Characters / Broken Bow

This page is for tropes relating to characters in the Broken Bow fanfiction.

Apollo

• Beware the Nice Ones: Like the sun, he's usually warm and kind. But also like the sun, he can be harsh, unforgiving, and absolutely merciless.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Apollo might be a Smug Super with a constant stream of women and occasionally men, who's usually laid-back and relaxed...but Armani notes that he also has a temper as burning and unforgiving as the sun he governs. Hurting his sister or his adopted son is not a good idea. He is also wiser than he will often appear.
• Cool Uncle: Armani might debate this, but overall he seems to be one.
• Dynamic Entry: Comes down from the sky in a beam of sunlight, standing atop his Cool Car, arms spread.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He's called the God of Archery for a reason.
• It's All About Me: As in canon, he's quite the Smug Super and doesn't take well to guilt.
• Loophole Abuse: When Zeus is angry at Percy for flying in his realm, Apollo points out that Percy was driving the sun chariot, which is technically his realm.
• Oblivious To Sarcasm: This annoys his nephew to no end.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Giving a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Hades for attempting to hurt Armani and Artemis.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He actually admits to being wrong, and apologizes for tricking Artemis into shooting Orion.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: It's implied that Armani picked up this trait from him.
• Relative Button: Mess with his "baby" sis? He will not take kindly to it.
• Warrior Poet: God of archery and music both.

Aren

• The Ageless: She's a Hunter of Artemis, and has actually been around for a few centuries. Still looks to be 12 years old, though.
• Apologetic Attacker: To Zoe Nightshadeshade.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: She doesn't talk much, and rarely more than a few sentences at a time. She also has a few centuries of combat experience.
• Crush Blush: With Armani.
• Does Not Like Men: Like the rest of the Hunters. However, once she knows Armani's identity, she doesn't count him as a proper "boy." Eventually, she goes a lot farther than not-disliking him.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Justified, as she's had a few centuries to practice.
• I Owe You My Life: Her reason for being a hunter of Artemis. Artemis saved her from her crap life beforehand and gave her meaning. However, it turns out that Armani (through a time travel quest) ends up being the one to guide Aren to Artemis in the first place. As such, Aren "transfers' her debt from Artemis to Armani during her explanation to be with him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Hunters are understandably surprised when she starts giggling while sitting next to Armani.

