Percy Jackson (character)
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| Perseus (Percy) Jackson | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Lightning Thief |
| Created by | Rick Riordan |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Seaweed Brain (by Annabeth and Thalia) Peter Johnson or Perry Johansson (by Dionysus) |
| Aliases | Percy |
| Age | 16 (as of The Last Olympian) |
| Date of birth | August 18, 1993 |
| Family | Olympians, Poseidon, Sally Jackson, Tyson, Theseus (Half-brother), other half-bloods |
Perseus "Percy" Jackson is the protagonist in Rick Riordan's fantasy series, Percy Jackson & The Olympians.
Percy is set to be played by Logan Lerman in the upcoming movie Percy Jackson:The Lightning Thief, a film adaptation of the first book in the series, The Lightning Thief.
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[edit] Personality
Percy is usually portrayed as being good-natured, friendly, and often willing to risk his life to save his friends, strangers, and even his enemies. Percy also has a very sarcastic sense of humor and is wry in his writing style. Percy seems to dislike titles being given to him as he always tells the horses not to call him "boss" or "lord" whenever they talk to him. Percy is occasionally shown to be fairly childish, such as when he compares Artemis' chariot to Santa's sleigh (though this is possibly due more to humor and cultural reference than to illustrate immaturity). He also has a sense of loyalty for he turned down godhood when it was offered to him in order to remain with his friends, Annabeth and Grover.
[edit] In the books
[edit] The Lightning Thief
Perseus "Percy" Jackson is introduced as a troubled 12-year-old boy who has been kicked out of every single school he has attended. His most recent school is Yancy Academy, where his usual trouble seems to be worse than usual. He has few friends at the school, one of which being the satyr-in-hiding, Grover Underwood.
During a field trip to a museum, Grover is annoyed by a bully and, in a fit of rage, Percy summons water in a nearby fountain to pull the bully in during lunch. He is summoned inside the museum by his math teacher, Mrs. Dodds, where, inside the Ancient Greece exhibit, she turns into a Fury and attacks him. A moment later Mr. Brunner, Percy's favorite teacher, throws his pen at Percy, who receives instead a bronze sword. Percy manages to destroy the Fury and returns outside with the sword, that all of a sudden is a pen again.
As Percy questions him about what just happened, Mr. Brunner says he saw nothing in particular and comments on how Percy should bring his own writing utensils in the future. As Percy questions his classmates about the same matter, they act as though there was never any "Mrs. Dodds", but Percy realizes that Grover is lying when he notices that he hesitates whenever Percy mentions "Mrs. Dodds". As the school year winds down, Percy overhears Grover and Mr. Brunner talking about him. Percy is plain freaked out by now and his grades (not the most envious in the world) go down drastically. As he is going home on a bus with Grover, he sees three old ladies knitting a giant sock, which Grover seems intensely worried about. Percy ditches Grover and takes a taxi to his apartment on his own. Arriving home to his horrible stepdad, Gabe Ugliano, and friends playing poker, Percy clashes with him.
His mother arrives soon afterward and tells him that they can go to his favorite beach for the entire weekend. Percy, happy that something good has finally happened, packs his things and leaves, but not before being jeered at further by his stepdad. At the beach, Percy wakes up in the middle of the night in a storm and is shocked to see Grover coming to him and his mom, telling them to leave. Percy is confused, but his mother takes them both in the car and begins driving away at daring speeds.
It begins to rain and Percy hears a loud growl. His mom arrives at a hill and forces both boys out of the car. Percy then sees the thing chasing them is a Minotaur, who charges them. Percy and his Mom manage to dodge it, but Grover is too slow and the Minotaur charges him. Percy, again in a surge of power, manages to defeat the Minotaur, but not before a bolt of lighting takes both the dying Minotaur and his mother to the Underworld. Grover takes Percy to Camp Half-Blood and he is introduced to the other campers, who Percy learns are all demigods.
Percy also meets a future friend, Annabeth, leader of the Athena cabin. Percy himself is a demigod, but no one knows who his divine parent is. He learns that Mr. Brunner is actually the centaur Chiron and is the camp's activity director. He also learns that the director of the camp is the god Dionysus. After a time, he is introduced to Luke, the leader of the Hermes cabin. Later, in a capture-the-flag game, Percy single-handedly defeats Clarisse, leader of the Ares cabin, and three others when he learns that he is the son of Poseidon. Soon after learning that Zeus's lighting bolt has been stolen, Percy embarks on the quest of his life with the bronze sword Anaklusmos (also known as Riptide), Grover, and Annabeth.
