Piper McLean

"Dad, just listen for once. Don't make me wait for you to ask your stupid three questions. I want to go to regular school. I want you to take me to parents' night, not Jane. Or homeschool me! I learned so much when we read about Greece together. We could do that all the time! We could-"

- Piper talking to her dad

Piper McLean is one of the main characters in The Heroes of Olympus. Piper is the Greek demigod daughter of Aphrodite and Tristan McLean and is currently the counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin.

History
Piper has always had the ability to charmspeak and uses it (without knowing) to "borrow" things from salesmen like a lawnmower or a car, causing her to get into trouble with the law when the people report her for stealing. At one point, she talked a car dealer into giving her a BMW and drove it away from the lot. She only stole items because she wanted attention from her father. The dealer pressed charges for theft after Piper took the BMW, but Jane (her father's assistant) made a deal for her to be sent to Wilderness School instead of going to jail. The school is a place for delinquent kids, but it was here that she met Leo and the two formed a friendship, she even trusted him with the truth that her father is the movie star Tristan McLean.

Piper and Leo's back-story is a rare one, since they are the only two known demigods who met and befriended each other before they even knew they were demigods.

Mist History
Leo Valdez and Piper were both given memories of Jason before he arrived at the Wilderness School. In these memories, Jason Grace, Leo, and Piper had been friends for about three months when Jason first arrived. Piper tried to get closer to him and the two eventually shared a kiss and began dating a few weeks before the events of The Lost Hero. This reality turned out to be fake when Annabeth asked Piper some things basic things about Jason she doesn't know.

The Lost Hero
Piper appears the first time in the bus driving towards the Grand Canyon, holding hands with Jason. She's the first to realize something is wrong with him, and is devastated when she finds Jason doesn't remember her. This is because Hera erased his memory, as well as Percy Jackson's. Shortly afterward she is torn away by Dylan, who declares her his partner for the school work.

As a strong storm starts, Piper and Dylan help the others to leave the sky-walk, until only she, Dylan, Leo, Jason and Coach Hedge are left. As Piper loses control of the door, which suddenly seems to be magically locked, Dylan reveals to be a anemoi thuellai (Roman form ventus), a storm son of Typhon, and battles the four of them along with his fellow venti (plural form of ventus). Piper tries to fight the Venti with Jason using Hedge's baseball bat as a weapon, but when she hits Dylan to prevent him from taking Jason, she is thrown off the sky-walk. Jason jumps after her and saves her, stopping in midair before flying back up safely to the sky walk.



Dylan takes Hedge away after Hedge saved Leo. The three are picked up by a chariot, driven by Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and Butch, son of Iris. Soon after, they crash land in a lake at Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth gives Piper a tour of the camp and helps her pick out her weapon (a dagger previously owned by Helen of Troy) called Katoptris (Ancient Greek for looking glass) that has the ability to show much more than the users' reflection when looked at. Later that night when Jason is picking two others to come on his quest, after he picks Leo, Piper says she has to go too while trying to compete with Drew to be on the quest. She was then claimed by Aphrodite. Later she becomes friends with two of her half-siblings, Lacy and Mitchell, and learns how to use her ability to charmspeak. However Drew, the head of the cabin, keeps everyone under her thumb with her own ability to charmspeak and makes Piper so mad that when asked who her father was, Piper admits it is Tristan McLean. When the other members ask if it is true, Drew tells everyone that it is a lie, but rips his poster off the wall a short time later. Piper claimed she did not like to play the "famous dad card," and felt bad and regretted what she did after using it against Drew.

The next day, Piper, Jason, and Leo take Leo's new "pet dragon," Festus, and begin their quest. They arrive in Quebec and they meet Boreas and his children, including Khione (goddess of snow) and the Boreads (immortal children of Boreas). Later, while Piper is sleeping, they fall off the dragon and they crash land into a supposedly abandoned car factory in Detroit. But they don't know that Cyclopes live there. Jason and Piper are held captive, but Leo rescues them and they find out he has fire abilities. After they escape, they stop to rest, but then they meet Medea, a sorceress and charmspeaker, who nearly causes Jason and Leo to turn against each other, however Piper gets them out of the trance and they fight Medea. They also find Coach Hedge and the storm spirits to trade with Aeolus. As they escape, the building explodes.

