The Book's Essence Thief
Look, I don’t want to be the one that spoiled you anything about the Percy Jackson series. Spoilers are dangerous. They’re scary. If you’re reading this because you think that this article is spoilers-free, my advice is: close this web right now ⛔
Don't say I didn't warn you❕
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| Latest covers of the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series of books |
To start this article, I have to confess that I first became acquainted with this book series in the wrong way. Why? Well, I saw the film when it was released in 2010 without even knowing that it was a book, until one day, my father gifted to me The Lost Son - which is the first book of the second series - and I loved it! Then, at the end of this book, some character mentioned Percy Jackson and this whole new world of Greek gods and goddesses opened up to me. So, yes, yes... I read the book after having seen the film, but I am as angry as any Percy Jackson fan about the way this series was treated. In this article I will discuss mainly the differences between The Lightning Thief book and its homonymous film, though I will also mention some facts about the adaptation of The Sea of Monsters, as I consider it relevant to understand, as a whole, how the series was treated by the screenwriters and why it obviously didn't achieve the success that was expected.
ADHD and dyslexia? Let's go camping! ⛺
The central part of
the book and of the series is the Camp Half-Blood. There, all the demigods –
whose ADHD and dyslexia are signals of being daughter or son of a God – go, as it is the safer place for them. In the
film, the Camp has not the same relevance that it has in the book: it’s where
some of the demigods spend their whole life – as Annabeth – or their summer –
as Percy – so it should have had more relevance on the adaptation.
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| Official distribution of the Cabins. Find out more here |
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| Official drawing of the Cabins |
The description of
the Camp Half-Blood that we get in the books is that the demigods live at their
own cabins, depending on who is their godly parent. Those cabins are disposed
on a U form and each one is furnished with the characteristics of the God in
question. The two houses that are bigger than the rest are the ones that belong to Zeus' demigods and Hera's demigods; as both Gods are king and queen of all the rest of the Gods. In the centre of that 'cabin-made U', there is a fire where all the half-bloods reunite. At each cabin, the demigods are able to practise their abilities, which are obviously related to their Godly parent.
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| How the cabins should look like |
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| Footage of The Lightning Thief |
Sadly, we don't get to see almost nothing of this in the adaptations, specially in The Lightning Thief film: as we can see in the picture, we just get to see a simple camp with regular cabins – though Percy’s
cabin seems different from the rest, as it is said to have been built by
Poseidon himself, fact that in the books doesn’t appear. The aesthetic adaptation of Camp Half-Blood is more accurate in The Sea of Monsters film (picture below).
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| Camp Half-Blood in The Sea of Monsters |
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| Chiron in the books |
One of the main characters of the series is the centaur Chiron. He is the activities director of the Camp, as in the Greek Mythology he was the trainer of heroes such as Hercules or Jason.
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| Chiron and Percy in The Lightning Thief film |
Both in the films and in the books, Chiron is first presented as Mr. Brunner, a mortal teacher at Yancy Academy – he was in fact posing to take care of Percy. Later on, it is discovered that his true form is half men and half horse – he also mentions that his father is Kronos – , but in the films, the lower part of the centaur's body is that of a brown horse, while in the books his 'horse part' is described to be white. In addition, between The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters, the actor who played this role was changed – first, Pierce Brosnan and then, Anthony Head – which impoverished the adaptation of this character.
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Mr. D 🍇 in The Sea of Monsters film
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Another very important character that is directly related to the Camp Half-Blood is Mr. D – 'D' stands for Dionysus: yes, the Greek God of the Vine – who is the director of the Camp as a punishment imposed by his father Zeus for persecuting a nymph. In addition, he can't drink any alcohol as Zeus cursed him: every time that he tries to drink vine, it converts into water – he is complaining about this in the GIF that I've attached.
He is such a funny and unpredictable character, doesn't he?
Well, in The Lightning Thief film he does not appear.
