Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26468287-20150614010051/@comment-1466878-20150714192134

ArchieScotts wrote: Moonlight Guidepost wrote: I think you're missing the point. They're comparing her to OTHER demigods, not plain human beings.

That aside, I say she could do that because a.) plot and Riordan's odd writing happenings b.) she's a demigod. I think you're missing the point.

The statement I replied to mentioned three things 1. Piper's only weapon is her charmspeak (Which is wrong, Piper has Katropis and Zethes' sword. Wordplay FTW) 2. She sucks at Sword-Fighting 3. Annabeth is better at Knife Combat than Piper.

Okay.

Never in that statement was Piper being as good as the other demigods or human beings was mentioned.

'" She sucks at swordfighting, and she uses a knife in combat even though she isn't actually good with it like Annabeth." '

I replied in kind. Replying to a claim that says Piper is bad at sword-fighting (Without evidence) and I supported with evidence that Piper is not bad at Sword-Fighting.

'''Okay. So you replied in kind. Saying that she held her own alongside Jason and Annie. I responded saying that we're comparing her directly to other demigods. Her simply being able to hold her own and stay alive against souls alongside stronger and more capable fighters who had her back isn't nearly a meter by which to gauge how good she is compared to other demigods. That's why I said "not plain human beings", because yes, while she is much better at this stuff generally than normal humans and thus can do these things like fight and maybe bring down a giant on her own, we're not just appraising her abilities in and of herself. We're appraising them and THEN comparing her to the other 7. That's the point of this thread and the meaning behind the comment you originally replied to. Hence also why I said "what they're talking about" instead of " we're talking about" seeing as the only input I had in this thread up till now had basically just been "True."'''

The main gist and takeaway from this in response to your comment of course just being "Compared to the others, she is."

And while we're on this topic- Just because Annie is better than Piper at Knife-combat doesn't mean that Piper sucks at it. Just because Usain Bolt is faster than you doesn't make you slow- it just means that Usain is just really, really fast.

Piper would suck at Knife-combat if she didn't even know which part of the knife you had to hold.

'Whether or not someone sucks at something can be and definitely most often is determined by their skill with it in relation to others in a league, class or qualification of some kind, theirs being demigods or more specifically, the Seven. Saying that somebody sucks at something only if they don't know the first thing about it is just foolish. No need for explanation. You cannot be more ridiculous with that last statement. And yes, you were saying that "they suck only if they don't know anything" because if you weren't making that the sole condition, then that statement would be a pointless observation that serves to add absolutely nothing to the conversation.'

Also, by the logic of your final point- it means that all of our heroes never achieved or earned their achievement. They win because Plot and that the writers make it so.

That means everything that the characters do- everything that makes them awesome and the reason why you love them so much- is void.

And if you do use that logic but only apply it to Piper- than that's a double-standard and is frowned upon by most people.

'This is a failed point because something occurring purely because of plot is determined by consistency, levels of which vary from character to character. So no, applying that "logic" to Piper at in an attempt to outline her quality in relation to other characters is not applying it "only to Piper". Making that connection is something that most readers don't have a problem with. I'm baffled that you somehow glazed over this and made that a part of your argument.'