Soon, Festus crash lands again and they fall in front of a mansion. Inside they meet king Midas and his son Lit. Jason helps himself and his two friends escape after Leo and Piper get turned to gold, by calling down lightning. After they get turn back to normal they run into Lycaon (the first werewolf) and the rest of his pack, but the Hunters save them. Thalia Grace, Artemis' lieutenant and Jason's sister leads them to Aeolus' palace before getting separated when the ice vapor bridge melts. They meet Mellie the aura, who has a huge crush on Coach Hedge. The trio meet Aeolus who, in the end, tries to kill them on the order of Gaea. When they escaped, winds shot them to California. They confront the giant Enceladus to rescue Piper's dad, Tristan McLean. They manage to defeat the giant, but her father is mentally broken and Piper is forced to give him a potion that Aphrodite had given her, one that will erase all his short term memories. Piper then allows the medical team to take her father away while she charmspeaks a pilot into letting them borrow their helicopter to travel the wolf house to rescue Hera. They find out that Khione has been spying on them and they plan to help the rise of Porphyrion, the giant king. Leo battles against Khione and he turns out to until Porphyrion rises and Jason keeps him occupied while Leo tries to cut Hera free. Piper lulls Gaea to sleep; showing her amazing skills in charmspeaking.

After their quest is completed, Piper, Jason, and Leo return home to Camp Half-Blood. The next morning, Piper challenges Drew to a duel to be head counselor, but Drew grudgingly backs down for she does not wish to fight Piper. Later Piper video chats with Coach Hedge, Mellie and her dad who remembers nothing of his ordeal and thinks Piper is in a special school. Then Piper shares a moment with Jason, in which she accepts that she loves Jason, but she doesn't know if he feels the same way. Later, she heads into the woods with Jason, Leo, Chiron and the Hephaestus cabin, as Leo shows them Bunker 9. As the book draws to an end Piper hears Jason say that it is most likely that Percy Jackson is at the Roman camp, called Camp Jupiter.

The Son of Neptune
Piper makes a brief appearance in a dream of Percy Jackson along with Jason Grace and Leo Valdez as they construct the Argo II. Later, her voice is heard calling Leo "Repair boy!" when he asks her what his title is during a video message to Camp Jupiter asking them not to blast them out of the sky. By the end of the book, she sets out to meet Percy at Camp Jupiter.

Earlier in the book when Polybotes and the Giant Army are marching toward Camp Jupiter, Ma Gasket is shown to have reformed and joined the army. She complains that the purple and orange ones destroyed her home and she wants revenge against Piper, Leo, and Jason. While the name Jason sounds familiar to Percy, Hazel, and Frank, they don't know who Leo or Piper are.

The Mark of Athena
Piper is on the Argo II, practicing her lines for when they land at Camp Jupiter. While using Charmspeak to talk about lowering their weapons and talking, Annabeth Chase almost put down her knife to have a talk. When Terminus arrived she tried to charmspeak him but instead, being a god, he was unaffected and instead slapped her knife out of her hand.

After the welcome feast Camp Jupiter prepares, Leo (who was possessed by an Eidolon) begins to attack Camp Jupiter. Jason goes unconscious after saving Piper from a brick that was about to hit her. Thus, Piper takes care of an unconscious Jason. To pass the time, she looks through her dagger Katoptris and sees the sign Topeka 32, the Romans preparing an attack against the seven, and the most unsettling image: her, Jason, and Percy all drowning. After Jason wakes up, and Hazel and Leo are back, she goes with Percy and Jason to Topeka 32 in Kansas. They meet Bacchus there who tells them to go see Phorcys because he knows information about Gaea. Afterwards, he disappears.

Immediately after, Gaea tells Piper that she wants her and either Jason or Percy. She tells Piper she must choose between who should die, and if she doesn't, Jason and Percy will have to fight to death, when an Eidolon begins controlling their bodies. Jason battles Percy with Tempest, while Percy battles with his Pegasus Blackjack. Percy knocks Jason out and is about to kill him. Unable to stop the two from fighting, Piper tells Blackjack to knock Percy out, which he does so. Blackjack carries all three of them back to the Argo II.

