Toa Apollo - Tumblr Posts

Hades and Apollo's Fieldtrip to Superhell!!

Based on one of the best fics I've read! Seriously it's so good, the Hades-Apollo bonding took me out and nearly brought me to tears on way too many occasions, 100/10 I didn't know I could be rendered incoherent with emotion when two deities touched each other's shoulders and tolerate each others existence, but here we are.

They're the Uncle-Nephew duo ever <33

Also! I decided to try out a new lineless art style, and I really like how they came out, so I might do some more in the future :D

Eclipse by TsarinaTorment

@tsarisfanfiction I hope you don't mind getting pinged, but I’m not verified on Discord and wanted to show you the art I made for your epic fic :D

TOApril Day 28 – Silent Thunder

Last prompt for this year!! Waystation gang to the rescue ✊

here’s my take on the Lester-was-a-mortal-prior-to-ToA idea

heavily inspired by the lovely fic ‘Glitter and Gold’ by @casualcannibalisms!!(i hope you don’t mind the ping) seriously, it’s so good, you guys should check it out, absolutely stellar characterization and super cool plot

desc from my fic under cut

Well, no time like the present, right? How long could he even have been gone for? He had literally been walking home from school yesterday, mentally prepping for the calc test, wondering what his parents were planning for dinner, until… until he had been...

There had been light. Screaming. Was it his screaming?

Why had everything been so bright?

Lester pressed a hand to his suddenly pounding head and begged whatever benevolent gods might be listening to put him out of his misery.

---

Or, Lester Papadopoulos has been missing for almost a year. When he reappears in the middle of Manhattan, on the verge of death, he just wants to go home.

yes yes yes YES :DDD hjkfkgfrkskjg our boy Lester and his Completely Mortal Life except Zeus ruined it bc ofc he did. I'm so glad this is becoming a Thing!!! If anyone has any recs for this i will happily scream about it bc HECK YEAH

Mortal Lester our beloved blorbo. so much angst. so many possibilites

The more people I see on board with the idea that Lester was an actual mortal pre-TOA, the more dopamine that slaps me in the face

WHERE MY FELLAS AT JOIN THE CLUB

I was rereading some of my posts from 2021 and was reminded of how much meta I used to write so imma share my crazy headcanon/ theory which i thought up as plot for a revolution fic:

RR verse is on the "Olympus will fall" timeline and Zeus' actions are speeding it up.

In the recent decade there has been several great prophecies back to back. And people have remarked how weird it is that there have been so many. What if the reason is because of Zeus?

Remember, in greek mythology there is a major theme of how Your Fate Cannot Be Defied. And Zeus, king of Olympus, has a major Fate: being overthrown. However he managed to "defy" it by eating Metis.

My idea is that he has been forcefully clawing out a future where he is still king of Olympus. By doing this, he is literally changing the flow of fate. And obviously fate wants to correct itself, so the harder he fights it, the more counterforce he triggers. All prophecies meant to lead to his overthrowing are suddenly sped up. Olympus begins to lose power. Zeus is aware of this. He is also aware how people are becoming suspicious. And he needs a scapegoat. And who better than the god of prophecy who is also a threat to the throne?

Apollo mentions that Zeus blamed him for his oracle revealing a prophecy "too early" and therefore causing it to happen early. However, everyone knows it's not possible to actually cause a prophecy to happen early...so why would Zeus even have this weird line of thought? everyone probably dismissed it as Zeus being irrational, but there a juicier theory this ties into:

Apollo being the one to overthrow Zeus.

The idea of "fall of the sun, the final verse". What if this is the final prophecy that is meant to happen before Zeus is overthrown? And what if the fall this speaks of is actually when Apollo fell close to chaos? When he pulled himself together there?

What if he reformed different from his original godly form. He was literally almost gone, his body was disintegrating. Maybe he pulled himself together using the energies of chaos. Apollo himself isn't aware of this, due to a suspicious memory gap between him clawing up from the cliff and him waking up next to Artemis.

And this adds to another headcanon of mine, the fates choose Apollo to be the god of prophecy on purpose. At first glance, this is a horrible match. If they wanted a good servant, why would they choose someone so closely tied to his heart and so likely to fight fate? Someone who dares get them drunk just to extend a human's lifespan? UNLESS... they WANT him to eventually try and defy fate??

