Tumblr backup: Annabeth and Luke
Dec. 16th, 2014 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minutia_rSo I reread The Last Olympian recently, and there’s the bit where … okay, spoiler cut. Where Luke is dying and asks Annabeth if she ever loved him and she says no. Which annoyed me this time around as it annoyed me the first time I read it, because it seemed to be reinforcing the idea that someone can only have One True Love in their life, and if things don’t work out then it was never True Love in the first place and a whole suite of related ideas that are always pernicious but especially have no place in a series where many of the characters are the children of the same twelve or so gods and a wide variety of mortals/nature spirits/what-have-you.
(See also in the same book: where Rachel says she was never into Percy. What? Of course she was into Percy! Choosing a life path that is incompatible with being with Percy should not retroactively erase her feelings for Percy.)
Buuuuuut … I’ve recently been having some thoughts about Annabeth and Luke’s relationship arc which has made me have second thoughts about my dislike of that bit.
Because I do think Annabeth was clearly into Luke and as the series went on it was increasingly clear that Luke had a thing for Annabeth. And when he comes and sees her before his dip in the Styx and is like only your love can SAAAVE me she’s like lol no, fuck off.
And that’s a pretty positive message right there? Because again, it’s pretty clear that Annabeth loves Luke, at the very least in a familial way, that she does want him to reform and she doesn’t want him to be hurt. It’s not an easy decision for her, and even after she makes it she has doubts–but ultimately her choice comes down not just the the fact that she’s not sure she can trust Luke but also that she’s not willing to throw her life and her entire self away on the chance that she can ~redeem Luke–even though she genuinely cares for him.
And in the end–and this is the great part–Luke is redeemed by his love for Annabeth, without requiring any reciprocation on Annabeth’s part. She does make the decision to trust him, and to advise Percy to trust him, but when he’s dying and he asks if she ever loved him it’s a straight up “nope,” even though you might think, what would a little white lie hurt at this point.
‘Cos he may have saved the world for love of her but that doesn’t mean she owes him anything.
So yeah, I don’t know, I’m conflicted.
(See also in the same book: where Rachel says she was never into Percy. What? Of course she was into Percy! Choosing a life path that is incompatible with being with Percy should not retroactively erase her feelings for Percy.)
Buuuuuut … I’ve recently been having some thoughts about Annabeth and Luke’s relationship arc which has made me have second thoughts about my dislike of that bit.
Because I do think Annabeth was clearly into Luke and as the series went on it was increasingly clear that Luke had a thing for Annabeth. And when he comes and sees her before his dip in the Styx and is like only your love can SAAAVE me she’s like lol no, fuck off.
And that’s a pretty positive message right there? Because again, it’s pretty clear that Annabeth loves Luke, at the very least in a familial way, that she does want him to reform and she doesn’t want him to be hurt. It’s not an easy decision for her, and even after she makes it she has doubts–but ultimately her choice comes down not just the the fact that she’s not sure she can trust Luke but also that she’s not willing to throw her life and her entire self away on the chance that she can ~redeem Luke–even though she genuinely cares for him.
And in the end–and this is the great part–Luke is redeemed by his love for Annabeth, without requiring any reciprocation on Annabeth’s part. She does make the decision to trust him, and to advise Percy to trust him, but when he’s dying and he asks if she ever loved him it’s a straight up “nope,” even though you might think, what would a little white lie hurt at this point.
‘Cos he may have saved the world for love of her but that doesn’t mean she owes him anything.
So yeah, I don’t know, I’m conflicted.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-16 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-17 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-17 12:09 pm (UTC)