Heroes Of Olympus Series (Hargis)

## Introduction

Anyone can be a hero. Someone that everyone would least expect can be an exceptional hero. This is the case in the Heroes of Olympus book series. Written by Rick Riordan, this pentalogy of children's novels formed a sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first book of the series was The Lost Hero which was published on October 12, 2010, and the last book was The Blood of Olympus which was published on October 7, 2014. Between the first and the last book, millions of individuals were able to expand their imaginations and dive into a whole new world where Greek and Roman gods devised a plan that would forever change the lives of numerous demigods (a person who is half mortal and half Greek/Roman god or goddess).

To understand the obsession over this book series, it is essential to know more information about its author, Rick Riordan. He is the number one bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. Before he became an author, Riordan was an English and history teacher at public and private middles school in the San Francisco Area and also in Texas. Riordan started writing mystery novels for grownups. That slowly translated to children's fiction and the presence of The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his child started. A simple bedtime story became a full series that has changed so many lives.

Literature creates the opportunity to dive into a whole new world. Contrary to what Plato taught that writing has made society lazy and does not demand society to use its memory, literature has opened the opportunity to learn about an abundant amount of subjects that most would not ever been able to learn without the sake of books, manuscript, and more. This is especially true when it comes to this book series. Readers have the opportunity to learn about who the Greek and Roman gods/goddesses were and how they played into both cultures. Plato is extremely wrong in this case; these books provide the perfect opportunity to learn about the Greek and Roman culture and pass the information on to other individuals. This means the legends of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses can continue to be passed down unlike what Plato believed would happened.

.So the story begins with Percy Jackson, famous son of Poseidon who ends up not at the Greek training camp for demigods, but somehow manages to wind up in the Roman training camp for demigods. Readers soon find out that Jason Grace, a Roman demigod whose father is the all powerful Zeus, ends up in the Greek training camp, thus the mystery starts. How exactly did this switch occur? To make matters worse, both Percy and Jason do not have any memory of their past lives. Luckily for them, they have amazing friends to help them solve the mystery and return back to their normal lives. Main characters like Annabeth Chase (daughter of Athena), Piper McLean (daughter of Aphrodite), Leo Valdez (Son of Hepheastus), and others are also affected by this mystery. On this journey, they all learn about themselves to become the best demigods they can be. Readers feel the sense of friendship, commitment, and excitement; and their love for this book series grow indefinitely.

This love is seen in numerous forms such as remediation, knowledge communities, authorial intentions, and more. Fans have taken a huge part of their time to express their adoration for this book series through fan-fiction, fan art, blogs, and others. In the case of the Heroes of Olympus series, a great amount of remediation, knowledge communities, and authorial intentions have been formed around it. It not solely a few books, but its presence can be seen on the "Wired World". An effortless google search of "Heroes of Olympus" will result in dozens after dozens of links to show the "Wired World" of "Heroes of Olympus" and the countless creations made to honor this series. Below is a screenshot of just a few links that pop up for "Heroes of Olympus" book series. Even after the books have been read and mystery solved, the excitement does not have to and. It does not end through remediation, knowledge communities, and authorial intentions.

## Remediation

### Fan-Fiction

It is a way of a new type of engagement for people. It allows for personal manipulation and breaking the rules without receiving definite punishment for taking a creative chance. This is what fan-fiction is, and fans definitely take the chance when it comes to the Heroes of Olympus book series. After conducting research I have found simplistic, cute, and even slightly disturbing fan-fiction, but nevertheless, every kind of fan-fiction just adds to this book series. For example, I found an cute fan-fiction story re-envisioning one of the first times that Percy Jackson (main character in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series and one of the main characters in Heroes of Olympus book series) and Piper (daughter of Aphrodite in Heroes of Olympus book series) ever spoke in a normal situation. Originally in the series, Piper and Percy Jackson do not have any awkwardness or tension, but this fan-fiction story definitely plays it up. Below is a screenshot of this story by Percyjacksonfan3. It is very amusing to read the inner-thoughts of Piper as she walks into Percy; a great insight to how the average teenage girl's mind works when she encounters the guy she is currently is crushing on. Even though in the original series, I would have never imagined Piper and Percy as a potential couple, my mind has become more open to the possibility since reading this fan-fiction story. Fan-fiction allows for numerous possibilities and new perspectives to be acknowledged that would have not necessarily been thought of before.

### Fan Art

Along with fan-fiction, drawings, sketches, paintings, and more types of art has been created to show the world how Heroes of Olympus book series has impacted fans. Like I said above in the fan-fiction section, some forms of this remediation is slightly disturbing, especially when it comes to the Fan Art. Of course, art is known to be subjective, so perhaps it is not disturbing to others viewing the work. An example of what I consider to be one of the disturbing Fan Art for this book series.

Looking at the image to the right, it can be seen that there is an abnormal looking blonde person speaking. This abnormal looking person is suppose to be Jason Grace (another huge main character in the book series). Jason Grace and Percy Jackson have an unintentional power struggle in the series which one fan has highlighted in this fan art. In the upper left corner, Jason is saying how he was the leader of New Rome, destroyed Kronos' Throne, and has done all this dangerous things, so he is just as good if not better then Percy Jackson. With this inner personal conflict and insecurities displayed to the public, it seems that this fan wants other fans to realize that Percy Jackson is still the stronger one between the two.

