Grover Underwood

"Stop it! You're as bad as Juniper. I think she wants me to run for president next."

- Grover to Percy

Grover Underwood is a satyr, and a friend of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. He was also the satyr that found Thalia, and later was assigned to protect Percy. He also discovered Nico and Bianca di Angelo, all children of the Big Three. He was the individual who initially recognized Percy as a Half-Blood and brought him to Camp Half-Blood. He doesn't like any Cyclopes, as he was captured in Polyphemus' cave(except for Tyson, but even that took some getting use to). Grover is portrayed by Brandon T. Jackson in The Lightning Thief (film).



The Lightning Thief
Grover befriended Percy when they were both learning together at Yancy Academy. Percy thought Grover had been held back a few years due to his facial hair and acne. On a field trip, Percy gets in trouble by unknowingly using his godly powers to "push" Nancy Bobofit into a fountain after she threw her lunch at Grover. When their pre-algebra teacher, Mrs. Dodds, turns into a Fury and attacks him, Percy uses his instincts to slay her, but is very confused about what happened. Upon discussing the incident with Grover, Grover pretends to not know who Mrs. Dodds is, but Percy does tell Grover that is bluffing when he hesitates on the subject. Later during the school-year, Percy overhears Grover talking about him with Mr. Brunner. Grover reveals that he is Percy's "protector", which irritates Percy.

On the last day of school, Grover and Percy take a bus back to the New York City, and Grover makes Percy promise to let Grover walk him home. However, Percy ditches him while he's in the bathroom. Grover tracks Percy to Montauk beach, where he and his mom are on vacation. He warns them about the Minotaur, and Percy's mom starts driving them to Camp Half-Blood (which Percy had orignally thought of as Grover's summer home), but they are attacked by the Minotaur on the way. Grover is knocked unconscious and Percy fights the Minotaur, drags Grover over the magical barrier of Camp Half-Blood, and faints. Grover fears the Council of Cloven Elders won't give him his searcher's license to look for Pan because he failed to bring Percy to Camp safely, and that was his second chance. However, the Council decides that his fate is still tied to Percy's, so he must wait and accompany Percy on whatever quest he will go on.

Percy is very soon assigned a quest to recover Zeus's stolen master bolt. Grover and Annabeth go with him. They must travel to the entrance of the Underworld (located in Los Angeles), retrieve the bolt from Hades (who they suspect stole it from Zeus to cause a war), and return it to Zeus by the summer solstice, which is in ten days. Before their departure, Percy is given flying shoes by Luke as a good-luck gift, but Percy gives them to Grover as he is forbidden from air travel.

They take a bus west, but the Furies get on as well. After their fight, the bus explodes, along with their cash, drachmas, and supplies. They wander around until they find Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. Aunty Em, the owner, invites them in and offers to feed them (as they are posing as orphans). Aunty Em is revealed to be Medusa in disguise, and they try to run away from her but cannot leave the garden. Grover uses his shoes to fly in the air and hit her with a branch. He bravely stands up to her, but doesn't look in her eyes, as that would turn him to stone. In the end, Percy chops off her head, using a green gazing ball to look at her so he would not be paralyzed as well. Grover finds out that one of the stone statues in the garden is his Uncle Ferdinand, who went to look for Pan as well. They sack the store, and Percy mails Medusa's head to Olympus. Grover advised against it, as the gods would take it as a rude gesture.

Later, when they are sleeping on the woods, Grover meets an escaped poodle named Gladiola, who he is able to talk to. Grover convinces him to let them return him home, collect the reward money, and get tickets for a train ride West. They all are hungry by the time they reach a restaurant, and all their money is gone. Ares walks in to the restaurant and pays for their lunch. He also asks them to get his shield back from Waterland, a nearby water park. They find the shield in the Tunnel of Love ride, but are attacked by metallic spiders. Grover fills the ride with water to let them escape. While they are riding out, they realize they are about to crash. Percy and Annabeth jump out and Grover catches them before they fall onto the concrete.