Why? We will never know, but this character needs to be present as he is the director of the Camp, and because of the love-hate relationship that he establishes with Percy Jackson – or Perry Johnson, as Mr. D calls him with pretended disregard. However, in The Sea of Monsters Dionysus is magnificently portrayed by Stanley Tucci – this is one of the reasons why the second adaptation of the books is far better than the first.
The Camp Half-Blood is known to have also two emblematic items that are completely missing in the two films:
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| Edit: Percy should have wore the famous t-shirt in the films |
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| Campers wearing armours in The Lighting Thief film |
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| The Camp Half-Blood necklace |
The first one is the orange t-shirt with 'Camp Half-Blood' printed in it along with a Pegasus (left). All the demigods wear it in the Camp – the protagonists take it to their quests too – but in the films, the campers do not wear it: instead, they wear normal clothes and/or armours (above, right).
The second item is the Camp Half-Blood necklace, which consists in a collar formed by clay beads that are added for each year that the camper spends at the Camp (right). The fans of the books can easily recall how moved was Percy when he received his first clay: black with a sea-green trident in the centre as a homage for returning alive from his first quest and for saving the world. The fact that those two items are completely missing is a disappointment for all the fans, as the t-shirt and the necklace are emblems of the series, just like the Deathly Hallows symbol, which is an essential part of the Harry Potter world.
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| Luke's room at the Hermes' cabin |
To conclude this section, I would like to remark one of the few rules that the Camp has: the demigods are not allowed to have any technological device as they attract all kind of dangerous mythological monsters. Well, as we can see in the picture (left), in the film this rule is clearly not respected. Demigods possess literally ALL type of electronic tools – I will mention this later on, as technology insistently appears throughout all the film. Thus, although the Camp is present in the film, we get the feeling that it is not as we could have imagined it.
💫The Heroes💫
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| Percy, Annabeth and Grover (1st book of the 1st series) |
Let’s talk about them. Percy, Grover and Annabeth are the so-called ‘original trio’ which most fans grew up with. I believe that the most important and huge mistake committed by the producers and director of the cinematic versions will always be changing their original essence. If you dare modify the protagonists of a book series, you are risking yourself to failure. In the books, we are presented to three kids – Annabeth and Percy are, concretely, 12 years old, as it can be seen on the drawing above – while in the film they are teenagers. This is an insuperable difference that affects not only this film, but the whole of the series and the original idea that the producers had of adapting the five books; as I will explain later in the section: where are the Three Fates and the prophecies?
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| Grover, Percy and Annabeth (5th book of the 1st series) |
That’s
right, they are also friends on the big screen but, come on! We, the fans of the books feel like someone stole from us five years of our favourite heroes. The 'original trio' that is reflected on the films looks more like the one that should have been portrayed in a hypothetical
5th film – coinciding with the 5th book, The Last Olympian – because in that film they would be 17 years old, as in the drawing above. It is obvious that in The Lightning Thief film our protagonists look older, powerful and experienced, while they should be three kids with no experience at all and no clue on how to use their powers.
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| Promotional poster of The Lightning Thief |
Now I will proceed to explore each character's adaptation – the three protagonists and another two essential characters – besides that age difference that I've already commented.
Percy Jackson 💙 🌊
| Official drawing of Percy Jackson |
Perseus Jackson is the main protagonist of the series. The portrayal of this character on the big screen is neither accurate nor good enough, but it is not the worst adaptation.
One of the main differences between the 'two Percys' is that in the books, the reader doesn't discover that Percy is Poseidon's son until the Capture the Flag game – he spends his first days living at the Hermes' cabin where he becomes friends with Luke Castellan – when he defeats the Ares' campers and his father claims him with the hologram of a trident that is shown in Percy's head. In the film there is no claiming, as he is always introduced as the son of Poseidon. It is true that in the book there are some hints that may indicate his origins – as he used water to defend Grover from a bully in one of the firsts episodes – but, in the film, those signs are as obvious as he unnaturally holding his breath underwater.
Another remarkable difference is that in the books, once Percy is claimed by Poseidon, he doesn't get wet unless he wants to, while in the film he always gets wet.
