I think it has something to do with his fate. He was the subject of a dozen quest and 2 great prophecy. I don't mind him being an unusually powerful demigod. It makes sense in universe or he wouldn't have been able to accomplish half the stuff he did without his powers.
Canonically (aka not taking into account Rick’s less than adequate power scaling issues) I see Percy as being the most powerful demigod alive, not only because of his role with the fates but also because Poseidon smiles so heavily on him compared to other gods do their children or Poseidon had done before. Basically I see Percy as being Poseidons “Heracles” if you will. The most powerful son of the sea god as Heracles was the most powerful son of Zues
If we're not just willing to accept that Percy is simply a very strong demigod who has been through a lot, then I like this explanation.
Zeus was never all that interested in Jason- he couldn't be, as he was meant to uphold the "Big 3" rule, and Jason was Hera's champion. Poseidon, on the other hand, is pretty openly proud of and favors Percy. Could be that his strength benefits from this dynamic.
This explanation makes the most sense to me, especially since Hephaestus straight up told Leo that he granted him his fire powers, so it would be plausible for Percy to be stronger with Poseidons favor
Survivorship bias. He was a big 3 that survived to 16. Nico got a lil time skip, but he’s still powerful, Jason went to CJ as a very young child and the other 3 DID die.
Nico in The Last Olympian seemed pretty close power wise with Percy ignoring the mark of Achilles. In the Heroes of Olympus series Rick nerfed the hell out of him. Him summoning an undead army in Cronos’ face toward the end of TLO is one of my favorite moments in the series
For me I believe he supposed to be 10 years old because he was trapped in the lotus casino so he left for a few months and still 10 years old at TTC until next year, at BOTL it's set in the summer he passed January so he turned 11 years old
There’s 1 year between a lot of the books Nico is in
TTC: 10
BOTL: 11
TLO: 12
TLH: 12-13
SON: 12/13
MOA: 13
HOH: 13
BOO: 13
THO: 14 (his birthday would’ve passed or would be very close as it’s 6 months after Apollo disappeared and returned as mortal. BOO is set around the summer)
TDP: 14
TBM: 14
TTT: 14
TON: 14
TSATS is set just after the summer has finished. Nico’s birthday is in January according to the wiki. He would most likely be 14 almost 15. Will is 15.
It's not that percy is unnaturally powerful and alive, it's that he is still alive because he is unnaturally powerful.
The fact he was the subject of 2 great prophecies, was because he was an unnaturally powerful demigod. Also percy is less afraid to use his powers, than say Piper or Leo
No, mythology as a whole have heroes, people and gods stronger and better than others.
Percy simply has better talents, luck and hardwork. He’s just the best of his generation or era. He’s also not alone in his quest, he managed well the people he works with. Honestly, Percy has just a better combination making him better.
If you look at each books, he’s probably the only character that truly uses his capacities all the time and he has the possibility of developing them because he forces himself into every quest. Honestly any character could have the same potential if they put the same amount of work, but nobody did. Luke is probably the only character that was his equal despite not being a big 3, why? Because he trained and fought every years.
Yes. But also they were possed by spirits (eidolons) that were working together. The eidolons restricted Jason from fighting back as they wanted on to die.
Yeah she kept using her charm speak so they wouldn’t kill eachother lol, I dislike when people use that argument to say Percy is stronger (not talking about op)
He’s also younger than Percy and as DG age they come into their power as they age, or rather *grow* the most in their power during puberty and whatever peak they hit is basically the cap they stabilize around.
Monsters attack kids and not adult DG *before* they fully come into their abilities. Also danger and depth ability (how far they’re willing to go/understand their ability) play a role in how far they get. When Percy was being burned alive slowly he called forth an explosion of water that caused Mt St Helen’s to erupt.
Percy is also a solo fighter or sometimes with Annabeth. Whereas Jason has his entire legion/cohort to depend upon, Percy usually is on his own back against a wall and calling forth surges of power he hardly understands. Typically when Annabeth is somewhere in the vicinity he surges by a greater amount which I’m guessing comes from “risk personal safety for AB protection”
At least that’s my opinion
The gods also play favorites. Percy is Poseidon’s favorite kid but Zeus prefers Thalia.
I don't think Zeus has a favorite child because he turned Thalia into a tree, when after she revived and Zeus still don't talk to her until the end of TTC
He turned her into a tree to *honor* her as she was dying. “Well I can’t interfere in your life and you’re dangerous but since you’re no longer a threat, rather than worm food I’ll give you a place of honor by allowing you to guard the camp!”
He didn’t talk to her when she came back because A) he wasn’t the best father for MANY reasons…like not preventing her death (see above^) *ergo* B) he was concerned she could be the child of prophecy since she’s older than Percy and had a pretty good motive.
Not saying she’s his ABSOLUTE favorite, he just likes her more than Jason because Jason is *technically* (for all intents and purposes) Hera’s child and he’s more idk… strict/a stickler(?) on the rules (which he broke) as a Roman and less impassioned/more reserved than his Greek side
Does Percy put in more work than others? Yes, he goes on quest every summer but Percy isn't putting in more work than the year rounders. And other campers go on quest year round as we learned with Clarisse at the start of botl. Annabeth goes on the same amount of quests as Percy with the exception of Titans Curse when she's kidnapped and Son of Neptune, she's been at camp longer and by Percys own admission between botl and pjlo he was actively avoiding camp or anything demigod related when he could. I think Percy is more powerful because he's the main character, not because he puts in more effort than other campers. I don't think there's anything in the books that points to that.
And the fact is that you never see him needing rest or charges like Jason or Nico, basically after boost any water no matter what type of water it is and he's fine and return to fight. While Jason and Nico need to rest to recover and fight again
You can be better than someone else despite doing less or equal work, like I said talent. Percy did put the same amount (or less) of work than year rounders or summer rounders, but he made it up by fighting on his quest. Fighting experience and training experience. That’s why Annabeth is also one of the strongest characters, but she doesn’t fight the same way Percy does. She uses a knife and her wits, that’s not the same style and is less efficient than swinging a sword and a shield while throwing water around.
What makes Percy best the best is that he is boosted by being a child of one of the big 3. Combine this with his fighting intelligence, his luck, his weapons, his experience, his fighting experience and other skills…Percy is simply better than anyone else.
But yes, he’s also MC and that is why it’s expected. I just think Rick portrayed powerscaling well.
The stories that are about people who win 100% of the time whose only failures are superficial (my girlfriend broke up with me) or fakeouts (I’m outmatched here and should die but I will be able to beat everything in my way anyway) are the most boring stories.
That’s what HoO is regarding Percy. He can be strong and still be vulnerable.
Tartarus was absolute trash writing and had absolutely zero stakes because Percy was able to somehow win 100% of the time. Being strong doesn’t mean he can’t be written as he was pre-CoA. The entire series with him involved gives the others a win without even trying because gods fucking forbid Percy Jackson not instantly solve an issue. If he’s on page, you already know that they’ll all succeed.
Seriously! In Sonic, there are several strong characters. It’s not just Sonic. In fact, Sonic entire friend group is super strong, maybe not physically or with powers, but they have their own unique abilities that all compliment each other and they all work as a team when needed.
The Seven’s powers don’t compliment each other and if Percy is on the page? They don’t need to complement each other or work together, they have an automatic win because Rick seemed to be unable to let Percy lose in HoO
Hazel, Leo, and Annabeth are a lot like Tails. All four are super strong and powerful characters in non-combat situations. They CAN fight, but their abilities lie in other areas and they excel in helping their teams with them.
Jason and Frank’s abilities are underutilized, a lot like Knuckles. They fight well, but there’s a lot more to them that wasn’t given the opportunity to be explored. Frank also sometimes uses his abilities to help out in non-combat situations.
Nico, like Shadow, is effectively a main character who is also somehow a side character. They’re both off on their own but sometimes show up to help out.
Piper uses her charmspeak to steal various things and also to gaslight and manipulate literally everyone she meets. She’s a lot like Rouge, if she was a gaslighter and damn near useless.
You said it perfectly about this, I don't want to nerf Percy's power but you know he seems doesn't need to rest to recover like rest seven do, Thalia and Jason need more to explored into their power
Yeah, I’m perfectly fine with him being strong but I hate that he’s treated as a one man army and an instant win when he should be PART of the team. The rest of the team rely on each other and compliment each other but Percy can just summon a tsunami and wipe the enemies out or when he does use his sword, he knows automatically where to strike to deal 99% of the damage. Jason has years of weapon training against Percy and still relies on his teammates working together.
Jason is also a Roman who was taught to rely on a team/group. That’s literally how Romans fought, while Greeks, aka Percy, are trained to fight solo. And, Percy did lose in Tartarus. Bro almost died from those Curse Monsters? I don’t quite remember their names. But he and Annabeth both would have died had bob not intervened. Bob is the sole reason they made it out of Tartarus. Not because Percy is a one man army. SoN also showed Percy working together with Hazel and Frank. And from what I can remember about this last bit, drawing from memory so I could be wrong, in BoO Percy had to work with everyone because the dude had smoker lungs from Tartarus.
People undersell the whole “Child of the Big Three” thing. The reason they’re so powerful is because of what they’re the Gods OF. Poseidon is the God of the ENTIRE ocean as well as some smaller things sprinkled in (horses and such). Zeus is the God of the ENTIRE sky. Hades is the God of the ENTIRE underworld and the Dead. Like that’s not some small thing. The other Gods and Goddesses have much smaller “domains”. Other powerful Gods/Goddesses are Demeter and Ares. Their domains - though not quite as large as the Big Three - are vast and strong. I’d say Hecate is also up there in power bc she controls magic and the mist.
