Kronos

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

- Kronos

Kronos (also spelled as Cronus) is the King of the Titans and one of the most powerful children of Gaea. He is arguably one of the most powerful beings in the Percy Jackson Universe. Kronos is the main antagonist in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, being directly responsible for some of the major events in the series, such as the Second Titanomachy. Kronos is the Titan Lord of Time, Evil, and Harvest. His Roman counterpart is Saturn.

Early Life
The Titans were the eldest of the three races born to Gaea (also spelled Gaia) the Earth and Ouranos the Sky, before the Hekatonkheires (Cottus, Gyges, and Briares) and the Elder Cyclopes (Arges, Brontes, and Steropes). All were detested by their father, but he detested the six younger children so much (mainly for their ugliness) that he imprisoned them in the terrifying abyss of Tartarus, which was itself deep within the Earth. Enraged at Ouranos and his actions, Gaea then gathered her remaining twelve children, the Titans, to free their brothers and overthrow their arrogant and sadistic father. Kronos was the boldest, as well as the most ruthless and devious and cruelest of the siblings (even though he was the youngest) and, initially, only he would agree to help his mother. While growing up, Kronos would frequently resort to dirty fighting tactics while wrestling his elder brothers, earning his infamous nickname "The Crooked One." Furthermore, as the youngest of the twelve Titans, Kronos was initially ignored by his parents (who even had trouble recalling his name), which inspired the young Titan to prove himself as superior to his elder brothers, in any possible way. This is also what inspired him to sadistically murder his father. Though the youngest, Kronos proved himself as a natural leader, and was able to convince all of his Titan brothers (except for Oceanus) to aid him in their father's murder. Kronos' sisters Theia, Tethys, Themis, Phoebe, Mnemosyne, and Rhea also refused to participate.

Murder of Ouranos
While preparing to ambush his father Ouranos, Kronos hid himself behind an enormous boulder. While his brothers Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios held the struggling Ouranos down, Kronos used an extremely sharp scythe (forged for him by his mother Gaea), and cut his father into pieces, claiming his supremacy over the universe. However, right before Kronos sliced him up, Ouranos predicted that one day Kronos himself would suffer the same fate at the hands of his own child. Afterwards, Kronos hurled Ouranos' genitalia into the sea, as a gesture of loathing against his brother Oceanus for not helping slay their father. Ouranos' blood spilled across the earth, from which many creatures came forth, including the Furies. Much later, the blood from Ouranos' severed genatalia would mix with the ocean spray to form sea foam, from which Aphrodite sprung forth.

The Titan King of Mount Orthys
As he had promised, the new Titan King granted Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios control of the four corners of the world, and released his Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheire brothers from Tartarus. In return, they built a magnificent black marble palace for Kronos on the top of Mount Orthys (then the tallest mountain in Greece), as well as a massive obsidian throne, encrusted with gold and diamonds. During his reign, Kronos would usher in an era of peace and prosperity for the Titans, which would later become known as the "Golden Age." Kronos would also frequently approach his wise and clairvoyant brother Koios with questions about the future. Kronos's nephew Atlas would soon grow up to become his most powerful follower, and the General of the Titan King's forces (Kronos' second-in-command). As a result, Atlas was also one of the Kronos' most loyal and trusted followers.

As the Titan Lord of Time, Kronos particularly relished time's destructive properties, being immortal himself. Hence, he would often travel the world, and speed up the lives of random plants, animals, and humans, and sadistically watch them wither up and die (something he never got bored of).

Re-Imprisoning his Brothers
Finally, Kronos grew disgusted by all of the unbearable noise that his Hekatonkheire and Elder Cyclopes brothers constantly made, as well as their revolting stench. Hence, Kronos, Hyperion and Atlas (the three strongest Titans) overpowered all six of their younger brothers, chained them up, and hurled them into Tartarus once again, this time guarded by Kampê, the most ferocious and terrifying monster in all of Tartarus that the Titan King personally hired.

