History Headscratchers / TheKaneChronicles

* 'Kay, so the books make occasional references to the Greek/Roman parts of TheVerse, and that's just dandy. But considering that Riordan is writing them at the same time as ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', why aren't there any allusions to the Egyptian mythology in the other series?

* Ok so Egyptian myth is right, the Greek myth is right,the Roman myth is right, oh and The Son of Neptune seems to indicate that the Chinese myth is also true. Does this mean that the Norse myth is right along with every other pantheon out there?
** Seems likely. Heck, his next series may very well be Norse, since aside from Greek/Roman and Egyptian, it's the best-known pantheon. Odds are, they're true, but many of them may not make appearances due to a lack of cultural references to them in America (how many people know the Aztec pantheon, for example? Which is kinda sad, since they're geographically closer to America than Greece, Rome, or Egypt ever was.)
*** Not just likely, confirmed. He has plans for a Norse series that he's been working on since before The Lightning Thief came out. Of course, he's got to get through his other two series first, so he's stated a release date sometime around 2015. As for the Aztec issue, I would add that, besides the lack of modern cultural relevance, the Aztec pantheon is simply not as well defined as the Greek/Roman, Egyptian, and Norse ones. Specifically, the hierarchy is way less structured in most American mythology. Also, an Aztec based series would be difficult as there is no real BigBad: Greeks have Titans and Giants, Egyptians have Apophis/chaos, and Norse has the Jotun all opposing their gods. Not so in Aztec, which has a few gods who occasionally are considered evil, but not any that could fill the roll of antagonist. It would also be hard to have an Aztec-worshipping mortal, as Aztecs didn't have mortal children of gods (unlike Greeks and Norse) or pharaohs who were the physical embodiment of the gods (Egyptian). So even ignoring the lack of American cultural influence, Aztec and other pre-Columbian era American myths just don't fit with Riordan's usual MO, which means it's pretty unlikely we'll be seeing any of them soon.
*** Additionally, the Aztec myth cycle isn't particularly suited to young adult works. If the Greek Pantheon is R rated, the Aztec one is practically triple XXX. Add that to the fact that they practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism on an immense scale, and that the priests would "gain the powers of the Gods" through human sacrifice and occasionally wearing a flayed woman's skin, it doesn't lend itself well to being bowdlerized. Add that to the fact that almost all the information about Aztec (and Mayan, for that matter) religion comes from only a handful of sources (none of which are reliable) it's evident why he didn't want to go that route.

** Percy at one point does mention this. An Inuit Indian tells Percy stories about their lore, and Percy wonders if Native American myths are real. Though he says it's better not to think about it, as they were kind of in the middle of a war. Presumably the same is true for Cherokee myths (for Piper).
** Confirmed in The Hidden Oracle, when Apollo says that multiple other gods will keep the sun going without him. He specifically mentions Sol, Ra, and Tonatiuh, the sun gods of Egyptian, Norse, and Aztec mythology, respectively.

*** The odds of Ragnarok in Magus Chase becoming a crossover is quite high. The cross-overs took place after both the Egyptian and Greco-Roman world destroying advents ended. However, at the end of The Sword of Summer, Mangus find Annabeth and is like "Look what weird stuff I know" and Annabeth in confident she can one up him. They make a bet to one up each other on weirdness and then the chapter ends. Unless the cross-over took place after Mangus Chase, then Mangus probably knows. And since the Apollo series happens parrel to Mangus Chase, and Percy is going into college during the Apollo series and Annabeth is catching up on highschool due to world saving in her crossover, it probably takes place before Apollo/Mangus Chase.

** A lot of works do the same thing, where the given age is basically just for show and the real age is "typical teenager". You see the same thing in a lot of shows, such as ''JimmyNeutron'' where we're supposed to go along with the fact that the main characters are in 5th grade (or something). There's probably a trope for this, but I don't know the name.

** Just for posterity, I should mention that Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods gives an offhand mention to the Indian gods being real too.

* In the first book Desjardins and Zia have to get to Phoenix personally. Why? Was there no other nome anywhere near the area to handle it? Exactly how is the House of Life spread out that they don't have a response crew everywhere, especially given they can teleport to anywhere as long as they've got a convenient obelisk?

* 'Kay, so the books make occasional references to the Greek/Roman parts of TheVerse, and that's just dandy. But considering that Riordan is writing them at the same time as TheHeroesOfOlympus, why aren't there any allusions to the Egyptian mythology in the other series?

*** I'm not sure that counts, the Olympians and Egyptian gods are clearly very, very different types of deities. To name a few things, the Olympians constantly create demigods, the Egyptians are forbidden to do the same. Running water weakens the Egyptians, the Olympians don't mind it. Egyptians hail from AnotherDimension, Olympians are right here at home, albeit behind a weirdness censor. Egyptians need hosts to stay on Earth for long, Olympians don't. In addition, they have radically different magic systems. They seem to be roughly the same kind of being, but utterly different types. Like two different languages or something. HoL god- binding and banishing spells probably wouldn't even slow down an Olympian.

*** Other factors to consider are that Sadie and Carter are the result of two very powerful bloodlines of magicians merging, and as magic relies less on simply "knowing" and more 'learn by doing', while they've not been magicians for very long, they've undergone a lot of experiences that most magicians likely wouldn't in their entire lives (e.g fighting gods). Having the actual ''Goddess of Magic'' and ''God of Combat'' helps a lot too, plus a Cat Goddess that tango with ''Apophis'' himself for thousands of years helps too.

** The metaphysics of the world are actually consistent between the series. Gods, monsters, and cosmic forces like Fate and Order exist in and of themselves. But they mostly exist in different layers of reality, and are tied to various cultures and phenomena to affect the mortal world. Actually, what Greek Gods do by embodying positive aspects of civilization like art or postal services is while Monsters embody the "blight of civilizations"(e.g Fast Food Chains). These ties both affect how they are perceived and create different aspects to them depending on the culture: the same Power is behind Zeus and Jupiter. The Greek and Egyptian afterlife are both different realities. The Greeks that universe is the Underworld, to the Egyptians it's the Duat, to the Norse it's the World Tree (with the Nine Realms being their territories).

** The metaphysics of the world are actually consistent between the series. Gods, monsters, and cosmic forces like Fate and Order exist in and of themselves. But they mostly exist in another dimension, and are tied to various cultures and phenomena to affect the mortal world. Actually, what Greek Gods do by embodying things like Music is the same as what Monsters do by embodying things like Fast Food Chains (blights on Civilization) that gets mentioned in a throwaway gag. These ties both affect how they are perceived and create different aspects to them depending on the culture: the same Power is behind Zeus and Jupiter, and probably Indra, but the personalities are different aspects of the same being. In terms of the larger universe and cosmic forces: Maat as seen by the Egyptians, the font of Order and foundation of the universe, is seen by the Norse as the Wells of Fate that feed the World Tree. The Greek and Egyptian afterlife are both different territories of the larger metaphysical universe. To the Greeks that universe is the Underworld, to the Egyptians it's the Duat, to the Norse it's the World Tree (with the Nine Realms being their territories).