Percy Jackson Thirty Day Meme: Day 5

Day 5: Favourite female character

Slightly more difficult than day 4.

I'm stuck between Hazel and Annabeth. They're both amazingly capable, awesome, kick-ass ladies that are complex characters and just really great. (I love the fact that they can have boyfriends without being like "I LIVE ONLY FOR MY BOYFRIEND" *coughcoughPipercough*).

Huh.

Um.....

Huh.

Annabeth, Hazel.... Hazel, Annabeth. I keep talking myself out of one and choosing the other, and then doing the same thing for the other one. I AM SO CONFLICTED.

I'm going to go with my first instinct on this one, and that is Annabeth, purely because I have six more books of experience with her and know her that much better. Sorry Hazel, I do appreciate you too girlfriend.

When I first read the Percy Jackson series, before all this new-fangled Heroes of Olympus stuff, I always related to Annabeth. Because A) she seemed to be the smart one amidst a cast of characters who, well, let's say that being "smart" wasn't exactly their focus. And B) her fatal flaw is hubris - or, in simple terms, pride. She's one of those people who are defaulted to believe that they could do anything better than the way someone else did it. I was really like that when I first read the series. When I re-read it, however, I found I related to her less and less. Hey, people do change!

But as we finally got inside her head in The Mark of Athena and The House of Hades, I found I went back to relating to her, and beyond that, I found myself admiring her. She struck out on her own to find the Athena Parthenos, and damned if she didn't find it. She got herself out of every bit of trouble she got herself in with a mixture of brains and badassery, which is my favourite combo. Also, would you look at that, she's the only one of the Seven without any special (demi)godly powers, and yet, she's arguably one of the most capable of them. (Although, House of Hades seemed to be determined to make sure it was stressed that every character was entirely capable on their own - perhaps so their teamwork in Blood of Olympus would be that much more powerful). When she and Percy fall into Tartarus, the rest of the team laments that their two strongest members are now gone. As in, Annabeth was one of their strongest members. Who needs pyrokinesis or animal morphism when you've got brains, right?

So, yeah. As it turns out, Annabeth is a much more interesting character when she's not entirely defined by Percy's perception of her (the first five books in which she featured were from his perspective). Go figure, right?

At the same time, she does rely on him. That's part of what makes her interesting. She does have weaknesses. Pride, for one, although whether or not that's ever actually been used against her is a different question entirely. But another of her weaknesses is how much she relies on Percy. Yay for human flaws and wonderfulness.

So, yeah. Annabeth. One badass lady hero of Olympus, alright.