Aphrodite Pjo - Blog Posts

Based on read riordan Ares' guide to parenhood https://www.readriordan.com/2022/11/09/ares-guide-to-fatherhood/

Part 4🫡

Ares

It’s worth saying that I REALLY like him in books I'm sorry

Charlie Beckendorf. I tried to add more Greek features to him, but I didn’t like how it turned out at all, I think I should have made him a much more bigger guy💪

Bianca💞 I really like it, as well as the art (although it is sloppy), it coincided with my ideas

Aphrodite Her image in the book is literally changeable, which really confused me and in general I don’t like the art hahahaha, but she’s cool

Tyson🐬

Haha, I like the way he looked in the film adaptation 🙈, so long hair suits him

And again continued in the next part

Honey, you're familiar,

like my mirror years ago.

Can we talk about how much the Aphrodite kids are a wasted/lost potential? How RR made them vain, vapid, mean and only useless pretty faces until Piper came? (Which is one of the characters I dislike in the books for all her internalized misogyny and the way she judged her siblings and cabinmates before even getting to know them properly). Aphrodite was worshiped as a goddess of war in her own right. Give me children of Aphrodite who are as beautiful as they are deadly, they wield their beauty both as a shield and as a sword. Give me Aphrodite kids that are so deeply loving and loyal towards each other, willing to move mountains and brave the harshest storms to keep their loved ones safe. Give me cabin 10 members being the ones that other campers go to because they know there will be no judgement there.

Can we talk about how much the Aphrodite kids are a wasted/lost potential? How RR made them vain, vapid, mean and only useless pretty faces until Piper came?

Aphrodite was worshipped as a goddess of war in her own right. Give me children of Aphrodite who are as beautiful as they are deadly, they wield their beauty both as a shield and as a sword. Give me Aphrodite kids that are so deeply loving and loyal towards each other, willing to move mountains and brave the harshest storms to keep their loved ones safe. Give me cabin 10 members being the ones that other campers go to because they know there will be no judgement there.

Exactly! Your vision for them is amazing. Of course, if they had had a writer who actually cared about fleshing them out, they could have been amazing, but unfortunately, Rick is too much of a misogynist to think past 'pink, pretty clothes, concerned about looks' = 'vain, shallow, conceited'.

The fact that his main female characters are able to look good without trying is such a cliche. A girl who looks good because she takes care of herself and is concerned about her looks (though not to the point of vanity) is much more interesting than 'Effortless Without Trying'-which is present ad nauseam in 2000s YA literature.

A son of Aphrodite would be extremely interesting to read about. How would he deal with his feminine side when he was a boy? How would others have seen and treated him? We all talk about masculine girls and feeling uncomfortable in masculinity, but talking about a feminine boy and his feminity would have been so interesting, especially in the PJOverse where Aphrodite is seen as weak. How differently is he treated from his sisters? Do they expect him to be tougher or weak just like them? How does he feel about his heritage and his mother?

Wasted potential, though we have fanfiction, discussions and headcanons, so there's that.

(Piper is one of the characters I dislike in the books for all her internalized misogyny and the way she judged her siblings and cabinmates before even getting to know them properly).

I do think that it's unfair to dislike Piper for that because she was raised in Hollywood, where it would be easy to take on such a mindset and lose yourself in it. Besides, the girls that were bullying her (both at the Wilderness School and Drew Tanaka) were all pink and feminine, so it would be easy for her to dislike them and think that they were shallow and stupid.

I'll have to reread the Lost Hero to look at her arc and how it was handled, so I'll add my thoughts after this happens.

On an unrelated note, I wish that we had gotten Piper and Drew making up. The fact that two teenage girls of color fight over a white guy and presumably don't make up again is just so aggravating to me, because female solidarity and platonic relationships are absolutely wonderful to read about.

You know, it frustrates me to NO END that Rick keeps churning out these useless novels when he has two goldmines in Percy Jackson.

Said goldmines are-

a) MORTAL PARENTS IN PJO?

And I'm not talking about the Seven's parents and Reyna's and Nico's.

I'm TALKING about Dionysus and his two children Castor and Pollux. What about their mother? Who is she? How did Dionysus get to know her when he was at CHB? Did he date her before or after his punishment? He does say that he has a century to complete before he can go back to Olympus..........

I'm TALKING about Hermes, Travis, Connor and their mother. She must have been REALLY good for Hermes to come back a second time. There's nothing about her. Nothing. Imagine what Rick could write about her?

I'm TALKING about Clarisse La Rue and her mother. Why was Ares attracted to her mother? What is her relationship with her mother? What about Ares, Ms La Rue and Clarisse? Why is Clarisse a year round camper? Is her mother abusive to her? What about Clarisse, Ares and her mother?

I'm TALKING about Drew Tanaka's father. Was Drew born in Japan? Was her father an immigrant? And if she was born in Japan, what kind of discrimination did she face for being a bastard child? What drew Aphrodite to Mr Tanaka?

All wasted potential.

B) WHAT CAMP HALF BLOOD WAS LIKE IN THE EARLY CENTURIES.

All right, go check out THIS LINK.

So I saw ONE amazing post talking about CHB before and during WW2 that my stupid self did not like for some reason. If any of you know where it is, please link me to it.

Aaaaaaaaaand that's it. No one is exploring this absolutely unused potential, least of all Rick. Huh. WHY IS THE PJO FANDOM SO BORING-

If you know tumblr posts that talk about CHB in the early centuries, please send them to me.

