Causal Convenience

There are many reasons to reuse characters, settings, and plot points from previous works of literature in new works of literature, but the greatest reason is that of convenience. This is because it is very difficult to come up with characters, settings, and plot points from scratch.

For characters the reason it is convenient to reuse them from previous works of literature in new ones is because it provides a basic outline of the characters’ beliefs, personality, background, strengths, and weaknesses that the author can then flesh out and expand upon to give the characters depth without having to come up with that basic outline themselves. In the case of Riordan takes the characters from the ancient Greek myths and portrays them in “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” as being the same characters with them being real and around since ancient Greece and have adapted to modern times.

An example of this is the god Dionysus. In the original myths he is portrayed as the god of wine, pleasure, and vegetation. Riordan has taken Dionysus and has him as the director of the camp and forbidden to drink wine as punishment by Zeus for doing something he was forbidden to do. Riordan uses his personality from the myths as a basis for how he interacts with Percy and the other demigods as a result of his discontentment with this punishment.

Another example of this is Medusa. In the original myths she is Poseidon’s lover who is cursed by Athena to turn everyone that sees her face to stone. This history is shown in Riordan’s The Lightning Thief during Percy and his friends’ encounter with her in the form of her living in an emporium that contains all her previous victims that she sells to others and her hatred of Annebeth, who is a daughter of Athena.

A third example of this is Tantalus. In the original myth he had cut up and cooked his own children, before feeding them to the gods, who upon discovering this sentenced him to the underworld where his punishment is described by Odysseus in book 11 of The Odyssey as follows:

“I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who stood in a lake that reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but could never reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink, it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground—parched by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees, moreover, that shed their fruit over his head—pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to take some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds.

Riordan takes Tantalus and incorporates him into The Sea of Monsters, as having been released from his sentence in the underworld to serve as a replacement for Chiron by the gods after they fire Chiron from his position as the trainer of the demigods. When this happens, Tantalus treats the children cruelly, such as handing out horrible punishments to Percy and his friends when they save the camp from the Stymphalian birds that try to eat everyone’s flesh. Tantalus’s punishment in the afterlife is used for comedic effect in the form of everything he tries to eat or drink moving away from him when he tries to grab it, despite having been released from his sentence. Riordan also has Tantalus tell his past to the demigods as a campfire story to frighten them into compliance.

A final example of this is Daedalus. In the original myths he is portrayed as a genius without equal. In The Battle of the Labyrinth Riordan uses this in his story when writing up the description of his wings in his personal lab as described by Percy in the quote below from pages 277-278:

The wings looked more advanced than the ones I’d seen in my dreams. The feathers were more tightly interwoven. Instead of wax seals, self-adhesive strips ran down the sides.

The wings shown in Daedalus’ lab are significantly more advanced than the ones he made for himself and his son to escape Minos in the original myths. The wings are clear evidence that Daedalus in the series is the same one from the myths. Another way Daedalus is characterized as a genius is in how he survived from the times of ancient Greece up to the modern era with the use of human like automaton bodies which he moved his soul from his original body into them.

In The Battle of the Labyrinth Riordan also uses the details of original myths that have Daedalus in them by incorporating them as visions that Percy sees when he sleeps. These myths include his murder of his nephew Perdix, his escape from Minos, and the manner in which he dies. In the case of the last myth Riordan alters it to show Daedalus escaping after killing Minos.

For settings the reason it is convenient to reuse them from previous works of literature in new ones is because it eliminates the need for the author to come up with them by themselves.

An example of this is Olympus. In the original myths Olympus is from where the gods rule over the world. As result of that when being described in the series it is made to look otherworldly and like an ancient Greek city.

Another example of this is the underworld. In the myths the entrance to it is guarded by Cerberus and contains places such as Tartarus and Elysium. Riordan takes this and adds additional details such as describing the entrance to it on page 291 of The Lightning Thief as follows:

I’m not sure what I was expecting – Pearly Gates, or a big black portcullis, or something. But the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said: YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector mounted with security cameras. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robed ghouls like Charon.

This shows how he blended the original myths with his own ideas to make it work for his story. He does the same for Tartarus and Elysium.

For plot points the reason it is convenient to reuse them from previous works of literature in new ones is because it provides a basic idea of how a fight is going to happen and from there it’s just changing it to fit the new circumstances it is occurring under.

For example, in The Titan’s Curse, Percy and his companions fight the Nemean lion. In the original myths it was defeated by Hercules by being strangled after his arrows failed to hurt it. Riordan takes this story and reuses and changes it in his story by having Percy’s companions’ shoot arrows at the lion, failing until Percy chucks astronaut food into its mouth causing it to gag and its eyes to bulge open enough for the archers to hit and pierce them killing it that way.

As shown convenience is the biggest cause of the reuse of characters, settings, and plot points from previous works of literature in new works of literature because without the reuse of them of them, it would take longer to come up with the foundation and world building.

References

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, June 21). Cerberus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cerberus

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, June 27). Daedalus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Daedalus-Greek-mythology

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, October 4). Tantalus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tantalus

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, September 20). Tartarus. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tartarus

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, September 9). Hades. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hades-Greek-mythology

Homer. (2024, November 5). The Odyssey rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Odyssey, by Homer. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1727/pg1727-images.html

“Medusa.” Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Culture Society History. . Retrieved October 14, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/medusa

“Nemean Lion.” Myths and Legends of the World. . Retrieved October 14, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/nemean-lion

Olympus. (1997, March 3). In Encyclopedia Mythica. Retrieved November 5, 2024, from https://pantheon.org/articles/o/olympus.html

Riordan, R. (2005). The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #1) (1st ed.). Disney/Hyperion.

Riordan, R. (2006). The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #2) (1st ed.). Disney /Hyperion.

Riordan, R. (2007). The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #3) (1st ed.). Hyperion Books for Children.

Riordan, R. (2008). The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #4) (1st ed.). Hyperion Books for Children.

World History Edu. (2022, April 12). Ancient Greek God Dionysus: Birth Story, Powers, Meaning & Symbols. https://worldhistoryedu.com/greek-god-dionysus/