Camp Half-Blood Vs. Camp Jupiter: My View

It was a bit hard about what to write in the title of this article, but I think this one suits. Anyway, those who have read my other articles have well known me as someone who would like to take different point of view (and of course trying to claim that he is right!). Here, I have worked with a controversial theory or thought and see how it unfolds.

Various controversial matters are in discuss after the end of the Half-Blood Chronicles franchise by New York Times #1 Bestselling Author Rick Riordan. To be honest, I enjoy this controversial affairs and like how people takes it to more steps with their imagination. And as a recommendation for weird controversies being discussed, visit: The Half-Blood Report.

This article is written based on my view and please don't go to any feuds about this ideas, because it is impossible even if new Rick Riordan books comes up. I won't directly tell who wins or even I won't exactly tell who wins. You just have to catch it from all the analyzing we'll do next... But before that, a small tag:

WARNING: This article contains some spoilers from many Rick Riordan books. Please read them all and then try to join the discussion below.


Part 1: The Warfield

Warfield is an important point for a war. It is strategically important for each teams. Think the Romans fighting the Greeks in the water, obviously the Greeks have much more naval power than the Romans. And from The Son of Neptune, "the mighty Roman navy" only contains a tiny boat that size of a dinghy. Anyway, let's see about the land where the Romans have much more fighting capability than the Greeks.

So, to make it fair and justice we will provide a similar Warfield for both sides with similar resources. Let us imagine a whole Warfield… and here's what I imagined:

This is definitely a concept art and not particularly as I imagined. The Romans are given on the left while the Greeks are given on the right. 

Part 2: The Abilities

From the figure, you can see that the Romans have build a quick fort as they did in The Son of Neptune in one day while the Greeks built camps their own way. As the Romans have good hold on craftsmanship, new weapons mainly catapults aren't to be underestimated.

Though the Romans have the children of Vulcan, they don't usually make creative weapons like Leo Valdez did with 'Argo II' in the whole The Heroes of Olympus series. You can also find the famous creative weapons from the Hephaestus cabin designed for the chariot-race in The Sea of Monsters. In brief, the Greeks are better in weapon crafts than the Romans while the Romans are good at strong defense system plus large projects.

And moreover, the demigods in both camps has some powers. But there is some down sides for both the teams. Romans have many soldiers but some of are the children of demigods not demigods, so less celestial power. In the case of Greeks, they don't have many soldiers but all of them are demigods.

Camp Jupiter is based on the Roman tradition and is strict with straight rules while the Greek camp, Camp Half-Blood doesn't have this kind of tradition as the rules are more loose in this camp (except Harpies will eat you if you try to sneak out at night!). The Romans are more straight in their fitness while the Greeks though have this are somehow less in this.

We can see the weakness of the Greeks in The Hidden Oracle, the first book of The Trials of Apollo series. There the Greeks couldn't stop the whole Nero statue or automaton that was practically stomping the camp and successfully made a big feet shaped water body for future. But think that in case of Greeks, who could hold this automaton for a long time with brain programmed to be disciplined whenever they notice problems.

The Romans fails the ability to have wield bows and arrows. We know about archery in The Son of Neptune and sees the sadness in Frank when the Romans doesn't appreciate his this skill. Meanwhile, the Greeks have archery range for practice for the archers.

In alternative of the archery, the Romans uses catapults as depicted in the last couple of books of HoO series especially at the end of The Blood of Olympus. This turns out deadly when the Romans corners the whole Greek camp in the Half-Blood Hill.

In the last part we also spoke about naval capability of both the teams and saw which side have better advantage: Greeks. 

Part 3: The Secret Power of the Greeks

I have heard that most of the people goes to decide straight for "Camp Jupiter" whenever the discussion of the titled matter comes. But there are some important things you shouldn't forget about that belongs to the Greeks not the Romans.

As we know Annabeth one of the famous characters and one of the seven a half-bloods HoO is the child of Athena. And as we know from the same series, the fracture between both the Romans and Greeks was Athena or in Latin, Minerva. The plot of The Mark of Athena was based on finding the Athena Parthenon statue and in The Blood of Olympus' end part, Reyna has to establish the statue in Camp Half-Blood for the peace that would come next.

From the paragraph and reading the books, I am sure you've understood how important Athena is for both sides. The Romans even made Bellona the goddess of war and again kept Mars/Ares as the god of war (though not married to one another). Again, they made Minerva the goddess of Wisdom. In this process, the Roman form of Athena turned out of the war avatar to scholarly avatar. Though Bellona isn't given the goddess of War Strategy it is clear that the Roman tried not to give any war-related power to the Roman-Athena or Minerva.

So, counting on both sides, only the Greeks has Athena and she is one of the most important goddess in the Greek mythology and she plays a big role being beside Zeus. Anyway, in this way, only the Greeks has a goddess of War Strategy and demigods of her.

A war can be win in many ways. But if you can plan a good strategy, you can take out a big army easily. From the concept art, you can see that the Greeks can sail through the river and attack at one side of the Roman fortress. Though it wouldn't be a strong strike, but perfect planning and ammunition can cause severe damage. Like if somehow the Greeks blazes the woodden walls with Greek-Fire, then the result will be severe as seen in The Tyrant's Tomb.

Part 4: The Roman Avatars

The Romans have their own kind of powers which are different from the other side. Like think of they avatar they made from the Greek gods and goddesses. There is one god and one goddess of war, Mars and Bellona respectively.

As from The Son of Neptune, it was clarified that the Roman form of Mars is much more powerful than the Greek form of Ares which he fights with in The Lightning Thief of PJO pentalogy. In some words, the Roman have accepted the new form of Greek gods in war avatars rather than the little-peaceful avatars with togas.

