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 and serves as the direct sequel to The Battle of the Labyrinth.The Last Olympian revolves around the demigod, Perseus Jackson as he leads his friends into a last stand to protect Mount Olympus. The book received many positive reviews.

Plot summary
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 vacation with her. Blackjack, a pegasus and Charles Beckendorf, a fellow camper, interrupts by landing on the hood of Paul Blofis's Prius. He announces that it is time for Percy and himself to take out the Princess Andromeda, a cruise ship filled with monsters. They sneak onto the ship and set Greek fire explosives in the engine room. Percy, thinking the ship has been alerted, leaves the room to distract the monsters on the ship, telling Beckendorf to meet him at a certain point on the ship. Percy is confronted by Lord Kronos, who reveals that Beckendorf has been captured. While on board, Beckendorf sets off the explosives and dies while Percy escapes from the ship, passing out in the ocean from burns and getting touched by Kronos' sword, rumored to be able to cut a person's soul away.

Percy dreams as he drifts unconscious through the ocean. The vision took place on Mount Othrys during a conversation between Crius and another unknown Titan revealed to be Hyperion. In the vision, the two Titans talk of the Titans' 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. He then leads Percy to Poseidon's throne room where he meets Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite and Triton, his 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 prophecy.Returning to Camp-Half-Blood, Percy and Annabeth retrieve the prophecy from the Oracle and bring it before the camp's war council. Percy reads the prophecy and decides that regardless of the side he chooses, he would die. Then Clarisse, angered because of not getting a chariot, decides that her cabin and Ares will not support the war. Percy, with the help of Chiron, then discovers that Typhon has escaped his god-made prison and is heading toward the unguarded Mount Olympus 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. One reveals that Grover has disappeared without a trace and that his and Percy's link is weakening. Percy also discovers that the Ares cabin wants a chariot award to the Apollo cabin, and that they will refuse to fight unless they are given it.



Needing a break, Percy wanders to the training arena to visit Ms. O'Leary, a 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 nature gods of the forest hold their meetings. There, Percy finds Nico, Leneus, one of the Council of Cloven Elders members, and Grover's girlfriend Juniper talking about Grover's well being. 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 together travel to find Luke's mother to discover Luke's past by traveling on Ms. O Leary, who performs shadow traveling.

Percy and Nico arrive at Luke's mother's house and find that she is in a psychotic state. Ms. Castellan greets the two boys as if they were Luke when they arrive and are invited to lunch with her. Percy discovers that Luke ran away in order to protect his mother and turned his soul over to the Titans which required his mother's blessing. Having the information they came for, as they try 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 Ms. 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.

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 and that his pretense meant that the invasion was coming sooner than 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 ultimately handing 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 off Nico 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, telling Nico to stay and convince Hades to fight.

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 Hermes arrives, who relays a message from Athena. They go outside when they find out that all the mortals in New York have fallen asleep because of Morpheus.

Percy figures out that the invasion will start, so he sends troops out to all entrances, and while Annabeth executes Daedalus's twenty-third plan (by a suggestion from Athena) to wake up the automatons in the disguise of statues outside the city to protect Olympus, Percy goes to meet the Hudson and East river gods. The gods ignore him at first, but Percy decides to spend his sand dollar, which has the ability to clean filthy rivers. After half is given to each, the two gods make sure nothing enters from the rivers. He and Annabeth leave, heading toward a group of campers fending off some of the enemy army led by the Minotaur, beginning the battle, which mimics the events of the Trojan War.

The Minotaur, angered by seeing Percy once more, charges Percy. A battle between the two unfolds, leaving Percy the winner. Percy then kills off most of the monsters because he is nearly indestructible. More enemies show up, along with Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis, who stabs Annabeth in the shoulder while aiming for Percy. Blackjack takes Annabeth away, and Kronos shows up and begins to cross the bridge, but is stopped when Percy floods and destroys it. Percy gets a phone call and is told that Annabeth is severely hurt.

