Hello! Today was a pretty busy Thursday, but I have a four day weekend coming up: an exciting one, because my birthday’s on Sunday! I did a post like this last year, but it was all about 13 year old characters. I’ve been so excited for this one for so long, and it was so much fun to put together.

I’m in a weird in between age right now: Most young adult protagonists are 15-18, and middle grade characters are usually 12 and under. But I managed to scrape up a pretty good list of characters, and I hope you have fun reading about what they were all up to when they were my age, fourteen years old!

Sabran Berethnet

I thought I’d start off the post with the lovely and amazing Sabran Berethnet. When Sabran was fourteen years old, she was crowned Queen of Innis, and since then has ruled over her queendom as Sabran the Ninth.

Finnick Odair

When Finnick Odair was fourteen years old, he won the 65th hunger games, becoming the youngest victor in the history of Panem.

Annabeth Chase

When Annabeth Chase was fourteen years old, she held the weight of the world on her shoulders. Literally.

Fighting monsters, other demigods, and even gods themselves, she went through a lot when she was fourteen. She had to deal with a lot emotionally, throughout the books, as well as just spending so much time trying to survive. She had to come to terms with who her enemy was, and had to accept that. Annabeth is fourteen for all of The Titan’s Curse, and I think that this book is often overlooked in what she has to go through.

*spoilers for The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan*

Annabeth is taken captive, tricked into taking the titan Atlas’s burden of holding up the entire weight of the sky by her oldest friend, and is kept alone in a cave for days.

In the Titan’s Curse, she has to go face to face with Luke Castellan, who she admired and really looked up to for so much of her childhood, and accept that he betrayed her, betrayed all of camp, and will stop at nothing to destroy the gods.

Percy Jackson

*spoilers for The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan*

When Percy Jackson was fourteen years old, he learned a lot, experienced a lot, and went through a lot. The Titan’s Curse, where Percy is fourteen, is the first really dark book in the Riordanverse. It starts with Percy meeting Biana and Nico, two more children of the big three, which is a lot to handle. He also looses two friends on a quest more dangerous and costly than any of the previous ones. Both Biana and Zoe are killed on the quest, something that Percy struggles to handle, and accept.

There’s also the whole Nico fiasco that occurs at the end of the book, and knowing that there’s a little Hades kid consumed with anger towards him could not have been easy for Percy, considering the tremendous guilt weighing him down that he couldn’t save Bianca.

Hazel Levesque

Here’s the thing about Hazel. Her exact age throughout the books is very unclear. But for this, I’m going with the assumption that she is fourteen for the entire Trials of Apollo series.

*spoilers for The Son of Neptune and The Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan*

When Hazel Levesque was fourteen years old, she saved so many lives, and accomplished so much, especially in Camp Jupiter. She quickly rose in the ranks in Camp Jupiter, even becoming Praetor with the resignation of Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano. She is an AMAZING fighter, and in my humble opinion is the most powerful demigod in history.

Some people might say it’s Percy, or Annabeth, or Jason, or Leo, and yeah they’re all really strong but Hazel is on a level of her own. When she was thirteen year old, back in at the beginning of the 20th century, Gaea used her to bring her eldest son, an enormous giant Poryphrion back to life. That takes a lot of strength, but Hazel was capable. And not only was she capable of bringing Poryphrion to life, she was also able to destroy him, postponing the war with Gaea for more than seventy years.

Hecate herself even sought out Hazel because she recognized her immense power, and Hazel not only became incredibly strong in her Earth magic and sorcery & illusions.

Nico DiAngelo

Just like with Hazel, I don’t know exactly how old he is in each particular book. At the end of The Tower of Nero, the most recent Riordanverse book, he’s fifteen I’m fairly certain, which would make him fourteen for the majority of The Heroes of Olympus series. I think. Honestly, I’m probably wrong about some of this, but I’m just going to jump into my Nico appreciation section.

We’re getting a Nico and Will Solace standalone novel, and I could not be more excited! It’s a very long time off, but I still can’t wait!!

And Nico did so much: The first Riordanverse LGBTQ+ character, he gave so many readers a place to see themselves, and his character arc over the series is really incredible.

Inej Ghafa

When Inej was fourteen, she was going through a lot. She was kidnapped by slavers, and was forced through what was a string of traumatic events for the next couple years.

Inej is such a strong character, and she deserved so much better.

Kaz Brekker

And last, but definitely not least, Kaz Brekker.

When Kaz was fourteen, he broke his leg jumping off the roof of a bank. The bone never set right, leading to the iconic crow cane. I didn’t do anything nearly this memorable.

Do you know any of these characters? What were some of your favorite characters doing when they were your age? Chat with me in the comments below!