Marriage to Rhea
Fearing his father's prediction that he would be overpowered by one of his own children, Kronos had initially vowed to stay a bachelor forever. However, after all six of Kronos' elder brothers and sisters got married (and gave birth to many Titanic children), they no longer visited him on Mount Orthys, not even during his weekly Sunday dinners. While they claimed to be too busy, Kronos knew that the actual reason was their secret fear of his might and infamous temper. While, as the Titan King of Mount Orthys, Kronos still relished all of the power and authority that he possessed, his newfound loneliness, as well as his Titanic siblings' happy family lives, greatly depressed him.

To make matters worse, Kronos began to fall deeply in love with Rhea, his youngest and most beautiful sister. He seemed to believe that marrying her would improve his insufferably irascible personality, and induce his siblings to fear him less, and visit him more often. In the end, Kronos invited Rhea to a romantic dinner on Mount Othrys, confessed his deep feelings for her, and proposed. To Kronos' great delight, Rhea accepted, since she most likely also believed that her sweet and calm personality would help him improve his.

Kronos and Rhea's wedding was held at Mount Orthys. Rhea had one bridesmaid, her sister Tethys. Kronos had one best man, his loyal brother Hyperion. All the Titans were allowed to come. It was a beautiful day with a clear sky blossoming flowers and a waterfall behind them. Rhea's dress was made by the Elder Cyclopes (before they were put back into Tartarus): it was a long white and red dress with a diamond sash. Her long, black hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. She walked down a carpet of flowers. Her two loyal lions accompanied her at the reception, which was served with nectar and Ambrosia.



Birth of the Olympian Gods
A few weeks after her and Kronos' their wonderful honeymoon, Rhea gave birth to their first child: a beautiful girl named Hestia. At first, Kronos seemed willing to be a good father, and not to resemble his own father Ouranos. However, the Titan King suddenly realized that Hestia was not a Titaness, but rather, a more powerful and beautiful immortal (a goddess). Kronos, fearing that Hestia might one day overpower him, quickly swallowed her whole, to the horror of Rhea. Trying to cajole his beloved wife, Kronos would give her many gifts, and invite her to multiple magnificent dinners.

Rhea would give birth to two even more beautiful daughters (Demeter and Hera), as well as two even more handsome sons (Hades and Poseidon), all of whom were gods, not Titans. As before, Kronos feared that any one of them might one day overpower him, and swallowed all of them whole. Rhea pleaded with Kronos to spare their children but with no success, since even Kronos' great love for Rhea was not enough to overpower his selfish and evil nature. Hence, for his savagery towards his own children, Kronos became known as "King Cannibal."

A distraught Rhea soon heard the voice of her mother Gaea, advising her to give birth to her final child (who would save his other siblings) on the island of Crete. Claiming that Koios, her clairvoyant brother, advised her to do so, Rhea successfully departed for Crete. There, in a cave at the base of Mount Ida, Rhea gave birth to her sixth and final child. His name would be Zeus. Rhea gave her newborn son the nine nymphs that attended his birth, and returned to Mount Orthys. She used a huge smooth boulder (given to her by Gaea) to deceive Kronos, by wrapping it up in swaddling clothes, and pretending that it was her final child. Kronos swallowed it without even looking (which gave him an intense stomachache), and was successfully deceived. Shortly thereafter, Kronos had a single, brief affair with an Oceanid named Philyre, which resulted in the birth of the handsome centaur Chiron.

Zeus Rescues His Siblings
When Zeus grew to adulthood, he transformed into a Titanic version of himself, and successfully infiltrated Mount Othrys with his mother Rhea by convincing Kronos to hire him as his royal cup bearer. With the help of his great singing and dancing skills (as well as his knowledge of many outrageously hilarious "satyr jokes"), Zeus was able to constantly entertain all of the Titans at Mount Othrys, even Kronos himself.

Shortly thereafter, Zeus encouraged the Titans to participate in drinking contests. As the Titan King of Mount Othrys, Kronos would always win, since he could not let his siblings or nephews overcome him in anything. Finally, the Titan King began trusting Zeus completely, which is exactly what the latter was waiting for.

