Gleeson Hedge

"Shoot, I love nature. Nature means big things killing and eating little things! And when you’re a—you know—vertically challenged satyr like me, you get in good shape, you carry a big stick, and you don’t take nothing from no one! That’s nature."

- Coach Hedge

Gleeson Hedge (b. 1904) is a middle aged satyr that was formerly filling as a coach at the Wilderness School. He was the protector of Piper McLean, Jason Grace, and Leo Valdez.

The Last Olympian
Hedge is mentioned when the letter he had written to Grover is read by Percy. Gleeson Hedge was in Canada at the time.

He had tried to defend a park in Toronto from a giant evil badger, but had failed to summon Pan's power as Grover had advised, resulting in many dryads being destroyed because their trees were obliterated. He wrote that he was retreating to Ottawa and asked where Grover was.

Letter to Grover
Dear Grover,

''Woods outside Toronto attacked by giant evil badger. Tried to do as you suggested and summon power of Pan. No effect. Many nymphs' trees destroyed. Retreating to Ottawa. Where are you?''

—Gleeson Hedge, Protector 

The Lost Hero
Gleeson Hedge was originally assigned to protect Leo and Piper. However, when Jason is attacked, Gleeson decides to protect him as well. Interestingly, Gleeson is the first satyr in the series who appears as an older human would, meaning (because satyrs age half as fast as humans) as he tells Leo, Piper, and Jason that he is 106 years old (53 in human years). Gleeson is captured by Dylan, a ventus, when he tries to save Leo, leaving his fate unknown.

Later, the trio find him and the venti spirits that captured him in a cage, with Hedge frozen in the position he was taken away in, at Medea's mall. He is freed by Leo at King Midas' golden mansion, and he then helps the trio figure out their enemy's identity (Gaea), and the story of the Giant War.

When the group go to Aeolus' fortress, Hedge falls in love with Mellie, an aura. At the end of the book, Mellie works as Tristan McLean's personal assistant and Gleeson works as Tristan's life coach. It is unknown what happened to him after the Lost Hero.

The Mark of Athena
Gleeson Hedge is on the Argo II on their trip to Camp Jupiter. Annabeth assigned him to watch some martial arts shows so it would be more peaceful when they met the Romans, thinking that their crazed satyr yelling 'Die!' wouldn't be a good message. Hedge stays on the ship for most of the journey, and Piper states that Hedge had come back 'because it was all his idea', but she feels that he might have been sent by Mellie, a wind spirit they met in The Lost Hero, and her dad, since everytime they video chatted she was getting glummer with the weight of the quest.

In Rome, Hedge is assigned to man the Argo II just in case. It is presumed that after Leo, Frank, and Hazel escape from the room of Archimedes, they joined Hedge at the Argo II and sailed to help Percy and Jason, who were fighting the twin giants. Hedge blasts Greek fire at the giants when they reach the Colosseum, and is told to be dancing around on the firing platform, pumping his fists in the air yelling 'That's what I'm talking about!'. He then states, after Bacchus disappears, 'Is that Dionysus? I love that guy!' not realizing it was the Roman form of Dionysus, Bacchus.

The Argo II then sails out to help Annabeth in the parking lot behind the Emmanuel Building. When asked by Percy if Hedge still has ammo to break through the parking lot, Hedge replies with, 'I thought you'd never ask.' Percy, Frank, Nico, Hazel, Jason, Piper, and Leo all go down to help get the statue up while Hedge remains on the ship. However, when the plan goes wrong and the Athena Parthenos is secured on the Argo II, Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus. Everyone retreats to the Argo II, and sits around feeling guilty. Hedge states that he should have saved them and blown more stuff up. Nico states Percy is the most powerful demigod he's ever met, and that with Annabeth being with him, he'll be able to survive Tartarus. Hopeful to get their friends back, the demigods sail on their way to Greece to find the The House of Hades.

Personality
Gleeson Hedge has a very eccentric personality. Unlike most satyrs that believe in preserving nature, Hedge believes more in the concept of survival of the fittest. He knows that big things eating smaller things is also a part of nature, which resulted in him trying to become stronger to defend himself from bigger or stronger foes. Hedge is very overconfident and believes that he can defeat anyone no matter how much bigger or powerful his enemy is. Because of this, Hedge will constantly try and attack anyone he comes across, even if the being he is attacking is a potential ally. He is also very brave, jumping over a cliff in order to save Leo and joining in any fight to help others, including standing up to Enceladus.