So, for this reason, the Roman gods have much more power for the Roman side. But there is a small downside: there aren't much demigods of powerful gods among the Romans. But again there is also a good news for that: Lupa, the wolf, has selected the kids for the Roman camp perfectly for many years and from the first part of The Son of Neptune it was clear, the Romans don't take weakness nicely. So, it means all the soldiers in this camp are strong (except 'maybe' the ones who are the descendants of old Roman soldiers and demigods with recommendation letter; Wait a second, I am not talking about Frank!)

Part 5: 3 & 4 Discussion

It is necessary to re-discuss the parts: 3 and 4 again as to compare or discuss both it is necessary. I will not make it long but try to make it understandable.

The Greek side have only one especial secret or only especial power which is the demigods of Athena and the blessings of Athena. This cannot be taken as something useless or of less importance, as I've said that a good planning can reverse the course of the war as seen various times in real history.

Meanwhile, in Roman side we've the blessings of some powerful gods and goddesses and of course, most of the recruits in the camp are strong. But there is still some problem about the celestial powers that we should know now.

Though both sides have godly blessing it is not possible to be mentor of both sides, like being the host for two sides of a war is kinda freaky or..., the idea is really critical. As we know from The Heroes of Olympus books, it is clear that the Roman form and the Greek form splits up and stays always in offensive position against each other. But when the heroes of both sides fights against the giant shoulder-to-shoulder, the gods and goddesses doesn't seem to go that way.

The whole Roman and Greek split of avatars was remedied by the Athena Parthenon, but if you want to be the patron of two sides, it becomes hard to favor any side. Just think about one son of Jupiter fighting another son of Zeus in the war; how would Zeus/Jupiter favor anybody.

So, it is somehow clear that, the celestial powers are somehow lessened due to this. But don't think the demigods won't have any kind of powers, because there is some reserved power(s) for them as being a demigod.

Part 6: Anyway, why'd they want to fight?

It looks like you're asking for a fight among to at-present peaceful camps who now likes one another and exchanges views. They even united themselves at the Half-Blood Hill when Gaea attacks them. So, it's quite clear that they are now in a good relationship.

I mean, maybe you like the theories and hypothesis, but they are still awkward if you see the whole Riordan plot. Still, if you like, then I hope you understand you cannot underestimate any side and say the name of the other side straight on, because there are points to be considered.

And don't go thinking of feuds among some demigods who also have monsters to think about! Come on, they're kids (though upgraded) and you're thinking of buzzing them in a fight? Anyway, why'd they want to fight?

Part 7: What decision I made?

I have said you that I won't make any decision. But I would like to clear you that, I didn't underestimate even the Greeks here as many of you do thinking of Roman military formation (and the history lessons of Julius, Octavian and other Caesars) and the elephant among them. Come on, Greeks have Pegasi from where you can sit and do a lot of sinister activities against your enemy. And the Romans even doesn't use the winged-horses much which they uses only in medical requirements. But thanks to Meg McCaffrey, they are now the "unicorn of Apocalypse".

Part 8: Your Decision

I hope this article helped you out for making a perfect decision. If you don't like to make a decision, then you don't have to. Who cares? Thanks to Rick for giving us calmness that which side can destroy the other side in The Blood of Olympus.

Okay, here's a secret: I didn't make any decision too. I only just linger with the idea that both sides have some special advantages the other doesn't, and it is not a quick decision to be made to choose anyone you wish and see that it looses when you think again (because you won't find this in any future Riordan book even if there is any coming, which is actually Celtic).

I've tried to make this article as much informative and useful as possible. Again, I am repeating: don't make any decision, it's not always healthy. See you soon.



DISCLAIMER 1: All the Half-Blood Chronicles related characters, names, plots are owned by Copyright © Rick Riordan. There are less spoiler in the article than I imagined it should be, so it is okay to probably read it for some readers who can't tolerate to read more before even reading the main stuffs, Okay, guys, scroll above and see the warning again!

DISCLAIMER 2: For the Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter pictures (illustrations copyright (c) 2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc.) in the first image: art by Nate Powell, and color by Orpheus Collar from The Lost Hero: The Graphic Novel, adapted by Robert Venditti from the first book of The Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero  ; The illustration in the first image is by Md. Iman Anwar from a photo by Joe Filipe ; The second picture's art and illustration is by Md. Iman Anwar (and this art is totally a concept art!).

NOTE: I've tried my best to put the most informative discussion and debate here, and trying to put any kind of controversies too so that the readers get the perfect idea. But still, some points are maybe missing from this article which I do not know about right now or I can't remember right now. If you get any important points comment me in Instagram & Blogger (Blogger will be better) and I will read them. Selecting those I may update some parts adding the points to make the article richer (don't worry, you'll be rightfully acknowledged); and if I do any updates, I will inform you as soon as possible.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: I am not sure about the acknowledgement part for now and if I need to do it or not. But I remembered the idea after I watched a Percy Jackson Trivia and a person asked this question, so thanks to that; and here's the video: Percy Jackson Trivia Charity Stream

CONNECT WITH ME: Instagram  LinkedIn  Blogger [**I post most of my updates in Instagram.]

CONNECT RICK RIORDAN: Website  Instagram  Twitter

SOME IMPORTANT LINKS: Read Riordan  Disney Books  Rick Riordan Presents  The Lost Hero: The Graphic Novel

RECOMMENDED LINKS: The Half-Blood Report  Riordan Wiki [**The fandom platform contains major spoiler, which are more major than any of my articles!]

BOOKS (in order of appearance): The Son of Neptune , The Heroes of Olympus series , The Sea of Monsters , The Hidden Oracle , The Trials of Apollo series , The Blood of Olympus , The Mark of Athena , The Tyrant's Tomb , The Lightning Thief , Percy Jackson and the Olympians series



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