PJO Magazine Edition #4: March 2019

Article #1: Thalia Grace and the Hunters

The Hunters of Artemis were first introduced in The Titan's Curse, and Thalia's feelings about them were very clear when she muttered "Oh wonderful" at their arrival. So how did a girl who disliked the Hunt this much end up becoming lieutenant?

Let's refresh on why she didn't join in the first place. When she was running around with Luke and Annabeth, she ran into them. Zoë nearly convinced Thalia into joining, but Thalia declined once she realized she would've had to leave Luke. She and Zoë fought, the latter saying that she would regret her choice and Luke would someday let her down.

When Percy remarked that Zoë was right, she instantly kicked him out of the car, adding afterwards, "Annabeth wanted to join the Hunters, too. Maybe you should think about why."

I used to wonder whether she'd only joined the Hunt because she didn't trust herself to be the hero of the prophecy, but it's clear that Thalia had always wanted to join the Hunters and to feel at home with them, and Luke was the only thing holding her back.

What I really want to analyze is Zoë and Thalia's argument that started their bitter rivalry. The fact that Zoë turned out to be right hurt Thalia a lot, because she had already been let down by people she loved in the past: Zeus when he left (twice), and her mother when she never gave her children enough attention and then gave Jason away.

Annabeth had been let down as well by her dad, which is what I think Thalia was referring to when she told Percy that Annabeth had also wanted to join the Hunters. Both of them wanted to join so they could find a safe place bereft of betrayal, but neither wanted to leave Luke. This obviously changed when he betrayed the camp. So at the end of the third book, Thalia joins the Hunters.

I think this was representative of her refusing to be let down again, to be independent, and to finally find peace. Well, until Burning Maze I suppose...

By ClaireValdez