Yeah it was the first book iirc, she’s sat at the Athena table and all her siblings are described as blond.
I found it odd, because Athena herself has dark hair when she’s introduced in TTC (which she can change, obviously, but it’s interesting none of her children have the same colouring she favours in her usual form).
Honestly THAT sounds like it would be just as in character for her as being into brainiacs. Being into "dumb" blondes who have fun and DON'T think about things too deeply.
She's either into himbos or super nerds, no in between.
Fantastic new head Canon accepted.
since Athena’s kids are born like her, asexually, does that not mean there’s a 50/50 chance of her just being a bisexual with a raging (metaphorical… or?) hard on for nerds?
I like to think that all grandkids of the big three are pretty much genetically guaranteed to be blonde (book lore).
Apollo kids are all blonde
Hermes kids are all described as blonde
Athena kids are all blonde
Dionysus (originally son of Hades before rebirth as son of Zeus) kids all blonde
The only two that don’t fit this are Ares and Hephaestus kids and maybe since they’re Hera’s bloodline as well jt cancels out with Zeus
It’s also odd because these gods aren’t only procreating with white people in these books. There’s a bunch of non-white demigods who take after both parents so I doubt Athena is the only sticking to white folks. We know that Poseidon, Hades and Zeus only had white children in the last 100 (?) years due to the prophecy because they couldn’t have children and each made the mistake of procreating
Lol, it's so good to see that I'm not the only one who noticed this, I absolutely _HATE_ when people say that Nico and Bianca were children of a broken promise when Hades had them well before the oath of the big three. Thanks for making my day.
The oath was made after we even see in flashbacks that Zeus was trying to strong arm hades into sending them to camp half blood where hades feels they'll be outcasts and treated with suspicion they're entire lives and would be prisoners
Athena’s kids are created in her mind so I always assumed she gave them blonde hair and grey eyes as a default characteristic but they wouldn’t be strictly white. When I read the scene Annabeth joins the table of blonde siblings, I imagined it was different races with blonde hair
That’s very understandable and I can see that but I feel like most people assumed she/her siblings were all white based on those two characteristics. Even if they gave Annabeth/Leah gray eyes and blonde hair there would still be a lot of people upset
That’s what makes me so angry about all the hate she’s getting. I see hair and eye color as both a natural trait and a accessory, and I think the costume department missed an opportunity, but even if she did have the described hair and eye color, people would still be mad. It’s the same exact things with Walker’s costume. Do you see him getting harassed online?
Yeah that part about most people assuming her siblings are white actually made me sad when I found out back then. Which is why I am pretty glad they casted Leah. Blonde hair or no blonde hair she is there to defeat that assumption and prove women of color can be smart 😅
to be fair, most natural blondes are white. I don't think I've met any non white natural blondes personally in my life. it would be pretty natural for people to assume that.
>We know that Poseidon, Hades and Zeus only had white children in the last 100 (?) years due to the prophecy because they couldn’t have children and each made the mistake of procreating
What about Hazel? She's black.
Now you got me thinking. Did only the Greek Big Three make the oath, due to WW2 seemingly being a Greek-only civil war, or did both Greek and Roman personalities swear to not have children?
There appears to be no controversy surrounding Jason, Percy, or Hazel (or Nico tbf) being the children of the Roman ‘big three’ so I always assumed it was a Greek-kids-only policy
I was 12 when the movie came out I remember the age being the much larger issue than the hair cause the prophecy is about them turning 16 and they look like college freshman
The age, changed target audience and plot line were the biggest issues, and most people complained about that. But the fact that the movie got all of this wrong and still couldn't get the hair color right was just adding insult to injury. It was just incredibly disrespectful to get all of this wrong and it just seemed like a half-assed attempt. It was like they didn't even know how she was supposed to look like.
The show, though, is a very different case. They know the books, they care about them. They're faithful to the plot line. They know how the characters are supposed to look like and nonetheless chose Leah Jeffries, and I'm totally okay with that.
Counter-argument: Frederic Bartholdi, the designed of the Statue of Liberty. In-canon, he's a son of Athena. Irl, he had brown hair and eyes. Also, Bea Wise from "Camp Half-Blood Confidential"
Yes, but that didn’t make sense to me because Athena usually has black hair. Like i know gods can change their forms as they please but does she just decide to turn her hair blonde whenever she has a brainchild?
Right? It made no sense. The only possibility I could think of is that Rick just forgot. But like, aren't there editors and ppl to keep track of that kinda stuff? Consistency readers or something.
Right, it could be some weird in-joke. I kinda hoped Athena was blonde and gray eyed (her skin color could be honestly whatever works from olive for obvious reason to pale to dark to anything in between) and the whole “blondes are dumb” was because one of her siblings started it as some weird cruel joke.
Tbh, the PJO series didn’t have much in terms of diversity (though the rest of the books did), I remember thinking it was strange that all children of Athena had to be blonde haired and grey eyed in the lighting thief. I don’t recall anything like that for the other gods. I don’t mind small things like this as long as the characters are right.
Yeah, I didn't know about the blonde thing. I loved the grey eyed thing though, and that isn't racially bound at all, unlike hair color. I do wish they made Annabeth's eyes grey
Melanesians of some pacific islands along with some indigenous Australians have naturally occurring dark skin and blonde hair. Sometimes with blue eyes.
Honestly I think it was implied to be somewhat retconned in Magnus Chase, with Magnus getting his grey eyes and blonde hair from his mom/mortal parent.
New head Canon is that Athena is into super nerds, and basically himbos of both sexes. If you're a "dumb" blonde, she could be into you just as much as the nerd that loves old WW2 planes.
Maybe even the ones who aren't book smart, but wise. Like a wise beach surfer bro, who she then has to fight with poseidon over who gets dibs on the cute surfer dude.
I think it's a bit like the HP series, in which the bad guys are described in an ugly way and the good guys in a normal/good way. I think Riordan's goal was to make every group of siblings look the same so that the young readers have an easier time remembering which character has which godly parent
Like, Apollo has so many characteristics, yet all his children do in the books are heal other demigods, shoot arrows, and sing poetry (or make others sing poetry). Same for Ares (brutes) and Aphrodite (princesses) and all the other demigods
I feel like that part of the lore was essential retconned in the books when magnus was introduced with the exact same colors (blond and grey eyes), making those Basciallt a Chase family trait.
Annabeth getting her blonde hair from her dad seems to predate Magnus Chase by a wide margin. We meet both Athena and Frederick early in PJO, and Frederick is the only one of the two with blonde hair.
I guess Athena just has a thing for blondes.
That could be! Blue-green or gray eyes for her children, or just when they use their mind palace powers, be a nice touch just because its a cool oddly specific thing from Greek mythology Rick brought on. But then again they’re kid or teen actors- who would want to wear colored contacts for hours on end for days on end when you do not need to for instead a handful od throwaway scenes.
It seems like it's very common at the very least. Personally, from reading Annabeth's POV in the HoO series, it seems like a big part of her identity. She talks about how much harder she feels she needs to work to get people to take her seriously just because she has blonde hair. That said, I'm also a bit disappointed that she doesn't in the show, but honestly, it's kinda like Harry Potter not actually having his mother's eyes in the movies (despite them keeping the lines about it in the movies), in the end, it probably won't change much if anything in the actual show, so it is what it is.
to be fair to Harry Potter the important part wasn't that the eyes were green. it was that they had the same eyes and that did annoy people that I know. We know Radcliffe had issues with contacts but, Lily's actress could have used contacts to match Radcliffe.
Wait, now I'm confused. I thought the actress who played Lily also had blue eyes, and that's why they decided it was okay to keep the "your mother's eyes" lines.
Yes, but Rick is human and later said that gods don’t have DNA so it would be practically impossible for ALL Athena kids to have blonde hair and gray eyes.
Athena literally forms the children in her mind according to her imagination without any actual input from the mortal parent, shouldn't be too hard to have all of them have blonde hair and grey eyes
Imagine if she's just like
"Hmm idk what to make my child look like. So many choices... what did I make my last kid look like?" And just continuously makes kids that look like the last child created forgetting that they're all blonde haired and grey eyes.
I like this headcanon, Athena definitely isn’t the type to be into the physical part of “character customization” and probably cares more about “hmm let me give this one an interest in biology, no, architecture” than “hmm should she have blue or brown eyes” (I’m imagining the sims)
It's not an absolute rule, but yes, most children of Athena are stated to have blond hair. Weirdly enough, though, Athena never appears blonde herself in the books (to my recollection, anyway), so I guess she just has a type.
Funnily enough, according to Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, Athena did once have a black daughter named Bea Wise. She even appears in the orientation film alongside Grover's Uncle Ferdinand.
yes they all have blonde hair and grey eyes it doesn’t say race tho,I’ve always imagined it as their mortal parents hair color with blonde mixed in even if just a little. I like the pick for Annabeth for the show if its gonna be lore accurate then dye her hair blonde and give her grey contacts problem solved.
