The Last Olympian

The Last Olympian is a novel by Rick Riordan, published on May 5, 2009. It is the fifth and final installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series written by Rick Riordan. The Last Olympian revolves around Percy Jackson as he leads his friends into a last stand to protect Mount Olympus and the world from Kronos and his army of monsters.

The Princess Andromeda is back
Percy Jackson and his friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare drive to a ridge overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There, Rachel reveals that her father is sending her to a finishing school and that she wants Percy to go on a vacation with her. Blackjack, Percy's Pegasus and Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, interrupt by landing on the hood of Paul Blofis's Prius. Beckendorf then announces that it is time for Percy and himself to take out the Princess Andromeda, a cruise ship filled with monsters.Rachel Elizabeth Dare soon kisses Percy and wishes him good luck, resulting in Percy asking Beckendorf not to tell Annabeth. Percy and Beckendorf sneak onto the ship and set Greek fire explosives in the engine room. Percy leaves the room to distract the monsters on the ship, telling Beckendorf to meet him at the airpad.

Percy is confronted by Kronos. After being defeated, Beckendorf was revealed to have just been captured, but had tricked them by making it look like he was going towards and not away from the engine room. He then sacrifices his life so Percy could escape from the ship. Percy then passed out in the ocean from burns and getting touched by Kronos's scythe, which is rumored to be able to cut a person's soul away with just one swipe.

Poseidon's Kingdom
Percy dreams as he drifts unconscious through the ocean. The vision took place on Mount Othrys during a conversation between Krios and Hyperion. In the vision, the two Titans talk of the their plans to destroy Mount Olympus. After the two are done talking, Percy hears Nico di Angelo's voice telling Percy to follow his plan. As Percy comes to, he realizes that he is in Poseidon's kingdom and is being tended to by his half-brother, Tyson. Tyson then leads Percy to Poseidon's throne room, where he meets Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite, and Triton, his other son. Poseidon then informs Percy that he is battling Oceanus, and that Percy must return to Camp Half-Blood to fulfill the rest of the "great prophecy".

The Great Prophecy and Typhon
Returning to Camp-Half-Blood, Percy and Annabeth, daughter of Athena, retrieve the prophecy from the Oracle and bring it before the camp's war council. Percy reads the prophecy and realizes (initially) that regardless of the side he chose to fight for, he would die. Then Clarisse, angered because of not getting a chariot that the Apollo Cabin had claimed, decides that her cabin and Ares will not support the war. Percy, with the help of Chiron, then discovers that Typhon has escaped his prison (Mount St. Helens) and is heading towards Mount Olympus (unguarded because all of the gods are battling Typhon across the country) to destroy the gods' domain. Percy and the other counselors of the camp decide they need to concentrate on defending Olympus. The night following the meeting, Percy dreams of Rachel. In his dream, Rachel looks over two photos she has recently drawn based upon dreams she's had. The first is a picture of Luke when he was nine years old and the second a picture of Mount Olympus surrounded by lightning and Kronos's army. The next day, Percy and Annabeth review the camp's cabins and reviewing reports sent into the camp. Percy then reveals that Grover has disappeared without a trace and that his and Percy's empathy link is weakening. Percy also discovers that the Ares cabin wants the chariot that the Apollo cabin recovered during a raid led by the Ares cabin, and that they will refuse to fight unless they are given it. Needing a break, Percy wanders to the training arena to visit Mrs. O'Leary, his Hellhound. When he arrives there, Ms. O'Leary runs into the forest, causing Percy to chase after her. He follows her to the clearing where the Lords of the Wild hold their meetings. There, Percy finds Nico, Leneus, one of the Council of Cloven Elders members, and Grover's girlfriend Juniper talking about Grover. Leneus initially denies to help Grover, but is then forced by Percy. When Nico and Percy are alone, Percy decides to carry out Nico's plan and they then travel together to find Luke's mother in order to discover Luke's past by traveling on Mrs. O'Leary, who, like all creatures of shadow, can shadow-travel.