One evening, when Kronos was dining together with his brothers and nephews, Zeus prepared a special set of drinks for them all. Zeus prepared nectar mixed with sleeping potion to Kronos' guests, while he prepared an extremely powerful emetic (made from nectar mixed with mustard) for Kronos himself. As before, Zeus entertained them all with his great singing, dancing, and jokes. Near the end of the grand Titanic banquet, Zeus encouraged all of the Titans to have yet another drinking contest, and handed out the prepared goblets. As before, Kronos won the contest, but Zeus' emetic was so powerful, that it forced him to instantly disgorge all of the contents of his stomach, in reverse order of swallowing: first the boulder, then Poseidon, followed by Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. All five of them had been growing undigested in Kronos' stomach, being immortal gods.

The First Titanomachy
All six of Kronos' children quickly declared war against their father, as well as the other Titans, which resulted in the terrifying eleven-year-long Titanomachy. Kronos initially had the upper hand in his battles with his children, since he was a very skilled and a much more experienced warrior. However, the gods quickly became skilled warriors as well, and with the help of their new extremely powerful weapons (Zeus' Master Bolt, Poseidon's Trident, and Hades' Helm of Darkness), as well as the aid of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, the gods finally prevailed. During the final battle, Zeus used his Master Bolt to shear off the top of Mount Othrys, and hurled Kronos from his black throne, defeating the Titan King. Shortly thereafter, the gods invaded the ruins of Mount Orthys, and finally overwhelmed the remaining five Titans.

In the aftermath of the battle, Kronos was chained up by the Elder Cyclopes, after which the Hekatonkheires forced him to kneel before Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Zeus proceeded to take his father's sharp Scythe, and slice Kronos into a thousand pieces, before casting him into Tartarus, along with his brothers Hyperion, Krios, Koios, and Iapetus. Only Kronos' mighty former second-in-command Atlas received a different punishment, as he was forced to hold up the sky while being chained to the ruins of Mount Othrys.

The Lightning Thief
Knowing of the resentment between demigods and their godly parents, Kronos decided to use this to his advantage and find a worthy follower, willing to oppose the gods. Interestingly, Poseidon once states that "from time to time, over the aeons, Kronos has stirred, entered men's nightmares, and breathed evil thoughts." This implies that Kronos had repeatedly tried to manipulate other demigods before Luke, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

However, Kronos finally found this follower in Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes, who had begun questioning the Olympians ever since his father "abandoned" both him and his mother. After seeing the fate of Halcyon Green, and his close friend Thalia Grace being turned into a tree, this questioning turned to resentment and hatred, and Luke began viewing all of the Olympians as evil, corrupt, selfish, and unworthy of worship. All of this made him a perfect ally for Kronos. The evil Titan King contacted Luke in his dreams and gradually 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 Big Three gods, as both Zeus and Hades would blame Poseidon, because his son Percy Jackson was living in New York.

Luke succeeded in stealing the Bolt and the Helm during a camp field trip to 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 go, but kept the weapons for himself. Luke was later punished by Kronos through terrifying 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 to Tartarus, where Kronos would be able to gain them and possibly use them to break free. That boy turned out to be Percy Jackson, who foiled Kronos's plan by retrieving the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness and returning them to their respective masters. Percy initially suspects Hades, and Kronos' involvement is only revealed after Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood and Luke poisons him before leaving the camp. Right before leaving, Luke claims that he has "many quests to undertake for Lord Kronos", and that he is looking forward to the coming of a new "Golden Age", with Kronos as the King of Mount Orthys once more.

The Sea of Monsters
Luke explains to Percy that when demigods join Kronos' cause, they make the Olympians weaker and make the Titans (including Kronos himself) stronger. Luke captures Percy, Annabeth and Tyson, they see Kronos' Sarcophagus in Luke's room on the Princess Andromeda. It is described as making the room colder and darker. Luke explains how he is bringing Kronos from Tartarus: every time a demigod renounces the gods to follow Kronos, a piece of the Titan King appears in the sarcophagus.

Kronos intended to have Percy and his friends claim the Golden Fleece, and then take it from them to return to full power. However, he then intended to return the Fleece to Percy, so that Thalia could be reborn, and give him another chance to control the Great Prophecy, since he was confident in his abilities to sway her to his side.

The Titan's Curse
The reason why Kronos wanted Thalia to be reborn (by using the Golden Fleece) is finally revealed: he intended her to become the one of the Great Prophecy and to gain the power to destroy Olympus by burning the Ophiotaurus entrails. Luke also reveals Kronos's plan to invade Camp Half-Blood, and later, Olympus itself. In order to accomplish this (as is later revealed), Kronos had Luke send Chris Rodriguez into the Labyrinth, so that the latter might be able to find a way into Camp Half-Blood.

