as he watched your face fall into a deeper pain, a pain that you felt throughout your entire body, one he knew all too well. "Ya." You whispered as your eyes drifted to Kakashi. The disbelief and agony written all over your face had him fighting the urge to pummel the man before him for making you feel this way.
"Thanks" he stated simply before turning to leave. "That's it? You aren't even going to ask her how she's been?"
"Kashi" you whimpered out, hand flying to his wrist as he took off after the older man. Jiraiya stopped in his tracks, head-turning just enough so you both could see his glare. "I have nothing to do with her. Not anymore" the snarl that flew from his lips had you shaking in both anger and fear. You understood that he probably didn't want to see you ever again, but to this extent?
"You're a fucking asshole-"
"Kakashi" you warned again as passerby's started looking your way. Jiraiya turned finally to face the other white-haired man. Kakashi broke free from your grip and stepped forward, both sizing the other up as if threatening the other to back down.
"I don't think you deserved her from the start" Kakashi snapped out, finally having enough of the asshole before him. "What, and you did?" Jiraiya bit back, "I know you had a pathetic little crush on her, yet you weren't the one who got in her pants. I was"
Your eyes widened in shock at the way Jiraiya spoke about you, it was disgusting. If this is how he talked about you in front of you, "Jiraiya" you stated firmly, the way you spit his name out was venomous, as if it left a bad taste in your mouth. "If you speak about me like that, or any woman for that matter, in front of Naruto... And he picks up that language... I will pull him from your training and ensure he will never see you again, do you understand me?"
Jiraiya's eyebrow shot up in surprise, he wasn't used to this side of you. But, deciding to let it go, he backed down from Kakashi. He turned once more to leave, and this time Kakashi let him.
Kakashi's eyes met yours, softening at the once again sad look in your eyes. He was hoping the anger you just had would persist, but it would seem that the only thing you were feeling was angst. "Let's go home Kakashi..." you whispered, chancing a glance towards the field once more to see Naruto waving at you. You didn't know if your threat was real or not, but it didn't matter.
"Naruto won't be like him" Kakashi seemed to always know where your mind was heading, and he knew what to do to stop the train of thoughts. You nodded at him, it was true, and you knew that but the urge to pull him from the older man was stronger than ever.
"I just wish I was strong enough to train him myself"
Kakashi nodded at that, you had felt that way for a long time, even before meeting Jiraiya. Deciding that enough was enough, you raised your hand and waved back to Naruto who you could hear let out a happy squeal at the wave. A smile formed on your lips as you shook your head - "That kid is nothing and will be nothing like him because you're the one raising him."
You smiled sweetly at Kakashi, before remembering something that Jiraiya had said.
"I know you had a pathetic little crush on her"
You didn't know if it was true, you were silently hoping it was though. "Hey" you breathed out finally, ignoring your brain as it screamed for you to stop. But you couldn't, you had to get the words out because you had been dreaming of a chance like this. "I feel like we need to talk about what he said..."
Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed, but the confusion on his face was quickly replaced by understanding. His cheeks grew red, eyes looking everywhere but at you as he tried to fight off the panic rising in him.
"So it is true" you beamed, fingers playing with one another as you stepped towards him. This was it, for years you had loved him but pushed it down for fear of him not loving you back. "Can I be honest with you?"
He finally met your e/c eyes, and the way you were looking at him made his stomach flip. Grabbing his hands, you leaned in closer to his face. The tension was thick and it had him mentally begging and pleading for you to say anything at all. He expected a rejection, but he wasn't expecting the four words about to fly from your mouth. The four words he didn't know he needed to hear. You took a deep, shaky breath, dreamy smile plastered onto your face as your lips hovered by his ear.
"I feel the same"
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stylintwirlforu · 2 months
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*spoiler if you haven't read every book in Riordanverse*
so in The Tower of Nero, Chiron mentions talking to a 'Severed head and a cat' about some mutual problem.
I can definitely say that he's talking to Mimir from Magnus Chase and Bast from Kane Chronicles.
This is such a big crossover! a 'mutual problem'....Ik it sounds kinda ridiculous but what if there’s gonna be an even bigger problem, one involving all pantheons across all cultures?
I would definitely want a Greek/Norse/Egyptian crossover!
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misterbardman · 2 months
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Going back and rereading Trials of Apollo is so interesting, aside from him being very self-centered, he really trusts his friends and their plans. Been reading Dark Prophecy so some scenes I remember in particular is Leo, Calypso, and Apollo in the beginning with Leo getting in the crane machine while Calypso and Apollo sing.
Or when Apollo noticed the plants moving at the zoo and he had a feeling that Meg was there, he even told Calypso to step backwards before the plants fell down.
Even after getting the throne, Apollo followed Meg to the arena even if it wasn’t the way out because he trusted her.
He absolutely trusts his friends judgement since they know how to handle these quests better than he does, not only that but it’s just evident that he knows his friends can handle themselves in battle.
But he also trusts Artemis, he knows she’s the most likely to defend him, even if he can’t see it. Even at the camp in Tyrant’s Tomb, he goes to summon Diana because he knows she’s the only one who would not only come but also help fight, being not turned into a zombie was a bonus.
