A goddess vanishes, a prophecy picks five, and Percy crashes the quest anyway.
Who drives the story
Fourteen, son of Poseidon, and the narrator who can't stop breaking rules for his friends. He crashes a quest he wasn't chosen for, holds up the sky, and ends the book guarding a secret that could doom Olympus.
Daughter of Athena, kidnapped by the Titans and forced to hold the sky, which leaves a gray streak in her hair. She spends the book as a prisoner and a warning of what the Titan's curse does to people.
Punk-styled daughter of Zeus, afraid of heights, furious at Luke for betraying the gods she suspects he once loved. She joins the Hunters at the end to dodge the Great Prophecy aimed at her sixteenth birthday.
Artemis's first lieutenant, exiled daughter of Atlas, and the original maker of Percy's sword Riptide. She leads the quest, dies by her father's hand, and becomes the constellation 'the Huntress.'
Twelve-year-old daughter of Hades who joins the Hunters for immortality, then dies destroying the Talos prototype after taking a figurine for her brother. Her death breaks Nico—and breaks Percy's promise.
Ten-year-old Mythomagic obsessive left behind at camp, who learns his sister died on Percy's watch. His grief splits the earth, reveals him as a son of Hades, and sends him running into the woods.
Twenty-one, son of Hermes, and Kronos's chief servant, summoning spartoi and guarding Annabeth on Mount Othrys. Thalia kicks him off the mountain, but he survives the fall.
Goddess of the hunt who leaves her Hunters to track the Ophiotaurus alone and gets captured by Atlas. She fights her way free, testifies before the gods, and honors Zoë in the stars.
Also in the story
Satyr and searcher for the missing god Pan, who keeps sending help at desperate moments. He escorts Bessie the Ophiotaurus back to camp when the monster's identity is revealed.
Red-haired mortal who can see through the Mist, met at Hoover Dam. She saves Percy from the spartoi with blue plastic hairbrushes and a secret exit.
How they are connected
Punk-styled daughter of Zeus, afraid of heights, furious at Luke for betraying the gods she suspects he once loved.
Artemis's first lieutenant, exiled daughter of Atlas, and the original maker of Percy's sword Riptide.
Artemis's first lieutenant, exiled daughter of Atlas, and the original maker of Percy's sword Riptide.
Her death breaks Nico—and breaks Percy's promise.
Bianca di AngeloNico di Angelo
Her death breaks Nico—and breaks Percy's promise.
Ten-year-old Mythomagic obsessive left behind at camp, who learns his sister died on Percy's watch.
Twenty-one, son of Hermes, and Kronos's chief servant, summoning spartoi and guarding Annabeth on Mount Othrys.
Rachel Elizabeth DarePercy Jackson
She saves Percy from the spartoi with blue plastic hairbrushes and a secret exit.
Go deeper
Promises and their price · Fathers and their children · The cost of immortality · Prophecy as a trap
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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