Kronos himself doesn't make an appearance, but as Thalia approaches Mount Orthys on Mr. Chase's car, he strikes her car with lightning. Right before Thalia fights Luke and Percy fights Atlas, two telekhines are seen carrying Kronos' Sarcophagus up to Mount Orthys.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Kronos' Scythe is first seen in Mount Saint Helens, when the telekhines re-forged it out of Backbiter. Percy describes it as the most terrifying weapon he's ever seen.

Later, Kronos' Sarcophagus appears on Mount Orthys, when Percy is traveling through the Labyrinth that Hera opened. Ethan Nakamura swears loyalty to the Titan, waking Kronos, who uses Luke's body as a host, and comes back from Tartarus fully. Percy tries to fight him, but is unable to harm him, as Kronos' host bears the Curse of Achilles. Kronos slows down time, and would have killed Percy, had Kronos not been momentarily distracted when Rachel Elizabeth Dare throws her blue hairbrush at him and it hits him in the eye. This gives Percy and his friends enough time to escape. However, by creating a rock barrier between them and the Titan King, Nico di Angelo reveals himself as a son of Hades. Due to his palace being shattered on top of him, Kronos is unable to lead his forces into Camp Half-Blood, as he had initially planned, and the Battle of the Labyrinth takes place without him.

The Last Olympian
"I hate this place. United Nations. As if mankind could ever unite. Remind me to tear down this building after we destroy Olympus."

- Kronos, during the Battle of Manhattan Kronos, still using Luke's body as a host, is on the Princess Andromeda, where he manages to capture Percy and Charles Beckendorf, as they try to blow up the ship. Percy fights him bravely, but Kronos easily gains the upper hand and wounds Percy with his Scythe, almost killing him. Kronos was the only one besides Percy (and, as later revealed, Alabaster) who survived the explosion on the Princess Andromeda.

Kronos has his brother Krios defend Mount Othrys, his brother Oceanus attack Poseidon, and his brother Hyperion join his gathering forces in Manhattan. His brother Koios later mentions to have fought in the war, but his role is unknown. Kronos also used the storm monster Typhon as a distraction for the Olympians, which meant that only the demigods stood in the way of his plan of Olympus' destruction. Before putting his plan into action, Kronos has the minor gods Morpheus and Hecate cast a huge sleeping spell, causing all of the mortals in Manhattan to fall asleep.

Kronos leads an offensive against Mount Olympus, which results in the bloodiest battle of the Second Titanomachy, but Kronos only could do it at night when he was strongest. Percy has another brief fight with Kronos, and, since he now also bears the Curse of Achilles, is able to fight him on a nearly equal footing, though Kronos (as a Titan), is still stronger. As Percy pushed back Kronos' forces, Kronos watches Percy from the other shoreline as the latter destroys the bridge. Back at his base in Aunty Em's Gnome Emporium, he asks Ethan Nakamura if he knows where Percy's Achilles Heel is, but Ethan claims that he does not know.

He later sends Ethan and the Titan Prometheus to Percy for a peace meeting, where Prometheus asks the demigods to surrender, but Percy refuses. In turn, Kronos sends a monster that can only be defeated by a child of Ares, the Lydian Drakon, on Percy's forces during the day while they are still recovering. The monster however is defeated when Clarisse La Rue arrives, and kills it after Silena Beauregard died trying. As Kronos makes his last march on Olympus, he has a brief encounter with his son Chiron, after which Kronos blasts him against a wall. When Kronos' army is attacked by Hades' forces, Hades challenges Kronos to a duel. However, Kronos prefers to hide behind an energy field (which implies that even he was afraid of fighting Hades) and manages to get to the Empire State Building. Kronos takes the elevator up to Olympus and starts destroying the statues of the gods, and even plans on destroying the thrones, causing Olympus to fade forever.