After Percy and Jason wake up, the seven have a meeting, discussing about Annabeth's quest, what they learned from Bacchus and who possessed Leo, Jason, and Piper. Piper charmspeaks the Eidolons to leave their bodies and never come back. Even though they know now that it wasn't Leo's intent to hurt the Romans, they have no proof to tell the Romans.

After the seven leaves Atlanta, they dock at Charleston Harbor, Hazel, Annabeth and Piper agree to go find the southern bell ghost Piper saw in her dagger. They find the ghost, who turns out to actually be Aphrodite/Venus. The girls have tea with her and Hazel asks whether she is Aphrodite or Venus. Aphrodite tells her she is both because love is universal and that's why she isn't that involved in the ongoing war. Hazel denies that there is any war yet. Aphrodite then explains that when Athena told Annabeth to avenge her, she meant to get her statue, Athena Parthenos.

After getting back on the ship, the Argo II finally sets sail to the Mediterranean Sea and Rome. Once they finally reach there, they see the Pillars of Hercules, and Hercules is guarding it. Piper and Jason decide to go talk to the god. Hercules will allow then to pass only if they have steal Achelous' horn to humiliate him.

When the two demigods get to Achelous River, they hear a peaceful hypnotic singing come from Achelous. Achelous figures that they are here to take his other horn, but Achelous explains why Hercules does not deserve it. Despite feeling bad, Jason and Piper still attempt to take the horn, which Achelous retaliates at by trying to drown them. Jason gets pulled under, so Piper tries to bargain with Achelous, believing she wants to become his bride. When he picks her up, she threatens him that he must let Jason go and she proceeds to cut his second horn off. The two demigods escape.

Upon their return, Hercules allows them to pass through. He also asks for the horn, however Piper does not give it to him, because Hercules does not deserve it. Her and Jason manage to fly back to the Argo II after bruising the god by a falling cornucopia. While flying off, Hercules continues to throw food at them, but they never the less escape all the attacks and finally get back to the Argo II.

Later on, Piper is shown tied up and kidnapped by Chrysaor, who's ship rammed into the Argo II. He tells the seven that he has plans on selling Piper and Hazel to Circe, while giving Percy and Annabeth to Gaea. Percy stops Chrysaor from doing this, by scaring Chrysaor's crew of dolphin men, telling them that their captain is Dionysus, who turned them into dolphins in the first place. Frank then shapeshifts into a dolphin, scaring all of the crew men back onto their boat.

After Annabeth and Percy prepare for Annabeth's quest in Rome and Frank, Hazel, and Leo are off in the city, Piper, Jason, and Coach Hedge are left on the Argo II. Piper plans a picnic for her and Jason using the cornucopia. A birthday cake comes out along with the rest of the food, Jason admits it is his birthday. Percy returns a little afterwards and asks Piper if they can find the giants through Katoptris. She however sees the Romans forming an invasion plan, a spiral stair case near the forum, the same place where her, Jason, and Percy are drowning. They set out in search for the staircases.

When the three do find it, Percy volunteers to go first, in case the place is flooded. When he comes back, he says he found a Nymphaeum. Soon afterwards, the nymph Hagno and the nine other nymphs who nursed Zeus when he was younger appear and flood the chamber with magic water, which took away Percy 's ability to breathe underwater, Jason's ability to control rain and Piper's youth as a teenager. Piper decides to funnel her, Jason, and Percy's into the cornucopia, releasing clean water and age the nymphs back to youth. The nymphs give them their powers and strength back and tell them whereabouts of Ephialtes and Otis.

They arrive to the twin giants' lair where Nico di Angelo is. Piper defends Nico against all the releasing monsters, while Percy and Jason go against the giants. The giants release a Hydra, leading to Percy to set a stack of fireworks off, destroying the Hydra, as well as knocking out Piper.

After being nursed back to health, Piper and the rest go and search for Annabeth. When they get there, Piper works to grab Athena Parthenos and get it on the Argo II. She manages to do so, but fails to help Percy and Annabeth from falling into Tartarus, which she feels bad about. Leo encourages them all that they will find Percy and Annabeth and tells Festus to start the engine towards Greece.

