#character: calypso (rr)

[thissmycomingofage]

Can't believe I'm still here blocking anti-caleos. Guys aren't we past having bad tastes in 2023?

#when it's the only kind of pjo related post reaching my dash through recommendations #that really doesn't push me back towars this fandom #thankfully the crack shipping part of it is still incredible #riordanverse #pjo #pjo/hoo #caleo #otp: caleo #calypso #character: calypso (rr) #leo valdez #character: leo valdez #leo x calypso #text #oli schist!

[robinico]

i was binging thru the house of hades and read for several hours. and then i got to leo's ogygia arc and...just put my bookmark in and stopped reading lmao.

i'm glad enough people have written about the problems with caleo that it woke me up from the delusion i had as a young teen that "everything canon is good"

the verbal abuse calypso spews at leo and the way his self-esteem is so poor that he's forced to make a joke out of everything and the fact that it's framed as romantic banter...

#anti caleo #calypso was fine in tbotl but she sucks. the way she treats leo is terrible #and just proves rr doesn't know how to write female characters which is why annabeth's canon character has so many unresolved problems #also i hateee that leo is angry with percy for something that was out of his control #percy always gets the brunt of stuff like this. it sucks being the mc. my poor boy #pjo

[snoppy]

leo valdez post link pls 🙏

oh no babe i meant post as in after tlh.... 😭

#my feelings on it tho -> I feel book 1 of hoo did a decent job characterizing jason piper and leo #even if there were some extremely questionable stereotypes with piper and leo (as there almost always are with poc in rr) #so that's fine. but post that when the whole seventh wheel thing starts? it feels so underbaked and ill written #for me leo has two major conflicts: dilemma related to his power + mom's death and his seventh wheel stuff #its been a long time since i read the books so idr much about the first one #but i remember being severely irritated that leos arc just boiled down to him being desperate for a girlfriend to outrun the seventh wheel #not just that but his personality being written as really irritating and honestly a little weird (?) when it came to that sometimes #(there was a leo-frank rivalry over hazel?? am i right? idk) #the sammy thing was weird too tbh #ok and the whole resolution with calypso? not really a fan #(i don't like the fact that everyone else had to be in a relationship to emphasize the seventh wheel either but what can you do) #to me it should have been about leo getting over his fear of his power which made him isolate himself in the first place while #realizing he doesn't have to hit on every female character they meet #the entire prophecy feels more like a finding comfort within oneself thing more than a get a girlfriend thing! just being honest! #and the calypso resolution jumps through so many hoops and burns through so many words to be such an uninteresting ending #okay he has a gf too hooray! like literally every other of your characters in this series #sorry for ranting about this 8 year old series lmao

[skull-ishcloud]

Saw your post about Rick not really having great execution, and...yeah that checks out.

I think one of my biggest gripes with the Heroes of Olympus is that a lot of things just...aren't followed through? Like, don't get me wrong, I still like the series, but there are some things that kind of bother me.

The one that really sticks out to me is the whole Tartarus aftermath. Like, there had to have been some sort of trauma response Percy and Annabeth went through. I know it was a middle grade series, but it just felt super glossed over, like Rick didn't want to have to deal with those consequences. Same for Nico and him being in Tartarus too.

Another thing is that I wish there had been more depth to Hazel and her own trauma with being brought back from the dead. Like, she seems to be SUPER well adjusted, but didn't she only just come back from the underworld? Again, it just felt like Rick didn't follow through.

And the whole Calypso and Leo thing bugs me just as much.

Sorry for the essay, lol. Your post kinda just awoke some feelings I had about Rick and his writing. Incidentally, this is why I'm not too thrilled for "The Sun and the Star." I'm worried it won't be executed well.

Don't ever be sorry for making an essay out of an interest of yours. I loved it btw...

I agree with you specially on the Tartarus part, I feel like he is trying to explore too much of it suddenly. Like it's a rite of passage or something. Percabeth theorically got a "bonding period" so solangelo has to get one too.

I don't know... I think the Bob thing is important and all, but idk about you but for me his case was pretty much closed like he died in HoO. Like he could have gone to somewhere else like a new idea. Explore Nico's trauma as you said.