Kronos and Percy battle for the last time in the Hall of the Gods, with neither gaining the upper hand. Then Ethan Nakamura sees that Kronos can only bring destruction and stabs him with his sword, which shatters and ends up hurting himself. Kronos opens up a hole and the mortally wounded Ethan falls off Olympus and resumes his battle with Percy. He finally manages to disarm Percy, but is distracted by Annabeth Chase, who reminds Luke of the promise he made her. Luke manages to regain control over his body and takes Annabeth's knife from Percy (the cursed blade of the Great Prophecy), and stabs himself in his Achilles heel (his armpit). As a result, Kronos was spread to the wind, hopefully spread so thin, that he could never take a form or be conscious again.

The Son of Neptune
While talking to an amnesiac Percy, Nico mentions Kronos' comeback. However, since he was forced to adhere to the promise that he had formerly given Hades, Nico quickly corrects himself after almost calling the Titan King Kronos, and instead refers to him as by his Roman name, Saturn. Nico tells Percy the story of the Battle of Mount Othrys, and how Saturn had probably just faded back into the abyss of Tartarus again. Nico is shown to be very cautious when telling the story, as if fearing the rapid return of Percy's memory.

The House of Hades
All throughout the book, Percy wonders if little Kronos particles are flying around, laughing at him as he walked in Tartarus. Bob and Krios talk about holding down Ouranus while Kronos cut him into little pieces. The other Titans believe that Kronos is incapable of reforming anymore.

Personality
Kronos is utterly evil, cruel, and cunning, with an insatiable lust for power and domination that surpassed that of any other Titan. As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kronos was the youngest Titan of all, which is why both of his parents initially ignored him, and had trouble recalling his name. As a result, Kronos would always strive to prove himself as superior to his elder brothers, in any possible way, which also inspired him to murder his father. As a child, Kronos would frequently resort to dirty fighting tactics while wrestling his elder brothers, earning his infamous "The Crooked One" nickname.

He was also quite sadistic towards his father Ouranos, whom he had always hated, and brutally murdered him in cold blood. As the Titan Lord of Time, Kronos relished being immortal, and enjoyed speeding up the growth of plants and humans, watching them wither up and die before his eyes. Kronos was extremely intelligent, calculative, cunning and meticulous - an excellent planner. Throughout the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, he creates and enforces an incredibly elaborate plan which benefits him in some way regardless of the outcome, preying on the personalities, powers and, in his perspective, weaknesses of his opponents.

Nonetheless, earlier in his reign as Titan King, Kronos was shown to have a more honorable side - he went through with his promise of releasing his Hekatonkheire and Elder Cyclops brethren (though only initially), and fairly rewarded his four Titan brothers Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios with control over the four corners of the world. Also, according to Percy Jackson, through Kronos had initially relished all of the power and authority that he possessed, he would later become quite miserable about none of his Titan siblings ever visiting him, knowing that they secretly feared him. Kronos would finally fall deeply in love with his beautiful sister Rhea, and seemed to believe that marrying her would improve his personality.

As a result, the newlyweds enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon. Furthermore, before finding out that his eldest child Hestia was not a Titan, Kronos seemed willing to be a good father, and not to resemble his own cruel father Ouranos. However, realizing that his children could potentially become too powerful for him to control, Kronos' cruelty and megalomania began to surface once again. Even worse than his megalomania was his resulting savagery towards his own children, all of whom he brutally swallowed (except for Zeus), earning himself the infamous "King Cannibal" nickname.

Even Kronos' great love for Rhea was not enough to overpower his selfish and evil nature. After swallowing five of his children (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon), Kronos had to constantly struggle with them trying to escape, which somewhat undermined the Titan King's clarity of mind. As a result, Kronos quickly hired Zeus as his royal cup bearer without a second thought, even though Zeus's appearance seemed vaguely familiar to him. This ultimately became Kronos' downfall, as it resulted in the first Titanomachy, and his final defeat at the hands of the Olympians.

A master manipulator, Kronos has influenced many demigods (including Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura, Chris Rodriguez, and Alabaster C. Torrington), and even some of the gods (most notably Ares) themselves through his scheming. While Kronos does seem to be irredeemable in this context, it should be noted that Kronos' reign is repeatedly referred to in Greek and Roman mythology as one of the best times in all of history for humanity, and that he is credited with control over such things as fate and the harvest.