Imagine if fate was a compass and Zeus had forcefully wrenched the needle point at a bleak dark future where Olympus falls with him. And this river direction has been set so deeply in stone and run on for so long, it has worn a grove and become the mostly likely future.

you need someone willing to fight, someone to wrench the needle out. SOMEONE FAMILAR WITH FATE AND Prophecy. Someone who has the power to fight it and win. Someone who has the will. Perhaps a baby god who was willing to fight Python, and who would have likely died there. But if he successfully did take on the powers of prophecy, one day that same godling would fight Python again, would absorb the powers of chaos to recreate himself.

Perhaps not today and maybe not even for the next four thousand years

but one day that godling would stare down at that wretched compass hand and decide to yank the flow out of its place. And maybe, that godling means a chance for Olympus to have a different future.

Anyways that's my crazy theory i hope it wasn't too confusing. It also links up with my other story theme idea about fate, hope and apollo blah blah blah, which i rambled about in a different post.

Edit: just remembered my other crazy thought, what if ZEUS PURPOSEFULLY TRIED TO GET RID OF APOLLO NOT ONLY CAUSE HE IS A THREAT TO THE THRONE BUT ALSO BECAUSE AS THE GOD OF PROPHECY HE IS MOST LIKELY TO REALIZE SOMETHING IS WRONG AND THAT ZEUS IS MESSING WITH FATE?!???? Basically pulling a imma say you're the murderer before u realise im the murderer. (i cant remember the actual saying Lmaoo)

Rachel Dare accidentally slips up one day at school and now all her friends joke that she’s either in a cult or a deputy (??) cult leader and make fun of her for it all the time. She gets dress coded by a teacher at some point for wearing aesthetic sun jewellery / some fancy rendition of the Delphic E and her friends jokingly go “NO you can’t do that it’s religious!” And she goes “I mean. well. Technically.” And then they start yelling.

They ABSOLUTELY have a conspiracy board surrounding this. Apollo thinks this is the absolute funniest thing ever.

Forever thinking about the trogs calling apollo "lester-apollo" as if it were an honorific. In my head at least once per day.

THE LESTER AND APOLLO MEETING IS HERE :D

This chapter is like... over 2k words longer than the last one I'm pretty sure. Like it's at least 5k. Lester's best friends took the whole stage and the mic and Lester's in the back with Apollo controlling the lights. I have no control here.

desc under cut!

The stranger studied him with an intense, but not necessarily unkind, expression. He looked like he was examining every inch of Lester's face and putting together a puzzle Lester didn't have even half the pieces for. The stranger had hair like spun gold, brown at the roots and curly like Lester's was, and he was wearing a Led Zepplin shirt over a pair of khaki shorts. He could've been anywhere between 18 and 30, though his eyes looked much, much older. Despite the numerous physical differences, he kind of reminded Lester of himself.

There was a dawning look of horror on his face.

@the-stars-were-his :D

here’s my take on the Lester-was-a-mortal-prior-to-ToA idea

heavily inspired by the lovely fic ‘Glitter and Gold’ by @casualcannibalisms!!(i hope you don’t mind the ping) seriously, it’s so good, you guys should check it out, absolutely stellar characterization and super cool plot

desc from my fic under cut

Well, no time like the present, right? How long could he even have been gone for? He had literally been walking home from school yesterday, mentally prepping for the calc test, wondering what his parents were planning for dinner, until… until he had been...

There had been light. Screaming. Was it his screaming?

Why had everything been so bright?

Lester pressed a hand to his suddenly pounding head and begged whatever benevolent gods might be listening to put him out of his misery.

