PJO & HP for Dummies

RANT: Is Percabeth Toxic? Let's Discuss 🤔

EDIT (April 23, 2022): I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO ADD THIS... but like some supporters of the judo-flip scene are saying that it's okay for Annabeth to judo-flip him because she thought he still had his Achilles Heel and that he wouldn't actually get hurt... SORRY BUT THIS MAKES IT LOOK WORSE BECAUSE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU'RE JUDO-FLIPPED? Sometimes you can land on your side, other times you can land on your back. And where's Percy's Achilles Heel? HIS BACK. So yeah, the whole 'she still thought he had his Achilles Heel' argument is shit because then you're implying that she knowingly tried to kill him in his one mortal weak spot 😅

Before I begin, do you guys pronounce it as Per-KA-beth or Per-SA-beth??? I say it as Perkabeth which is probably wrong, so oops 😅

Anyways, so... Percabeth.

Percabeth, Percabeth, Percabeth... Oh Percabeth, what are we gonna do with you? 😔

First of all, I LOVE Percabeth. They're literally my favorite ever ship. I like Perachel too because they would've been cute, I just strongly prefer Percabeth more since we were given so much of them throughout the the books. Their development was great, they didn't get together super quickly, and the couple made sense.

But... they do have some issues. We can't deny that.

Let me bring up this scene:

The praetor Reyna straightened. With apparent reluctance, she turned toward Jason.

"Jason Grace, my former colleague..." She spoke the word colleague like it was a dangerous thing. "I welcome you home. And these, your friends—"

Annabeth didn't mean to, but she surged forward. Percy rushed toward her at the same time. The crowd tensed. Some reached for swords that weren't there.

Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed, and for a moment nothing else mattered. An asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and Annabeth wouldn't have cared.

Percy smelled of ocean air. His lips were salty.

Seaweed Brain, she thought giddily.

Percy pulled away and studied her face. "Gods, I never thought—"

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, "Hold! Stand down!"

Annabeth put her knee on Percy's chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn't care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest—a tumor of worry and bitterness that she'd been carrying around since last autumn.

"If you ever leave me again," she said, her eyes stinging, "I swear to all the gods—"

Yep! It's the controversial judo-flipping scene in Mark of Athena!

Fans are divided when it comes to this scene.

One side thinks it's toxic and abusive. Annabeth was physically hurting Percy here, so obviously they would think it was abusive.

The other side thought it was hilarious and "suPeR bAdAsS" because hahaha Annabeth attacked Percy lol 🤪 They even pull up stupid excuses like:

1. "Annabeth only did that because she missed him so much 🥺"

2. "They're demigods, a judo-flip isn't really gonna hurt him 🙄"

3. "You guys are taking this too seriously. 😒 It's not like little kids read it are gonna try and copy it because they think it's cool. iT's JuSt a BoOk"