I just honestly love that yeah, he’s self-centered (makes sense, earth revolves around the sun after all), but he also trusts the demigods and those around him. They don’t have to help, it’d be much easier for say, the Trog’s or Jason/Piper, to not help, but they do.
It feels so evident at the end of Tower of Nero when Apollo is going to fight Python and he passes by the demigods on his way, then once he returns to godhood, one of the first things he does is go to visit everyone.
Is it obvious my favorite protagonist is Apollo-? I absolutely can talk about him and different scenes forever, he’s just so,,, interesting
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solisaureus · 10 months
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Favorite underrated/not talked about thing about solangelo or PJO in general?
my favorite underrated thing about solangelo....hmmm............HMMM........ yknow what i havent seen anyone talk about how will said that nico throwing a whole party just to ask him out made him feel really special and gave him the courage and confidence to come out!! i was just thinking about it the other day. like now that we know that will is so plagued by self-doubt and insecurity, it means a lot for him to say that. im really soft for the idea of nico making will feel celebrated and just generally being ostentatiously proud of him. it reminds me of the moment in tower of nero when nico was like "everyone look at my glow-in-the-dark boyfriend" and will was clearly self conscious/felt like his glowing ability was embarrassing but nico thinks its the greatest thing ever. obsessed w the aspect of will feeling like he's lame and unimpressive and nico hyping him up or going out of his way to make will feel special
as for pjo in general we need to talk about thalia grace more she is such a good character and her story with luke and annabeth is so fascinating -- since percy is the narrator and his knowledge of that part of the story is limited, we just get these small enticing details that give us a glimpse of this super interesting dynamic!!! i think about it a lot. especially how in tlo when percy was considering giving luke the benefit of the doubt, the person who told him that luke had lost his chance for redemption and percy shouldn't feel sorry for him anymore was THALIA. even though luke's betrayal strongly affected percy and annabeth, i believe that it hurt thalia the most, and that one detail in tlo kind of gives that away to me. would love to see people talk about thalia more just in general
i really hope that thalia and annabeth and/or luke interact more in the pjotv show -- there are so many new opportunities to flesh out those types of relationships since the show isnt being told from one character's pov!!
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overanalyzer · 1 year
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There hasn't been too much toa content (at least in my feed) recently. So I decided to change that.
As such, let's talk about Lester or more specifically his character arc.
There's something really special about the fact that his character growth was purely internally driven. He is changing and growing but for himself.
Its also just the fact that for all he grows and adapts both him and the narrative do not expect him to be forgiven by those he hurt. Harpocrates and the Sybil of Cumae (I'm pretty sure) go above and beyond for forgiving him. However their forgiveness is more for their own sense of peace than it is because they actually want to be buddies with Apollo again.
Apollo never teams up someone he directly hurt. Leastwise not without them clearly airing there frustrations with him and Apollo recognizing that they're right (Calypso I am looking at you). It's just par for the course that Apollo does not expect anyone to trust that he's changed and he respects that as well. This really stood out to me in the Tower of Nero where Peaches and Meg were talking to a bunch of dryads who as soon as they saw Apollo coming they scattered. Apollo doesn't get annoyed at them running, he accepts it as a fact of nature. And then as the book goes on he does everything in his nature to continue to protect other dryads as well.
Apollos character arc is fully internally driven. He isn't "rewarded" by those he wronged and gains friendship and acceptance. The only person growing and expected to is himself. There's something special about a character arc like that. A character growing because they're finally brave enough to know what's right.
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thesungod · 11 months
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Hello I would like your opinion and all possible spoilers for will nico book pls I don’t want to read it but I wanna catch up 🙏
hello anon! prepare yourself for my unadulterated, raw opinion and be warned: it’s not pretty.
BIG SPOILERS AND HARSH HARSH NEGATIVITY UNDER THE CUT please don’t read if you don’t enjoy hating and being mean let yourself have fun if you liked the book <33
So.
Let’s start with this: I had the BEST INTENTIONS about this book. Yeah, I bullied the preview like anyone else, but I had really been intrigued by Nico’s dream sequence and I do love, despite everything I say, Solangelo. Nico has been one of my favourite characters for my entire life and I have wanted a book about him ever since I was 12.
You see how much was at stake for me to enjoy this book?
And I didn’t.
I didn’t, because this book SUCKS.
First of all 1) This shit was boring. Like, I’m sorry. Believe me, it breaks my heart to say something like that because Nico?? BORING??
But yeah. I dare anyone to tell me something actually meaningful that happens in the first half of the book. Will getting coffee on his shirt? The Percabeth pep talk? (And I’m quoting). The infinite, repetitive dream sequences that did nothing for me because they were, you know, infinite and repetitive?
There was also constant reiteration of things that had already happened in previous books, both in the form of dreams and flashbacks, both because the authors never let anything be implied or understood by the reader on their own. Every single thought and feeling and past experience of Nico is shouted at us ad nauseam because god forbid we forget loneliness is part of him and he could never be loved and his sister died and and and.
It’s almost like Mark and Rick browsed the online pjo fandom, took a look at all the things we like about Nico and said “hey, what if we constantly make him think and say exactly those things with an off-putting self awareness and a dramatic tone? I’m sure people will love that!”
I finally thought we were going somewhere with them getting caught stealing by Persephone (yeah that happens) but it transformed into yet another tirade about love and friendship and how important they are. Which brings me to the second point.