[edit] The Sea of Monsters
After an entire school year, he goes back to camp and discovers that Grover is missing. He and Annabeth go on a long mission to save him.
Thalia's tree, that serves as the magical border of Camp Half-Blood (which was formed to prevent a daughter of Zeus from dying), has been poisoned mysteriously by unknown forces. After Chiron is dismissed from camp (he is blamed for poisoning the tree), Tantalus, who came from the Fields of Punishment, and can not have food or water, takes the job. The only thing able to rid the tree of its poison is the Golden Fleece, which is located on Polyphemus's Island, in the Sea of Monsters (the Bermuda Triangle).
Clarisse, the daughter of Ares and longtime enemy of Percy, is given the quest to go into the Sea of Monsters to find the Golden Fleece, which has healing powers for plants, animals, and humans. Percy and Annabeth decide to go also, not just for the Golden Fleece, but for their friend Grover who is trapped in Polyphemus's cave somewhere in the Sea of Monsters. Percy and Annabeth go along with Tyson, a young Cyclops (Poseidon's son, thus Percy's half-brother) whom Percy befriended at school that year, joins them on their journey, after saving Camp Half-Blood from two fire-breathing bulls. Grover does have time to be saved, as Polyphemus believes that Grover is a female cyclops, and not a satyr.
As they enter the Sea of Monsters, they have to get past Scylla and Charybdis. Instead of trying to sail in between the two, Clarisse automatically goes for Charybidis and Tyson supposedly dies in Clarisse's ship. After that, Percy and Annabeth journey to many dangerous islands, and Annabeth tells Percy many things about how Thalia died and she also mentions her prophecy. Fighting their way through many other obstacles, like the Sirens and Circe's island, they join up with Clarisse, Grover, and later Tyson, and leave with the Golden Fleece.
When they return to the mortal world, they send off Clarisse on an airplane to camp alone, and Percy, Annabeth and Tyson get kidnapped by Luke. He almost kills Percy in a duel, but Percy reveals Chiron was innocent, and Chiron comes to rescue them with his strangely dressed relatives. When they return to camp the Fleece is put on the tree. The Fleece not only revives Thalia's tree, but it revives Thalia too. It's Thalia who appears as she looked in Percy's dreams(a punk). He remembers the dream and realizes that it is her. It turns out that this was actually Kronos's plan, done so that he would have another chance to manipulate the prophecy which governs the future of Olympus and the Olympians.
[edit] The Titan's Curse
In the third book, he goes to a school where Grover found two new half-bloods, Bianca and Nico Di Angelo. In a battle, Annabeth jumps onto a monster, who then jumps off a cliff. Percy, Grover, Thalia and two of Artemis' hunters, Zoe and Bianca, are sent on a quest to save Artemis who has been kidnapped. Along the way, Grover makes a very important discovery about Pan. Also during the journey, Percy meets a mortal girl named Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who can see straight through the Mist. She helps him escape from dead warriors. While warning them about the junk yard of the gods, Aphrodite tells Percy there is a romantic future waiting for him with Annabeth. During the battle with Atlas, Zoë receives deadly injuries; she is poisoned by her old friend, Ladon, and her father, Atlas, who made the final strike that killed her. Artemis put her out of her pain and she turned into dust. The dust flew into the stars, creating a new shape in the sky in the shape of a hunter. On Mount Olympus, Thalia becomes one of Artemis' hunters. On the way back to camp, Percy was trying to figure out how to tell Nico his sister died because of a crazed robot in the junkyard of the gods. Once at camp, Percy told Nico the horrible truth and the boy sprints into the woods. Annabeth, Percy and Grover search for Nico for a long time, but have no luck. Percy then holds the figurine of the god Bianca got for him at the junk yard. Suddenly, he realizes who Nico's father is: Hades, Lord of the Dead. Many weeks later, Grover was drinking a lot of coffee, trying to get a connection with Pan, like he did in New Mexico. He comes running towards Percy to tell him Pan spoke in his mind. Pan only said three words, "I await you."
