Annabeth is such an integral part of the Percy Jackson universe, and honestly, the books wouldn’t be the same without her.
Happy birthday to one of our favorite demigods! In honor of Annabeth’s birthday, I’ve complied a list detailing some of our Wise Girl’s most memorable moments.
Of course, it was incredibly hard to choose just a few moments from our time with Annabeth. (Who knows, I may even make a Part 2!) She’s such a great character, and she’s in almost as many books as Percy Jackson himself. Honestly, she’s such an integral part of the Percy Jackson universe that the series wouldn’t be the same without her.
Warning: Spoilers for Percy Jackson & the Olympians andHeroes of Olympus
First impressions
The first time Percy saw Annabeth in The Lightning Thief, he was in a dream-like state. He was passed out from his fight with the Minotaur outside Camp Half-Blood, when he saw Annabeth in his mind, saying, “He’s the one. He must be.” She didn’t know he could hear her, of course, but the moment was still important to Percy.
But when they first met? Annabeth walked right up to Percy, instead of congratulating him on his first battle, she said, “You drool when you sleep.” And all readers knew she would be iconic from that moment on.
Carrying the weight
Other than the school dance at the beginning of Titan’s Curse, Annabeth wasn’t in the book very much, but that’s because she was holding up Atlas’ burden of the sky.
No big deal or anything.
A Kiss goodbye
In Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy pretended to have a plan on Mount St. Helens, even though he really had no idea what he was going to do. And perhaps Annabeth could sense that, because right then and there, she kissed Percy for the first time.
“Put your cap back on,” I said. “Get out!”
“What?” Annabeth shrieked. “No! I’m not leaving you.”
“I’ve got a plan. I’ll distract them. You can use the metal spider – maybe it’ll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what’s going on.”
“But you’ll be killed!”
“I’ll be fine. Besides, we’ve got no choice.”
Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.
“Be careful, Seaweed Brain.” She put on her hat an vanished.
I probably would’ve sat there for the rest of the day, staring at the lava and trying to remember what my name was, but the sea demons jarred me back to reality.
The Underwater Kiss
Not only was Annabeth supportive of Percy when he was dealing with the prophecy and bathing in the river Styx, but she was so personally strong throughout the book and played a crucial part in the final battle by taking a knife for Percy.
But after, when everything was over and the demigods were just happy to be alive, Annabeth brought Percy a blue cupcake and initiated one of the most iconic PJO scenes: the underwater kiss.
When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body.
I could’ve stayed that way forever, except a voice behind us growled, “Well, it’s about time!”
Suddenly the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted us both onto their shoulders.
With a huge cheer, they carried us down the hill, but they kept us close enough to hold hands. Annabeth was laughing, and I couldn’t help laughing too, even though my face was completely red.
We held hands right up to the moment they dumped us into the water.
Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey – when you’re the son of Poseidon, you don’t have to hurry.
And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.
The Judo-Flip
After Percy went missing for several months, Annabeth final met up with him again in Mark of Athena.
In classic Annabeth fashion, she didn’t simply hug him and move on. She flipped him onto his back, held him down, and made him promise they would never get separated again.
Of course, the next time they were in mortal danger, they made the choice to stay together even if it meant risking their lives (but it’s still too soon to talk about that).
“Dumb-Blonde” maneuver
Annabeth, with her blonde “princess” curls and all, is anything but dumb. She’s one of the smartest demigods alive and she absolutely knows it.
And when she needs to be clever, she can do that at more.
One of my favorite scenes from Mark of Athena was when Annabeth used the “dumb-blonde” trope to her advantage in order to get out of danger.
She needed help… some kind of distress signal to Coach Hedge, or even better – Percy.
“Well?” Octavian demanded. His two friends brandished their swords.
Very slowly, using only two fingers, Annabeth drew her dagger. Instead of dropping it, she tossed it as far as she could into the water.
Octavian made a squeaking sound. “What was that for? I didn’t say toss it!”
Annabeth tried for a dumb-blonde smile, like: Oh, silly me. Nobody who knew her would have been fooled. But Octavian seemed to buy it.
“You other two…” He pointed his blade at Hazel and Piper. “Put your weapons on the dock. No funny bus–”
All around the Romans, Charleston Harbor erupted like a Las Vegas fountain putting on a show. When the wall of seawater subsided, the three Romans were in the bay, spluttering and fantically trying to stay afloat in their armor. Percy stood on the dock, holding Annabeth’s dagger.
“You dropped this,” he said, totally poker-faced.