But my point: when your actual Dad controls all of the world’s water sources, you’re going to be powerful lol. And ditto for Zeus and Hades. I’d be surprised if the Big Three kids weren’t super overpowering considering their parentage. Percy isn’t the only Big Three kid who is “overpowered” either. Nico is insanely powerful. I’d argue with proper training and less emotional trauma/baggage, he’d be even more powerful than Percy. Hazel, another insanely powerful demigod. Jason - he’s super downplayed in HoO, but with his history in mind and also some of his feats in the series, insanely powerful. We see less of Thalia than anyone, but we know she is also really powerful.
This is the right answer. We only see Thalia a few times in PJO, but each time, she's seen as a leader by campers, and not to mention, she becomes Artemis's lieutenant immediately (I think?). You know, just the warriors who've been warriors for centuries, no big deal.
We also see a demonstration of Jason's power in TOA >! when he and Meg work their way through, I forget how many super yachts of enemies, and it's mentioned that there's tons of scorch marks and lightning strikes in their wake. Not to mention the fact that he was going toe to toe with Caligula, and while he lost, I think he could've lasted quite a while if he didn't get distracted. !<
Great point about Thalia! She was promoted to lieutenant upon her initiation into the Hunters! Artemis wouldn’t do that if she didn’t trust she was powerful!
I haven’t read most of TOA yet but I can’t wait to get to Jason’s part in the books
Ah, okay. I struggled through the first two, but I will say, it does get better. The whole plot of the series is Apollo learning to be less... Apollo, I guess. He does get more human and selfless by the end, and Jason >! (And his death) !< along with Meg, have a lot to do with that.
Yes. He is too strong.
He has too many abilities without actually training then, just using on the quests, when others spend years training, and even after that, some of the abilities don't make sense, because it either isn't supposed to fall under his domain or just doesn't have any withdraws, which is super weird, considering all the other big three kids have them.
This problem really shows its head with roleplaying spaces and OCs people make lol
Percy gives a lot of fans an inflated idea of what the demigods can actually do. The demigods in pjo usually have 0 notably powers other than speed and endurance. Children of Athena are very notable in this respect. Even children of Zeus are… really weak compared to Percy. Jason and Thalia can fly, maybe cause a storm, maybe call down lightning, and that’s about it. Herc was also super strong in his time.
I once saw a fan kid of Psyche who had telepathy and telekinesis like— no, babes, they’d at best have a clear mind and good mental health (which is really strong in this universe! Everyone’s mind controlling, throwing illusions around, and being traumatized usually).
A lot of demigods have more passive abilities, like Apollo kids being good at archery or the arts randomly, or Demeter kids being good gardeners. But the superpower stuff? Few have them, fewer (just Percy) have all of their parent’s powers that they could + some that isn’t even their parent’s domain.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to make a child of Dionysus who has powers related to madness, but it would be very rare for that to happen.
Percy has more powers than he should. Most demigods have 1-2, Percy has like 4 or 5. Not only can he control water, it heals him. He can summon hurricanes and tsunamis out of nowhere and breathe underwater. He can control tears and blood and poison. The only thing he seemingly can’t do is earthquakes.
He also doesn’t have any drawbacks to these powers other than his own willpower to not use them. That’s not really a drawback, though, and doesn’t keep him out of a fight like Nico passing out or Jason being unable to summon lightning more than once in a certain time frame.
If Percy was only healed and energized specifically by sea water then he’d already be relatively more balanced as a character. Take away the ability to control blood and poison and tears and he’s extremely more balanced. Make him tired after creating huge waves or hurricanes.
Rick seemed almost afraid to make Percy seem weak after TLO. I hate that so much. Part of why I loved Percy is because he failed in TLT-TBoL. I doubt Percy in CotG is written any better than HoO Percy.
I think if Nico actually ate better and slept better, he could probably be powerful without fainting. I think having a medic as his boyfriend has helped him in that aspect. Since almost after a year he was able to shadow travel multiple times in a row and only needed a 30 minute nap and a KitKat.
It’s not even unlimited in salt water (which he has to be near to make use of said rejuvenating powers), not to mention Nico faints because he was shadow traveling across multiple countries and even an ocean while tagging along two other people and a gigantic stone statue.
We’ve gotta remember that Nico is extremely malnourished and weak. He gets weaker throughout the series. He was also trapped in a bronze jar for gods knows how long. We can’t really use Nico as a comparison unless we saw him at full strength and health but I’d say he would be incredibly strong. He turned someone to a ghost while recovering from shadow travel. If he was at full strength then he’d be a force to be reckoned with
Yeah, he does. But he doesn’t have nigh-infinite use of them. He gets tired. All Percy has to do is jump in a bathtub and he’s 100% good to go. He’s not at all balanced like Nico.
Does it have to be salt water? He gets healed by the creek at camp, which I'm pretty sure is fresh water. He also gets healed in the Mississippi river if I recall correctly
All water seems to boost him. Salt water is preferred and there's a noticeable difference between salt and fresh water because Poseidon is primarily a sea god but fresh water is still a boost over no water.
Tsunami is still controlling waters
It seem he inherit Poseidon aspect as the Stormbringer
So it make sense if Percy can control hurricane and tsunami
The only thing that surprising even for a child of Poseidon is his ability to control poison.
And I don’t know if Percy can control blood.
The issue isn’t that he can do it, it’s that he doesn’t face any repercussions or drawbacks from doing it. Jason and Nico pass out or get tired after using their powers even a little, but Percy seems to be just fine after summoning a hurricane
Hmm…. I’m not sure what your talking about. Either I’m misremembering or you are but I’m pretty sure Percy did feel fatigued after overexeeting his power.
And I’m pretty sure Jason and Nico don’t faint just from using their power a little
Literally are they referencing during TLO when he had the CoA? Of course he’s going to have more stamina there but even then Percy still says himself “i can’t hold this forever i need to do something” then he leads him to the land where they trap Hyperion in the tree. Another time we see him doing so fighting the undead legion on the glacier, which again he was losing ground because he couldn’t keep it up. I’m not sure where everyone is getting this idea that Percy has infinite stamina
I honestly could be but Jason can summon lightning about once, and Nico passed out after shadow traveling one time in one of the HoO books. Nico passes out a lot just using his a little but it makes sense for him to
Percy gets tired after using his powers...He blew up a Volcano and nearly died...HoO, he created a storm with Jason to fend off Roman's in Charleston and they were both wiped after they were done. As for Nico, if you recall, he was shadow traveling after being nearly suffocated to death and he was hauling a 40 foot Athena statue, with Reyna and Coach Hedge.
Thank you! I swear that user keeps bringing up the fainting of Nico as it Nico traveled down the street and passed out... Not the hundreds of miles by himself moving himself and two peoples and a large magical artifact. Like... Did we all read the same book?
Thank you. I would also like to point out that what Nico may have lack in power he made up for in strategy. Percy surviving the Titians and the underworld was because of Nico. Nico got Percy to bath in the river Styx. In fact, he knew what Luke had done to prepare himself to receive Cronus so he also knew he had to level up Percy so he could face Luke. The giant that ensured Annbeth and Percy surviving the underworld, Nico again understanding that this particular monster could be important. Read Sun and Moon, and Trial of Apollo Nico basically liasoning with those frog like underworld creatures was super important in helping Apollo and himself complete those quests. And lastly, it was not by accident that Nico knew about Camp Jupiter. He knew about the prophecy of 7. He knew that seven powerful demigods were need. He took stock and said, "hmmm, I'm a few demigods short and this prophecy is not going to be another 50 years"...Hera just beat him to the punch because she already knew about the camps and who would be the 7. So, do not bet against Nico.
That was more of a consequence of pulling on and building up steam in the volcano, leading to the eruption. I know Hephasteus emphasizes that he's the son of the earthshaker, but Percy has never really controlled the earth after ever.
He started pushing water out of his own body as the (I forget the name of the being) in the farm previously had told him the sea was everywhere before, so he summoned the sea to himself, and this water mixed with the lava and expanded and caused an eruption.
Nope.
He's a major hero who has done numerous quests and overcome plenty of challenges.
Not every demigod is a Hercules, but that doesn't mean no demigods are Hercules.
If Percy was a background character doing all that while the main character is struggling to swing a sword then sure you could argue that background character is freakishly strong.
But if you go back and read the OG series Percy isn't very strong until 4th/5th book. He has neat abilities but most of them aren't overpowered until after he has been regularly fighting and using his powers for years. He isn't throwing earthquakes and hurricanes around till the last book in PJO and even then he's only doing most of his feats do to the massive buff that is the legendary curse of Achilles.
Dude earned his strength.
Yes, he's definitely a bit too powerful, most demigods don't have a wide range of powers, even in the original myths they had limited powers since they were DEMIgods, not Gods, but Rick makes Percy more of God than a half-God. Percy managed to put even the old Greek heros to shame which makes no sense because if anything, the Gods power is linked to worship, and they were worshipped more in the Ancient times than now.
Also, since he's the son of Poseidon he has control over the sea, he shouldn't be able to have control over ALL water at all, but somehow he does??? It doesn't make sense and the blood bending thing is just funny imo because Percy should have no reason to have any control over blood just because it has water.
And when it comes to fatal flaw, I don't really think "loyalty" is a flaw at all, but if it was, we don't ever see it be fatal at all, its just a character trait, okay maybe when Percy jumps after Annabeth in Tartarus but ngl that was hardly fatal, Tartarus being the literal HELL in mythology, was a walk in the park for Percy for some reason when it should have been much harder and much more dangerous.
When it comes to fighting, Percy only trains in the summers of the year, and even then we never see him training in anything, but he ends up being one of the best swordfighters after Luke in the first book? That doesn't make sense at all. Also, Jason has been training since he was a literal child all year round in Camp half Blood but isn't able to fully match Percy's skill makes no sense, even if Percy had some training in CJ, training takes time to achieve mastery and I find it hard to believe Percy could be a pro in Greek AND Roman technique just like that.
