Scroll less, discover more
Ok, ok.
So. I've had this theory floating around in my head for years but i've never actually talked about it.
The First Great Prophecy of the original Percy Jackson books is worded like this:
1. A half-blood of the eldest gods
2. Shall reach sixteen against all odds
3. And see the world in endless sleep
4. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
5. A single choice shall end his days
6. Olympus to preserve or raze
Now, in Heroes of Olympus, Piper Mclean makes an interesting comment about the nature of the oldest olympian:
Now, the reason for one of the Big Three's children being prophesized is simply, that "gods often refer to the male ones."
When you put this into context, this seems, odd, doesn't it? Prophecies are intentionally misleading, and according to the wiki, "Regardless of how a prophecy is received, they all have one thing in common: they are cryptic. A prophecy will never say exactly what will happen,"
So why are the Big Three assumed to be the eldest gods, and why does everyone just go along with this explanation, the easiest one to believe?
(Ok, so what am I yapping about? what does this mean?)
Aphrodite is the eldest Olympian. Her daughter, Silena (oh, no.)
could be the (my) hero of the Great prophecy.
Let me explain each line first, then go through the entire theory.
First of all,
2. "shall reach 16 against all odds."
Silena was around 16 at the time of her death. The "odds" she's faced, apparently to make her decision (which I'll talk about later) are most likely just one "odd": Beckendorf's death. Unlike Percy, who's (assumed to be) our hero in the original story, she does not go through multiple quests to try and stop Luke/Kronos. This might make someone feel this argument is less compelling. However, Beckendorf's death and Clarisse's support rock Silena's foundations to the core, because she operated with Luke only under the belief that he would keep Beckendorf safe.
So yes, Silena made it to her current age against all odds.
" 'Against all odds' is an idiom that means something was achieved despite the odds being stacked against it." So absolutely, Silena made it against all odds.
3. And see the world in endless sleep
This section is pretty self-explanatory. In the Last Olympian,
So yes, as easily as this section applies to Percy, it easily applies to Silena. What's even more interesting is that in this specific scene, Silena is given a role.
Keep in mind up until this point Silena has basically been treated barely as a character, an accessory for Rick to use as an Aphrodite child Percy is semi-familiar with. Rick even regularly forgets the makeup of her physical features.
So yes, she does fit the third line of the prophecy.
Now you may think. "There's absolutely no way she can fit the last three lines of the prophecy into Silena's story. No. Absolute. Way."
But, dear reader, you misunderstand me. This is merely an alternate interpretation of the Great Prophecy that I honestly like better than the original one. Because it subverts expectations. Because it changes the way people see things, and prophecies seldom turn out exactly the way they are described. Percy at some point is just assumed to be the hero of the prophecy. I like this theory because it is exactly what a prophecy should be: it will never say exactly what will happen, in the way that you expect it to happen.
Let's move on to Line #4.
4. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
Silena is established as the spy for Kronos in Book 5, The Last Olympian, Kronos begins taunting Percy with a bracelet that has a scythe charm on it: the method of communication he and his spy use. This scythe charm could very well be the "cursed blade" as Silena gives up her soul to be reaped by Kronos' cursed blade. Silena sells her soul in the hope of saving Beckendorf, and she loses her soul/life in the process of losing that blade. The cursed blade reaps, or kills, her.
If not for her association with Kronos and her later guilt that leads her to die for Clarisse, Silena would never have died. She wouldn't have been reaped. It's not as literal of a connection but it's a poetic one that still works quite well, especially in the tone of this side-arc mirroring the poem of Achilles and Patroclus.
5. A single choice shall end his days
("WAIT!!", you're saying. "IT SAYS HIS DAYS, NOT HER DAYS!!1!!!1 THEORY DISPROVED, AND YOU'RE A LIAR!")
Do you hear people say "humankind" very often? In many older texts, and partially in the current day, "him" was just the singular, default version of "they". Femininity had to be specified. This is why Thalia was considered a viable candidate for the prophecy.
Now, Silena's single choice was obvious: going out with Clarisse's helmet on. She sacrificed her life to lead the Ares cabin, which by the way was a major problem as they had the majority of the weapons and heavy fighters but refused to be moved out UNTIL Silena decided to step up and lead them.
#6. and More Explanation will be out in a part #2 I will write soon!!!
An ember of anger burned fiercely in Silena's eyes and for a moment, Clarisse remembered that Aphrodite, too, was a goddess of war. Silena kissed her, almost violently, all sharp teeth and demanding lips. She ran her hand through Clarisse's short hair and pulled , dragging her against her. Possessively.
