Riordanverse Oneshots, Rants and More

Rant #5- saltnubis, or whatever it's called - rr crit

I'm back with more rr crit because I felt like it.

Okay, disclaimer: if you ship this, I respect your opinion and you can continue to ship it if you want. I'm not trying to change your mind, just stating why I think it doesn't work. At all.

Also, spoilers for all three books of the Kane Chronicles.

First of all, The Kane Chronicles is such a wonderful series. The protagonists are two siblings who've been separated from each other due to familial issues and are only allowed to see each other twice a year. Even then, they are constantly faced with people giving them weird looks because it's hard for some to believe that they are actual blood siblings since their skin tones are significantly different. Over the course of the series, alongside the usual plot of "saving the world from the apocalypse because we're one of the most powerful people in the world apparently", they get another chance to feel like a brother and sister and grow closer together as a family.

I feel like it should also be applauded for having one of the most healthy main romantic relationships to be written in the rrverse: Carter and Zia (although I do agree that if we had more page time with these two, it would make it even better).

(Other honourable mentions that this series has which I find great: poc protagonists that are NOT love interests but siblings, both of whom get an equal chance to narrate their side of the story, majority of the cast is poc, the First Nome is actually in Egypt rather than America or something, unlike what happened in the case of Olympus and uh other stuff I don't remember at the moment.)

(I'm not trying to say the series is perfect otherwise, by the way. I am aware that it has its own issues.) 

However, shit goes downhill after the introduction Anubis. First of all, he was hardly significant to the plot. Seriously, his role as an individual character was hardly anything: just a random guy god who occasionally gives advice, has a jackal head, impersonates Nico, gives a knife and a feather that are now very important to the rest of the plot all of a sudden, and can control spirits and mummy linings.

But how can he be developed further? Oh yes, by making him, a billion-year-old immortal deity who "looks 16", a potential love interest for a 12-year-old!

Obviously, there is such a thing as kids finding others attractive who may not even be in their age group. But it gets weird when it's reciprocated.

The fact that he literally WAITED for Sadie to turn thirteen so he could kiss her (without any consent or warning) will never cease to disgust me for how predatory it seems.

Also, I'm pretty sure he has a wife and a child in the actual mythology?? What even was the point of making him a single "emo teenager", please, I do not understand-

Obviously, I don't mind Anubis just kinda existing in the background. That's perfectly fine with me. He could've become best friends with Sadie instead, and they could sort out their problems of him disappearing for long periods at a time so they could have a healthy friendship. THAT could have been their arc.

But NO.

He just had to go ahead and permanently possess her other boyfriend's body.

Whether it was some form of polyamorous rep or an interesting way to solve a completely unnecessary love triangle, it was still handled terribly.

And now we reach Walt.

Walt, my man, why do you exist.

No, I'm serious. He had even less of a role than Anubis. In the entire story. He had literally no use to the main plot and had his own VERY UNNECESSARY subplot instead.

What did that subplot even do? Get Sadie a two-in-one boyfriend? Recruit random goddesses I'm sure they could have recruited together? Distract Sadie so Carter and Zia could finally get some content and development that could also have been done by making Sadie go along with an xyz person and actually help the main plot rather than saving Mr. "i-went-from-fourteen-to-sixteen-in-a-span-of-a-few-months"?

I don't hate Walt per se, but also he has like, zero plot relevance as far as I remember. Even JAZ had more of a role than Walt ever did.

Also, Rick, can we talk about how only the poc characters are forced into relationships with people way older than them? I mean, you have Hazel, Sadie, Reyna and Leo, ALL POC CHARACTERS, HAVING SOME WEIRD ASS AGE GAPS WITH THEIR PARTNERS/PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE HIT ON BY.

Please, I beg you to recheck your calculations when it comes to ages. Please.

Thank you.