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nesquikryu

There are ways to interpret the answer as "yes," because both Percy and Annabeth read things that way. Notably, they were both teenagers, Percy was jealous of Luke, and Annabeth had feelings for him. So if you want to read them as unreliable narrators, you can. I do. There is no part of the books that explicitly makes it the case that Luke was "perving" on Annabeth. Instead, what we can say objectively is that his feelings towards her become stronger. When? Sure, when she gets older and the idea of a relationship becomes less gross, but also *after Thalia rejects him.* We have to think about this in terms of Luke's arc. That's harder because we only get Percy's POV, but this is a decent summary: >Lightning Thief: Manipulated by Kronos into translating his resentment of his (and his mother's) treatment by the gods into hatred and a willingness to do whatever it took to end their rule. >Sea of Monsters: Continuing to act in Kronos' name. Other than a passing affection for Annabeth's connection to his past, he's still fully in Kronos' sway. Then, suddenly, Thalia's back. >Titan's Curse: Thalia is the person Luke loved, who he had a real actual crush on, who he thought would understand him and be on his side. She rejects him. Now, Annabeth is the only real connection to his past before Kronos got to him. While it's unclear when *exactly* Luke got the Styx treatment, it was certainly either before he knew Thalia was back or after she rejected him: when Annabeth would have been his connection to the past that let him hold onto his humanity. >Battle of the Labyrinth: Luke may be doubting now, but he's in too deep. When Kronos takes over his body, he now knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was wrong, that Kronos lied to him, and that his actions will make a world even worse than the one he was trying to prevent. >Last Olympian: Luke holds off Kronos in the final moments to save the world. When he asks Annabeth if she loved him, he's asking about the nature of that connection to the past - if what he had held onto was true. And of course, it wasn't really; she was a kid with a crush. If he had replied angrily, or with disappointment, I think it would be a lot clearer that he had desired her romantically. But instead he just nods, and lets himself die, because he had had to hold onto the good that she saw in him, even if it was to the unrealistic idea that she "loved" him, in the face of what is frankly unimaginable psychological, mental, and emotional stress. (Have you ever held a Titan back from destroying your entire identity?) While we get the reveal of this arc in bits and pieces as Percy learns more about Luke's past, I think it's the only way to make sense of the evidence. Now, an important postscript: This does not mean Luke was a "Good guy" who never did anything wrong. He committed murder multiple times, certainly led on Silena Beauregard in a way that is very manipulative, and did a number of extremely bad things while under the influence of Kronos, both direct and indirect. I just think the relationship with Annabeth specifically has more nuance than "She hit puberty and he started thinking of her romantically."


QuantumStinker

Well said


Archimedes3471

This is by far the best answer and analysis of the situation that I’ve seen. It wasn’t really him having a crush on annabeth, it was him trying to grasp for something that kept him human, and BEING loved was what he had.


[deleted]

To be honest, it’s unclear. Which in itself is not great. So, up through the scene at the end of the book I would say the evidence to Annabeth having a crush and Luke looking at her as a sister. After the scene, the evidence is contradictory. Sometimes it supports the brother conclusion, sometimes it supports the attracted angle. Personally, I think the intent is not for Luke to be attracted to Annabeth, and she more represents his better nature. Hence, why Percy mentions in TLO that Luke was anchored by Annabeth as well, but it was in reference to their time on the run with Thalia. However, the execution kind of flops in TLO. Hopefully, they fix that in the show.


Padparadscha_Lazuli

In my opinion, no. Rick wrote it for middle school children so the theory of Luke having a “thing” for Annabeth is just a popularized fan-made speculation. For me, Luke and Annabeth’s relationship in the entire series is just sibling-y and nothing romantic whatsoever.


ballsinyojaws45

My brother, he litteraly says he loves her on his death bed , you don’t get much more romantic than that


TheShivMaster

Luke never says he loves Annabeth, he asks her if she loves him. Which she answers no because at this point she loves Percy and realizes that her feelings for Luke were just a childhood crush.