Of course, not all of fan art tries to make fans pick a team to be on such as Team Percy or Team Jason. Some art generally celebrates every character as the one to the left does. In this fan art, all main character, from Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, and more, are drawn. Yes, simplistic, but the meaning behind it goes a long ways. Here, a fan has decided for himself or herself what each character looks like.Self-expression is the main objective when it comes to remediation. It entices the ability of fans to continue or "tweak" the story so it always continues.

### Fan Videos

Last but not least is the remediation of Heroes of Olympus through fan videos. After hours of watching Youtube videos, I have found one video that creates a sort of unexplained energy when watching and listening to it. It gets the viewer extremely excited about the series. The video is basically a slide show of numerous fan art put together to tell the story. Its theme song is Centuries by Fall Out Boys which really amplifies the energy and goes accordingly with the books. It is intriguing to see how many fans are willing to take the time to create these videos, and shows the willingness of the fan base to tell the stories of the characters in different ways.

## Activism

Surprisingly enough, this book series has gain so much interest and attention from fans, that there is a possibility of a TV show to be produced in the near future. Fans, themselves, have put in their two cents about what the show should be like. For example, a fan has written on a wikia four seasons of the show. The first season of the show would be The Lost Hero. The brief summary of it includes,

"Jason Grace wakes up with amnesia on a bus headed towards the Grand Canyon. He is sitting next to Piper McLean and Leo Valdez, who claim to be his girlfriend and best friend respectively. They explain that they, including the other kids on the bus, are from the Wilderness School, a school for delinquent or troublesome children where Piper had gotten sent to for allegedly stealing a BMW, although she claims that people "just give her things", and Leo by running away from his numerous foster homes.

When they reach the Grand Canyon’s skywalk, Leo and Piper try to get Jason to remember things as they remember them, but are unable to. Things get stranger for Jason when he finds a golden coin stamped with the word *Ivlivs* on its front. He is then approached by the chaperoning teacher, Coach Gleeson Hedge, who divulges that Jason must be the special package that the camp told Hedge to retrieve, along with two other half-bloods. Jason cannot understand the supposedly cryptic words that Hedge uses."

This is just a glimpse of what the show would include, but it entices other fans to take part in this process of determining what the show should all include. It engages a wide variety of individuals to work together to achieve a common goal- a totally amazing TV recreating the Heroes of Olympus series. There is even a list of potential actors who would play the parts. The list includes the following.

* Logan Lerman - Percy Jackson
* Alexandra Daddario - Annabeth Chase
* Paloma Kwiatkowski - Thaila Grace
* Leven Rambin - Clarisse la Rue
* Booboo Stewart - Frank Zhang
* Amandla Stenberg - Hazel Levesque
* Douglas Smith - Tyson
* Dylan and Cole Sprouse - Travis and Connor Stoll
* Lily Collins - Hylla Ramirez-Arellano
* Bella Thore - Ella
* Isabelle Fuhrman - Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano
* Brenda Song - Drew Tanaka
* Victoria Justice - Piper McLean
* Alexander Ludwig - Jason Grace
* Stephen Graham - Coach Hedge
* Jake T. Austin - Leo Valdez
* Holland Roden - Rachel Elizabeth Dare
* Asa Butterfield - Nico di Angelo

Not only is there a possibility of a TV show series, but there is also a big demand for a movie to be made. There is some slight hesitation for this, however, due to the first Percy Jackson: The Lighting Thief did not do that well in movie theaters, but fans are still pushing for a movie to be made. On goodreads website, there is a "The Lost Hero" discussion talking about opinions and possibilities of this. One comment strongly stood out. It said, "It would be nice if they did, but they'd get it totally wrong. Besides, they wouldn't make till the Percy Jackson series all made into movies. They messed to much up in the first movie, so The Lost Hero would probably be messed up too. They'd be in like college anyways, since they made the characters 17.:(" made by Anna-Cosette. This shows that fans are excited, but at the same time terrified of how the book series is displayed in a movie format. Below is an image of a few comments made about the possibility of this book series becoming a TV series.

 A great amount of opinions and statements are made on a daily basis about whether or not something should be. It is the same in this case with whether or not a movie or TV should be created. Fans feel the need to be part of this discussion because they have grown extremely attached to this world of demigods, Greek/Roman gods and goddesses. They feel the need to be active in the future of it.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/heroes+of+olympus+series
2. ↑ http://www.rickriordan.com/about/biography
3. ↑ http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/TheHeroesOfOlympus
4. ↑ https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9793929/1/Knowledge-Hurts
5. ↑ https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fan+art+of+heroes+of+olympus&view=detailv2&qpvt=fan+art+of+heroes+of+olympus&id=BE8F049E016D3D028471FFEEE4B117CD777F5303&selectedindex=14&ccid=g4383Sob&simid=608021190721668793&thid=OIP.M838dfcdd2a1bbd4fa07099e71fb7beddH0&ajaxhist=0&first=1
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZYtVR0uwM
7. ↑ http://ideas.wikia.com/wiki/The\_Heroes\_of\_Olympus\_(TV\_Series)
8. ↑ http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/724930-is-there-going-to-be-a-movie-for-this