They return the shield to Ares, who arranges for them to travel to Las Vegas on an animal smugglers' truck. Grover is furious over the harsh conditions the animals are kept in. After they arrive at Las Vegas, he sets them free with Percy and Annabeth's help, and gives them a wild blessing which will protect them. In Las Vegas, they check into the Lotus Hotel and Casino. There Grover plays a game where the animals hunt the rednecks, unaware of the danger they are all in. When Percy realizes that the casino is meant to trap people and that they were in there for five days, he and Annabeth drag Grover out of there. Later, they get a cab to take them to Los Angeles, and they pay him with the Lotus Casino's credit card.

When they get to Los Angeles, they start wandering around, looking for the entrance into the Underworld. They are attacked by a gang of mortals, and take refuge inside a mattress store. The man binds Annabeth and Grover to one of the mattresses, but Percy tricks him and manages to bind him to a mattress and slaying him. They find the address of the entrance to the Underworld inside the store. There, they talk Charon, the operator of the ferry into the Underworld, into letting them in even though they are mortal. They get past Cerberus and see the many parts of the Underworld. When they are near Tartarus, Grover's flying shoes start pulling him towards it. He is almost flown into the pit, but he is saved when one of the shoes fall off. They confront Hades and find out that the lightning bolt has appeared in the bag Ares gave them.

In Los Angeles (above the Underworld), they meet Ares again, and Percy battles him for the lightning bolt and helm of darkness. Percy wins and gives the helm to the Furies. The police arrange their flight tickets back to New York City. There, Percy alone takes the lightning bolt to Olympus. There, he gives it to Zeus and meets his father for the first time. At Camp Half-Blood, Grover is given his searcher's license and sets off on his journey to find Pan, and Percy and Annabeth see him off.

The Sea of Monsters
In The Sea of Monsters, Grover is on the search for Pan when he is captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus. Polyphemus thinks that Grover is a female Cyclops (ever since Odysseus took out his eye, he hasn't been able to see very well), and plans to marry him. Grover buys time for Percy to rescue him by working on a wedding veil by day, and unraveling it when Polyphemus is asleep, like how Penelope tried to get rid of the suitors invading her and Odysseus's palace on Ithaca. Polyphemus eventually finds out, and makes Grover finish the veil. The reason no satyr ever returned from the quest to find Pan, the God of the Wild, is because Polyphemus has the Golden Fleece and the satyrs think it is Pan. Then they get trapped and get eaten by Polyphemus. Grover develops an empathy link with Percy, telling him of the danger he is in. Percy travels to Polyphemus's isle to rescue Grover and the Golden Fleece. He almost kills him, but then he realizes Polyphemus is also a son of Poseidon. Percy, Clarisse, Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover defeat Polyphemus and sail away with the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece ends up "working its magic too well", and turns Thalia's tree back into Zeus' daughter, Thalia.

The Titan's Curse
Grover is undercover yet again, and manages to find two possible Half-Bloods Bianca and Nico di Angelo (the son and daughter of Hades). He calls for Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth, and a battle ensues that ends with Annabeth getting captured.

Percy is desperate to rescue Annabeth, and Artemis, the goddess of the Hunt and the Moon promises to look for her. However, Artemis is captured by an unknown adversary, and Zoë Nightshade is determined to rescue her goddess. She is visited by the Oracle, and gets a prophecy about her future quest.

Grover then accompanies Bianca di Angelo, Thalia, and Zoe on a quest to save Annabeth and the goddess, Artemis, who had been captured and forced to hold up the sky in order to free the evil Titan, Atlas. Percy follows them, and saves them by warning them of the General. Zoë grudgingly allows him to join the quest, and they journey to New Mexico, where Bianca is lost.

They are all depressed about the loss of Bianca, and while Grover is drinking some coffee, they are visited by the spirit of Pan, and Grover falls unconscious from the strength of the presence. He later then states that after the quest, he will go back to New Mexico and drink lots of coffee in order to find Pan.