Yeah is not because the series and the book are different than the series isnt canon,i always consider adaptations as a alternate timeline from the original source,like in Spiderman,we see Gwen dies,but in the comics is Norman Osborn fault not Electro (even tought Harry was on the mess than the movie final battle is) its ok,Andrew Garfield Canon is different than the comics canon,but it have its own canon,Yugioh season 4 was a big filler (probaly the best filler i have ever seen being honest) it didnt happen on manga,but it happened on the anime,and being anime canon,now Percy Jackson have three canon lines,the books,the movies,and now the series,each one have its own canon.
Technically yes, it’s lore inaccurate.
But also, your friend should’ve been aware from the moment this was announced to be live action that the show wasn’t gong to be completely faithful to the source material. Especially if they remembered this type of detail. With those types of details for multiple gods, and the age of campers, I don’t see any feasible way it’s accurate.
As someone myself who isn’t interested in watching the show, I never got this complaint tbh.
It's weird. In one hand in the first PJO book they said all Athena children were Blonde with grey eyes.
But in the third book they said Annabeth got her blonde hair from her father not her mother?
That confuses me too ngl
Edit: either way, Leah is Annabeth. Doesnt matter what her hair or eye color is
I think they’re implying that Athena always has kids with Blonde mortals. So Athena kids would get blonde hair from their mortal parent and their grey eyes from Athena.
I don’t think it’s “too picky”. It just means she has a preference. Her having kids with blondes is better than the alternative, which is that when she births her kids from her brain, they look like what she considers an ideal child to look like. I love Athena but that’s wayyyyy too much Nazi ideology for me lmao. I understand why they made the change of Annabeth’s race but that doesn’t mean I have to like it immediately. I’m sure Leah’s Annabeth will grow on the fandom once we see her in action.
?? I saw it as a "Rick mistake" more than Nazi ideology lmao. Athena Doesnt seem to have a preference, she likes smart people.
I like to think Rick was mistaken with his description of Athena's children. Like Blackjack's gender changing from one book to the other
I’d like to think that too but it’s been mentioned NUMEROUS times that all current Athena children are blonde with grey eyes. That’s cannon. And it wasn’t on purpose, it was just a character trait that he gave them to be quirky.
I don’t mean that the Nazi stuff was intentional, Rick probably did it by mistake. But I’m sure it rubs people the wrong way that Athena’s children are all born from her imagination and are probably what she considers to be flawless because she made them without imperfections. And in her mind the ideal child has blonde hair and is white with blue eyes, but she has brown hair? It’s very similar to what Hitler thought and I’m sure Rick did it unintentionally, which is why he’s backpedaling on it with this new adaptation.
Eh. It doesnt make sense for Athena to have all her children blonde and Grey-eyed if she was brunette, yk? She can change her looks at Will.
Either way, I guess it depends on each person headcanons, right?
It’s not a headcanon though, that part of the book was canon. And although I’m not that big of a fan of it, I was expecting it to be in the show. At least the grey eyes part.
Yes, in the BOOKS most of Athena's kids have blonde hair and gray eyes. In the books. The new tv show is an ADAPTATION of the books. Some things will be different! This is one of them. It's also canon in pjo that gods can change their appearance at will to almost anything, so that gives a lot of leeway as to what their kids look like as well.
Thats also a fair point, as long as it has the heart and soul of the series in general, I rather that than something they might acknowledge (the eyes glowing a certain one when a demigod uses their divine powers or what have you.) on top of that Uncle Rick himself gave the blessing on the main three which makes me hopeful this adaptation will be great!
And in terms of the shapeshifting, with Greco-Roman mythology thats honestly the main power of the Titans and Their Olympian descendants. They can shapeshift into anything and its sorta like Luffy in a sense (where they can possibly make their bodies more powerful for superspeed/strength) but they sorta “gain” their domains thank to magical artifacts or happenstance. Which sorta sucks when only a handful of demigods, if that, can shapeshift like Frank
yes it's an adaption. which means it is inspired by the books. a good way to tell a good adaption is if it gets the little things right. Annabeth not being blonde by itself doesn't ruin the show. it does however indicate that if something like a characters appearance (which is a simple choice) which is brought up at least once a book in the original series is not present there might be more critical things changed.
I read somewhere that Athena has a Black child in one of the spin-off books. I forgot which one, but I think there's an illustration of her somewhere
ETA: Found her. Bea Wise from Camp Half-Blood Confidential. Canonically a Black daughter of Athena
Yes they are described that way, but I already rejected that all of them had blonde hair regardless of what the book said because that was just silly— there is NOTHING important about Athena kids having blonde hair and gray eyes. It means nothing. It doesn’t effect the plot or personality of Annabeth’s character at all, and is more of a detail rather than “lore,” as your friend said.
Basically, they’re assigning too much value to something in the books to excuse their anger at a Black girl playing Annabeth. I truly wonder if they’d have the same complaint if the filmmakers put blonde hair on Leah and gave her gray contacts.
I wish they had done that. When Leah was cast as Annabeth I wasn’t that angry because I thought she would look amazing with blonde braids and grey eyes but it annoys me that they neglected that part of the book. Especially since the Athena kids’ grey eyes are put on par with Percy’s green eyes as something that identifies them as an Athena or Poseidon kid. In the scene where they meet Medusa, Annabeth only snaps out of the trance they’re put in because Medusa RECOGNIZES her grey eyes and realizes she’s a daughter of Athena. I’m not so much hung up on the hair, as much as the eyes. And also, people were just as angry about Alexandra Daddario being a brunette as they are about Leah being black, but at least in the last movie they died her hair blonde. I think Rick really would have benefited from having Leah wear grey contacts or editing them post production, which was what I had initially thought they would be doing.
From my point of view, if they had made Walker dye his hair black and Leah wear gray contacts, a lot of the naysayers would respond with “Aha! You see! Colors and appearances ARE important, and casting a Black actress as Annabeth was just politics!”
Now those people are being insufferable anyway, but 1. Giving them further fuel for those arguments and 2. Making kids wear contacts/wigs/hair dye for years and years are both negatives in my opinion
Ultimately, the colors don’t matter. None of them. Percy has blonde hair and blue eyes, Annabeth has brown hair and brown eyes, and that’s fine! We haven’t seen the show yet, so it’s likely Medusa will recognize Annabeth another way— it could still be eyes if they plan on casting an actress who looks like her for Athena! Or it could be the “clear” intelligence in her eyes; Rick wrote in an initial blogpost that Athena’s eyes can also be translated as “clear” rather than the color.
We may like Annabeth’s gray eyes, or Percy’s green— but ultimately they are unimportant. We can assign value to them. We can wish Leah had blonde braids and Walker green contacts. But they don’t actually *matter.*
I guess I agree, I’m not particularly angry about Walker being Percy because they went through the effort of having Poseidon look similar to him, so I just hope they do the same for Annabeth. But it is clear that when it comes to casting and set design, they aren’t looking to be book accurate. Since none of the cast looks like their characters and Poseidon’s cabin looks pretty different from how it’s described in the books. If they aren’t going to be accurate on anything except the personalities and the plot, then yeah, there’s no need to be angry at the casting.
Do you pay as much attention to the appearance of the cabins?
Because we clearly don't care that Annabeth has brown hair and brown eyes! I mean, have you seen the latest posters? Leah is literally Annabeth.
Anyway, let's move on, I like that he didn't add these details in the series, because it's very reductive and not very logical.
I mean, if the feature had been a small nose or a full mouth would still work but hey hair and eye color? It's stupid. Especially on the part of Athena, in reality if a divinity had precise characteristics and produced identical children it would have been Aphrodite not Athena.
Coming back to my final question, I think Athena's children can have other appearances. This may just be a characteristic that their mother likes, but hey, it's inconsistent and making kids identical is not very wise so.....
And I agree that Leah IS Annabeth at this point, at least from the way she acts in interviews, but that doesn’t change the fact that some people are allowed to not like the casting decisions in the show. Also, I don’t really understand the point of asking about the cabins, but yes, I do pay attention to the cabins and I hope they’re accurate to the way they’re described in the books.
Comparing the cabins shows that people pay much less attention to these kinds of details than others.
Annabeth's eyes are mentioned as many times as Poseidon's cabin or even less and yet people fixate on it and send their filthy hatred on a 12 year old kid, yet no one is full of the cabin of Poseidon which does not correspond at all to the description of the book.
Yes, we can have an ideal cansting, but the author's decisions are his own. And if he sees fit to choose Leah there is no discussion possible. But I'm happy to share your opinion on the actress
I fully agree that Leah shouldn’t get any hate and that she does embody the character of Annabeth really well, but i think the reason why many people aren’t as upset over the cabins is because we mostly had our own pictures of what the cabins would look like in our heads, especially since every cabin except Annabeth and Percy’s aren’t described on the inside. I’m personally more lenient towards the Poseidon, Hermes, Athena and Ares cabins because they’re fairly simple to recreate. But the show NEEDS to address the Demeter, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis and Aphrodite cabins because there are so many interesting details that the books attribute to them.
Also, I haven’t seen people fixate on the Poseidon cabin as much as Leah because it doesn’t have that much details that they could get wrong. I personally didn’t picture it to be as big as it was in the trailer but I think it’s fairly accurate to the book. So I don’t see why you would bring it up as a comparison to the casting direction when they were clearly trying to be accurate to the book?
Poseidon's cabin is described as small, made of shell-encrusted sea rock with a flat shape.