In my opinion he is just trying to sell more books using the same characters through some kind of fan service. Like let's release a random ass book Abt Percy getting into college, or Nico and his boyfriend bc he's gay and he has to have a romantic partner. (I'm not gonna lie I thought solangelo was pretty neat at first but that love at first sight bothered me)

Don't get me wrong I think wills character (as an idea) is nice like you don't have to punch people to be important. You can help people, even if your history only remembers killers. But like Magnus (Chase) is kinda like this already so... He just recycled the character.

Oh almost forgot about hazel... I think it's super important like her interaction with 21st century, like the only mention (I remember) is chicken nuggets, so basically it's just used as humor. "She's old lol"

On caleo I feel like I don't even need to elaborate. Cause like it's CALEO. It's damsel-in-distress Calypso. It's totally-not-ready-for-a-relationship Leo. And RR's amatonnorm "fase".

#asks #anti rick riordan #anti rr #tartarus #bob the titan #pjo hoo toa #nico di angelo #will solace #hazel levesque #anti caleo #RR be like #its not a fase #its a lifestyle #like yeeting everyone into romantic relationships #no need man honestly #for me leo is aro #change my mind #and he totally mistakes aesthetic attraction with romantic attraction

[once-upon-an-animation]

I saw your post on how there was no fallout/chapter about the aftermath of Tartarus and I think you're absolutely right.

You know, my biggest grip with RR's writing is that he very casually brushes over trauma, to the point where it's like there isn't any at all.

Sort of like what you said, but Percabeth and Tartarus is probably the biggest example of this writing issue. Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus and their experiences in there had to have some sort of effect on them, right?? Especially because they were there for at least two weeks, and also, even the GODS don't go there.

Like, it was made to be such a huge and important and deadly thing, and like... nothing ever came of it emotionally for those two. You never see them struggling from it, you never see them having to grapple with the fact that they weren't able to save the ones who helped them escape, you don't see them grappling with the fact that Percy almost killed a Goddess and manipulated a titan, you don't see Annabeth really dealing with her fears that it was her fault after the fact, fears that she voiced in HOH herself. You don't see her dealing with the fallout of Calypso's curse, or the fact that the two of them had practically no food down there.

They just appear completely fine afterwards. There's no lasting impact for them, and I know it's a middle grade story, so you can't add too much, but it just seems like Rick decided not to address it at all.

Nico has similar issues with his own Tartarus trauma, and one of the reasons that I'm not super excited for TSATS is because I have a feeling he and Will are going to get the same Tartarus trauma treatment as Percy and Annabeth.

I know this was long, but I'm seeing more and more people talk about how Rick handles trauma and it's brought up my main issue with Rick's writing in general.

Thanks for reading this lol, have a nice day! :)

Thanks so much for the message! I appreciate you responding and I totally agree with everything you said.

One of the biggest criticisms that I also have of RR’s writing is the way he deals with emotional trauma. He picks and chooses when he allows the characters to have a meaningful and reasonable emotional response to the events around them, and when he spends time exploring those emotions. There are so many times when he could have added so much meaning to a character’s arc, personality, and development, but Rick just brushes it off like it’s nothing, and it ends up making certain plot-lines feel really empty and non-impactful.

And honestly, the middle-school thing isn’t a good justification because this is the same franchise that touches on abuse, alcoholism, neglect, dying children, murder, etc. If Rick can have all of that in there, then he can take the time to explore the trauma and PTSD that the characters should have from certain events. He doesn’t even have to say the words “trauma” or “PTSD”; all he has to do is just literally explore the emotions in a satisfying way!

As for TSATS, I’m already annoyed with the Tartarus plot line because Tartarus really shouldn’t be a place where demigods are just popping in and out. It was such a big deal when Percabeth fell in there; writing a story where demigods are just willingly going in cheapens the whole thing. Also, I read the unedited preview for TSATS and I’m not loving Mark’s approach to the characters. Here’s to hoping the final version is better.