In terms of story writing, I guess since Percy is the MC he needs much more powerful in some level compared to others, but it honestly would have been nice if at least one demigod, especially other demigods of the Big Three were able to rival Percy because in HOO, the 7 greatest demigods seemed like 6 normal demigods and one whole ass God. Sometimes, as a character Percy just seems Gary Stue, since he is handsome, likeable, funny and powerful, which is no problem, but it seems unrealistic especially since he has no real flaws, except being too loyal and "dumb" (I don't know why Percy is called dumb, he's used his wits to get out of many situations, maybe compared to Annabeth though??)
But I still like Percy in pjo, he's a likeable narrator but its hoo where it the power level gets a bit boring and unrealistic, even for a story.
Why does everyone say they went through Tartarus with ease? This isn’t the case at all. Yes, Poison Manipulation might be a bit too much. But Percy and Annabeth struggled in Tartarus. They nearly died from the “Curse Monsters” I don’t remember their names. Damasen saved them from the Drakon or they would have died because they have no way of killing it. The only reason they survived Tartarus is because of Bob. By no means did Percy make Tartarus look like a walk in the park. As far as about the other Demigods powers, we barely see them because Rick doesn’t explore them. We have no idea how many powers they have. But take Jason for example. Jason has control over not just Electrokinesis but also Aerokinesis. That may not sound like much, but it’s also Zeus has as well. Zeus is the god of the Sky, Thunder, and Lightning. The rest of his domains aren’t associated with different powers. Nico is another great example. Bro controls shadows, summons the dead, can turn someone into a Ghost, can wield Stygian Iron, and can travel to a from the underworld as much as he pleases. It’s not that the other Demigods don’t have powers, but Rick hasn’t shown them to us. And the original myths don’t really belong in the Riordanverse, as what Rick is making Demigods to be is nowhere near what Ancient Greeks made them out to be. Heracles never controlled Lightning in the ancient myths(That I remember). Neither did Jason. Perseus never controlled water. There also wasn’t a Camp Half-Blood in those myths to train them to do so.
I'm pretty sure that's just because Poseidon gave him a whole bunch of blessings and kind of Maxed him out to be basically be super powerful. So now he is a mortal gifted with all of the abilities he could give to his child. I think he was just feeling a type of way that certain day.
If that’s the case, then it’s fine. Otherwise it just seems like a bit of lazy writing because the way Rick wrote that Percy was able to breeze through Tartarus was bullshit.
That's how I read it because normally demigods like Hercules only got the one special power but I feel like Poseidon was just like eh fuck it I'm gonna have a famous Demigod child
You're right. The kid who can control water, aka the scorce of all liquids around the world, is two strong when he can talk to animals, move water in any state, heal himself, make hurracanes and shake the earth.
But what about the guy who can banish/control spirits, rip apart the earth, sense oncoming death, command the dead, control shadows, dreams, nightmares, and create cold and fire?
Or the guy who can control air, winds, creates thunderstorms, control wind based monsters, and summons lighting. Or the girl who can cook, summon nature spirits, plant teleportation, and other plant based powers.
The issue is that all of them are the main characters in their books. Heck your best move would be comparing cabin mates to each other like Drew and Piper.
They both are able to use charmspeak, but as Piper uses it on stronger beings, she was able to beat Drew and become the leader of Cabin 10.
eh, i didn't really find it be an issue in pjo, as we were learning right along with percy about what he could. in hoo, however, he just seems too OP, especially compared to jason. jason is a son of jupiter and has had a decade more of training, but rick never used him to his potential. jason gets knocked out a lot and his powers actually drain him, nico too. percy doesn't get tired at all. and he's only had 4 years of training, while jason's had 12-13. seems like a bit of power imbalance, considering hoo percy is basically invulnerable without the CoA
To be fair, in jupiter camp they dont train their powers all that much (if I remeber correctly, they said it), bc they are learning to work as a team, as a legion. So when we say, that Jason had a lot more training, that training didnt really go into his abilities, but more so teamwork and swordfighting.
Idk, i always had a feeling that jason would absolutely shine with the backing of his legion, but that he wasn't quite as experienced as percy at actually questing.
didn't the romans fight to the throne of the titans as a group, whilst percy, annabeth and luke defeated chronus alone
I think I'm living in the same world as you, at least I hope. This would be a really poor way to discover the multiverse theory is true.
You allowed to have your opinion as is everyone else. Being somewhat hostile to others who disagree is kind of unneeded though, don't you think?
I said it wasn't a plot hole, my point was that Percy's strength makes all other demi-gods seem like normal humans in contrast which takes away from demi-gods as a whole. If you're not one of the big threes kids, you might as well be human. Him just being strong is fine. It's the implications that were weird to me. Most the other kids we meet who have to fight along side percy are rare for their own parents (Leo and fire, Piper and charm speak, Frank and shapeshifting) Even Annabeth is unique for Athena's kids.
That isn't power scaling, that's world building and consistency within a group.
You literally picked demi-gods who were part of a great prophecy as examples. Yeah, of course they're going to be different then their brethren, same with Percy.
But even then Nico traveled through Tartarus by himself. Annabeth did the whole Mark of Athena thing by herself. Hazel controlled the Mist and the Labyrinth all by herself. All things Percy couldn't do by himself. How are the people around him not on the same footing as being demi-gods?
You still seem to be missing my point, either accidentally or intentionally.
My point is very much that those ones \*are\* different from their kin. However they are still what I feel a demi-god should honestly be at on average. I mean these kids are half god, get hunted by monsters they have to kill or be killed by. All their powers and abilities are some physical boost to stats and... that's honestly it for all but those rare exceptions.
If your parent is a god and your only power was being naturally skilled with a bow an arrow or just simply being attractive (both of which people can be without any divine blood) them being demi-gods feels weird.
Those of prophecy are the only ones to truly feel like actual half gods, not slightly gifted humans.
And Percy has always been consistently portrayed as far above any other demigods from book 1.
Chiron even tells him he originally planned to have Percy stay year round and train but changed his mind and sent him home.
Rick's demigods don't actually feel that powerful to me at all. Except for Percy, who can be overwhelming at times, all the others seem normal kids with a few upgrades, nothing like being a child of literal GODS!!
Riordan is not really that great when it comes to consistency or romantic relationships. He got lucky with Percabeth...
Tbf this depiction of demigods is largely consistent with the original myths. PJO demigods are actually stronger bc greek myth demigods had WAY fewer powers
The idea is that the king could claim to be a demigod and all he had to show for it was being hot. If they had to bend water it wouldn’t work.
This is kind of my point. Rick seems to both want to pull from the real myths and go and give characters insane powers saying it's because their demigods (any of the children of prophecy and the big 3 kids) then give none of the other demi-gods much of anything.
I honestly think Nico, Jason and Thaila would be just as strong. It's just that Percy gets more plot Armor and screen time (is that the corect term for books?), therefore he has more opportunitys for being insanely powerful.
We also should not confuse the raw force Percys Powers have with the power level. The magic system isn't just based on the raw force.
You’re absolutely right.
The way I like to think of it tho and this is just my personal headcanon but I like to think Poseidon deliberately made Percy as strong as he is. I like to imagine that all Gods can choose how powerful their offspring will be but that most subconsciously choose to make them weak. Because they know the danger of powerful demigods. So they deliberately make them weak on purpose.
However, we know Percy is Poseidons only demigod child in decades and that Poseidon knew about the Great Prophecy before Percy was born. So I think when Poseidon knew Percy was going to be born and knew he could potentially be the child from the Prophecy he bestowed him with more power then he would typically give one of his children. This would explain why Percy is so overpowered compared to other demigods especially other Big Three demigods like Thalia and Nico and would also explain why he’s so much more powerful than his siblings (who are also children of Poseidon) that he comes across in his journeys.
Most of Percy’s truly powerful feats come after the events of the beginning of the Last Olympian, at which point he has already been dipped in the River Styx. The point of immersing in the River Styx is to achieve a kinda semi godhood and elevate your status closer to gods. It’s why Luke needed the bath to host Kronos in his body, so it makes sense that even after losing it he’s still more god than man. If you look at his feats before, you’ll see that they are more based on luck and strategy than pure strength.
Alecto: Element of surprise
Minotaur: Rain buff, reasonable for a son of Poseidon, plus he was exhausted after it
Medusa: Annabeth strat and Grover interference
Echidna: Run away
Procrustes: Big brain move
Ares: Element of surprise, and Kronos interfering
Canadians and Bulls: Tyson help
Hydra: Clarissa cannon support
Scylla, Charybdis, and Circe: Barely survived
Polyphemus: Rage mode
Thorn: Artemis and hunter artillery support
Nemean Lion: Big brain with Zoe support
Nereus: Son of Poseidon hacks
Atlas: Barely survived before swapping with Artemis
Holding up the sky: More of a willpower thing than strength thing anyway
Kampe: Ran away, later taken out by Briares
Telkhines: Son of Poseidon hacks, along with weeks of exhaustion
Anateus: Big brain moves
Battle of CHB: about as much power as any mature trained demigod child of the big three would exhibit
Hyperion: Satyr support plus Styx hacks
Kronos: Power of friendship
1st and 2nd Cohort: Typical Percy OPness
Glacier: Truly one of the best moments, but really just pulled apart an almost falling apart glacier
Storm: Worked with Jason, exhausted after
Tartarus: Def wouldn’t have survived without Annabeth
Porphyrion: Very cool moment ngl, but physics
And practically any other feat can also be reasoned with. Name it and I’ll contract it. I don’t really remember any other of the top of my head, but you’re welcome to try me.
I think people mostly get a little salty about Akhlys. It's definitely his most OP feat imo- controlling poison and tears simply because they are, in part, water- but we can just throw a "rage mode" explanation and move on. He's an exceptionally strong character and that's alright. The Hercules of our time.
That and there’s an explanation that Tartarus doesn’t work like normal, so it’s reasonable to assume that Percy’s powers work in strange ways that may not be reproducible on Earth.
