The Original Character Court

Apologies and explanation in the footnotes below. Right now, let's get this judgment done with:

Submitted by: Claire Winter

BASICS
Name: Helena Frey
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Birthday: May 4
Ethnicity: Scottish, speaks with a prominent accent
[See, there's this whole issue and discussion whether 'Scottish' is an ethnicity (because they're part of the United Kingdom), or nationality (since they technically have their own country). For me, and that's going purely by racial standards, 'Scottish' is a nationality and their ethnicity is 'Celtic'.]
Hair color: Bright ginger
Eye color: Blue-grey
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 110 lbs
[A proper ratio.]
Other physical descriptions: Helena is small in stature, light and not very strong. She's somewhat small-chested. She's got a few, barely noticeable freckles. She's got a tiny bit of a pudgy face, but not so much that it gets pointed out.
[See, we have progress! Now I can actually picture Helena as an actual character. Being picky, I would still add some description, but it's noticeably better.]
Sexual orientation: Heterosexual

PERSONALITY
Positive traits: Helena is a happy, optimistic person. She's probably one of the only people that thinks being a demigod is super-cool and awesome. She's very friendly and loves to talk. If you don't stop her, most times she'll never shut up. She's easygoing, and that's probably one of the reasons she took being a demigod really well. She can sometimes be a little sarcastic, and although she loves to laugh she's horrible at telling jokes.

Negative traits: Helena acts really immature for her age. She can also be rude, and a little snarky at times. Helena is also somewhat gullible, and can be obnoxious and loud at times. Although Helena acts like being a demigod is the best thing in the world as well as acting like monsters are nothing, when one comes around(no matter how tiny), she'll squeal in fright and take cover wherever she can.

[Wait, "acts like being a demigod is the best thing in the world..." implies that she doesn't really believes so, which contradicts what you've stated in the previous section. Aside from that, I got a good grasp of her personality as a chirpy, bit more hyper than a regular demigod, positive person that's happy with life. I can approve of that.]

Other Personality traits: N/A
Fears/Phobias: Hydrophobic. It comes naturally with being a daughter of Zeus, as the sea is Poseidon's domain.

[We've done this before in your previous submissions. I believe you know what I'm going to say here. Also, since she's Zeus's kid, I'm going to judge extra hard.]

Fatal Flaw: Helena's fatal flaw is that she is very unsure of herself. Being a daughter of Zeus, other demigods expect her to be some great, all-powerful warrior, when in reality, if faced with a tiny threat, she's a sniveling coward. Responsibility comes with her heritage, and Helena is most definitely not ready for that responsibility, and so she doubts herself constantly.

[This is a very good flaw, and I can really see it becoming the cause of her downfall. I'm not sure whether or no, in Titan's Curse, was mentioned that the children of Zeus share a Fatal Flaw and that it's ambition - they are unable to refuse power when being offered (you can argue that this is why Thalia joined the Hunters, she was being offered the position of a lieutenant). Although I do like the fact that people expect Helena to be great.]

FAMILY AND BACKGROUND
Godly Parent: Zeus
[As I mentioned many times, I have nothing against children of the Big Three if they are done correctly. And with Zeus we really have the easiest way out - we can all agree that he is the biggest adulterer among the gods and him breaking the Oath multiple times is really nothing surprising.]
Mortal Parent: Annabel Frey
Other relationships:
Annabel Frey- Biological mother, mortal. She and Helena have a very loving relationship. Helena pays visits to her often.

Cedric Lewis- Half-blood, son of Athena. 17. He and Helena contrast a lot, because Cedric is very uptight and logical, while Helena is more free-flowing and intuitive. But they still are the best of friends. They met because Cedric was the one to first give her a tour of the camp when she arrived.

Penelope Barnes- Half-Blood, daughter of Aphrodite. 16. Penelope happens to be Helena's tutor in Ancient Greek. They hit it off right away, becoming best friends in about a week, due to them both being really outgoing and wanting to get to know each other. Penelope is very bubbly and happy, matching perfectly along with Helena.

Tyler Davidson- Half-blood, son of Nemesis. He and Helena don't get along well, due to the time where Helena almost decapitated him on her first day of sword-fighting training. It was a complete accident -- Helena picked up the sword, and because it was too heavy it swung around and nearly took Tyler's head off. Ever since then the two have never gotten along.

Backstory: Helena grew up in a remote town in Georgia. Her mother moved there to try and stay away from the monsters. She knew about Helena's being a demigod, and tried to keep her safe. Helena developed her Scottish accent from her mother and a couple of neighbors who happened to be Scottish.

