Artemis

"You did well, Percy Jackson, for a man."

- Artemis congratulating Percy on his quest in The Titan's Curse

Artemis (Άρτεμις in Ancient Greek) is the goddess of the Hunt, the Moon, maidens, and wildlife. Her Roman counterpart is Diana. She and Apollo are known as the "twin archers". Artemis has her maidens take a pledge that will allow them to become immortal but they'll have to turn their back against men.

History
Artemis was born on the remote island of Delos. Her mother Leto had been wandering around because Hera told everyone not to house Leto for her birth because she was angered about Zeus's affairs. Hera forbade her to give birth on terra firma (the mainland) or on an island. But the island of Delos was neither on the ground or on water; it was a floating island, so Leto gave birth there. Artemis was born before her brother Apollo and helped her mother give birth to him. That is why she is sometimes considered the goddess of childbirth. Artemis and Apollo were born as twins to Leto and Zeus. They grew up together.

At three years old, Artemis asked her father, Zeus, while sitting on his knee, to grant her a wish. He loved his young daughter, and was of course, very proud of her. She was his second daughter, and a bright and pretty child, and he agreed to grant her wish.

She wish was to remain chaste for eternity, and never to be confined by marriage. She then asked for lop-eared hounds, stags to lead her chariot, and nymphs to be her hunting companions, 60 from the river and 20 from the ocean.

Also, she asked for a silver bow like her brother Apollo's golden one. He granted her wish, also said that he promised to let her retract her wish to remain a virgin and her wish to never be confined by marriage if she would wish it.

Once, Artemis grew close to retracting her virgin oath, when she met the hunter Orion. They slowly grew close, until Apollo, protective of his sister's virginity, had him swim out to sea to retrieve a floating target. Then, he tricked Artemis to shoot a distant, moving target, knowing his sister couldn't resist such a challenge. She did, and by this trick killed Orion, as the target was his head. In grief, she made him a constellation in the stars to always see his face. She has never been so moved by a man since.

Artemis is also known for turning the hunter Actaeon into a stag because he saw the goddess bathing with her attendents.



The Titan's Curse
Artemis makes her first appearance in the The Titan's Curse. She helps Percy and friends when they face the manticore at Westover Hall and goes a mission west to hunt the Ophiotaurus, and promises Percy that she will look for Annabeth. She is captured along the way by the General, Atlas, and is used as a way to lure Percy and his friends West to save Annabeth. Atlas traps Artemis under the sky by forcing Annabeth to hold it. Artemis cannot simply stand by and allow a maiden to die, and she takes the sky from Annabeth.

As Percy, Thalia, and Zoë arrive to rescue her, Zoë giving her life to stop Atlas from stabbing Artemis. Meanwhile, Percy takes the sky from Artemis so she can fight Atlas, as Percy was no match. During the fight, Artemis forces Atlas back and he is eventually pushed back under the sky as Percy rolls out of the way. Artemis, Percy, Thalia and Annabeth return to Olympus for the winter solstice. She is the first to suggest plans for war preparations against the Titans, and appears fair and honest, as she is horrified at the vote whether or not to destroy Percy, as he risked his life for them.

The Last Olympian
Artemis appears again in The Last Olympian, when she battles Typhon. Her Hunters help the Campers of Half-Blood Hill fight against Kronos' army. One of her hunters, Thalia, had a statue of Hera fall on her legs during The Battle of Manhattan.

Physical description
She can appear as whatever she likes, but chooses to be the average age of her Hunters,

which is around twelve though in the flim she is a full grown woman. She has auburn colored hair and eyes as silvery as the moon, and is incredibly beautiful. Percy describes her face as breath-taking. Her cabin is number eight at Camp Half-Blood and since she is a maiden goddess, she has no children and it serves as an honorary monument or a refuge for the Hunters when they visit. Her symbol was the silver bow and arrow, and stag.



Diana
Artemis has the ability to change her appearance into her Roman counterpart, Diana. As Diana, she becomes more disciplined, warlike, and militartistic. Also as Diana, she still remains a virgin, but it is possible that she might have an honorary cabin at the Roman Camp Half-Blood in San Francisco.



Personality
Artemis cares deeply for maidens, as they are her kin. She has a group of female Hunters who she leads. She mostly detests men, and has little respect or liking of them. Artemis is an excellent hunter, but does have pity on her prey so she seeks to kill quickly. She shows no pity for her hunters if they break their oath. Though she holds a deep prejudice against men, she is typically reasonable and willing to acknowledge them if they prove their worth, as she does with Percy, and also appears to have mellowed in her level of distaste for other men, tolerating Percy, Grover and Nico in her camp and around her hunters, even keeping her contempt out of her voice and mannerisms.

Artemis is also a rather independent and rebellious goddess, going against Zeus's orders and keeping contact with her hunters and their search for Percy in the Lost Hero (Possibly not even knowing Hera took his memories and sent him to Roman Camp Half Blood). Since she spends so much time with her hunters, she has a strong understanding of mortals, especially compared to the other gods.

Powers
As the goddess of the hunt, Artemis probably possesses advanced hunting abilities such as speed, precision and the ability to disguise herself along with many other powers. She was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the greatest Titan warrior Atlas.She can also transform people and objects into things associated with hunting (eg. once she turned a helicopter into a flock of birds). Because the hunting of wild beasts is within her domain, Artemis is able to help heroes more directly than other gods by saving them from powerful monsters if she wishes. She utilizes this loophole to bypass the ancient laws against direct interference and aid Percy during the Titan's Curse.

She may also have unspecified moon-related abilities, as she is also goddess of the moon. She possesses a silver chariot similar to Apollo's sun chariot, but it seems to be purely for traveling in short distances.

Artemis presumably possesses the standard powers of a God.

Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon
Artemis has two sides of her, the gay and lively Goddess of the Hunt and the mysterious and serene Goddess of the Moon. In her two sides, she is mostly seen as the the Goddess of Hunt, where she wears a short tunic with her hair into a ponytail, holding a bow and quiver and mostly with her golden stag. When she is the Goddess of the Moon, she wears a long gossamer dress and has her hair held up.

Leto
Artemis, along with her twin brother, Apollo, showed great love for their mother, Leto. As shown when Queen Niobe insulted Leto and Artemis and Apollo sought revenge for their, they killed Niobe's 7 daughters and 7 sons.



Film
Artemis was played by Ona Grauer in the film version of The Lightning Thief.

She was only seen once in the film, in the throne room of Olympus on the summer solstice.

Triva

 * In The Titan's Curse, it is said she likes to turn boys who see the Hunters' camp into jackalopes (rabbits with antlers).
 * Still in The Titan's Curse, she had found a respect for Percy and even called him a 'man' instead of a 'boy'.