[edit] The Battle of the Labyrinth
In book four, the Labyrinth is discovered. Camp Half-Blood is in danger of being invaded by Luke and Kronos' army. Chiron sends Annabeth along with Percy, Grover, and Tyson into the labyrinth on a quest to find Daedalus, the maker of the labyrinth. In this, they hope to use his knowledge to help thwart any attacks that are carried out using the giant underground maze as a means of mobility. They eventually find Daedalus, the old labyrinth's inventor. He has made himself a new body. There is a battle, as Kronos' army attacks Camp Half-Blood. Many are injured and some are left dead. Daedalus shows up to help along with his giant pet, Mrs. O'Leary. Daedalus has escaped death for centuries, but gives himself over to Nico Di Angelo so he can accept his punishment in the Underworld and so he can see his son, Icarus, and his nephew, Perdix.
[edit] The Last Olympian
In book five, Percy discovers the truth behind the Great Prophecy (this occurs about a week prior to his sixteenth birthday). The campers find out there is a spy among them who is reporting everything to Kronos, who took over Luke's body in the fourth book. Percy battles Kronos many times, and eventually becomes invincible from bathing in the River Styx. In the end, Luke, who is also invincible from bathing in the River Styx, kills himself in order to send Kronos back to Tartarus. Annabeth admits she never loved Luke, and that she cared for him only as a brother. She and Percy finally concrete their relationship.
[edit] Powers/Abilities
[edit] General
- Percy has ADHD, which actually is his battle senses that keep half-bloods more alert in battles.
- Percy is dyslexic, since his brain (and many other half-bloods') is hard-wired for reading Ancient Greek.
- Percy is a superior swordsman, even though he has never bested Luke in a fight, except for during practice in The Lightning Thief.
- It has been hinted that he can summon earthquakes.
- Ever since The Titan's Curse, Percy dreams himself into the heart of the Princess Andromeda, and subsequently, Luke's planning as an out-of-body experience. This could be the work of Apollo, the God of Prophecy, because he told Percy, "How important dreams could be."
- Percy appears to possess more power than any living half-blood (excluding Thalia and Nico di Angelo); when he was attacked by the telekhines in Hephaestus' forge, he was in such danger that his powers acted on instinct and unleashed a tsunami burst that was powerful enough to kill the telekhines, destroy the forge, and stir the imprisoned Typhon, which is hinted to be the cause of an eruption of Mt. Saint Helens.
- In the fifth book, Percy takes the curse of Achilles upon himself, making him nearly invincible to all attacks except in his weak point, the small of his back. The curse also gave him enhanced fighting senses and a trance-like state similar to a frenzy, giving him greatly enhanced swordsmanship and battle strength.
- In the fifth book, he can create storms since his father is the god of the sea and storms.
- Percy has a psychic connection with Grover called an empathy link.
[edit] Aquatic
- Percy has control over water (and bubbles in water), and he is able to manipulate it to his will.
- Percy is given more energy and strength and is healed while out at sea or in water.
- Percy can manipulate ships with his mind in order to make them sail.
- Percy can sense the change of saltwater to freshwater.
- While at sea, Percy has perfect bearings on his current coordinates.
- Percy can communicate with equestrian animals (horses, zebras, pegasi, etc.), as his father created them out of sea foam; most obey him and treat him with respect, calling him "lord" or "boss".
- Percy can communicate telepathically with sea animals and the sea animals also obey him and treat him with respect.
- Percy can breathe underwater.
- Percy can sense where objects are underwater.
- Since Tyson is his half-brother, he can communicate with him underwater.
- Percy can withstand great pressure underwater.
- When Percy is underwater, he stays dry unless he does not want to be. When Percy touches objects underwater, they become dry.
- The water cushions Percy if he falls from a high altitude.
- Percy takes a long time to burn, for example against lava.
- Percy can make water appear from nothing, though it takes him much energy to do so.
- Percy has aquakinetic powers; he is able to move water from a river or even the ocean with his mind.
- Using aquakinesis, Percy can walk on water.
- Using aquakinesis, Percy can make the waves of the ocean solid. This ability was revealed in Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot (in the book The Demigod Files), where he made the waves turn solid so that Clarisse could drive Ares' war chariot to the U.S.S. Intrepid.
- Percy can summon hurricanes as he did in The Last Olympian while facing the titan Hyperion.
- Percy does not freeze underwater.
- Percy can use seashells to summon water just by throwing them and the water will never run out.
[edit] Fatal Flaw
It is said by Athena that Percy's fatal flaw is personal loyalty. He will sacrifice anything to save his friends and loved ones. Kronos or Luke has used this flaw of Percy to manipulate him several times in the series — when his mother was held hostage, when Grover was trapped on Polyphemus's island, and when Annabeth was kidnapped.