[This is purely a linguistic nitpick: this sentence has no connection whatsoever to the previous ones. Usually, there should be some sort of coherence between sentences.]

Helena had an absurd fascination with comic books and superheroes. She often told her mom that, "One day, I'll be a superhero, and defeat all the bad guys in the world!', which only worried her mother. The first monster attack happened when Helena was six. Helena was extremely lucky to have avoided them for that long, but she couldn't avoid them now. Helena was at school when it happened.

[What was the monster? What happened? Who slayed it? Details, please.]

Her mother played ignorant and told Helena it was a figment of her imagination. Helena was hurt, but as long as she didn't know about her heritage, the less likely there was for another attack.

[By "hurt" I assume you mean mentally/emotionally, right?]

The moved immediately after that. They traveled out of the states and finally came to a stop in Ohio, in yet another remote place. It was almost two years before another monster showed up, when Helena was almost eight. They moved yet again, this time to Virginia, and the monster attacks became more frequent. They ended up moving a lot, around once each year. Only when Helena was twelve she asked her mother to please explain what was going on. Her mother finally relented and told her that she was a demigod. Helena took the news rather well. She was excited. She felt a little hurt at not being told sooner, but soon got over that.

[Now that we know the backstory, I'm not sure if Helena would take the revelation that well. They moved each year for ca. six years, which by itself sounds a tiny bit stretchy, and then she's immediately happy when she learns that her mother hid the fact that there are Ancient Greek monsters out there to kill her.]

Helena went to Camp immediately after that. She arrived at Camp happy and excited for what life as a demigod would be like.

[How exactly would she arrive? Did her mother know where Camp is? And where is her satyr protector? Since she's Zeus's child, her scent would be stronger, wouldn't it? A satyr would find her without a problem.]

She only had to spend three nights in the Hermes cabin before she was claimed by her father, Zeus. After that, things changed a little. People started acting like she was supposed to be this mighty demigod. Helena went along with this, but deep inside she knew she couldn't be much of a hero.

[Sure, as I said, I can see that. But that wouldn't be immediately, would it? The way I see it, Helena would be the subject of rumors. You know, since the Camp is getting a new child of Zeus, there are bound to be whispers and speculations. Maybe she gets lucky during a fight, or Capture the Flag? And then the great expectations start? Viewing her as incredibly mighty right from the start is a step to make her a Sue, and we don't want that.]

Helena soon became a year-rounder at Camp, but visiting her mom frequently. She has been at Camp for three years. (On a side note, Helena was born after the Oath was broken. She wasn't around for the Second Titan War or the Second Giant War.)

[As I said, good to note that.]

COMBAT-RELATED QUESTIONS
Camp: Half-Blood
Weapon of choice: Helena cannot use weapons to save her life. Swords are way too heavy for her, her aim with a bow and arrows is that of a Storm trooper, and she's not quick or skilled enough to use a dagger. However, she does keep a small, plain celestial bronze dagger with her just in case.

[I'm sorry, I don't really like the 'useless demigod' scenario. If they can't use weapons, they wouldn't be noted to have innate battle reflexes. If you want Helena to not be a warrior, that's fine, but she should have some combat abilities. Especially if she's been at Camp for three years.]

Other weapons: N/A
Powers and Abilities:
Electrokinesis -- Helena only discovered this ability a couple months after she came to Camp. When she first discovered it, she could only generate small bursts of energy, but as she's matured, so have her powers. She's not nearly as strong with them as some other children of Zeus have been, but they're developed enough. She can summon lightning and generate some electricity from her hands, but she can't use it for a super-long period of time, or else she gets tired.

[I'm not sure about Helena having basically Force Lightning. In both series' neither Jason nor Thalia used lightning on a long distance. Thalia shocked Percy through physical contact, and she and Jason both summoned lightning bolt from the sky, not from their bodies.

Areokinesis -- Helena didn't discover this until she had been at Camp for two years. She can create small winds, but she most definitely cannot fly like Jason. This particular power is still developing. It exhausts her fairly quickly when used continually.

COMMENTS
I like Helena. She's another good character from you. There are some things that need an upgrade, and you need to work on your descriptions, but overall I get a good impression of Helena. She's a quite well done character, with some kinks to fix. I think Cheshire will agree with the verdict.

FINAL JUDGMENT: Elysium

Notes

I apologize for taking so long, guys. I still don't know anything about Cheshire's condition, but I shouldn't have let that fact delay the judgments. For now, until I finish the submissions, I will try to do a review per day.