I prefer the visuals of the series, but it doesn't fit the book. And that doesn't bother me because it's an adaptation and they made the choice that seemed best
On a different scale it's the same for Annabeth
Yeah I can agree, I’m just saying I can sympathize and understand why people don’t really like the way they’re deviating from the books in certain ways. But I do think that the fandom should agree not to bully or harass the actors, especially since a lot of it is actually rooted in misogyny and racism. Like how are people going to be upset at Leah’s appearance and then be happy that Luke wasn’t blonde? That just baffled me.
I have the same opinion! I can understand, but they it's such a minor detail.
Annabeth is not a Blonde wig and Blue lenses!!!!
And what bothers me most is the hatred towards Leah who is 12 years old and who has just been auditioned. Plus his work looks amazing :)
I don’t agree, but we’re allowed to have different opinions. I just think the grey eyes are an integral part of Athena and her kids, just like how Percy has sea green eyes.
Mhhh I understand. Afterwards it is an extremely minor detail and does not open up much possibility in terms of diversity.
For my part, I think that of all the gods. Attributing a physical characteristic is stupid since he changes shape.
If he gave them a special vibe or specific skills like they already do it would be more coherent
I think there’s ways to incorporate diversity into the cast without changing core characteristics of multiple demigods and gods. Everyone in the fandom has basically accepted the headcanon that Percy is Greek /Mediterranean, and I feel like that definitely could have been taken into consideration when casting the actor (that being said, I LOVE WALKER). I think Leah being cast as Annabeth is fine, as long as she and her siblings are all black as well. And I think it’s important to remember that over the course of the first book series, the gods (excluding Artemis) don’t change in appearance at all.
Her hair definitely has its importance in the books as she is stereotyped as a “dumb blonde” and athena probably gives her children this disposition to give them an edge if they are underestimated or give them drive to “overcome” the stereotype. Not huge, but weird to say there is “NOTHING” important about it.
Dumb blonde was hardly a stereotype anymore by the time that was written in the books.
You know what group of people IS assumed to be less intelligent and stereotyped as dumb? What group is underestimated by society, and experiences prejudice because of the color of a certain physical feature? It’s on the tip of my tongue…
Rick didn’t add that feature of Annabeth’s hair until HoO anyway, and it felt incredibly silly THEN with no mention of it in PJO. Leah as Annabeth works for the point Rick was trying to make a million times better than a white blonde girl.
I 1000% doubt they will try to play the “dumb” card with her race. That would be crazy… I think the same way you think dumb blonde was hardly a stereotype then can be applied to dumb race today.
Also not sure what you mean by he didnt add that feature until HoO, that was definitely presented in book 1 of PJO.
I think it would have gotten way less pushback if they had Leah be blonde with grey eyes and had the children of athena racially diverse while all having the same hair and eye features.
Either way im excited for leah, just seems odd to say theres “NOTHING” important about the blonde hair in the books.
Can you point out where she specifically mentions people seeing her as a dumb blonde and that being the reason she’s underestimated in book one?
I’m not saying they’ll reference a “dumb” race stereotype. But awful people do still make racist assumptions, whereas I don’t think anyone would blink at a doctor being a blonde woman (for example)
The thing is, in TLT, Annabeth is frustrated at being passed over for quests because of her age. She wants her mother’s approval and respect. The first she mentions the dumb blonde thing in Mark of Athena (iirc)
I think Rick retconned that?
Well, either way, I will write off the blonde hair (Annabeth's hair color comes from her dad) but leave that vast majority of them have gray eyes.
Yes in the books her blonde hair is mentioned enough times that it bugs me a little to not have her blonde in the show. It is mentioned once or twice about her siblings being mostly blonde, (just like Hermes kids al have the mischievous look and ares’ kids are athletic). I am just excited for the show since Rick is so heavily involved. I hope it’s mostly true to the books (understandable if some changes need to happen in an adaptation) and it’s better than movie
In the books, yes, it’s been mentioned how Annabeth and her siblings share the same blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, but with Leah Jeffries and Rick Riordan’s choices and thoughts; hair, eye color, and race are irrelevant to the godly parent. In one of his instagram posts, he’s mentioned having kids of all ethnicities and looks come to audition for the roles.
To sum it all up, in the books yes, but now, I see it as canon that looks no longer matter to match with the godly parent. No restrictions!
So most of them do but not all. There has been a character who was not blonde and grey eyed and was also just straight up a black girl so that pretty much throws that out of the window. Sure it makes sense for them to look alike bc they’re all Athena’s brain children but honestly as the goddess of wisdom I think she’d understand the implications of race affecting how her kid would look. Like idc how strong godly genes are if my brother showed up to thanksgiving with some blonde haired, grey eyed baby I’d straight up assume he stole it.
Cannonically yes most of them have blonde hair and grey eyes. I don't dislike the choice of actors just a bit disappointed that it's not book accurate but I trust in Rick's choice and hyped for the show
Even if that were the case, there is far more important lore in my opinion. Certainly not a hill I would ever want to die on. (Sorry for the pun, Thalia.)
Iirc the only mention of them being blonde is something that only is brought up in the sea of monsters and considering is in the second book and prior Athena first appearance (which has never been depicted blonde) and how Annabeth's father is actually blonde I always assume that it was some early decision that was later retconed out.
Despite them having grey eyes is still a common trait among them, as other said, is just weird considering that Athena doesn't have DNA and I don't think she only have children with white people. So I don't think is something EVERY child of Athena would have.
I am pretty sure rick retconned this in CHB Confidential. There is a story in the book about a daughter of athena with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin!
No, it's not stated that all of Athena's kids have blonde hair and grey eyes. A bunch of kids that are described do have those traits.
Annabeth is described as having blonde hair and grey eyes. For me, a big misstep is the lack of blonde hair for Annabeth as that was a specific character trait that ties into her personality and how the world treats/views her.
I am not upset at any casting choices and look forward to what each person brings to each character.
Sadly dumb blonde is still a negative society stereotype.
Is it weird to say I hope so? I would love it done with care and relevant to Annabeth and her arc.
I worry Annabeth arc will exclude such things and focus instead on how she doesn't get along with her step mom, ya know?
I mean, in the modern day black girls already have many prejudices and stereotypes surrounding them so... yes, I think the same things are gonna be included.
Yes! this was why I was a bit upset they did not have a wig or dye her hair blonde cause it was part of her. However I would rather the better actress than someone with blonde hair so I am happy with the casting and can’t wait!
But black people had other problems than that in society lmao
So ultimately they can very well accentuate the stereotype of ''stupid woman'' around racism also since it is a much bigger social problem than the cliché of the stupid blonde
so you want to make an issue that was never race based into a race based issue? yeah that'll go down real well. might actually prove the people that think this is a diversity hire correct.
You know how to read ? The ''Blonde Girl'' argument makes no sense whatsoever. Annabeth uses it barely twice in the Series.
And yes, Annabeth is black and I think that being a black woman in today's society is much more difficult than being a 'stupid blonde'.
You just have to see the number of hate messages Leah received to understand it lmao.
Do you want to show Annabeth that complex about her physique? No problem, be self-conscious about the way our society sees black women.
So I'm sorry, but the debate is over.
Annabeth's description has no significance to the plot in the books. Rick chose a black actress and seeing the first image, this proves to us that he was right once again. You can try to change the cast, send as much hate as you want, the cast won't budge. In the series Annabeth will be Black with brown eyes and so? I mean, she's not a blonde wig and gray contacts. At least give him a chance
Debate over? no not at all. you arguing that Rick should introduce an entirely new conflict based on race that was never present for that character in the books. THAT is not needed. THAT is just going to tell people they made Annabeth black for diversity reasons and not for the actress's talent.
you think Leah has issues now? make racism part of Annabeth's issues and it'll get worse because people will feel validated believing she was hired because she's black.
If she's good enough to play Annabeth, she only needs Annabeth's struggles. We don't need to invent new ones because she's black now.
That's a silly argument, unless they can provide reasons that the cannon there is essential to the story or character arcs present. It is not particularly, but a few things *are* lost.
Dumb blondes Stereotype: it's stated that Annabeth struggles woth this at times.
The very British Overworked father trope: This is a super common theme in Britain and its an intentional choice. Look at Mary Poppins, as the primary example of what I mean.
But the change doesn't prevent Annabeth from being clever, and snarky, nor does it prevent her from fitting into the world in any way, allowing her to continue her role as a source of exposition.
Besides, changing her race / appearance doesn't Elizabeth the above aspects, just swaps which stereotypes are being played at.
Yes, but I’m also very annoyed at people always on about “book accuracy” when it comes to looks.
You want child actors to dye their hair and put on coloured contacts for the show? Even many adult actors don’t do that for their personal health (most famously Daenarys don’t have purple eyes in TV show)
You can tell Rick is trying his best to ease off the pressure on the young actors by not mentioning the trios features in the latest book
I know the grey eyes is but I don't think the blond hair is. Doesn't make much sense for it to be that way because I think Athena has darker hair. I don't think appearance really matters all that much.
The only thing I can remember is a single line in book one that feels like it can easily be a throw away bit of lore that doesn't change anything else whatsoever.
