Over the last couple of decades, Warners Bros. and 20th Century Fox graced our screens by bringing to life two of the most popular fictional characters of the time: Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. We witnessed the spiraling Hogwarts castle and the iconic Lotus Casino scene. We also witnessed an intense rivalry between their two fandoms. As Harry Potter and Percy Jackson were the powerful main characters of two famous universes, it was a natural question: who would win in a fight? While that era of Tumblr arguments is long gone, the revival of both books in the form of TV shows has the question back on the rise. For obvious reasons that will soon be laid out, Harry Potter is the clear winner of this debate.
Reason 1: Childhood
Harry's parents both died at the hands of the Dark Lord. While Percy grew up without a dad, he had a very loving mother who is present even in the most recent books about his college journey. Harry also lived in a broom closet until he was 12 years old. He grew up with cruel people who had no care for him. It isn’t until the very last book that Dudley even shows a shred of kindness to Harry. Once he turned 11, he learned about the wizarding world, but until then he was an unloved, unwanted and mistreated little boy. Compared to that, the most character-building aspect of Percy’s childhood was that he grew up in New York City. While that is certainly not for the weak, Harry navigated an entire wizarding world at 11 while Percy was still completely unaware of his demigod nature. Therefore, Harry’s childhood has given him more grit that would definitely show through if they were to duel.
Reason 2: Power
To give both of them equal ground, we will consider that Percy has access to water and Harry has his wand. While Percy’s control of water is impressive, Harry can also control water. He can control anything he wants, as his wand contains infinitely more variable approaches than Percy’s water. It wouldn’t be an easy fight, but in the end, there is only so much Percy can do with water that Harry can’t do with his wand. Additionally, Harry is physically just as strong as Percy. While the Son of Neptune book cover makes it clear that Percy is not a puny little boy anymore, Harry is a star Quidditch player. The books repeatedly state how he has days of grueling practice in harsh weather. In the wizarding world, he would fall into the jock category of high school factions. Therefore, while Harry may not have Percy’s sarcastic wit, when it comes down to a fight, he will win.
Reason 3: Community
Harry has a stronger and closer community than Percy Jackson does. While Annabeth and Grover are incredibly attached to Percy, he doesn’t have many other people firmly in his corner. Harry has Hermione and Ron as well as most of Hogwarts behind him. He has powerful people like Dumbledore and many members of the Order of the Phoenix who would and have died for him. While Camp Half-Blood is a wonderful place to be, the Gods and all things related to them are a lot less reliable. That itself is a huge theme in the Percy Jackson books: the Gods are largely selfish and ignore their children. In the final battles of both of these book series, all the houses except for Slytherin ally with Harry without question while Percy has a more difficult time winning children of various Gods over. One of the main emphases of both of these book series is the importance of community, and Harry has the stronger one.
If Harry and Percy were to fight, it would undoubtedly be a respectable match. Both of them have endured terrible moments and fought increasingly longer odds. Harry defeated the darkest wizard at 17 while Percy, quite literally, went through Hell. Still, while this fight would not be easy for either, Harry Potter would likely come out victorious.
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