Tear Jerker / The Lightning Thief

• Already the first song sets the tone as it starts with the campers, mostly Luke and Annabeth, informing you, that those gods you gave no mind to in stories are not only real but ignore you too, busy doing godly things and making godly plans that never involve you.
  • Despite his reasons for hiding the truth from Percy, it's upsetting to see Chiron blatantly lying to him and making him feel crazy for what can seem like no reason if you aren't familiar with the source material. Percy's reaction makes it abundantly clear that he figured Chiron thought better of him than any other adult had, and is crushed to find out that Chiron isn't going to help or listen to him at all.
    Chiron: Perhaps it's for the best. This wasn't the place for you. It was only a matter of time before-
    Percy: I got kicked out?
    Chiron: That's not what I was going to say.
    Percy: You think I'm trouble just like everyone else.
    Chiron: No! But, that is to say...I can only accept the best from you, Percy. Someday you'll understand why. I'm truly sorry.
    Percy: Yeah. Well...I'm sorry I let you down.
• "The Minotaur" features Percy seemingly being Forced to Watch while the Minotaur murders his mother. Chris McCarrell's scream sounds a little too real. Possibly even worse in live performances, where he barely manages to whimper the line.
• "Their Sign" twists the knife of Sally's "death" even harder. First, Percy realizes that it wasn't All Just a Dream, and promptly blames himself, because she was only trying to protect him. Then, when he demands to know who the mysterious dad who's caused all this trouble for him is, he's clearly trying to sound angry and tough to cover the fact that he's close to tears.
• "Campfire Song" has funny moments (A jar of dirt from Demeter? Seriously?) but it's basically the kids lamenting how their parents ruling the universe ruins their lives.
  • Silena says Aphrodite keeps stealing her dates (apparently just because she can because why she would or even need to, being Aphrodite, is everybody's guess). It's also horrifying to realize that given Silena's age, her dates were probably minors.
  • Luke says everyone but him gets a message or call from Hermes. His faux-dramatic "oh no!" obviously comes from genuine unhappiness.
  • Annabeth says Athena goes to loads of places but never to camp.
  • Percy says he doesn't even KNOW who his father is but once he shows his face Percy will have a few choice words to him. He also calls back to his self-deprecation in the opening of "Strong", admitting that he thinks his father hasn't come back because he didn't want the trouble.
  • And before that, when all the other campers get Percy to sing, he starts singing about how much he loves his mother, who for all intents and purposes was vaporized before his eyes not too long before. His small voice referring to her in the past tense is heart wrenching. And when they specify they meant his father, he tries to excuse himself that if he opens up that can of worms, there might be a hurricane.
  • The kicker is Chiron who admits his father is none other than Mr. I-Ate-My-Kids Kronos, to which even LUKE admits that is hard to top in suckiness.
  • The whole song becomes a lot more sad in retrospect. After it comes out that Luke is the traitor, he begs the other campers who noticed his fight with Percy to join him. Even worse than the idea that he faked his affection for the other half-bloods is the implied truth, that he desperately wants to protect them from exactly the kind of treatment this song talks about and can't fathom their refusal to leave the gods behind.
• "Good Kid" is a big one since it perfectly shows the first book's version of Percy and how being labelled a bad kid and being given up on so many times has affected him.
  • Specifically, it offers a glimpse at the helplessness and sense of rejection he feels because of things he can't seem to control. "All you get are bad grades and a bum rap and a bad rep and a good smack and no friends and no hope and NO MOM! ... She's taken away."
  • His calling Sally "the only family that really mattered" reminds the listener that for years now, she's been the only person who really cared about him.
  • The mix of fear and anger in his voice as he growls, "a good smack" hits like a punch in the gut. And the way the song is soaked in Percy's trademark Self-Deprecation makes it sound like a part of him feels he deserves it.
  • The way his voice breaks slightly on the last repeat of the refrain is so honest and heartbreaking that it can choke you up even if the rest of the song managed not to.
    I swear I never stole anything...
    I never meant to hurt anyone.
    I swear, I swear that I'm a good kid, a good kid...
    Who's had a bad run...
• "My Grand Plan" does for Annabeth what "Good Kid" does for Percy. The bridge in particular has her break from discussing her own ambitions to bitterly explain that her mom and her dad ignore her and her stepmother thinks she's a freak. Suddenly, her independent tough girl routine is less impressive and more depressing.
  You win at every single game; you want a quest, they tell you, "tough". If you don't go, you'll never know if you'll ever be good enough.
• "The Tree On The Hill" details Thalia's death, and Grover's guilt over not being able to save her.
  • Especially as when Percy hears the story and Grover gets to Zeus personally showing up, Percy immediately asks "He saved her... right?" No he didn't. He turned her into a tree to protect the others, "The way I [Grover] couldn't do for her."
  • It's thoroughly established in the series that there was absolutely nothing anyone short of a god could have done to save Thalia, other than die beside her and make her sacrifice in vain. None of that stops Grover from running agonizing what-ifs in his head for years after her death:
    And maybe if I'd been a little bit braver...
    Maybe if I'd stayed behind to fight...
    But "maybe" doesn't let me go back and save her…
    "Maybe" doesn't make it all right.
• A minor one from the beginning of "The Last Day of Summer". Percy spots Luke walking past in the background and goes after him, looking and sounding genuinely upset when one of his only friends ignores him.
• Luke's part in "The Last Day Of Summer" really hammers home how much he resents the gods, and how shitty his life is because of it. He sounds barely in control, only just keeping himself from screaming at Percy that he's done everything the gods asked of him for years and got less than nothing for it.
  • He's flat out told he's being used. His answer? "Good."
• When the trio returns from their quest, Annabeth mentions to Clarisse that they met Ares and he "wasn't that tough". Clarisse sneers a bit, but as Annabeth starts to walk away, the words register, and Clarisse just stammers out a repeat of the fact that they met her dad before chasing after Annabeth asking if he mentioned her. She might be the camp bully, but Clarisse is just as much of a lost and lonely kid as the rest of them.

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