Isn't it ironic that there are seven heroes?
Just like there are seven sins. Seven beautifully deadly sins.
One for each champion.
Annabeth, of course, is obvious.
Pride. Hubris. Superbia. The original sin, the source of all sin. Her fatal flaw.
Annabeth has pride in excess. Her tendency to overestimate her competence and abilities has demonstrated itself time and time again, often in dire circumstances.
She wants to fix things. And what's wrong with that? All those with a desire to build are born from a need to repair what is broken, and Annabeth has had such a lot of experience with broken. So sure, the pride thing is there, but it has positive roots. Her intentions are nothing less than absolutely, perfectly good.
So were Lucifer's.
Here's the thing: Annabeth doesn't believe she's better than everyone else – at least not all the time. And she's gotten so much better at curbing her pride. It's essential that this is clear.
Annabeth Chase knows that she is flawed.
She knows – oh, she knows – that she can be overconfident, arrogant. She knows that she needs to learn humility. And she's trying so hard.
Friends and work and distractions help. Make it better. And it's still her flaw. Her share of the seven deadly pieces.
But maybe it won't be fatal.
Hazel is another easy one.
Greed.
It's not that she herself is greedy – far from it, in fact. It's just that Hazel is a physical manifestation of mortal greed. She was birthed of a rapacious desire for material possessions, for wealth.
Her curse is a burden upon her, and a scolding of those who covet. The avarice of the ones who are willing to take things, despite their impending death, that desire for more is what caused her to be this way.
Hazel doesn't want the jewels. She doesn't need them. If anything, she wants them to go away.
But she can still be greedy.
Leo, Frank.
She isn't sure which one. But she wants both – a greed for excess, for more than what is necessary.
Hazel Levesque was cursed by the greed of others.
Doesn't she deserve a chance to be greedy, too?
Frank's sin is gluttony.
But not for the obvious reasons.
Frank isn't fat. Not really. He was a little chubby, before. Now he's just buff.
And sure, he likes to eat. Who doesn't? It's a normal, average thing that teenage boys do. They eat. Frank is just…conforming. Yeah, that's it.
He's doing what he would be doing if his life wasn't crazy and his dad wasn't a god.
And who can blame him for that?
So what if he has a tendency to over-indulge? (on everything)
Here's the thing. Gluttony isn't just over-consumption of food. It's over-consumption of anything.
And Frank has found that he might be guilty of that.
When Frank Zhang wants something, he wants all of it.
Hazel's heart. His gifts. His leadership role.
The lives of innocents.
This, this selfishness or whatever. It's not something that's prominent in his nature all the time. It's rarely ever noticeable. Frank doesn't allow himself to want. That's not what his mom would do.
Only when Frank truly commits to something, only when he is all in, does he take and take all.
Even if it means that what he gives in return is his life.
A soldier knows that sacrifice is necessary.
Frank just knows it a little bit better.
Leo is envy.
Delicious, green-eyed envy.
He's spent his entire life hiding the resentment he feels when everyone else has the things he has always wanted.
The foster families. They had connections, a shared love, that Leo could never be privy to.
The other students. They had money, supplies, abilities.
The buff kids, with muscles. The popular kids, with friends. The bullies, with confidence.
Piper, with a father.
It's not that Leo's unhappy, per se. It's just that he'd appreciate it awfully, thanks, if he maybe just got the chance to have something of his own for a change.
Everything that Leo can do, someone else can do better.
And the things that make him unique only serve to destroy him farther.
Leo envies the normal because they lack flames, heat-fire that kills.
Leo envies the special, the beautiful, because they are admired. Why shouldn't Leo be noticed?
Leo Valdez knows that he could be something.
It's just that everyone else is something a little bit better.
He never minded being chosen last, anyway. The cool kids just don't know what they're missing out on.
Team Valdez for the win. Right?
Percy is more difficult.
Wrath.
Pure, inexplicable rage. It started when he took on the curse of Achilles.
Sometimes he would sink into his anger, and just let it rule him.
Percy was uncontrollable.
And it felt good.
Nothing in the world mattered, so long as something was being destroyed.
Tartarus only made it worse. Sometimes, Percy doesn't even know whether he hates himself for being so angry, or if he hates everyone else for making him that way.
And, oh gods, there's so much to be angry at.
Gaea, Hera, Kronos, Luke, everyone. Himself.
Percy Jackson is angry at himself.
For messing up, for letting down his friends, for disappearing.
For coming back broken, and more wrathful than ever before.
Jason is similarly difficult to break down, although this is perhaps because he just does not sin.
It would be sloth.
You know. Laziness.
Being physically and emotionally inactive.
That's not to say he has these traits. If anything, these are the traits he most lacks. And that's a good thing. It really is.
Just, sometimes being a leader, being admired, being strong? It gets so tiring.
And he'd never express the thoughts out loud, but every so often, Jason wonders what it'd be like to have nothing expected of him.
Okay, fine, he admits to it.
Jason Grace would love to be lazy.
He can't find it in himself to stop being a hero, because people need him. Helping is a part of him.
But he'd sacrifice a lifetime of good deeds, of making people happy, for one day of apathy.
Given the opportunity, he would probably lie down and go to sleep. Forever.
Is that so hard to believe?
So, maybe Piper is a little obvious.
Lust, of course.
Did you really think it would be anything else?
Except Piper's always excelled in defying the laws of society. She certainly never thought that this would be her sin.
Intense desire. Excessive sexual want? That's not her style.
Well, maybe the intense part. And the desire part. But not the sexual want. Right?
Here's the thing. Much as she wants to deny it, Piper embodies lust. And she embraces it.
Piper lusts for acceptance – from her father, from her mother, from the people she loves.
She positively yearns for the things that she feels she has been denied.
So, yes.
Piper McLean is a sinner.
And maybe she does feel that little spark of wanton need when she's around Jason. So what?
She calls him Sparky for a reason.
She hasn't let the lust control her – yet. She gave her father his choice, let him choose, well, not her.
She gave Jason a choice. He chose her.
There are wins. There are losses. It's all part of the game.
But you won't even play without desire.