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

Ok, I am once again wondering why Rick didn't just put PIPER in DREW'S PLACE.

Piper could have been the head counsellor of cabin 10-exhausted, burnt out, and she and Silena could have been the ones to have charmspeak, which would give them an extra special bond as the only ones who had it.

And when Piper gets really emotionally intense after the Titan War II, she just uses charmspeak on her cabin members. Of course, she feels guilty afterwards, but they still start to be scared of her.

And this way, we can learn more about what happens at camp, because maybe she could be a year rounder so as not to harm Tristan, but she could still have her trauma from her younger days.

Just another example of wasted potential in PJO, which is surprisingly easy to come by.

Aphrodite and Mitchell oneshot

Mitchell stared at his mother. Her skin was pale silver, and curly black ringlets framed her face, the rest being pulled back into a high ponytail. Her eyes, however, changed every moment, like a kaleidoscope. 'M-mother,' he stammered. He didn't know what to do-was this really his mother, or was she a hallucination? After losing Capture The Flag, Sherman had taunted him about his parentage. 'Aphrodite's children could never fight as well as the rest of us. Your mom is the goddess of lust and beauty, what's so strong about that?' Mitchell had punched him in the face. In retaliation, Sherman had nearly scratched his eyes out and left him with bruises that might last for a month. And then, in front of the whole camp, Mitchell had burst into tears and ran away, even as Silena called for him and Drew hissed at Sherman. And he had come to the forest, where he really liked to be alone. Thankfully, there were no nymphs or dryads now. Well, there was one, and he had turned to leave, but she called his name and beckoned him over. And then she had told him that she was actually his mother, Aphrodite. He had been told that if, by a rare chance, a god was actually encountered, they must be given the utmost respect and consideration. One's own needs were practically nonexistent, one always agreed with them no matter what. She patted a moss cushioned rock beside her. 'Oh, do sit down! It's been ages since I've talked to one of my children.' He sat down, assuming a respectful posture, hands folded in his lap. 'Ah…………uh, to what do I owe this honour?' 'Oh? Sometimes I secretly visit Camp Half Blood and watch Capture The Flag for fun, and, well, I saw what happened today.' Embarrassment heated his face. Was she going to tell all the other gods? Would he be made a laughingstock among them? Or would she turn him into something for embarrassing her? 'Oh, cheer up.' she patted his cheek and he blinked in surprise. 'I'm not going to humiliate you further. I felt that I ought to tell you how bad my children can have it, especially my sons. The patriarchy negatively affects men as well.' He swallowed. Ah. So……..she was going to comfort him? Would she expect something from him after this? Was she going to send him on a quest to prove himself or something? His throat constricted. He'd heard stories of campers going missing or worse. And there was that horrible tradition of weaving a burial shroud for a quester.

Imagines flashed through his mind, of his siblings weaving with trembling hands, of tears sliding down their cheeks, of the designs that they would struggle to choose from. 'My children are often dismissed and treated as frivolous. The gods are changed by how we are viewed, and people have begun to view me as a silly, fragile little thing who would sooner walk away then get my hands dirty. And the same goes for my children, which I cannot control, though I fervently wish I could.' Does she want to control us? Mitchell thought uncomfortably. Or is she talking about her image? 'My sons bear the brunt of this horribly-misogyny and misandry can be two versions of a terrible, useless coin. Feminine men were often mocked back in the day-well, they still ARE mocked, but you understand me.' And the point of this is? 'The point of this is to assure you that you are not alone. Other feminine men, even ones not my sons, suffer from the same discrimination. And my daughters are also mocked and called useless for the simple crime-' she wrinkled her in nose in distaste, '-of being feminine, even though femininity and fighting are intrinsically intertwined since the dawn of time. Women have silently fought their wars, not the ones with politics and weapons, but the ones with misogyny and violence from both men and women alike-and those battles have dragged on for millennia, and every generation has been witness and victim to them.' A beautiful monologue, worthy of Athena, Mitchell thought, smiling, then he was glad that his mother couldn't read his thoughts. 'And so……….' Aphrodite waved her hand, 'go back and fight, my son. I was once worshipped as a war goddess, and feminine people can still fight. Go and show them that you are a worthy son of mine.'

Ok, but what if Piper was a boy and Leo was a girl?

Think about it. The male Cherokee son of Aphrodite and there can actually be a son of Aphrodite for once, not just a daughter, subverting the feminine pink beauty love goddess stereotype.

And then the Hispanic daughter of Hephaestus-we could get a muscular main character female for once, and it would inspire so many young girls! And she and Percy could bond over their mothers or something. And we wouldn't have the horrible romantic subplot with Calypso.

I forgot about this scene, but it makes so much sense. They totally get along well. I mean, Aphrodite is of the ocean, and her children are also by extension of the ocean. Percy himself is a child of the Sea. Percy has much in common with children of Aphrodite as his connection with naiads and pegasi is something he shares with them. Honestly, Aphrodite Cabin is the example of wasted potential. They could have had such creative abilities. Charmspeak was great if not heavily rushed. At times, it seemed to be a plot device and made for Piper specifically, which took the fun out of it. I headcanon that all of the Aphrodite cabin is besties with Percy; every single on of them, because not only does he respect them and doesn't underestimate them, he also shares certain common interests with them and is genuinely one of the best people to hang out with.

stop I need someone to draw this lmfao 😭💀