#but it looks like I am reentering my tumblr girlie era

[clearascountryair]

Okay so I still can't get over how perfect "We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium" was and I have a lot of thoughts. I just can't get over how perfectly they're blending together character exploration and plot. It's all so perfect and cohesive and I want to talk a little about how they're dealing with the relationships between the characters.

Percy and Grover

I think at first we’re supposed to think Percy wants Grover on the quest because he is his only friend, so therefore has to be the traitor, but then at the end, we get that it’s just because Percy fully trusts that Grover won’t betray him because he is used to the world where he and Grover are each other’s only friends.  But that completely breaks for him when he finds out that Grover was Annabeth’s (and Luke and Thalia’s) protector first because he’s realizing that, while Grover would never betray him in malice, he, like Luke, might betray him if that’s what Annabeth needed (for safety, for the quest, for anything).  And it also speaks so loudly to Percy’s views of friendship and loyalty:  I don’t think Percy thinks he will be betrayed in some big malicious way.  I think that he believes it is tied to failing to save what matters most—he won’t be betrayed by a fake friend who actually hates him, but by a real friend who will try to stop him from saving his mom if it interferes with the quest.  He trusted that Grover will help him save his mom, even if that means risking the quest, but made that decision not knowing that Grover has an even longer history with Annabeth and might choose her not because he doesn’t love Percy, but because he loves Annabeth, too.

2. Annabeth and Percy

She’s so freaking determined to be the best.  And as must as I love that post going around on here and Twitter and TikTok about how Annabeth was struggling with the candy because, in addition to never having gone to a store before, she wanted to do something nice for Percy (and Grover), I don’t think it was just about friendship.  Percy was doubting her authority.  I don’t think she gives a crap (at least, she won’t admit to it) about whether or not he likes her.  I just don’t think she’s above buying his respect.  The way she refers to him is so mean?  Like, constantly referring to him as Grover’s friend, but in a way that feels like a pet.  She says “Grover, control your friend,” but might as well be saying “Control you dog.”  I could easily believe that she was effectively buying dog treats. But I also think both can be true.  Because she clearly was so hurt by what he said about them not being friends, so she must want to be friends. ***Very minor spoilers for the rest of the books here, so skip to the third section if you've never read them*** And the ONLY time Annabeth talks about something positive from the first seven years of her life in ALL ELEVEN BOOKS IN WHICH SHE PROMINENTLY FEATURES is when she talks about her dog.  For seven years, the only thing that loved her (and the only thing she loved) was her dog.  Obviously, she is 12 and knows that dogs aren’t people and people aren’t dogs,  but the only time she has probably ever had to work for someone’s affection and has been successful in that effort was probably with her dog.

(And yes, I know: Grover and Thalia and Luke.  But those friendships are all different because all three of them were in an inherent place of authority and protection over her.  I think we all tend to forget that while Grover and Annabeth appear the same age now, they probably didn’t when they met.  Thalia was the closest in age to her, and she’s still five years older.  And Annabeth doesn’t seem to have any other close friends).

I also love that it’s Percy who’s reluctant to the friendship here.  Annabeth is just too traumatized and un-socialized to do it on her own.  They’re not not friends because Annabeth is hung up on the Poseidon v Athena rivalry like she is in the books, they’re not friends because Annabeth (from Percy’s perspective) is a jerk.

3. Annabeth and Athena

The way Grover looks at her when Percy suggests leaving her hat with Medusa and she just says “Okay”!!!!  Like, you cannot tell me that that conversation went down the way it did with no relation to the earlier conversation with Medusa.  Despite her adamant defense of Athena, Annabeth was just told that her mother is a monster and a monster creator, straight from the mouth of one of her victims.  For the first time in her life, the pedestal Annabeth has put her mom on is deteriorating and, before Annabeth gets the chance to pry further, they kill Medusa.  And sure, this confirms to Annabeth that she was right.  But she can’t stop the nagging in her head that, even if Medusa is a monster, she’s a monster that Athena created and how can that mean Athena is anything other than a monster?  Especially when Medusa loved Athena just as Annabeth does.  Even if she doesn’t totally believe her, she doesn’t not believe her, either.  How can there not be a part of her brain that wonders, “will my mom turn on me one day, too?”  So when Percy suggests leaving her hat behind, that broken, doubting part of herself says, “Okay.”  Because, yes, it’s a gift from her mom.  But what does that mean when her mom is a monster?

(And so maybe we will get an Annabeth-driven emphasis on the Athena v Poseidon rivalry not because of Annabeth’s blind loyalty to her mother, but because she has seen what happens when favorites of Athena appear too loyal to Poseidon.)

#pjo spoilers #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #pjo #just some minor character analysis/speculation #look not even I expected to return to this site #but it looks like I am reentering my tumblr girlie era