The Last Olympian
Percy and Nico arrive at Luke's mother's house in Westport, Connecticut and find that she is in a psychotic state. Ms. Castellan greets the two boys as if they were Luke when they arrive. She then invites Percy and Nico to lunch with her. Percy discovers that Luke ran away in order to protect his mother. Also they learned that when he turned his soul over to the Titans, he required his mother's blessing. Having the information they came for, as they attempted to leave, Luke's mother suddenly has a vision of her son ruled by Kronos and cries out in horror. Disturbed, Percy and Nico run from the house to find that Mrs. O'Leary has been approached by the goddess Hestia. Hestia provides for the boys and then tells Percy that no matter what side he chooses, he must remember her because she is the last Olympian. She goes on to explain that while all the Olympians are gone, she is the only hope for Olympus and that all must remember her when they fight. Hestia then sends Percy and Nico to Percy's house where they are greeted by his mom and Paul, who finally believes Percy's mother about his life as a half-blood. Percy and Nico tell her of their plan and she reluctantly gives Percy her blessing, agreeing that he will signal her if he survives the war. Ready to carry out the plan, Nico and Percy travel to Central Park to reach the Underworld via Shadow-travel.

The Underworld
When Percy and Nico arrive at Central Park, Nico tells Percy they'll need music to enter the Underworld from that entrance. Suddenly, Percy feels Grover's presence and, using his empathy link to awake Grover out of a deep sleep, Grover falls out of a tree near Percy and Nico. He explains that he was spreading the news about Pan's death and recruiting fighters when he saw a strange man walking through Central Park, where everyone near the strange man was falling asleep. When Grover went to confront the man, he turned his powers on Grover. After Grover's story, Nico says that Grover had encountered Morpheus a minor god that can put people to sleep and that his presence meant that the invasion was coming sooner than it was expected. Grover then plays a song to open the gate to the Underworld before leaving to tell Juniper that he was alive. Traveling into the Underworld, Nico detours Percy towards the gate for the dead, but ultimately hands him over to the Furies, including Alecto, who posed as Mrs. Dodds in The Lightning Thief.

When Percy realizes he's been tricked, he retaliates against Nico but is stopped by the Furies and has his sword thrown off a cliff, leaving him defenseless. Nico explains that his father had promised him information on his past if he turned in Percy. Upon arriving in Hades's throne room, Percy, Nico and Hades are joined by Persephone, and her mother Demeter. As a reward, Hades reveals that he sent Nico and his sister to the magical hotel they were abandoned at to protect them and so that they would never age until they left, and that the lawyer that collected them was Alecto (Mrs.Dodds). Hades promised that he planned to not help out in the fight for Olympus and then after the Titans took over, strike their weakened forces. He then sends Nico off and takes Percy captive.

Percy ends up having a nightmare and wakes up having Nico pinned to the floor of his cell. Nico then helps Percy escape to the River Styx on Mrs. O'Leary. When the two get there, Percy has a talk with Achilles before bathing in the River Styx to become nearly invincible (his only weakness is the small of his back). When Percy is done, he is attacked by Hades' minions and Hades himself. Percy escapes after defeating Hades and his minions using his new found strength (bathing in the Styx made him more powerful, faster, and stronger, among other things). As he leaves he tells Nico to stay and convince Hades to fight.

A Visit From The God of Messengers
Percy travels to the Empire State Building, meeting up with some other campers. Remembering that one of them could be a spy, he tells the group of his plan to get Zeus to defend Mount Olympus. They head to the 600th floor and find the throne room empty except for Hestia, who is still tending the fire. She sends him a vision of the day Luke and Thalia found Annabeth, the same day Luke gave her the knife she still uses, and when Luke meets his dad, Hermes, for the first time. Afterward, Hestia leaves after a grumpy Hermes arrives, who relays a message from Athena to defend Manhattan by using Plan 23. To Percy, Athena says to ' remember the rivers' and also staying away from her daughter. Annabeth mentions Luke, Percy defends her. Hermes was about to crush Percy with his caduceus, but Martha and George stop him. The god of messengers departs with sadness and grief.