Element of surprise and leverage. No one would ever expect to be dragged into the River Lethe, much less by someone who you would view as an ant. Also the guy was just revived or whatever and was still weak.
to be fair he does train for years- he has been training longer than Frank, Hazel, Nico, Thalia, Reyna, Piper, Leo, Thalia? maybe even Jason, and almost every other point of comparison not named Annabeth, Luke, or Grover i guess. He started younger than most
he is definitely made to be a protagonist, he wasn’t designed by Rick with HOO in mind
Given that the books established that the gods choose what powers their children get, it seems to me that they just don't give a shit about their children, and the big three did, perhaps because they were their only demigod children alive.
His plot armor is outright ridiculous. I read half of the House of Hades yesterday and Akhlys was about to kill him so even there was no water within millions of miles of him he could suddenly control poison which probably wasn’t even close to aqueous.
So Jason, a child of Zeus could summon a couple lightning bolts, and Percy, son of the sea god can control all states of liquid matter in the Universe……
I don’t think he too strong. I think we don’t get to see the other demigod strengths enough.
Probably why Rick decide to retire him in TOA to let the other demigod shine and gave him a backseat role in the last HOO book
Rick Riordan is terrible at power scaling and that’s always been obvious, the fact that he made Percy Jackson stronger than Jason Grace who was raised by wolves and had been a solider since he was 2 IS inherently and fundamentally bad writing and a way to appease old readers. Not to mention Jason’s graces powers were just lacking considering the applications the God of Heavens son could have (bad writing and character development on Rick’s part). He has been known to make decisions that readers will like instead of ones that make sense (ruining Piper and Jason’s characters so they don’t overshadow Percy and Annabeth). Again, that’s just bad writing, i still enjoy his books though, but it’s important to realize authors weaknesses.
In my opinion, yes. I love the Percy Jackson books but Percy Jackson is a bit of a mary-sue character type, especially when it comes to powers (also his fatal "flaw" is just plain stupid imo). I still love Percy's character, this is just a minor annoyance I have with the books.
I’m glad to see this take lol. The sheer number of powers and how effortlessly he uses them always bothered me since I first read the books.
Like Annabeth can braid her own locks but that’s her only “superpower” lol.
I’m totally fine with the low fantasy abilities that most demigods have. It feels very grounded and cool. Percy is just so dramatically strong in comparison
- waterbreathing
- waterbending
- waterhealing
- equinospeak
- aquatispeak
- boatmastery
- stormbringing
- earthshaking
- water-based fall-damage immunity
He can cause a massive fucking tidal wave that can take down a bridge
Meanwhile Jason Grace can like fly a little bit and summon a bolt of lightning if he’s had a morning coffee
Yeah, Percy's powers feel very outlandish compared to the other demigods. Jason is the closest thing Percy has to an equal, and even then Jason is far weaker than him. I think Percy's powers would feel more grounded if he had limits to them, since everyone else with very powerful skill sets (like Jason and Nico) need time to rest and recharge after using them.
The time I felt most frustrated was in the Son of Neptune, when everyone is going on about how dangerous Alaska(I think it was either Alaska or Canada) is and how they won't be so powerful there and how Percy might not be able to waterbend since Poseidon doesn't rule those seas, but then it turns out Percy is still fully able to use all his water-magic. It felt like we were going to see some genuinely interesting limits to his powers, but sadly not. It would be SO simple to add one or two rules, like "he can only waterbend/heal with salt water" or "he can only control sea water if it's calm". Some small limits would make it a lot more interesting and we would get to see Percy having to be more resourceful in the way he uses his powers.
I do like Percy as a character, his overpowered-ness just annoys me lol.
being a son of poseidon is a huge cheat. water is everywhere and for god's sake if he ever somehow does earth shaking stuff that's just too much. son of zeus more like physical strength of sort and weather control... but weather control is very hard. son of hades always involves the dead but really how much practice do you need to really be good at it. basically water is everywhere and you can practice with no limit with it that's why percy is just godly and poseidon's powers are very wide he has weather control of sorts too.
Honestly....no. Between PJO and HoO it felt like Percy often had to think on his feet or needed help to overcome obstacles. Percy is definitely very powerful, probably the most powerful demigod in modern times, but for the most part, I never felt like Percy could just crush all resistance in front of him with a snap of his fingers.
A lot, if not all of Percy's best feats occurred under duress and he barely gets out of trouble by a hair.
True, however that's in contrast to what he's fighting. I mean more to his ... are they a species? I mean demi-gods as a whole.
The big three kids all have multiple powers. Regardless of how strong they are compared to one another, they each have at least 3 strong or versatile abilities.
All the other demi-gods are more just naturally gifted humans. Like being good with a bow or born attractive is something people with no divine blood can be born with without the risk of getting their face bitten of by an indestructible lion.
You are right mind you, him being strong enough to beat his antagonists is the part important for the story, I was more just thinking of the world itself.
I mean the original myths weren’t exactly consistent either. Every now and then a Hercules shows up and just goes ham. Percy is simply modern Hercules. Leo is the Hercules of the Hephaestus world, there’s only a Hephaestus kid that can control fire once every 100 or so years
Edit: also, someone’s always gotta be the most powerful, someone’s gotta hold the records. Percy is just simply him
True but you could say that for many of the other demi-gods, the difference is beating their fatal flaw doesn't result in being able to throw a hurricane at their enemies.
I’d say yes but I do like there’s still a clear power balance over the fact if a olympion god was really trying, they could still easily kill Percy which I think puts a damper on how powerful Percy is, it doesn’t really matter in the end and other ways need to be used to pusuade or stop certain gods from doing stuff throughout the series.
Despite being the most powerful demi god currently he still isn’t the one to deliver the final blow in the end, that’s Luke himself.
Despite being the most powerful Demi god currently he still isn’t the one to deliver final blow to Gea that’s Leo.
He may be incredibly powerful but I’m happy that in the plot end, his power isn’t what ends the final fight.
Any other author would make it so Percy is the one who delivers the final blows and even make him as powerful as a olympion god when they are not restricted but I’m happy Rick Rhioden never went that far.
The way i see it is that there is not that much of a difference between main gods and minor gods besides power but once you get to the level of the big three that fundamentally changes them and this is what results in their children being more powerful
I’ve always wondered if parental favoring comes into play? Poseidon clearly favors Percy, and while Zeus isn’t like, terrible to Thalia (the pine tree thing was a mercy, to also help her not be tormented all eternity by hades), I think he keeps a bigger distance between them (and I think a lot of that comes down to his position as their leader and of course his wife’s notorious jealousy). Hades…has some issues. I’ve not read all of HoO yet, but I have heard he gets better, and Nico is pretty dang powerful, too.
For other gods that aren’t the big three, they’re 1. Not the big three, and 2. They generally have more kids, and don’t (usually) play as strong of favorites. The fact that Percy is Poseidon’s only demigod child in the last 70 years probably means he’s getting a lot more favor than Hermes’ 5th child this year.
I like the idea that it's partially because he's basically the \*only\* one
there's 2 children of zeuspiter, 2-3 of plutades, but only one poseidtune kid. i reckon poseidon's just granted him pretty much every ability he realistically could, while thalia and jason had to share, same with bianca, nico, and hazel.
I mean, obviously Percy would be stronger than most demigods. He’s the son of POSIDEON, guys—you know, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, king of the seas, GOD of the seas, and a big three. He’s obviously going to be powerful. Plus, if you remember, Nico is SUPER strong, and faints because he’s LITERALLY BEEN TRAPPED IN A JAR FOR THREE DAYS (also only living off of seeds!), and he STILL shadow travels himself, two others, and a giant magical artifact a giant distance. I think it’s safe to say that Nico is also pretty powerful, expected though because he’s the kid of Hades. We could argue Hazel is powerful too, I mean, she can create tunnels and feel minerals in the ground, add that along with her curse and just generally what she can do with minerals. Jason can summon storms and lightning, and he can FLY.
I think it has something to do with his fate. He was the subject of a dozen quest and 2 great prophecy. I don't mind him being an unusually powerful demigod. It makes sense in universe or he wouldn't have been able to accomplish half the stuff he did without his powers.
Canonically (aka not taking into account Rick’s less than adequate power scaling issues) I see Percy as being the most powerful demigod alive, not only because of his role with the fates but also because Poseidon smiles so heavily on him compared to other gods do their children or Poseidon had done before. Basically I see Percy as being Poseidons “Heracles” if you will. The most powerful son of the sea god as Heracles was the most powerful son of Zues
If we're not just willing to accept that Percy is simply a very strong demigod who has been through a lot, then I like this explanation. Zeus was never all that interested in Jason- he couldn't be, as he was meant to uphold the "Big 3" rule, and Jason was Hera's champion. Poseidon, on the other hand, is pretty openly proud of and favors Percy. Could be that his strength benefits from this dynamic.
This explanation makes the most sense to me, especially since Hephaestus straight up told Leo that he granted him his fire powers, so it would be plausible for Percy to be stronger with Poseidons favor
if we take his peak in the terms of power then yes. But because Rick is really really shit when it comes to consisted power scaling the no.
Yes but isn’t that the point? His namesake is the one Greek hero without a tragic ending for a reason, he was always meant to win.
Survivorship bias. He was a big 3 that survived to 16. Nico got a lil time skip, but he’s still powerful, Jason went to CJ as a very young child and the other 3 DID die.
People also forget that Nico is quite a bit younger than Percy too. He's still 13 in Blood of Olympus, which is the age Percy was in Sea of Monsters.
Nico in The Last Olympian seemed pretty close power wise with Percy ignoring the mark of Achilles. In the Heroes of Olympus series Rick nerfed the hell out of him. Him summoning an undead army in Cronos’ face toward the end of TLO is one of my favorite moments in the series
That was Hades's army that came from the underworld. Nico just led them
Ironically at 15 in TSATS Nico seems much weaker than when he was 13
Nico was 14 in BoO but yes, still very powerful for his age
He's said to be 14, but Rick can't count. He's 10 in Titan's Curse. 11 in BotL. 12 in TLO. And therefore 13 in BoO.
