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Whenever a book is adapted into a film, there are bound to be changes made to the story for the sake of pacing and length. Unfortunately, in the case of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series, the alterations to the source material often ended up causing far more problems than they solved. While the films maintain the same general story as the books, several plot points have been altered or completely excised, and as a result, there are certain aspects of the films that don’t quite work.
Here is a breakdown of some of the biggest changes between the Percy Jackson books and their two film adaptations.
Luke and Annabeth’s Friendship
The first book in the series, The Lightning Thief, ends with the reveal that Percy’s friend Luke Castellan has turned his back on Camp Half-Blood and has begun to work for Kronos. Throughout the rest of the series, Percy and his friends take Luke’s betrayal very personally, none more so than Annabeth Chase. It is revealed in later Percy Jackson books that Annabeth and Luke grew up together on the streets, always looking out for each other like siblings.
The film adaptations of The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters remove almost all of this backstory, with Luke and Annabeth only seeming to be acquaintances from camp instead of lifelong friends. This was likely because the filmmakers wanted to spend most of their time developing Percy, and it’s possible that there were plans to explore more of Luke and Annabeth’s history together in future films. As it stands, this removal takes away some of the emotion from Luke’s betrayal and makes it feel far less personal.
The Gods’ Levels of Involvement
While Luke Castellan is the main human antagonist of The Lightning Thief book, Percy also faces off against the God of War, Ares. He has been manipulated by Kronos and engages in a furious battle with Percy that ends with Ares’ defeat. Aside from Ares, the gods also communicate with and help their children. Poseidon and Athena both send messages to Percy and Annabeth throughout the series, and the demigods receive aid from various gods several times.
In the first film, Percy’s godly foe has been changed from Ares to Hades. The demigods visit the underworld, meet Hades and Persephone (whose presence raises a whole different set of questions) and learn about Hades’ plans to use the Master Bolt to take over Olympus. However, the demigods defeat him with the help of Persephone. Ares and the rest of the Olympian pantheon do appear at the end of the film, but they have very few lines and are not specifically identified. The only gods that are featured in the sequel are Dionysus and Hermes, with the rest only being name-dropped or referenced vaguely.
Clarisse La Rue
An important supporting character from The Lightning Thief who ended up being removed from its film adaptation is Clarisse La Rue, the daughter of Ares. Clarisse is established in the first book as a popular and well-trained camper at Camp Half-Blood who tends to bully younger campers. She goes out of her way to pick on Percy, with him first discovering his powers after being badly beaten by her, but she eventually softens and becomes his close ally.
While Clarisse was absent from the first film, a number of her character traits were given to Annabeth. She does end up appearing in the second film, where she is portrayed by Levin Rambin, but she is depicted as being a new camper who has a rivalry with Percy. Clarisse and Percy’s dislike of each other feels underdeveloped, due to both her total absence from The Lightning Thief and Ares’ lack of involvement in the films leaving her with no real reason to dislike Percy.
Missing Monsters
One major reason that Percy and the other demigods have to go to Camp Half-Blood in the books is so they will be protected from all of the monsters coming after them. Throughout the first two books, Percy and his friends have many near-death encounters with ancient mythological creatures, including the Chimera, Procrustes, the Laistrygonian Giants and Scylla, among various others.
While the Percy Jackson movies do feature several monster encounters, the number of them has been reduced. For example, while the demigods encounter the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis in the second book, Charybdis is the only one who appears in the movie, with Scylla only being name-dropped. Other monsters appear in different areas, with the Hydra appearing in the first movie whereas Percy and friends don’t encounter it until the second book. These changes were likely made due to the time and pacing of the films, but the reduced amount of monsters also lessens the perceived amount of danger to the main characters.
Kronos
The alteration that affected the Percy Jackson movies most of all is their use of Kronos. The king of the Titans is the primary antagonist of the book series, manipulating events from behind the scenes and patiently planning his return. He is resurrected in the fourth book and takes over Luke Castellan’s body, leading to an epic showdown between him, Percy and Annabeth.
Strangely, Kronos is only mentioned in the first film as part of a history lesson by Chiron. Luke never attributes his betrayal of Camp Half-Blood to Kronos, meaning that he was operating on his own. By the time of the second film, Luke has begun to serve Kronos, and the Titan rises in a giant demonic form at the end of the movie. Because he wasn’t involved at all in the first film, Kronos’ rise in Sea of Monsters feels incredibly rushed and unearned.
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