The Battle Begins
They go outside when they find out that all the mortals in New York have fallen asleep because of Morpheus. Afterwards, Percy sends groups of campers to guard the bridges and tunnels of Manhattan from Kronos' army. As Kronos and Hecate use their magic powers to slow down time, Thalia and the Hunters of Artemis come back to guard the Lincoln Tunnel on 33rd Street from the army. Percy and Annabeth fly on pegasi to help Apollo's campers on Williamsburg Bridge. They encounter and defeat many monsters such as hellhounds, dracaenae, etc. Percy soon encounters and defeats the Minotaur again, as shown in The Lightning Thief. He then heads to the bridge to fight Kronos. As Percy realizes how much power he has (Percy bathed in the River Styx) he strikes Riptide into to the bridge that causes a force to make the bridge break. After that, Kronos disappears and the campers settle at their new headquarters, a hotel at the southeast corner of Central Park. Some of the demigods help Annabeth with her wound.

Percy's Dreams
Percy dreams about Maria di Angelo and Hades arguing about Nico and Bianca's safety (World War II). Hades wants to take them to either the Underworld, or to the desert where time stands still and Maria doesn't agree with Hades' idea. Zeus then makes the hotel explode, killing Maria di Angelo, because he is afraid of the Great Prophecy. Hades sends Alecto to take Nico and Bianca to the Lotus Hotel, where Zeus can't harm them. Percy then dreams about Rachel at the beach with her parents. She has a feeling that New York is being attacked by a monster and that Percy is in trouble. When she oversees this, she persuades her parents to leave the beach with her.

Prometheus visits the campers
Percy is awoken by Thalia, who told him that a Titan, Prometheus, was here to negotiate. Thus, Percy, Grover, and Thalia went to Central Park where the Titan stood with Ethan Nakamura, an Empousa, and a giant. The Titan soon stated that Olympus is destined to fall, and that he should surrender. When Percy refuses, he shows him more of Luke's past, mainly an argument between the young demigod and his father. Percy was moved by the vision, but remained adamant, so Prometheus gave him "Pandora's box", which was actually a pithos (jar), and told him that if was to open it and let "Hope" go that he would take that as a sign of surrender.

Hyperion, Flying Pigs and Chiron's Friends
Percy from exhaustion falls asleep, but in his dreams realizes that the Titans are attacking at Central Park. He quickly wakes and heads down there with some forces. The Titan Commander is revealed to be Hyperion, The Titan of the East and Light. The two battle it out on the lake, and Percy notes that Hyperion is weaker when he's wet. Percy, unknowingly, starts a mini-hurricane and douses Hyperion's Flames repeatedly. Grover and his friends then successfully trap him inside a maple tree. Almost immediately, a Clazmonian Sow, descends wreaking havoc. Percy and Blackjack chase after the flying pig. After a while, Percy activates some automatons and orders them to destroy the Sow. After they successfully do so, he retreats back to the Empire State Building. Arriving there, he realized that the Campers were pushed back to near the doors of the Building. Luckily they are saved by Chiron's Friends, the Party Ponies. Chiron however notes, that the Titans will be back, and that they should heal their wounded.