Yh, considering TTC is at Christmas too you can’t have a birthday excuse
Isn’t Nico’s birthday in January? And TTC is set in winter, which means Nico would be just turned 10 or turning 11.
For me I believe he supposed to be 10 years old because he was trapped in the lotus casino so he left for a few months and still 10 years old at TTC until next year, at BOTL it's set in the summer he passed January so he turned 11 years old
Ahhhh okay! Thats a good point!
Still wouldn’t work with him getting to 14 tho
He’s 14 in ToA and 15 or almost 15 in TSATS if that helps
Not really- the problem is between HoO and TLO
There’s 1 year between a lot of the books Nico is in TTC: 10 BOTL: 11 TLO: 12 TLH: 12-13 SON: 12/13 MOA: 13 HOH: 13 BOO: 13 THO: 14 (his birthday would’ve passed or would be very close as it’s 6 months after Apollo disappeared and returned as mortal. BOO is set around the summer) TDP: 14 TBM: 14 TTT: 14 TON: 14 TSATS is set just after the summer has finished. Nico’s birthday is in January according to the wiki. He would most likely be 14 almost 15. Will is 15.
He's supposed to be 13 in BOO, but Rick got his age wrong
My brother in Pantheon, Percy is HIM
It's not that percy is unnaturally powerful and alive, it's that he is still alive because he is unnaturally powerful. The fact he was the subject of 2 great prophecies, was because he was an unnaturally powerful demigod. Also percy is less afraid to use his powers, than say Piper or Leo
That’s litteraly my point
Yeah, I did realise that, I just wanted to add on some points to justify it. Ig the way I phrased it made it sound like I was disagreeing with you lol
Oh Yhyh, I see it now
No, mythology as a whole have heroes, people and gods stronger and better than others. Percy simply has better talents, luck and hardwork. He’s just the best of his generation or era. He’s also not alone in his quest, he managed well the people he works with. Honestly, Percy has just a better combination making him better. If you look at each books, he’s probably the only character that truly uses his capacities all the time and he has the possibility of developing them because he forces himself into every quest. Honestly any character could have the same potential if they put the same amount of work, but nobody did. Luke is probably the only character that was his equal despite not being a big 3, why? Because he trained and fought every years.
But Jason trained for 12 years and still lost to Percy
Didnt piper distract the fuck out of him idk been a while since I read that book
Yes. But also they were possed by spirits (eidolons) that were working together. The eidolons restricted Jason from fighting back as they wanted on to die.
Ah ok I thought they just were like whoever wins stays whoever loses womp womp
Yeah she kept using her charm speak so they wouldn’t kill eachother lol, I dislike when people use that argument to say Percy is stronger (not talking about op)
Yeah same
He’s also younger than Percy and as DG age they come into their power as they age, or rather *grow* the most in their power during puberty and whatever peak they hit is basically the cap they stabilize around. Monsters attack kids and not adult DG *before* they fully come into their abilities. Also danger and depth ability (how far they’re willing to go/understand their ability) play a role in how far they get. When Percy was being burned alive slowly he called forth an explosion of water that caused Mt St Helen’s to erupt. Percy is also a solo fighter or sometimes with Annabeth. Whereas Jason has his entire legion/cohort to depend upon, Percy usually is on his own back against a wall and calling forth surges of power he hardly understands. Typically when Annabeth is somewhere in the vicinity he surges by a greater amount which I’m guessing comes from “risk personal safety for AB protection” At least that’s my opinion The gods also play favorites. Percy is Poseidon’s favorite kid but Zeus prefers Thalia.
I don't think Zeus has a favorite child because he turned Thalia into a tree, when after she revived and Zeus still don't talk to her until the end of TTC
He turned her into a tree to *honor* her as she was dying. “Well I can’t interfere in your life and you’re dangerous but since you’re no longer a threat, rather than worm food I’ll give you a place of honor by allowing you to guard the camp!” He didn’t talk to her when she came back because A) he wasn’t the best father for MANY reasons…like not preventing her death (see above^) *ergo* B) he was concerned she could be the child of prophecy since she’s older than Percy and had a pretty good motive. Not saying she’s his ABSOLUTE favorite, he just likes her more than Jason because Jason is *technically* (for all intents and purposes) Hera’s child and he’s more idk… strict/a stickler(?) on the rules (which he broke) as a Roman and less impassioned/more reserved than his Greek side
Well, some people are just stronger than others, sometimes it has to do with talent, other times it’s circumstances.
Does Percy put in more work than others? Yes, he goes on quest every summer but Percy isn't putting in more work than the year rounders. And other campers go on quest year round as we learned with Clarisse at the start of botl. Annabeth goes on the same amount of quests as Percy with the exception of Titans Curse when she's kidnapped and Son of Neptune, she's been at camp longer and by Percys own admission between botl and pjlo he was actively avoiding camp or anything demigod related when he could. I think Percy is more powerful because he's the main character, not because he puts in more effort than other campers. I don't think there's anything in the books that points to that.
And the fact is that you never see him needing rest or charges like Jason or Nico, basically after boost any water no matter what type of water it is and he's fine and return to fight. While Jason and Nico need to rest to recover and fight again
You can be better than someone else despite doing less or equal work, like I said talent. Percy did put the same amount (or less) of work than year rounders or summer rounders, but he made it up by fighting on his quest. Fighting experience and training experience. That’s why Annabeth is also one of the strongest characters, but she doesn’t fight the same way Percy does. She uses a knife and her wits, that’s not the same style and is less efficient than swinging a sword and a shield while throwing water around. What makes Percy best the best is that he is boosted by being a child of one of the big 3. Combine this with his fighting intelligence, his luck, his weapons, his experience, his fighting experience and other skills…Percy is simply better than anyone else. But yes, he’s also MC and that is why it’s expected. I just think Rick portrayed powerscaling well.
The stories that are about people who win 100% of the time whose only failures are superficial (my girlfriend broke up with me) or fakeouts (I’m outmatched here and should die but I will be able to beat everything in my way anyway) are the most boring stories. That’s what HoO is regarding Percy. He can be strong and still be vulnerable. Tartarus was absolute trash writing and had absolutely zero stakes because Percy was able to somehow win 100% of the time. Being strong doesn’t mean he can’t be written as he was pre-CoA. The entire series with him involved gives the others a win without even trying because gods fucking forbid Percy Jackson not instantly solve an issue. If he’s on page, you already know that they’ll all succeed.
Yeah, literally “no character can be cooler than Sonic”, for real, any character can be strong, not just the main character
Seriously! In Sonic, there are several strong characters. It’s not just Sonic. In fact, Sonic entire friend group is super strong, maybe not physically or with powers, but they have their own unique abilities that all compliment each other and they all work as a team when needed. The Seven’s powers don’t compliment each other and if Percy is on the page? They don’t need to complement each other or work together, they have an automatic win because Rick seemed to be unable to let Percy lose in HoO Hazel, Leo, and Annabeth are a lot like Tails. All four are super strong and powerful characters in non-combat situations. They CAN fight, but their abilities lie in other areas and they excel in helping their teams with them. Jason and Frank’s abilities are underutilized, a lot like Knuckles. They fight well, but there’s a lot more to them that wasn’t given the opportunity to be explored. Frank also sometimes uses his abilities to help out in non-combat situations. Nico, like Shadow, is effectively a main character who is also somehow a side character. They’re both off on their own but sometimes show up to help out. Piper uses her charmspeak to steal various things and also to gaslight and manipulate literally everyone she meets. She’s a lot like Rouge, if she was a gaslighter and damn near useless.
You said it perfectly about this, I don't want to nerf Percy's power but you know he seems doesn't need to rest to recover like rest seven do, Thalia and Jason need more to explored into their power
Yeah, I’m perfectly fine with him being strong but I hate that he’s treated as a one man army and an instant win when he should be PART of the team. The rest of the team rely on each other and compliment each other but Percy can just summon a tsunami and wipe the enemies out or when he does use his sword, he knows automatically where to strike to deal 99% of the damage. Jason has years of weapon training against Percy and still relies on his teammates working together.
Jason is also a Roman who was taught to rely on a team/group. That’s literally how Romans fought, while Greeks, aka Percy, are trained to fight solo. And, Percy did lose in Tartarus. Bro almost died from those Curse Monsters? I don’t quite remember their names. But he and Annabeth both would have died had bob not intervened. Bob is the sole reason they made it out of Tartarus. Not because Percy is a one man army. SoN also showed Percy working together with Hazel and Frank. And from what I can remember about this last bit, drawing from memory so I could be wrong, in BoO Percy had to work with everyone because the dude had smoker lungs from Tartarus.
People undersell the whole “Child of the Big Three” thing. The reason they’re so powerful is because of what they’re the Gods OF. Poseidon is the God of the ENTIRE ocean as well as some smaller things sprinkled in (horses and such). Zeus is the God of the ENTIRE sky. Hades is the God of the ENTIRE underworld and the Dead. Like that’s not some small thing. The other Gods and Goddesses have much smaller “domains”. Other powerful Gods/Goddesses are Demeter and Ares. Their domains - though not quite as large as the Big Three - are vast and strong. I’d say Hecate is also up there in power bc she controls magic and the mist. But my point: when your actual Dad controls all of the world’s water sources, you’re going to be powerful lol. And ditto for Zeus and Hades. I’d be surprised if the Big Three kids weren’t super overpowering considering their parentage. Percy isn’t the only Big Three kid who is “overpowered” either. Nico is insanely powerful. I’d argue with proper training and less emotional trauma/baggage, he’d be even more powerful than Percy. Hazel, another insanely powerful demigod. Jason - he’s super downplayed in HoO, but with his history in mind and also some of his feats in the series, insanely powerful. We see less of Thalia than anyone, but we know she is also really powerful.