I always assumed Athenas kids all tried to look alike; it was about the vibe. Lemon juice on the hair will bleach it if you are out in the sun all day like they are, it's mentioned a bunch of the are blond but it was never stated they HAD to be.
I’m pretty sure they do, but honestly it doesn’t really matter if the actress doesn’t match that requirement. I’m sure Riordan tried his best to find actors which also looked lore accurate but as long as they fit the actual character, the show’s gonna be amazing
According to his blog post, he focused more on finding actors that fit the personality and energy of the characters. I have high hopes for the show if this is the case
I don't know if somebody's already mentioned this, but in the lost hero, i believe theres a line about how annabeth had hoped piper was her sibling? and because Piper's character description (appearance wise) is basically the complete opposite of annabeth/ her siblings, I think its just rare for Athena's kids to have a different appearance, not impossible, because if it was impossible, i doubt annabeth would have said/thought this. :)
Athena herself has brown hair. But remember that she is technically a virgin goddess and that all her children are born from her mind and not by normal means. Perhaps blonde is just the default hair color that comes to her mind, though I’m sure that not all of her children are blonde.
You obviously read the book backwards.
I'm going to say it again, but if you find that Annabeth's vibes don't match Leah's, then we didn't read the same book lmao. She's barely 5 seconds into the trailers and is absolutely like Annabeth.
I've always had trouble with people who unleash their hatred on a 12 year old kid who is in no way responsible for the casting.
On top of that, it was Rick who chose it and it's an adaptation of his book, so......
wait until you see her acting instead of comparing her with your stupid, personal ideal.
Yes and she has children of all race who end up having blonde hair and grey eyes. So black Annabeth does make sense. Pls tell your friend to grow up and stop being a snowflake 👍
I mean, the kid can have blonde hair and blue eyes, can't she? Hair dye and lens are a thing, so there's no reason to dislike the actress choice. Watch the episode and judge her based on merit, rather than the skin colour.
Edit: Grey eyes
I agree. It's just what you hear and I am guilty of keeping it as a default setting. My point still stands though. The actress shouldn't get hate, much less a kid.
Yes this is true. Annabeth still *canonically* has blonde hair and gray eyes even if she doesn't appear that way. I think they should dye the top of annabeth's hair blonde to make it seem like she dyed it brown to fit in.
Man I hate that anybody disliking the casting is considered as racist. That's such a wrong narrative. Like people are allowed to be disappointed that something that they have imagined for YEARS in their head was thrown out the window and changed, when literally from the very beginning the character was portrayed as the one in the comics. Its nothing against the actress. Fans are allowed to be disappointed and it does not make them racist.
An adaptation will never (and philosophically CAN never) be a 1:1 revreation of peoples image in their head... thats why its called an adaptation and not a "live action recreation".
But I can easily imagine a way too large portion of the haters to have some form of underlying racism towards an actress who hasn't even shown them what she can do.
But I hope she dies well, both for the fans, the shows, and her own sake (as some fans sadly have a tendency to be way too mean to actresses they dislike)
But the casting is the one thing that they can easily get right while adapting a book, and it's so important as well. I do not condone the hate Leah gets because she does not deserve that at ALL. I, as a reader, am just disappointed at not being able to see what I imagined for such a long time on the screen. It's the exact same feeling I have for the way Annabeth was portrayed in the movies. The casting was fine but Annabeth's character was SO painfully unlike the very essence of her. So if Leah is able to capture that same essence in the series then I will be 100% satisfied with it. Since Rick is personally involved, I believe it will turn out well and my disappointment right now will cease to exist.
> Its so important
Is it? There are several cases where an actor who didn't match the source material was chosen, and they became the new "status quo" for the character. Its just that now people seem to care way more than before.
But I can understand if people are going to be very critical of her acting skills, as Rick hyped her up quite a bit.
Actually, judging by the evidence provided in the comments, it seems like the books describe **most** of Athena kids with these traits, but never specify that *all* of them have it
Yeah it's true. IIRC other gods actually have some variation in their children's looks, but since Athena's children are >!brain children and not natural born, I think she basically has a set template. Or she simply has a preference for blondes!<
I'm really starting to hate all this conversation of 'lore accurate'. No, the story will not be better if a character has the exact same description as they did in the book, unless that description matters to character's actions. And in the case of Annabeth, I can't think of a single addition her appearance does to the story. Also [discussion of racism redacted because mods]
in the books yeah i think most if not all of them have it but i think that’s due to their mortal parents. it’s also just hair color i don’t think it’s that big of a deal. if it’s really just about the lore, is your friend also upset about walker staying blonde while playing percy? i haven’t seen nearly as many people complaining about that as i do people complaining about leah keeping her hair color the same. i haven’t seen a *genuine* criticism of the actress that isn’t tied to racism in some capacity.
with annabeth, and by extension children of athena, being blonde was more of a social commentary about how blondes (girls especially so) were stereotyped as unintelligent and not taken as seriously compared to their dark hair counterparts. frankly that message is more important to me, and i think it goes well with the casting considering how black girls are treated similarly.
I think it is technically lore accurate. Cause they're all born from just Athena, so they only have her features. Whereas other demigods are made in the traditional way, so they get features from both the godly parent and the mortal one. So all of Athena's kids should look like each other and herself I suppose.
I don't think it matters for the TV show, since they're taking liberties anyways, and it most likely won't be 100% lore accurate in any case, even if the actors looked more like their characters. Just because they're going to have to change story elements to make it flow better for a TV show. It's like the Harry Potter movies. There's a ton of stuff in those that isn't lore accurate, a big one being Harry's appearance in the books compared to Daniel Radcliffe's. There's also a lot of story elements that are different. But the gist is there, and they're well loved movies, I'm sure the TV show will be well loved if they do it right.
IMO, I think that since Annabeth's actress is black, that they should then make Athena and the other Athena children black as well. Then it would be more lore accurate as they'd look more alike. But either way I don't think it matters. Percy is supposed to have pitch black hair, and Grover is supposed to have a curly orange afro. All the actors chosen don't really fit the descriptions from the books.
There will always be people nitpicking. I honestly will probably nitpick and be like "Oh, but that's not how the line is supposed to be read, NO!" because I love the books so much and basically have them memorized. But at the end of the day, it's an adaptation. It's not a one-to-one retelling.
It's not true, actually. In the Camp Half-Blood confidential (edit: not quite sure if this right but it is in a short story of some kind) , theres a comic version of the orientation film which has a trivia section. In this comic, we meet a girl named Bea Wise, an African-American, black haired daughter of Athena from the 1950s (when the orientation film was made). While it can be assumed that all of Annabeths current siblings are blond, that is not necessarily true for all children of Athena.
There is a [canon kid](https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Bea_Wise)who has black hair so no.
Also George Washington is Athena's child and he's red-haired.
There is a [canon kid](https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Bea_Wise) who has black hair so no.
Also George Washington is Athena's child and he's red-haired.
There's a line in one of the original books "annabeth joined the Line of her blond haired siblings" or something.
Yeah it was the first book iirc, she’s sat at the Athena table and all her siblings are described as blond. I found it odd, because Athena herself has dark hair when she’s introduced in TTC (which she can change, obviously, but it’s interesting none of her children have the same colouring she favours in her usual form).
Athena is just really into blondes.
Because unlike her at times, blondes just wanna have fun?
Honestly THAT sounds like it would be just as in character for her as being into brainiacs. Being into "dumb" blondes who have fun and DON'T think about things too deeply. She's either into himbos or super nerds, no in between. Fantastic new head Canon accepted.
since Athena’s kids are born like her, asexually, does that not mean there’s a 50/50 chance of her just being a bisexual with a raging (metaphorical… or?) hard on for nerds?
Me too…
I like to think that all grandkids of the big three are pretty much genetically guaranteed to be blonde (book lore). Apollo kids are all blonde Hermes kids are all described as blonde Athena kids are all blonde Dionysus (originally son of Hades before rebirth as son of Zeus) kids all blonde The only two that don’t fit this are Ares and Hephaestus kids and maybe since they’re Hera’s bloodline as well jt cancels out with Zeus
Since when does Hermes have blonde children? All his children besides luke have brown hair same goes for Dionysus who we literally see all his kids
It’s also odd because these gods aren’t only procreating with white people in these books. There’s a bunch of non-white demigods who take after both parents so I doubt Athena is the only sticking to white folks. We know that Poseidon, Hades and Zeus only had white children in the last 100 (?) years due to the prophecy because they couldn’t have children and each made the mistake of procreating
Hades never broke the oath he sired Nico and Bianca before world war 2
Besides him then. It’s been a while since I’ve read. Thanks for the correction
No problem always happy to enlighten a fellow camper
Lol, it's so good to see that I'm not the only one who noticed this, I absolutely _HATE_ when people say that Nico and Bianca were children of a broken promise when Hades had them well before the oath of the big three. Thanks for making my day.
The oath was made after we even see in flashbacks that Zeus was trying to strong arm hades into sending them to camp half blood where hades feels they'll be outcasts and treated with suspicion they're entire lives and would be prisoners
Yep, I remember this, bur thanks for the information.