Personality
Piper is very caring and loving towards Jason and is frightened, sad and angry at anything that may pose a threat to her bond with him, such as when Drew claims that Piper needs to break his heart as an initiation into the cabin. She is greatly saddened by the possibility that her first relationship with Jason was a Mist-induced illusion and breaks down in tears when Annabeth asks her what Jason's last name is (which she doesn't know). She also likes to touch Jason in very kind and loving ways such as holding his hand, leaning against his chest, resting her head on his leg, wrapping her arms around him and having his arms around her, probably since they were together in her Mist-manipulated memories. These memories are much sharper to Piper because she is a daughter of Aphrodite, so she can sense possibilities.

Compared to the other children of Aphrodite, Piper is much more aggressive and down to earth, not constantly focused on herself or her looks. When claimed by Aphrodite, she complains that she can't get rid of her makeup or her new hairstyle and finds it to be annoying to say the least. Before she was claimed by Aphrodite, Piper expressed that she wanted to be the daughter of Athena, Hecate or any goddess that wasn't Aphrodite, and she also thought Aphrodite cabin had been a "life-sized dollhouse" where supermodels went to die, and when she was claimed, she didn't fit in at all, and still doesn't. Rachel, the Oracle of Delphi, thinks even Annabeth wants Piper to be a child of Athena. Aphrodite herself also said that she was much smarter than most of her other children. Piper hates make-up, skirts, magazines, dresses and popular girls. She said that if she started a craving for fashion magazines, she would complain to her mother.

Piper also does not like it when Drew bullies the other Aphrodite children. She feels that Drew is running her cabin like a dictatorship and she doesn't truly understand what love is. Piper is not afraid to stand up to Drew, and because they can both use the charmspeak ability, Drew cannot control her like she does with the other campers. After Piper returns from her quest, she challenges Drew for her position as cabin leader because Drew has never been on a quest and thus, Piper is able to take the leadership role.

Appearance
Piper is a beautiful girl of Cherokee descent. She has dark tanned skin, chocolate brown hair that is cut choppy and uneven with thin strands braided on either side of her hair and eyes that change color like a kaleidoscope going from brown to blue to green. She is very beautiful, but although she is a daughter of Aphrodite Piper has a simple, tomboyish style.

Abilities

 * ADHD: Like most demigods, Piper has senses designed for battle and supernatural reflexes.
 * Dyslexia: Piper's brain is hardwired for Ancient Greek.
 * Swordsmanship: In The House of Hades, Hazel starts to teach Piper to fight with a sword.
 * Knowledge of Greek Mythology: Piper knows a lot about Greek mythology after doing research on the subject for a role her father had.

Demigod Abilities

 * Amokinesis: like her mother, Piper has a great control over many degrees of control over love, lust, beauty, etc. though on a much smaller scale. This is a very powerful ability, because, Piper describes her mother's powers being "even older than Zeus'."
 * She can attract the opposite gender when they walk by.
 * She has the ability to change her physical features, as Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. This can be seen when Jason mentions that her eyes constantly change color, like a kaleidoscope  going from brown to blue to green.
 * In The House of Hades, Piper's powers increase, and she uses the power of love to melt Khione's ice.


 * Charmspeak: Has the power of charmspeaking, allowing her to influence others with her opinion with enhanced persuasiveness. It can even affect some of the gods. As of the The House of Hades, Piper's charmspeak has improved to the point that she even able to awaken Festus.
 * Beauty: Piper is able to radiate beauty, regardless of how she may look. This ability prevents enemy forces from willingly attacking her, even as she charges them.
 * French: As a child of Aphrodite, Piper is fluent in French due to it being the "language of love."

Weapons/Items
Piper is the wielder of an Ancient Greek ceremonial dagger called Katoptris. Given to Helen of Troy as a wedding gift from Menelaus, Helen of Troy's first husband. The dagger seems to show a scene of something that has importance to whoever looks at their reflection in the blade. Katoptris is a Greek word meaning "Looking Glass."

