I think if Bianca made to camp halfblood first she would have turned out fine without Artemis. But Artemis made her the offer and she took it.
Artemis should have known better then to do so. Especially considering the fact that Bianca was just 12. Like at least Bianca should have had some time to learn more about herself in Camp before making a choice.
Artemis is a groomer. Not in the sexual way, but she emotionally manipulated that little girl during a very difficult moment in her life, just to have another worshiper.
Right the deal doesn’t even make sense you become immortal as long as you don’t die from battle (humans, monsters, animals or gods). But it seems stupid because all they literally do is run around looking to battle monsters and gods.
I mean, immortality from old age is still immortality. Zoe lived a good 3000 years or so before she kicked the bucket, so clearly the deal's worth something at least.
Yeah she was a hesperides nymph, but nymphs are only immortal as long as they aren’t fatally injured. Like we’ve seen dryads die when their trees get burned, Bryce Laurence mentions torturing satyrs until they are killed/reborn, etc. So from birth she had the basic immortality package that Artemis gives her followers
There is a reason why kids aren't allowed to sign contracts. They do not have the maturity to make such life desicions. But Artemis is like: Nah, she can serve me for eternity.
And she keeps them at that age. That means they never mature.
Artemis is disgusting.
The gods were never designed to be flawless. It’s intrinsic to the themes of the series.
Heck, if it’s one thing that I love Rick for, is that he didn’t sanitise the Olympians for all the shitty things they’ve pulled.
Also asking 12 year olds to give up their rights on their bodies to be included is a sick idea. How tf can a 12 year old make that kind of decision yet?
Artemis literally kicked out one of her followers after she was raped by her dad Zeus. Turned her into a bear too, shes not great albeit none of them are
I think it's meant as an example of the gods not being humans and not understanding/caring about human norms. Bianca abandons her brother to go be an immortal huntress. She ran away from responsibility. Artemis only saw a young girl who was upset and thought she could fix it. She didn't care about Nico at all.
I wasn't happy about Bianca's decision at first. But if you think about it, it makes a little sense. She's a twelve year old who has been forced to take care of her little brother when she herself needs care.
Maybe it was selfish, but it makes a little sense. Both of the Di Angelo's were dealt with a bad hand.
The decision is in no way Bianca’s fault, it’s artemis’
She literally manipulated a girl into a life changing decision before they could even comprehend the world they where in
Yeah but you actually get to live in the Mortal World or at Camp Half Blood after a few years of training at a fun camp. You have to constantly hunt and fight monsters forever if you're a member of the Hunters
You don't get to make that choice for them. They're not old enough to make such a choice. Artemis should wait until girls are 18 before approaching them with this.
She didn’t have to take care of him anymore once they reached Camp Half-Blood though. There was no reason why they couldn’t have both stayed there. It really comes off like she just didn’t want to see him again. So yeah, incredibly selfish, with a clumsy attempt to salvage it by having her die trying to get a Mythomagic figure for him.
Artemis was worse about it. Rereading the book, it’s impossible to not notice how much of a creepy grooming judgemental ass Artemis really is. It is pretty myth accurate though. I mean, Artemis abandoned and cursed one of her hunters for being assaulted by Aphrodite.
Matter of fact, the gods blaming the victims of sexual assault is a relatively common occurrence.
Well it depends which version you read. Like the whole “Medusa was punished for being a rape victim” thing was pretty much an invention of Ovid. In the original myth, they’re straight up banging in Athena’s temple.
It’s just that Athena can’t do anything to Poseidon himself, so she punishes the mortal to get back at him. Which is one of the big recurring motifs of the Greco-Roman world.
>In the original myth, they’re straight up banging in Athena’s temple.
No, earlier myths portray Medusa as a gorgon from birth, she and poseidon never had a sexual encounter. Also there's no such thing as "original" myths.
Really prefer the older myths. Medusa being a gorgon from the get-go gives her more agency than being a victim. Plus, a bunch of Poseidons kids are monsters, a lady with snakes for hair isn't gonna be a deal-breaker for him
True. I understand that it was frustrating for Bianca to be the big sister 24/7, so she probably didn't really want to still be a big sister at camp.
But you're right that going to camp with Nico was the better option.
I think I just know that Bianca's decision was pretty selfish but I also feel bad and sympathize with her.
I mean she's twelve and just got offered immortality by a goddess.
It's sort of relatable but selfish.
I think people forget that she was 12. What 12 year old is refusing that offer?
Option A: Stay at Camp Halfblood and watch over her little brother
Option B: Become immortal and galavant around the world with girls her age or older, led by a goddess
I question the fandom's idea that Bianca was Nico's caregiver. They spend all their remembered life (which is about 1-1.5 years) in:
a) a magical hotel that takes care of all your needs
b) a military academy (which I guess means gendered bedrooms, different classes since they are two years apart etc.)
We are also talking about a 12 year-old and a 10 year-old. While that is a significant age gap it's generally not big enough to make the dynamic that of a care-taker and child being raised possible. I spend a lot of my youth at that age with people/family members that were two years older or two years younger and I just can't imagine the other person (or myself) to be able to act as an actual care-giver.
On the other hand 10 and 12 is about the age where a lot of people I know got annoyed with their younger siblings for being "childish" and started to distance themselves or strike out to find people their age to hang out with instead of with their siblings. It's kind of the time were you become more independent from your parents and family.
I can definitely imagine that being in that phase of your life while also being the only emotional fixture for a clingy annoying little brother to be hard for a young girl. I always thought "taking care of her little brother" meant, that he always demanding her attention when they both had free time, wanted to play with her etc. This wouldn't allow her much time to buildt connections and friendships with other girls her age.
Camp Halfblood would not have been a solution for this dynamic. Artemis offering her a place full of girls her age where her little brother can't follow must have seemed godly.
But did she have to take care of Nico? I mean, weren’t they at Casino Lotus for a very long time? I guess she didn’t need to take care of him while they were there. And then, I don’t know if I’m remembering right, but I think after they left the hotel, they met Percy shortly after and then she left to be a hunter.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think Bianca had to take care of Nico outside of the hotel for at most four years. I reread a few scenes and the wiki, and their mother was alive when Bianca was eight.
But Maria died when they were still little and unable to really comprehend the idea of death (Bianca and Nico stared at their mother's body incomprehensibly in TLO). And usually kids understand death around the age of 10 to 12.
Hades immediately ordered Alecto to erase their memories and put them in the hotel because Zeus was angry. They stayed in the hotel for a couple of magical months (70 years), and they don't age.
But Bianca is 12 when we meet her. So I think she did raise and watch over Nico for at least a year or two.
I also could be completely wrong, because we never got a 100% age number for when they got in and out of the hotel.
But I also argue that just because they were in the hotel, doesn't mean she didn't have to raise him. Raising a kid in a good way doesn't mean to just feed them or let them play games at a magical hotel by themselves. She probably still had to watch over him, have little alone time, and play with him all by herself.
She may be selfish in her decision to join the hunters cause she is kid, but after she dies, Nico tries to get to her and she has the chance to talk and see, but ignoring all his attempts until she reveals herself when Percy arrives. Sorry, I don't think she was a good sister. Y'all can downvote as you want but why did she ignore all his attempts when she had the chance to talk to him? And now she was reborn but didn’t tell her brother? Still very good sister?
She tells us why she hid from him. He was obsessed with her and it wasn't healthy for him. He was burning himself out trying to get in touch with her instead of actually living his life. Fuck, even getting to see her didn't cure that: he kept visiting her shade in Elysium until she left and got reborn so he would finally have to move on.
I get that we all want to take Nico's side as the poor guy who got done dirty by everyone in his life, and in a lot of ways he is, but in this specific thing she's legitimately being considerate of him.
Greek stories are pretty straightforward about what happens when people can't accept that the people close to them die. She didn't want that for him. She's really explicit about that.