Hedge tends to act strong because he is approaching middle-age and feels that the Council of Cloven Elders sent him to the Wilderness School simply to get him out of the way. Because of this, he acts tough to show that he isn't useless. Gleeson is also much more intelligent than he first appears. He is able to figure out that Enceladus was using Piper's dad as bait to lure them away from Hera, insuring that her dad would be safe until Enceladus got what he wanted. He also has a softer side, volunteering to take care of Piper's dad while she went to free Hera, as he admits that he is a Protector, not a fighter.

Appearance
While coaching, Gleeson wears a baseball cap, a bright orange polo shirt, nylon workout pants, white Nikes, a whistle around his neck, a baseball bat, and megaphone (Leo Valdez made his megaphone make amusing weird sounds when he talked into it). He is 5', has beady eyes, is really buff, and has a wispy goatee. After Aphrodite "fixed" him, Piper described him as a pastel nightmare. He is dressed in baggy canary yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He has a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation in his lapel (which he sniffed and then ate).

Abilities
Gleeson Hedge is in great shape for a satyr his age and in general. Because he feels he needs to fight everything that moves, he tends to exercise regularly and even works as a gym teacher when he is undercover as a protector. Being half goat from the waist down, Gleeson is an excellent mountain climber, as shown when he jumped off the edge of the Grand Canyon to save Leo Valdez, managing to carry him all the way back up as well.

Despite being a satyr, Gleeson seems to have a limited knowledge of nature magic. When asked if he knew healing magic by Thalia when inspecting the injured Piper, he claimed that she looked as good as she did because of him. He can make something he calls "Sports Medicine," which is a mix of wild mushrooms and Gatorade.

Mellie
Mellie is a wind spirit that Gleeson meets in Aeolus' wind fortress. She instantly has an attraction to him and he feels that he could settle down with her to raise a family of satyrs. She eventually helps him and his friends escape and later meets up with him again, working with him as Tristan McLean's assistants.

Piper McLean
Gleeson seems to be very protective of Piper, even more so than Leo or Jason. The two seem to gain respect for each other as they travel around. Before Piper knew he was a satyr, Gleeson seemed to push her even harder during gym class as a way to toughen her up as he knew she was a demigod and would one day need to fight for herself. Gleeson even goes out of his way to look after Piper's father while he was in the hospital, after being rescued.

Jason Grace
Gleeson is close to Jason, but not as much as Piper. Jason is more frequently annoyed by Hedge's ideals about survival of the fittest and tends to send him away before he can cause trouble. However, Jason is sometimes impressed by how intelligent Hedge can be, agreeing to use his idea when facing the giant Enceladus. Despite their differences, Jason tends to at least respect Hedge while Coach Hedge still sees himself as Jason's protector.

Leo Valdez
Gleeson seemed to have been annoyed with Leo at first, since Leo had messed with Hedge's megaphone. Hedge does save Leo when he falls over the canyon, since it is his job as the protector. The two seem to be closer in The Mark of Athena, since Leo had installed TV satellites in the Argo II.

Annabeth Chase
Hedge is protective of Annabeth, but not as much as Piper. However just like with the rest of the crew, he is incredibly strict and even grounds her when he thinks her and Percy went missing. He feels terrible when Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus, feeling that he should have done more to protect them, as he is their protector.

Percy Jackson
The relation between the two is similar to Jason's relation with Hedge. Hedge in turn is also very strict with Percy. Similarly to how he acts with Leo, he sees Percy as a kind of troublemaker. However, when Percy falls into Tartarus with Annabeth, he feels extremely guilty even to the point of crying, as he felt like he should have done more.

Grover Underwood
Gleeson writes a letter to Grover, so it is assumed he is on Grover's side during the the feud between the Council of Cloven Elders and Grover. Not much is said about their relation after that, though.

Trivia

 * Along with Grover Underwood, Gleeson is the only known satyr who has a surname.
 * On his Twitter account, Rick Riordan says, Gleeson is his favorite character from the Heroes of Olympus series.
 * Dylan, a storm spirit, was on Gleeson's baseball team all season, though Gleeson could not smell him.
 * Gleeson could possibly have been the former baseball coach at Wilderness School, while he was undercover. As his picture shows, he is on a baseball field, with a baseball bat.
 * Despite being different from a lot of other satyrs, being unskilled at nature magic and preferring to fight instead, Gleeson simply believes more in "survival of the fittest," a different aspect of nature.
 * He is the only character on board the Argo II to have a cabin, even though he is not one of the seven.
 * Gleeson is a big fan of violent sports and movies, including martial arts films and wrestling.