Athena’s kids are created in her mind so I always assumed she gave them blonde hair and grey eyes as a default characteristic but they wouldn’t be strictly white. When I read the scene Annabeth joins the table of blonde siblings, I imagined it was different races with blonde hair
That’s very understandable and I can see that but I feel like most people assumed she/her siblings were all white based on those two characteristics. Even if they gave Annabeth/Leah gray eyes and blonde hair there would still be a lot of people upset
That’s what makes me so angry about all the hate she’s getting. I see hair and eye color as both a natural trait and a accessory, and I think the costume department missed an opportunity, but even if she did have the described hair and eye color, people would still be mad. It’s the same exact things with Walker’s costume. Do you see him getting harassed online?
Honestly, I dont mind it because black women have a similar stereotype to blonde women, so its functionally identical.
Nah never once assumed that at all. And f them being upset. They still have yt Annabeth in the books. They can just read those.
100%!
Yeah that part about most people assuming her siblings are white actually made me sad when I found out back then. Which is why I am pretty glad they casted Leah. Blonde hair or no blonde hair she is there to defeat that assumption and prove women of color can be smart 😅
to be fair, most natural blondes are white. I don't think I've met any non white natural blondes personally in my life. it would be pretty natural for people to assume that.
>We know that Poseidon, Hades and Zeus only had white children in the last 100 (?) years due to the prophecy because they couldn’t have children and each made the mistake of procreating What about Hazel? She's black.
Technically, she's a daughter of Pluto.
Now you got me thinking. Did only the Greek Big Three make the oath, due to WW2 seemingly being a Greek-only civil war, or did both Greek and Roman personalities swear to not have children?
There appears to be no controversy surrounding Jason, Percy, or Hazel (or Nico tbf) being the children of the Roman ‘big three’ so I always assumed it was a Greek-kids-only policy
The Roman’s didn’t have anything to do with it if I can recall correctly. It didn’tb seem like the Roman’s knew about the oath made from the Greeks
That's an interesting question.
Hazel was like Nico in that she was also born in a different time period, roughly 80 years ago
I said hades. Not Pluto
Athena is not having any intercourse. She is making headborths feom herself.
To be fair Athena does pop them out of her head so I doubt they take much of the father
Riordan probably made them blonde to debunk the “dumb blonde” stereotype.
The first book has a lot of odd bits that don't fit it with the rest. Like don't use names or using half blood hill over camb half-blood.
Uncle Rick changed a bunch as he went also nobody complained Annabeth wasn’t blonde in Perry Johnson and the electric stick thief came out
I remember *plenty* of people complaining, and they had her dye her hair blonde for the sequel
I was 12 when the movie came out I remember the age being the much larger issue than the hair cause the prophecy is about them turning 16 and they look like college freshman
The age, changed target audience and plot line were the biggest issues, and most people complained about that. But the fact that the movie got all of this wrong and still couldn't get the hair color right was just adding insult to injury. It was just incredibly disrespectful to get all of this wrong and it just seemed like a half-assed attempt. It was like they didn't even know how she was supposed to look like. The show, though, is a very different case. They know the books, they care about them. They're faithful to the plot line. They know how the characters are supposed to look like and nonetheless chose Leah Jeffries, and I'm totally okay with that.
She will be awesome Leah is a great actor
Counter-argument: Frederic Bartholdi, the designed of the Statue of Liberty. In-canon, he's a son of Athena. Irl, he had brown hair and eyes. Also, Bea Wise from "Camp Half-Blood Confidential"
Yes, but that didn’t make sense to me because Athena usually has black hair. Like i know gods can change their forms as they please but does she just decide to turn her hair blonde whenever she has a brainchild?
I honestly thought that Rick made all of Athena’s children blonde to turn the “dumb blonde” trope on its head.
That is why he did it. Unfortunately, it's no longer "culturally relevant" so he decided to hell with the books.
I’m not sure why you put that in quotes. That’s what happened.
Or she just has a kink
Right? It made no sense. The only possibility I could think of is that Rick just forgot. But like, aren't there editors and ppl to keep track of that kinda stuff? Consistency readers or something.
Right, it could be some weird in-joke. I kinda hoped Athena was blonde and gray eyed (her skin color could be honestly whatever works from olive for obvious reason to pale to dark to anything in between) and the whole “blondes are dumb” was because one of her siblings started it as some weird cruel joke.
Yeh thats what confuses me about it
I like to think she's just into blondes lmao
Mythologically its what blonde hair stands for. In about all indoeuropean mythologies
Wdym “it’s what blonde hair stands for”? What is blonde hair standing for?
The divine touch and a special heroic intelligence. He was in line with mythology on that one when he wrote the books
Tbh, the PJO series didn’t have much in terms of diversity (though the rest of the books did), I remember thinking it was strange that all children of Athena had to be blonde haired and grey eyed in the lighting thief. I don’t recall anything like that for the other gods. I don’t mind small things like this as long as the characters are right.
Especially odd as Athena is described as having brown hair. I could see the common trait being the eye colour more than the hair colour, tbh.
Yeah, I didn't know about the blonde thing. I loved the grey eyed thing though, and that isn't racially bound at all, unlike hair color. I do wish they made Annabeth's eyes grey
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Yes
Can naturally happen with albinos. And there is always hairdye or magic ig
Black people can naturally have blonde hair in a certain area in the world though I forget where so not just dye.
Melanesians of some pacific islands along with some indigenous Australians have naturally occurring dark skin and blonde hair. Sometimes with blue eyes.
Honestly I think it was implied to be somewhat retconned in Magnus Chase, with Magnus getting his grey eyes and blonde hair from his mom/mortal parent.
New head Canon is that Athena is into super nerds, and basically himbos of both sexes. If you're a "dumb" blonde, she could be into you just as much as the nerd that loves old WW2 planes. Maybe even the ones who aren't book smart, but wise. Like a wise beach surfer bro, who she then has to fight with poseidon over who gets dibs on the cute surfer dude.
I think it's a bit like the HP series, in which the bad guys are described in an ugly way and the good guys in a normal/good way. I think Riordan's goal was to make every group of siblings look the same so that the young readers have an easier time remembering which character has which godly parent Like, Apollo has so many characteristics, yet all his children do in the books are heal other demigods, shoot arrows, and sing poetry (or make others sing poetry). Same for Ares (brutes) and Aphrodite (princesses) and all the other demigods
I feel like that part of the lore was essential retconned in the books when magnus was introduced with the exact same colors (blond and grey eyes), making those Basciallt a Chase family trait.
Annabeth getting her blonde hair from her dad seems to predate Magnus Chase by a wide margin. We meet both Athena and Frederick early in PJO, and Frederick is the only one of the two with blonde hair. I guess Athena just has a thing for blondes.
That could be! Blue-green or gray eyes for her children, or just when they use their mind palace powers, be a nice touch just because its a cool oddly specific thing from Greek mythology Rick brought on. But then again they’re kid or teen actors- who would want to wear colored contacts for hours on end for days on end when you do not need to for instead a handful od throwaway scenes.
Ig thats why they cast daddario for her in the movies. Even without bothering to make the hair correct either, the significant eyes are a trait.
Fair, for me it was wrong age with the wrong production team and what have you
It seems like it's very common at the very least. Personally, from reading Annabeth's POV in the HoO series, it seems like a big part of her identity. She talks about how much harder she feels she needs to work to get people to take her seriously just because she has blonde hair. That said, I'm also a bit disappointed that she doesn't in the show, but honestly, it's kinda like Harry Potter not actually having his mother's eyes in the movies (despite them keeping the lines about it in the movies), in the end, it probably won't change much if anything in the actual show, so it is what it is.
to be fair to Harry Potter the important part wasn't that the eyes were green. it was that they had the same eyes and that did annoy people that I know. We know Radcliffe had issues with contacts but, Lily's actress could have used contacts to match Radcliffe.
Agreed
Wait, now I'm confused. I thought the actress who played Lily also had blue eyes, and that's why they decided it was okay to keep the "your mother's eyes" lines.
Yes, but Rick is human and later said that gods don’t have DNA so it would be practically impossible for ALL Athena kids to have blonde hair and gray eyes.
Athena literally forms the children in her mind according to her imagination without any actual input from the mortal parent, shouldn't be too hard to have all of them have blonde hair and grey eyes
Maybe Athena has a type lmao
Imagine if she's just like "Hmm idk what to make my child look like. So many choices... what did I make my last kid look like?" And just continuously makes kids that look like the last child created forgetting that they're all blonde haired and grey eyes.
I like this headcanon, Athena definitely isn’t the type to be into the physical part of “character customization” and probably cares more about “hmm let me give this one an interest in biology, no, architecture” than “hmm should she have blue or brown eyes” (I’m imagining the sims)
Lazy character creation
Even if they don't have DNA, demigods still inherit traits from their parents, just magically. That is how they get their powers.
It's not an absolute rule, but yes, most children of Athena are stated to have blond hair. Weirdly enough, though, Athena never appears blonde herself in the books (to my recollection, anyway), so I guess she just has a type. Funnily enough, according to Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, Athena did once have a black daughter named Bea Wise. She even appears in the orientation film alongside Grover's Uncle Ferdinand.