#rick riordan #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth #nico di angelo

[thesungod]

realistically with the way rr created pjo and crafted the conflict and Main Issues in the series' narrative, the conclusion should have been that the gods turn into humans or that there's no olympian gods all gods kinda just *exist*. he made the olympian gods have a superiority complex, ignoring their own kids and not claiming them so usually they end up in hermes cabins, or they are the minor gods' kids and they are not wanted in the camp, they usually end up dead before becoming adults, and that the 'minor gods' are unwanted and their kids arent accepted bc they are not that 'powerful' so they are not seen valuable they are easily discarded so they either die or live more shitty lives (or join kronos bc of the mistreatment they face). literally the hoo follows the same narrative, we had the 7 demigods of the prophecy all being the main gods' kids..... the minor gods were still being mistreated jason had to promise one of them that they will build more shrines and give more recognition to them.... it got revealed that the olympians have been keeping this whole ass camp aka camp jupiter a secret. its been revealed that they have not been actually claiming their kids either. which was a thing that percy made them promise xDD? we had nico saying he's still not accepted even after the war, and the minor gods' kids still are not even seen. and then rince and repeat without any problem solving bc the issue/problems still continue like??? no promises are kept bc riordan cannot make the problems to be solved bc you gotta keep the conflict going for the next serie/book. so that's why percy's promise isn't kept and the promises he made for other people are not kept either (his promise to calypso, his promise to nico, his promise to bob&damasen, etc). pls end this misery I'm beginning it makes no sense.

totally agree with you.

personally i wouldn’t *enjoy* the concept of gods becoming mortals/stopping to exist but it’s pretty obvious that rick riordan has no intention to ever let his characters dismantle the system of oppression that is the root of all their problems. which is fine, not every story needs a definite practical resolution.

a book about someone who’s unemployed desperately needing a job that can sustain their family doesn’t have to end with capitalism being dismantled to be considered a good book or have a happy ending. Sometimes things suck and that’s just how it is and you need to survive within them, which is pretty much what Apollo tells us in ToN.

The problem is that every pjo series recycle the same basic foundation whereas 1) someone is presented as the real villain but it turns out the gods are just as bad, 2) the protagonist comes to understand that too but decides to do nothing about it.

It does indeed get frustrating. not to mention that, with this premise, every new series inevitably weakens the ending of the previous one, where some kind of resolution was found.

ToA leaves demigods in a better place than they were before but Apollo still calls Olympus a tyranny in the very last chapter.

🫥🫥

#ask #trials of apollo

[first-enchanter-surana]

I finished Blood of Olympus earlier, the final novel in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan.

I'm not yet sure how I feel about the series as a whole. I don't think I like it as much as the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, which were much more charming IMHO.

I ended up not liking the new characters as much as the characters from the PJO books; especially Leo, who I thought was pretty immature. Also I thought his romance with Calypso was pretty rushed. (Side-note: so was the "romance" between the Ella and Tyson, like "Oh yeah, they're dating now!" Okay, but what does that add to the story? This is something I also disliked in the PJO series, when Grover just suddenly had a girlfriend at the beginning of book 4)

Don't get me wrong, Rick Riordan is a pretty good writer, so the books weren't like horrible, but there was just something off about them. I can't really place my finger on all of the reasons, but I think one big reason is that RR just took on too much having 9 POV characters (the 7 heroes of the prophecy plus Nico and Reyna). It's just... too much.

Idk, maybe in a year or so I'll get the audiobooks and then I'll like them better when I don't have to be focused on finding out the plot 🤷‍♀️

#personal #pjo

[refrigeratedboombursts]

Leo from hoo for the character ask thjng

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

hotness level: I am too ace for this question lol

best quality: He’s so cool, and a really good friend! Also, his sense of humor and just ehdbskan Leo my beloved

worst quality: Probably the way he can be kinda insensitive

ship them with: Piper and Jason!!

brotp them with: Literally everyone.

needs to stay away from: RR’s writing Calypso

misc. thoughts: I would kill and/or die for him without a moment’s hesitation, and I wish he was written better.

