Enceladus

"I was once proud too. I thought the gods could never defeat me. Then they hurled a mountain on top of me, crushed me into the ground, where I struggled for eons, half-conscious in pain. That taught me patience, girl. It taught me not to act rashly. Now I’ve clawed my way back with the help of the waking earth."

- Enceladus to Piper McLean Enceladus is one of the giants and one of the main antagonists in The Lost Hero.

The First Gigantomachy
Enceladus joined the giants in the original attack upon Mount Olympus. He was created specifically to destroy the goddess Athena. He was slain by a spear thrown by Athena and an arrow from Hercules' bow at exactly the same time, centuries ago. In The Lost Hero, he says that the gods threw a mountain on top of him, which became Mount Etna. It is said that he would cause volcanic eruptions from the mountain, which are caused by his pain.

The Lost Hero
Enceladus captures Tristan McLean, the father of Piper McLean, so that he could use his daughter to lure Leo Valdez and Jason Grace to him. He had hoped that they would be killed along the way, but was still pleased to have Piper just lead them to him so he could kill them himself. He also appears to Piper in a dream while his flying head was seen over a purple fire over Detroit. He shows her the pain her father was in and threatens her not to betray him. When she wakes up, Festus is falling out of the sky and Piper thinks Enceladus somehow managed to attack them from so far away. When confronted at the top of Mount Diablo, he claims he was born to fight Athena; calling himself the "Anti-Athena." While Jason and Leo attack him, he calls upon the Earthborn to help him defeat the demigods, but most are destroyed when Leo uses the construction equipment in the area and Piper manages to take out one with her dagger. He was killed at Mt. Diablo by a combined attack from Jason Grace and a lighting bolt from Zeus as only a god and demigod working together can defeat the giants.

The House of Hades
It is mentioned by Hyperion and Krios, who are guarding the Doors of Death, that all the Giants who were killed have reformed and returned to the mortal world through the Doors of Death, which includes Enceladus.

Personality
Enceladus, like most Gigantes, is overconfident in his own abilities. He tends to let others do his dirty work for him using extortion or blackmail. However he admits in his own faults, saying that during the first Gigantomachy, he thought the gods couldn't defeat him until they dropped a mountain on him. From this, he claims to have learned patience and will stay in the background until the time is right. Despite being the smallest and weakest in terms of size and strength, he is intelligent as he was created to oppose Athena. Instead of attacking Jason Grace and Leo directly, he kidnapped Piper's dad to get her to lead them into his trap, also insuring that there wouldn't be enough time to rescue Hera. His overconfidence led to his downfall, as he hadn't expected a god to help Jason Grace defeat him (as Zeus had closed Olympus).

Appearance
Enceladus is 30-feet tall giant, though still of average height for a Gigantes. In spite of this, he claims to be the smartest of his kind. From the top he is a humanoid with bronze armor decorated with a flame design. He has dreadlocks decorated with bones woven through them, possibly taken from former demigods he has killed. His skin was bronze and his eyes are marble white. From the bottom his dragon legs are green and he has claws as feet. His weapon is a spear about the size of a flag pole.

Abilities

 * Prowess in Battle: Enceladus is shown to be a very powerful warrior, since he was able to fight Athena herself in the first Gigantomachy, though he was eventually defeated. In The Lost Hero, he battled Jason Grace, one of the most powerful demigods in the world, and manages to hold his own for most of the duel. He almost kills Jason, if it were not for a lightning bolt sent by Zeus to save his son and kill the giant. In The Blood of Olympus, he battled Annabeth Chase, a powerful demigod, and only lost when Athena began fighting him as well.
 * He is skilled at fighting with a long spear.
 * Intelligence: As the bane of Athena, Enceladus claims that he is the cleverest Gigantes, which is shown when he manages to use Tristan McLean to lure Jason and Leo to Mount Diablo by using Tristan's daughter, Piper.
 * Fire Breath: He can breathe purple fire like a dragon.
 * Giant Immortality: As a Gigantes, Enceladus can only be killed by a god and demigod working together, and when he is harmed by anybody else, he heals at an accelerated rate.

Trivia

 * In Piper's picture, when you look at her dagger Katoptris, right above her face is a picture of the giant Enceladus, just like, in the book, when Piper first looks at her dagger she sees Enceladus.
 * He claims he is smarter than all the other giants due to the fact that he was created to kill Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
 * Even though Enceladus claims to be the shortest Giant, Damasen and Clytius are considerably shorter, and Otis and Ephialtes are even half his size.
 * A moon of Saturn is named after Enceladus.
 * In Greece, an earthquake is still often called a "Strike of Enceladus."
 * His imprisonment under volcanoes is very similar to the story of Typhon.
 * Leo accidently referred to him as "enchiladas."

Encelade