The Brilliance Of The Battle Of The Labyrinth

The Brilliance of the Battle of the Labyrinth

My favorite thing about the battle of the labyrinth is that it shows the effects of past events on demigods in the present. We see the Worst parts of Annabeth, Nico, and Percy. This is where Rick Riordan best shows the negative effects that come with what these demigods have been through. 

For Annabeth this is where her abandonment issues come to a head. We saw glimpses of it in the past, but it was never as apparent as it is in this book. Annabeth feels threatened by Rachel and Calypso. Percy is the only person that has truly stayed by her side through thick and thin and she is terrified of losing that. It was always just Percy and her when it came to the demigod part of their lives and both Calypso and Rachel threaten that. Calypso because he can offer Percy freedom from the great prophecy and a dangerous life and Rachel because she can be a part of his mortal and demigod lives while giving him a taste of normalcy. This doesn’t excuse her actions, but it adds a sense of realism. She’s 15 and had to deal with people leaving her for her whole life to this point she isn’t going to take what she sees as possibly losing the only one who stayed very well. 

Nico lost his sister and discovers he is lost in time. He does not take either very well. He tries to bring Bianca back from the dead and is manipulated by king Minos due to his fatal flaw and inability to cope with his sudden loss. He doesn’t know where to direct his anger at Bianca and himself so he projects it onto Percy as well as Percy’s friends. Nico didn’t just get over his problems even by the end of the story. This book has him struggle with all of this, come to terms with it, and start to move forward. His road to acceptance isn’t over, but he’s taken steps in the right direction.

Percy’s problems don’t truly come to a forefront in this book, but during his stay on Calypso’s island we see his stress about the coming prophecy and war. He considers staying on the island and for a moment forgets about everything else except Calypso and escaping the prophecy. The stress of everything that has happened to him and the terrible possibilities for his future have really weighed on him. This provides buildup for the war and to see how this stress effects him moving forward and how it will effect his decisions.

All of these characters acted questionably and made choices that we may not agree with, but that brought a layer of realism. People don’t work out their problems right away and not everything resolves in a short period of time. Things that happen in the past can effect someone moving forward and it takes time to accept and move forward. Sometimes someone can’t move past what happened. This is what the Battle of the labyrinth does well and what I like most about it.

Lotor (season 5)

Season 5 really focused on developing Lotor as a person. At first I thought his character was inconsistent from what we had seen in previous seasons, but the more we saw of him the more I realized that this was the real Lotor. Lotor in the previous seasons felt meticulous and cold and this season established why he always acted like that. He was always told he was less for being part altean and he was raised to believe in victory or death. It was survival of the fittest within the Galran empire and he was at a disadvantage because of his altean heritage and that he was outcast by his own father for his empathy which lead the rest of the Galra to treat him as lower and unworthy. They probably didn’t even try to hide their distaste, so Lotor had to put up a wall to hide his empathy and curiosity from his people. He still continued to “rebel” against his father by allowing the planets he “conquered” to rule themselves and find more peaceful ways to show his strength than his father and people. He is more inherently peaceful and introspective than his father, but due to continuously being taught victory or death he couldn’t throw the teachings away completely which was shown in both his battle with the white lion and Zarkon. No matter how stacked the odds were against him in his battle with Zarkon he kept fighting and finding ways to make the playing field more level. This was, in my opinion, due to his inability to give up because of those teachings as well as his desire to stop his father. I think Lotor truly did want to stop his father, but he didn’t want to kill him to do it. This is why he didn’t look proud or victorious when he felled his father. He was starting to see the cracks in the teachings of the galra. 

His relationship with Allura was one of the most interesting and entertaining parts of the season. I believe that he initially was just fascinated with her power, but has come to genuinely enjoy being around her. I think this relationship will end up being a key player in Lotor’s development and future. I believe Lotor isn’t inherently evil and does truly want what is right, but he is somewhat similar to Zuko in that he doesn’t know exactly what path to take yet. His relationship with Allura could help him make the right decision when the time comes. 

I was worried throughout the season that Lotor would betray Allura and the palladins, but the further along the season went the less sense it seemed to make that he would. I couldn’t find anything he could gain by betraying voltron. I do think he initially planned to betray the palladins, but the longer he stayed with them and got to know Allura the less he wanted to. At the end of the season when he fails the test and Allura passes and gains the knowledge we are shown that he has changed as the season progressed. At the start of the season he wouldn’t have tried to act happy for Allura especially after failing to achieve what he had worked tirelessly for, but he seems to be slowly realizing that his thought process of “victory or death” is flawed and closes him off to other possibilities. This season has managed to convince me they are going through with Lotor’s redemption. I’m still uneasy about him, but I also don’t believe he is evil just mislead in is thinking. 

I think Lotor does believe quintessence can bring peace to the galaxy and it is meant to mirror Honerva’s path. While Honerva slowly becomes corrupted by the quintessence the same may too happen to Lotor, but I believe that his path will end up diverging from his mother’s in that he will learn from her mistakes and if he doesn’t directly learn from them I think Allura can help him see a different path from descent into corruption. This could be an interesting path to see come about.  

Why Killmonger is my Favorite Marvel Villain

Erik “Killmonger” was told stories of the utopia that was Wakanda by his father and saw the worst the world had to offer. When he was just a boy his father was taken from him by the very people he was told stories about. The people who had the means to stop the violence and save others like them had taken his fathers life because he wanted to “share” their technology with their less fortunate people. I believe that the death of his father caused him to adopt his father’s ideals and work towards the realization of them with unparalleled focus and resolve. To him Wakanda was the villain for killing his father and denying the rest of “their people” their technology. His ideal was noble, but it was taken to an extreme because the world had taken all he cared about and never gave him anything in return. The rage and hatred he held was there boiling just below the surface and the only reason he didn’t self-destruct was because he had a cause to channel it towards. Erik’s life was a tragic story of a man working towards a “noble” cause that got warped because of loss and neglect.