In The Mark of Athena, she receives the Horn of Plenty after cutting off the horn of the River God Achelous. It allows her summon food and water if she has enough will and concentration. It powers also seem to increase if multiple people focus at the same time. In The House of Hades, Piper also picks up Zethes' sword, and Hazel starts to teach her how to use it.

Jason Grace
Piper's love interest is Jason Grace. This first happened under the influence of the Mist (Hera/Juno placed false memories), but soon blossomed into more pronounced feelings from both of them over the course of Jason's quest. She announces to the Aphrodite cabin that Jason is hers alone and that no one else should dare pursue his affections. Piper said she would catapult Drew over the Long Island Sound if she touched Jason. She stated that for now, she was content in simply being at his side. She could see possibilities with her having a true relationship with Jason. However, she is unaware that Jason is starting to remember a girl named Reyna, someone that Jason feels is very important but can't remember why. In The Son of Neptune, Reyna exposes a strong relationship or feeling for Jason, suggesting a rivalry between the two might occur. In The Demigod Diaries, Leo also remarks Jason and Piper are dating, showing that they seemed to have finally gotten together. They even share a kiss when they are battling the maenads in the woods of Camp Half-Blood. In The Mark of Athena, Annabeth states that Jason and Piper are dating confirming their relationship has continued for past 8 months.

Reyna
When Piper first met Reyna, she initially prepared to hate her for liking Jason, but came to admire her for not showing her feelings at all. She is constantly afraid that Jason still has feelings for her, although Jason claims he never had feelings for her. Reyna was surprised and additionally was jealous of Piper when Jason introduced Piper as his girlfriend. Annabeth mentioned that Reyna was trying to hide her pain and anger inside when talking with her. Piper was also uneasy when Jason asked Piper to talk to Reyna and when he talked about him and Reyna's quest together. Jason seemed entirely oblivious to both.

Drew Tanaka
Drew and Piper primarily dislike each other, because they both like Jason, Piper's current boyfriend. Drew flirted with Jason constantly, making Piper jealous. Piper also disliked Drew as head of the Aphrodite cabin, for being cruel to Piper and her cabinmates. At the end of The Lost Hero, Piper challenges Drew to a fight to become head of the Aphrodite cabin. Out of fear, Drew steps down anyway.

Leo Valdez
Despite Piper being very beautiful, Leo never hits on her or asks her out, acting more like a brother who looks out for her. In The Mark of Athena, Piper gives him a sisterly kiss on the cheek after he returns safe and sound from Camp Fish-Blood, showing that she really does care for him, even if the two tease each other. In The House of Hades, when Leo returns from Calypso's island Piper is one of the first ones to hug him.

Percy Jackson
Piper states that when she initially met Percy Jackson, she was initially not overly impressed by him when compared to boyfriend Jason Grace. Their relationship is not shown in depth in The Mark of Athena, which simply implies that Piper sees kinship with all the members of the Prophecy of the Seven. Piper and Percy get along reasonably well, with Piper technically saving his life twice (as well as Jason's). The instances are charmspeaking Jason and Percy into not killing each other and Piper, Jason, and Percy combining their powers into Piper's Horn of Plenty to save them in tainted waters when Jason and Percy's powers where useless. She seems to think he is a bit reckless and rebellious but has no complaints having either Jason or Percy being the "leader" of the Prophecy of the Seven. Later she admits she feels guilty for letting Blackjack knock Percy on the head. She also seems worried when Percy almost drowns in the tainted water along with her and Jason. She is shown to trust him enough to use her Katroptris just because he asked her to despite her overall reluctance in ever using it. She once notices that he smells like the ocean. Percy is shown to trust Piper enough to use his life-force along with hers and Jason's on the Horn of Plenty despite his concerns of the water killing them faster.

Annabeth Chase
Piper and Annabeth get along well. Piper also mentioned that Annabeth would make a cool friend in better times. It is also stated that Piper and Annabeth both hoped that Athena would claim Piper, as then they could be in the same cabin. In The House of Hades, when Annabeth returns from Tartarus, Piper is the first one to tearfully hug her.