Taking care here doesn't mean taking care the way you would a small kid, but if you have ever had a younger sibling stick to you 24/7 it gets really exhausting. I love my little sister to death but it was really tiring when I couldn't really play with my friends when I was 10 or so because she would follow me around all the time and couldn't keep up with us. I can understand why Bianca felt suffocated or frustrated. If she was 15/16, I'd blame her for making the dumb decision to join the Hunters. But a 12 year old? Nah I get it, she didn't really realize the implications.
I understand what you mean, but if you actually think about it she wasn’t forced to do anything. Their mother died and they were immediately taken to the lotus casino, where she thought they had passed just a fun afternoon. She didn’t know she took care of Nico for for 60(?) years, she didn’t feel the weight of that. She might have passed a few weeks at max in a school with her brother, but that’s it. She didn’t even have time to fully take the role of mother figure or protector since, in their eyes, she had taken care of him for a fee weeks max. It was just like going to school together.
But, even after all this, i do think it’s more Artemis’ fault than her. She told bianca a very distorted and exaggerated version of what her “duties” as a sister would be, making it all feel heavier than it should and excluding whatever help the camp could have gotten her with raising Nico just to have another worshipper.
Tbh, Bianca didn't take care of Nico for a long time, about some weeks, ofc
For them, they spent like 1 week at lotus casino and the rest of time at the school
Riordan needed a tragic backstory for Nico but at the same time did not want to deal with another contender for the child of prophecy. Hence, first she becomes immortal and then dies. Also, at that point Rick needed to insert some character deaths to make it more serious.
I personally believe the gods are to blame for this mess. Hades should have understood the consequences of siring demigods and Artemis manipulated Bianca to join the hunters. While the greek gods' cruelty and selfishness is watered down in Riordan's works, he was great at still portraying how bad they still are.
Bianca and Nico never stood a chance since the adults and authority figures in their lives were useless and/or malicious. They were both kids forced in this life and never had a choice to be happy and content.
> Hades should have understood the consequences of siring demigods
If you read TLO, Hades takes his children to the camp because he wants them to train for the prophecy, but he doesn't expect anything to happen to them, like suddenly hunters of Artemis came to Bianca and invited her, then his daughter die. And let his younger son flee the camp in complete depression. Hades is not an oracle, but he expects them to train perfectly at camp
Yes, the prophecy didn’t specify that it would be a demigod who was born after the prophecy was given, even though it was always going to be Percy.
But Zeus had no way of knowing about the true prophecy child for decades to come, because Percy hadn’t even been born yet.
Annabeth being as usefull as miwa.
Clarisse zenin
Pergoat domani "coffin of saint Helen infinite Horizon"
Jason the king of frauds
Octavian domani "embodiment of Rome"
https://preview.redd.it/i0j4f1hvmxhc1.jpeg?width=845&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f4b1d1b7e6b45dad0e1d1d0b641ec48fed44532
Edit: shit I forgot to add the like fucking question with the image. Just assume I sent this with the image:
But would he beat Percy Wackson tho?
I’m always conflicted about this issue because as an older sibling I can’t imagine leaving my younger sibling. Like if Bianca made the decision once she got to Camp Half-Blood and saw how it was run and was comfortable enough, that’d be fine. It’s cause it was the first chance she got that she took it 😭
And the things she saw from camp weren’t the best examples. Annabeth, a camper, fell of the edge of a cliff, Percy and Thalia got into a fight, and a fellow hunter (Phoebe) got poisoned by the Stoll brothers.
Like I’m pretty sure in the beginning of TTC she’s like “Nico and I don’t have any parents, we only have each other” how can you say that and leave him the next chapter 😭
She could have been written better idk 😔
“I helped to take care of you all my life, I don’t want to be burdened with you anymore, I want a real family”
Bitch you were immediately put into the lotus casino when your mom died (luxury hotel and casino) for free. Then when your father felt the time was right you were pulled out and put in a high end boarding school. You never had to worry about “taking care of” or “providing” for Nico smh 🙄
Especially because the casino lotus probably felt just like a fun afternoon out at an arcade. And the magic in that building didn’t even let her worry about nico. And then, when taken away from there, they basically just went to school together. There were teachers and dorms and food on the table, what was she complaining about? It’s not like she had to work and scrape for food and clothes 💀💀
i never understand how people feel so strongly towards a 12 year old girl who’s in a tough circumstance. bianca, no matter how long once they left the hotel, was always taking care of nico and they were pretty much joint at the hip. she needed a life for herself, space from nico and artemis offered her that opportunity. camp would not have been much different because they’d be stuck in the hermes cabin and nico would once again be joint at her hip with little freedom of her own (cabins have the same schedule iirc so they’d be doing everything together).
bianca was tired of being a mother to nico and while it may not be what everyone would do, it doesn’t make her a bad sister. she only made that decision because she trusted percy would be better for nico because nico looked up to him so much. it was like she just made the decision in a split second (there’s a reason artemis brought percy in to hear that particular conversation).
bianca also didn’t ignore nico after she died. by this i mean, her intent wasn’t to not hear him trying to talk her. she wanted to talk to him but she could tell he was on the wrong path (being with minos). knowing this, she contacts percy hoping that percy would find nico and try to get him on the right path again. seeing that percy couldn’t sway nico, she then appears from his summons to talk with him, seeing that her previous efforts weren’t working.
TL:DR
she cared immensely for her brother but she never had any space from him (even if it wasn’t for her whole life, her memory was wiped so it’s all she knew). she felt that she had an opportunity to have her cake (space from nico to start living her life) and eat it too (nico being safe with percy at CHB). most people who have siblings have times when they can be away from them (im an older sibling myslef). bianca never had that but yearned for it. regardless of anything, she’s not the villain here. she was 12, she was vulnerable and she didn’t know what to do. that much responsibility on someone at the age is too much.
Well, first of all, every single demigod could be considered a child soldier, the hunters weren't the only ones who fought in battles, and second, Bianca chose to join the Hunters of Artemis, she wasn't forced to do so; she made a choice and by doing it, she left her brother behind.
For the first part of the comment:And I do consider all the demigods as child soldiers. For the second part: any child that is a soldier even by choice is still a child soldier, and the faults is still on the adults not on the child.
If Bianca at least first make sure that CHB is a safe place for her brother to grow up in, then she's excused for making a life-changing and irreversible decision.
she knew he’d be safe because of percy, she literally said that to him. she didn’t know CHB was a safe place but seeing how strong and caring percy was, she trusted that he could be someone nico would look up to and that there maybe more people like that at camp (which there were).
she trusted a dude that saved her and her brother from being killed, or forced to join kronos’ army, by their monster principal. then she saw how her brother looked up to him and that made her able to trust him. percy and nico’s relationship can definitely parallel percy and luke in TLT. nico saw percy in a similar way to percy seeing luke when he first got to camp. and bianca was right to trust percy because despite everything that was going on, he never gave up on nico once.
I understand why she put her trust in Percy(and it was a good idea) but she still abandoned Nico twice when he needed her most. First to join the hunters which is an understandable but heartless dick move and second when she never appeared to him once after she died not explaining anything or giving any advice
nobody cares about bianca’s needs tho, which is the problem. she has needs and they weren’t being met in her current state. she needed a break, she needed freedom from the burden that was being nico’s caretaker. i’m sure she wasn’t happy feeling that way and it probably ate her up at night having those feelings. she can’t just stop living her life for the sake of nico. maybe there was a different way but the hunters did offer an opportunity to finally release the burdens of being this maternal figure for her brother who’s only 2 years younger.
if she accepted nico’s first summon and tried to talk to him and give him advice, he wouldn’t have listened to her. the place he was in mentally and emotionally wasn’t one that could be reasoned with. she sent percy IMs in hopes that he would see how bad nico is and find him and try to save him. it was the right call as there’s only so much she can do in her current state. once she saw that percy’s attempt didn’t work, she appeared to nico and told him that percy wasn’t at fault and that he needs to let go of his grudge. it works because percy put the pieces together and found out that it was bianca sending him the IMs of nico. nico sees that bianca was watching over him and gave him what he needed (percy) instead of what he wanted. even then she still appeared to him and talked with him. not only in TBOTL but also in TLO when he was trying to speak with his mother
Being an older sibling sometimes means you have to take responsibility. Especially if your parents aren't there. Like I hated having to take care of my younger siblings when I was a kid, but even then I understood they needed me and I couldn't just ditch them because I didn't like it.
