‘The Lightning Thief’s Betrayal Feels Personal

Zeus’ Master Bolt has been stolen in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and all the signs point to Percy Jackson as the thief. That’s some tough luck for Percy, who has been accused of many terrible things since the very first episode.

Percy’s only friend, Grover, has turned against him, and Percy loses his mother on the way to Camp Half-Blood. He’s bullied constantly, even after he comes to settle in the camp. It’s almost as if nobody understands that Percy had a hard life—until Luke made him feel welcome in the cabin of Hermes.

In the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Luke is portrayed as a brotherly figure to both Annabeth and Percy. Luke sympathizes with Percy, who lost his mother, and shares a story of how he lost his friend, Thalia, on his way to Camp Half-Blood. Despite Percy choosing Grover instead of Luke to accompany him on the quest, Luke was generous and gave a pair of winged sneakers to Percy.

He doesn’t seem to be the type to sneak around, but the first book in the Percy Jackson series revealed that Luke Castellan is the real lightning thief. It’s not uncommon for gods to betray and wage war against each other, but Percy Jackson and the Olympians made this betrayal feel more personal.

In the book The Lightning Thief, Luke also befriends Percy with the intention of framing him later for stealing the Master Bolt. He’s driven not just by hatred but also by fear of Kronos, whom he made a pact with after going on a quest for a golden apple.

But in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Luke appears to be doing this out of resentment. He hates Hermes for abandoning him and his mother. Luke makes it into Camp Half-Blood and develops a close friendship with both Thalia and Annabeth, until one of them is turned into a tree by Zeus to “save her life.”

It’s enraging to think that the only thing the most powerful god in the Greek Pantheon could do to save someone’s life is to turn them into a tree. Many think of it as the mysterious ways of Zeus, but Luke has enough and turns against the gods by stealing the Master Bolt and framing Percy for the incident. The only tragic part of all of this is that Luke seemed like he really cared about Annabeth and Percy. But even his love for the two wasn’t strong enough to overpower his hatred of the gods.

(featured image: Disney+)