annabeth is extremely good at reading people. she can quickly analyze your body language and actions to tell what you’re hiding, what you’re scared of, who you’re scared for, etc. you can’t keep secrets from her, which is terrifying
without an ounce of charmspeak like piper, annabeth can use pure logic to psychologically analyze, confuse, and manipulate someone.
for example, when they face nyx, goddess of night, in tartarus
here is the riordan wiki summary of what annabeth does:
“Annabeth uses Nyx's wording against her and tells Nyx not to kill herself. This causes Nyx enough confusion that Annabeth quickly takes charge of the situation and convinces Nyx that they are on a tour of Tartarus, but Nyx isn't part of it. This greatly offends Nyx as she gets more and more wrapped up in Annabeth's lie. When Annabeth claims it may be because Nyx isn't important enough and how they could meet some of Nyx's children instead, Nyx becomes furious and summons all her children, including Geras, Eris, and more minor gods and monsters, which are all the worst terrors in existence…. [annabeth] agree to take a picture with her favorite child. After hearing this, her children begin to fight amongst themselves over who is the worst terror. When Nyx is blinded by darkness, Percy and Annabeth slip past her and run into her mansion.”
annabeth confused and manipulated the goddess. she turned all of nyx’s children against her and each other. it got too dark for even night to see. in the book, nyx starts screaming that she can’t see anything. the goddess was scared. there was mass panic. and annabeth caused it.
annabeth is deadly. she can be so smart and manipulative that it actually unsettles me to think about.
and yeah, what you said about her having percy on a leash… you’re 100% right. it’s not that she’s controlling him in any way, but they’re loyal to each other and respect each other. he, rightfully, has complete trust in her and her plans. if she told percy to go destroy a village - cause an earthquake, sink it, flood it, demolish every semblance of it’s existence - he would do it. and that’s a whole other degree of terror
