She Deserved So Much Better

she deserved so much better

“You never cared”

random headcannon:

When Annabeth came to camp and found she could read Ancient Greek without the burdens of dyslexia, she was thrilled. Until she found out it was impossible to found books in Ancient Greek. So, when Chiron heard her talking about a book she wanted to read, he’d spend days translating it for her. She’d always find the book laid neatly on her pillow with no clue where it came from, but the sneaking suspicion it was Papa Chiron.

*screaming the most heartbreaking/insane taylor swift bridges, craving academic validation 24/7, slightly crazy, be gay (bi) do crime, genuinely into blond guys, will absolutely info dump about her favourite fictional characters and historical figures, wants to fuck jude duarte but also be her, "why is everyone against giving me a knife?", hobbies are being bossy and being right, is definitely a walking, talking red flag* -but am i hot?

Jason Grace was needed by the fandom because among all the troublemakers, sarcastic frats, dyslexic students and hyperactive kids who related with Percy, Leo and other demigods, there were some of us who loved discipline, studying and who constantly worked under the growing weight of people's expectations just because they were good at something.

There were some of us who excelled at academics, some who liked being organized instead of messy, and some who liked discipline over casual behaviour. And just when we thought that maybe we couldn't relate to any demigod – Jason emerged as our ray of sunshine.

Jason taught us it's as okay and cool to be disciplined and perfect as it is to be messy and lacky. Let's give our boy all the love he deserves because he made a huge difference in so many people's lives.

JASON GRACE YOU'RE LOVED

"Leo and Piper are the only ones who had a friendship before the whole demi-" WILL YOU SHUT UP. SHUT IT. GROVER AND PERCY ARE RIGHT THERE. MY POOKIES GOT THEM BEST BROMANCE AND THEY WERE BESTIES B4 PERCY FOUND OUT HE WAS A DEMIGOD. THE BROMANCE BETWEEN THEM WAS REAL FROM THE START.

Katniss is like Lucy Gray this, Katniss is like Sejanus that, and yes fine that's all good and true and lovely but Katniss Everdeen is also a direct parallel to Coriolanus Snow and people NEED to start talking about this because it's driving me crazy.

Think about it: they both grew up poor and deeply vulnerable, losing parents at a very young age, with a matriarchal adult (Katniss' mother and Coriolanus' Grandma'am) who fails to provide for them emotionally and physically. They intimately understand the threat of starvation, even developing with stunted growth because of it, and their narrations in the books share a fixation on food. Throughout their childhoods, both experienced constant fear and suffered a fundamental lack of control over their circumstances. Because of this, they're inherently suspicious of the people around them. They resent feeling indebted to others, especially those who have saved their lives. They're motivated almost entirely by family and deeply connected to their communities. Both are used and manipulated by the Capitol, both are forced to perform to survive and despise every inch of it, both are thrown into the Arena and made to kill. Both have a self-sacrificial, genuinely sweet sister figure acting as their conscience. Peeta and Lucy Gray - performers and love interests with a fundamental kindness and sense of hope about them - fulfill markedly similar roles in their narrative. Both contribute to the development of the future Hunger Games, Snow throughout tbosas and Katniss towards the end of Mockingjay.

It's easy to ignore these similarities because, as mirrors of each other, they are exact opposites. Katniss is from District 12, viewed and treated as less than human; Snow is the cream of the Capitol crop, given the privilege of a name with social weight, an ancestral home, and the opportunity of the Academy despite having no more money than a miner from 12. Katniss has no agency over her life, and responds by being kind whenever she's able, while Snow justifies horrendous evils in order to continue his quest for complete control. Katniss does everything she can to protect her family; Snow does everything he can to protect his family's image as an extension of his own ego. Katniss loves her District and connects with its inhabitants on a meaningful level, but Snow is indifferent at best to his peers - the apparent "superior people" - and only engages with his community for personal gain. Katniss emerges from the Arena horrified at herself and the system, but Snow takes his trauma and turns it into an excuse to perpetuate the violence with himself at the top. Katniss cares for Prim until her death and then snaps at the loss of her little sister, while Snow survives on Tigris' blood, sweat, and tears and then torments and abandons her, presumably because she calls him out on his insanity. Snow actively adds to and popularizes the Hunger Games because of his vendetta against the Districts following his childhood wartime trauma - Katniss briefly agrees to a new Hunger Games in the pursuit of vengeance, but later stops them from happening by killing Coin and choosing a life of peace and privacy. Snow is obsessed with revenge, but Katniss empathizes with the Capitolites and does what she can to keep them from suffering. He exists in a cruel system and selfishly upholds it; she exists in a cruel system and works to dismantle it for the good of her family and community, at great personal cost. And Peeta and Lucy Gray are incredibly similar, but Katniss and Peeta forge a relationship of genuine love and understanding that shines in comparison to Coriolanus' obsessive projection onto Lucy Gray.

So, yeah, Katniss is Lucy Gray haunting Coriolanus. But I bet you anything that eighty-something year old President Snow looks at her, the girl on fire, bright and young and brilliant, emerging from a childhood of starvation with a relentless hunger for success, a talented and charming performer helping her win the Games, and he sees the ghost of his own past. And that's why he's so afraid of her! Because if he sees himself in her, then he's up against his own cunning, his own talent for manipulation, his own charisma, his own genius. He's up against the version of himself that he once wished to be, with the nightmare army of his childhood at her back and her star-crossed lover at her side, spewing Sejanus' truths in his own voice. This isn't to say that Katniss ever achieved the level of power and agency that Coriolanus did during her time with the rebellion, but it is to say that Snow was taken down by what truly terrified him - his own morality, come to finish the job.