---

Or, Lester Papadopoulos has been missing for almost a year. When he reappears in the middle of Manhattan, on the verge of death, he just wants to go home.

my favorite dynamic is toa is probably just apollo and his emotional support gremlin, emotional support arrow, emotional support instrument, emotional support twin sister, emotional support little half brother, emotional su—

the man needed so much emotional support throughout the series and honestly good for him. go get that character development one cry at a time, you funky little music man

Apollo as Lester is special, because his pathetic scrumbly nature is so endearing that you have to root for it. Like yes king, fall on the ground and cry for 5 hours. Dramatically refuse critique and praise simultaneously. Play that ukulele at times where it is probably socially unacceptable. You’re winning king, keep it up!!

the best part is that he’s not even a teenager. our best teenager loser rep is the god of the sun himself.

maybe teenagers are just channeling the energy of 4000 year old lovesick gods sometimes. maybe they’re just being pathetic and blorbo in a ‘give me a few centuries to cry my heart out over this one thing some guy said to me and then i’ll be fine’ sort of wag

maybe we’re all lester is some way

born to be an impossibly old impossibly wet cat of a person, forced to be a teenager

lester is literally such a loser I LOVE HIM SO MUCH YOU DONT KNOW HOW…. He’s literally the BEST teenage loser rep I’ve ever seen ….

"What happened between book 4 and 5?" lots of shenanigans that's what ‼️

Meg tries to use Apollo to cheat in school but he is not having any of that so he tutors her (it gives him more excuses to visit)

What even are the ancient laws?

I've been meaning to get around to this one for ages.

Anyways! Good question, guys! Answer: nobody fucking knows. Sure, we have good ideas. The laws are mentioned every now and then as a "oh, no little mortal child I can't help you - that's against the ancient laws. But hey! You can help me."

Let's be honest: the ancient laws, while there might be legitimate reasons for some of them, have transformed into yet another way that the gods hold themselves as the high and mighty overlords of the world, and keep their mortal offspring below them at all costs. But... why? Are the demigods really that dangerous to the gods? The answer: yes, but not to the gods - to Zeus.

Let's start from the beginning and list out everything we know about the laws. I did the hard work, you're welcome:

1. Gods cannot steal each others' symbols of power.

2. A god cannot initiate a fight with a mortal.

3. No direct interference - gods are not allowed to interfere in the lives and ongoings of mortals or monsters.

4. No more than 3 people are allowed on a quest.

5. Harming the sacred animals of a god is forbidden.

And that's it. Those are the only true mentions of the Ancient Laws in the entirety of the Riordanverse (at least, the Greco-Roman books).

And I think we all know what the most important one is. Direct Interference is the only one we see Zeus actively enforcing (or at least attempting to). But why is that? Well, stealing another god's symbol of power and initiating a battle with a mortal are physically impossible for gods, and the ban on harming a sacred animal is very commonly accepted already, as it's a guaranteed way to get your ass whooped. And the rule about having 3 on a quest isn't really something Zeus is going to spare the effort to enforce - starting a quest with more than 3 will typically guarantee that you come home with only 3, if at all.

But Direct Interference is the most interesting law, simply because it's the one that our demigod narrators are affected by the most, either in the ways their godly parents violate it, or refuse to do so.

There's plenty of instances where this law has had quite a bit of impact on the story and relationships. For example, Hermes used this law as a major reason why he could not help Luke or prevent him from raising Kronos. But let's be honest: besides Zeus himself, Hermes might be one of the only gods that actually obey this rule, despite the fact that he wants to break it. Just off the top of my head, I can name an instance in the series where every single Olympian at least toed the line of violating Direct Interference, except for maybe Demeter. And I'm not sure Dionysus counts, since he has contact with his half-blood children because of his position at CHB.

But there's something interesting even about the ways these gods break the law of Direct Interference. In most instances, these interactions with mortals happen when the god is in disguise, or through dreams. And, based on how little it seems like the gods get punished for breaking Direct Interference, we can only assume that Zeus is not aware of when gods talk to demigods via dreams. I mean, he's probably aware that it happens: Apollo, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hera, Ares (who occasionally follows the rule, but only as an excuse to not help a demigod out), Artemis (although she is subject to exceptions due to her domain), Dionysus, Athena (I think?), and Hades all do it at least once in the RRverse. I mean, you could also argue that dreams are a more indirect means if interference, but I can also see how that's an iffy argument at best.

So, what does this mean? If there is one thing I know about laws and rules in general is that people tend to break laws if the direct consequences of their own actions don't directly apply to them. Gods would probably respect the law of Direct Interference more if there was an immediate negative effect on themselves, aside from just the punishment.

