Many Of My Movies Have Strong Female Leads - Brave, Self-sufficient Girls That Dont Think Twice About

“Many of my movies have strong female leads - brave, self-sufficient girls that don’t think twice about fighting for what they believe in with all their heart. They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a saviour. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.” -Hayao Miyazaki

Happy International Women’s Day!

E

"magical fey shapeshifter surrounded by regular animals" is by far my favorite cartoon saloon trope

wow this is a great point

There’s no way Annabeth hasn’t been learning Egyptian magic spells in her free time.

Seriously. She and Percy have been suffering through close calls for so long. And Annabeth knows that she’s been at a physical disadvantage. She’s seen other demigods. Children of Athena are amazing and intelligent, but Annabeth can never face a problem head-on; she always has to work around it. In situations where the best way out is to brute force it, Annabeth has to work twice as hard to find a solution.

Well, guess what, Annabeth’s finally found a way to match Percy’s power.

And it’s through studying.

A whole new language of possibilities that she can mix and match when a powerful enemy shows up (because, from where I’m sitting, only two categories of monsters are chasing after Percy nowadays: One (1): idiots. And Two (2): major powerhouses who barge in, confident that they can take him out).

And let’s not forget Annabeth’s Norse heritage and the potential for Rune knowledge.

I promise you this. In the future of demigod history, Annabeth is going to be in bold print in the history books, not because she was Percy’s girlfriend/wife who tagged along on all his adventures with the power of friendship and spunky smarts, but because she was a master study of an amalgamation of pantheons to the point that she’s considered more dangerous than witches like Medea.

Annabeth may not be studying under the traditional title of ‘witch’ like Hazel is, but this girl is using magic to weaponize her brain.

There is nothing that this woman would not do to more conveniently protect her family —to put a stop to the absolute shit that she and Percy have been through.

I give you example A:

Sadie: This is our secret mansion which you can totally probably see with your holy voodoo magic god blood. Carter can show you the library, because Annabeth you’ll probably love that for some reason. The entrance is right—

Carter: Sadie, no, wait!

Carter: We have to invite them in.

Sadie: Wat? No, that’s only for—

Carter: *gesturing at Percy and Annabeth* Demigods

Sadie: Ooh. Right. Sorry. That could have been painful.

Percy: I’m sorry, but what?

Carter: We have a security system.

Annabeth: And it keeps out gods?

Carter: Only until you invite them in.

Annabeth: *eyeing Percy*

Annabeth: And could you, say, teach this spell to us?

Annabeth: Would it keep out Greek gods?

Annabeth: Even just one god, specifically.

Annabeth: Let’s say, a marriage goddess?

Percy: . . .

Percy: That would be great, actually

Percy: Now can we talk about how your house treats us like Vampires.

Annabeth is suddenly using magic everywhere, and it’s not just to protect them against monsters. It’s also to protect Percy from himself.

And I don’t just mean she makes him learn some hieroglyphs (which she does. He literally carries a pen with him. He might as well use it to write once in a while. Maybe the pen is as mighty as the sword).

Percy doesn’t have to use explodey-mountain powers when his girlfriend can speak just the right word and level a street. He won’t need to blood-bend against hostile gods, because Annabeth designs fortifications and pendants to keep the gods far away unless they have the proper permission.

Which totally spazzes Zeus out, by the way. All of a sudden, Annabeth isn’t just an inconvenient enabler for her Threat boyfriend. Annabeth is the Threat.

Zeus: I though you gave a prophecy to the Jackson kid.

Dionysus: Which Johnson kid?

Hermes: The new one. Charlie.

Dionysus: Ugh, the tiny one.

Apollo: I did. I mean, I tried. But the oracle doesn’t work around him.

Zeus: And why not?

Athena: Annabeth gave him a pendant.

Zeus: Well tell him to take it off!

Apollo: We, uh. We suggested that.

Zeus: And?

Apollo: *pulls up an IM screen recording. A twelve-year-old boy appears. He has Percy’s nose. . . Annabeth ears . . .*

Charlie: No. I am strictly grounded from quests. Forever. You have a prophecy for me, right? What’s Zeus gonna do? Kill me? Not if you want your prophecy fulfilled.

It’s also a great path for further developing Annabeth’s empathy for Percy’s frustrations with his own powers. We talk a lot as a fandom about Dark!Percy, but what about Annabeth’s side of things. She’s been terrified of her boyfriend, and he knows, and she knows he knows. Annabeth has seen Percy in his wrath, but she’s also seen how negatively her own fears affect him. There’s no way she would look at that and not search to the ends of the earth for some way to reassure him, or at least to support him.

Annabeth’s all calculated plans and building architecture and trying to make things last. She believed for years that Percy was going to die from the prophecy, and she attached herself to the idea of ignoring what would happen to him and instead trying to preserve Luke, because, by the gods, there was no way she was going to lose both of them. But look at how much Annabeth was ready to tear into Hera. More than ever, right now Annabeth has the motivation to throw out preservation and flip the script. I want Annabeth to experience what being destructive feels like. I want her to succeed and an want it to be beautiful and terrible. I want her to make mistakes. I want her to underestimate herself and overdo it. I want her to begin to understand her power to the point where she walks into situations with the weight of knowledge, debating whether it’s worth it to let a potential enemy live, or if she should just kill them now and save herself the trouble later. And I want Percy to step in and balance her out again.

In the end, I want Annabeth to realize that it’s not the power that’s scary, but learning to use it the right way and at the right time. Learning to lean on people, and to find people that will help you to balance it instead of just being afraid of you. Annabeth’s new magic—her knowledge—isn’t evil, and Percy’s power isn’t either.

spread the word!!!

So, India is dying.

Look, I know a good number of you are from the US and things aren't amazing there either, but my country is literally on the brink of collapse. So I'd love it if we could talk about that for a minute.

If you can't do anything else, please just read and reblog.

A second COVID wave has taken out the healthcare system. There are no more hospital beds. There's an oxygen shortage. There's a critical vaccine shortage. The Central Government has thrown its hands up and is passing the baton to the State Governments to do what they can.

There are over 16 million covid cases. A record 330,000 new cases reported yesterday - comparable to the US at its peak. 187,000 dead as of today.

There is no plan.

Mass cremations are taking place. The cremation grounds are running day and night and they are short on wood. People are watching their loved ones die while waiting for a hospital bed, and then they're unable to give them the proper burial rights.

Hospitals are overwhelmed. Patients are being confined, two to a bed. They're the lucky ones.

We are on the verge of people dying in the streets.

This is the second-most populous country in the world. The largest democracy. A country that encapsulates over 15,000 years of recorded human history and has endured everything from famine to invasion to colonisation.

We might be at the end. This might be the thing that does us in.

People are dying.

People are dying.

People are dying and there is no plan.

More good news? Variants are popping up. A double mutation strain has shown up. It is resistant to current vaccines. This will not go away. This is the devastation they warned of when the anti-maskers were out protesting the minor inconvenience of covering their face in public.

My country is on the verge of an emergency state. Our government has failed us. This is as dire a situation as it ever could be.

Look. I don't do much with my life. I write fics, some of you have read them and that's pretty much it. I spend my days with my head in the clouds because that's where I like to be.

But two days ago, my grandmother tested positive, had to be taken to hospital and the ambulance caught fire.

She barely made it to the urgent care she needs.

So, here I am, using whatever meager platform I have to cobble this request together. Because I have to do something.

If you can, donate.

Or spread the word.

Help. Please.