2) Someone put tape in the mouth of every single character in this book. I’m so serious.
How many endless, therapy-talk, this-is-an-adult-speaking-not-a-weird-teenager conversations did we get? I don’t know. A million?
I’m reading a fantasy book. Do I need to be reminded about the importance of healthy boundaries and communication every time I turn the page?
I know, I know. The book is for kids and kids need to learn that friendship is magic and whatever.
But, yk, PJO and HoO and ToA are for kids too and while they have their flaws, I never felt like they were giving me a lecture.
This book was downright insufferable. I didn’t have pure, unadulterated fun for a single moment and it wasn’t because I had outgrown the target, which would have been a much more understandable reason, but because it was so slow and didactic and moralistic and lacked any humor except a couple of forced meta jokes. It was fucking sad.
And that serves me point 3 right on a silver platter.
3) Will and Nico have 0 chemistry and I wanted to beat the shit out of them
Seriously when did these two start hating each other. When did they start giving “why are we together” energy. I don’t get it. What happened.
They were so great in the Tower of Nero. They were fun, and colourful, and dynamic, and different, and teenagers, but also you could see that they were two people going through a lot. It didn’t feel as if Nico’s trauma was cheapened just because he occasionally enjoyed spending time with his boyfriend.
In this book… I mean, we get told they are in love. We get told approximately a million of times.
But what we are shown is two people constantly on the brink of beating each other with sticks. We didn’t get one big explosive stress fight, or the resurfacing of a couple of buried issues, as I expected. What we got was an exhausting death by a thousand cuts where Nico was angry at Will for breathing (seriously, count how many times the words annoyed or irritated are said about Nico in regards to his boyfriend) and Will apparently doesn’t understand Nico at all after a year of dating.
Basically, Nico is constantly mad at Will because Will doesn’t like the Underworld and never fails to make it known, while the Underworld is Nico’s home, and that could have been a kind of potentially interesting point of conflict if it hadn’t become draining at page 20. Was it realistic? I mean, I guess!! But that doesn’t mean I wanted to see that shit the entire time.
This was an urban fantasy book for middle schoolers!!! I wanted to have fun!! I didn’t have fun!!!
How could anyone ever have fun with a 400 page long account of two idiot teenagers getting on each other’s nerve with the occasional therapy communication-kiss-therapy communication-kiss interlude? NOT ME.
If that’s you, good for you, truly. But how is this Percy Jackson? Percy Jackson built an empire on being funny and cheeky in an effortless way and ToA followed suit, no matter what personal gripe one may have against the series. HoO is a bit of a wild card, but it was never close to being this flat and depressing. Not. Even. Close.
And as if two protagonists who I used to love being a giant pain in my ass wasn’t enough, the meager plot one can occasionally find between a dream sequence and a flashback and a stupid argument and a conversation about how humanity is love or whatever isn’t even compelling or engaging.
4) And are the interesting new characters in the room with us, Rick?
The only bad guy of the book is Nyx. Nyx is bad because she’s Darkness. She was born Bad and will die Bad and she’s Baddy McBad.
But don’t worry if the villain underwhelms you, because we will meet new interesting characters too!
… yeah, no.
We won’t.
Again. This is a kids’ book.
But. Have we forgotten Percy Jackson is for middle to high schoolers? Like, I know of people enjoying it well into their 20s because it’s nice fun. When did it become for 2 year olds?
Let’s leave aside the fact that Nyx’s motive makes little sense (no worries anon, we will be talking about this later) because there’s no way she cares this much about Nico Di Angelo. Not even I care this much about Nico Di Angelo and he’s been my entire personality ever since I was eleven. Be fucking for real. You’re not that guy, pal.
Any other character who’s not Nyx that is shown is sweet and kind and is changing and is in love and has been to therapy and loves other people. I could have vaguely accepted this (honestly, ToA often worked on a very similar premise), if it hadn’t meant making every single person or monster or whatever Will and Nico meet painfully boring. Literally fucking blank states.
I spent the whole book begging for Apollo to show up just so that someone could admit to drowning his ex in a bathtub and make a sex joke immediately after, because no one else was doing anything remotely cool whatsoever.
Even Persephone and Hades became Disney characters and wistfully raved about the power of love. What. The. Fuck.
It’s so wrong because ToA did the whole “love is everywhere, humans (and creatures) are cool” thing so much better while its characters still managed to have a personality, or were at the very least funny, and some were even villains.
This was all so blah.
Okay, now. Prepare yourself anon. Get a seat. Get a drink.
5) The finale.
Super short summary: Nyx wants Nico Di Angelo to live in Tartarus with her because Nico is special and unique and no one is like him. She makes babies out of his worst nightmares and traumas (because she can… do that, I guess?) and tries to guilt him into staying.
Yeah I know that this is weird as fuck but stay with me.
Nico Di Angelo is special and unique and has the power of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on his side, so he tells her to fuck off AND keeps the trauma babies, without any sacrifice required at all. If you’re asking yourself what role Will has in this, it’s zero. Zilch. He was literally useless for the actual plot, but we’ll get to that later.