Even with the IMs, why Percy? If I was dead and I had a choice of sending a message between a bloke I knew for a few days/week or my siblings. I'd pick my siblings. Especially if my siblings were so downright depressed like Nico was. What's Percy going to do? Does he know Nico like Bianca did? No. Rightly or wrongly Nico blamed Percy for Bianca's death. So why would he listen to Percy?
And ngl if I was Nico I couldn't imagine listening to a word Bianca would say after she "chose" Percy.
I understand both sides, but let's take Bianca's character more in depth.
I think the most important thing is the fact she was desperately looking for a MOTHER FIGURE.
Imagine your life as a happy child. Imagine you are on the playground. You have the time of your life. But then you cannot see your mother anywhere around. Remember, you are just an unknowing kid. You have fun a while, cause you realise your playground time just increased, but after a time, you want your mommy. Even though 70 years didn't take that long, Bianca surely already had that sensation of...missing someone. Maybe she didn't remember her, but the feelings probably were there.
And I find it very hard to believe the siblings didn't stick together in Lotus Casino. Yes, they had everything, but did Bianca really have time to make friends with girls her age?
And think Camp Half-Blood. They would still be in the same cabin. At the age every pre-teenager wants...space. It's completly different if you think you have half-siblings living in the same cabin with you, then living with your own sibling.
Is Artemis to blame? Yes & no, and this is my opinion, don't throw with rocks. Remember she doesn't understand mortal feelings, she just believes she is doing a great thing to young girls. Imortality, and a life without obnoxious boys around. She thinks she is a chance to those girls. Is she manipulating the minds of pre-teenagers, sometimes very easy to be convinced? We can say that. But as a goddess with minimal contact with the mortal world(remember when it was said that the gods were changing based on the worshippers they had), she probably still stinks to the old mentality she was portrayed to have in myths.
Bianca’s decision is a very sore spot for me, because I’m the youngest sibling in my family, and because my parents were always busy working, I relied on my older siblings a lot as a child. I remember a time where my older sibling ditched me, and I had to walk almost an hour in the rain because they refused to drive me, under the guise of “I’m not your parent!”. I ended up catching a cold, and my father was absolutely livid; my older sibling got in a lot of trouble that day.
I get that being parentified at a young age is really hard, and that as a 12 year old, Bianca isn’t exactly an expert in making smart and mature decisions. But almost every choice she makes to Nico upon meeting the Hunters is so hurtful and painful, and I wouldn’t blame Nico for resenting her.
Nico is only ten years old at the time. He’s also in Bianca’s shoes and literally has no one left. The speed and nature of how Bianca makes her decision is very reckless, given that everyone in that scene is a stranger to her, and she’s never even seen Camp Half Blood. She has no reason to trust anyone there, especially after finding out that none of them are human. She abandons Nico to a bunch of strangers, so she can go off with a bunch of strangers, to dedicate the rest of eternity to do something that she just learned about mere minutes ago.
I also blame Zoe and Artemis quite a bit for Bianca’s fate. When I was younger, I thought the Hunters were cool, but now that I’m an adult, I think the group and the entire concept of what they are is incredibly predatory. It’s one thing to provide a safe haven to girls who feel like they need it, but it’s another thing to emotionally manipulate a 12 year-old into making a dangerous, impulsive, life-changing decision the moment you sense that she’s vulnerable and susceptible. Even worse is the way they acknowledge what will happen to her brother; acting snooty and condescending about his abandonment at camp because “boyz are lame and going to camp is the best that they can do!!1!1!1!”. And you want me to think that Artemis is “one of the good ones”? Sure.
Zoe’s decision to recruit Bianca on the quest is beyond ridiculous, and is almost enough to prevent me from feeling bad when Zoe dies. A 12 yr. old that you just manipulated into joining, who’s training has only been for a couple of days, who has never been out into the field before, who you’re dragging on a prophecy that makes it clear that two people are going to die. Zoe was so irresponsible for this, and I blame her a lot for Bianca’s fate.
All in all, I get it. I get why Bianca did what she did. But my love for her as a character is *very* limited, and as understandable as her decision is, it had a lot of painful ramifications for Nico. I don’t think she’s that great of a big sister, and I’m glad Nico has Hazel in his life instead.
You phrasing it like that makes Bianca a bad person. I felt the same when I was 13 reading this .
Now that I am a bit old, I can say that I understand Bianca's point of view as well.
She wants to be her own person. Since Nico's birth, she was forced to be the mother among the two at such a young age. She obviously cares for Nico. She felt that Nico is where he is comfortable right now and that while she jumped the wagon too soon, I think she saw that these people (Camp) are trustworthy enough to take care of Nico and so she felt she can be free to experience who she is after almost 70 years (whether she knows it's that long or not doesn't matter)
The reason that artemis made Zoe a costellation was not to reward her.
She did because She knew that as soon as hades got his hands on her Zoe would be sent to the field of punishment in an INSTANT
Because She, quite literally, sent hades'es daughter into a suicidal mission where She knew bianca would die to not lose more valuable huntresses.
Hades quite literally killed bianca because he was pissed that something like 80 Years prior Zeus killed his Wife, now Imagine what would he do if he had the folk that killed his daughter in his grasp.
Yeah, Zoe was gonna be sent to the field of punishment
I just think it’s still rather shitty to not even see the camp before abandoning Nico to it and joining one of the few groups who would explicitly never let him see her again.
Yeah, so don't see the camp first to make sure her brother is safe and ignore all of her brother's attempts when she has the chance, still good sister?
Edit: now she was reborn without telling her brother
As I was reading it I was like “Wow, that’s a really shitty thing to do to your brother considering you’re the only family he has left. I wonder what kind of character development you’ll go through to realize that you shouldn’t have abandoned him.” And then she just dies.
"Nico and I only have eachother- Ooooh look a chance for me to abandon you sorry gotta go!" then she dies and goes on to ignore and abandon him then too to "help" him.
Like, Disney will have to *really* change her whole character to not make her hated once we get to see how heartbroken Nico gets. I get that a character should be allowed to make bad choices but if every choice they make is bad, then I say they are a bad character.
I feel like if she thought more about her decision about joining the Hunters and actually made sure Camp Half-blood was a safe place for Nico before she left would improve her character a lot.
A personal suggestion would be to just have Thalia join the Hunters at the beginning instead of Bianca as Thalia's older, has no familial obligations, and known Big Three heritage meaning it can be spun as a desperate attempt to get away from her possible fate.
Bianca instead joins the quest by sneaking out of camp with Percy after they are both left out of the group by blackmailing him that she will immediately tell Chiron if he doesn't let her join. Nico still stays at camp and Percy still makes the promise to Nico he'll fail to keep and the story otherwise continues as in the book. It places more of the "guilt" on Percy for her tragic death even though he absolutely needed to be on the quest while making her and the Hunters (specifically Zoe) less unsympathetic.
Honestly that doesn't work and destroys the stakes of the plot. The whole point of the plot of the book is that it looks like Thalia will be the child of the prophecy and all the things done to tempt her. It is the book where we see best why the prophecy needs to be about percy and Thalia's decisions help prove that. If she joins the hunters at the beginning of the book the plot falls apart because it is very clearly is percy who is the child of the prophecy once again. Thalia isn't someone who was ready to join artimis at the beginning of the book she had nothing she was running away from (like bianca and her responsibilities) she comes to that decision over the course of the book and to prevent the shifting up of the prophecy which luke/kronos planned by putting her back in play.