#ask #nyx #leo valdez

[rorsry]

bl3 wants what bl2 has & they'll never get it

#handsome jack > calypso twins #no offense to bl3 they gave me zane and *chef kiss* but the story could've used some second-thoughts and they really should've redone Ava's #character because her whole personality is 'angsty teen that's super bratty for no real rr #reason'* #she feels forced in a way? like her sole purpose was for Maya to get th*nos'd (killed) so she could be Fuel for Ava's Redemption ArcTM #they really.. didn't need to kill Maya aksjsjsjsjs no offense to Lilith but if they HAD to kill a siren.... could've been her all i'm saying #especially since she got her powers taken away anyways? plus we have Siren!Tannis & I think her and Maya would be a good duo #also the jokes are a little cringey sometimes i shan't lie #bl2's jokes are cringey in a good way #bl3 has a joke about a guy crying over his Memes being deleted. not good KAHSSJ

[dilfbatman]

leo’s backstory is unbelievably depressing like... as a little child hera tried to kill him multiple times & then when he was 8, gaea tried to kill him & his mother so he used his pyrokinesis to save both of them but gaea manipulated his power and burned the place to the ground and murdered his mom... and then he was shunned by his remaining family who called him the devil so he was forced to go through multiple foster homes & then his memory was fucked with... and then his characterization was so messed up like rr gave such a fucked up backstory for him just to create a joke of his character like sure i get having him make jokes is his coping mechanism/a way to deal w his trauma but like i wish there was so much more DEPTH to him as he progressed through the books!

#this is a leo valdez loving safezone okay i love him and want the best for him and tbh i’m not the type of person who follows canon LMFAO #i have my own hc characterization of leo which. i enjoy but i wish his character had more depth considering the shit he went through #like i get his character of making jokes to deal w pain. and like he processes shit differently and i wish his character wasn’t made into + #a huge joke! like.......... rr give leo some respect! mf went thru so much stuff #like he didn’t need calypso and calypso deffo didn’t need him i think those were cop outs #someone hc’d that calypso would be a hunter of artemis and i love that! and i wanted leo to deal w his trauma somehow #if he HAD to be in a relationship (which he doesn’t) the last person i’d think of is calypso kdkdkdkd #leo valdez #pjo #and yes i looked thru the pjo wiki for this stuff to make sure i got it right lmfao omfg put respect on miss esperanza i miss Her #there’s sm i wanna say but my brain is. no thots head empty and i cannot articulate rn for the life of me lmao

[firelordizumi]

Hey so I’ve been looking through the jasiperverse tag and the angle you and Megan went by making it jasiper who fell into tartarus instead of percabeth is super interesting and I’m surprised by how much I love it. Can you give more background as to how you guys came to make that part of the jasiperverse?

the root of it was pure frustration as i thought more and more about how little interest rick had on expanding any character’s story besides percy and annabeth. jason, leo, piper, frank and hazel came out of hoo with little to no development. quite frankly, leo was outright ruined. it was really an idea that i just couldn’t let go because it would have been so interesting and it just flows so well with their breakup later on. 

#i'm still afraid to say it out loud on here that i believe that's the way it should have happened #because so many percabeth stans are hinged on tartarus #and believed hoh was the saving grace of hoo #i just dont like how everything was centered around percy and annabeth in the end #besides leo making that promise to calypso #the characters themselves became so hinged on percabeth (especially hazel) that it was just pathetic #i love percabeth but im tired of people (rick) making every character develop around percabeth or because of them #they can get character development w/o them #im sorry this is just more rr critique than jasiperverse #im just angry #anonymou #ask me anything

[thissmycomingofage]

Not gonna lie, I was afraid for a second. Sorry Rick, I shouldn't have doubted you

#riordanverse #trials of apollo #book: the tower of nero #otp: caleo #character: leo valdez #character: calypso (rr) #text #oli schist!

[deithe]

leo should have been canonly gay because;

his "arc" (if you even want to call it that) revolves around him not feeling like he can ever truly be apart of something and that he's constantly going to be an outsider, while also looking for validation that he can be more than what he is through flirting with women who are completely untouchable, including goddesses and eternal maidens who would never actually show interest in him. basically he's trying to overcompensate his own percived 'failings' by flirting with girls who cannot and will not reciprocate those feelings. he's trying to establish that he can be like every other cool guy, strong and brooding and mysterious while he knows internally that he's kind of none of those things.