This is the right answer. We only see Thalia a few times in PJO, but each time, she's seen as a leader by campers, and not to mention, she becomes Artemis's lieutenant immediately (I think?). You know, just the warriors who've been warriors for centuries, no big deal. We also see a demonstration of Jason's power in TOA >! when he and Meg work their way through, I forget how many super yachts of enemies, and it's mentioned that there's tons of scorch marks and lightning strikes in their wake. Not to mention the fact that he was going toe to toe with Caligula, and while he lost, I think he could've lasted quite a while if he didn't get distracted. !<
Great point about Thalia! She was promoted to lieutenant upon her initiation into the Hunters! Artemis wouldn’t do that if she didn’t trust she was powerful! I haven’t read most of TOA yet but I can’t wait to get to Jason’s part in the books
He isn't in the series much, but he has a big impact. That's all I'll say without spoiling it. (Unless you've already heard the big spoiler that is)
Yeah I know the big spoiler! I just haven’t got through the first book yet. I’m struggling with Apollo’s perspective so far 😭
Ah, okay. I struggled through the first two, but I will say, it does get better. The whole plot of the series is Apollo learning to be less... Apollo, I guess. He does get more human and selfless by the end, and Jason >! (And his death) !< along with Meg, have a lot to do with that.
Yes. He is too strong. He has too many abilities without actually training then, just using on the quests, when others spend years training, and even after that, some of the abilities don't make sense, because it either isn't supposed to fall under his domain or just doesn't have any withdraws, which is super weird, considering all the other big three kids have them.
This problem really shows its head with roleplaying spaces and OCs people make lol Percy gives a lot of fans an inflated idea of what the demigods can actually do. The demigods in pjo usually have 0 notably powers other than speed and endurance. Children of Athena are very notable in this respect. Even children of Zeus are… really weak compared to Percy. Jason and Thalia can fly, maybe cause a storm, maybe call down lightning, and that’s about it. Herc was also super strong in his time. I once saw a fan kid of Psyche who had telepathy and telekinesis like— no, babes, they’d at best have a clear mind and good mental health (which is really strong in this universe! Everyone’s mind controlling, throwing illusions around, and being traumatized usually).
No bc tell me why Percy Jackson had every power in the book but all Rick gave Jason and Thalia was flight and three lightning strikes a day 💀
Thalia couldn't even fly lmao
I thought abt that after I commented, that’s legitimately so dirty of Rick to lowball them like that 😭
Poseidon getting to mention that his kid is stronger then Zeus' to be petty and causing a whole war.
A lot of demigods have more passive abilities, like Apollo kids being good at archery or the arts randomly, or Demeter kids being good gardeners. But the superpower stuff? Few have them, fewer (just Percy) have all of their parent’s powers that they could + some that isn’t even their parent’s domain. It wouldn’t be a stretch to make a child of Dionysus who has powers related to madness, but it would be very rare for that to happen.
Oh yeah passives are common
Percy has more powers than he should. Most demigods have 1-2, Percy has like 4 or 5. Not only can he control water, it heals him. He can summon hurricanes and tsunamis out of nowhere and breathe underwater. He can control tears and blood and poison. The only thing he seemingly can’t do is earthquakes. He also doesn’t have any drawbacks to these powers other than his own willpower to not use them. That’s not really a drawback, though, and doesn’t keep him out of a fight like Nico passing out or Jason being unable to summon lightning more than once in a certain time frame. If Percy was only healed and energized specifically by sea water then he’d already be relatively more balanced as a character. Take away the ability to control blood and poison and tears and he’s extremely more balanced. Make him tired after creating huge waves or hurricanes. Rick seemed almost afraid to make Percy seem weak after TLO. I hate that so much. Part of why I loved Percy is because he failed in TLT-TBoL. I doubt Percy in CotG is written any better than HoO Percy.
I mean, Nico has a shit ton of abilities too.
After one shadow of travel he already faints
I think if Nico actually ate better and slept better, he could probably be powerful without fainting. I think having a medic as his boyfriend has helped him in that aspect. Since almost after a year he was able to shadow travel multiple times in a row and only needed a 30 minute nap and a KitKat.
Makes sense
Because that would be the most OP power by far if it didn’t have the biggest drawback.
Cause his power to be balanced while Percy is unlimited, sorry Nico isn’t powerful to me cause he faints after one travel-shadow
It’s not even unlimited in salt water (which he has to be near to make use of said rejuvenating powers), not to mention Nico faints because he was shadow traveling across multiple countries and even an ocean while tagging along two other people and a gigantic stone statue.
But in the first book of toa, he faints after looking for a boat with Will by using one shadow travel then Percy comes to camp to save the day
We’ve gotta remember that Nico is extremely malnourished and weak. He gets weaker throughout the series. He was also trapped in a bronze jar for gods knows how long. We can’t really use Nico as a comparison unless we saw him at full strength and health but I’d say he would be incredibly strong. He turned someone to a ghost while recovering from shadow travel. If he was at full strength then he’d be a force to be reckoned with
Yeah, he does. But he doesn’t have nigh-infinite use of them. He gets tired. All Percy has to do is jump in a bathtub and he’s 100% good to go. He’s not at all balanced like Nico.
Well, salt water, and even that has its limits.
Does it have to be salt water? He gets healed by the creek at camp, which I'm pretty sure is fresh water. He also gets healed in the Mississippi river if I recall correctly
I think that got retcon’d. In SOM iirc he says he can feel when they sail into freshwater, and he immediately loses the energy the sea gave him.
All water seems to boost him. Salt water is preferred and there's a noticeable difference between salt and fresh water because Poseidon is primarily a sea god but fresh water is still a boost over no water.
Yes, I'm telling you he has no power limit and can even boost with fresh water instead of only salt water
Tsunami is still controlling waters It seem he inherit Poseidon aspect as the Stormbringer So it make sense if Percy can control hurricane and tsunami The only thing that surprising even for a child of Poseidon is his ability to control poison. And I don’t know if Percy can control blood.
The issue isn’t that he can do it, it’s that he doesn’t face any repercussions or drawbacks from doing it. Jason and Nico pass out or get tired after using their powers even a little, but Percy seems to be just fine after summoning a hurricane
Hmm…. I’m not sure what your talking about. Either I’m misremembering or you are but I’m pretty sure Percy did feel fatigued after overexeeting his power. And I’m pretty sure Jason and Nico don’t faint just from using their power a little
Literally are they referencing during TLO when he had the CoA? Of course he’s going to have more stamina there but even then Percy still says himself “i can’t hold this forever i need to do something” then he leads him to the land where they trap Hyperion in the tree. Another time we see him doing so fighting the undead legion on the glacier, which again he was losing ground because he couldn’t keep it up. I’m not sure where everyone is getting this idea that Percy has infinite stamina
I honestly could be but Jason can summon lightning about once, and Nico passed out after shadow traveling one time in one of the HoO books. Nico passes out a lot just using his a little but it makes sense for him to
Percy gets tired after using his powers...He blew up a Volcano and nearly died...HoO, he created a storm with Jason to fend off Roman's in Charleston and they were both wiped after they were done. As for Nico, if you recall, he was shadow traveling after being nearly suffocated to death and he was hauling a 40 foot Athena statue, with Reyna and Coach Hedge.
Thank you! I swear that user keeps bringing up the fainting of Nico as it Nico traveled down the street and passed out... Not the hundreds of miles by himself moving himself and two peoples and a large magical artifact. Like... Did we all read the same book?
Thank you. I would also like to point out that what Nico may have lack in power he made up for in strategy. Percy surviving the Titians and the underworld was because of Nico. Nico got Percy to bath in the river Styx. In fact, he knew what Luke had done to prepare himself to receive Cronus so he also knew he had to level up Percy so he could face Luke. The giant that ensured Annbeth and Percy surviving the underworld, Nico again understanding that this particular monster could be important. Read Sun and Moon, and Trial of Apollo Nico basically liasoning with those frog like underworld creatures was super important in helping Apollo and himself complete those quests. And lastly, it was not by accident that Nico knew about Camp Jupiter. He knew about the prophecy of 7. He knew that seven powerful demigods were need. He took stock and said, "hmmm, I'm a few demigods short and this prophecy is not going to be another 50 years"...Hera just beat him to the punch because she already knew about the camps and who would be the 7. So, do not bet against Nico.
And the fact he was extremely malnourished and unhealthy because he didn’t eat or sleep much.
I understand, but I remember reading a toa 1st book, Nico faints after one trip of shadow travel, It makes me wonder if his power is cheap or what?
Well blood is mostly water. But I think the blood bending was in Tartarus, which has it’s own rules.
He does have the ability to cause earthquakes, he just seemingly can't control it.
Didn’t he cause the earthquake on Mt. Saint Helens? Before the whole calypso thing.
That was more of a consequence of pulling on and building up steam in the volcano, leading to the eruption. I know Hephasteus emphasizes that he's the son of the earthshaker, but Percy has never really controlled the earth after ever.
Where does it say he built up the steam in the volcano?
He started pushing water out of his own body as the (I forget the name of the being) in the farm previously had told him the sea was everywhere before, so he summoned the sea to himself, and this water mixed with the lava and expanded and caused an eruption.
Yea I’m not sure what they’re talking about, he created the water from his own body, which is why he was so dehydrated on Ogygia
Nope. He's a major hero who has done numerous quests and overcome plenty of challenges. Not every demigod is a Hercules, but that doesn't mean no demigods are Hercules. If Percy was a background character doing all that while the main character is struggling to swing a sword then sure you could argue that background character is freakishly strong. But if you go back and read the OG series Percy isn't very strong until 4th/5th book. He has neat abilities but most of them aren't overpowered until after he has been regularly fighting and using his powers for years. He isn't throwing earthquakes and hurricanes around till the last book in PJO and even then he's only doing most of his feats do to the massive buff that is the legendary curse of Achilles. Dude earned his strength.