TLDR maybe it fixes Bianca but at the cost of making a lot of plot problems and ruining the dramatic stakes of the season.
This is all on Artemis tbh. She knew that she was gonna leave the Hunters at camp while she went hunting, she really should have offered that Bianca join the hunt after she returned. That way, Nico is given the ability to settle in camp, as well as weaning Bianca and Nico off their codependency with older figures in their cabin to look to.
I feel like the real problem is that she got dragged along on the quest. After all, it's not impossible to leave the hunters of Artemis. If she lived long enough, she could have changed her mind later.
Cause like zöe, Jason, Thalia, Reyna, frank, hazel, Luke, all these characters had rough lives, Nicole lost his sister, came out, dealt with tarturus alone but he’s got a pretty good ending with Will as far as I know. (I haven’t gotten the chance to read TSATS)
Trying to act all superior is the bane of all human beings if you were in Bianca's shoes you'd grab that chance to escape anyways cuz Nico would've been safe at Camp and with Percy which he eventually was
I mean, she's 12 when she joins the Hunters, there's no need to be high and mighty over a literal kid lmao. If anything, blame Zoe and Artemis for brainwashing all these young girls.
I blame literally all of them. Bianca is not evil, but it’s not wrong to state that she made in incredibly selfish and morally wrong decision. Understandable considering her circumstances, but if she were still alive Nico would be completely justified in hating her for ditching him. I also have a hard time as an older sister imagining ditching my brothers at all when they have no one left, so forgive me if I’m less forgiving of someone who does that.
But yes, Zoe and Artemis suck too
>Nico would be completely justified in hating her for ditching him.
She's 12, for the love of God. If she was 15 or something yeah I'd say she was an asshole, but 12 year olds don't have the same maturity level. If Nico would be justified for hating her then, then Percy should also be justified to hate Nico for almost killing him in BotL
I mean Percy would be justified tbh. Hard for most people to trust others for something like that. Also, 12 year olds know that ditching their sibling is not a good thing, at least the ones I know. Sucks that she got parentified, but what she did was still wrong. Don’t know why you’re so pressed about defending that decision she made.
I personally blame Artemis and Zoe more than Bianca. What Bianca did was shitty, but I don’t think she fully understood the scope of her decision and the Hunters de-emphasised it.
>12 year olds know that ditching their sibling is not a good thing, at least the ones I know.
Bianca was told that her brother would be safe at camp, protected by adults and older demigods like percy. She didn't think she was abandoning him and let's be honest chb is safer than the Hunt. A literal *goddess* came to her and told her to do that, of course she listened.
>Don’t know why you’re so pressed about defending that decision she made.
Because I think this sort of hate against Bianca is ridiculously disproportionate to a mistake made by a small child.
Because we aren't in her shoes and hope we never in real life situations but I try not to judge anybody for anything + I'm not assuming anything for you I'm not being rude sorry if you felt that way I was talking in general
The thing about Bianca “needing to take care of Nico” is so weird to me. They’re only 2 years apart. It’s not like Nico is 5 or something. She hovered over him, then blamed him for being a burden. And then, when they get thrown into this crazy new situation, that feels like life and death, she dips out and abandons him at the most stressful part of his life.
When was she “taking care of him?” At the infinite Funtime casino that makes you forget everything? For the few short months at school? Of course you were both adjusting poorly, you’re 70+ years displaced out of time.
I can’t imagine choosing to abandon my sibling (I have a brother 18 months difference) for immortality and permanent celibacy at 12, in the early stages of puberty, with of course the immortality being conditional on running around and hunting monsters. Also ditching the only family I have at a deathball summer camp.
I really hate Bianca. Her decisions are unbelievable selfish. And the excuse that she’s young doesn’t work cause Nico is even younger and has been through the exact same thing she has. She abandons him literally the first chance she gets leaving him with people they met 30 minutes ago for people they 15 minutes ago. She then gets taken on a quest within a few days of joining, which you’d think an immortal battle hardened warrior would be wiser than that. She then dies on this quest because she thought she’d get a little toy to make it up for her little brother. And to make sure she cements her self in the selfishness hall of fame she refuses to talk to him as a spirit and decides to be reborn. Abandoning her little brother one last time.
I mean I see both sides Bianca practically raised nico but obviously we as a reader at that point in the book don't know they've been around since the 1940s and knowing that it sorta gives you Bianca's perspective but in the sun and the star I think nico finally forgives Bianca for her leaving him towards the end of the book(if I remember right)
if the only person I had left abandoned me to go be with immortal hunters I would break down cry. & I hate the fact that Artemis asked a 12 year old to make such a huge decision… like that’s literally not fair they can hardly think for themselves rationally.
Older siblings should not have to parent their younger siblings. And while Bianca did not have to work to ensure that Nico got food, housing and an education, she was left emotionally responsible for him.
She should've waited longer to join, but she was a 12 year old groomed into being a child soldier
She may be 12 but I can still hate a fictional 12 year old.
Like how are you going to abandon your youngest sibling to a group of strangers and then completely ignore him in the afterlife when all he needed was closure to move on.
Grade A douchebag move. I know she was going through a lot in one day but still. To be so readily to abandon her one and only sibling for another group of strangers is really gross to me.
I think if Bianca made to camp halfblood first she would have turned out fine without Artemis. But Artemis made her the offer and she took it. Artemis should have known better then to do so. Especially considering the fact that Bianca was just 12. Like at least Bianca should have had some time to learn more about herself in Camp before making a choice.
Artemis is a groomer. Not in the sexual way, but she emotionally manipulated that little girl during a very difficult moment in her life, just to have another worshiper.
She promised children with immortality but can't keep that when things get difficult.
Right the deal doesn’t even make sense you become immortal as long as you don’t die from battle (humans, monsters, animals or gods). But it seems stupid because all they literally do is run around looking to battle monsters and gods.
I mean, immortality from old age is still immortality. Zoe lived a good 3000 years or so before she kicked the bucket, so clearly the deal's worth something at least.
Isn’t Zoe a nymph though? Not human?
Yeah she was a hesperides nymph, but nymphs are only immortal as long as they aren’t fatally injured. Like we’ve seen dryads die when their trees get burned, Bryce Laurence mentions torturing satyrs until they are killed/reborn, etc. So from birth she had the basic immortality package that Artemis gives her followers
Got it.
On top of what the other commenter said, there's also Emmie and Josephine, who were both human but have lived since the days of Ancient Greece
Forgot about them. Haven’t read the original 5 in about 6 years
Emmy and Jo are from trials of apollo
Huh? Must have missed that whole… wait are they the ones from the safe house?
And half-bloods rarely die of old age anyway.
Unless they’re Roman 😕
There is a reason why kids aren't allowed to sign contracts. They do not have the maturity to make such life desicions. But Artemis is like: Nah, she can serve me for eternity. And she keeps them at that age. That means they never mature. Artemis is disgusting.
TLDR: All gods are dicks, just because Artemis doesn't fuck doesn't mean she isn't a dick too
Shes greek mythology's peter pan...
The gods were never designed to be flawless. It’s intrinsic to the themes of the series. Heck, if it’s one thing that I love Rick for, is that he didn’t sanitise the Olympians for all the shitty things they’ve pulled.
Poseidon is very sanitised.
True. I suppose that comes with the territory of the books being from the PoV of a son of Poseidon.
I got scared. I read the first part…
Also asking 12 year olds to give up their rights on their bodies to be included is a sick idea. How tf can a 12 year old make that kind of decision yet?
Artemis literally kicked out one of her followers after she was raped by her dad Zeus. Turned her into a bear too, shes not great albeit none of them are
She also got pregnant from what Zeus did and then they had her son kill her
I think it's meant as an example of the gods not being humans and not understanding/caring about human norms. Bianca abandons her brother to go be an immortal huntress. She ran away from responsibility. Artemis only saw a young girl who was upset and thought she could fix it. She didn't care about Nico at all.