Think of a law or a rule that people break all the time. Littering, for example. People do it all the time, even though it's bad. But why is it bad? A person who doesn't have a lot of forethought will drop a piece of trash and say 'hey, that doesn't affect me. The planet will suffer and this will be a pain in the ass to clean up, but I'm not the one cleaning it up, so why do I care?' If you don't care about the planet or other people cleaning up your trash, the only reason you have to not litter is that you're afraid of the punishment.

I think the attitude towards Direct Interference is similar. The only reason a god would obey is if they're afraid of the punishment, or if they respect Zeus enough to follow his laws (which, clearly, is not the norm in godly society). And even then, what is a punishment to an immortal being? The only way Zeus punishes gods that really matters to them is turning them mortal - and that's a very rare occurrence.

By that logic, we can assume that a violation of Direct Interference does not actually negatively affect gods all that much. To be honest, it doesn't negatively affect mortals either. Maybe monsters have the short end of the stick, but monsters didn't write the law of Direct Interference - Zeus did. So... why? Why does it exist?

My first thought was the Fates and prophecy - if gods can interact in mortal life without recourse, then it might fuck with the way the Fates operate. But gods have been interfering for the entirety of civilization. If they really had a the power to alter the future just by dipping a toe in mortal life, don't you think it would have been obvious? Even in the RRverse, there are plenty of instances, as I've mentioned, that gods have interfered in a quest, and said quest wasn't severely fucked over because of that interference. Take, for instance, Percy's quest to save Artemis - Apollo intervened, but where were the consequences of that? Where were the earth-shattering effects?

So what gives? Also, I'd argue that the gods would actually obey the law more if they knew it had such a negative effect on the proper functioning of the Fates, especially Apollo since that's his domain. So I'm going to say that's not the case.

So we're back to the first question: why does the law against Direct Interference exist if it has no effect on the gods or the Fates? In all references to the law against Direct Interference in the Riordanverse, never once is it explained why this law exists. Why would Zeus create it if violating it doesn't have some major world-ending effect? Gods are gods: what could make this law so important that it's the only one Zeus makes a true effort to enforce?

Well, it makes sense to me that Zeus would create the law if he's the one who has to bear the immediate consequences of it. Which raises the question: what are the immediate consequences? What reason could Zeus possibly have to separate half-blood children from their godly parents? HMmmmmmmMMMM.

Well, there's another interesting thing about the Ancient Laws: some of them don't apply to mortals. Mortals can steal a god's symbol of power, and mortals can initiate battles with gods. Imagine with me a scenario in which your enemy has an army that is not subject to the same laws you are. Gods are (as far as I know) physically incapable of stealing symbols of power and starting battles with mortals, but what does that matter if they have half-blood children that reach the power of minor gods, like Percy, who can do that for you?

It's a terrifying premise, if you're Zeus. And before you start telling me that I'm going down yet another far-fetched rabbit hole (listen - I always make sense in the end), we've seen Zeus go down this line of thought before, all the way back in The Lightning Thief. Remember???

Chiron said that the reason Zeus blamed Percy for stealing the Master Bolt was because the mines the Cyclopes used to forge the bolts is close to Poseidon's domain, and he thinks Poseidon has it out for him. Now, there's a theory running around the TOA fandom that gods can control how much power they hand off to their children (as seen with Apollo's children, who rarely inherit the power of prophecy, which we're willing to bet is something Apollo is controlling from behind the scenes), and if Zeus knew that Poseidon had had a child, it's possible Zeus thought Poseidon was trying to create a super-child just for the sake of overthrowing him. I'm willing to bet that one of his greatest fears is that an über-powerful child of one of his brothers would be used to steal his symbol of power and then overthrow him. He views demigod children like weapons that his enemies can use because they could be inherently dangerous to the standard structure of godly society. His main fear is somebody with the motivation of Luke having the power of Percy. And what do paranoid kings do when presented with the idea of their greatest fears? Make laws against them.

The only way Zeus could be sure that Poseidon would never intentionally have a child like Percy, then bring him under his wing just in time to start a rebellion against him is to ban that kind of interaction at all.

