Blackjack



Blackjack is a friendly black pegasus who was saved by Percy Jackson from Luke on the Princess Andromeda in the The Sea of Monsters. Blackjack is featured along with Percy on the cover of The Last Olympian, and The Titan's Curse. In The Titan's Curse, Aphrodite said she was the one who sent Blackjack to help Percy from Camp Half-Blood. Blackjack has a highly informal personality-- just as willing to serve Percy but he always calls Percy boss rather than the more formal titles the other pegasi use, as well as once calling Dionysus "the wine dude". He speaks with a New Yorkish accent

The Sea of Monsters
It is uncertain whether Blackjack appeared in The Sea of Monsters at all, but there is evidence that he might be the mare that Luke had brought out before his duel with Percy. However, he was referred to as a mare, which is a female horse, but he is referred to as a 'he' in the later books. So whether Blackjack was the mare or another pegasus in the background that had managed to escape Princess Andromeda during the confusion is uncertain.

The Titan's Curse
Blackjack has a larger role in this book; he gave Percy a ride from Camp Half-Blood all the way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC trying to catch up with Thalia, Grover, Bianca di Angelo, and Zoe Nightshade. He leaves Percy there and flies back due to his exhaustion of constant flying for such a long distance. Later Blackjack appears again carrying Percy, Annabeth and Thalia from a plane field near Mount Tamalpais (where Atlas carries his burden and also where the Mountain of Despair lies) to Olympus to attend the Winter Solstice meeting. Leaving them on a cheerful note, he asks Percy if he could use Percy's cabin as his stable if Percy does not come back alive.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Blackjack speaks to Percy at the beginning of the novel about the Labyrinth. Later on, coming due to Percy's call, comes and carries Percy and his friends back to Camp Half-Blood.

The Last Olympian
In The Last Olympian, he lands on Paul Blofis' car (interrupting Percy and Rachel Elizabeth Dare in an awkward moment, much to Percy's relief), with Charles Beckendorf on his back. Percy gets on and Blackjack carries them to the Princess Andromeda, where he leaves on Percy's command. During The Battle of Manhattan he carries Percy and Annabeth as reinforcements to the Apollo cabin defending Williamsburg Bridge against Kronos and his monsters. When Annabeth suffers a serious injury he quickly swoops down and managed to carry her back to the camp's headquarters at a hotel opposite Central Park (much to Kronos's annoyance). When the Clazmonian Sow appeared, Blacjack and Percy went in pursuit, and with the help of some statues, they managed to defeat it. Finally he was forced by Rachel to bring her to Camp Half-Blood so she could become the Oracle.

Trivia

 * His gender is somewhat inconsistent as in The Sea of Monsters he is referred to as a mare and a "she" but from The Titan's Curse onward, Percy refers to him as "he". The problem was asked by a fan at a Rick Riordan book talk. He replied, "Either Percy's mixed up, or it's a mistake by the author, which of course, could never happen."
 * Percy mentions that he doesn't let anyone ride Blackjack except himself (obviously Rachel was an exception as Percy didn't have any choice in the matter).
 * Ever since Percy Jackson indirectly freed him, he thought of Percy as a hero that he woke him up to help the Hippocampi on the Orphiotaurus caught-on-fishing-net problem.
 * Calls Percy "Boss"
 * Was rescued from Luke's ship
 * In a 2010 adaptation of the movie Clash of the Titans the hero Perseus of the same name had a black pegasus also.