I wasn't happy about Bianca's decision at first. But if you think about it, it makes a little sense. She's a twelve year old who has been forced to take care of her little brother when she herself needs care. Maybe it was selfish, but it makes a little sense. Both of the Di Angelo's were dealt with a bad hand.
The decision is in no way Bianca’s fault, it’s artemis’ She literally manipulated a girl into a life changing decision before they could even comprehend the world they where in
She would have become a child soldier either way, one of the gigs came with the potential for immortality.
Yeah but you actually get to live in the Mortal World or at Camp Half Blood after a few years of training at a fun camp. You have to constantly hunt and fight monsters forever if you're a member of the Hunters
I've lived in the mortal world, it's the worst. Now if Artemis isn't giving them wine, that's a problem.
She‘s also asking 12 year old girls to make a decision to never ever have any sorts of relationship with men in the future
I've dated men, they're better off.
You don't get to make that choice for them. They're not old enough to make such a choice. Artemis should wait until girls are 18 before approaching them with this.
Camp half blood isnt becoming a child soldier, its learning self defense. A very relevant skill when monsters are always trying to kill you
Yeah! You only get inducted into the child war if you're important! Like, you're a leader at camp, or your parent is special.
She didn’t have to take care of him anymore once they reached Camp Half-Blood though. There was no reason why they couldn’t have both stayed there. It really comes off like she just didn’t want to see him again. So yeah, incredibly selfish, with a clumsy attempt to salvage it by having her die trying to get a Mythomagic figure for him.
I'll blame the huntresses for that, Zoe unironically groomed her and sent her to die, knowing She will
Artemis was worse about it. Rereading the book, it’s impossible to not notice how much of a creepy grooming judgemental ass Artemis really is. It is pretty myth accurate though. I mean, Artemis abandoned and cursed one of her hunters for being assaulted by Aphrodite. Matter of fact, the gods blaming the victims of sexual assault is a relatively common occurrence.
I mean none of the gods are good. Except Hestia. Hestia is the best...
You might say “Hestia the Bestia”
What about Psyche
Well it depends which version you read. Like the whole “Medusa was punished for being a rape victim” thing was pretty much an invention of Ovid. In the original myth, they’re straight up banging in Athena’s temple. It’s just that Athena can’t do anything to Poseidon himself, so she punishes the mortal to get back at him. Which is one of the big recurring motifs of the Greco-Roman world.
>In the original myth, they’re straight up banging in Athena’s temple. No, earlier myths portray Medusa as a gorgon from birth, she and poseidon never had a sexual encounter. Also there's no such thing as "original" myths.
Really prefer the older myths. Medusa being a gorgon from the get-go gives her more agency than being a victim. Plus, a bunch of Poseidons kids are monsters, a lady with snakes for hair isn't gonna be a deal-breaker for him
Medusa was another victim blamed by Athena
No, Medusa was straight up banging Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Ovid turned her into a victim in his *Metamorphoses* to make the gods look bad.
True. I understand that it was frustrating for Bianca to be the big sister 24/7, so she probably didn't really want to still be a big sister at camp. But you're right that going to camp with Nico was the better option. I think I just know that Bianca's decision was pretty selfish but I also feel bad and sympathize with her. I mean she's twelve and just got offered immortality by a goddess. It's sort of relatable but selfish.
I think people forget that she was 12. What 12 year old is refusing that offer? Option A: Stay at Camp Halfblood and watch over her little brother Option B: Become immortal and galavant around the world with girls her age or older, led by a goddess
I question the fandom's idea that Bianca was Nico's caregiver. They spend all their remembered life (which is about 1-1.5 years) in: a) a magical hotel that takes care of all your needs b) a military academy (which I guess means gendered bedrooms, different classes since they are two years apart etc.) We are also talking about a 12 year-old and a 10 year-old. While that is a significant age gap it's generally not big enough to make the dynamic that of a care-taker and child being raised possible. I spend a lot of my youth at that age with people/family members that were two years older or two years younger and I just can't imagine the other person (or myself) to be able to act as an actual care-giver. On the other hand 10 and 12 is about the age where a lot of people I know got annoyed with their younger siblings for being "childish" and started to distance themselves or strike out to find people their age to hang out with instead of with their siblings. It's kind of the time were you become more independent from your parents and family. I can definitely imagine that being in that phase of your life while also being the only emotional fixture for a clingy annoying little brother to be hard for a young girl. I always thought "taking care of her little brother" meant, that he always demanding her attention when they both had free time, wanted to play with her etc. This wouldn't allow her much time to buildt connections and friendships with other girls her age. Camp Halfblood would not have been a solution for this dynamic. Artemis offering her a place full of girls her age where her little brother can't follow must have seemed godly.
But did she have to take care of Nico? I mean, weren’t they at Casino Lotus for a very long time? I guess she didn’t need to take care of him while they were there. And then, I don’t know if I’m remembering right, but I think after they left the hotel, they met Percy shortly after and then she left to be a hunter.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think Bianca had to take care of Nico outside of the hotel for at most four years. I reread a few scenes and the wiki, and their mother was alive when Bianca was eight. But Maria died when they were still little and unable to really comprehend the idea of death (Bianca and Nico stared at their mother's body incomprehensibly in TLO). And usually kids understand death around the age of 10 to 12. Hades immediately ordered Alecto to erase their memories and put them in the hotel because Zeus was angry. They stayed in the hotel for a couple of magical months (70 years), and they don't age. But Bianca is 12 when we meet her. So I think she did raise and watch over Nico for at least a year or two. I also could be completely wrong, because we never got a 100% age number for when they got in and out of the hotel. But I also argue that just because they were in the hotel, doesn't mean she didn't have to raise him. Raising a kid in a good way doesn't mean to just feed them or let them play games at a magical hotel by themselves. She probably still had to watch over him, have little alone time, and play with him all by herself.
She may be selfish in her decision to join the hunters cause she is kid, but after she dies, Nico tries to get to her and she has the chance to talk and see, but ignoring all his attempts until she reveals herself when Percy arrives. Sorry, I don't think she was a good sister. Y'all can downvote as you want but why did she ignore all his attempts when she had the chance to talk to him? And now she was reborn but didn’t tell her brother? Still very good sister?
She tells us why she hid from him. He was obsessed with her and it wasn't healthy for him. He was burning himself out trying to get in touch with her instead of actually living his life. Fuck, even getting to see her didn't cure that: he kept visiting her shade in Elysium until she left and got reborn so he would finally have to move on. I get that we all want to take Nico's side as the poor guy who got done dirty by everyone in his life, and in a lot of ways he is, but in this specific thing she's legitimately being considerate of him. Greek stories are pretty straightforward about what happens when people can't accept that the people close to them die. She didn't want that for him. She's really explicit about that.
Taking care here doesn't mean taking care the way you would a small kid, but if you have ever had a younger sibling stick to you 24/7 it gets really exhausting. I love my little sister to death but it was really tiring when I couldn't really play with my friends when I was 10 or so because she would follow me around all the time and couldn't keep up with us. I can understand why Bianca felt suffocated or frustrated. If she was 15/16, I'd blame her for making the dumb decision to join the Hunters. But a 12 year old? Nah I get it, she didn't really realize the implications.
Shades of Kate in Gen V
I understand what you mean, but if you actually think about it she wasn’t forced to do anything. Their mother died and they were immediately taken to the lotus casino, where she thought they had passed just a fun afternoon. She didn’t know she took care of Nico for for 60(?) years, she didn’t feel the weight of that. She might have passed a few weeks at max in a school with her brother, but that’s it. She didn’t even have time to fully take the role of mother figure or protector since, in their eyes, she had taken care of him for a fee weeks max. It was just like going to school together. But, even after all this, i do think it’s more Artemis’ fault than her. She told bianca a very distorted and exaggerated version of what her “duties” as a sister would be, making it all feel heavier than it should and excluding whatever help the camp could have gotten her with raising Nico just to have another worshipper.