They journey further, and find Annabeth, Artemis, and the General. A battle occurs, and Grover fights for his comrades, though Zoë is killed.

The trio, Thalia, Artemis, Annabeth, and Annabeth's father Frederick Chase, leave the battlefield and Artemis and Frederick leave them. Grover, Percy, and Annabeth go to Olympus, and the gods vote on whether or not to kill Percy to avoid the horrible prophecy made about him. Grover is relieved when Percy is allowed to live, and Thalia then joins the Hunters. A party is started, and Grover runs around drinking coffee, and hears a voice that says "I await you."

The Battle of the Labyrinth
A trial is held on whether Grover may continue his search or not. His girlfriend Juniper (a tree nymph, or dryad) is introduced, and she is worried over the results of the trial. The other satyrs hold Grover in distaste, and don't think that Pan spoke to him. Grover is miserable that his search has shown no results, and the Council gives him one week.

Grover then goes with Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson to the Labyrinth, hoping he will find Pan there (plus he has no choice because Annabeth said that if he doesn't come then he would need to learn how to tap dance). They wander around until they meet Janus, and Hera saves them, and gives them a meal. During this adventure he meets the god, Pan, who was dying. During the short time they spent with Pan, Grover was asked to release Pan so that his spirit could move on by telling everyone he is dead and to not continue the search. Pan individually described all of them, except for Nico, leading him to decide not to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Pan died/faded and his spirit entered all of them. With a little more in Grover.

They return to Camp Half-Blood, and defend it against the monsters that are attacking it from inside its borders. Grover opens his mouth and lets out a strange, horrible cry that causes the other army to flee, the very thing that the god Pan was well known for in the first Titan-God war (Panic). When Grover goes before the Council and tells them of Pan's death, the satyrs brand him a traitor and demand his exile, but Chiron and Dionysus believe and support him. Because Dionysus' vote counts for two, the Council is unable to reach a decision and must be dissolved, allowing Grover to remain.

Grover then decides to spread the word of Pan's death and to rally the nature spirits together to grant Pan's dying wish, to recreate the wild in their own corner of the world.

The Last Olympian
Grover also appears in the fifth and final book. After Percy awakens him from a two month nap inflicted by Morpheus, he opens a path to the Underworld using his reed pipes. Later, in the battle for Manhattan, he, Leneus, and several other satyrs play a magical tune on their reed pipes, casting a spell on Hyperion. This spell turned the Titan into a tree. Towards the end of the book, he is elected onto the Council of Cloven Elders after Leneus is stabbed and killed. He becomes Pan's heir because he inherited his panic yell. Percy also stated that he was Pan's chosen one. He becomes recognized by all the nature spirits. He was also proclaimed a Lord of the Wild by Dionysus.

The Lost Hero
Grover doesn't appear in the book, but was mentioned by Annabeth to be looking for Percy.

Personality
"Grover, you're the bravest satyr I ever knew."

- Luke Castellan Grover is usually cheerful and upbeat. He cries when he is upset, which makes him an easy target for bullies. He can often be philosophical. He sometimes mopes around a bit though. He has an obsession with coffee (due to feeling the presence of Pan in New Mexico while drinking it), tin cans and enchiladas. He believes that cheese enchiladas are better than chicken ones. This may be due to the fact he is a vegetarian. His girlfriend is Juniper, a wood nymph. They deeply care for one another. It is also revealed in The Last Olympian that he has leporiphobia, (which Thalia calls his "bunny phobia").

He and Tyson don't seem to get on very well but he is helped looking for Pan by Tyson in The Battle of the Labyrinth.

It is mentioned in The Lightning Thief that two of the only songs he knows how to play on his reed pipes are "So Yesterday" by Hilary Duff and Mozart's 12 symphony.

His reed pipe music is so bad it makes the strawberry plants try to strangle people. It is said in The Demigod Files that his favorite song to play is 'Muskrat Love'.