“You’re beautiful,” Silena repeated with conviction, slightly out of breath. “The most beautiful person I know.”
Hesitantly, Clarisse placed her hands on Silena's hips, stroking the fabric of her shorts with her thumb. Silena smiled. Clarisse fell in love with her a little more.
“I love you,” Clarisse said, promising , resting her forehead against Silena's and inhaling deeply, the fresh scent of the hundreds of flowers surrounding them filling her lungs.
“ Se agapó, polemistí tis kardiás mou,” Silena echoed, kissing Clarisse on the nose.
YEAHHH!!! PERCY JACKSON SEASON 2!!! 💙💙💙💙💙 SEA OF MONSTERS!!!
if momona isnt playing silena beauregard i think i might die actually
Part 5😗
Calypso! I imagined her skin darker, like “caramel”🙏🙏🙏 I really like how it turned out
Icarus🥹🥹🥹
I think the fact that I drew him, but not Daedalus, already says everything about how much I like Icarus
Silena🥹
amazing girl, my art didn’t quite do justice to her beauty🙏
Clarissa hair color was not the same at different parts in the book, I really don't know what hairstyle to draw for Clarissa
but she is a queen👸👸 I love her😘
continued in the next part😅😗
Silena Beauregard and Clarisse La Rue fan art
Here it is again for anyone who wants it! I redid the test, and I got Sadie!
I saw that Bailey Bass was rumored to join pjo season 2 as the gorgeous Silena Beauregard, and I just couldn't help myself and had to finish this sketch I drew when Dior Goodjohn was announced to be playing Clarisse!
The absolute power and beauty the two of them could bring to the screen is unimaginable!💙💙💙
Can't wait for this scene to break my heart in 4K...
@ jasongrace
@ finnickodair
@@ Michael Yew
@ Lee Fletcher
(I wish both had their own story in the series)
@ tris prior
@ rue (hunger games)
@ cinna
@ zoe nightshade
@ bob (hoh)
@ Charles Beckendorf
@Silena Beauregard
@ luke castellan( i think think he deserved better,he just wanted a father)
@ bianca di angelo
@ will from five feet apart
@ augustus waters
@ finch from all the bright places
@ Achilles and Patroclus my loves
@ basically half of the people from Hunger Games trilogy
Should I continue???
yall are not ready for the person ill become when we get the clarisse and silena/patrochilles parallel on screen
Name one hero who was happy
(I've been working on this since the first episode came out i hope yall like it!!)
THIS! I FRIKIN HATED THIS!
Rick is an amazing writer but why the fuck didn't he utilize the Aphrodite kids better? Why did we never got to see how the other Aphrodite kids react to Silena's betrayal?
Why did we never get to see how the other kids view the Aphrodite cabin after the war?
We know that the Aphrodite kids weren't respected much at first but did the other cabins start to fear them because they realized what they could do? Or did they start to hate them and began to associate them as the cabin who housed/ are related to a traitor and a spy?
Drew was the only one who showed any kind of reaction to Silena's betrayal and her totally valid anger was portrayed so negatively that it pissed me off
I know that Rick Riordan only used Drew (and to some extent, the rest of the Aphrodite kids) as an accessory to make Piper look better. But what he should have done was use Drew and the other Aphrodite to actually make Piper better.
Piper was clearly a lonely kid who wanted a family, and the Aphrodite cabin could have been that family. Aphrodite is the goddess of love for crying out loud.
Rick could have made Piper be like "These guys are my family". He could have had Piper walk into the Aphrodite cabin and notice that they were a total mess (despite what the other campers say) divided into two groups, the ones who believed that Silena was a hero who gave up her life to save them. And the ones who believed that Silena was a traitor who tricked and lied to them.
Neither side is wrong of course but the Aphrodite kids refuse to believe that.
Since Piper is new, she could have been the fresh perspective they needed who isn't biased because obviously she hasn't met Silena and never will.
She could have asked questions, listen to stories, and offered a shoulder to cry on. Piper could have made them realize that neither side is wrong and that they shouldn't start hating each other because of another person's actions, while she herself realizes that ones own actions could affect others much more then she originally thought. She could have thought back to all the people she caused trouble for as well as her dad. She could have realized her own faults and immaturity, and become someone that represents storge. She could have helped the Aphrodite cabin truly heal.
rick not doing anything with the aphrodite cabin in relation to Silena and her betrayal of them in HOO with Piper as a POV character??? coward or idiot? i wouldn't be surprised if it never accrued to him to explore those emotions because he would have always planned to have them be a budget mean girls
SO TRUE!