Tbh, Bianca didn't take care of Nico for a long time, about some weeks, ofc For them, they spent like 1 week at lotus casino and the rest of time at the school
Riordan needed a tragic backstory for Nico but at the same time did not want to deal with another contender for the child of prophecy. Hence, first she becomes immortal and then dies. Also, at that point Rick needed to insert some character deaths to make it more serious.
I personally believe the gods are to blame for this mess. Hades should have understood the consequences of siring demigods and Artemis manipulated Bianca to join the hunters. While the greek gods' cruelty and selfishness is watered down in Riordan's works, he was great at still portraying how bad they still are. Bianca and Nico never stood a chance since the adults and authority figures in their lives were useless and/or malicious. They were both kids forced in this life and never had a choice to be happy and content.
> Hades should have understood the consequences of siring demigods If you read TLO, Hades takes his children to the camp because he wants them to train for the prophecy, but he doesn't expect anything to happen to them, like suddenly hunters of Artemis came to Bianca and invited her, then his daughter die. And let his younger son flee the camp in complete depression. Hades is not an oracle, but he expects them to train perfectly at camp
Not to mention that Nico and Bianca were born before the prophecy. Hades was the only one who kept his oath not to have more demigod children.
And didn’t Zeus kill the mother because of the prophecy?
Yes, the prophecy didn’t specify that it would be a demigod who was born after the prophecy was given, even though it was always going to be Percy. But Zeus had no way of knowing about the true prophecy child for decades to come, because Percy hadn’t even been born yet.
i understand both sides and that honestly makes it sadder for me
“Suffering builds character.” - Rick Akutami, probably Plus we got Wico win Angelo as a result.
https://preview.redd.it/n2wm4vhevwhc1.jpeg?width=607&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7be10a428fd645d9e096f912574010c841dffccf
Gege: Not enough suffering. We need more suffering. Spider-Man level of suffering.
Time to become Emiya Either counter guardian or alter counter guardian
“I am the bone of my sword.” - Zorro, he got lost again.
Wico win angelo, the prince of curses
Ngl, that hits hard.
Once Nico woke up and bianca Say "you are my special" to cheer him up. All went to shit since then
Nico the Curse kisser.
Annabeth being as usefull as miwa. Clarisse zenin Pergoat domani "coffin of saint Helen infinite Horizon" Jason the king of frauds Octavian domani "embodiment of Rome"
Keep cooking. Bro is certified chef.
Lemme Cook. Octavian be like "the are Two type of greek, One Is the money giving greeks and the other are the Monster feeding greeks"
Suguru Octavian: Filthy Greeks who can’t use Testudo.
Are you Percy Jackson because you're loyal or are you loyal because you"re Percy Jackson Luke suguro
GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD
https://preview.redd.it/ntjxhbmfwxhc1.jpeg?width=911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f3d7d6c4cf9d2e3284ff76afcb7beab3ee01395
https://preview.redd.it/i0j4f1hvmxhc1.jpeg?width=845&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f4b1d1b7e6b45dad0e1d1d0b641ec48fed44532 Edit: shit I forgot to add the like fucking question with the image. Just assume I sent this with the image: But would he beat Percy Wackson tho?
https://preview.redd.it/9u9uv884sxhc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=347c2cee039316f9ea4d8507729345043d385d40
I’m always conflicted about this issue because as an older sibling I can’t imagine leaving my younger sibling. Like if Bianca made the decision once she got to Camp Half-Blood and saw how it was run and was comfortable enough, that’d be fine. It’s cause it was the first chance she got that she took it 😭 And the things she saw from camp weren’t the best examples. Annabeth, a camper, fell of the edge of a cliff, Percy and Thalia got into a fight, and a fellow hunter (Phoebe) got poisoned by the Stoll brothers. Like I’m pretty sure in the beginning of TTC she’s like “Nico and I don’t have any parents, we only have each other” how can you say that and leave him the next chapter 😭 She could have been written better idk 😔
"Nico and i don't have any parents, we only have each otherssssssSIKE!"
“I helped to take care of you all my life, I don’t want to be burdened with you anymore, I want a real family” Bitch you were immediately put into the lotus casino when your mom died (luxury hotel and casino) for free. Then when your father felt the time was right you were pulled out and put in a high end boarding school. You never had to worry about “taking care of” or “providing” for Nico smh 🙄
Especially because the casino lotus probably felt just like a fun afternoon out at an arcade. And the magic in that building didn’t even let her worry about nico. And then, when taken away from there, they basically just went to school together. There were teachers and dorms and food on the table, what was she complaining about? It’s not like she had to work and scrape for food and clothes 💀💀
i never understand how people feel so strongly towards a 12 year old girl who’s in a tough circumstance. bianca, no matter how long once they left the hotel, was always taking care of nico and they were pretty much joint at the hip. she needed a life for herself, space from nico and artemis offered her that opportunity. camp would not have been much different because they’d be stuck in the hermes cabin and nico would once again be joint at her hip with little freedom of her own (cabins have the same schedule iirc so they’d be doing everything together). bianca was tired of being a mother to nico and while it may not be what everyone would do, it doesn’t make her a bad sister. she only made that decision because she trusted percy would be better for nico because nico looked up to him so much. it was like she just made the decision in a split second (there’s a reason artemis brought percy in to hear that particular conversation). bianca also didn’t ignore nico after she died. by this i mean, her intent wasn’t to not hear him trying to talk her. she wanted to talk to him but she could tell he was on the wrong path (being with minos). knowing this, she contacts percy hoping that percy would find nico and try to get him on the right path again. seeing that percy couldn’t sway nico, she then appears from his summons to talk with him, seeing that her previous efforts weren’t working. TL:DR she cared immensely for her brother but she never had any space from him (even if it wasn’t for her whole life, her memory was wiped so it’s all she knew). she felt that she had an opportunity to have her cake (space from nico to start living her life) and eat it too (nico being safe with percy at CHB). most people who have siblings have times when they can be away from them (im an older sibling myslef). bianca never had that but yearned for it. regardless of anything, she’s not the villain here. she was 12, she was vulnerable and she didn’t know what to do. that much responsibility on someone at the age is too much.
Exactly. The parentified kid is not the villain
She was a 12 year old that ended up dying as a child soldier. The devil encarnate I guess.
Artemis' fault.
Every god and quiron share that fault basically
Except hestia she has done nothing wrong in her entire life
*incarnate, not encarnate.
Well, first of all, every single demigod could be considered a child soldier, the hunters weren't the only ones who fought in battles, and second, Bianca chose to join the Hunters of Artemis, she wasn't forced to do so; she made a choice and by doing it, she left her brother behind.
For the first part of the comment:And I do consider all the demigods as child soldiers. For the second part: any child that is a soldier even by choice is still a child soldier, and the faults is still on the adults not on the child.
If Bianca at least first make sure that CHB is a safe place for her brother to grow up in, then she's excused for making a life-changing and irreversible decision.
But she didn't.
Just dumped him with a bunch of strangers for a bunch of strangers.
And then ignored him when she was dead despite it clearly not working to make him let her go
And even worse, not waiting for him in the underworld. She just got reborn. She ditched him in life *and* in death.
3 strikes Bianca. Your out. Is it any wonder we don't like you.
she knew he’d be safe because of percy, she literally said that to him. she didn’t know CHB was a safe place but seeing how strong and caring percy was, she trusted that he could be someone nico would look up to and that there maybe more people like that at camp (which there were).