Armani Dove

• Action Hero: Will generally solve his problems by shooting and/or stabbing them.
• Badass in Distress: Aphrodite tries to force him into love. Thankfully, his mother is on hand.
• The Beastmaster: As Artemis' son, Armani can summon wild animals to his aid.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Although not as quiet as Aren or some of the other Hunters, Armani is generally a fairly quiet person, only saying what he feels necessary. Some might think he's stupid. They would be very wrong.
• Badass Boast: Armani gets a nice one against Orion or rather Orion's shade.
  Armani: "My name is Armani Dove. I am the immaculate son and Hunter of Artemis. But none of that is of any importance right now. In fact, if you have a shred of hunter's instinct in that overconfident skull of yours, there should be only one thing about me that concerns you right now."
  Orion: Oh? And what might that be?
  Armani: Just this: I am your enemy.
• Broken Ace: In the first book, despite his literally superhuman skills in combat and hunting, he is a Death Seeker with intense self-loathing due to his unnatural birth and the fear that his mother would reject him on the grounds of said birth (she's the goddess of childbirth after all) and well, Armani being a dude. This mostly fades once he is reconciled with his mother, fading into being a Socially Awkward Hero.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He does enjoy messing with the gods, especially Apollo.
• Character Tic: Armani often inclines his head when thinking or making a point.
• Danger Sense: Trying to get the drop on the son of the goddess of the Hunt while in the forest? Not the best idea, even if you're one of the goddess's Hunters.
• Deadpan Snarker: He can barely speak five sentences without snarking.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Armani has some of this towards Artemis and Thalia when he's going through his self-loathing phase.
• Double Take: When he reveals his divine parentage, he receives his share of those. Artemis is supposed to be a virgin and childless, remember?
• Drives Like Crazy: Well, he was taught by Apollo.
• Determinator: When he's set on a goal, nothing will stop him from achieving it.
• Genre Blindness: Like all demigods, Armani can perform Dream Spying. At first he thinks it's just a trick of his subconscious. However, he usually averts this trope.
• First-Person Smartass: Just as much as Percy in the original series.
  • In fact, his instinct is this to him.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Mild example, but he becomes one when he ends up on the camper side of the camper-Hunter capture-the-flag game.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Justified: He's the son of one of the gods of archery, and was raised by the other one.
• Indy Ploy: His preferred tactic.
• Ironic Name: Armani's name is canonically random, but the random choice of a toothpaste band and suit by Apollo creates a name that would fit a son of Aphrodite extraordinarily well. As a Son of Artemis, the name is very much the opposite.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: He's very embarrassed by having to sing Madonna.
• Lightning Bruiser: His standard method of fighting. He was already fast and strong before he got the blessing of Artemis, getting that just amplified it further.
• Nature Lover: During his first week or two at Camp Half-Blood, he prefers sleeping in one of the trees.
• Oblivious to Love: He's the son of Artemis, protector of the pure and innocent, so this isn't too surprising. Aphrodite tries to avert it...and regrets it. According to Athena, he was literally this trope.
• Oh, Crap!: Armani has this reaction when he realizes that he just got married to Lya.
• Psychic Block Defense: Armani understandably develops this after ten years with Apollo. It serves him in good stead when dealing with other gods.
• Psychic Radar: Can sense the presence and location of any Hunter of Artemis, as they all have a bit of his mother's power in them from when she blessed them. This power works best in the forest or in the Artemis cabin at Camp Half-Blood.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: As a result of growing up with Apollo, Armani is very much this trope. He plays Guitar Hero, takes a moment in the middle of a fight to recognize his mom doing a Sparta Kick, deliberately quotes Admiral Ackbar, and says The Deer Hunter is his favorite movie.
  • Lya even exploits the above fact and kidnaps Christopher Walken as a present for Armani.
  • Downplayed when he refuses to reply to "Who you gonna call?" with the expected answer. It does take a bit of effort to refuse the urge though.
• Socially Awkward Hero: He gets changed in front of a few girls, and literally does not realize that this is an issue. Thalia tried to explain why it's an issue, but he still didn't completely understand. Justified, as he explains to Chiron, his social development essentially consisted of watching Apollo and doing the exact opposite.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Armani can summon and de-summon his bow at will and can create an infinite supply of regular arrows to go with it. More special arrows, like Greek Fire Arrows, don't seem creatable by this ability.
• Super-Reflexes: Has this while in the forest.
• Talking Your Way Out: Armani does this to Nico.
• Tempting Fate: How tough can Zoe Nightshadeshade be?
• Took a Level in Badass: Overlaps with Came Back Strong. After Artemis cures him, Armani now has the abilities of a Hunter in addition to his own natural skills and abilities, which were pretty much those already. As Will Solace put it, he's basically a Hunter squared.
• Weirdness Magnet: As Artemis herself lampshades in the last books, things do not even need to be non-fictional in order to want to kill him, and within the span of six months he jumped through time and two different universes.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: A rare mother-son example, which is both inverted and played straight.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives Thalia one when he points out quite accurately that two shades should have had much more trouble incapicating the Hunters.

Artemis

• Anguished Declaration of Love: To Armani at the end of the first book, and implied to Orion at the end of the second.
• Blasé Boast: Artemis was "merely reprimanding Aphrodite for stepping out of line."
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Unlike many of the Olympians, Artemis won't vaporize a mortal, even a male, just because they give her back-talk (IF it's justified, that is). She understands the difference between cursing fate and actually being outright disrespectful. However, turning someone into a jackalopes isn't the same as vaporizing them...
• Beware the Quiet Ones: She is one of the least talkative of the Olympians-but she is an Olympian, and one of the major goddesses at that. Mess with her at your peril.
• Bullying a Dragon: One of the Aphrodite girls, thinking that she's just a Huntress, decides to make fun of Artemis. Cue Oh, Crap! reaction when she realizes just who she's dealing with.
• Can't Spit It Out: To Orion.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: One god against two, in the second book. She's the one-and she crushes the other two.
• Groin Attack: She threatens to castrate Ares if he doesn't back off from her son. He very wisely backs off.
• Heroic BSoD: Nico name-drops this trope when she finds out about her alternate universe daughter.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: She's the goddess of archery, so entirely justified.
• Mama Bear: Hurting Armani will really anger her, as Aphrodite and Ares find out. Athena explains that, due to her nature as the Goddess of both the wild and childbirth, she essentially becomes the manifestation of this trope.
  • Clarisse then name-drops this trope, which Athena agrees is a gross oversimplification but more or less accurate.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She suffers a slight breakdown when Artemis Fowl asks her how many mothers and sisters she hurt by turning boys who had the mishap to cross her path into animals.
• Roaring Rampageof Revenge: When she finds out what Apollo's been hiding from her. Would count as a Curb-Stomp Battle if he'd fought back at all.
• Super-Strength: When she senses one of her Hunters being held in a small hut, she doesn't bother with the lock, just rips the door right off.
• Telepathy: Like all the gods.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Constantly annoyed by her brother, but also loves him deeply (even if she'll admit it once a millennium, at most).
• Worf Had the Flu: She deliberately holds back against Orion, fighting almost completely defensively.