To conclude, it is important to say that in the books he hears Kronos speaking to him in his dreams, but in the first film – as Kronos doesn't appear – this never happens, and it is replaced by Poseidon's voice.
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| The Lightning Thief – Percy is wet |
Annabeth Chase ✨ 🎓
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| Official drawing of Annabeth Chase |
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| 'Annabeth' in The Lightning Thief |
When I have just mentioned that Percy is not the worst character adaptation of the books, I had Annabeth Chase in mind. I mean, they didn't respect her behaviour nor her appearance, which is something that really gets me angry.
The daughter of Athena is presented by Rick Riordan as a strong girl who dreams with being an architecture. The author gives details about her mortal family – Annabeth barely speaks to her father as he has a new normal family – and minutely depicts her as a blond girl with the grey eyes of her godly mother and who constantly wears her Yankees cap of invisibility.
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| Annabeth in The Sea of Monsters |
Well, she is brunette with blue eyes in The Lightning Thief adaptation (above, right). There is no Yankees cap. No mention to architecture. No mention to her family.
Oh, but she is such a good warrior who fights using swords and bows...!
Well, in the books, she is not only a good warrior, but a wise strategist who uses her celestial bronze knife to fight. I believe that you understand that the character that appears in the film is not Annabeth Chase. At least, in The Sea of Monsters they decided to dye Alexandra Daddario's hair...
Grover Underwood 🐏 💚
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| Official drawing of Grover Underwood |
Another nonsense of adaptation is that of the satyr Grover Underwood. The shy and clumsy character that the book fans know, and love was replaced by an outgoing womaniser. This change irretrievably turned what was supposed to be a family film into a film with adult content.
In the books he already protected many other demigods – Annabeth or Luke, for example – and is very much concerned with climate change. Meanwhile, in the films he is just 'Junior Protector' and has no horns as a novice sign – in the books he has horns from the very beginning, that is why he wears a hat. There is no mention to climate change either.
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| Grover eating a can in The Lightning Thief |
To conclude, he is Caucasian in the books and runs 'like the wind' – when he is not posing as a mortal as he uses a limp to walk then – while in the films he is Afro-American and there is no sign of his velocity when he uses his satyr form. At least, they show that he loves to eat cans.
Luke Castellan 📩 😎
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| Official drawing of Luke Castellan |
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| Luke – no scar – in The Lightning Thief |
Both in the film and in the books, Luke Castellan is clearly presented as one of the antagonist characters that opposes Percy. Nevertheless, the way of introducing this fact is very different, as all along the book series he undergoes a life-changing evolution while in the films he is just the bad guy, a plain character with no possible evolution at all.
In the book, Luke is presented as a really cool guy – it is impossible to think of him as a traitor. He has a scar from fighting a dragon – he is a hero – , he clothes Percy while he is living at the Hermes' cabin and he is also a supporting figure when The Golden Trio comes back after their quest. In fact, it is not until the very end that the reader discovers that he was the original traitor.
In the film, his betrayal is obvious from the first moment, and it is discovered at the Empire State Building: he was the lightning thief and the one that fooled them all over their quest. Also, he has no scar up to this point – Percy cuts him while fighting. Another difference is that in the film, Percy receives from Luke a shield – with the Zeus' lightning inside – while Percy in the books doesn't receive a shield until the second book, when his half-brother Tyson makes one for him.
So, it is clear that Luke is not as interesting as in the books because the Luke of the films is just a plain antagonist and a loser at the Camp; which is a depiction that I, as a fan, consider very unjust. Later on, in the section Luke...main villain? I will extend my explanation.
Clarisse La Rue 💪 😏
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| Official drawing of Clarisse La Rue |
Clarisse La Rue is another character that undergoes quite an evolution in the books. She is the powerful daughter of Ares, and Percy's main nightmare while his stay in the Camp Half-Blood the first year, as she mercilessly bullies him. Nevertheless, this will change as in the end they become good friends. She is also very important in the series, as she is one of the characters that is openly homosexual.
