Sep 26, 2013

What You Don't Realize About... Leo

Warning! May contain Lost Hero spoilers! 

 Hey there! I have decided to start a new series of posts, called "What You Don't Realize About...". Each post will be dedicated to a different character from Percy Jackson or the Heroes of Olympus, and it will point out different traits or qualities of that character that I have noticed most people tend to overlook. The first character I have decided to write about is Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus.

 Think of Leo Valdez. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Humor? Grease? Trouble-making? Metal Dragons? Fire? Your future wedding?

  I'm willing to bet you weren't thinking of his intelligence. What most people, readers and characters alike, don't seem to realize is that Leo is actually a genius. To be able to build things the way he does, he needs to have a thorough understanding of physics and related topics. He can fix nearly anything and solve complex math equations in his head (which was mentioned in The Lost Hero). Your ordinary average Joe couldn't do that.

 Usually, if someone mentioned "The Smart One" in Heroes of Olympus, a reader's automatic response would be Annabeth. However, it's rather safe to assume that Leo's math and science skills are equal to, or perhaps even better than Annabeth's. Of course, Annabeth is an architect, which would mean that she has a lot of mathematical and scientific background. Then again, Leo would be defined as an engineer, which requires just as much technical knowledge, if not more. Annabeth and Leo are also both equally clever. Whenever Leo comes up with a battle plan, it's crazy and outside-of-the-box, and somewhat reckless. Annabeth is a more rational and organized thinker in her strategy, but either way, the plan works out (usually). 

 The fact that Leo's smartness is overlooked is kind of disappointing to me. He does have other shining qualities, such as his awesome sense of humor and his natural inclination to lighten the mood, but so few people actually acknowledge his brains. Although Annabeth is better rounded in history, literature, mythology, and the like, you can't count Leo out. He maybe isn't quite how you would traditionally imagine a mathematical prodigy, but it can't be denied that he definitely fits in that category.

P.S. If you have a request for a "What You Don't Realize About...", please leave it in the comments or email me at PJOForever@gmail.com!

1 comment:

  1. You should write about the house of hades and what might happen and little details and dialogues, which depict the great prophecy. Like the vision of frank holding the stick and dying or of mars telling percy that because he is to loyal to his friends he would one day have to make a huge sacrifice or in MoA in the end when nico promises percy, to lead the rest, it links to the line and oath to keep with a final breath. These are the details that people forget. And yes with all of this I would also like all the character even the side roles (eg. Luke, grover) to be covered because what you are doing is amazing, and a good way to remember each character from. (It is something like if you have read the hunger games series in mockingjay, they do a show/ propo called 'We remember...'). So yeah keep up the good work.

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