Counterpoint: you could also say that the law against Direct Interference was a way to protect the mortals against the gods who might harm them or do them dirty. Like getting women pregnant while in the form of a swan. Ahem ahem. Do you get my point, though? It's not like Zeus has any real reason to protect the mortals in this way, since he was one of the main perpetrators anyways, but it is a damn good excuse if he also wanted a reason to prevent a potential revolution led by demigods.

Now, if you'll bear with me for a little bit longer, there is one more interesting thing I'd like to point out: In the entirety of Trials of Apollo, Apollo (a god, obviously) only mentions following the Ancient Laws once. Unsurprisingly, at the time he's mentioning the law against Direct Interference, he's also violating it - when he kills Commodus to save lives, Rome, and for his own peace of mind. So, to me this basically means that Apollo doesn't give two single shits about following laws against Direct Interference.

Connect that with everything else we know about Apollo post-trials: he loves his kids, doesn't want to see them hurt, and is trying to distance himself from Zeus and godly society. Even pre-trials, he doesn't have any trouble admitting that Zeus makes his rules and laws difficult to follow - nobody is good enough in Zeus' eyes. I truly believe, if there's any person who, given the proper means and motivation to overthrow at least some aspects of the Direct Interference law, he would.

Just saying. Feel free to add on if anybody else has more thoughts!

[a masterlist of my other metas]

Hey guys crazy idea but like Artemis and Apollo are Dipper and Mabel right? Right? Yeah I got carried away big time but like I think Gravity Falls + Greek Mythology is a banger idea so it's fine.

Who wants to hear a conspiracy theory?

You guys know Rick’s favorite unexplained plot device aka the fact that demigods just constantly stumble upon useful info in their dreams, learning stuff that’s specifically pertinent to whatever they need to do, getting premonitions of their own and others’ future? To the point that this is unofficially considered a standard demigod superpower despite the fact that the notion contradicts the established lore, according to which children can only inherit powers related to their godly parents’ domains? 

Well, we were talking about it on discord the other day and @tsarinatorment​​ jokingly declared she was just going to blame it on Apollo because at least that would make more sense. We had a laugh and that was that.

But then I kept thinking. It DOES make more sense. It just does make more sense that the god of knowledge, prophecy and protector of the youth himself, Apollo, who we all know deep down always cared more than he let on, who would therefore have been both able and willing, would give this gift to the children of the gods after the passing of the Ancient Laws made it impossible for the Olympians to intervene in other, more direct ways, to help and guide the kids in the most unobtrusive, hard-to-prove-and-easy-to-deny way possible.

And the kicker is… there is textual evidence of this. Like, a ton of it.

No really. Listen. Listen.

Keep reading

Please note I am going for comedy here:

You know the Triumverate could have easily gotten Apollo in their clutches if Nero and Caligula just looked at Commodus and convinced him to be the slightest bit nice to Apollo.

Have him show up, beat up whatever monsters are there in a very obviously staged way, present Apollo with a bouquet of flowers, and compliment something about the Lester form he's insecure about. Then ask him out on a date.

Everyone would know this was a trap, even Apollo. Apollo would still walk right into it anyway because "omg Commodus likes my frizzy curls? /Giggles, twirls hair, kicks feet"

OMG I JUST REALISED PROPHECIES ARE SO POETIC AND ROUNDABOUT AND CONFUSING BECAUSE APOLLO MAKES THEM

THE GOD OF POETRY IS IN CHARGE OF PROPHECIES, OF COURSE THEY ARENT STRAIGHT TO THE POINT AHXHHSHWHD

this is so toa!apollo coded. this man will wave the truth in our face so blatantly that we don’t realize it’s there. in the wise words of someone i can’t remember atm, apollo filters himself through so many, well, filters, that there’s a huge disconnect between what he thinks, what he tells us, what he SAYS to other people, and what he does

it’s glorious. i love it so much

I love it when the unreliable narrator begins to trip and reveal the flaws in their story and themself. I cannot explain how much I adore them. The moment you realize that "wait, something is not right" and start to rethink the whole book is the absolute best thing to happen to you while reading. You just know the reread will be even better.