However it should also be noted that Chiron said in The Lightning Thief that "the Golden Age" was mere propaganda and mortals were only seen as fast food or cheap entertainment. Hence, Kronos' reign being referred to as one of the best times in history for humanity may have been a myth in and of itself (or lies/false propaganda). This is ultimately confirmed to be true in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, thereby making Kronos an irredeemably malevolent character.

Ironically, Kronos shares many traits and similarities with his Olympian sons and daughters:
 * Like Hades, Kronos was feared by all of his siblings, nephews and nieces. Overall, Hades is most similar to his father, as his cunning, ruthlessness and deviousness mirror those of Kronos, albeit with Hades being distant and bitter rather than actually sinister and malevolent. They also are both rather intelligent and wield extremely powerful and fearsome weapons (the Scythe and Helm of Darkness respectively), that have earned them additional infamy. Also, both of their respective palaces have pure black obsidian exteriors.
 * Like Poseidon, Kronos has an unpredictable sense of humor, albeit with Poseidon's not being nearly as cruel and sadistic.
 * Like Zeus, Kronos is the youngest and arguably the most powerful one of his siblings, and would gain authority over them after defeating his father. Also Zeus inherited his father's selfishness and lust for power.
 * Like Hestia, Kronos did not wish to marry at all, albeit only initially and for very different reasons. Ironically, Kronos was one of the main reasons that induced Hestia to chose eternal virginity.
 * Like Demeter, Kronos is also associated with the harvest, though unlike her, he had little respect for it, something that she absolutely detested him for.
 * Like Hera, Kronos possesses an infamous and fearsome temper, though Hera did manage to tame and keep her respective temper under control most of the time.

Appearance
In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kronos' true appearance is finally revealed for the first time. He is described as having brutal golden eyes, black curly hair and a long pointy beard (which looked somewhat unnerving), and is 9 feet tall, which is short for a Titan (however he was very young at the time, and would later grow as tall as his huge elder siblings). He is said to have inherited his mother Gaea's "cold and distant" smile, which, according to Percy, would not waver while he watched demigods die, or cities burn. Kronos is also said to have inherited Ouranos's infamous cruelty. While looking at him in the eye, it is impossible to tell whether Kronos intends to tell a joke, or to start a fight, making him completely unpredictable. After swallowing 5 of his children (as well as a huge bolder), Kronos began looking "tired and apathetic", and became quite fat from excessive eating and drinking.

After his original body had been destroyed in the First Titanomachy, he is forced to possess Luke, whose eyes turned golden as a result. When possessed by Kronos, Luke's face "seemed like a mask, unnatural and lit up from behind by some evil power." Kronos' voice is described as unspeakably old, cold, and powerful, like knives scraping against stone, according to Percy. In The Lightning Thief, Percy notes that even in the Throne Room on Mount Olympus, extremely far away from Tartarus, the name Kronos "darkened the room, making the hearth fire seem not quite so warm."

