The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5) The Last Olympian discussion


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how could luke ever be viewed as a hero?!?!?! what are you guys THINKING?!?!?!?

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message 1: by [deleted user] (last edited Nov 13, 2018 06:22PM) (new)

luke is probably one of the hands-down worst antiheroes ever created, or at least of the books i've read. jesus, i can't believe some people actually think he's a "dynamic" and "3-dimensional" character? riordan created luke as a villain and only a villain until probably around book 4, when he suddenly decided luke should be a hero, and that really shows in his writing.

1) his motivations: apparently luke has a grudge against the gods because he didn't get a good, original quest. what the he- that's the most egotistical villain sob story i've ever heard. how is not sending you on a dangerous quest that could get you killed an insult to you as a person? how is it disrespecting and dishonoring you? and then, i guess, it's revealed that luke's also evil because hermes abandoned him with his crazy mom or something. except what he doesn't take into account is, HERMES HAS 5 GODDAMN BILLION WIVES AND CHILDREN, AND HE'S GOT A BUSY JOB, AND THERE'S A NICE CAMP FOR YOU WITH GREAT COUNSELORS AND EVERYTHING, MATE, SO SHUT THE -- (also, when is destroying the world justified by "my daddy didn't give me much attention"?!) in the 5th book, however, apparently luke's motivation is suddenly changed to "these minor gods don't get the appreciation they deserved"! since when did his incentive change? maybe i didn't read that part, or maybe it's because there isn't one. wow, great job rick riordan! *cough* my hero! *cough cough*

2) his personality: rick also wants me to believe he's supposed to be just a guy with heroic intentions, except he wanted revenge on the gods and then kronos corrupted his soul. but nooope. or, at least, that's not what i concluded after reading the series. i just chose a random example of how he's so "heroic" before he was possessed by kronos (from book 2):
•percy jackson walks in
•luke is ready to meet him with a cliche villainous one-liner
•luke continues with some more stereotypical villainous dialogue, including calling someone a "fool", which is basic villain insults 101
•luke has 2 evil bear monster villainous henchman employed
•then luke commands one of his bear monsters to f***ing eat annabeth and forces percy to watch. HOW COULD ANYBODY IN ANY UNIVERSE, IN ANY UPSIDE-DOWN DIMENSION, VIEW THIS AS HEROIC? i guess when you want more respect and feel sad because your mom's scary and your dad doesn't give you enough attention, you've gotta resort to being sadistic and cruel. oh, and become a stereotypical supervillain.

3) his plan: give the minor demigods more respect by bringing a psychopath who ate his own children back to life so that he can destroy the world. oh, and employ a bunch of monsters from the fricking PITS OF HELL to help you, while also terrorizing the mortal world and committing mass genocide. because that's how rick riordan rolls, huh? 'nuff said, that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard.

if there's something i missed, feel free to tell me. i'm open for constructive criticism, but please keep death threats to a minimum. and, no, rick riordan isn't a perfect human being, contrary to what most of the percyheads (or whatever pjo fans are called) think.


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

edit: he didn't employ a child army apparently

another edit: he also started murdering huge populations in the mortal world too, so there's that


Prasad D THAT'S THE EXACT THING I WAS WONDERING DUDE, Good thinking!!


Paloma He was being controlled by Kronos and Kelli wasn't helping. Kronos was feeding Luke's hatred toward the gods and making him actually evil. He was not bad. Of course he thought bad things, but it was Kronos that made him act those ways. The ending proved that he was good in the end.


Prasad D That’s why we say he was an ANTIHERO not a VILLIAN or ANTAGONIST


Paloma yep


message 7: by [deleted user] (last edited Jan 04, 2019 11:14AM) (new)

It’s called I’m still in denial. I hate betrayal and always rewrite it in my head where they aren’t evil or try to justify their actions (I’ve done the same thing with Hans in Frozen as well). It’s wrong of me I know. I can’t change the betrayal I’ve experienced in real life but I sure as heck can with books/movies/shows in the form of fan fiction. I don’t even think Luke is totally in the wrong. His anger at the gods is justified, they are awful beings but they are certainly the lesser of two evils when compared with the titans. Lots of people were tricked by Kronos, he’s one manipulative guy. He like the sirens prey on people’s desires and uses it against them. Luke is a flawed character, he’s not completely good or bad, it gives him a certain kind of depth that we just don’t get in other books (or at least the ones I’ve read anyway).


message 8: by Ed (new)

Ed Steven Look.