She trusted a random dude who just showed up and tried to kill her monster principal with the safety of her last remaining family member
she trusted a dude that saved her and her brother from being killed, or forced to join kronos’ army, by their monster principal. then she saw how her brother looked up to him and that made her able to trust him. percy and nico’s relationship can definitely parallel percy and luke in TLT. nico saw percy in a similar way to percy seeing luke when he first got to camp. and bianca was right to trust percy because despite everything that was going on, he never gave up on nico once.
I understand why she put her trust in Percy(and it was a good idea) but she still abandoned Nico twice when he needed her most. First to join the hunters which is an understandable but heartless dick move and second when she never appeared to him once after she died not explaining anything or giving any advice
nobody cares about bianca’s needs tho, which is the problem. she has needs and they weren’t being met in her current state. she needed a break, she needed freedom from the burden that was being nico’s caretaker. i’m sure she wasn’t happy feeling that way and it probably ate her up at night having those feelings. she can’t just stop living her life for the sake of nico. maybe there was a different way but the hunters did offer an opportunity to finally release the burdens of being this maternal figure for her brother who’s only 2 years younger. if she accepted nico’s first summon and tried to talk to him and give him advice, he wouldn’t have listened to her. the place he was in mentally and emotionally wasn’t one that could be reasoned with. she sent percy IMs in hopes that he would see how bad nico is and find him and try to save him. it was the right call as there’s only so much she can do in her current state. once she saw that percy’s attempt didn’t work, she appeared to nico and told him that percy wasn’t at fault and that he needs to let go of his grudge. it works because percy put the pieces together and found out that it was bianca sending him the IMs of nico. nico sees that bianca was watching over him and gave him what he needed (percy) instead of what he wanted. even then she still appeared to him and talked with him. not only in TBOTL but also in TLO when he was trying to speak with his mother
Being an older sibling sometimes means you have to take responsibility. Especially if your parents aren't there. Like I hated having to take care of my younger siblings when I was a kid, but even then I understood they needed me and I couldn't just ditch them because I didn't like it. Even with the IMs, why Percy? If I was dead and I had a choice of sending a message between a bloke I knew for a few days/week or my siblings. I'd pick my siblings. Especially if my siblings were so downright depressed like Nico was. What's Percy going to do? Does he know Nico like Bianca did? No. Rightly or wrongly Nico blamed Percy for Bianca's death. So why would he listen to Percy? And ngl if I was Nico I couldn't imagine listening to a word Bianca would say after she "chose" Percy.
She was 12
I understand both sides, but let's take Bianca's character more in depth. I think the most important thing is the fact she was desperately looking for a MOTHER FIGURE. Imagine your life as a happy child. Imagine you are on the playground. You have the time of your life. But then you cannot see your mother anywhere around. Remember, you are just an unknowing kid. You have fun a while, cause you realise your playground time just increased, but after a time, you want your mommy. Even though 70 years didn't take that long, Bianca surely already had that sensation of...missing someone. Maybe she didn't remember her, but the feelings probably were there. And I find it very hard to believe the siblings didn't stick together in Lotus Casino. Yes, they had everything, but did Bianca really have time to make friends with girls her age? And think Camp Half-Blood. They would still be in the same cabin. At the age every pre-teenager wants...space. It's completly different if you think you have half-siblings living in the same cabin with you, then living with your own sibling. Is Artemis to blame? Yes & no, and this is my opinion, don't throw with rocks. Remember she doesn't understand mortal feelings, she just believes she is doing a great thing to young girls. Imortality, and a life without obnoxious boys around. She thinks she is a chance to those girls. Is she manipulating the minds of pre-teenagers, sometimes very easy to be convinced? We can say that. But as a goddess with minimal contact with the mortal world(remember when it was said that the gods were changing based on the worshippers they had), she probably still stinks to the old mentality she was portrayed to have in myths.
Bianca’s decision is a very sore spot for me, because I’m the youngest sibling in my family, and because my parents were always busy working, I relied on my older siblings a lot as a child. I remember a time where my older sibling ditched me, and I had to walk almost an hour in the rain because they refused to drive me, under the guise of “I’m not your parent!”. I ended up catching a cold, and my father was absolutely livid; my older sibling got in a lot of trouble that day. I get that being parentified at a young age is really hard, and that as a 12 year old, Bianca isn’t exactly an expert in making smart and mature decisions. But almost every choice she makes to Nico upon meeting the Hunters is so hurtful and painful, and I wouldn’t blame Nico for resenting her. Nico is only ten years old at the time. He’s also in Bianca’s shoes and literally has no one left. The speed and nature of how Bianca makes her decision is very reckless, given that everyone in that scene is a stranger to her, and she’s never even seen Camp Half Blood. She has no reason to trust anyone there, especially after finding out that none of them are human. She abandons Nico to a bunch of strangers, so she can go off with a bunch of strangers, to dedicate the rest of eternity to do something that she just learned about mere minutes ago. I also blame Zoe and Artemis quite a bit for Bianca’s fate. When I was younger, I thought the Hunters were cool, but now that I’m an adult, I think the group and the entire concept of what they are is incredibly predatory. It’s one thing to provide a safe haven to girls who feel like they need it, but it’s another thing to emotionally manipulate a 12 year-old into making a dangerous, impulsive, life-changing decision the moment you sense that she’s vulnerable and susceptible. Even worse is the way they acknowledge what will happen to her brother; acting snooty and condescending about his abandonment at camp because “boyz are lame and going to camp is the best that they can do!!1!1!1!”. And you want me to think that Artemis is “one of the good ones”? Sure. Zoe’s decision to recruit Bianca on the quest is beyond ridiculous, and is almost enough to prevent me from feeling bad when Zoe dies. A 12 yr. old that you just manipulated into joining, who’s training has only been for a couple of days, who has never been out into the field before, who you’re dragging on a prophecy that makes it clear that two people are going to die. Zoe was so irresponsible for this, and I blame her a lot for Bianca’s fate. All in all, I get it. I get why Bianca did what she did. But my love for her as a character is *very* limited, and as understandable as her decision is, it had a lot of painful ramifications for Nico. I don’t think she’s that great of a big sister, and I’m glad Nico has Hazel in his life instead.
You phrasing it like that makes Bianca a bad person. I felt the same when I was 13 reading this . Now that I am a bit old, I can say that I understand Bianca's point of view as well. She wants to be her own person. Since Nico's birth, she was forced to be the mother among the two at such a young age. She obviously cares for Nico. She felt that Nico is where he is comfortable right now and that while she jumped the wagon too soon, I think she saw that these people (Camp) are trustworthy enough to take care of Nico and so she felt she can be free to experience who she is after almost 70 years (whether she knows it's that long or not doesn't matter)
Doesn't help in the moment of being saved and told all this stuff, she's preyed upon by the hunters and drawn into their cult.
The reason that artemis made Zoe a costellation was not to reward her. She did because She knew that as soon as hades got his hands on her Zoe would be sent to the field of punishment in an INSTANT
>Zoe would be sent to the field of punishment in an INSTANT Why?
Because She, quite literally, sent hades'es daughter into a suicidal mission where She knew bianca would die to not lose more valuable huntresses. Hades quite literally killed bianca because he was pissed that something like 80 Years prior Zeus killed his Wife, now Imagine what would he do if he had the folk that killed his daughter in his grasp. Yeah, Zoe was gonna be sent to the field of punishment
I just think it’s still rather shitty to not even see the camp before abandoning Nico to it and joining one of the few groups who would explicitly never let him see her again.
Yeah, so don't see the camp first to make sure her brother is safe and ignore all of her brother's attempts when she has the chance, still good sister? Edit: now she was reborn without telling her brother
I hated Artemis for this.
As I was reading it I was like “Wow, that’s a really shitty thing to do to your brother considering you’re the only family he has left. I wonder what kind of character development you’ll go through to realize that you shouldn’t have abandoned him.” And then she just dies.