Chiron

• Demoted to Extra: He is a helpful guide to Armani for the beginning of Book 2, then fades into mostly being a background character.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's been around for a few thousand years by this point, but looks like he's in his forties.
• Seen It All: As he tells Armani, he's been training demigods for millennia. He's pretty perceptive by this point.

Lya

• Beware the Nice Ones: Lya is certainly the sweetest character in the series. However, she also put half a dozen Aphrodite kids in the infirmary for slipping Armani drugged candy, and when Armani tells her about Aren, she explodes.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: She is the only one of her kind in the area, given her species of tree isn't native to the region. It's why she was easily convinced to pursue Armani, she could sense that he was lonely like she was.
• Nature Spirit: She's a tree nymph.
• Nice Girl: She is bubbly, sweet, and cheerful, especially around Armani-at least, until he starts "abandoning" her.
• Woman Scorned: At the beginning of Book 3, she is not happy that Armani isn't taking his marital duties seriously.

Nico di Angelo

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Almost to the point of Adaptational Villainy. He's pretty nasty to Armani when he first finds out that the latter is a son of Artemis, whom he blames for his sister's death. He even works with his father to kidnap the Hunters.
• The Atoner: After working with his father, he regrets it, and works with Armani, Artemis, and the others to get them back. Rachel's prophecy even calls him "The guilty one."
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Armani tells his group to, "keep alert, ladies."
  *Nico coughs*
  "And Nico."
• Not So Above It All: Usually he's too much of The Cynic, but he does have a moment when he brings up that Artemis' chariot supposedly goes at the speed of the moon's orbit. How does he know this? Mythomagic.
  • Later, he gets distracted by Annabeth pointing to an (imaginary) unicorn.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: He quite enjoys it when the Hunters need his help.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Armani, once they get their issues sorted out.
  • This becomes much funnier when it's revealed that Armani's alternate universe counterpart Selene has feelings for Nico and vice versa (due to the same things that happened with Aphrodite).

Percy Jackson

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He challenges Orion to prove his identity, so the latter poses as his constellation. Percy accepts this as proof.
• Deadpan Snarker: As usual. When he meets Armani, this inevitably leads to Snark-to-Snark Combat.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Beats Hercules to avenge Bianca's honor.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Played for Laughs. He's put out that Armani hasn't heard of his quest for the Golden Fleece, saving Artemis from Mount Orthys, finding Daedalus, saving the world, etc.
• Dynamic Entry: Naturally. It's him.
• Hero of Another Story: You...may have heard of him before.
• Invincible Hero: Literally, thanks to his dip in the Styx.
• Making a Splash: Being the son of Poseidon, he can do all sorts of cool stuff with water.
• Master Swordsman: As per the canon.
• Power-Strain Blackout: After destroying all the skeletons at once in Book 2.

Thalia

• Armor-Piercing Question: Julia (from Artemis Fowl lore) asks her a couple of these, namely on why she remained a Hunter after the prophecy and if she misses guys. Thalia realizes she has not taken any of this into consideration and becomes shaken up, but especially after the...
  • Armor-Piercing Response: Julia points out that she would not want to be a Hunter because she likes being friends with Artemis and finds a life without knowing love to be empty (she's unaware of Luke), but what hits Thalia hard was on how Thalia is immortal and ergo, all of her friends who aren't (like Percy and Annabeth) will age and die and she'll be the only one left. Not only has Thalia failed to properly think of the ramifications of her immortality, but unlike most of her sisters, she has felt and enjoyed romantic love, and it's something she can now never have again, both because of her Vow Of Chastity and her immortality (the only viable option would be Armani, but he is now taken.)
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's usually pretty nice, and is probably the most civil of all the Hunters to men. She is also very dangerous.
• Big Sister Instinct: To Annabeth and the Hunters under her command.
• Demoted to Extra: She has a major role in the first book and only minor roles after that.
• Hero of Another Story: She played a fairly large role in the Titan War that happened a few years back.
• Shock and Awe: Standard for a child of Zeus. She's quite capable of using it to knock people out with the 'Thalia Neck Pinch', not that she likes people calling it that.