Hazel Levesque If Olympus Had Their Own Version Of The Met Gala!

Hazel Levesque if Olympus had their own version of the Met Gala! 

Can we talk about how badly Rick nerfed Jason when he broke IVLIVS at the end of the book it was introduced in? And by nerfed I don't mean the destruction of it held him back in terms of power in any way, I mean in terms of the narrative and particularly his ability to stand against/alongside Percy.

Percy already had five books of context, backstory and time for the reader to get attached so Jason had to do a lot of heavy lifting to not get completely overshadowed but at every opportunity Rick had to let Jason have something to puff him up, it fell flat. Percy had a cool transforming weapon so Rick gave Jason one but then destroyed it in the first book of the series. It reminds me of Rick giving Jason a flying horse in the form of Tempest so he would have his own Blackjack but then Tempest hardly showed up and didn't have a fraction of the established bond that Percy had with Blackjack (also Tempest definitely should have been a giant eagle especially since it was established that Venti can appear as giant eagles).

The worst part about it is that IVLIVS could have been so cool! First of all, ranged weapons are incredibly underused in Rick's books. Clarisse had her electric spear that was relevant for one book but everyone else just has swords or knives, occasionally bows and arrows. It's especially annoying because in most historical military units, Roman and Greek ones included, swords and knives were mostly kept on person as a last resort. In an ideal fight, they never would have been removed from the sheath. The spears should have been enough and most of the time, they were enough. Jason being a Roman demigod could have made him using a spear much more impactful because it would have emphasised the strict and regimented approach the Romans have towards fighting. It would have contrasted with the way the Greeks fight. Since Rick already had the whole arc of Jason deciding he's as Greek as he is Roman, it would have made the whole thing about IVLIVS being both a spear and a sword may more narratively important. The spear represents his Roman side and the sword represents his Greek side.

Second of all, the functionality of it could have been very well-utilised. It's a coin toss. It's inherently random. It would have been cool to see Jason in a fight where he wanted to use one weapon but the coin gave him the other and we would have seen him improvise on the fly, showcasing his years of military experience and the skills that made him a praetor to adapt an ill-suited weapon for the situation and use it effectively because he knows these weapons very well and knows how to use them even in unfavourable contexts. Or you could have it the other way. He wants weapon A, gets weapon B which is much worse for the fight he's in and does poorly, extra points if it draws attention to the Greek/Roman debate he's having. Maybe he wants to use a spear when he's fighting the ghosts at the start of BOO but gets a sword and because of this, gets stabbed by the ghost guy who emphasises how Roman he is. Jason internalises his failure to be Greek (failure to use his Greek sword and fighting style to protect himself against the Romans) and how it caused him to be in danger of 'dying like a Roman' but does character development stuff and heals his wound with the power of believing in himself and realising he can be both Greek and Roman (*cough cough* because I'm a bi!Jason truther his dual identity could have been a great metaphor and parallel to his sexuality *cough cough*).

Lastly, it would have given him something interesting to help him stand out in a cast full of interesting characters with their own 'flair' to make them memorable. Percy obviously has Riptide, Annabeth had Luke's old knife (which she should have gotten to keep), Piper had Katoptris and later on the Boread's sword (which she should have gotten to use more), Frank was the only significant character with a bow and arrow, Leo had his magic toolbelt and Hazel had her spatha (but should have gotten to use it while on Arion a lot more, it's a cavalry sword). And Jason had a sword. Just a regular ass sword. Even Nico's sword had some intrigue because it was made of Stygian iron and it has its kopis shape (idk if that's canon or fanon because it's shaped like that in virtually all fanart of him but I can't remember it being described like that in the books. I could be misremembering this but I have no idea where that idea came from). Jason's already at a huge disadvantage and loads of readers (particularly when the hoo books were being released) just saw Jason as boring and unnecessary.

you know what it feels a little insidious cause when you think about it Hera, quite literally, broke Jason. She plucked her chosen heroes from their respective camps and scrambled their little brains around and then she crafted Jason an entire fake romance that only ended up crashing and burning and leaving him with heartache. he lost his status as Praetor to a dude that was there for like two weeks and even though he did what he had been told to do and saved the world like a good Roman hero, he never got to reclaim the life he must have been living before a god took it from him. and then he isolates himself. and then he dies. what the hell.

random little jason grace hcs:

thumb rings. he wears thumb rings

huge physics nerd. like, he's not particularly good at it. but he loves it!

obviously transmasc aro

proficient in like every weapon, like every weapon. bow & arrow, battle-axe? yeah sure. but also, mace and chain, bagh nakh, gauntlets, deer horn knives, flails... fuck, he can even use a shotgun.

can run like really really fast. he's a runner. that being said he can also run really far. (like, roman soldiers walk up to 20 miles every day. with full armour. his endurance is fucking off-the-charts.)

most obscure music taste ever

very iffy about using his powers beyond the occasional electricity stuff, just because how much people in CJ would be terrified/rumour-y/plain weird about it.

loves drawing

actually a nerd in everything, not just physics.

has definitely bashed in someone's head with a shield at least once

huge fan of rollercoasters, hates horror movies

before fights he like to clean his glasses, for no reason at all.

people have told him countless times to not wear glasses during a fight because that won't end well if you're punched in the face but he keeps them on regardless. his reflexes are too good to get punched anyway 🤷

obsessed with barbie

no like. he and apollo do matching "i am Kenough" hoodies all the time

also besties with literally half of the gods across multiple pantheons

scribbles with pen on his hand all the time

chronic migraines guy

he goes feral in a fight then one second later he's like 🥺 'hey guys glad we got out of that one unscathed. y'all saved my ass'

he's never received any proper sort of love or affection (specifically during his younger years), so he deals with that by showering all of his friends with unlimited love <3

all the demigods and all the minor gods and some of the major ones too love him. hence he has a bloody huge, well-deserved protection squad

HE'S THE BIGGEST SWEETHEART EVER

he tore out krios's neck with his teeth and then smashed him to literal pulp with his own armour

Percy Jackson ‘never bet against Annabeth’

and Jason Grace ‘ never bet against Reyna’

and I love it because these guys know what’s good for them 

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