leo is someone who's desperately trying to put up an image that he can deal with the weirdness of his own life and that he's unaffected, he's constantly living behind a mask of his own creation because he feels completely inadequate compared to most people, even before he meets literal gods and heroes. leo's story of feeling like the odd one out for his entire life, of feeling completely different and strange and unlike other kids is a pretty lgbt story. his own feelings of inferiority are there because 1) he feels like he failed his mom when gaia attacked and 2) he is unable to fit into the mold he's expected to as a hero, or a guy, or a demigod. he wants that percieved normality and/or stability he sees in the relationships that surround him on his quests but he can't really get that because he's forcing himself into a mold that will not fit and his arc should have culminated in him figuring out that it's okay if he doesn't fit into that mold. of course that's not what really pans out post-MOA, with what could have been an excellent arc about leo not trying to force himself into a relationship because he misses the feeling of being wanted, which came about due to his constant moving around in the foster system and that it's okay if you're not like every other kid your age, instead turned into leo actually just getting with an immortal titaness for absolutely fuck all reason. calypso's character is reduced to a love interest and a reason for leo to make an oath that the prophecy needed, despite the fact that leo could have made an oath due to anything or anyone at any point in hoh, like maybe an oath to keep his friends safe, or maybe a chance to bring nemisis back and have leo make an oath to bring justice to his mom! literally anything would have been better! calypso could have still made an appearance in hoh as a minor character who helped the argo crew at some point while living free, showing that the gods did keep their oaths at the end of tlo instead of some hand-wavy bull as to why calypso was still on the island and needed some 15 year olds help to get off it.

of course, rr in all his infinite wisdom and frankly incredibly racist writing throughout all of the pjo/hoo series, just made leo into a pretty one dimensional character during and post-MOA. any depth leo had jumped out the window to it's death post tlh because rr forgot how to write good characters post the og pjo series. and it's disappointing to see what leo was in tlh and what he would eventually be written into. leo was a secretive, incredibly smart but impulsive demigod who struggled with his own identity and past, who had interesting powers he wanted nothing to do with and eventually all that character went nowhere.

#help. #when u get brainrot at 10pm #anyways this is just word barf and i didn't write what i wanted to write here but. meh. #leo valdez #hoo

[ursie]

I'm thinking about the wasted potential that is aroace Leo Valdez

Like there's the simple fact that entering a relationship was just. Very poor writing in terms of themes. The whole 'third wheel' thing could have turned into important commentary on friendship and establishing non-romantic relationships, as well as the pressure to conform in terms if him being a flirt despite it never being quite genuine (though we all know that wasn't smth rr was going to deconstruct, since it really just served as a racist stereotype of latino men). Additionally when he does things for people it is never out of romantic intent. He helps Echo because he is kind and sympathises with her (as well as for Quest Purposes) he is kind to Piper because she's his friend etc

Plus the thematic implications of a character feeling like a left out third wheel resolving that character arch by entering a relationship is quite dubious when included in a book for developing children learning how to establish relationships (of all kinds) and facing pressure to conform. It could have been a chance to make a statement on the importance of establishing genuine bonds with multiple people, healthy romantic relationships for teenagers (because those are fundamentally different from adult relationships), and that it is okay to be single and have a support network compromised if friends rather than a partner

Plus it would avoid literally everything with Calypso. (I find it incredibly alarming that rr has MULTIPLE examples if thousand-smth year old adults dating Teens under the justification that while they may have been alive that long they are 'mentally' teens(🤢) which reinforces the while bullshit mental age theory thing and unintentionally supports the bullshit idea of maturity over actual age and experience. An adult that acts like a teen and possibly sees themselves as one is still an adult fantasy setting or no. Those gods/goddesses have had thousands of years to mature and experience things a 15 year old child simply can not. The rr kids are highly traumatized and mature but they are kids)

Furthermore that relationship does nothing for their characters. I know almost nothing abt Calypso and am frankly not invested in her character arch and it does a diservice to her character to make it rely on two teenage boys. Plus the potential parallel she could have had with Leo on how a heteronormative and misogynist society can effect people with their opposite coping strategies (Calypso had become straight up hostile towards the idea if love since she had been forced into a system that relied on her feeling toward men designed simply to punish her indefinitely. Because the best way to punish a woman for being dissatisfied with her situation is to exploit her emotions 🤡. And Leo's hyperfocuse on relationships and getting a date and comforming where Calypso attempted to refuse to participate. Neither one of those works tho because emotions are nit controlled by your opinion on society. Society can hurt you and punish you for loving but your heart will love regardless. You can try to force yourself to fit in and date and fall in love but emotions don't care about conformity, and that is not a healthy ground for relationships.)

