Day 20: A character you like but think everyone else doesn't
Um.... I don't know. As far as I can tell, every character gets their share of appreciation. It would be easier to name a character I dislike that everyone else likes.
Oh, but hold on.
Hahaha.
Would anyone believe me if I said I liked Octavian?
Yeah, I know, the manipulative, treacherous, war-mongering augur of Camp Jupiter who called out Percy as a spy after a day of knowing him, who blackmailed Hazel into voting for him as praetor, who is pretty much the driving force behind the Romans attacking the Greeks. How could anyone possibly like him?
But I gotta admit, I really missed him in the Mark of Athena and the House of Hades.
And I also gotta admit, I was really excited when I heard that he got a POV chapter in Blood of Olympus.
Here's the thing about Octavian. He's really unlikeable. Like, really really unlikeable. Even when he was just a benign annoyance in the Son of Neptune, he was still an ass. But what made him such an ass? Well, it was his dedication to tradition.
He asks Percy for a letter of recommendation to join Camp Jupiter in spite of the fact that A) Percy can't remember anything so how could he possibly have a letter of recommendation, and B) Percy walked into the camp carrying a goddess, is that enough recommendation for ya? But he's obliged to ask anyways. It's traditional.
Yes, he met the Greeks already suspicious of them. They are flying to their camp in a big mother warship, for heaven's sake. To be honest, I'd probably be suspicious as well. And when Leo started firing on the camp (while possessed, but Octavian didn't know that), Octavian, as a Roman, sees that the best defense is a good offense. Attack the Greeks. That's the Roman way, the traditional way.
What you have to understand is that Octavian isn't exactly a demigod. He's a legacy. That means that he's the descendant of a demigod. You don't know by how many generations or whatever, all we know is that he's, by some extent, descended from Apollo. Which means, since his family has had multiple generations knowing themselves as descendants of gods, that Octavian is not new to the Roman ways. It would be a fair assumption to think that he probably grew up in New Rome, since they have a whole city that works as a safe haven for demigods and their kids. All Octavian probably knows is the traditional Roman ways.
Of course, that doesn't excuse the power plays and the treachery and all that stuff. And he's still not a likeable character by any stretch of the imagination. But the more I think about him, the more I find myself willing to understand him. None of the other characters at all seem willing to hear him out about anything, and I think that's a mistake. That's why I'm so eager for an Octavian POV in Blood of Olympus. I want to know what the heck that crazy kid is thinking.
Basically what I'm saying is that the only reason I enjoy Octavian is because I have a lot of hypothetical theories about the way his mind works that are barely, if at all, based on what the text actually said.
I am the master at overthinking things.
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