Those people are the type of to say that Luke got into Elysium
I made the mistake of going on the r/camphalfblood subreddit and there were people angrily slandering my daughter Drew for the “Silena was a traitor” comment and saying that they hated her and some people were joking about Clarisse/Percy beating her up or even killing her. It makes me so mad because while I can understand being mad at Drew for that statement, a lot of the hatred felt really out of line and like they were just itching for an excuse to hate her and hurl the most vile of insults at her as much as possible. And it’s messed up because it’s clearly the fault of Rick for victim-blaming Silena and putting those words in Drew’s mouth, and I can guarantee you that if Drew was a guy then people would say “oh how dare Rick make him say that? He’s awful but he’s not that awful! Drew deserved so much better rip my boy Rick could have fleshed him out beyond being just a bully but he didn’t” but because she’s a girl all of the culpability falls on her shoulders and she gets treated like the scum of the earth for a line that Rick only gave her to make her look like the worst of the worst because he REFUSES to write her as a person with any depth beyond the Asian Airhead primadonna feminine mean girl trope. It just sucks man Drew deserves so much better she deserves intersectional feminist writers who aren’t racially misogynistic scumbags and will let her get the character development arc that she deserved. This turned out longer than I thought it would but oh well I’m just salty about the hate for my girl Drew again. 😤
Pjo be getting more mad at women for reacting badly to abuse than at men for abusing women💀💀💀💀💀
This sent me into an actual spiral 😭
I love Drew Tanaka so much but going through her tags and seeing stuff like this hurt in the most gut wrenching way possible
-Growing up never being taken seriously by anyone because of her looks
-Finally having people truly listen to her at camp
-Trying to figure out her godly parent
-Ares, maybe? The campers wonder, seeing her yell with the anger of war
-Not getting claimed, slowly accepting it
-Charmspeaking someone during Capture the Flag
-Silena realizing and telling everyone what it was
-Drew becoming the unclaimed daughter of Aphrodite everyone knows about
-Slowly being ignored and getting less and less training
-Befriending Alabaster Torrington, someone who, like her, knows their godly parent while being unclaimed
-Alabaster joking the Army and holding his hand out to Drew, to bring her with
-Her reaching out to take it, only to stop when she hears Silena calling her name, looking for her
-Saying goodbye to her best friend to stay with her sister
-Starting to date Lee Fletcher, hating the idea of the Rite of Passage
-Before the Battle, Lee making her promise that, above all, to protect Will, his little brother
-Lee dying
-Drew grieving, taking Will and running, deeper and deeper into the Labyrinth
-Alabaster and Ethan finding them, bringing them to the Princess Andromeda
-Drew not knowing Silena is the spy
-Drew learning about the Cabin Ten curse, Nemesis laughing as she recounts the story
-Drew working her way to the top and becoming one of Luke’s generals
-Drew breaking the heart of a random mortal boy, who looks all too much like Lee
-Silena dying, known as the traitor
-Zeus letting Drew go free, because of the dumb Aphrodite stereotype she had tried so hard to fight, had joined the Titans for
-Getting claimed right as she sees Silena’s body
-Drew becoming head counselor the day of her 14th birthday
-Having Aphrodite’s blessing for months, as an apology for not being claimed earlier, still having it at the start of TLH
-Piper coming along, too much like Silena, refusing the Rite of Passage
-Drew looking at Jason, knowing what will happen to him
-The war against Gaea.
-Drew Tanaka, seen as a shallow, self-absorbed Aphrodite girl by most of camp
-Drew Tanaka, survivor of two wars, outliving most of her friends and family
-Drew Tanaka, who became exactly what she hated in the first place
Don't mind me just posting my fan cast of Silena Beauregard for season 2 of Percy Jackson even though it's to late and they probably already have a Silena.
Half-Blood's and Mortals I present to you,
I found her while binge watching "The Rookie" and though she was gorgeous
I've read so many fanfics where Drew Tanaka's character is explored, where she is given depth and backstory, where she interacts with other characters, where her feelings and experiences are described.... now I want to cry and hug her.
SAME! It's such a shame that we don't get to see much of her. That's definitely a mistake on Uncle Rick's part, I mean- our girl has very little appearances yet there are so many people that find her character to be genuinely interesting to the point where there are plenty of deep character discussions about her and fics that gives her her own backstory on why she is the way she is.
She's such an interesting character and has so much potential to bring a lot on the table that its so disappointing that her main purpose on the series was to bully Piper and be a bitch so that Piper can show how "different" she is.