This is messy because its nearly 2 am and my sleeping pills r kicking in but! Leo is genuinely so interesting in theory but RR drops the ball so hard it's maddening

No no like?? Go off legend!! I agree completely honestly there’s a reason I jump between Aro/Ace and gay Leo it’s because both add sm to his narrative and work sm better than what we got 😭

#nothing to add honestly go off #asks #anon #long post

[impossibleandinsufferable]

I’m so curious, what do you dislike abt rr’s current characterisation of percabeth? in what ways has it changed, in your opinion?

it’s a loaded answer because i think there are definitely certain factors that make the characters seem different after pjo like it being in 3rd person instead of from percy’s perspective, them being older, etc.

but, there are just instances where it feels like rick either forgot certain aspects about his own characters or he just ignored previous things so that he could write other things into the story. hoo isn’t as bad as i think a lot of people say but there are definitely some small instances that i don’t like. percy sort of feels like comic relief a lot in hoo which he had his goofy moments in pjo but i feel like, with the exception of house of hades, he really leans into writing percy as the dumb, himbo character and it bothers me because percy is not dumb and he’s not written as dumb in pjo. this is a very small thing but it bothers me a lot, the “wise girl” stuff. percy referred to annabeth as wise girl ONCE in pjo and then after hoo, rick writes him calling her that every two sentences. it’s just a continuity issue i think like it came out of nowhere and it made no sense to me. the way percy reacts to seeing calypso in toa is also a personal issue because he should 100% have had some animosity towards her for cursing annabeth but instead rick writes it very weirdly and i don’t wanna get into it 💀 it’s a lot of little things that just feel off and i feel like if he continued to write them, he’d change more and i don’t want that

#this is a whole lot of nothing i think #sorry for rambling #anon asks

[flametoash]

Okay, I've seen the whole "Reyna and Calypso should have switched endings with Reyna finding a partner after years of searching while Calypzo realizes she doesn't need a man a gets to run off with the Hunters of Artemis to explore the world after being stuck in one place for so long", but I would like to sumbit for consideration: Reyna should have switched endings with Leo.

Think about it. Reyna spends most of HOO wallowing over what Aphrodite told her and trying to get a boyfriend. And Leo spent the entire series feeling like the ultimate 3rd wheel. Moreover, Calypso spent thousands of years waiting for a MAN to rescue her.

I think it would have been interesting to see Reyna land on Calypso's island because it would be the first time in RR's writing we see/hear about a woman landing on Ogygia. It would have been intersting to see how Calypso and Reyna realize they do not need men to save them from their "fate". Additionally, the parallel between the two being each other's loophole to the god's ordainments. Reyna was told that a demi-god would never heal her heart right? Calypso isn't a demi-god, she also wasn't what Reyna was looking for. She was looking for a boyfriend at the beginning of the series. How satisfying would it be to watch her realize she is not straight and find a girlfriend by the end of the series?

Additionally, Calypso's punishment was that men would come to her island, stay until she fell in love with them, and then leave her in exile. A woman coming to her island would be new (at least in Riordan's lore, from my recollection). A woman rescueing her from her island would be a far more interesting sub-version of expectations.

As for Leo, his story arc was about overcoming the feeling of always being the outsider, even amoung a group of outsiders. He always felt like he didn't belong. He felt awkward on a ship full of couples (especially since every single couple was man/woman)? Coming to terms with his asexuality by the end of the series and feeling more comfortable in his platonic relationships would actually be a satisfyibg resolution to his character arc. Especially cause we've seen him flirt with almost every woman throught the whole series in an effort to fit in. Moreover, he has stated himself that he is more comfortable with machines than he is with humans. I have a soft spot for Jason/Leo, but honestly... Leo always struck me as extremely ace/aro coded.

Not a single one of these three had a satisfying conclusion to their character arcs, and a lot of that could havebeen resolved by eliminating the forced heteronormative narrative.

#riordanverse #pjo series #leo valdez #reyna avila ramirez arellano #Calypso #Canon wasn't great here's how it could've been better