Luke was never supposed to be the villain. Riordan knew the entire time he was writing that Kronos was influencing him, filling his heart with broken promises, desires he would never get, and taking advantage of his weaknesses. Hatred. The Past. Everything else. Luke died a hero. He saved Olympus. He was madly in love with Annabeth, which allowed her to charmspeak her way through Kronos, and into the Luke she knew and loved. She was deeply in love with Luke, and knew that he hadn't realized that he loved her, and it was a matter of time before he did. And he did!

My second defense line for Luke is the fact that Rachel specifically told Percy that he wasn't the hero. In fact, the prophecy says "The hero's soul cursed blade shall reap". Annabeth's dagger was the cursed blade. It was cursed because it was a gift over a promise, the they promise that Luke would never betray her. But he did. And he regretted it, in life AND in death.

Look, the prophecy goes like this:
"A half-blood of the eldest gods,
Shall reach sixteen against all odds,
And see the world in endless sleep,
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap,
A single choice shall end his days,
Olympus to preserve or raze."

Interpretation: The first demigod child of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades to reach sixteen would see everyone sleeping (Morpheus's spell over the New Yorkers, remember?). The hero, Luke, would have his soul reaped by the blade he cursed by breaking his promise. The choice was made by Percy, to give Luke the dagger, or not to. On one hand, Luke could save the world. On the other, it would leave Percy defenceless against an armed swordsman who was partially possessed by an evil Titan who was trying to destroy the world. The final line means that since Percy trusted Luke, and gave him the knife, Olympus was preserved. Had he not given Luke the knife, the world would've ended, and Luke and Percy AND Annabeth, and Grover and Juniper and Nico and Clarisse, and Chris and Miranda and Katie and the Stolls and Chiron and Camp Jupiter and ANYONE WHO I MISSED WOULD HAVE DIED ALONG WITH THE GODS. The end.

Face it. Luke's love for Annabeth allowed him to become a hero, and save the world.


Susan Ed wrote: "Look.

Luke was never supposed to be the villain. Riordan knew the entire time he was writing that Kronos was influencing him, filling his heart with broken promises, desires he would never get, a..."


I agree with you totally


KingdomReader I think that he just had some problems and was tricked and should be viewed as a hero.
Thank you for your time.

~KingdomReader
http://KingdomReader.Wordpress.com


Hannah I am in between. I do believe that Luke did some good in the end by killing himself, but at the same time he did do some really horrible things, even without Kronos. Luke loved Annabeth I get that, but just loving her and wanting to save HER doesn't excuse what he did. He was willing to kill Percy and all these other people, and yes I do understand that Kronos was controlling him, but he was the one who let Kronos into his head, he was the one who wanted to kill the gods and bring them down just to get back at his dad. Like Hello, we get it you have daddy issues but that doesn't mean that you go and partner with the most feared titan in Greek mythology. So yes I realize that he made a good choice in the end but that one good choice doesn't excuse all of the other bad choices he did, and doing it because he loved Annabeth almost makes it worst, it makes it seem like he only did it for her, not because it was the right thing to do and not because this is all his fault anyway, no, it was because he loved her, which if you ask me makes him an even worst person because he didn't do it to save the world or because he realized that he was being a horrible person. If he had done it because he realized that he was being a bad person then I could buy the whole antivilian or hero thing but he didn't he did it to please Annabeth which makes him kinda selfish.


ReadingisHappiness I feel that the only reason Luke did what he did was that he felt betrayed. If his father had taken care of him, he would not have resented the gods. If you look at it, he never actually betrayed his friends. He asked Annabeth to come with him, to put the bad times behind. He even wanted to run away with her! I do ship Percabeth, but I feel as though Luke's driving force for his actions wasn't that he was evil, but because he truly cared about the people around him and truly believed that Kronos could help everyone. He actually loved Annabeth, and it wasn't just some obsession. he actually cared enough to try to save her, to do so much for her, to love her, because he had promised her that he would never leave.


Anousha I agree that all the evil things Luke was doing was wrong but he did sacrifice himself at the end which shows that he also has some good in him. I think he was a charachter under pressure by the camp or Kronos.


message 14: by Andrea (last edited Oct 19, 2019 11:23AM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Andrea I think the same. His redemption at the end doesn´t makes him a hero; what he did at last doesn´t delete what he had done before.It is kinda like Snape in the Harry Potter series, a lot of people loves him and says that he was a hero but in my oponio he wasn´t.

As a character he is great but not as a person in the series.


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