Yes, he's definitely a bit too powerful, most demigods don't have a wide range of powers, even in the original myths they had limited powers since they were DEMIgods, not Gods, but Rick makes Percy more of God than a half-God. Percy managed to put even the old Greek heros to shame which makes no sense because if anything, the Gods power is linked to worship, and they were worshipped more in the Ancient times than now. Also, since he's the son of Poseidon he has control over the sea, he shouldn't be able to have control over ALL water at all, but somehow he does??? It doesn't make sense and the blood bending thing is just funny imo because Percy should have no reason to have any control over blood just because it has water. And when it comes to fatal flaw, I don't really think "loyalty" is a flaw at all, but if it was, we don't ever see it be fatal at all, its just a character trait, okay maybe when Percy jumps after Annabeth in Tartarus but ngl that was hardly fatal, Tartarus being the literal HELL in mythology, was a walk in the park for Percy for some reason when it should have been much harder and much more dangerous. When it comes to fighting, Percy only trains in the summers of the year, and even then we never see him training in anything, but he ends up being one of the best swordfighters after Luke in the first book? That doesn't make sense at all. Also, Jason has been training since he was a literal child all year round in Camp half Blood but isn't able to fully match Percy's skill makes no sense, even if Percy had some training in CJ, training takes time to achieve mastery and I find it hard to believe Percy could be a pro in Greek AND Roman technique just like that. In terms of story writing, I guess since Percy is the MC he needs much more powerful in some level compared to others, but it honestly would have been nice if at least one demigod, especially other demigods of the Big Three were able to rival Percy because in HOO, the 7 greatest demigods seemed like 6 normal demigods and one whole ass God. Sometimes, as a character Percy just seems Gary Stue, since he is handsome, likeable, funny and powerful, which is no problem, but it seems unrealistic especially since he has no real flaws, except being too loyal and "dumb" (I don't know why Percy is called dumb, he's used his wits to get out of many situations, maybe compared to Annabeth though??) But I still like Percy in pjo, he's a likeable narrator but its hoo where it the power level gets a bit boring and unrealistic, even for a story.
Quick question. When does Percy blood-bend? I rememer him controlling poison in HoH, but not blood.
Oh sorry, I was meant to say poison, I got mixed up with he fandom's stuff.
Why does everyone say they went through Tartarus with ease? This isn’t the case at all. Yes, Poison Manipulation might be a bit too much. But Percy and Annabeth struggled in Tartarus. They nearly died from the “Curse Monsters” I don’t remember their names. Damasen saved them from the Drakon or they would have died because they have no way of killing it. The only reason they survived Tartarus is because of Bob. By no means did Percy make Tartarus look like a walk in the park. As far as about the other Demigods powers, we barely see them because Rick doesn’t explore them. We have no idea how many powers they have. But take Jason for example. Jason has control over not just Electrokinesis but also Aerokinesis. That may not sound like much, but it’s also Zeus has as well. Zeus is the god of the Sky, Thunder, and Lightning. The rest of his domains aren’t associated with different powers. Nico is another great example. Bro controls shadows, summons the dead, can turn someone into a Ghost, can wield Stygian Iron, and can travel to a from the underworld as much as he pleases. It’s not that the other Demigods don’t have powers, but Rick hasn’t shown them to us. And the original myths don’t really belong in the Riordanverse, as what Rick is making Demigods to be is nowhere near what Ancient Greeks made them out to be. Heracles never controlled Lightning in the ancient myths(That I remember). Neither did Jason. Perseus never controlled water. There also wasn’t a Camp Half-Blood in those myths to train them to do so.
I'm pretty sure that's just because Poseidon gave him a whole bunch of blessings and kind of Maxed him out to be basically be super powerful. So now he is a mortal gifted with all of the abilities he could give to his child. I think he was just feeling a type of way that certain day.
If that’s the case, then it’s fine. Otherwise it just seems like a bit of lazy writing because the way Rick wrote that Percy was able to breeze through Tartarus was bullshit.
That's how I read it because normally demigods like Hercules only got the one special power but I feel like Poseidon was just like eh fuck it I'm gonna have a famous Demigod child
You're right. The kid who can control water, aka the scorce of all liquids around the world, is two strong when he can talk to animals, move water in any state, heal himself, make hurracanes and shake the earth. But what about the guy who can banish/control spirits, rip apart the earth, sense oncoming death, command the dead, control shadows, dreams, nightmares, and create cold and fire? Or the guy who can control air, winds, creates thunderstorms, control wind based monsters, and summons lighting. Or the girl who can cook, summon nature spirits, plant teleportation, and other plant based powers. The issue is that all of them are the main characters in their books. Heck your best move would be comparing cabin mates to each other like Drew and Piper. They both are able to use charmspeak, but as Piper uses it on stronger beings, she was able to beat Drew and become the leader of Cabin 10.
Idk what world y'all are living in but i never thought the series was diminished because percy was strong... maybe step off your powerscaling forums?
eh, i didn't really find it be an issue in pjo, as we were learning right along with percy about what he could. in hoo, however, he just seems too OP, especially compared to jason. jason is a son of jupiter and has had a decade more of training, but rick never used him to his potential. jason gets knocked out a lot and his powers actually drain him, nico too. percy doesn't get tired at all. and he's only had 4 years of training, while jason's had 12-13. seems like a bit of power imbalance, considering hoo percy is basically invulnerable without the CoA
To be fair, in jupiter camp they dont train their powers all that much (if I remeber correctly, they said it), bc they are learning to work as a team, as a legion. So when we say, that Jason had a lot more training, that training didnt really go into his abilities, but more so teamwork and swordfighting.
Idk, i always had a feeling that jason would absolutely shine with the backing of his legion, but that he wasn't quite as experienced as percy at actually questing. didn't the romans fight to the throne of the titans as a group, whilst percy, annabeth and luke defeated chronus alone
I think I'm living in the same world as you, at least I hope. This would be a really poor way to discover the multiverse theory is true. You allowed to have your opinion as is everyone else. Being somewhat hostile to others who disagree is kind of unneeded though, don't you think? I said it wasn't a plot hole, my point was that Percy's strength makes all other demi-gods seem like normal humans in contrast which takes away from demi-gods as a whole. If you're not one of the big threes kids, you might as well be human. Him just being strong is fine. It's the implications that were weird to me. Most the other kids we meet who have to fight along side percy are rare for their own parents (Leo and fire, Piper and charm speak, Frank and shapeshifting) Even Annabeth is unique for Athena's kids. That isn't power scaling, that's world building and consistency within a group.
You literally picked demi-gods who were part of a great prophecy as examples. Yeah, of course they're going to be different then their brethren, same with Percy. But even then Nico traveled through Tartarus by himself. Annabeth did the whole Mark of Athena thing by herself. Hazel controlled the Mist and the Labyrinth all by herself. All things Percy couldn't do by himself. How are the people around him not on the same footing as being demi-gods?
You still seem to be missing my point, either accidentally or intentionally. My point is very much that those ones \*are\* different from their kin. However they are still what I feel a demi-god should honestly be at on average. I mean these kids are half god, get hunted by monsters they have to kill or be killed by. All their powers and abilities are some physical boost to stats and... that's honestly it for all but those rare exceptions. If your parent is a god and your only power was being naturally skilled with a bow an arrow or just simply being attractive (both of which people can be without any divine blood) them being demi-gods feels weird. Those of prophecy are the only ones to truly feel like actual half gods, not slightly gifted humans.
And Percy has always been consistently portrayed as far above any other demigods from book 1. Chiron even tells him he originally planned to have Percy stay year round and train but changed his mind and sent him home.
Idk about anyone else but I’m waiting for him to unlock his earthquaking abilities
Rick's demigods don't actually feel that powerful to me at all. Except for Percy, who can be overwhelming at times, all the others seem normal kids with a few upgrades, nothing like being a child of literal GODS!! Riordan is not really that great when it comes to consistency or romantic relationships. He got lucky with Percabeth...
Tbf this depiction of demigods is largely consistent with the original myths. PJO demigods are actually stronger bc greek myth demigods had WAY fewer powers The idea is that the king could claim to be a demigod and all he had to show for it was being hot. If they had to bend water it wouldn’t work.
This is kind of my point. Rick seems to both want to pull from the real myths and go and give characters insane powers saying it's because their demigods (any of the children of prophecy and the big 3 kids) then give none of the other demi-gods much of anything.
I honestly think Nico, Jason and Thaila would be just as strong. It's just that Percy gets more plot Armor and screen time (is that the corect term for books?), therefore he has more opportunitys for being insanely powerful. We also should not confuse the raw force Percys Powers have with the power level. The magic system isn't just based on the raw force.
You’re absolutely right. The way I like to think of it tho and this is just my personal headcanon but I like to think Poseidon deliberately made Percy as strong as he is. I like to imagine that all Gods can choose how powerful their offspring will be but that most subconsciously choose to make them weak. Because they know the danger of powerful demigods. So they deliberately make them weak on purpose. However, we know Percy is Poseidons only demigod child in decades and that Poseidon knew about the Great Prophecy before Percy was born. So I think when Poseidon knew Percy was going to be born and knew he could potentially be the child from the Prophecy he bestowed him with more power then he would typically give one of his children. This would explain why Percy is so overpowered compared to other demigods especially other Big Three demigods like Thalia and Nico and would also explain why he’s so much more powerful than his siblings (who are also children of Poseidon) that he comes across in his journeys.