Hazel Levesque
Piper and Hazel first meet in The Mark of Athena, and seemed to be on good terms. Hazel encouraged Piper to coerce the eidolons to leave, and Piper comforted Hazel after Jason and Leo accidentally insulted her by questioning Nico. In The House of Hades, both are the only girls left on board the Argo II, which allows them to bond and become good friends. Hazel would constantly train Piper in swordsmanship, while Piper would attempt to help Hazel control the Mist by telling her about Charmspeak. They also enjoy laughing about the bad habits of the boys, and had a number of good private talks.

Lacy
Lacy is a young girl in the Aphrodite cabin. She helps Piper by building up a collection of clothes for Piper before she leaves on her quest.

Mitchell
Another cabin-mate of Piper. He also helped Piper when she first arrived and was happy when Piper took over the cabin from Drew.

Tristan McLean
"...if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd all be bowing down to her screaming, 'We're not worthy!'."

- Leo

Piper's father is Tristan McLean, a well known actor with a powerful position and is of Cherokee descent. Her father is always at work and busy. Piper wants to feel recognized by him which is why she gets in trouble and "steals" things with her charmspeaking. The two share a moment during The Lost Hero, where he explained that while he does love her, he tried to keep her away from him so she wouldn't be drawn into his crazy celebrity life. From then on, Piper is more understanding of her dad and accepts that he may not have as much time for her as she would like.

Aphrodite
Her mother is Aphrodite, who is as known as the goddess of love and beauty. When Piper met her mom in her dream, the two seemed to act on good terms with each other and she thinks her mother is beautiful. In The Mark of Athena she admits feeling a little hurt that her mother paid almost no attention to her when Hazel, Annabeth and Piper meet up with Aphrodite/Venus.

Grandpa Tom
Piper also had a grandfather called Grandpa Tom. He was the one who named Piper. He named her that because she had a loud, strong voice.

Etymology
Piper is an Old English name meaning "pipe player," a possible reference to her ability to charmspeak and the story of the pied piper. According to her Grandpa Tom, he named her that as she had high vocal voice when she was a baby, also saying that one day she was going to play the biggest tune of them all. Piper is also a synonym for a squab, particularly that of a dove or pigeon. Interestingly Piper's mother is called "Lady of Doves."

Trivia

 * She got her name because her grandfather thought she would one day master all the Cherokee songs, including the snake song. Her father liked the idea and named her Piper.
 * She sometimes calls Jason "Sparky."
 * Piper was the first Head Counselor to be promoted, who had other siblings, in less than five days. She is also the first half-blood in both series to challenge another for the right to become Head Counselor.
 * Piper is a vegetarian.
 * Piper dislikes the term Half-Blood due to her being called one for years, as other kids made fun of her for being half-Native American and half-white.
 * There is somewhat an inconsistency in Piper's clothing in the American cover of The Lost Hero. She appears to still be wearing the dress Aphrodite gave her when she was claimed while she already changed it prior to riding Festus and going to Boreas castle in Quebec.
 * Unlike the rest of Aphrodite's (known) daughters, Piper is a tomboy.
 * It is thought that her charmspeak saved Jason's life when he saw Hera's divine form.
 * She is called the "mediator", by her mother Aphrodite, for when the two sides of demigods, Greek and Roman, will meet, she will have to mediate them.
 * She is the only one of the new main characters to have her mortal parent still alive.
 * She is also the only new main character with a mortal father.
 * Drew calls her the Dumpster Queen (for her lack of form and her simple clothes, the very things Jason likes about her) and Miss Movie Star (for when she says her father is Tristan McLean).
 * At one point, she was interested in being a Hunter of Artemis, but she lost all interest after learning she'd have to swear off boys.
 * Before receiving the blessing of Aphrodite, Piper had a pimple on the base of her nose that had been there for so long, she began to call it Bob. However, Bob disappears after her claiming.
 * In her official portrait, an image of Enceladus is reflected in her dagger.
 * Piper's first chapter in The Lost Hero is the first time in both series we don't hear from a child of the Big Three.
 * Piper is the first girl to have a point of view in either series.
 * Piper is the only character who's face you can't see clearly in her official portrait, as she is shown from the back. You can see part of her face in her knife however.