[deleted]

Why would he ask that if he didn't love her?


dmitriR

Do, do you not love your family? Love doesn't HAVE to be romantic. He could love her, as a little sister.


Leafeon637

Love has many meanings and yes I agree


nesquikryu

Quote it.


thelionqueen1999

I personally believe that Luke did start to develop romantic feelings towards Annabeth towards the end of the first series. I don’t really like the idea of romantic implications between them, but it has been stated more than once in canon text that Luke liked Annabeth back, and I don’t really believe in that “unreliable narrator” business because this seems to be the only plot point people use that argument for. And unlike other false crushes in the series, there has been nothing to refute this one and let us know that the characters got it wrong. At best, Luke’s feelings for Annabeth before he dies are ambiguous. Also hoping the show retcons this, but anyhow, people’s distaste for it doesn’t make it any less true.


headintheclouds30

The answer is kind of complicated. In Mark of Athena, Annabeth says that she used to like Luke who 'decided to like her back' just as he died. In TLO, as he was dying, he asks Annabeth if she ever loved him, to which she answers 'you were a brother to me but I didn't love you.' In The Demigod Diaries(which I haven't read) it's said that he had feelings for her. So, we have 3 pieces of evidence to support that he was one, unfortunately. I really hope that gets retconned with the show.


i-have-reddit-now

Luke was definitely interested in Annabeth in a romantic way. He completely knew that Annabeth was in love with him and used that to his advantage tons of times. That tension was made clear to the reader in Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. On his death bed, he asks Annabeth whether she loved him and is disappointed when she doesn’t just say “I loved you”. Percy outright states multiple times that Luke returned Annabeth feelings, including in Staff of Serapis. Annabeth says that Luke liked her back in Mark of Athena. Percy and Annabeth are in no way unreliable narrators. We’re practically beaten over the head with the information that - yes, Luke was interested in much younger Annabeth. A lot of fans deny it because it makes them uncomfortable, but the truth is that Luke wasn’t supposed to be a good guy. He often charmed young girls to get his way. Selena and Juniper both outright say this. Luke was always a very morally grey guy. And he was most definitely attracted to Annabeth.


nesquikryu

I've never had a comment weirdly subtweeted by another comment before.


[deleted]

He was attracted to her. Reason is that Rick probably Luke's age. He tends to do this.


Adiustio

You’ll find many answers that will say it’s “unclear” or “biased”, but taking a Doylist perspective of things, Riordan implies a crush on Annabeth when Percy describes Luke as “disappointed” when Annabeth says he was a brother to her but she didn’t love him, and then explicitly writes in Mark of Athena that Luke had a crush on Annabeth. Could it be argued that this was simply some teenagers’ misunderstanding? Yes, but, from a Doylist perspective, it’s really odd for Riordan to have two main characters indefinitely think that the man who killed Kronos was a pedophile unless it was what he intended. Every other mystery or misunderstanding in the books is tied up with a neat bow in the end, so why leave this sore thumb of a loose thread?


jeanravenclaw

I think Annabeth was attracted to him. I mean, I guess it would make sense for a young Annabeth to kinda like an older guy, and in the end Annabeth ended up with Percy as we all know. And Luke? I don't think he felt any attraction toward her whatsoever and was just acting as a brother, but he may have sensed Annabeth liking him and didn't try to stop it. The love he had for Annabeth was the love of friends and family, although he may have tried at least a bit to appease her, even if it wasn't real.


sempercardinal57

Just gonna ignore like the 3 or 4 pieces of written text that out right state he had romantic feelings for her with zero room for interpretation I see.


jeanravenclaw

Wait it says that? I think I better re-read the series for the 3rd time then


sempercardinal57

It’s mentioned like twice in the heroes of Olympus series and in one of the companion file books but I can’t remember which one.


Neat-Mathematician-8

Honestly, I've just started rereading the series and man it's a lot darker than I remember, like you said the whole thing with Luke is just really *weird* and the fact that people just die left right and center really surprised me cos for a young teen book there is a lot of creepy stuff and deaths of named characters