It would have been great if Uncle Rick went into more depth and explored her character, or at least given us something more! Like how the war and Silena's betrayal affected her, not to mention suddenly having to be responsible for a cabin full of kids. But instead we were shown a one dimensional bitch!
It's such a waste it's frustrating!
THIS! BECAUSE IT'S SO TRUE!!!
clearly there's some sort of internalised misogyny and trauma from bullies in you, because if you honestly think a teen girl who is mean to people* is worse than someone who literally tried to murder a twelve year old (percy), and lead to the deaths of several other teenagers (manhattan) you have another thing coming
*i should add that from what we see, Drew Tanaka is mean to people from what we see of her. We see her three days after the unofficial camp leader has been kidnapped from the one place everyone thought was safe and less than a year after she fought in at least one battle against her former friends and family, likely watched her sister die, and is probably dealing with PTSD from that.
Let's not forget she's Sadie Kane's age, which means at most we're seeing her when she's 13-14. 14, and in charge of at least 4 siblings. Also, the fact she's counselor means she's been at camp the longest. that means, that at the age of (likely) thirteen (possibly twelve) she was made counselor after being at camp the longest. that means she likely also fought in the battle of the labyrinth, which meant she participated in the minor skirmishes preceding manhattan that percy mentions, which means that this 14 year old is a war veteran by the time we see her for the first time.
Drew is frequently put down in Piper's mind, not only for being mean, but for being girly, for liking pink and perfume and caring about her appearance. that isn't feminism, that's internalized misogyny. That's piper in a 'not like other girls' phase. piper is an unreliable narrator but we aren't talking about that.
also, drew isn't wrong that piper knew nothing about silena. like, piper was thinking about betraying them the entire time she was at camp for her dad.
and silena was a traitor. i don't deny she was probably groomed but honestly what a slap in the face it must have been to be thirteen, returning to home, a room you share with six-ten other kids, and to know that some of your best friends are dead, in no small part to your sister who sold them out.
but nobody is talking about that, because Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, the heroes who are barely there, say Silena's a hero, and that means it's true, right?
It doesn't matter that her friends are dead, doesn't matter that mothers will never see their daughters again. That drew will never forget how her sister's blood felt on her skin. because if they say it, it must be true, right?
the fact luke castellan (mostly forgiven for being hot) (and angry, but drew tanaka is angry and none of you forgive her) is a goddamn tragedy and honestly she deserves a retcon or at the very least for people to understand that HOO is not black and white, and for you to look at characters that way is a detriment to analysis.
Here's the fan fic I've been talking about, only one chapter so far but I'll try to update frequently
I am a Drew Tanaka Stan account, but this does not mean that I hate Piper, that also doesn't mean that I like her either, say what you want but hear me out.
I liked Piper, I thought that she was pretty cool at first but by the end of TLH when Piper "defended" Silena is when my opinion on her started to go down hill. Piper had no right to defend Silena because she did not know her, at that time the only thing that Piper knew about Silena was her name and the fact that she was the Aphrodite cabin head Councilor before she died, Piper has never met Silena and she's bearly even heard of her deeds. Now, to those who say--
"Well, Annabeth told Piper about Silena"
No, no she did not, at least not really. If you can remember, when Annabeth was touring Piper around the camp, she did mention Silena and told her how she was the previous Cabin 10 head Councilor, and that she was kinder and more caring compared to the other Aphrodite kids (Rick I hate you for this) but then stopped herself from saying anymore because it was obviously a sensitive topic to her.
Plus, Piper becoming the head Councilor only after spending two days at CHB ticks me off because she bearly did shit.
"Oh she went on a quest"
So? The other Aphrodite kids went to War! Among her siblings Drew had been at camp the longest so I'm guessing that she was there for both The Battle Of The Labyrinth and The Battle Of Manhattan. Even if Drew was just one of the medics and not one of the fighters (which you will never convince me into believing, you cannot tell me that this girl- Drew Tanaka- is an absolute menace) she still helped and survived, Piper should not have been the one with the leverage!
I get that Uncle Rick wanted his main characters to be the Head Councilors so that they could be the ones to attend the meetings and all that, but he could have gone about Piper becoming the head in a much better way!
And to those who say--
"What about Leo, he became head Councilor the same time as Piper, you're just placing double standards"
No I am not! Because Leo did a lot for his cabin even just that one day when they arrived at CHB (1) he discovered bunker 9-- something that none of the other current Hephaestus kids even knew about and (2) He fixed Festus and even found/ re-attached his wings-- something that the other Hephaestus kids thought was impossible. I mean look at what happened to Jake Mason when he tried to get that dragon at bay! Bro ended up in a full body cast.