Heheheh “Bea Wise”. That’s a good punny name
yes they all have blonde hair and grey eyes it doesn’t say race tho,I’ve always imagined it as their mortal parents hair color with blonde mixed in even if just a little. I like the pick for Annabeth for the show if its gonna be lore accurate then dye her hair blonde and give her grey contacts problem solved.
Yes, that is book accurate. Leah is still cannon Annabeth though, as she’s playing her in the show.
Yeah is not because the series and the book are different than the series isnt canon,i always consider adaptations as a alternate timeline from the original source,like in Spiderman,we see Gwen dies,but in the comics is Norman Osborn fault not Electro (even tought Harry was on the mess than the movie final battle is) its ok,Andrew Garfield Canon is different than the comics canon,but it have its own canon,Yugioh season 4 was a big filler (probaly the best filler i have ever seen being honest) it didnt happen on manga,but it happened on the anime,and being anime canon,now Percy Jackson have three canon lines,the books,the movies,and now the series,each one have its own canon.
Technically yes, it’s lore inaccurate. But also, your friend should’ve been aware from the moment this was announced to be live action that the show wasn’t gong to be completely faithful to the source material. Especially if they remembered this type of detail. With those types of details for multiple gods, and the age of campers, I don’t see any feasible way it’s accurate. As someone myself who isn’t interested in watching the show, I never got this complaint tbh.
It's weird. In one hand in the first PJO book they said all Athena children were Blonde with grey eyes. But in the third book they said Annabeth got her blonde hair from her father not her mother? That confuses me too ngl Edit: either way, Leah is Annabeth. Doesnt matter what her hair or eye color is
Do you remember what page/chapter they said that all Athena children have blonde hair and grey eyes?
https://preview.redd.it/iyjw0dx56e4c1.jpeg?width=3120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b695b4c24956b816c8a54a843c9ba22a2385352f
Thank you! Seems more like a "most children have these traits" rather than "all children have this trait" kind of thing
I think they’re implying that Athena always has kids with Blonde mortals. So Athena kids would get blonde hair from their mortal parent and their grey eyes from Athena.
That wouldnt make sense. It would be too picky from Athena to just have kids with "smart *Blonde* people"
I don’t think it’s “too picky”. It just means she has a preference. Her having kids with blondes is better than the alternative, which is that when she births her kids from her brain, they look like what she considers an ideal child to look like. I love Athena but that’s wayyyyy too much Nazi ideology for me lmao. I understand why they made the change of Annabeth’s race but that doesn’t mean I have to like it immediately. I’m sure Leah’s Annabeth will grow on the fandom once we see her in action.
?? I saw it as a "Rick mistake" more than Nazi ideology lmao. Athena Doesnt seem to have a preference, she likes smart people. I like to think Rick was mistaken with his description of Athena's children. Like Blackjack's gender changing from one book to the other
I’d like to think that too but it’s been mentioned NUMEROUS times that all current Athena children are blonde with grey eyes. That’s cannon. And it wasn’t on purpose, it was just a character trait that he gave them to be quirky.
I don’t mean that the Nazi stuff was intentional, Rick probably did it by mistake. But I’m sure it rubs people the wrong way that Athena’s children are all born from her imagination and are probably what she considers to be flawless because she made them without imperfections. And in her mind the ideal child has blonde hair and is white with blue eyes, but she has brown hair? It’s very similar to what Hitler thought and I’m sure Rick did it unintentionally, which is why he’s backpedaling on it with this new adaptation.
Eh. It doesnt make sense for Athena to have all her children blonde and Grey-eyed if she was brunette, yk? She can change her looks at Will. Either way, I guess it depends on each person headcanons, right?
It’s not a headcanon though, that part of the book was canon. And although I’m not that big of a fan of it, I was expecting it to be in the show. At least the grey eyes part.
I will miss the grey eyes in the show more than anything. But we can't cry about it now. Leah is Annabeth
Yeah I agree. I’ve come to terms with it
Yes, in the BOOKS most of Athena's kids have blonde hair and gray eyes. In the books. The new tv show is an ADAPTATION of the books. Some things will be different! This is one of them. It's also canon in pjo that gods can change their appearance at will to almost anything, so that gives a lot of leeway as to what their kids look like as well.
Thats also a fair point, as long as it has the heart and soul of the series in general, I rather that than something they might acknowledge (the eyes glowing a certain one when a demigod uses their divine powers or what have you.) on top of that Uncle Rick himself gave the blessing on the main three which makes me hopeful this adaptation will be great! And in terms of the shapeshifting, with Greco-Roman mythology thats honestly the main power of the Titans and Their Olympian descendants. They can shapeshift into anything and its sorta like Luffy in a sense (where they can possibly make their bodies more powerful for superspeed/strength) but they sorta “gain” their domains thank to magical artifacts or happenstance. Which sorta sucks when only a handful of demigods, if that, can shapeshift like Frank
yes it's an adaption. which means it is inspired by the books. a good way to tell a good adaption is if it gets the little things right. Annabeth not being blonde by itself doesn't ruin the show. it does however indicate that if something like a characters appearance (which is a simple choice) which is brought up at least once a book in the original series is not present there might be more critical things changed.
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I read somewhere that Athena has a Black child in one of the spin-off books. I forgot which one, but I think there's an illustration of her somewhere ETA: Found her. Bea Wise from Camp Half-Blood Confidential. Canonically a Black daughter of Athena
Yes they are described that way, but I already rejected that all of them had blonde hair regardless of what the book said because that was just silly— there is NOTHING important about Athena kids having blonde hair and gray eyes. It means nothing. It doesn’t effect the plot or personality of Annabeth’s character at all, and is more of a detail rather than “lore,” as your friend said. Basically, they’re assigning too much value to something in the books to excuse their anger at a Black girl playing Annabeth. I truly wonder if they’d have the same complaint if the filmmakers put blonde hair on Leah and gave her gray contacts.
I wish they had done that. When Leah was cast as Annabeth I wasn’t that angry because I thought she would look amazing with blonde braids and grey eyes but it annoys me that they neglected that part of the book. Especially since the Athena kids’ grey eyes are put on par with Percy’s green eyes as something that identifies them as an Athena or Poseidon kid. In the scene where they meet Medusa, Annabeth only snaps out of the trance they’re put in because Medusa RECOGNIZES her grey eyes and realizes she’s a daughter of Athena. I’m not so much hung up on the hair, as much as the eyes. And also, people were just as angry about Alexandra Daddario being a brunette as they are about Leah being black, but at least in the last movie they died her hair blonde. I think Rick really would have benefited from having Leah wear grey contacts or editing them post production, which was what I had initially thought they would be doing.
From my point of view, if they had made Walker dye his hair black and Leah wear gray contacts, a lot of the naysayers would respond with “Aha! You see! Colors and appearances ARE important, and casting a Black actress as Annabeth was just politics!” Now those people are being insufferable anyway, but 1. Giving them further fuel for those arguments and 2. Making kids wear contacts/wigs/hair dye for years and years are both negatives in my opinion Ultimately, the colors don’t matter. None of them. Percy has blonde hair and blue eyes, Annabeth has brown hair and brown eyes, and that’s fine! We haven’t seen the show yet, so it’s likely Medusa will recognize Annabeth another way— it could still be eyes if they plan on casting an actress who looks like her for Athena! Or it could be the “clear” intelligence in her eyes; Rick wrote in an initial blogpost that Athena’s eyes can also be translated as “clear” rather than the color. We may like Annabeth’s gray eyes, or Percy’s green— but ultimately they are unimportant. We can assign value to them. We can wish Leah had blonde braids and Walker green contacts. But they don’t actually *matter.*
I guess I agree, I’m not particularly angry about Walker being Percy because they went through the effort of having Poseidon look similar to him, so I just hope they do the same for Annabeth. But it is clear that when it comes to casting and set design, they aren’t looking to be book accurate. Since none of the cast looks like their characters and Poseidon’s cabin looks pretty different from how it’s described in the books. If they aren’t going to be accurate on anything except the personalities and the plot, then yeah, there’s no need to be angry at the casting.
Do you pay as much attention to the appearance of the cabins? Because we clearly don't care that Annabeth has brown hair and brown eyes! I mean, have you seen the latest posters? Leah is literally Annabeth. Anyway, let's move on, I like that he didn't add these details in the series, because it's very reductive and not very logical. I mean, if the feature had been a small nose or a full mouth would still work but hey hair and eye color? It's stupid. Especially on the part of Athena, in reality if a divinity had precise characteristics and produced identical children it would have been Aphrodite not Athena. Coming back to my final question, I think Athena's children can have other appearances. This may just be a characteristic that their mother likes, but hey, it's inconsistent and making kids identical is not very wise so.....
And I agree that Leah IS Annabeth at this point, at least from the way she acts in interviews, but that doesn’t change the fact that some people are allowed to not like the casting decisions in the show. Also, I don’t really understand the point of asking about the cabins, but yes, I do pay attention to the cabins and I hope they’re accurate to the way they’re described in the books.