T’Challa ended up learning from Erik. He realized he couldn’t keep Wakanda’s resources separate from the world. That doing so was wrong and was the reason for his current conflict. He saw the ideal that Killmonger had beneath the radicalization and ended up acting on what he learned. The best villains are the ones the heroes can learn from

Reyna and Nico-the Perfect Unlikely Friendship

Both Reyna and Nico suffer from isolation and loneliness brought upon by their respective reaction to their negative past experiences. Reyna strove for power to have the ability to prevent tragedy to herself and others and ended up causing herself more pain through the isolation the power brought. Her pursuit is ironic in that her pursuit to prevent pain caused her pain. She is truly isolated from her peers not truly of her own free will, but because the position requires her to be strong for everyone around her. Nico on the other hand isolates himself. This is due to the negative atmosphere created by the community he initially lived in. The community was strongly anti-gay and he was forced to fear a part of himself. His isolation is ironic because in his want and need to be accepted he didn’t give anyone a chance to really get to know him and accept him. 

Both Nico and Reyna have trouble trusting others and hide behind tough exteriors. They hide the broken remnants of their respective lives. Reyna through her position. Nico through self isolation. Because of their similarities in dealing with their hardship and shared isolation and loneliness they are able to find someone to open up to. Nico and Reyna share a mutual understanding of loneliness and loss. This coupled with their quest together created a bond that is my favorite friendship in the Heroes of Olympus. I look forward to seeing Reyna in the Tyrant’s Tomb and hope this friendship get more focus in the coming books.

Princes Lotor and Zuko

The parallels between Lotor and Zuko are numerous. They were both inherently more peaceful then their fathers and seen as failures and outcast by those same fathers for their empathy and standing up for what they thought was right. Zuko when he was against purposefully sacrificing young soldiers and sending them to a fruitless fight and Lotor for not subjugating and destroying a race of people and instead learning about them and working with them. Due to their banishment they developed a facade that hid their empathy from those around them that slipped at moments. They both work tirelessly toward a goal they think is noble that is warped because of their parents views. Zuko his honor and Lotor the quintessence. I think like preince Zuko Lotor truly believes that the quintessence is the solution to his and his people’s problems. Lotor may end up betraying the Palladins, but it won’t be because he is evil or wanted to betray them. It will be because of a source of conflict and his obsession towards his goal. If he does betray the palladins he will eventually get his redemption arc where he realizes what he strove for wasn’t the solution to his answers. The source of conflict was set up this season in Honerva. I believe it will play out similar to Azula with Zuko in the crossroads of destiny. It is made clear throughout the season that both of Lotor’s parents were neglectful and one was abusive, so if he accepts that Haggar is his mother and discovers she has been helping him with the palladins and indirectly saved him from Zarkon through Kuron he may be manipulated. He admits to Allura in the finale that he envies her because she had Alfor as a father and he travelled the world with her and it was implied that he also envied that she got to have that childhood with happy family memories. If his mother is revealed to have loved him and “love” him his emotions can be manipulated in her favor. There is also the parallel between Honerva and Zarkon and Lotor and Allura. Both sets have a fixation on quintessence and believe that it can bring prosperity to the people, but while Zarkon and Honerva slowly become corrupted in their initially honorable quest Lotor and Allura have the ability to change their projected outcome. I think that while Honerva slowly edges Lotor to corruption Allura, because she is pure at heart, can prevent his downward spiral. The reason the relationship between Lotor and Allura was expanded upon so much this season could be for this reason, to prevent Lotor from becoming his Father and Mother and truly use quintessence to help the people and bring about a new age of prosperity instead of destruction and death. Lotor’s redemption arc has just begun. 

The importance of the Siren Scene in the Sea of Monsters

I was rereading the Percy Jackson series and looking back at them at an older point of view things I didn’t see before come to light. During the book the Sea of Monsters I realized this is probably when Annabeth was at her lowest point. She had lost every family she had. Luke had betrayed her and the camp, Thalia was gone and her pine tree was dying, and she had just failed at living with her father and step family for a school year. It makes sense that the siren’s song and Luke’s words would effect her so much. She had hit her rock bottom and was mad at the world and needed to find an outlet. Annabeth had only ever wanted a family and at this point she hadn’t truly found one. This is also when her fatal flaw comes to light. Her fatal flaw is a direct result of the misgivings that have happened to her. She has trust issues and has constantly been left time and time again because of this she has learned to rely on herself and her own strength and ability, which also makes her connection with Percy more meaningful. She allowed herself to be weak in front of him. We learn in the Heroes of Olympus that she puts on a mask every day to hide her weakness and insecurity from everyone. This is also the first time we hear one of the heroes shares the antagonists ideas. Seeing Luke’s vision from Annabeth’s point of view adds depth to his ideals. He isn’t the only one with these gripes with the gods and it’s made clear that his viewpoint isn’t entirely wrong. The gods have neglected their children. They were capable of preventing every tragedy that happened in Annabeth’s life and Annabeth acknowledges that and is mad and upset about it. This is important because other that growing Annabeth’s character it makes us understand that the gods aren’t truly good they are just the lesser evil. It is especially important once you realize that this point carries through and effects the outcome of the great prophecy.