And to those who are saying--
"Well Piper got rid of all the stereotypes"
No, no she did not, because around this time she was still in her "I'm not like other girls" phase. Now I'm not gonna judge her for this phase because we all went through it (I definitely did) but the way she was so quick to judge and stereotype the other Aphrodite kids as spoiled and vain without even properly conversing with them is not helping her case.
Plus, at the Hephaestus cabin, no one really wanted to be the Head Councilor, and I think that it was the same for the Aphrodite cabin because think about it, Drew is canonically Sadie Kane's age so around 14-15 (maybe even 13 I don't know it just said that she was around Sadie's age) so she was very young when the two wars happened, and we know that the head Councilors are the ones at front, the ones who HAVE to handle things, the ones who lead and die before everyone else (which is greatly shown/represented by the Apollo cabin, RIP Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew) You cannot tell me that my girl wanted in on that.
You cannot tell me that Drew Tanaka wanted the responsibility that came with being head councilor.
"Oh, she wanted power over her siblings, I mean she was a Tyrant! "
The death! You cannot tell me that a 13- 14 year old was thinking about power after she heard that her older sister's face got melted off and that she had to step up and be in charge of a cabin full of kids. Like Drew jumped at the first moment she had to get all the responsibilities off of her shoulders. ESPECIALLY since she KNEW that shit was starting to stir again with the new prophecy (let's not forget the fact that she was one of the first people to put the pieces together and bring it up) MY GIRL RAN THE OTHER WAY AND I DON'T BLAME HER FOR IT.
I think that this is the EXACT reason why Drew didn't fight Piper to keep her position as Head Councilor. She didn't want it, cuz let's be real, Drew would have BODIED Piper. I mean I'm pretty sure that Chiron trained those Demigods like seasoned war soldiers and Piper had zero training.
AND I BETTER NOT see anyone say that--
"Oh no way! Drew could't have been stronger then Piper, Drew probably skipped training because she didn't wanna ruin her nails or get sweaty, that's just how she is blah blah blah"
No! Chiron is responsible, he would NOT let ANY camper miss or skip training, cuz if they did then you know that he's gonna make them clean the stables or wash the dishes, now THAT is something that Drew would not want to do.
Now I'm not here do say that Drew is a completely innocent cutie patootie because she wasn't, she was Sadie's bully and yes she was mean to her siblings, I can't defend that and I won't by saying--
"Oh she's just a young dumb traumatized teenager going through some shit, we all make mistakes"
(even though I think it's true in certain levels although not completely) Cus if I do then I don't think you guys will like/accept that so let's just cut her some slack.
Anyways, I think the reason why I like her so much is because we're kinda similar (I'm not extremely pretty and popular don't get me wrong, I'm actually the kid that sits quietly in the corner, but I too am a 15 year old Asian female who's not a healthy grievier and tend to lash out when I get emotional, I probably would have reacted similarly if I was in her situation. I also don't think that the war had given her (and most of the other Demigods honestly) some maturity (people say that the wars made the Half-Bloods more mature but I honesty don't think that thats true for all of them, Drew included) I think that it just gave them PTSD, trauma and some false beliefs about the world.
In conclusion, I like Piper, but I like Drew 100x more, and I think that HOO would have been more interesting if Drew had been part of the seven instead of Piper, I think Drew would have added more flavor and more emotion, the Media scene definitely would have been more interesting if it was Drew that was there and you all know it, AND how her opinion about Silena would affect her relationship/ create tension in the Argo with Annabeth and Percy.
Silena: I wasn't THAT drunk last night!
Clarisse: You started flirting with Beckendorf
Silena: So? He's my boyfriend!
Clarisse: You asked him if he was single then started crying when he said he wasn't
The TA mourned Luke like he had actually died after Kronos took over his body on BotL. Secretly burning a shroud for him and all.
No, I will not elaborate on this.
Updated: 9/5/23
I should be studying? yesss. instead of doing that I made the moodboard of pjo's demigods characters? yesss enjoy my school failure
percy jackson
annabeth chase
thalia grace
nico di angelo
clarisse la rue
silena beauregard
rachel dare
charles beckendorf
katie gardner
will solace
was it casual when we looked at the stars while i held you in my arms during your final breaths??
was it casual when you kissed me right before you almost died??
was it casual when you wore my armor and went into battle recreating one if the most tragic love stories to ever exist??
yes i am once again talking about pjo.