[edit] Romance
Calypso: After Percy is stranded on Ogygia Island, he is healed by Calypso, an immortal, forever-young daughter of Atlas who had been banished because she had supported him in the Titan War. Because she actually hadn't fought but was banished anyway, this leads Percy to question the gods' policies. She gives him the offer of immortality, and to live on her island forever, but he declines because his friends and family are in trouble even though it could save him the trouble of the prophecy, which hinted that he was going to die when he turned sixteen. In The Last Olympian, he also requests from the gods that she be freed from her captivity on Ogygia.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare: Even though Percy is not known to like Rachel in this way, it is known that she likes him. Percy was unsure about having a crush on Rachel, as he never truly admits it, his feelings were mixed mainly because of Annabeth's lingering feelings, though Percy never felt the love for Rachel that he felt for Annabeth. In time, his growing feelings for Annabeth stopped him from ever developing a relationship with Rachel. In The Last Olympian, Rachel kisses Percy in Paul's Prius right before he sets off to the Princess Andromeda, where it was very likely he could have died. On Olympus, Rachel tells Percy that he was just a distraction for her. She tells him that they could never be together, because she took on the spirit of the oracle, making her restricted from dating. Percy thinks of this as Rachel "dumping" him (the title of the chapter where this takes place is called "I Am Dumped") but takes it very lightly and says he intends to continue to be friends with her.
Annabeth: Annabeth was Percy's primary love interest throughout the series and in each book there are hints of romantic tension and flirting. Percy and Annabeth first meet in The Lightning Thief when Percy wakes up after passing out to see Annabeth, whom he described as "pretty", spoon-feeding him nectar and ambrosia, food of the gods. The two are initially repulsed by each other in the beginning of The Lightning Thief, but have developed a solid friendship at the end of the novel from all they had experienced together. Later it is revealed in The Sea of Monsters that Percy carried a picture of Annabeth in his binder and that Annabeth had been tailing Percy with her cap of invisibility on. In The Titan's Curse, Percy meets Aphrodite, who tells him that he will have a tragic love life. Incidentally, Percy meets Rachel a little while after her "gift." In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy and Annabeth were supposed to meet up after school for lunch and a movie which Percy's mother, Sally, referred to as a "date" and teased him about it, causing Percy to blush. Annabeth kisses him four times, once, after winning the chariot race in Sea of Monsters, though that was only on the cheek, again as she leaves him to fight the telkhines at Mt. Saint Helens in The Battle of the Labyrinth, in the dining area of Camp Half-Blood, prior to all other campers throwing them in the canoe lake in The Last Olympian, and finally underwater in the The Last Olympian. When Percy goes to the River Styx and he is supposed to envision the one thing that keeps him tied to the mortal world, he thinks of Annabeth pulling him out of the water at the canoe lake. When Kronos is spotted during the battle, Percy orders a retreat, but Annabeth stays behind to help him. She ends up taking a knife for him that would have killed him.
[edit] Relationship with Olympians
- Poseidon: Percy is on good terms with Poseidon primarily because he is the sea god's son. At the end of The Battle of the Labyrinth, Poseidon stated that Percy is his favorite son. Poseidon even forgives him when he sits in his throne in The Last Olympian.
- Zeus:, the King of the Gods, currently has mixed feelings concerning Percy: he is upset over Percy's birth because it violated the pact that he, Poseidon, and Hades had made, but Percy returned the Master Bolt to him in The Lightning Thief. At the Winter Solstice in The Titan's Curse, Zeus voted to let Percy live, but this may have been tied to the fate of his own daughter, Thalia, as well. However, Thalia had agreed to become one of Artemis' Hunters before this, so it is possible that this may not have mattered. In spite of all of this, Zeus has told Percy that if he ever found him in his realm (the sky), he would strike him down.
- Hades:, Lord of the Underworld, has mixed feeling about Percy: Percy had previously accused him of stealing the Master Bolt when it was, in fact, Luke who stole it, and gave it to Ares. However, he returned Hades' Helm of Darkness and cleared his name of all charges. It can also be noted, that, in the Last Olympian, Hades is shown assisting Percy during the war, after talking with his son, Nico, who also has a decent relationship with Percy, and when mentioned by Percy, during his decision of rejecting immortality, Hades is shown casually addressing him, with none of the malice that he normally shows throughout the series.
- Ares:, God of War, hates Percy because of both insults and injuries, among other things. It is extremely dangerous for Percy that they are on bad terms because Ares, as the god of war, thinks highly of revenge, and is quite violent. Ares put a curse on Percy that, when he needs his sword the most, it will fail him. He only went along with granting Percy godhood because he could smash him as many times as he wanted and Percy would just keep coming back.