Well, Clarisse La Rue is just MISSING in The Lightning Thief adaptation. Nevertheless, her main characteristics are present: as I exposed, Annabeth was characterised as a ruthless brunette that bullies and confronts Percy in the first part of the film. This is why I think that the producers and the screenwriters, when they read the book, just loved Clarisse but did not have any clue on how to introduce her, so they just decided to mix her features with Annabeth's.
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| Clarisse in The Sea of Monsters film |
So, this curious case – Clarisse is not present, but her features are in the film – is just not a good solution, because this created not only one conflict but two: the Annabeth that is in the film is not Annabeth Chase – as I have previously exposed – and Clarisse La Rue doesn't appear. At least Clarisse is successfully portrayed in The Sea of Monsters.
Relationships
The interactions of the characters of the books are always a crucial element of the plot and the development of the story. When it comes to the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series, there are two main relationships that marked not only the books, but also the fans. Those are also shown – one way or another – in the films.
Percabeth 💕 💕
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| You drool when you sleep... |
The relation between Annabeth and Percy – baptised by the fans as 'Percabeth' – is one of the strong points of the whole of the series.
In the first book, they meet at the nursery when she heals him after defeating the Minotaur: an iconic scene because of the quote "you drool when you sleep" and because of the significance of they, meeting for the first time. They then try to be friends and they fight next to each other in the Capture the Flag game – both are in the blue team along with Luke Castellan. So, it is important to remark the fact that they are just friends in The Lightning Thief book: there is no romantic interest whatsoever. Annabeth has a crush on her friend Luke, so it is clear that she has no eyes for any other boy.
In the film the producers – for some reason – decided to portray them as attracted to each other from the beginning.
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| Percabeth's 'almost kiss' on The Lightning Thief film |
The scene of their first encounter at the infirmary was filmed but then it became a deleted scene, so they just meet at the training camps in the film. As to the Capture the Flag game, they are in different teams – Percy and Luke are in the blue team, but Annabeth is in the red team – and they even fight each other instead of the Ares' campers –it is another clear example of the mixture between Annabeth and Clarisse that was made by the producers.
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| "Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me." |
Also, the nickname that Annabeth uses to call Percy – Seaweed Brain – is not present in the films, and the one that Percy uses to call her – Wise Girl – doesn't appear neither.
To conclude, in the ending of The Lightning Thief film THEY ALMOST KISSED. I understand this ending in the big screen as they have a huge sexual tension through the whole film, but I can't stand it as a book fan. Their first kiss won't happen until the fourth book of the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth, so the producers just accelerated four years of development of their relation, killing the essence of one of the main relationships that happens in the books. The original Percabeth were friends before being couple, and the Percabeth that we got in the adaptation was just so rushed and unnatural that it is impossible to recognise them.
At least, in the adaptation of The Sea of Monsters it is easiest to recall their original essence, isn't it, Percabeth?
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| Percabeth in The Sea of Monsters |
My mom/dad is a god! 👪
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| Poseidon and Percy on The Lightning Thief |
The other relationship that obviously marked the books is the one that is established by the Greek gods and the demigods. The main character, Percy, never meets Poseidon in the book, as the god leaves the hero and Sally – Percy's mother – before he was born. In the film, Poseidon gets to live with Percy and Sally for seven months, but the god had to leave as he was becoming 'too human'. This is a nonsense if we don't know why in fact Percy and Poseidon could not spend their time as father and son: The Big Three – Zeus, Poseidon and Hades – made a Pact to not have any children as they could be too powerful, and this could suppose a threat in the future. This Pact is a main focus in the books, because when Percy appears in the Camp and everyone discovers his origins, it immediately means that Poseidon broke the Pact – even though he was not the only one, because in the rest of the books and series the reader discovers that Zeus and Hades had also children of their own. This is not mentioned in the film, avoiding, one more time, one of the main plots of the book. Nevertheless, both in the film and in the book, Percy meets his father at the end in the Olympus.