Abilities
As the son of Gaia and Ouranos, the Titan King of Mount Othrys and the father of the Big Three, Kronos is the most powerful Titan of all. He was also described as being so powerful that Time itself mostly bent to its will.
 * Prowess in Battle: As the leader of the Titans, Kronos is an exceptionally skilled and experienced combatant, even more so than his older brothers and even Atlas. In The Last Olympian, even with his physical power capacity weakened greatly due to being limited, Kronos still proved to be an immensely formidable opponent. Displaying vast skill in the use of his Scythe, using a nuanced fighting style that relied on it's quirks, he was able to effortlessly defeat Percy Jackson, the best demigod swordsman in Camp Half-Blood, even mocking him and calling his skills pitiful, and slightly dominating him after he had bathed in the Styx in their second brief fight. Kronos also was shown to be an extremely skilled swordsman, as when Percy challenged him to a sword duel, saying Kronos didn't have Luke's skill, Kronos fought his scythe's sword form, Backbiter with complete confidence in his abilities and displayed sufficient skill to overwhelm and eventually disarm Percy with the Curse of Achilles who described fighting him as “fighting a hundred swordsmen.” Kronos then soon afterwards nearly killed Annabeth Chase wielding her dagger and was ultimately only defeated when Luke regained control. However, because Kronos was inhabiting Luke Castellan's body, it is unknown how much skill was Kronos' and how much was Luke's.
 * Immense Strength: As the most powerful of the Titans, Kronos possess a tremendous amount of superhuman strength that surpasses all other Titans, even Atlas's own. Even when weakened due to being inside Luke's body, Kronos was still strong enough that Percy, a Demigod son of Poseidon with strength surpassing most Demigods, was no match for him, barely able to deflect Kronos's Scythe strike with Riptide. Even with the Curse of Achilles dramatically increasing Percy's strength, Kronos was still stronger than him, overpowering him when they pitted their weapons against each other.
 * Scythe: It is Kronos' personal weapon, and the most powerful weapon which a Titan can wield. The weapon could cause great damage and could eviscerate Titans, gods, and Protogenoi, and it was feared by all Titans. The scythe made Kronos the most powerful and feared of the Titans.
 * Chronokinesis: As the Titan of Time, Kronos is able to control and manipulate time itself. As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kronos, being immortal, particularly relished the destructive capabilities of time.
 * Freezing Time: He can freeze objects by stopping time around them, shown when he did so briefly to a Hyperborean giant in The Last Olympian, suspending him in the same moment in time. Even though his powers are much weaker while being hosted in the body of Luke, Kronos' powers still were strong enough to make Percy feel as if he were "moving through syrup", with his arms and legs suddenly becoming extremely heavy.
 * Slowing Time Down: He can slow time down outside a certain area like in The Last Olympian, where time outside Manhattan seemed to slow to a crawl. He can also slow time for his enemies only, as seen when Percy Jackson experiences time slowing down for him only.
 * Speeding Time Up: In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods it is shown that Kronos can also speed time up, and make it fly by at an incredibly fast rate. At full power, Kronos could "fast-forward" the lives of random plants, animals, and humans, and watch them wither up and die. Kronos took sadistic pleasure in frequently doing this.
 * Hypnokinesis: Kronos is capable of entering the dreams of others and influencing them by showing them events that he wants them to observe, or by directly communicating with them in their dreams without physically showing himself. He does this frequently up until his rebirth in The Battle of the Labyrinth, and can even invade the dreams of a god as powerful as Ares.
 * Barrier Creation: Kronos could create an extremely powerful barrier, powerful enough to be capable of blocking Hades, Demeter and Persephone ( All exceptionally powerful Gods) and withstanding their powers. It was however, created with the assistance of his reforged Scythe which may have facilitated the creation and strength of this barrier.
 * Metacognition (Limited): Kronos is also capable of knowing whether someone is witnessing him in a dream or vision, as shown in many of Percy's dreams, in addition to Hypnokinesis, though he cannot go so far as to actually break the fourth wall.
 * Cryokinesis (limited): When Kronos stopped Ares from killing Percy in The Lightning Thief, the mere presence of a fraction of his essence dropped the temperature to freezing.
 * Umbrakinesis (Limited): When he directed his power to stop Ares from killing Percy, Percy felt as if "a cloud had covered the sun" and "sound and color drained away."
 * Electrokinesis (Limited): He is able to send lightning bolts from the sky as shown in The Titan's Curse when he summons a lightning bolt down from the sky which destroys the car the demigods were riding in, to manipulate his granddaughter Thalia into thinking that her own father, Zeus is trying to kill her. Still, Kronos' ability to do this is far inferior to that of his son Zeus.
 * Titanic Energy: Like other Titans, Kronos can release a blast of energy from his body.
 * Titanic Divine Form: Like the gods, Kronos also has a divine form. However, in The Last Olympian, Dionysus describes Kronos’ divine form as being extremely violent, incinerating any being less than a god/Titan, even if they aren't looking at him and are only in his presence.
 * Tongue of the Old Times fluency: According to Tyson in The Battle of the Labyrinth, this is the ancient language that Gaea spoke to the Titans, Elder Cyclops, and Hekatonkheires before the birth of the Olympian gods. Hence, Kronos understands and speaks it perfectly.
 * Manipulation: Kronos is a master of manipulation, rarely doing things himself and getting others to do them for him. Initially, Kronos was able to persuade almost all of his brothers to follow his lead in the murder of their father (with the only exception being Oceanus), in spite of Kronos being the youngest of them all. Even in his weakest state, from the depths of Tartarus, Kronos was able to frequently enter the nightmares of demigods, and breathe evil thoughts into their minds, as Poseidon mentions in The Lightning Thief. During the series, Kronos repeatedly tries to corrupt demigods into turning away from the Olympians and join his Titan cause (though children of the Big Three, most notably Percy, are shown to have a lot more resistance to this). This is shown when he is able to convince Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura, Chris Rodriguez, Alabaster C. Torrington, and many other demigods to fight on his side in the second Titanomachy. He also managed to trick Camp Half Blood into using the Golden Fleece on Thalia's Tree, giving him another child of the Big Three to manipulate. Kronos can even manipulate the gods to some extent, as he managed to manipulate Ares into starting a war among the gods. Later, many minor gods, including Hecate, Morpheus, and Janus join Kronos' side. Because of his manipulative nature, he is sometimes called “The Crooked One.”
 * Mystiokinesis: Even as a fractured essence within Tarturas, Kronos was capable of casting spells to drag people within Tarturas, a clear sign of magical  talent.