After escaping Tartarus with Bob, Small Bob, Will and trauma babies, Nico finds out this entire thing has been plotted by Hades, who faked a whole prophecy to send his own son back to Tartarus and save Bob, because he knew Nico could do it and he loves Bob or whatever. Hades also hugs Nico and tells him he’s proud of him because he’s special and unique, and for some incomprehensible reason that I’m still attempting to concoct Nico doesn’t kick his ass for it.
He re-traumatised Nico just to get Bob out of Tartarus (because his voice was bothering him or whatever) but… I guess that’s okayyy?
I’m not going to comment any further on Nyx and trauma babies because frankly it’s just plain weird. Like I don’t even know what to say, except that it seems kind of far-fetched for a primordial goddess to do all that for Some Guy. I do have something to say against the Some Guy, though.
6) Someone sucker punch Nico, please.
Never have I ever seen a character act like such a dumb asshole for the entire run of a book while somehow being worshipped for being the Best Person Ever.
You know what was great about Nico? The fact that the books weren’t constantly yelling at you that HE IS GOOD HE IS GOOD HE IS GOOD HE IS GOOD LOOK AT HIM BEING GOOD DOING A THANKLESS JOB BECAUSE HE’S GOOD. You just kinda had to put 2 and 2 together. He acted like he wanted nobody and cared for nobody but we, the readers, called bullshit because everything he did went against that narrative. And when he was outed in HoH, we all said “oooooh”. Him loving Percy made so much more sense than him hating Percy, because his actions spoke louder than his words.
He was a kid, and he was going through it, but he was never completely won over by the bad side because he cared too much about people, even when they didn’t care about him. To quote myself, Nico has never won the idgaf war.
Well, in this book he won the idgaf war. He treated Will like shit, which we’ll attribute to nerves. His thoughts about dead people desperately looking for redemption or release were disturbingly unsympathetic, and he just did things without ever thinking of the consequences for others.
To be fair, this wasn’t a total 180 for him: Nico was previously shown to be touchy and defensive (hence the being mean to Will, who occasionally makes the grave mistake of expressing a thought that isn’t overwhelmingly positive on the literal worst place on the planet), cold (him killing Bryce and Octavian etc) and impulsive. Character flaws, we love them!!
Except that the final moral of the book is that Nico is The Best Person Ever Who Never Asked For Anything In Return For His Whole Complete Goodness And Now Gets An Army Of Little Trauma Babies Who Worship Him.
Ummm… Nico canonically commited murder? Hello?
Sure, he was never Bad, and Love Was In His Heart and all, but the entire point of his character arc was deciding that love was enough. Nico has, again and again, flirted with the bad guys, and been sketchy. He’s not PJO’s Jesus, and this last minute treatment of him was so weird.
We all wanted Nico to have a Win™️ , but it could have been anything less on the nose (NICO IS SO GREAT GUYS OMG) and it still would have been fine.
Also just… idk there’s something that rubs me the wrong way about pretending that pre-tsats Nico was trauma trauma trauma pain pain pain. Life is complex. Nico was a character that happened to go through things, not a character that things happened to with nothing else going for him.
What about Will, though? Well…
7) Will, get behind me.
Is he dumb? Yes.
Does he understand Nico perfectly? No.
Do I like him? The jury is out.
But he did not deserve this slander. Like, omg. He spent the book getting bullied and being useless in battles because he’s not a fighter and Tartarus makes Apollo’s kids weak (wow who would have thought!).
Nico made him cry, for fucks’ sake. A full on sob cry. Admittedly he had acted foolishly but damn.
He’s just a silly little guy, your honor😭
He also, inexplicably, didn’t expeditiously call his father or his mother or the firefighters or someone to kidnap Hades and flog him, despite the fact that Hades tortured his boyfriend for months and sent them both to Tartarus on a fake prophecy.
On a bright note, his pov was actually pretty okay.
So yeah, anon. This book is a pile of genuinely weird, kinda mean spirited and annoyingly moralistic garbage that created PJO Jesus, gave said PJO Jesus babies (?) shoved a couple of gay jokes in the middle of it as if I wouldn’t notice the rest, unwatered my crops, uncleared my skin, single-handedly managed to kill my PJO fixation that has been going on since middle school in six hours and kicked my dog on top of it.
Thanks for reading.
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https-cyber-slxt · 1 year
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Yk there's something so hot about Tall!Reader in all her glory
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Okay imagine this, you, a 6'8 woman and your boyfriend
Vergil who is only 6'5, and is super embarrassed about having to look up instead of down at you to talk to you.
Your height doesn't really affect the way you two live, although it does feel weird knowing his own girlfriend is taller than him.
Oh but in the bedroom? That's a whole different story, if he actually let's you put a leash on him (which is highly unlikely if he's in a bad mood) he loves the way you just tower over him while he's on all fours, turns him on real good.
Dante who is a whopping 6'3, is like Vergil, embarrassed, that his significant other is a whole 5 inches taller than him. It's quite embarrassing if you're out for a walk and he just pretends you're a friend and what-not.
He should know by now that doing that sort of thing gets him in a lot of trouble. One time he introduced you to Lady and Trish as a "friend" and let's just say later that night he swore he could see God.
Nero is a 6'2 cutie pie and honestly is not that embarrassed about it, he's chill with you being taller than him, all he knows is that you'll give him great cuddles, considering that you'll probably wrap your entire body around him.
The only thing he does get embarrassed about is that he sometimes needs your help to grab something off a shelf that's just a little bit out of his reach.