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| Athena and Annabeth |
The rest of demigods had also a difficult relationship with their godly parents, as they are hardly present in their lives. This is Annabeth's case, because even if in the books she mentions that she met Athena and she guided her, this relation will in the end become more of a problem to Annabeth: Athena's mark will chase her all her life. In the films, Annabeth says that she never encountered her mother, but that she telepathically guided her. Also, in the adaptation Annabeth goes to the Olympus with Percy and finally meets her mother; but in the books, this never happens, as Percy goes there alone.
Also, Luke has a very problematic relationship with his father Hermes: Luke hates his father because as many other demigods, he feels abandoned and alone in the world. In the film, this is one of the main reasons why Luke betrayed the Camp and the Greek gods in general, while in the books this fact is a very important reason but not the main one, as the main one is Kronos' doing; as I will explain later on in the section Luke...main villain?
Thus, these relationships that are so important to the development of the plot and the essence of the books, are poorly and plainly represented in the film. I know that it is a way to go faster in the film, but I don't think that it is a good idea to present these as simple relationships, because the mother/father is a god: it is not just that they abandoned their children, there is always something else to explain the godly behaviour.
💫 The gods 💫
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| The Olympus (The Lightning Thief) |
To continue my article, I will keep on explaining the godly features that differ from the book. Firstly, it is important to talk about the Olympus, their residence. In The Lightning Thief adaptation, it is quite well presented but there are two main differences that have to be mentioned. The first one is how to get to the Olympus: both in the film and in the book, it is located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, and it is possible to reach it thanks to the elevator. In the film it is Percy's mother who pulls some buttons to reach it, but this is not like that in the books, as you need to pass the security guard with a special authorisation and a card. The second difference involves the Mount Olympus' aesthetics: it is perfectly presented in the film except for the Throne Hall – which is very important, as the gods' power resides on their thrones. As it can be seen in the photo, in the film this Hall is classic, and all the thrones are the same. Nevertheless, in the books each seat is described as different and personalised with each god's features.
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| Zeus, Hades, Poseidon and Athena as presented on The Lightning Thief |
As for the gods that appear in The Lightning Thief, the reader is only presented to Dionysus, Ares, Hades, Zeus, Poseidon and Hestia, but in the film Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, and Persephone are also present, although they are poorly mentioned. Some of the gods from the book are missing, as it is the case of Dionysus and Ares. In the adaptation the gods that are more mentioned are Zeus, Hades, Poseidon and Athena, but nor their physical portrayal nor their behaviour is accurate.
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| Official drawing of Zeus⚡ |
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| 💀Official drawing of Hades |
As it can be seen on the pictures that I have attached – the official drawings of the gods as described by Rick Riordan in the books – they don't wear Greek armours or togas, as it is shown in the film. The gods wear normal clothes, which is a very special feature that helps to get the reader close to the Greek mythology, and which is one of the main reasons why the books are used by history teachers to make easier the comprehension of the Greek world. The gods are close to humankind and connected to the development of the Occidental society. For instance, Poseidon wears fishermen' clothes, Zeus looks like an executive, Hades wears black silky clothes and Athena wears casual clothes – when she is presented in The Sea of Monsters, because, as I have mentioned, she is not present in The Lightning Thief.
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| Official drawing of Poseidon💧 |
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| 💭Official drawing of Athena |
But above all, I believe that the worst portrayal of a god is the one that was made of Hades. In the film, he is presented as a humorous rock star, while he is cold and unfriendly in the books, and although he dislikes the Olympians, he never attempts to overthrow them. In fact, he is never presented as a suspect for stealing Zeus' bolt in The Lightning Thief, as he is also a victim: the reader is told that Hades' Helm has been stolen too. Meanwhile, in the adaptation he wants the Lightning to become king of the gods and the Helm is not mentioned.
Fights, Battles and Adventures
Luke...main villain? 😣
Well, as I have been announcing in several parts of this article, I will discuss now the figure of Luke as the main villain of the film. In the adaptation, it is pretty obvious from the very beginning that Luke is the traitor, as I have exposed, because he is presented in a mysterious way – he is friendly but there is the viewer gets instantly that the help that Luke brings to Percy may not be help at all. This is why in the climax of the film, both demigods fight on top of the Empire State Building right after Luke confesses that he is The Lightning Thief.
