In A Fanfiction I Had Someone Say That If It Weren't For Percy's Fatal Flaw Of Loyalty, He Never Would

In a fanfiction I had someone say that if it weren't for Percy's fatal flaw of loyalty, he never would have sided with Olympus at all, or drown a bunch of children in a river. That he picked sides based not on what his morals or beliefs were but based on which side had people he was already friends with. And I spinned the loyalty flaw in that way.

i see that, but again i don’t think that’s necessarily true. I just think he has a strong moral compass. He’s ANGRY at the gods, and i genuinely believe that if he knew people wouldn’t get hurt in the process, he wouldn’t hesitate to go against the gods, but hurting innocent people goes against his morals. he feels no loyalty to the gods whatsoever, his drive is to do the right thing, which in every instance has just so happened to be in favor of the gods. The ONLY reasons he didn’t side with kronos is 1) he didn’t want to cause destruction and death, and 2) when you boil it down, he didn’t agree with the fundamentals of kronos’ side. I think at one point in the hoo, percy actually mentions something about sympathizing with luke (correct me if im wrong), and as we can see throughout that series, he is tired of everything related to the gods.

 he’s constantly trying to keep himself in check, like with akhlys, like when he’s just about ready to kill nico in tlo, we see it in his inner monologues, the scene in ttc with thalia, the scene in tlo with luke where percy gives him the knife, the scene in moa where he is with annabeth before her solo quest. In all of these situations, percy is struggling to be in control of the situation. he has a constant desire to control the things around him, which stems from his upbringing (being abused and bullied will do that to a person). 

a lot of his story is spent in a battle for control, and when he loses control of a situation (think akhlys, or that scene in boo where he is suffocating in the poison) is when things start to become fatal. if it wasn’t for annabeth in the scene with akhlys, he would have completely snapped and lost it, and there’s even a quote there where he explains that “something inside him shattered” or something along those lines. who knows what he would have done after that, but im willing to bet it wouldn’t have ended well. Ironically, he has to control his desire for control constantly. 

I think one of the things that makes this flaw so deep is the fact that “control” encompasses so many things! Control includes his loyalty, his recklessness/impulsiveness, his rage, his power, his emotions, and way more!

and the whole “loyalty” thing is experienced by other characters, too. Annabeth jumping in front of the knife in tlo stems from her loyalty to percy. Percy trying to save annabeth in moa (which ultimately fails, but) stems from his loyalty to her. Clarisse fighting in the battle of Manhatten after silena dies stems from her loyalty to silena. thalia not joining kronos in ttc stems from her loyalty to family (annabeth). luke making the decision to take the knife and end it in tlo stems from his loyalty to the promise he made (despite getting a little lost along the way). 

I don’t think it’s fair for his flaw to be loyalty when its not properly explored, and so many other characters also experience the same sense of loyalty.

a lot of this is just rambling, but it’s 1 am and think this gets my point across enough? in conclusion, loyalty is something he struggles with control over, therefore, it is just a small piece of his fatal flaw, control.

I like to imagine Jack having vague memory flashbacks/nightmares of his life as Nightlight, and his ice forming echoes of his armor and spear if he loses himself in it. Because I am a sucker for angst.

casually drops jack frost fanart in 2020

man could you imagine if you were a demigod in kronos’s army and you’ve been lowkey worried cause the other side has a child of the big three as their frontman and he’s been extremely formidable in battle before but finally Kronos has a physical form and has bathed in the river styx and your army outnumbers them severly but then during the final battle you hear whispers that the son of poseidon has been single handedly wiping out droves of monsters and weapons aren’t breaking his skin either and he just straight up destroyed a whole ass bridge?? I’d abandon the cause so fast I mean—

for all that talk about percy’s fatal flaw being his loyalty, it really wasn’t that relevant

one thing that NEVER fails to crack me up about the lightning thief is how everyone is like oh haha percy is so SLOW on the uptake, but it’s ABSOLUTELY not his fault nobody explains SHIT to him lol