Part 2 of ranting/sharing my opinions! Today is about Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. I think everyone knows him already, so I’m just gonna skip the recap.
Dislike
Jokes - In my Sadie Kane post, I mentioned that Leo tries too hard with his jokes. He does. For example, when he started to jive, it was a bit annoying and unnecessary. Most of the time the jokes either don’t make sense, or they’re not funny. Leo tries to hide his pain with humor, so maybe that’s why they’re so bad. Leo also uses his jokes on everything he sees. Whether it’s Frank, or Annabeth, or Echo. Most of his good jokes are fanon. In the books, he’s more serious and insecure. He doubts himself constantly.
Bullying/Insecurity - When Leo was a kid, his mom died in a fire that he thought he caused. Ever since then, he’s been carrying insecurity and emotional baggage. He couldn’t tell anyone because he wasn’t ready. Then, he met Frank. Frank and Leo don’t like each other because both of them like Hazel. Leo met someone that he didn’t like, so he dumped everything on Frank. I don’t know why. Leo meets a guy that he dislikes, and starts bullying and teasing, and undermining him. It’s not funny, it’s cruel.
Belittling Everything - Once again, we’re back here. It is a major trait for Leo, so that’s why I’m putting it here. It was once shown that Leo belittled Georgina. In the Dark Prophecy, Calypso got mad at him for treating everything like a machine:
“This project Josephine is working on,” he said. “She’s building some kind of tracking device. I didn’t ask, but…she must be trying to find Georgina.” “Of course.” Calypso’s voice took on a sharper edge. “Can you imagine losing your child?” Leo’s ears reddened. “Yeah. But I was thinking, if we can get back to Festus, I could run some numbers, maybe reprogram his Archimedes sphere—” Calypso threw in the towel, quite literally. It landed in the sink with a damp flop. “Leo, you can’t reduce everything to a program.” He blinked. “I’m not. I just—” “You’re trying to fix it,” Calypso said. “As if every problem is a machine. Jo and Emmie are in serious pain. Emmie told me they’re thinking about abandoning the Waystation, giving themselves up to the emperor if it’ll save their daughter. They don’t need gadgets or jokes or fixes. Try listening.”
The point is, Leo doesn’t have any experience in the real world, he’s always had his machines, and he doesn’t listen. I know he’s ADHD, but the other people in the 7 seem to be doing it just fine. It’s that Leo doesn’t want to listen. All he wants is to hear the problem and try to fix it. Like a machine.
Like
Uplifting and Smiling - Even if he does try too hard, he seems to cheer people up. His jokes are bad, but they make me smile because of how cheesy some are. Whenever you see him, he’s almost always smiling (something I need to do more) or laughing.
Ok, that concludes this! Let me know who you want me to do next! Sorry if this was bad, I didn’t have a lot of time to do this.