Shattered (2017) is a Percy Jackson and the Olympians crossover fanfic written by BobInTheComments
. It is a massive crossover, involving Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, The Heroes of Olympus, Native American Mythology, and the Cthulhu Mythos.
It is currently available on Archive Of Our Own.
It is the first of a trilogy, consisting of Bonds (ongoing, Ao3 link) and Awakened Dreamers, with further Shards (short stories) and Fragments (one-shots).
Tropes:
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Cycle, a conspiracy upheld by some of the Olympians. Long story short: when Olympus started to grow weak, Zeus made a deal with the Fates where he would supply them knitting materials, and they would make sure that Olympus wouldn't fall by 'looping' time back to the beginning, such that any and all who were alive during Zeus' time would be reborn. What are those knitting materials, you ask? Human souls. Yeah.
- Ancient Keeper: Kokyangwuti, the Spider Grandmother of Native American myths, was essentially an AI created the Elder Things, who was tasked with triggering a total reboot of the multiverse in case of an invasion by Nyarlathotep's servants. She was only one of many such Guardians, each from one universe.
- Asshole Victim:
- Athena was the mastermind behind Olympus' plan to trigger wars near the end of each cycle, so that they could steal away as many souls as possible without Hades noticing. Near the end of her life, she was raped by Brian, a scientist who loved her, whom she mocked. After that, she was fitted in with a cylinder, leaving her under Brian's control.
- Merlin, who had Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter razed, and the demigods killed, was killed in the end by Zeus, against whom he had personal vendetta for causing the WWII.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Kokyangwuti, who is actually a Guardian, an AI whose task is to reboot the multiverse in case of an invasion., along with all the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones, along with possibly Nyarlathotep.
- Bury Your Gays: Averted. Percy and Nico, the main couple, survive the destruction of their universe (Universe 72590), along with Piper and Persephone.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Inverted. Hades is the only major Olympian God to have a good relationship with his kids and his wife Persephone. He became a good father figure to the demigods of the Farm Crew, and is overall much better than the jerk he was in canon. Though he is still disliked by most of the mythological world, they aren't really justified.Hades: (after Loki suggested he might be the one behind the weakening of the divine world) “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
- Manipulative Bastard:
- Merlin used Gabriel Ugliano, Percy's recently resurrected ex-stepdad, and the murderer of his pregnant mom and his new (and way better) stepdad, to trick Percy into revealing the mythological world to the mortals.
- Zeus manipulated The Fates, and used their own weakness to convince them to save Olympus by creating The Cycle. He played Clotho’s youth and naivete, appealed to Lachesis’ mercy, and manipulated Atropos by using her own sense of mortality against her.
- Nyarlathotep made sure Merlin met Arthur during WWII, who would go on to create Avalon. He also tricked Percy through Annabeth, controlling her, making sure there was no obstacle between Percy and Nico. This way, when the time came, they made sure the multiverse wasn't rebooted, letting Nyarlathotep use his advantage. He also helped Brian create the devices Avalon used to control the gods, who were actually implanted with corrupted Shoggoths.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Zeus managed to kill Merlin, but not before Merlin had crippled Zeus, by killing the demigods and freeing the souls of the underworld, depriving Zeus of worship.
- Rule of Three: Explained. The protagonists' universe was a part of the fourth iteration of the multiverse, and each iteration required n-1 number of people from the previous one to give rise to mythology, n being the current number of iteration.
- Shout-Out:
- Doctor Who, referenced by Percy in the penultimate chapter, where he jokes about The Doctor appearing and helping them out in The Containment Facility.
- World of Warcraft, which becomes Jason's obsession when introduced to by his classmates.
-
Nightmare Fuel: The most prominent is the witch Morgan removing Piper's vocal cords and tongue, and then eating it, to charmspeak the dead souls into passing through Lethe and leaving the Underworld. - The Mole: Poseidon keeps the information about The Cycle from the Farm Crew, neglects his duty of protecting Camp Jupiter, and makes sure that Harpocrates was taken by Avalon sometime after Jason got files about The Cycle.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Necronomicon, just referenced by Nyarlathotep in the last chapter. Becomes the center point of the conflict between the Farm Crew and Brian in the Shard The Whisperer in Darkness, which reveals more about the book, and its contents.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Merlin. Born Jeremiah Arons, he was Jewish in Nazi Germany, and thus a concentration camp survivor. While there he saw Greek monsters, and at one point Zeus himself, demanding more souls. Later, he started helping demigods, but after finding out about The Cycle, had the demigods killed, and trapped most of the Greek gods in Olympus, forcing them to resort to cannibalism.
- Wham Episode: Chapters 104 and 105 primarily.
- Chapter 104 features the Farm Crew in the Chamber of Fate, which is in fact A Containtment Facility for the Lovecraftian Gods. Kokyangwuti reveals herself as a Guardian, and explains the beginning of the multiverse and the war between the Elder Things and the Outer Gods to the Farm Crew. The Farm Crew do not like the idea of the multiverse rebooting, and battle Kokyangwuti, defeating her.
- Chapter 105 features Brian interacting with an unknown entity, who reveals his manipulations and future goals to Brian. He reveals himself as Nyarlathotep.
- Wham Line: Loads of them.
- Percy realising why he recognised the drawings Piper made of the creatures she saw in the Underworld.
Percy: "They’re shoggoths...You wouldn’t find them in a mythology book ‘cause they’ve only been around for like a hundred years.”- Brian's motives for joining Avalon.
Brian: “I’m finally here for you, Athena.”- Kokyangwuti, when Piper sniped that she had failed her task of saving her universe, U-072590, from Nyarlathotep's incursion.
Kokyangwuti: “It’s only failure if a new universe can’t be created to replace the old.” - What Happened to the Mouse?: The fate of Hestia and Seymour after the destruction of Camp Half-Blood is unknown. The author has stated that he will explore it in a future Fragment.
- Zerg Rush: The strategy used by Nyarlathotep in the end, where he sent Shoggoths to take over everything, with negligible resistance, until some of them entered the Containment Facility, where they were all removed. Later lampshaded by Brian in a Fragment.