When he arrives, one of Apollo's sons tries to heal her. Silena Beauregard decides that since she is no good at fighting, she should go and try to convince Clarisse to bring the Ares cabin and fight, who chose not to fight because the Apollo Cabin received a chariot they thought they should have, similar to Achilles not fighting in the Trojan War because Briseis was taken from him. Grover shows up, telling Percy that he's convinced some nature spirits to fight, and Thalia, who has brought the Hunters of Artemis to fight, believes that they will not be able to hold off Kronos much longer. Afterwards, Percy sleeps, and dreams of Nico di Angelo. Nico tries to talk to his mother, Maria, but Bianca comes and tries to convince him not to. Nico ignores her and continues to try and reach his mother. Instead, he finds a horrible memory of his early childhood in which his mother is killed by Zeus, and because of his grudge against the Great Prophecy, Hades puts a curse on a young girl, who is known as the mummy in the attic of the Big House at camp, that the Oracle, as long as Hades's children remain outcasts, she will never be able to take another mortal form and will instead rot away. Then, he dreams of Rachel at a beach. She writes his name in the sand, then convinces her dad to take her home because she believes Percy is in danger, promising to go to finishing school as a trade-off. Percy is then woken by Thalia, who says a Titan wants to speak with him.

It turns out to be Prometheus. He tries to get Percy to believe there is no hope of Percy beating Kronos but does not succeed. He then gives him Pandora's Box, which conceals Hope, and instructs him to use it as a signal of surrender if need be. Percy then has a vision of Luke talking with Hermes when he was on the run with Thalia and Annabeth.

Percy soon sleeps again, and dreams of Poseidon's palace, with Tyson fighting, and the monsters staying at Aunty Em's Gnome Emporium; Medusa's old place. Kronos is suspicious of Percy's Achilles spot and tells Ethan Nakamura to remember what spot Annabeth protected from him. Following this is another vision of how May Castellan came to be delirious, by trying to take the old Oracle's power. The oracle had been cursed, cursing Ms. Castellan as well. When Percy wakes, a full-scale battle is going on. Percy rushes outside and takes on Hyperion, one of the Titans. Eventually he wins, with the satyrs turning the titan into a tree. Just as Percy finishes, a winged pig soars through New York. Percy wakes up some automatons, telling them to attack it.

Percy destroys the pig and head back, only to find the Party Ponies had come to fight. After the invading army retreats, Percy learns that the gods are losing, and that Hephaestus and Dionysus are missing. A helicopter appears with Rachel in it, but because the pilot has fallen asleep, putting her in danger, Annabeth, Percy, and Guido go to save her.

Rachel tells Percy she had a vision, and that Percy is not the hero mentioned in the Great Prophecy. Percy later dreams of the Underworld, where Nico tries to persuade Hades to help with the war. Hades refuses, and Percy starts to dream about the United Nations complex. Kronos and his army are occupying it, and Kronos reveals that he will not hold Luke's form forever. Kronos interrogates Ethan about Percy's weak spot, but Ethan denies his knowledge. Percy wakes up and finds that a drakon is attacking them, and Rachel tells them that a child of Ares will kill it. Suddenly, a girl in Clarisse's armor appears, leading the Ares kids into battle. It is quickly revealed that this girl is not actually Clarisse but is Silena Beauregard, who disguised as Clarisse to inspire the Ares children to fight. The real Clarisse quickly slays the drakon, but Silena is injured.

Silena, who is dying from her attack on the drakon, reveals that she was the spy. Because Luke had been kind to her years before, he set her up as the spy, offering not to harm Beckendorf. Because he had broken this promise, however, Silena had lost faith in him and felt guilt for betraying the camp, thus explaining her reasons for helping Clarisse slay the drakon. Silena soon dies, thinking of Beckendorf. Clarisse in bitterness becomes agitated to kill Kronos and goes on a killing spree against Kronos's army. Percy arrives at Olympus and runs into Hestia. Rachel speaks with Hestia about her fate, and tells Percy that his and her destinies are not entwined, cryptically mentioning her "calling". When Hestia asks about Pandora's jar, Percy considers surrender. He then decides to leave the jar with Hestia, proclaiming that Hope survives best at the hearth. Hestia supports this decision. Percy then goes to the throne room and sits on Poseidon's throne to attract his attention, eventually convincing him to leave his underwater palace and help Olympus. Suddenly, Thalia bursts in, and tells Percy to come back down. At the base of the building, they find the campers, Hunters, and Party Ponies all slaughtered in a surpise attack by Kronos.