- Athena: Disapproves of Percy's friendship with her daughter, Annabeth, because of the historical rivalry between herself and Poseidon, but Percy hasn't done anything against her directly. In The Titan's Curse, she may have helped to guide him at the Hoover Dam. However, in the same book, she also voted that he be destroyed. As of The Last Olympian, Athena is in good terms with Percy, with the exception of his relationship with Annabeth.
- Hera: Dislikes Percy. Near the end of The Battle of the Labyrinth since he and Annabeth both disagree with her views of families having to be perfect, siding with Hephaestus on the matter instead, even though Hera helped them numerous times in the book. He also insults her by mentioning Thalia, one of Zeus' children not born by her, whom Hera historically despises, along with Hercules. She has sworn to make Annabeth regret her decision, much like Ares did to Percy, but it is not directly stated whether she included Percy in this statement. It is said that she made Ares write a thank you letter to Poseidon for saving Olympus, revealing that she may care for him.
- Dionysus: (aka "Mr. D") Percy is primarily on Mr. D's bad side, even from the very second they met. Dionysus constantly antagonizes Percy (and all other demigods, for that matter) by never calling them by their real names (preferring to call him "Peter Johnson" or "Perry Johansson"), but he saved Percy's life in The Titan's Curse. One of the other reasons he may dislike half-bloods is because of the way they treat mortals; he mentioned Theseus and Ariadne, Jason and Medea, and alluded to Hercules and Zoё Nightshade in The Titan's Curse, mentioning how the former in all three cases used and later abandoned the latter. Percy doesn't much like Dionysus, either, because of the way he treats the campers. However, at the end of the Battle of the Labyrinth, they had something like a (temporary) truce, when after one of Dionysus' sons died in the final battle, he voted that he believed Grover's news that Pan was dead, disbanded the council when they were at a tie, and cured Chris (a previously traitor half-blood and Clarisse's friend if not her crush) of the madness he got in the Labyrinth. And most shockingly called Percy by his real name, although he later denies this. Percy's relationship with Dionysus appears to be improving. They are on much better terms after Percy finished the war. It can also be noted, that though Dionysus denies this, he favours Percy with his judgement, help, and advice, more than any other god in the series. This may be proof that Dionysus is acknowledging Percy, and that their relationship is improving.
- Hephaestus: Is grateful to Percy for having discovered who was using his forge under Mt. St. Helens, even though he causes an eruption that destroyed the forge and awakened Typhon (who had been imprisoned under it), but also dispersed and/or killed the users. At the end of the 5th book, Hephaestus said that Percy had done a 'Pretty banged up job'. Historically, Hephaestus and Poseidon have close ties in the terms of the Cyclopes, who work for both of them.
- Artemis: Percy is on Artemis' good side since he helped find and save her in The Titan's Curse. She even declared him a hero in the halls of Olympus itself and started calling him a man rather than a boy after he helped her defeat Atlas. His respect for Zoe Nightshade, and his deep loyalty, regardless of gender, has also improved her view of him.
- Hermes: Percy is on good terms with Hermes, who convinced him to go on a quest in The Sea of Monsters and gave him magic items to assist him in his journey. He also explained the relationship between gods and heroes to him. Their relationship took a turn for the worse, after realizing that Percy could not save Luke, and Hermes grew bitter to all heroes, but after the war, their relationship was mended, upon Percy's counseling, and sympathy of Luke's situation, and prophecy, as well as how powerless Hermes was.
- Aphrodite: Aphrodite is on Percy's good side, probably because she is intrigued by Percy's desire to save Annabeth. She expressed an interest in their relationship, meaning that she plans to meddle with it in some way. She also said she would make Percy's love life hard, just because she likes him.
- Apollo: Apollo treats Percy like a younger cousin (which he is). The sun god helped Percy twice in The Titan's Curse so that they could save Artemis, his sister. Being the god of prophecy, he also told Percy how important dreams could be.
- Demeter: Demeter and Percy have a poor relationship due to Percy's lack of respect and not caring much for her when she talked about cereal. (it looks like she dosen't care about almost any hero at all)
- Hestia: Percy and Hestia have a good relationship. In The Last Olympian Percy entrusts her with Pandora's Jar that contains hope saying that hope is best kept by the hearth. This helps mend her resentment of the gods, for her small role in the world, and her views of demigods, which Kronos had used to gain many of the minor gods on his side.
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