Dionysus,Old Friends, Drakons, and the Spy
After talking with Annabeth over Luke, Percy suddenly finds himself at Bobby Earl's party in the southern United States. There he finds Dionysus playing Pac-Man. Dionsyus tells him not to lose the Empire State Building, and asked him to make sure that his son Pollux didn't die. He then went back to playing Pac-Man, cursing at Blinky when it killed his Pac-Man promising to take his soul, and sent Percy back to New York. When Percy is back he hears a helicopter and realizes it's Rachel. He goes to save her, because the Pilot fell asleep, however Annabeth sneaked into the helicopter and landed it safely. Rachel then left with Chiron, after telling Percy her strange dreams. Percy is yet again tired, and hits the sack. He sees Kronos ordering Ethan and Prometheus to release the Drakon. He wakes and organizes his forces for battle. He and Annabeth go fight the Drakon despite the fact that only a child of Ares may kill it. However they're surprised when they see Clarisse leading her cabin into battle. However, after "Clarisse" falls from her chariot, they knew something was wrong. The real Clarisse arrived and they realized the fallen one was Silena. Silena soon passed away, after revealing that she was the spy. Clarisse, out of rage, kills the Drakon.

Back to Olympus
After Clarisse defeated the Drakon, Thalia suggested that Percy and Annabeth should go to Olympus to help set up the final defenses. On their way to the elevator, they saw Grover kneeling over Leneus, who was sacrificed in the battle. After Leneus turned into a laurel, Grover accompanies Percy and Annabeth to plant Leneus in the gardens of Olympus. While they were on Olympus, they helped to cheer up the wounded. Percy finds Pollux with a broken arm and tells him to help with the wounded and not battle. When they reached the palace, they saw Rachel holding Pandora's jar and Annabeth and Grover went to find more Greek Fire and Hephaestus traps. After that, Percy and Rachel sat next to Hestia and started talking to her. Percy gives Pandora's jar to Hestia for safe-keeping so that he would not have the urge to give up. Annabeth and Grover reluctantly helps Percy to Poseidon's throne so that he could get his father's attention. Percy tells Poseidon of his plan to save Olympus and tells him that Kronos sent Oceanus to attack him because he knew Poseidon could defeat Typhon. Percy tells him to abandon his palace to help defeat Typhon. When Percy finally convinced Poseidon, Thalia came into the throne room and informed Percy that Kronos is leading the army and he had to get down there fast.

The Cursed Blade
During the attack, Kronos makes his way up to Olympus, where he starts to destroy it. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia quickly follow, but Thalia is crushed by a falling statue of Hera, aimed at Annabeth by the goddess. She is still alive and tells everyone to go on without her. In the throne room, Percy takes on Ethan Nakamura, and is able to convince him to help him fight Kronos. After trying to stab Kronos, which failed, Ethan falls through Olympus into open airing, being killed. Also, Annabeth attempts to awaken Luke inside his body. Luke is able to flash back to them, telling them that Kronos is taking over his body and he will soon be unstoppable. Kronos takes power back and throws Annabeth across the room. When Annabeth tells Luke to remember the promise he made when she was seven about how he would never let anything happen to her, he flashes back. He tells Percy to quickly hand him Annabeth's knife before Kronos takes over his body. Percy, doubtful, reluctantly gives Luke the blade. Luke stabs himself in his 'Achilles heel', actually on his side, and commits suicide, thus banishing Kronos.

Everyone Receives a Gift
When the Olympians arrive back at Olympus, they reward the heroes for saving Olympus. They allow Annabeth to be the official architect for the new Olympus. They give Grover the empty seat in the Council of Cloven Elders and he passes out. Lastly, they offer Percy immortality. After much thinking, Percy turns them down, asking them for a different gift; to claim all their half-blood children by their thirteenth birthday, to honor all minor gods (such as Nemesis, Iris, etc.), and to give all minor gods a cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Because Percy made them swear on the River Styx, they must oblige to his wish.

Prophecies
In The Last Olympian, the Great Prophecy is revealed:

A half blood of the eldest gods, (Percy Jackson being the son of Poseidon.)

Shall reach sixteen against all odds, (Percy turns sixteen even though he had several near-death experiences.)

And see the world in endless sleep, (Morpheus puts all the mortals in Manhattan into a deep sleep.)

The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap, (Annabeth's dagger was cursed because of Luke's broken promise, and the hero was Luke.)

A single choice shall end his days, (Percy's choice to give Luke the knife.)