I have a feeling that one time he wanted to try something different, so the next thing you know Nero's head is slightly grazing against the roof as you're busy lapping your tongue around his shaft in the damn shower, yea let's just say the next day he's having headaches from bumping the roof so much.
V who is 6'4 (I think) has no problem with you being taller than him, as long as he has someone there to take care of him and protect him, he's doesn't care.
What's his favorite is when, let's say, you're busy ordering food, he walks up right next to and stands up on his toes, then directly in your ear he whispers the most dirtiest thing he could think of, and just leaves as if he hadn't peeped a word. The reaction you get while the face you give him always makes him smile.
What's another of his favourites is when he's sitting directly at the end of the bed, with absolutely nothing on. The way you slowly walk towards and tower over him, what he likes to do during the time that you're towering over him is he likes to slowly spread his legs open, showing that he's all yours, you're the hunter and he's oh so definitely the prey.
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A/N: Fun Fact: a lot of the stuff I write is actually inspired/based off of other people's posts, but I'm too scared to tag them, like this post is inspired by the way @shes-claws-deep writes, but unfortunately she hasn't been active in 3 years, so I feel somewhat safe tagging her 😭😭😭
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ellilyre · 2 hours
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I finished ToA not long ago and I wanted to write down some thoughts/scenes that stick with me
(in chronological (ish) order, watch out for spoilers)
Theres an italian girl at camp ! It means Nico gets to practice and speak italian ! (which probably haven't happened in about 70 years)
Will introducing Nico as "my boyfriend". I already knew they would be canon, but reading that line felt weird /pos
Apollo sees Solangelo and think of himself and Hyacinth
That night when Kayla and Austin disappeared and Apollo left to look for them, it probably was the first night Will ever spent alone in his cabin
Apollo's insane body dysmorphia. He's a god, he can always take the physical form he is the most comfortable and confident in... Until now. He is stuck in a body that isn't his, he feels ashamed, when he sees certain traits in others he find them charming or pretty, but when it's on him then it's disgusting. He complain that everything is this body's fault (ex. he wouldn't have been touched by the Eurynomos if it wasn't for his chub.)(I could go on for hours)
Lityerses ! I love that guy. Idk why i love him that much. He is my best guy.
Apollo's reaction to Commodus' name. His flashback of him. So painful he was physically sick.
Apollo talking Helios out of killing them, because he just want to be free, not to hurt them.
APOLLO ATTEMPT TO KHS TO STOP THEM ?? IM A SUCKER FOR SOME GOOD PAINFUL SELF SACRIFICE.
Jason. I'm not talking about Jason. I can't speak about Jason.
Frank and Apollo ! They are so fond of each other !!!
Apollo heard all of Frank's prayers when he was unclaimed and wished he could've adopted him.
And Frank respecting Apollo as a god although he is *vaguely gesture at Apollo/Lester*
Reyna saying aloud that she doesn't want nor needs romance. It's so rare to see aromantic representation and Rick did it so well.
Literally Apollo singing his way out of situations.
FRANK'S SELF SACRIFICE!!! (He already had one of my favorite character development before that)
APOLLO KILLING COMMODUS ??? why do never talk about that it's one of the best deaths I've ever seen that was BADASS AND FULL OF EMOTIONS.
Apollo slowly dying out of poison and the Dodona Arrow doing everything it can to keep him conscious.
I hope Dakota didn't get killed off just to give Lavinia the role of Centurion. I love my boy Dakota, and his death felt kind of meaningless, except for her rank up :/ also i feel like it doesn't suit Lavinia. Some ppl are strong and good and trustable but just not made to order others. (ill prop make a full post about that)
Dionysos confirmed to be an annoying little brother!
Nico. How does Rick manage to always give him more issues. Leave the kid alone.
When Will glows, Apollo is genuinely impressed and tells him how proud he is.
Nico destroying Nero's door with his giant zombie bull. That was cool.
When Apollo gets stabbed in Nero's tower and think it's the end, he prays "Zeus, Artemis, Leto, anyone"
And in general the few parts he talks about Leto, he's such a momma's boy and I love it.
When Apollo left for Delphi... I was fully expecting Meg to go with him. I was so worried that he went alone while already feeling that weakened from the previous events.
DODONA ARROW. FOREVER IN MY HEART.
Artemis is here when Apollo wakes up. She's by his side, she's the first person to tell him he succeeded, she hold him while he sobs...
The first thing he does is to greet his horses :) and then to see his friends.
When he gets back to the Dodona bush ! To tell them all how brave and heroic the Arrow have been !
I could spend hours talking about the character developments of Apollo, Meg and the Dodona Arrow (i love the arrow so much you have no idea) but its for another day
There's many things I didn't talk about, but the post is already long enough. I love those 5 books, and Apollo is an amazing narrator.
I love the Arrow of Dodona with all my heart.
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Wanna talk (more like theorise) about Uncle Rick's upcoming book 'Wrath of the Triple goddess'
1. First off, I'm like 20% sure that this is the threat Chiron was talking about at the end of 'Tower of Nero' so I'm willing to bet that it'll involve characters from Magnus Chase, Kane Chronicles and Pjo/Toa/Hoo.
