Hephaestus

Hephaestus (Ήφαιστος in Ancient Greek, also spelled Hephaistos) is the god of forges and fire and blacksmith to the gods. His Roman counterpart is Vulcan.

Description
He is a huge lump of a man with his shoulders at different heights and a bulging, misshapen head and his leg in a steel brace, with a wild black beard that sparks fire. He is the only Olympian to show such extreme physical injuries however, he is also muscular from working in his forges. Inside his workshop, he wears a jumpsuit smeared with grime and oil with the name Hephaestus embroidered over the chest pocket. When he is on Olympus, he is clean and elegant.

Vulcan
Hephaestus can change his appearance and turn into his Roman counterpart, Vulcan. As Vulcan, he becomes more disciplined, warlike, and militaristic. He might have more children at the Roman Camp Half-Blood near San Francisco. because when Leo Valdez was claimed by Hephaestus at the Greek Camp Half-Blood, Jason recognized the flaming hammer hologram as Vulcan's symbol, which might mean he witnessed Vulcan claim children at the Roman camp before.

History
Due to Zeus' giving birth to Athena, Hera was angry at his actions. She then gave birth to Hephaestus. He was an ugly and deformed child. A rumor was spread by Hera that Zeus threw him from Mt. Olympus at birth due to his ugliness, when it was really Hera herself. Another story makes the claim that Hephaestus stepped in between his mother and father's argument and sided with Hera. In rage of his son's actions, Zeus seized Hephaestus by the legs and threw him from the top of Mt. Olympus, which caused his drastic injuries. After being nursed to health, Zeus (in a rare act) apologized and welcomed his son back with open arms.

The goddess of love, Aphrodite, was causing a lot of problems in Olympus due to her radiant beauty. Zeus decided to wed her to Hephaestus to keep her off the market, though she still had multiple affairs with Ares. Though these days the affair is considered old news and every one just accepts it but Hephaestus still tries to find ways to publicly embarrass his wife and her lover in front of the other gods with elaborate traps and tricks. The most famous one and the first one was when he caught the two lovers in a magical net and then invited the other gods to come and laugh at the unfortunate sight.

He also took part in creating the metal giant Talos, the Trojan Horse, and other various automatons.

The Lightning Thief
Hephaestus doesn't appear in this book, but Percy and Annabeth get caught in a trap made by him, intended for Ares and Aphrodite, in Waterland while trying to retrieve Ares' shield.

The Titan's Curse
Hephaestus has a minor appearance in this book. His wife Aphrodite mentions him to Percy, warning him to be careful in his junkyard, because her husband is 'touchy about his little toys'.

When the Hunters and Campers are going through his junkyard, Bianca picks up a little statue of Hades because it is the only Mythomagic statue her brother dosen't have, and this causes one of his automatons to attack the group. They attempt to defend themselves, but the automaton is too big and strong, and Bianca decides to go up its foot and to shut it down from the inside. (Percy volunteered, but Bianca insisted after Percy pointed it out to her) When she shuts it down, the robot falls to the ground and Bianca dies. Her little brother, Nico, later blames her death on Percy.

During the Winter Solstice, Hephaestus later voted to let Percy live, though he didn't remember him later.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
His first up close encounter with Percy and friends was during The Battle of the Labyrinth. He sent them on a "mission" to find out who was using his favourite forge in Mount Saint Helens, the same mountain where the monster Typhon was held captive. He goes to retrieve Percy, who had been marooned on Calypso's island for weeks. He was also the one who told Percy about how Hera likes her "perfect family" a certain way. Hephaestus also gave them information on what happened to Daedalus, though very little.

The Last Olympian
His most well-known and famous demigod child is Charles Beckendorf who dies in early on, in order to destroy Princess Andromeda.

Hephaestus was also in the fight between the gods and Typhon. However, he was hit by Typhon and "was thrown from the battle so hard he created a new lake in West Virginia."

Hephaestus later votes to abide by Percy's wishes in claiming all of their Demigod children by the time they turn thirteen years old.

The Lost Hero
Hephaestus appears in one of his son's, Leo, dreams, using an old dream radio, and talks to him, giving information about why Olympus was closed down. He is shown to view Percy as a ingrate for refusing Godlihood. He transports Festus' head back to Bunker 9.

Personality
Hephaestus tends to be gruff, and disappointed in life and in people. He loves his wife, Aphrodite however he is sad and angry at her unfaithfulness. He is very bitter and hateful towards his mother, Hera. He is very bitter about his life, and puts his faith in machines rather then people, as machines can't let you down. However, he appears to have a soft spot for cyclopes like Tyson, and seems to be on good terms with Athena. Hephaestus greatly admired Daedalus. Despite his bitterness, he is the lover of many things, his unfaithful wife, Aphrodite and his demigod children and their mothers.



Powers/Abilities
He is god of the forges and can forge anything in a short amount of time. He is a master blacksmith and can make anything with the materials around him. He is the god of fire so can control fire and lava. Like the other gods he can teleport using super-fast air travel and is probably very strong due to working in the forges all day. He has a pirate radio set that he uses during emergencies such as when Zeus closed Olympus in The Lost Hero when he uses it to contact Leo. He presumably possesses the standard power of a god.



Known Greek Camp-Half Blood Children

 * Charles Beckendorf (Deceased)
 * Jake Mason
 * Two unnamed others
 * Isaac (Presumably not a book character, as he only appears in the video game.)
 * Leo Valdez
 * Nyssa
 * Thomas Faynor

Film
Hephaestus is played by Conrad Coates in the film version of The Lightning Thief.