Irrational Fears
He is terrified of underground places, which smells of death and monsters, so he can't tell if it's real or not. He is deathly afraid of Cyclopes so he initially didn't get along to well with Tyson. It was also mentioned that he has leporiphobia (fear of bunnies) and describes them as "big bullies who always steal celery from defenseless satyrs." He is also terrified of Dionysus, Juniper's anger, and ghosts. He cries when he is upset which makes easy prey for bullies.

Appearance
Grover is described as a tall satyr with curly brown hair, brown eyes, small horns, caucasian skin, chin wispy beard and hairy brown goat legs.



Powers

 * He can talk to animals.
 * He has an empathy link with Percy. ( They can speak to each other mentally)
 * His music can affect things in nature.
 * He's a great climber.
 * Can smell when gods/goddesses, demigods, powerful creatures, or monsters are near. (He can't use this power underground because the underground smells like monsters, however).
 * Grover is the best satyr seeker in history. He found Percy, Thalia, Bianca and Nico, children of the Big Three. He is also the satyr that found Pan.
 * Grover can use panic to instill fear into enemies, a gift from Pan. It creates a horrible fear in you that urges you to flee.
 * Great runner.
 * Can read emotions.
 * Woodland magic.

Love Interests
Juniper - Juniper is a wood nymph and Grover's girlfriend, and the two seem to have a deep and caring relationship.

Grover is also known to have had a crush on a blueberry bush and Artemis.

In The Demigod Files, during his interview, he comments on the dryads up in Lake Placid, New York, before remembering Juniper; which is when he asks the interviewer if they could edit that part out for fear that Juniper would kill him.

Friends
Percy Jackson - Grover met Percy at Middle School, and realizing that he was a demigod befriended him and helped him reach Camp Half-Blood. The two are best friends, have an Empathy Link, and have had many adventures. In The Lost Hero, Grover is heard to be looking for Percy.

Annabeth Chase - Annabeth is one of Grover's close friends, ever since he helped her get to Camp.

Thalia Grace- Thalia is one Grover's closest and oldest friends who also traveled with him.

Tyson - Despite grover's fear of Cyclops, Grover has grown to like Tyson, and is one of his good friends.

Council of Cloven Elders and Satyrs
Though originally ridiculed for claiming to have found Pan, Grover was accepted after being proclaimed a member of the Council.

Achievements

 * Best Seeker - Grover is the only known satyr in the series to have found four children of the Big Three, namely: Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, Nico and Bianca di Angelo, children of Hades.
 * Greatest Searcher - He is the second searcher that has found Pan.

The Lightning Thief
In the film, The Lightning Thief, Grover is played by Brandon T. Jackson. Aside from his ethnicity being changed from Caucasian to African American, Grover's personality is also changed from being somewhat timid and self-doubting, to being confident and smooth. He also wears a hoodie and long pants to cover up his goat legs. Where in the books he physically looks to be 12 years old, in the movies he's between 16 and 17 in appearance. He not only hits on the daughters of Aphrodite who attend the camp, and the naiads or nymphs at camp when they asked if Percy can come to their party and asks if he can come too, telling them he is available; but also assorted women in Las Vegas (when he is in a trance and wants to marry a lot of girls and go to a chapel). He then spends some time as a lover of Persephone in the Underworld when they have dinner and talk about them (this highly implies he's not yet met Juniper).

Video Game
Grover is one of the main characters in the video game for The Lightning Thief. He has no resistance or vulnerability to any types of moves.

Trivia

 * His favorite song to play on his reed pipes is "Muskrat Love".
 * His favourite food is cheese enchaladas.
 * Grover is the last Searcher.
 * Grover found or protected all the children of the Big Three in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series: Thalia, Percy, Nico, and Bianca
 * In the books he is caucasian but in the film, he is african-american.
 * He is the only one of the trio to have not appeared in Heroes of Olympus.