''Olympus to preserve or raze. ''(Luke chooses to save Olympus rather than to destroy it.)

Near the end, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the new Oracle, speaks a new Great Prophecy:

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,

To storm or fire, the world must fall,

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

Chapter List

 * 1) I Go Cruising with Explosives
 * 2) I Meet Some Fishy Relatives
 * 3) I Get a Sneak Peek at My Death
 * 4) We Burn a Metal Shroud
 * 5) I Drive My Dog Into a Tree
 * 6) My Cookies Get Scorched
 * 7) My Math Teacher Gives Me a Lift
 * 8) I Take the Worst Bath Ever
 * 9) Two Snakes Save My Life
 * 10) I Buy Some New Friends
 * 11) We Break a Bridge
 * 12) Rachel Makes a Bad Deal
 * 13) A Titan Brings Me a Present
 * 14) Pigs Fly
 * 15) Chiron Throws a Party
 * 16) We Get Help from a Thief
 * 17) I Sit on the Hot Seat
 * 18) My Parents Go Commando
 * 19) We Trash the Eternal City
 * 20) We Win Fabulous Prizes
 * 21) Blackjack Gets Jacked
 * 22) I Am Dumped
 * 23) We Say Good-bye, Sort Of

Characters

 * Percy Jackson - Main Protagonist. 15 years old turning 16. Son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. Narrator of the story. Becomes Annabeth's boyfriend. Child of the Prophecy. Annabeth, Thalia and Grover's best friend.
 * Annabeth Chase - Daughter of Athena. She becomes Percy's girlfriend at the end of the book. Thalia, Percy and Grover's best friend.
 * Grover Underwood - Satyr. Percy's best friend. Becomes Lord of Wild. Is the Chosen One of Pan. Becomes a member of the Council of Cloven Elders. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia's best friend.
 * Thalia Grace - Huntress of Artemis. Daughter of Zeus. Percy, Annabeth and Grover's best friend.
 * Nico di Angelo - Son of Hades. Stays in Underworld for part of the Battle of Manhattan.
 * Kronos - Father of the Big Three. Possessed Luke Castellan's body. Leader of Titan Army. Main Antagonist.
 * Luke Castellan - Son of Hermes. "Hero" of the Prophecy. Possessed by Kronos. Main Antagonist. Dies after stabbing himself in armpit on Olympus.
 * Charles Beckendorf - Son of Hephaestus. Dies on Princess Andromeda. Silena's boyfriend.
 * Silena Beauregard - Daughter of Aphrodite. Beckendorf's girlfriend. Kronos' spy. Dies after fighting drakon.
 * Clarisse La Rue - Daughter of Ares. Silena's best friend.
 * Chris Rodriguez - Son of Hermes. Clarisse's boyfriend.
 * Connor Stoll - Son of Hermes. Survives the Battle of Manhattan.
 * Travis Stoll - Son of Hermes. Survives the Battle of Manhattan.
 * Katie Gardner - Daughter of Demeter.
 * Rachel Elizabeth Dare - Percy's friend. Can see through mist. Likes Percy. Becomes the new Oracle.
 * Prometheus - Titan of Forethought. Diplomatic Delegation to Percy and the Demigods. Surrendered after Kronos lost.
 * Hyperion- Titan of the east and lord of the light. Turns into a maple tree after Grover's spell.

Deaths

 * Charles Beckendorf - Sacrificed himself to destroy the Princess Andromeda.
 * Michael Yew - Likely killed when Percy destroyed the Williamsburg Bridge. His death is not certain but it seems to be the general opinion at camp due to his body never found and him never being heard from again.
 * Leneus - Stabbed in the final battle.
 * Silena Beauregard - Killed fighting a drakon
 * Ethan Nakumura - Stabbed with a piece of steel from his sword when he attempted to attack Kronos but failed. He was then thrown through a fissure in Mount Olympus.
 * Luke Castellan - Stabbed himself to banish Kronos.
 * Others - Many died during the War.