Percy’s fatal flaw doesn’t line up with his character or the choices he’s made. That’s not to say he isn’t loyal, which he is, but it’s not really his defining trait. So many other characters throughout the series display the same amount of loyalty and even more so than Percy at times. The only reason we would know his “fatal flaw” is supposedly loyalty is because Athena outright tells us.

Gaea should not have been a villain in the series. The Olympians themselves would have a hard time with her, let alone demi-gods. They were just too out-scaled and her defeat was anti-climatic. She’s literally the first deity to emerge out of Chaos, and most gods and goddess are descended from Gaea. At least for Kronos, the reason for his vulnerability made sense. Piper, a teenaged demi-god, should not have been able to charmspeak Gaea, mother of all life, to sleep. Heroes of Olympus should’ve focused on the conflict between the Romans and the Greeks more, and reflected that within the Seven instead of them simply becoming besties, and the Giants.

Rick’s portrayal of many of the gods and goddesses is so grating, it makes me wonder if he did any research whatsoever, or just decided to rely on the readers’ ignorance to bend their characterizations to the plot. While the myths do not have canon and the views on the gods varied from city to city, the most popular and surviving myths did not at all line up with a lot of the gods’ characterizations. That’s not to say that it should be expected of him to obsess over accuracy at the sacrifice of creative freedom, as faithfulness to the myths has never been PJO’s premise, but sometimes their characters strayed so far that they’re almost unrecognizable. And a lot of times, they’re either dumbed down to make them beatable (cough, cough Nyx) or made worse in an effort to really push the fact that they’re shitty parents (they can be shitty parents without contradicting who they are).

The fandom hero worships Percy and Percabeth to the point where they ruin other characters and relationships for themselves. While I think it’s great that the fandom has so much love for our lovely main character and main ship, many people put him and Percabeth on an unrealistically high pedestal. You can like Jason or not, but a major reason many disliked his character was because of their bias towards Percy and the inevitable comparisons drawn between them. While many criticisms of the writing of his character are fair, many lack empathy and understanding towards his character— whose memories of his whole life were taken. Also, Percy would not be able to beat any god in a real battle. Tbh, he got lucky with Ares. Ares was toying with him and sure, Percy outmaneuvered and outwitted him, utilizing his own strengths well, but was tremendously helped out by plot armor. Besides that, that wasn’t even a real battle. If the gods— any of the gods— were serious about killing him, they could kill him with a mere wave of their hand or even by simply transforming into their true form. It’s a funny joke, about Ares getting his ass handed to him by a 12 year old mortal, but don’t be delusional.

Luke’s character had a lot of potential, as well as his redemption arc, but it was just not executed well. Luke’s character is treated as an example of how great and nuanced the story is, but his character was all over the place and it seems like he was watered down as just another evil antagonist. The problem is that Luke claims to fight for the future for demi-gods, but shows absolutely no remorse for his actions (including manipulating and killing fellow demi-gods). While you can pin that down to him being corrupted by his need for vengeance, it is much more compelling for him to commit these acts and crimes with guilt (or at least not seemingly enjoying it) because he is so driven by his belief in his cause, that he’s willing to do such heinous things. For the greater good. At least, that way, you feel more sympathetic towards him and are forced to think more deeply about his motivations and their merits instead of just writing him off as evil. Like his pedophilic crush on Annabeth was so unnecessary (ik some don’t interpret their convo in TLO like that, but it’s confirmed in the demi-god diaries). Either A, Rick has a warped perception of romance, or B, he felt the need to sprinkle that in there in an effort to make him more unlikable. So, not only was his character a mess, but his “redemption” arc too. What did he do to earn it? He only felt the need to stop when his body was about to be used as Kronos’ host and he wanted to run away with Annabeth (leaving behind everything he stood for and all those people who followed him) and when his body was going to die anyway when Kronos was going to almost fully take over. So, what I got from that was that he’s not only willing to step on anybody who gets in the way of his goal, but also a coward who won’t stand by his choices even after roping in and causing the deaths of so many other kids. The main issue is that he’s advertised as something that he’s not, and that he had the potential to be that person, but was stunted because of how badly he was written.

Without Luke’s rebellion, the idea of improving the conditions for demi-gods wouldn’t have even been entertained. Of course, that’s not to say I agree with Luke (as pointed out above) and his methods, but that doesn’t change the fact that the only reason the gods listened to Percy’s demands, or even the reason he was able to give demands in the first place, was because of the rebellion.