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| Luke holding Zeus' Lightning |
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| The Sea of Monsters |
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| Kronos in The Sea of Monsters |
Don't look her in the EYES! 🙈
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| Medusa as described in the books |
When one gets to read this battle in the
book, I remember that it gave me the creeps. Medusa is described as an old –
very, very old woman – whose skin has the colour of the coffee. To cover her
eyes, she wears a black veil that gives the reader that sense of danger, that
something is going to go wrong in one moment or another. This silent and creepy
battle – which happens inside an abandoned greenhouse, as in the film – ends when
Percy decapitates her by looking through a glass ball.
Medusa in The Lightning Thief film
-WOW be careful with her eyes-
Meanwhile, in the film, we get a young and
attractive woman – hyper sexualized – who wears fancy black sunglasses to cover
her dreadful eyes. The scene immediately has a humoristic tone that does not
fit with the danger that the heroes are about to face. Percy also decapitates
her in this adaptation, but instead of doing it by looking through a glass
ball, he does it by looking through his iPod Touch – technology strikes again:
a demigod, under no circumstance, must have any electronical device
-WOW be careful with her eyes-
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| Medusa and the IPhone in The Lightning Thief |
As for the final destiny of Medusa’s head,
in the book, it is implied that it is send to the Olympus and that then –
somehow, maybe through Sally’s doing – Gabe gets paralyzed. In the film, the
heroes keep the monster’s head and use it several times against many enemies,
such as the Hydra.
Where is/are...
...the Three Fates? 💢
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| Official drawing of the Three Fates |
The Three Fates – most commonly known as
the ‘Furies’, are mythological creatures that are crucial to understand the
central prophecies that are always present on Riordan’s narratives. They are
the ones who go to Percy to warn him about his fate by cutting a blue string.
In the film, we only get to see Alecto, which is disguised under the appearance
of Percy’s teacher Ms Dodds. In the books, Percy encounters the three of them –
Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone – several times, but they are not even mentioned
in the adaptation.
...the 'Mist'?💨
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| Tyson talking about the Mist in The Sea of Monsters |
This element plays a crucial part on the
development of the story, as it is a very peculiar feature of the mythological
modern world. The Mist hides the real truth of the world of Percy Jackson to
the real world, as if the humans knew the truth, they would go crazy. This curious
idea is not even present in The Lightning Thief as in several moments, humans
interact with this hidden world. Nevertheless, it is present and plays a role Tyson’s
only eye.
To conclude, it is important to value the quality of the film as ‘entertainment’, but not as a good portrayal of Percy and his world. Having seen all the different kinds of nonsenses that were carried out during the adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I have to say I would really like to see a good adaptation of this series, because those characters are part of my 'reader's life' and having those two poor adaptations over there is unfair to the author and to the fans. I wished that the screenwriters and the producers – who basically killed or stole the essence of the series – would have been also fans of the books, or at least I wished that they would have read them to understand the value of the material that they were dealing with. As I see it, the good news is that they didn't continue destroying the rest of the series, and that the true Percy Jackson's fans will always remember the original story and characters.
Thank you for reading me!
OH! Just in case you didn't knew it, the Percy Jackson's world is not over! There are another TWO book series that continue exploring our beloved characters and their adventures all over the world, as they discover new demigods and face new threats and problems. Here I leave you the covers and series' titles.
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| Percy Jackson and The Olympians series |
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| The Heroes of Olympus series |
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| The Trials of Apollo series |
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💥BONUS:
If you want to know the author's opinion, read the review that Rick Riordan wrote on his 'movie experience'👆. There you will find the letters that the author sent to the production team of the films commenting the script. You know, 'uncle Rick' is far more explicit than me.
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💬And you? Did you like the films? Is there something that I missed?
Let me know your opinion on the comments below!
The Bookworm
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