Kronos

"Finally! The Olympian Council- so proud and mighty. Which seat of power shall I destroy first?"

- Kronos

Kronos (Κρόνος in Ancient Greek, also known as Cronus, meaning "time") is the king of the Titans and most powerful child of Gaea and Ouranos. Kronos is the main antagonist in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, being directly responsible for some of the major events in the series. Kronos is the Titan Lord of Fate, Harvest, Justice, and Time whose Roman counterpart is Saturn.

History
The Titans were the youngest of the three races born to Gaea the Earth and Ouranos the Sky after the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes respectively. All were detested by their father, but he both feared and hated the elder children so much that he imprisoned them in the abyss of Tartarus. Enraged, Gaea got pregnant and told her remaining children to avenge their brothers and overthrow their draconian parent. Kronos was the boldest of his siblings and only he would agree to help his mother in her revenge. Using a scythe fashioned by Gaea, he sliced Ouranos into a thousand pieces and claimed his supremacy over the universe.

During his reign, Kronos would usher in an era of peace and prosperity for the Titans and took his sister Rhea as his bride and queen. His rule would also see the genesis of mankind and be called their 'Golden Age'. However, Kronos abandoned his imprisoned siblings to their fates out of the belief that they would only pose a threat to his authority.

At the height of his power, Kronos was warned by Gaea that he would be supplanted by his own child just as he had usurped his father long before. Determined to avoid this fate, he decided to swallow each of his five children alive so that they could never challenge him. A grief stricken and horrified Rhea pleaded with Kronos to spare their children but with no success. Kronos' wife would secretly give birth to a sixth child on Mount Ida and deceived her husband into devouring a swaddled stone instead. This rescued son would be named Zeus and it would be he who would machinate his father's downfall.

Knowing that any children he fathered with Rhea were potentially dangerous, Kronos would have a brief affair that produced Chiron. When Zeus grew to adulthood, he infiltrated his father's palace on Mount Othrys and slipped an emetic into the Titan Lord's drink which forced him to disgorge Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Poseidon. Kronos' children quickly declared war against him and eventually triumphed in the consequent Titanomachy where his followers were banished and their king was dismembered into thousands of pieces by the very weapon used to eviscerate Ouranos.

The Lightning Thief
Knowing of the resentment between demigods and their godly parents, Kronos decided to use this to his advantage and find a follower willing to oppose the gods. Kronos found this follower in Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes. Kronos contacted Luke in his dreams and manipulated him to his cause, ordering him to steal the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness, the legendary weapons of Zeus and Hades, respectively, which would start a civil war amongst the gods.

Luke succeeded in stealing the bolt and the helm during a camp field trip to Mount Olympus, but Luke was caught and defeated by Ares. Kronos saved Luke by manipulating Ares through the Demigod, telling Ares that if the weapons were successfully stolen, a war would begin. Ares let Luke take the weapons, but Luke was later punished by Kronos through nightmares. When Luke promised never to fail him again, Kronos told him that a boy would be coming to Camp Half-Blood soon, and they would use that boy to send the Master bolt and the Helm of darkness. to Tartarus, where Kronos would be able to gain them and possibly use them to break free. That boy turned out to be Percy.

The Sea of Monsters
Kronos makes a brief appearance in The Sea of Monsters, when Luke explains to Percy that when demigods join his cause they make the Olympians weaker and make Kronos stronger. It's later revealed that the whole quest is a trick to bring Thalia back so Kronos can have another chance to control the Great Prophecy.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Kronos appears on Mount Orthys, when Percy goes through the path in the Labyrinth that Hera opened. Ethan swears loyalty to the Titan. Kronos, in the appearance of Luke, comes back from Tartarus, he has the invulnerable because Luke bathed in the River Styx. Kronos' Sythce was created in Mount Saint Helens out of Backbiter.

The Last Olympian
Kronos is on the Princess Andromeda, where he almost kills Percy. He led the attack at New York but only could do it at night. He later makes his last appearance when Luke betrays Kronos. Kronos was spread to the wind, hopefully spread so thin, so he could never make a form again.

Personality
Kronos is cruel and cunning with an insatiable lust for power. He jealously guarded his dominion as king and has shown his ruthlessness in the pursuit of his ambitions. Even worse than his megalomania was his savagery towards mortals and even his own children. Despite this, he does seem to care for his brothers and sisters though his love for Rhea was not enough to overpower his selfish nature. A master manipulator, Kronos has influenced the most powerful of the gods and their children through his scheming.

Appearance
Kronos' true appearance is unknown as his original body had been destroyed but he is described as having golden eyes while possessing Luke with an ancient, cold, and powerful voice (like knives scraping the metal according to Percy) whenever he spoke.

Abilities
Kronos has the standard powers of a Titan with personal abilities such as:
 * Command over time
 * Pushing someone away with a flick of their hand

The Lightning Thief
Oddly, Kronos did not have an important part in the film and his role was limited to a passing mention by Chiron. It is unclear if he was the one who made Luke believe that the heroes should take over and if he had any association with the theft of Zeus' Master Bolt. Luke stated it was him who wanted the demigods to rule Olympus, not Kronos (though this could be a lie or rather Kronos twisted his will to make him think so).

Trivia

 * His daughter Demeter says that he has no appreciation of agriculture, yet ironically, he is the Titan of the Harvest.
 * In some Myths, Kronos actually was a good Titan; he was sometimes known as a kind ruler of Rome and taught them agriculture and peace, and Zeus overthrew him for power of the world, which had changed him.
 * In Roman mythology, Kronos was named Saturn. The sixth planet from the sun was later named Saturn and the Romans had a celebration called Saturnalia named for Saturn on the winter solstice.
 * Despite being a Greek-Roman Titan, he possessed a human similar to how the Egyptian gods exist inside a human host in Rick Riordan's Egyptian series, The Kane Chronicles.
 * The sixth planet from the sun, Saturn is named after his Roman counterpart