True Love: An Argument for Percabeth as the Best Ship

*Please note that this post contains spoilers for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Heroes of Olympus series

Since the most recent episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians came out on Disney+, I have seen an uptick in the number of PERCABETH posts across social media. With this has also come some hostility. I read a comment the other day that said that PERCABETH shippers were hostile and even toxic. I don’t think that’s true. I truly think that Percy and Annabeth are one of the truest examples of love across all literature, and I think it’s even more powerful that they are within children’s novels. 

When I was a young(er) girl, I wrote an entire 14-page essay by hand with cited examples of why Percy and Annabeth are the best couple and the best ship. The essay including a lot of fangirling, but also brought up valid points about Percy and Annabeth’s relationship. Looking back on the essay now, there are three main arguments I’d like to make about why they are the best couple ever written. 

1. Sacrifice: there are few children’s novels that depict sacrifice the way Riordan does in his novels. Usually, sacrifice is one-sided, like in the case of Tris in Divergent. And also, people commonly associate sacrifice with loss of life or an approximate (such as a close call with death like in The Selection). However, Riordan pushes past these boundaries. One of the greatest moments of sacrifice in their relationship is Percy’s falling into Tartarus with Annabeth. It is an unforgettable scene for almost every reader of the Heroes of Olympus series. Neither knows what awaits them in the deepest and darkest parts of the underworld, but neither wants to experience it without the other. The words spoken before they are both about to fall in speaks volumes about their relationship. Percy says: “We’re staying together. You’re not getting away from me. Never again.” Annabeth responds: “as long as we’re together.” Percy could have let Annabeth fall. He could have hoisted himself up and saved himself. But he chose to let go, and, perhaps even greater, chose to stay alive in Tartarus, even when every other emotion told him otherwise. Percy also takes the weight of the world (literally) from Annabeth’s shoulders in The Titan’s Curse and goes on an illegal quest to rescue her after she falls off a cliff. Percy’s sacrifice isn’t one-sided, however. In the Heroes of Olympus series, when Percy goes missing, Annabeth uses every bit of energy she has to find him and bring him home. In Tartarus, she convinces Percy to not commit suicide. She helps to carry him and care for him when he gets injured, even when she herself is tired. In The Last Olympian, she takes a poisonous knife for Percy. When this happens, Percy cuts down dozens of monsters and screams: “NO ONE touches her!”

2. Trust: Percy and Annabeth’s relationship is built on trust and friendship. Because of the high-stress situations the two find themselves in, they frequently have to fight side-by-side. In these situations, they trust the other to protect them. In The Last Olympian, Percy trusts Annabeth so much that he tells her where his Achilles heel is located. He says: “but this was Annabeth,” showing that he places her as different among the other friends he has made at camp. The two feel so comfortable with each other that they accidentally fall asleep next to each other on the Argo II. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Annabeth trusts Percy with her fears regarding her quest and also tells him she’s worried for his safety. She believes the line in the prophecy that she recovers that says: “and lose a love to worse than death” might refer to Percy. Percy comforts her, and though he worries too, he is happy that Annabeth can confide her fears in him. It is important to note that they are always in life-or-death situations, but that they always know how the other feels about them. 

3. Love match: Percy and Annabeth have amazing chemistry. They understand each other, have nicknames they call one another, and genuinely enjoy being in the other’s company. At the end of the day, they are best friends who happen to also have crushes on one another and who are in a romantic relationship with one another. In The Son of Neptune when Percy suffers amnesia, the only thing he can remember is Annabeth. Also, when Percy bathes in the River Styx, he must think of the one thing that keeps him tethered to the world. Above him, as if in a vision, he sees Annabeth in a boat, holding her hand out to him. She is what keeps him going and wanting to continue to live. In Magnus Chase, Magnus exclaims that Percy and Annabeth are the cutest couple he has ever seen. The two share matching gray streaks in their hair from holding the world in The Titan’s Curse. They share several kisses throughout the series, and even after months of being forced apart, they come together and grow stronger than ever before. Across distance and time, their love never ceases. 

There is much more I could say about these two, but I think I have more than proved my point. I want to make it abundantly clear that I have read a lot of books. I have never found another couple like Percy and Annabeth. So please, I beg you, keep your pretentious nonsense out of here. Just because these are books written for children doesn’t make them any less powerful. In fact, I think they are more powerful, because children can learn from an early age what love really looks like. 

Keep calm and ship PERCABETH.