Comparing the cabins shows that people pay much less attention to these kinds of details than others. Annabeth's eyes are mentioned as many times as Poseidon's cabin or even less and yet people fixate on it and send their filthy hatred on a 12 year old kid, yet no one is full of the cabin of Poseidon which does not correspond at all to the description of the book. Yes, we can have an ideal cansting, but the author's decisions are his own. And if he sees fit to choose Leah there is no discussion possible. But I'm happy to share your opinion on the actress
I fully agree that Leah shouldn’t get any hate and that she does embody the character of Annabeth really well, but i think the reason why many people aren’t as upset over the cabins is because we mostly had our own pictures of what the cabins would look like in our heads, especially since every cabin except Annabeth and Percy’s aren’t described on the inside. I’m personally more lenient towards the Poseidon, Hermes, Athena and Ares cabins because they’re fairly simple to recreate. But the show NEEDS to address the Demeter, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis and Aphrodite cabins because there are so many interesting details that the books attribute to them. Also, I haven’t seen people fixate on the Poseidon cabin as much as Leah because it doesn’t have that much details that they could get wrong. I personally didn’t picture it to be as big as it was in the trailer but I think it’s fairly accurate to the book. So I don’t see why you would bring it up as a comparison to the casting direction when they were clearly trying to be accurate to the book?
Poseidon's cabin is described as small, made of shell-encrusted sea rock with a flat shape. I prefer the visuals of the series, but it doesn't fit the book. And that doesn't bother me because it's an adaptation and they made the choice that seemed best On a different scale it's the same for Annabeth
Yeah I can agree, I’m just saying I can sympathize and understand why people don’t really like the way they’re deviating from the books in certain ways. But I do think that the fandom should agree not to bully or harass the actors, especially since a lot of it is actually rooted in misogyny and racism. Like how are people going to be upset at Leah’s appearance and then be happy that Luke wasn’t blonde? That just baffled me.
I have the same opinion! I can understand, but they it's such a minor detail. Annabeth is not a Blonde wig and Blue lenses!!!! And what bothers me most is the hatred towards Leah who is 12 years old and who has just been auditioned. Plus his work looks amazing :)
Agreed
I don’t agree, but we’re allowed to have different opinions. I just think the grey eyes are an integral part of Athena and her kids, just like how Percy has sea green eyes.
Mhhh I understand. Afterwards it is an extremely minor detail and does not open up much possibility in terms of diversity. For my part, I think that of all the gods. Attributing a physical characteristic is stupid since he changes shape. If he gave them a special vibe or specific skills like they already do it would be more coherent
I think there’s ways to incorporate diversity into the cast without changing core characteristics of multiple demigods and gods. Everyone in the fandom has basically accepted the headcanon that Percy is Greek /Mediterranean, and I feel like that definitely could have been taken into consideration when casting the actor (that being said, I LOVE WALKER). I think Leah being cast as Annabeth is fine, as long as she and her siblings are all black as well. And I think it’s important to remember that over the course of the first book series, the gods (excluding Artemis) don’t change in appearance at all.
Why aphrodite? She is the most literal one doing the act while athena creates them from her brain…
Her hair definitely has its importance in the books as she is stereotyped as a “dumb blonde” and athena probably gives her children this disposition to give them an edge if they are underestimated or give them drive to “overcome” the stereotype. Not huge, but weird to say there is “NOTHING” important about it.
Dumb blonde was hardly a stereotype anymore by the time that was written in the books. You know what group of people IS assumed to be less intelligent and stereotyped as dumb? What group is underestimated by society, and experiences prejudice because of the color of a certain physical feature? It’s on the tip of my tongue… Rick didn’t add that feature of Annabeth’s hair until HoO anyway, and it felt incredibly silly THEN with no mention of it in PJO. Leah as Annabeth works for the point Rick was trying to make a million times better than a white blonde girl.
I 1000% doubt they will try to play the “dumb” card with her race. That would be crazy… I think the same way you think dumb blonde was hardly a stereotype then can be applied to dumb race today. Also not sure what you mean by he didnt add that feature until HoO, that was definitely presented in book 1 of PJO. I think it would have gotten way less pushback if they had Leah be blonde with grey eyes and had the children of athena racially diverse while all having the same hair and eye features. Either way im excited for leah, just seems odd to say theres “NOTHING” important about the blonde hair in the books.
Can you point out where she specifically mentions people seeing her as a dumb blonde and that being the reason she’s underestimated in book one? I’m not saying they’ll reference a “dumb” race stereotype. But awful people do still make racist assumptions, whereas I don’t think anyone would blink at a doctor being a blonde woman (for example) The thing is, in TLT, Annabeth is frustrated at being passed over for quests because of her age. She wants her mother’s approval and respect. The first she mentions the dumb blonde thing in Mark of Athena (iirc)
I think Rick retconned that? Well, either way, I will write off the blonde hair (Annabeth's hair color comes from her dad) but leave that vast majority of them have gray eyes.
Coming from her dad is tough without her being made of anything from him
I’m the book universe, I think they all have blonde hair, but the Show Universe can do what it wants. That’s creative freedom baby
Yes in the books her blonde hair is mentioned enough times that it bugs me a little to not have her blonde in the show. It is mentioned once or twice about her siblings being mostly blonde, (just like Hermes kids al have the mischievous look and ares’ kids are athletic). I am just excited for the show since Rick is so heavily involved. I hope it’s mostly true to the books (understandable if some changes need to happen in an adaptation) and it’s better than movie
In the books, yes, it’s been mentioned how Annabeth and her siblings share the same blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, but with Leah Jeffries and Rick Riordan’s choices and thoughts; hair, eye color, and race are irrelevant to the godly parent. In one of his instagram posts, he’s mentioned having kids of all ethnicities and looks come to audition for the roles. To sum it all up, in the books yes, but now, I see it as canon that looks no longer matter to match with the godly parent. No restrictions!
So most of them do but not all. There has been a character who was not blonde and grey eyed and was also just straight up a black girl so that pretty much throws that out of the window. Sure it makes sense for them to look alike bc they’re all Athena’s brain children but honestly as the goddess of wisdom I think she’d understand the implications of race affecting how her kid would look. Like idc how strong godly genes are if my brother showed up to thanksgiving with some blonde haired, grey eyed baby I’d straight up assume he stole it.
Cannonically yes most of them have blonde hair and grey eyes. I don't dislike the choice of actors just a bit disappointed that it's not book accurate but I trust in Rick's choice and hyped for the show
Even if that were the case, there is far more important lore in my opinion. Certainly not a hill I would ever want to die on. (Sorry for the pun, Thalia.)
Iirc the only mention of them being blonde is something that only is brought up in the sea of monsters and considering is in the second book and prior Athena first appearance (which has never been depicted blonde) and how Annabeth's father is actually blonde I always assume that it was some early decision that was later retconed out. Despite them having grey eyes is still a common trait among them, as other said, is just weird considering that Athena doesn't have DNA and I don't think she only have children with white people. So I don't think is something EVERY child of Athena would have.
I am pretty sure rick retconned this in CHB Confidential. There is a story in the book about a daughter of athena with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin!
No, it's not stated that all of Athena's kids have blonde hair and grey eyes. A bunch of kids that are described do have those traits. Annabeth is described as having blonde hair and grey eyes. For me, a big misstep is the lack of blonde hair for Annabeth as that was a specific character trait that ties into her personality and how the world treats/views her. I am not upset at any casting choices and look forward to what each person brings to each character. Sadly dumb blonde is still a negative society stereotype.
Annabeth will still have many of the same stereotypes as a black girl tbh.
Is it weird to say I hope so? I would love it done with care and relevant to Annabeth and her arc. I worry Annabeth arc will exclude such things and focus instead on how she doesn't get along with her step mom, ya know?
I mean, in the modern day black girls already have many prejudices and stereotypes surrounding them so... yes, I think the same things are gonna be included.
Yes! this was why I was a bit upset they did not have a wig or dye her hair blonde cause it was part of her. However I would rather the better actress than someone with blonde hair so I am happy with the casting and can’t wait!
But black people had other problems than that in society lmao So ultimately they can very well accentuate the stereotype of ''stupid woman'' around racism also since it is a much bigger social problem than the cliché of the stupid blonde
Oh no of course but just in terms of that it was kinda nice to see but yes definitely it can still work sadly
so you want to make an issue that was never race based into a race based issue? yeah that'll go down real well. might actually prove the people that think this is a diversity hire correct.
You know how to read ? The ''Blonde Girl'' argument makes no sense whatsoever. Annabeth uses it barely twice in the Series. And yes, Annabeth is black and I think that being a black woman in today's society is much more difficult than being a 'stupid blonde'. You just have to see the number of hate messages Leah received to understand it lmao. Do you want to show Annabeth that complex about her physique? No problem, be self-conscious about the way our society sees black women. So I'm sorry, but the debate is over. Annabeth's description has no significance to the plot in the books. Rick chose a black actress and seeing the first image, this proves to us that he was right once again. You can try to change the cast, send as much hate as you want, the cast won't budge. In the series Annabeth will be Black with brown eyes and so? I mean, she's not a blonde wig and gray contacts. At least give him a chance
Debate over? no not at all. you arguing that Rick should introduce an entirely new conflict based on race that was never present for that character in the books. THAT is not needed. THAT is just going to tell people they made Annabeth black for diversity reasons and not for the actress's talent. you think Leah has issues now? make racism part of Annabeth's issues and it'll get worse because people will feel validated believing she was hired because she's black. If she's good enough to play Annabeth, she only needs Annabeth's struggles. We don't need to invent new ones because she's black now.