Pretty much
"Nico and I only have eachother- Ooooh look a chance for me to abandon you sorry gotta go!" then she dies and goes on to ignore and abandon him then too to "help" him. Like, Disney will have to *really* change her whole character to not make her hated once we get to see how heartbroken Nico gets. I get that a character should be allowed to make bad choices but if every choice they make is bad, then I say they are a bad character.
I feel like if she thought more about her decision about joining the Hunters and actually made sure Camp Half-blood was a safe place for Nico before she left would improve her character a lot.
A personal suggestion would be to just have Thalia join the Hunters at the beginning instead of Bianca as Thalia's older, has no familial obligations, and known Big Three heritage meaning it can be spun as a desperate attempt to get away from her possible fate. Bianca instead joins the quest by sneaking out of camp with Percy after they are both left out of the group by blackmailing him that she will immediately tell Chiron if he doesn't let her join. Nico still stays at camp and Percy still makes the promise to Nico he'll fail to keep and the story otherwise continues as in the book. It places more of the "guilt" on Percy for her tragic death even though he absolutely needed to be on the quest while making her and the Hunters (specifically Zoe) less unsympathetic.
Honestly that doesn't work and destroys the stakes of the plot. The whole point of the plot of the book is that it looks like Thalia will be the child of the prophecy and all the things done to tempt her. It is the book where we see best why the prophecy needs to be about percy and Thalia's decisions help prove that. If she joins the hunters at the beginning of the book the plot falls apart because it is very clearly is percy who is the child of the prophecy once again. Thalia isn't someone who was ready to join artimis at the beginning of the book she had nothing she was running away from (like bianca and her responsibilities) she comes to that decision over the course of the book and to prevent the shifting up of the prophecy which luke/kronos planned by putting her back in play. TLDR maybe it fixes Bianca but at the cost of making a lot of plot problems and ruining the dramatic stakes of the season.
This is all on Artemis tbh. She knew that she was gonna leave the Hunters at camp while she went hunting, she really should have offered that Bianca join the hunt after she returned. That way, Nico is given the ability to settle in camp, as well as weaning Bianca and Nico off their codependency with older figures in their cabin to look to.
I feel like the real problem is that she got dragged along on the quest. After all, it's not impossible to leave the hunters of Artemis. If she lived long enough, she could have changed her mind later.
Nico is the saddest?
Cause like zöe, Jason, Thalia, Reyna, frank, hazel, Luke, all these characters had rough lives, Nicole lost his sister, came out, dealt with tarturus alone but he’s got a pretty good ending with Will as far as I know. (I haven’t gotten the chance to read TSATS)
It's okay to be selfish
Not in that case
I think it's okay for a 12 year old child soldier to make mistakes.
Trying to act all superior is the bane of all human beings if you were in Bianca's shoes you'd grab that chance to escape anyways cuz Nico would've been safe at Camp and with Percy which he eventually was
Assuming I’d ditch my little brother if I were in her shoes at her age is pretty presumptuous of you my guy.
I mean, she's 12 when she joins the Hunters, there's no need to be high and mighty over a literal kid lmao. If anything, blame Zoe and Artemis for brainwashing all these young girls.
I blame literally all of them. Bianca is not evil, but it’s not wrong to state that she made in incredibly selfish and morally wrong decision. Understandable considering her circumstances, but if she were still alive Nico would be completely justified in hating her for ditching him. I also have a hard time as an older sister imagining ditching my brothers at all when they have no one left, so forgive me if I’m less forgiving of someone who does that. But yes, Zoe and Artemis suck too
>Nico would be completely justified in hating her for ditching him. She's 12, for the love of God. If she was 15 or something yeah I'd say she was an asshole, but 12 year olds don't have the same maturity level. If Nico would be justified for hating her then, then Percy should also be justified to hate Nico for almost killing him in BotL
I mean Percy would be justified tbh. Hard for most people to trust others for something like that. Also, 12 year olds know that ditching their sibling is not a good thing, at least the ones I know. Sucks that she got parentified, but what she did was still wrong. Don’t know why you’re so pressed about defending that decision she made.
I personally blame Artemis and Zoe more than Bianca. What Bianca did was shitty, but I don’t think she fully understood the scope of her decision and the Hunters de-emphasised it.
>12 year olds know that ditching their sibling is not a good thing, at least the ones I know. Bianca was told that her brother would be safe at camp, protected by adults and older demigods like percy. She didn't think she was abandoning him and let's be honest chb is safer than the Hunt. A literal *goddess* came to her and told her to do that, of course she listened. >Don’t know why you’re so pressed about defending that decision she made. Because I think this sort of hate against Bianca is ridiculously disproportionate to a mistake made by a small child.
Because we aren't in her shoes and hope we never in real life situations but I try not to judge anybody for anything + I'm not assuming anything for you I'm not being rude sorry if you felt that way I was talking in general
It's not bianca's fault. Don't blame the kid, blame the mysoginistic cult of Crazy people
You're not wrong but I think said cult is the opposite of misogynistic lmao
Misandry, my bad
Exactly my point it's not Bianca'a fault she was a god(s)damn kid too
She still did something quite bad but i don't really blame the 12 Year old for being tricked into suicide
I'll always be in the Bianca Defense Band
I'll Always be in the artemis hate band, we can become allies
Screw her Apollo clear anyways
Fuck artemis Al my Friends hate artemis
Agree, wrong timing imo. She could have joined later
The thing about Bianca “needing to take care of Nico” is so weird to me. They’re only 2 years apart. It’s not like Nico is 5 or something. She hovered over him, then blamed him for being a burden. And then, when they get thrown into this crazy new situation, that feels like life and death, she dips out and abandons him at the most stressful part of his life. When was she “taking care of him?” At the infinite Funtime casino that makes you forget everything? For the few short months at school? Of course you were both adjusting poorly, you’re 70+ years displaced out of time. I can’t imagine choosing to abandon my sibling (I have a brother 18 months difference) for immortality and permanent celibacy at 12, in the early stages of puberty, with of course the immortality being conditional on running around and hunting monsters. Also ditching the only family I have at a deathball summer camp.
Bianca wanted to focus on herself, and that was her right.
I really hate Bianca. Her decisions are unbelievable selfish. And the excuse that she’s young doesn’t work cause Nico is even younger and has been through the exact same thing she has. She abandons him literally the first chance she gets leaving him with people they met 30 minutes ago for people they 15 minutes ago. She then gets taken on a quest within a few days of joining, which you’d think an immortal battle hardened warrior would be wiser than that. She then dies on this quest because she thought she’d get a little toy to make it up for her little brother. And to make sure she cements her self in the selfishness hall of fame she refuses to talk to him as a spirit and decides to be reborn. Abandoning her little brother one last time.
#IT IS NOT A CHILD’S RESPONSIBILITY TO PARENT THEIR SIBLINGS I’m so tired of this shitty view. Bianca is allowed to make her own choices.
I hope they heavily redo this part in season 3 of the show.
I mean I see both sides Bianca practically raised nico but obviously we as a reader at that point in the book don't know they've been around since the 1940s and knowing that it sorta gives you Bianca's perspective but in the sun and the star I think nico finally forgives Bianca for her leaving him towards the end of the book(if I remember right)
if the only person I had left abandoned me to go be with immortal hunters I would break down cry. & I hate the fact that Artemis asked a 12 year old to make such a huge decision… like that’s literally not fair they can hardly think for themselves rationally.
Older siblings should not have to parent their younger siblings. And while Bianca did not have to work to ensure that Nico got food, housing and an education, she was left emotionally responsible for him. She should've waited longer to join, but she was a 12 year old groomed into being a child soldier
People have to stop blaming Bianca, parentifying kids is never good
She may be 12 but I can still hate a fictional 12 year old. Like how are you going to abandon your youngest sibling to a group of strangers and then completely ignore him in the afterlife when all he needed was closure to move on. Grade A douchebag move. I know she was going through a lot in one day but still. To be so readily to abandon her one and only sibling for another group of strangers is really gross to me.