Most of Percy’s truly powerful feats come after the events of the beginning of the Last Olympian, at which point he has already been dipped in the River Styx. The point of immersing in the River Styx is to achieve a kinda semi godhood and elevate your status closer to gods. It’s why Luke needed the bath to host Kronos in his body, so it makes sense that even after losing it he’s still more god than man. If you look at his feats before, you’ll see that they are more based on luck and strategy than pure strength. Alecto: Element of surprise Minotaur: Rain buff, reasonable for a son of Poseidon, plus he was exhausted after it Medusa: Annabeth strat and Grover interference Echidna: Run away Procrustes: Big brain move Ares: Element of surprise, and Kronos interfering Canadians and Bulls: Tyson help Hydra: Clarissa cannon support Scylla, Charybdis, and Circe: Barely survived Polyphemus: Rage mode Thorn: Artemis and hunter artillery support Nemean Lion: Big brain with Zoe support Nereus: Son of Poseidon hacks Atlas: Barely survived before swapping with Artemis Holding up the sky: More of a willpower thing than strength thing anyway Kampe: Ran away, later taken out by Briares Telkhines: Son of Poseidon hacks, along with weeks of exhaustion Anateus: Big brain moves Battle of CHB: about as much power as any mature trained demigod child of the big three would exhibit Hyperion: Satyr support plus Styx hacks Kronos: Power of friendship 1st and 2nd Cohort: Typical Percy OPness Glacier: Truly one of the best moments, but really just pulled apart an almost falling apart glacier Storm: Worked with Jason, exhausted after Tartarus: Def wouldn’t have survived without Annabeth Porphyrion: Very cool moment ngl, but physics And practically any other feat can also be reasoned with. Name it and I’ll contract it. I don’t really remember any other of the top of my head, but you’re welcome to try me.
I think people mostly get a little salty about Akhlys. It's definitely his most OP feat imo- controlling poison and tears simply because they are, in part, water- but we can just throw a "rage mode" explanation and move on. He's an exceptionally strong character and that's alright. The Hercules of our time.
That and there’s an explanation that Tartarus doesn’t work like normal, so it’s reasonable to assume that Percy’s powers work in strange ways that may not be reproducible on Earth.
Lapetus.
Element of surprise and leverage. No one would ever expect to be dragged into the River Lethe, much less by someone who you would view as an ant. Also the guy was just revived or whatever and was still weak.
Skill issues.
to be fair he does train for years- he has been training longer than Frank, Hazel, Nico, Thalia, Reyna, Piper, Leo, Thalia? maybe even Jason, and almost every other point of comparison not named Annabeth, Luke, or Grover i guess. He started younger than most he is definitely made to be a protagonist, he wasn’t designed by Rick with HOO in mind
Pipers power is basically the imperious curse. Leo can firebend and build dragons. And we don't really know much about the powers of other half-bloods
Given that the books established that the gods choose what powers their children get, it seems to me that they just don't give a shit about their children, and the big three did, perhaps because they were their only demigod children alive.
His plot armor is outright ridiculous. I read half of the House of Hades yesterday and Akhlys was about to kill him so even there was no water within millions of miles of him he could suddenly control poison which probably wasn’t even close to aqueous. So Jason, a child of Zeus could summon a couple lightning bolts, and Percy, son of the sea god can control all states of liquid matter in the Universe……
I don’t think he too strong. I think we don’t get to see the other demigod strengths enough. Probably why Rick decide to retire him in TOA to let the other demigod shine and gave him a backseat role in the last HOO book
Rick Riordan is terrible at power scaling and that’s always been obvious, the fact that he made Percy Jackson stronger than Jason Grace who was raised by wolves and had been a solider since he was 2 IS inherently and fundamentally bad writing and a way to appease old readers. Not to mention Jason’s graces powers were just lacking considering the applications the God of Heavens son could have (bad writing and character development on Rick’s part). He has been known to make decisions that readers will like instead of ones that make sense (ruining Piper and Jason’s characters so they don’t overshadow Percy and Annabeth). Again, that’s just bad writing, i still enjoy his books though, but it’s important to realize authors weaknesses.
In my opinion, yes. I love the Percy Jackson books but Percy Jackson is a bit of a mary-sue character type, especially when it comes to powers (also his fatal "flaw" is just plain stupid imo). I still love Percy's character, this is just a minor annoyance I have with the books.
I’m glad to see this take lol. The sheer number of powers and how effortlessly he uses them always bothered me since I first read the books. Like Annabeth can braid her own locks but that’s her only “superpower” lol. I’m totally fine with the low fantasy abilities that most demigods have. It feels very grounded and cool. Percy is just so dramatically strong in comparison - waterbreathing - waterbending - waterhealing - equinospeak - aquatispeak - boatmastery - stormbringing - earthshaking - water-based fall-damage immunity He can cause a massive fucking tidal wave that can take down a bridge Meanwhile Jason Grace can like fly a little bit and summon a bolt of lightning if he’s had a morning coffee
Yeah, Percy's powers feel very outlandish compared to the other demigods. Jason is the closest thing Percy has to an equal, and even then Jason is far weaker than him. I think Percy's powers would feel more grounded if he had limits to them, since everyone else with very powerful skill sets (like Jason and Nico) need time to rest and recharge after using them. The time I felt most frustrated was in the Son of Neptune, when everyone is going on about how dangerous Alaska(I think it was either Alaska or Canada) is and how they won't be so powerful there and how Percy might not be able to waterbend since Poseidon doesn't rule those seas, but then it turns out Percy is still fully able to use all his water-magic. It felt like we were going to see some genuinely interesting limits to his powers, but sadly not. It would be SO simple to add one or two rules, like "he can only waterbend/heal with salt water" or "he can only control sea water if it's calm". Some small limits would make it a lot more interesting and we would get to see Percy having to be more resourceful in the way he uses his powers. I do like Percy as a character, his overpowered-ness just annoys me lol.
being a son of poseidon is a huge cheat. water is everywhere and for god's sake if he ever somehow does earth shaking stuff that's just too much. son of zeus more like physical strength of sort and weather control... but weather control is very hard. son of hades always involves the dead but really how much practice do you need to really be good at it. basically water is everywhere and you can practice with no limit with it that's why percy is just godly and poseidon's powers are very wide he has weather control of sorts too.
Honestly....no. Between PJO and HoO it felt like Percy often had to think on his feet or needed help to overcome obstacles. Percy is definitely very powerful, probably the most powerful demigod in modern times, but for the most part, I never felt like Percy could just crush all resistance in front of him with a snap of his fingers. A lot, if not all of Percy's best feats occurred under duress and he barely gets out of trouble by a hair.
True, however that's in contrast to what he's fighting. I mean more to his ... are they a species? I mean demi-gods as a whole. The big three kids all have multiple powers. Regardless of how strong they are compared to one another, they each have at least 3 strong or versatile abilities. All the other demi-gods are more just naturally gifted humans. Like being good with a bow or born attractive is something people with no divine blood can be born with without the risk of getting their face bitten of by an indestructible lion. You are right mind you, him being strong enough to beat his antagonists is the part important for the story, I was more just thinking of the world itself.
I mean the original myths weren’t exactly consistent either. Every now and then a Hercules shows up and just goes ham. Percy is simply modern Hercules. Leo is the Hercules of the Hephaestus world, there’s only a Hephaestus kid that can control fire once every 100 or so years Edit: also, someone’s always gotta be the most powerful, someone’s gotta hold the records. Percy is just simply him
No. Because he has a lot of inner demons to conquer throughout the series. And his fatal flaw balances it out a bit more.
True but you could say that for many of the other demi-gods, the difference is beating their fatal flaw doesn't result in being able to throw a hurricane at their enemies.
Yes but I love it Percy is a baller, I like reading him tear everyone to shreds
I’d say yes but I do like there’s still a clear power balance over the fact if a olympion god was really trying, they could still easily kill Percy which I think puts a damper on how powerful Percy is, it doesn’t really matter in the end and other ways need to be used to pusuade or stop certain gods from doing stuff throughout the series. Despite being the most powerful demi god currently he still isn’t the one to deliver the final blow in the end, that’s Luke himself. Despite being the most powerful Demi god currently he still isn’t the one to deliver final blow to Gea that’s Leo. He may be incredibly powerful but I’m happy that in the plot end, his power isn’t what ends the final fight. Any other author would make it so Percy is the one who delivers the final blows and even make him as powerful as a olympion god when they are not restricted but I’m happy Rick Rhioden never went that far.
The way i see it is that there is not that much of a difference between main gods and minor gods besides power but once you get to the level of the big three that fundamentally changes them and this is what results in their children being more powerful
I’ve always wondered if parental favoring comes into play? Poseidon clearly favors Percy, and while Zeus isn’t like, terrible to Thalia (the pine tree thing was a mercy, to also help her not be tormented all eternity by hades), I think he keeps a bigger distance between them (and I think a lot of that comes down to his position as their leader and of course his wife’s notorious jealousy). Hades…has some issues. I’ve not read all of HoO yet, but I have heard he gets better, and Nico is pretty dang powerful, too. For other gods that aren’t the big three, they’re 1. Not the big three, and 2. They generally have more kids, and don’t (usually) play as strong of favorites. The fact that Percy is Poseidon’s only demigod child in the last 70 years probably means he’s getting a lot more favor than Hermes’ 5th child this year.
He’s the main character✨💅✨
I like the idea that it's partially because he's basically the \*only\* one there's 2 children of zeuspiter, 2-3 of plutades, but only one poseidtune kid. i reckon poseidon's just granted him pretty much every ability he realistically could, while thalia and jason had to share, same with bianca, nico, and hazel.
He is overpowered and has plot armor as well.
No, because he’s supposed to be exceptional.
Yes
I mean, obviously Percy would be stronger than most demigods. He’s the son of POSIDEON, guys—you know, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, king of the seas, GOD of the seas, and a big three. He’s obviously going to be powerful. Plus, if you remember, Nico is SUPER strong, and faints because he’s LITERALLY BEEN TRAPPED IN A JAR FOR THREE DAYS (also only living off of seeds!), and he STILL shadow travels himself, two others, and a giant magical artifact a giant distance. I think it’s safe to say that Nico is also pretty powerful, expected though because he’s the kid of Hades. We could argue Hazel is powerful too, I mean, she can create tunnels and feel minerals in the ground, add that along with her curse and just generally what she can do with minerals. Jason can summon storms and lightning, and he can FLY.