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 he 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, but it is unlikely).

The Sea of Monsters
Kronos is officially introduced in the sequel, voiced by Robert Knepper. Here, Luke is trying to resurrect him with the Golden Fleece, as in the novel, and is keeping him in a golden sarcophagus. He is also mentioned in the Great Prophecy, this time as the "evil soul" meant to be reaped by a cursed blade (Riptide).

In the climax of the film, Kronos is resurrected by Luke, whom he proceeds to swallow with Grover, and engages the heroes in a climactic showdown. Percy eventually defeats Kronos and sends him back to his sarcophagus. However, the malevolent Titan is shown to be still reforming.

It should be noted that this is the first time ever that Kronos is seen in full force, since the novels depict him hiding in the shadows of Tartarus, reforming in his sarcophagus, and possessing Luke.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, in The Lightning Thief, Poseidon states that "from time to time, over the eons, Kronos has stirred, entered men's nightmares, and breathed evil thoughts." This implies that Kronos had repeatedly tried to manipulate other demigods before Luke, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
 * Kronos seems to have a particularly strong hatred for his son Poseidon, whom he describes as "too changeable, and too unpredictable."
 * Due to being the youngest Titan, Kronos was initially ignored by both of his parents, as revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods.
 * In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Percy refers to Kronos as "King Cannibal", due to him having swallowed 5 of his children.
 * In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods it is revealed that Kronos got his nickname "The Crooked One" from his siblings for his cunning and dirty fighting tactics during their childhood wrestling matches.
 * His daughter Demeter says that he has no appreciation of agriculture, yet ironically, he is the Titan of the Harvest.
 * 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.
 * In some Roman 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 the power of the world, which had changed him. In most Greek myths not designed for the worship of a specific god, Kronos, like most gods, is portrayed as neither good nor evil.
 * 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 trilogy, The Kane Chronicles.
 * His mythomagic card has infinite attack and defense.
 * Kronos and Zeus are very similar:
 * Both of them are the youngest siblings of their respective brethren (Titans and Elder Olympians).
 * Both hated their fathers and were convinced by their mothers to overthrow them. Kronos hated his father, Ouranos for ill-treating his children. Zeus hated Kronos for swallowing his children.
 * Both overthrew their fathers with a special weapon and with the aid of their siblings.
 * Both eviscerated their fathers with the same weapon.
 * Both freed the Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires and received an object made by the monsters as gifts. Kronos received a beautiful black fortress and Zeus received the Master Bolt.
 * Both ruled as Lords of the Universe at some point and were leaders of their own families.
 * Both fell in love with and married their elder sisters (Rhea and Hera) as their Queens. They also happen to be the youngest daughters of their respective brethren.
 * Both were cursed to be overthrown by their children. This hasn't happened in Zeus's case as he took precautions.
 * Both swallowed their children.
 * Both cheated on their wives at some point.
 * In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, the Black Throne of Kronos is described as being cut out of a gigantic single piece of obsidian, and encrusted with gold and diamonds.
 * The word "saturnine" (gloomy) comes from Saturn, Kronos' Roman name.
 * His Egyptian equivalent is Khonsu.

Gallery
Cronos