Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25688138-20141115080646/@comment-1820614-20141116051322

The fate was still up in the air at the end of the book. I don't think it was to fight Python because Apollo would have to do that anyway to reclaim his power of prophecy.

Most likely, it started with Zeus threatening to hurl Apollo into Tartarus, chaining him to a mountain for a few centuries while a vulture pecks his eyes out each day, or some other such punishment. Artemis, Leto, and possibly Athena play on Zeus' ego with lies and Zeus to appear magnanimous forces Apollo to live among or serve mortals for a period of time...which for someone of Apollo's ego and status as a major Olympian would be a very humiliating experience. At least, that is how Apollo's punishments played out in mythology.