2. Second of all Magnus Chase and Pjo characters met each other same as Pjo and Kane Chronicles Characters so it's possible (also who wouldn't want to read that) also Chiron said and I quote "a severed head. And a cat. Two different. . . uh, people. Acquaintances of mine from other pantheons. We were discussing a mutual problem" the cat he mentioned is probably Bast, while the head would be Mimir with the "other pantheons" being the Norse and Egyptian pantheons.
3. OR the other 80% of my certainty is cause it's mentioned that Percy needs 3 letters of recommendation so it could just be that... it's probably that...
BUT ANYWAYS as for who the triple goddess I also have a few theories...
As in three I have three theories-
4. 'Wrath of the Triple goddess', Triple as in three so maybe three variations of one goddess E.g Hades, Osiris and Hel are God of the Underworld for their respective culture. So while it may not be three forms but three goddesses who rule over the same thing for their respective culture (Norse, Greek/Roman and Egyptian) working together.
5. Another possibility is the literal 'triple goddess. In the Neopagan religion, the triple goddess was a deity of three distinct aspects or figures that are represented by the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. In Greek mythology these figures are sometimes Persephone as the maiden, Demeter as the mother, and Hekate as the crone, other times it is Artemis as the maiden, Selene as the mother and once again Hekate as the crone.
6. Tho Hekate by herself could also be the Triple goddess, as in she fits the whole maiden, mother, and crone thing. however, in her myths, they were referred to as the Virgin, the Mother and the Witch. Virgin - cause she's a virgin goddess, Mother - many people believed her to be the mother of many monsters (like the Empousai) and the Witch- she is the goddess of magic, witchcraft, necromancy, crossroads, the list goes on, also you know the title 'Queen of the Witches'.
Yeah, so thanks for reading my rambles till next time~
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mirria1 · 1 year
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Devil May Cry themed thoughts (No.1)
-Longish post warning-
Something I don’t understand and doesn’t make much sense to me in some Devil May Cry fanfiction I’ve read in the past, people making Lady being mad at Vergil for Temen Ni Gru. Like hating him and having a personal grudge against him as if he was the one who killed her mother instead of Arkham kind of mad. Even years after those events.
He may have went along with Arkham’s plan to retrieve Force Edge after it was suggested to him but the plan to summon the tower and unleash a bunch of demons was Arkham’s plan and idea, it was he who approached Vergil about it. She even states this throughout the game. I believe it’s also implied in the DMC3 prequel manga that it was Arkham pulling the strings if I remember correctly, as he seems to be ordering Vergil around, also in the two prologue cutscenes for his campaign.
(For the manga, Vergil appears reluctant to unleash the demons to unlock the tower until near the end of it. In the second cutscene for his campaign he appears resigned, not so eager, after Arkham leaving to meet with Dante and taking out the demons just before entering the tower. …Why did he take a whole year to raise the tower after meeting up with Dante a year prior?)
Lady is only temporarily mad at him in mission 13 because of Arkham lying to her saying it was Vergil’s fault, that he was being controlled and manipulated by him but she backed off after Vergil implied Arkham lied to her about him being responsible for Arkham’s actions and plans, realizing he may be right and that she was tricked. Whatever grudge she might’ve had against Vergil was completely gone the moment Arkham confessed to the group that he had manipulated/used everybody from the beginning.
(They don’t appear to say anything to one another when he passes by her through the library. I imagine she followed behind him to get up the rest of the tower though and probably cleared the path for her along on the way. Unintentionally or intentionally I don’t know, possibly the former.)
In DMC5 Lady doesn’t appear to harber any hate towards Vergil either, she didn’t seem to have any reaction to Dante announcing that his brother was back, and even when deterring Nero from confronting and killing him. Like what she did to her own father, that she appears to regret doing.
Also Vergil doesn’t appear to have anything against her, when she backed off after she butted into the brothers duel in 3 he didn’t pay her any mind, he knows she was misled. In 5 as V he even says that he’s glad she’s doing well, although leaving her kind of confused as to why.
(Trish was quite surprised to hear of Vergil’s return for some reason though. Didn’t she realize who she was talking to when V confessed to her? Kind of confused about that as well. Speaking of Trish. While I’m at it, she technically helped escalate the situation to the level that it did in Fortuna by bringing the Devil Sword Sparda into the spotlight, as Lady herself pointed out at the end of DMC4. She doesn’t even appear angry at Trish about it, she just calls her out on it and takes almost all of the reward money from the job.)
If it’s about him “killing people” she hardly has much room to talk, she tried to kill Dante when he tried to help her even before realizing he was half-demon. And even so Dante didn’t deserve that, regardless of him being fine.
As far as I’m aware (in the manga/s) Vergil has only directly killed street thugs who tried to attack, kill and or mug him, and sometimes only knocking them unconscious. But she doesn’t know about any of that as she wasn’t there nor informed, to my knowledge. (He has the worst luck with that btw, street thugs keep trying to mug him. Or “the scum” as he likes to call them.) Slightly off topic. Morrison knows that V mugged some guys, as seen the DMC5 novel. Technically that was Griffon’s doing. But he doesn’t know who V actually is, and by his own reasoning he didn’t actually see him do it so he wasn’t gonna make a fuss over it.
