Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26468287-20150614010051/@comment-26468287-20150614150540

ArchieScotts wrote:

I'm probably gonna be killed with a stake for this but Hazel didn't really have anything....particular about her personality. Pretty generic personality along with not a lot of character development. She's heroic and selfless sure- but that doesn't count for much when we have 7 main character who have that trait too.

She started off amazing, an escaped soul from Hades, who in a past life sacrificed herself to stop Gaia from rising-

-which was why that point was never brought up again past Book 3.

No explanation why she has flashbacks, no much elaboration on, again, the cursed metal thing. No real consequence on her being an escaped soul, just like a lot of the enemies. That could've been an amazing plot point. Why was Hazel being allowed to live when she was the same as any of the other escaped souls?

The whole 'why are there two sets of rules' kind of thing. Why is she exempted from Death? If the reason was that she died too early, then why don't all the children who died young be brought back to life too? If it was for her heroic act, then why don't past heroes get revived too? I agree with you that Hazel is definitely  not the best character. In fact, besides Piper, she is probably my least favorite. She is lacking a personality, and a lot of her story has holes in it. I was frustrated that Rick Riordan created such a weak personality for a character, especially when he has been able to create powerful, complex characters in the past.

However, Hazel at least had her priorities straight. She freed death, even when it meant she might die again. That takes courage, something I felt that Piper didn't really have.

Like I said before, I felt like Riordan was struggling to include Piper in the plot. For example, I was extremely disappointed when Percy and Annabeth were captured by the giants in Rome. Seriously? Percy had defeated Kronos, found his way through Tartarus, etc. And yet he couldn't evade the giants? I felt like Riordan did that so he could make Piper appear useful and "save" Percy and Annabeth.