Oracle of Delphi

"I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python."

- The Oracle

The Oracle of Delphi, is a speaker of the prophecies of Apollo.

History
In Greek Mythology, the Oracle of Delphi is Pythia who was a priestess at the Temple of Apollo.

Camp Half-Blood history
Up until the end of The Last Olympian, the Oracle was a skeletal, mummy-like creature that resided in the attic of the Big House at Camp Half-Blood. She was described as having long, black hair, and wearing an old, battered dress, and a bunch of long necklaces, and marble eyes. The Oracle is now Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a mortal who can see through the Mist. The oracle used to belong to Rome.

Demigods living at the camp would visit her hoping to receive prophecies, so they would go on quests in order to become heroes. In The Titan's Curse, the Oracle leaves the attic for the first time to deliver a prophecy to Zoë Nightshade, a Hunter of Artemis, telling her how she may rescue her mistress. Many prophecies have been spoken from the Oracle, probably many that won't be remembered.

The nature of the Oracle is finally revealed in The Last Olympian. The Oracle's spirit once resided within young maidens, imbuing them with the ability to foretell the future. The powers could only be bestowed upon mortals with true sight, also known as the ability to see through the Mist. The spirit should have passed to another after the death of the previous Oracle, but the last mortal to host the Oracle's spirit was cursed by Hades after the Great Prophecy was recited, as it had led to the death of Maria di Angelo, mother of Bianca and Nico di Angelo. Hades cursed the Oracle to never be able to move to another human host, not even when the old host died, until the children of Hades and himself, were accepted by the gods and Camp Half-Blood. Hades had hoped that the Oracle's spirit would vanish as the host would crumble to dust and eventually nothing.

May Castellan, mother of Luke, tried to be the new host, without knowing of the curse. Trying to channel the power of the Oracle under Hades' curse shattered her mind, causing her to scare Luke, making him run away from home and live on the streets. She continued to have broken visions of her son's impending doom long after the incident.

After the events of the second war with the Titans, Hades reconciled with his family and lifted the curse, allowing the next Oracle to be chosen at last. The spirit was then passed to Rachel. The new home for the Oracle of Delphi is in a cave on the side of a hill that Apollo created.



The Last Olympian
In the Last Olympian, Rachel became the new oracle, saying the following words:

''I accept this role. I pledge myself to Apollo,'' ''God of Oracles. I open my eyes to the future and embrace the past.'' I accept the spirit of Delphi, Voice of the Gods, Speaker of Riddles, Seer of Fate.

After that was the delicate part, whether the spirit of Delphi would take hold or not, which, obviously, it did.

In The Lost Hero Annabeth says that when Rachel comes to visit Camp Half blood, she stays in a cave. The cave has a black urtain covering the entrance and one torch on each side.

Trivia

 * Gaea was the first goddess to possess the Oracle of Delphi
 * There are 4 oracles (but only Delphi is mentioned in the series), each belonging to a certain Titaness: the oracle of Delphi was held by Phoebe (before passing it on to Apollo ), the oracle of Dodona was held by Dione, the oracle of Phthiotis was held by Theia, the oracle of Lebadeia was held by Mnemosyne and Themis shared the four.
 * Its implied that the oracle's powers are similar to the Fates.
 * When a demigod goes to visit the Oracle, they will return either normal, in a coma, or possibly dead.