To add. Their reasons for wanting Force Edge are different. Arkham’s are more selfish, just wanting to be a powerful god and get fame. While Vergil’s on the other hand have been revealed to be more about having the ability to protect himself and what he holds dear, also probably getting revenge against Mundus for the attack on their family as well like Dante but just with a very different approach. (It actually would have been a good idea for him to go into that fight armed with the Devil Sword Sparda, even in his condition he might’ve had a better chance with it than without. Like Dante did nine years later. Too bad the bros didn’t talk things out and work together then instead of beating up one another, with Mundus on the sidelines watching the twins duke it out.)
Vergil is regretful for the wrongdoings he was involved in while Arkham was not. There’s a lot of misunderstandings going on between some if not all the characters that needs clearing up.
Anyways. I just didn’t get having her acting like she has a personal grudge against him and the kind of hate I’ve seen some of them have her express seemed over exaggerated. Especially with having her more upset at him than Dante is, his own brother who had already beat up Vergil and then got beat again later on by Nero. I can, however, understand her being somewhat distrustful or wary of him though since she doesn’t know him very well.
I can’t think of anything more to say on the matter right now but I might add more to my thoughts later.
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kitspindles · 2 years
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Some Nico Facts (Canon)
this is going to be long i’m sorry
His birthday is January 28th, making him an Aquarius (This is the only one where I can’t find an “official” source, but literally everywhere online is in agreement that his birthday is 1/28, so take that as you will).
According to his shirt in The Hidden Oracle, he listens to The Ramones
Also the subject of shirts: introduced in the Trials of Apollo, Nico has his own Camp Half-Blood T-shirt but in black, with a skeletal pegasus on front and Cabin 13
His signature aviator’s jacket-- it’s gone. After the fight with Lycaon in The Blood of Olympus Nico had to discard of the jacket because it was shredded. In the following book, The Hidden Oracle, Apollo’s narration places him in a black leather bomber jacket.
According to Apollo, Nico’s hair smells nice? (”His hair smelled like rain against stone... a pleasant scent” (The Tower of Nero, p. 261).
Nico’s smile is described by Apollo as “a bit of winter sun breaking between snow flurries” (The Tower of Nero, p. 102).
He’s able to travel through dreams and leave messages for people that way. Although it’s not fully explained in the books, I can only assume it’s due to the nature of mythology and abstracts/metaphors/whatever: Death and Sleep are very close— basically only separated by a beating heart really— given that Thanatos and Hypnos are twins.
Coach Hedge is his favorite/preferred satyr ( “I’d settle for Coach Hedge.” Nico pushed Will’s arm off. “Besides, don’t talk about Grover too loudly. Juniper’s right over there” (The Hidden Oracle, p. 157).
Despite being 10 years old, untrained, and completely unarmed at the time, he told off a full-grown manticore for being rude to Bianca (The Titan’s Curse, p. 18).
Although he burnt up most, if not all, of his physical Mythomagic cards, he still plays the game online
Examples:
“He was throwing pieces of paper into the fire-- Mythomagic trading cards, part of the game he’d been obsessed with last winter” (Battle of the Labyrinth, p. 40).
“Hades: Every time I try to speak to this boy, he has his face buried in his phone, “text messaging” that glowy boyfriend of his. And not to mention all that time he spends playing that internet card game...” (via the interview “Navigating Family Reunions With Nico and Hades” on the ReadRiordan website).
Aside from his sisters, Jason and Reyna were the first people that he was able to find a friend in and trust wholeheartedly as allies. Not even Percy achieved that honor until the very end of the series
Examples:
“She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn’t feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna’s shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes” (The Blood of Olympus, p. 477).
“’That’s-- that’s fantastic! Dude!’ Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. ‘Right. No touching. Sorry.’/Nico grunted. ‘I suppose we can make an exception.’/Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack” (The Blood of Olympus, p. 485). Jason also told Leo off when he compared Clytius the shadow giant to Nico (“‘Any kind of light just gets sucked into his cloud of darkness.’/‘Sounds like Nico,’ Leo said. ‘You think they’re related?’/Jason scowled. ‘Hey, man, cut Nico some slack’” (The House of Hades, p.322).
Nico traveled through Tartarus alone and survived. And he’s willing to go back a second time to rescue Bob/Iaptus the Titan.
He’s a friendly and caring individual despite his appearance and initial attitude toward others (which is decidedly a defensive tactic since other campers and even Percy, by his own admittance, were generally creeped out by him).
Examples:
One of the first demigods in many years to pay any notice of the goddess Hestia
Visited Bob the Titan in the Underworld when no one else did
Assured Reyna that she didn’t kill her father and was a good person, didn’t want her to feel worthless
Respectful of the Trogs and their general weirdness
“‘Meg,’ Nico said. ‘Take my chair. Your leg looks bad’“ (The Tower of Nero, p. 81).
“I don’t like it when people are overlooked” (The Tower of Nero, p. 377)
Indirectly responsible for helping Percy and Annabeth make it through Tartarus. If he hadn’t been the one to visit Bob and tell him how kind Percy was, would Bob have leapt into literal Super Hell and assisted them?
In the Trials of Apollo series, Apollo/Lester is one of the first people who looked at Nico and decided that, hey, he’s a little weird but he’s alright. Up until this point readers have only ever been told, or alluded to, the fact that everyone else saw Nico as something to be afraid of (keep in mind he’s like 14/15 years old).