Nico and Mrs. O'Leary appear to assist in the battle against Kronos. As they fight, it becomes more and more clear that Kronos is struggling for control over Luke. Even Hades, Demeter, and Persophene appear, but Kronos tries to cut off Olympus from America, which would isolate it from the rest of the world. Ms. Jackson and Paul Blofis try to keep the armies away (although Paul comically has no idea if he's killing anything).

As Percy runs to the palace, Thalia is pinned down by a statue and is unable to continue moving. Percy confronts Kronos there and convinces Ethan that siding with Kronos is not good for him. Ethan thus attacks Kronos and dies in the process. Percy continually attacks Kronos as meanwhile Typhon rampages, being held back by the gods. Poseidon arrives at the site and together the gods defeat Typhon, an omen that the gods are on their way. Annabeth reminds Luke that he promised not to let her get hurt years ago. Slowly, Luke overpowers Kronos, but Kronos starts to change into his former body. Luke eventually kills himself with Percy's important decision to give him Annabeth's knife. As Luke lies dying, he asks Annabeth if she loved him, and she replies that she only loved him like a brother. He breathes his last wish that there will be no more unclaimed demigods, and Percy promises to make sure it won't happen again.

The Fates come to personally retrieve Luke's body. The gods personally honor each hero, making the deceased Hunters achieve Elysium, promoting Tyson to a general of the Cyclopes, making Grover a member of the Council of Cloven Elders and a lord of the Wild, having Annabeth become the official architect for Olympus, and eventually offering Percy the chance to become a god and achieve immortality. However, he declines so he can have a "normal" life with Annabeth and his friends as a regular human — on the stipulation that the gods recognize every child they have, that all minor gods' children and Hades's children have a place at Camp Half-Blood, and that no child is abandoned or made to feel abandoned. The gods (somewhat reluctantly) agree.

Percy then finds out that Blackjack, his black pegasus, was taken by Rachel. Percy and Annabeth get a ride from Rainbow, the friendly hippocampus who belongs to Percy's brother, Tyson. Both Percy and Annabeth arrive at Camp Half-Blood and discover that Rachel has flown over the magical barriers of the camp using Blackjack. The two find Rachel in the attic of the oracle. Percy tries to stop her, thinking that Hades' curse is still in effect, but Chiron stops him. Apollo appears and does the preparations for Rachel. The spirit of the oracle passes into Rachel and she becomes the new Oracle. Unexpectedly she makes a prophecy, and although Annabeth and Percy worry it may be the next Great Prophecy, Apollo says that the last one took seventy years to complete and this one may not even happen in their lifetime. Later that night, funeral processions are passed to the those of the defeated campers. Percy and Annabeth privately celebrate Percy's birthday, and Annabeth brings up the subject as to why Percy denied Zeus's offer to make him a god. Percy hints that it was because he wanted to be close to Annabeth, and Annabeth kisses him. The campers bother Percy, who then has the campers carry him and Annabeth to the river, and they are thrown in. (Percy, however, continues kissing her in an underwater bubble). After that they get together as a couple.

Grover becomes a leader of the protection of the Wild, campers begin to be claimed, Hades and other gods receive their own cabins, and the number of campers increases exponentially. Percy meets with Poseidon, and Poseidon suggests that Percy may soon have some siblings. On the last day of camp, Rachel prepares to go to finishing school, worried that she might spout prophecies then. Annabeth and Percy mull over Rachel's prophecy and come to the conclusion that for a demigod, life will never be peaceful. Annabeth then races Percy to the road and he runs after her, commenting that for once he doesn't look back.

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