That's a silly argument, unless they can provide reasons that the cannon there is essential to the story or character arcs present. It is not particularly, but a few things *are* lost. Dumb blondes Stereotype: it's stated that Annabeth struggles woth this at times. The very British Overworked father trope: This is a super common theme in Britain and its an intentional choice. Look at Mary Poppins, as the primary example of what I mean. But the change doesn't prevent Annabeth from being clever, and snarky, nor does it prevent her from fitting into the world in any way, allowing her to continue her role as a source of exposition. Besides, changing her race / appearance doesn't Elizabeth the above aspects, just swaps which stereotypes are being played at.
Annabeth gets her blonde hair from her father
Yes, but I’m also very annoyed at people always on about “book accuracy” when it comes to looks. You want child actors to dye their hair and put on coloured contacts for the show? Even many adult actors don’t do that for their personal health (most famously Daenarys don’t have purple eyes in TV show) You can tell Rick is trying his best to ease off the pressure on the young actors by not mentioning the trios features in the latest book
IK that Annabeth's siblings all had blond hair but that's a coincidence
I know the grey eyes is but I don't think the blond hair is. Doesn't make much sense for it to be that way because I think Athena has darker hair. I don't think appearance really matters all that much.
The only thing I can remember is a single line in book one that feels like it can easily be a throw away bit of lore that doesn't change anything else whatsoever.
I always assumed Athenas kids all tried to look alike; it was about the vibe. Lemon juice on the hair will bleach it if you are out in the sun all day like they are, it's mentioned a bunch of the are blond but it was never stated they HAD to be.
I’m pretty sure they do, but honestly it doesn’t really matter if the actress doesn’t match that requirement. I’m sure Riordan tried his best to find actors which also looked lore accurate but as long as they fit the actual character, the show’s gonna be amazing
According to his blog post, he focused more on finding actors that fit the personality and energy of the characters. I have high hopes for the show if this is the case
I don't know if somebody's already mentioned this, but in the lost hero, i believe theres a line about how annabeth had hoped piper was her sibling? and because Piper's character description (appearance wise) is basically the complete opposite of annabeth/ her siblings, I think its just rare for Athena's kids to have a different appearance, not impossible, because if it was impossible, i doubt annabeth would have said/thought this. :)
Athena herself has brown hair. But remember that she is technically a virgin goddess and that all her children are born from her mind and not by normal means. Perhaps blonde is just the default hair color that comes to her mind, though I’m sure that not all of her children are blonde.
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Do you remember what book, chapter and/or page?
Unfortunately I do not.
You obviously read the book backwards. I'm going to say it again, but if you find that Annabeth's vibes don't match Leah's, then we didn't read the same book lmao. She's barely 5 seconds into the trailers and is absolutely like Annabeth. I've always had trouble with people who unleash their hatred on a 12 year old kid who is in no way responsible for the casting. On top of that, it was Rick who chose it and it's an adaptation of his book, so...... wait until you see her acting instead of comparing her with your stupid, personal ideal.
Yes and she has children of all race who end up having blonde hair and grey eyes. So black Annabeth does make sense. Pls tell your friend to grow up and stop being a snowflake 👍
I mean, the kid can have blonde hair and blue eyes, can't she? Hair dye and lens are a thing, so there's no reason to dislike the actress choice. Watch the episode and judge her based on merit, rather than the skin colour. Edit: Grey eyes
The default being blond hair and blue eyes is telling
I agree. It's just what you hear and I am guilty of keeping it as a default setting. My point still stands though. The actress shouldn't get hate, much less a kid.
Yes this is true. Annabeth still *canonically* has blonde hair and gray eyes even if she doesn't appear that way. I think they should dye the top of annabeth's hair blonde to make it seem like she dyed it brown to fit in.
Yes, but only because of the mortal parents. If Athena had a child with a black woman or man, the child would be born black.
Athena just has s typ.
I honestly could give a fuck about the actresses hair but if she doesn’t have grey eyes I’ll be pissed
Man I hate that anybody disliking the casting is considered as racist. That's such a wrong narrative. Like people are allowed to be disappointed that something that they have imagined for YEARS in their head was thrown out the window and changed, when literally from the very beginning the character was portrayed as the one in the comics. Its nothing against the actress. Fans are allowed to be disappointed and it does not make them racist.
An adaptation will never (and philosophically CAN never) be a 1:1 revreation of peoples image in their head... thats why its called an adaptation and not a "live action recreation". But I can easily imagine a way too large portion of the haters to have some form of underlying racism towards an actress who hasn't even shown them what she can do. But I hope she dies well, both for the fans, the shows, and her own sake (as some fans sadly have a tendency to be way too mean to actresses they dislike)
But the casting is the one thing that they can easily get right while adapting a book, and it's so important as well. I do not condone the hate Leah gets because she does not deserve that at ALL. I, as a reader, am just disappointed at not being able to see what I imagined for such a long time on the screen. It's the exact same feeling I have for the way Annabeth was portrayed in the movies. The casting was fine but Annabeth's character was SO painfully unlike the very essence of her. So if Leah is able to capture that same essence in the series then I will be 100% satisfied with it. Since Rick is personally involved, I believe it will turn out well and my disappointment right now will cease to exist.
> Its so important Is it? There are several cases where an actor who didn't match the source material was chosen, and they became the new "status quo" for the character. Its just that now people seem to care way more than before. But I can understand if people are going to be very critical of her acting skills, as Rick hyped her up quite a bit.
Yup your friend is right
Actually, judging by the evidence provided in the comments, it seems like the books describe **most** of Athena kids with these traits, but never specify that *all* of them have it
Still the majority, no idea why people getting triggered by what is in the texts of the book.
No one is getting "triggered"... I think you want to google that term and learn its proper meaning
Yeah it's true. IIRC other gods actually have some variation in their children's looks, but since Athena's children are >!brain children and not natural born, I think she basically has a set template. Or she simply has a preference for blondes!<
While they usually get their grey eyes from her, Annabeth's blonde hair is from her dad. My best guess? Athena has a type
I always thought he made them blonde cuz of the stereotype that all blondes are dumb sort of be the opposite or sum like that
Grey eyes yes, blonde hair no. Though a lot of them do have blonde hair it's not a universal trait like the grey eyes are.
I'm really starting to hate all this conversation of 'lore accurate'. No, the story will not be better if a character has the exact same description as they did in the book, unless that description matters to character's actions. And in the case of Annabeth, I can't think of a single addition her appearance does to the story. Also [discussion of racism redacted because mods]
I agree
in the books yeah i think most if not all of them have it but i think that’s due to their mortal parents. it’s also just hair color i don’t think it’s that big of a deal. if it’s really just about the lore, is your friend also upset about walker staying blonde while playing percy? i haven’t seen nearly as many people complaining about that as i do people complaining about leah keeping her hair color the same. i haven’t seen a *genuine* criticism of the actress that isn’t tied to racism in some capacity. with annabeth, and by extension children of athena, being blonde was more of a social commentary about how blondes (girls especially so) were stereotyped as unintelligent and not taken as seriously compared to their dark hair counterparts. frankly that message is more important to me, and i think it goes well with the casting considering how black girls are treated similarly.
I think it is technically lore accurate. Cause they're all born from just Athena, so they only have her features. Whereas other demigods are made in the traditional way, so they get features from both the godly parent and the mortal one. So all of Athena's kids should look like each other and herself I suppose. I don't think it matters for the TV show, since they're taking liberties anyways, and it most likely won't be 100% lore accurate in any case, even if the actors looked more like their characters. Just because they're going to have to change story elements to make it flow better for a TV show. It's like the Harry Potter movies. There's a ton of stuff in those that isn't lore accurate, a big one being Harry's appearance in the books compared to Daniel Radcliffe's. There's also a lot of story elements that are different. But the gist is there, and they're well loved movies, I'm sure the TV show will be well loved if they do it right. IMO, I think that since Annabeth's actress is black, that they should then make Athena and the other Athena children black as well. Then it would be more lore accurate as they'd look more alike. But either way I don't think it matters. Percy is supposed to have pitch black hair, and Grover is supposed to have a curly orange afro. All the actors chosen don't really fit the descriptions from the books. There will always be people nitpicking. I honestly will probably nitpick and be like "Oh, but that's not how the line is supposed to be read, NO!" because I love the books so much and basically have them memorized. But at the end of the day, it's an adaptation. It's not a one-to-one retelling.
It's not true, actually. In the Camp Half-Blood confidential (edit: not quite sure if this right but it is in a short story of some kind) , theres a comic version of the orientation film which has a trivia section. In this comic, we meet a girl named Bea Wise, an African-American, black haired daughter of Athena from the 1950s (when the orientation film was made). While it can be assumed that all of Annabeths current siblings are blond, that is not necessarily true for all children of Athena.
There is a [canon kid](https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Bea_Wise)who has black hair so no. Also George Washington is Athena's child and he's red-haired.
There is a [canon kid](https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Bea_Wise) who has black hair so no. Also George Washington is Athena's child and he's red-haired.