Just as integral in saving the world in the Heroes of Olympus series as the Seven were. Same deal as in Percy Jackson and the Olympians-- he was able to convince Hades to bring his forces to the aid of the gods, which was able to turn the tide in the gods favor
He’s fully capable of being a normal teenager; he’s not some eternally brooding figure that hates everything. He has interests and a sense of humor. He doesn’t dislike fun, and he doesn’t completely dislike the company of others, either. It’s just that with all the trauma of being a child of Hades and prophecies and war… it wasn’t really the time or place. It’s hard to thrive and be yourself in an environment that constantly beats you down and makes you feel less than worthless, even more so when you don’t have a friend to fall back on. He didn’t feel comfortable anywhere, especially not during his time on the Argo 2. And remember, we didn’t get his PoV until The Blood of Olympus-- up until that point he was really just a side character. Whenever another character (aside from, like, Hazel) spoke about him from their PoV it was always in a bad light: how he was frightening, how they were scared to go anywhere alone with him, etc., etc.) Take away the pressure of two back-to-back wars and his discomfort with his sexuality (or even, gods forbid, finally give the guy is own chapter perspective) and he’s actually a certified goofball just like the rest of the demigods.
Examples:
“‘Getting some redecorating ideas?’ Nico asked. ‘Maybe you could do your dining room in medieval monk skulls’” (The Blood of Olympus, p. 146).
“‘No need for threats,’ Nico said. ‘Frank’s a good guy. Or bear. Or bulldog. Or--’“ (The Blood of Olympus, p. 479).
“‘I hope I’ll see you again?’/’Oh, you will,’ Nico promised. ‘I’m going to be the flower boy at your wedding, right?’” (The Blood of Olympus, p. 480).
The whole “you’re not my type” thing
“Significant annoyance” quip
Nico “I have a doctor’s note” di Angelo (”’Will, Kayla, Austin,’ I said. ‘Come with me’/’And Nico,’ said Nico. ‘I have a doctor’s note’” (The Hidden Oracle, p. 322).
“Nico commandeered a dispenser from the snack bar and carried it around, yelling, ‘The line starts to the left! Orderly queue, guys!’“ (The Hidden Oracle, p. 351).
Basically the whole scene with the Trogs in The Tower of Nero
“William Andrew Solace” full-naming
“Debbie Downer”
“Nico laughed, which I didn’t know he was capable of” (The Tower of Nero, p. 130).
That part in Camp Half-Blood Confidential where he did a warbly rendition of Apollo’s song from the terrible orientation film. To the tune of “The Hokey Pokey.” Hand-claps included. With a small audience present.
That whole FAQs section on page 140 of Camp Half-Blood Confidential with Annabeth, Percy, and Nico. Trust me.
He found Hazel in Asphodel because he went to find Bianca and bring her back while Death was missing (Son of Neptune).
He cares for Hazel deeply. During his talk with Hades in The Blood of Olympus, his first concern was that she was the one of the Seven that was destined to die. At the end of the book he kisses her cheek (other times too) and tucks her into bed after she falls asleep (“‘Yeah, go.’ Nico kissed her cheek, which Piper found surprising. He hardly ever made gestures of affection, even to his sister. He seemed to hate physical contact” (The House of Hades, p. 318).
Arguably one of the strongest demigods of their/our(???) time. He shadow traveled himself, two other people, and a huge statue across the world in about a week’s time. He turned Bryce Lawrence into a ghost and banished him to the Underworld in like five seconds. He turned a guy into a skeleton and then turned right around and was able to control it. Same with that cow thing in The Tower of Nero
Hades is proud of Nico (“Send in a real hero, like the di Angelo kid” from the back cover of The Tower of Nero. Also, he literally says it in The Blood of Olympus on page 149). He wants him to be happy.
He knew about both camps and traveled between them for nearly a year without telling either side.
This kid knows stuff. Obscure stuff. Annabeth isn’t around? Don’t worry, Nico probably knows. Those shaggy cow things in Venice? Katoblepones. From Mythomagic, ofc. “Troglodytes don’t exist, they’re a made up myth!” Nico says otherwise. He knows them personally. They’re having brunch on Tuesday. Next question. The location of the Doors of Death? Covered. Take a left at your nearest hell void (or maybe don’t).
There’s probably way more but this is already like half an essay (I somehow didn’t mention Will at all in here oops) The bulleted list formatting never made it out of the post editor I’m sorry
Edited: added some more small ones that I forgor
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soaking-wet-cat-punk · 6 months
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Haha what if at the end of the Tower of Nero Apollo wakes up from his nap and the other gods are like “congrats you’re a god” and he’s like “sick” and so he goes down to good old camp half blood to see his friends. Huh doesn’t seem like Meg’s here today. Dam is will not here either? Hey, campers, where’s Kayla and Austin?
“Who are you talking about, Lord Apollo?”
My kids, kayla, Austin, will. his little goth boyfriend. Meg, she’s about this tall and is really angry and dresses like she’s five?
“Nope, Doesnt ring a bell.”
Apollo looks around and realizes all the stones are weathered, the cabin roofs new and shining, the forest taller than ever.
There’s a memorial by the campfire to the 21st century legend, Percy Jackson.
It’s been 200 years.
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