😈 Naughty or Nice? 😇: Putting our Fave Characters to the Test

Alright, so everyone knows Santa has The List. We grew up hearing that he was checking it (TWICE mind you) to make sure we qualified for thrilling toys *ahem* and books instead of the dreadful lump of coal. But our favourite bookish characters might not have had that persistent warning growing up! How were they to know that plotting an assassination might disqualify them from mountains of lovely presents under their holiday tree?

This thought got Mandy and I to put some of our favourite book characters up against Santa’s Naughty or Nice list. Will they pass the test? Mind you, not all of our characters may actually *care* (they could observe another religion, or out right turn their nose up at the very concept of a man who sees them when they’re sleeping) but this is all in good fun.

To make this as legit as possible, we used the most upstanding Santa list determinator of all: emailsanta.com. Woo! Let’s go!  

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Okay, so EmailSanta asks four SUPER PRECISE super IMPORTANT questions and can then determine your Naughty VS Nice status. We will be using these same questions on our character picks:

🎅 Leo Valdez from The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

🎅 Ismae from Grave Mercy

🎅 Shazi from The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

🎅 Cress from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

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LEO VALDEZ

 

🎅  Do you play nicely with others?

Leo does prefer his alone time to design his next mechanical masterpiece. And maybe his chats with Festus are a little easier to come by than with his fellow demigods. But Leo is a big hearted love, and he’ll only whup your butt if you’re out to hurt someone he cares about!

🎅  Do you keep your room clean?

Uuummmm, this might have to be a no. Leo may have started out with the most glorious of work forges, but I think as time passed, it became more about working on the projects than keeping everything neat and organized.

🎅 Do you tell the truth, even if you were naughty?

Leo?? Lie??? (Perhaps a little, at the end of HoO).

🎅 What snack are you leaving for Santa this year?

If Leo believed in Santa, the jolly old man would be a mechanical being that could rival Archimedes. What else could circle the world in one night? (Other than a god.) As a snack, maybe a draft for mechanical Santa upgrades?

VERDICT: Leo is on the NICE list! (Who even doubted?)

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ISMAE RIENNE

🎅  Do you play nicely with others?

Ummmmmmmm ummmmmmm well, I mean, she is a nun assassin who does enjoy the kill and people do have to talk her out of killing people so I mean…I mean…um, I’m pleading the fifth on Ismae’s behalf!

🎅  Do you keep your room clean?

Well, when Duval or her sisters aren’t messing it up or poisons spilling about.

🎅  Do you tell the truth, even if you were naughty?

Ismae does do a lot of truth telling. Even when it’s not so good – especially if she believes it’s right.

🎅  What snack are you leaving for Santa this year?

*blinks* The first thing that came to mind was poison, and like, um, that was not be very good.

VERDICT: I think Ismae is very hesitantly put on the NAUGHTY list because I mean, while she is forever epic and badass and all the wonders of strength…I think she might be a little too much for Santa.

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SHAZI

🎅  Do you play nicely with others?

I adore my queen Shazi, but she can be tough on people she doesn’t know and slow to trust. Sometimes she’s right, and sometimes she just pushes away people who deserve her love.

🎅  Do you keep your room clean?

When you’re a queen, this is a total non-issue. *ahem* servants *ahem*

🎅  Do you tell the truth, even if you were naughty?

How many times does Shazi defiantly tells the truth when she was naughty, knowing full-well she’ll get in trouble, just because she has no regrets? I aspire to be this shameless.

🎅  What snack are you leaving for Santa this year?

Maybe all the dates Khalid is avoiding. (If she were to believe in Santa, which I doubt!)

VERDICT: Somehow Shazi passes this test, even though she can be quite the sneaky queen at times.

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CRESS DARNEL

🎅  Do you play nicely with others?

She does, she does – which is surprising since she was locked up in a spaceship for all of her life.

🎅  Do you keep your room clean?

Yes – besides it being clogged up with all of her hair.

🎅  Do you tell the truth, even if you were naughty?

I feel like if Cress was gonna lie, it would to save someone pain and suffering. I don’t think she would ever intentionally hurt someone with a lie.

🎅  What snack are you leaving for Santa this year?

I can’t say Cress knows how to bake cookies, but I think she would immediately be excited to try out the tradition. I’m not entirely sure how they would come out, but it would be excitement!

VERDICT: NICE, of course! Not a doubt at all.

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Huh. And that went … hmm. I somehow expected way more naughtiness. Perhaps Mandy and I played it safe with our picks? Or the Email Santa questions were somehow perfectly picked to avoid the glaring little problems of overthrowing queens (though they may be tyrannical) and accidentally but really on purpose trying to kill your husband. (Oops?)

Would your favourite characters pass this naughty or nice test?