Immortal



Immortals are beings who are immune to death through any conventional means, which is what separates them from regular mortals. This category includes the gods, the Titans, monsters, and some demigods who have accepted immortality as well. There have also been instances where a mortal or demigod has been gifted with immortality by the gods, usually as either a reward for great heroism, e.g. to Hercules, or so that they may be united in marriage with a god, such as in the cases of Psyche and Ariadne. The Hunters of Artemis are gifted with immortality as long as they keep their vow of maidenhood and do not fall in battle. Nymphs and satyrs can be considered immortal in the sense that they will never die of age. They are, however, subject to death by other means.

Characteristics
Immortals are immune to death in any form. They do not age, nor can they die from poison or disease. They are immune to all weapons that mortals use, as they are not forged from magical metals such as Celestial Bronze, Stygian Iron, or Imperial Gold. If their bodies are somehow harmed or destroyed they will eventually reform, though the length of this process can vary from days to centuries. Almost all immortals have supernatural abilities far surpassing those of normal mortals, and they are typically hidden from human view by the Mist. However, Immortals tend to show some predictability, most tend to be very prideful, arrogant not willing to accept help from lesser beings even to the point of fading. Also Immortals tend to follow "patterns" as the Second Olympian War and the upcoming "Giant War" are just history repeating itself.

Greco-Roman Gods
The immortality of the Greco-Roman gods and Titans does, however, have its limits:


 * Destruction of Physical Form: if the body of an immortal being is damaged enough, they may be weakened into a state where they can no longer reform (for many centuries, at the very least), even to the point of not being able to gather a complete consciousness. Ouranos, Kronos, and Gaea are the only known immortals to have succumbed to this fate. The extremely few weapons powerful enough to destroy the bodies of immortals in such a way are Kronos' Scythe, Zeus' Master Bolt, and Poseidon's Trident.
 * Imprisonment: Immortals can also be sealed away in extremely secure prisons, such as the bronze fortress in the depths of Tartarus, which was the fate of most of the Titans. Atlas was notably imprisoned on Mount Othrys, unable to leave while the incredible weight of his celestial burden on his shoulders.
 * Seats of Power Destruction: Immortals are always severely weakened when their thrones (representing their seats of power) are destroyed. Zeus ultimately used this method to prevail against the Titans at the end of the First Titanomachy, and Kronos was almost successful in using the same method against the Olympians at the end of Second Titanomachy. The Giants' King Porphyrion theorized that a similar yet even more effective severe weakening of the Olympians' could be achieved by destroying the Athenian Parthenon, as it was located at the gods' "roots".
 * Fading: Immortals can also "fade" away into nothingness, ceasing to be, should they lose the will to live, which has happened to several immortal beings, such as Helios, Pan, Selene, the two brothers of Briares, and the two sisters of Medusa. They also represent the state of the realm as shown by Poseidon.

Egyptian Gods
The immortality of Egyptian gods has it limits as well:


 * Killing and Duat Banishment: Egyptian gods can be banished back deep into the Duat either by being killed, which is possible, or by ensnaring them through very powerful and effective magical items such as the Seven Ribbons of Hathor. A magician can also banish them through certain spells that require their Secret Name for or through execration. However, they will eventually return as killing a god just kills their mortal body and drains their power, and the banishment will eventually end.
 * Shadow Execration: Gods can actually be permanently destroyed if a magician casts an execration spell on their sheut. According to Carter Kane, this is because if a person casts no shadow at all, their existence is meaningless. Destroying a sheut cuts all ties to the mortal world that being has as well as the fact that the sheut is an important part of the soul. This is used to destroy Apophis, though it takes the combined power of Carter and Sadie Kane, as well as Horus and Isis to do without Carter and Sadie being destroyed in the process. Gods keep knowledge of this secret so it can't be used against them as a magician threatening to execrate their sheut is effective blackmail against them.
 * Dependence on Ra's Life Force: If Ra the sun god is missing, the gods start to lose power slowly. Worse, if Ra is somehow destroyed (via shadow execration for instance) all the other gods are destroyed as well.
 * Energy Depletion: Bast mentioned that it is possible for gods to cease to exist if they expend too much energy without stopping to rest. However, this is clearly quite a lot, as Bast and Apophis dueled continuously for thousands of years nonstop but did not cease to exist.

Norse Gods
The immortality of the Norse gods has its limits as well:


 * Apple-Induced Youth: The Norse gods will rapidly grow old and weaken when they're unable to eat Idunn's apples of youth on a regular basis, shown when she was kidnapped by Utgard-Loki on one occasion.
 * Mortality: the Norse gods, while extremely difficult to kill (Mimir survived being decapitated, for instance), are not completely immortal (unlike the Greco-Roman gods), as most of them are destined to die during Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Norse gods. Beings or weapons with the power to kill Norse gods include the following:
 * Other gods, since Loki and Heimdall are destined to kill each other.
 * Surt, the Lord of Musphelheim, who is destined to use Sumarbrander to kill Frey.
 * Fenris, the ferocious wolf, who is destined to kill Odin.
 * Garm, the blood-stained guard dog of Hel, who is destined to kill Tyr.
 * Jormungand, the World Serpent, who is destined to kill Thor.
 * Mistletoe that killed the otherwise invulnerable Baldur.
 * Thor's hammer Mjølnir, as he had threatened to kill Loki with it several times.

Heroes
In both ancient Greek mythology and in the series, heroes who have been distinguished for remarkable talent have been given the choice to become immortal. However, it is possible for the chosen hero to reject the gift.

Hercules
Hercules was the son of Zeus. He was a great hero, for he did many brave things, like the Twelve Labors Of Hercules. The gods recognized that and he was made immortal upon his death.

Percy Jackson
While never immortal, Percy Jackson was given the choice of immortality after he defeated the evil titan lord Kronos. Percy refused, deciding he would rather to be with Annabeth Chase than live forever. This caused a moment of confusion for the gods, since most mortals would accept the gift of being immortal. He did, though, consider it for a moment, saying he would never age, never die, and could avoid what the Fates showed him: his whole life flashing before him until his death. In the end, he refused the gift and instead made a request to the gods to make the lives better for demigods and gods (and also peaceful Titans).

Hunters of Artemis
The Hunters of Artemis are Artemis' loyal maidens and sisters in arms. They have sworn an oath to her, vowing to remain a virgin forever. With this, they became immortal. They cannot die from disease or age, but if they fall in battle, they can die. Or If they break their vow to Artemis by falling in love, she does not take it lightly and stories claim she herself harms or kills the Hunter. The Hunters also gain speed, strength, and become experts at the bow and arrow, as Artemis is one of the twin archers along with her brother Apollo. Bianca di Angelo says she feels different, as if time slowed down around her, and it is the immortality. Thalia Grace claims she must join the hunt as she never felt peace since Half-Blood Hill, and she feels as if she now has a family with the Hunters. This might be because time moved slower when she was a pine tree, and seemed to speed up as a human, and slowed down again when she became immortal.

Einherjar
Odin's einherjar cannot be killed while they remain within Valhalla, and will simply keep resurrecting from mortal wounds every time. They do not, however, have this ability outside of the hotel while they visit any of the Nine Worlds, where they are rendered completely mortal.

Monsters
While monsters can age, most monsters can't die as mortals do and will eventually come back. Whenever a monster is killed, their essence will return to Tartarus and reform, allowing them to return to the mortal world. This is true for almost all monsters, giving them some form of immortality as they can never truly die. However, the time it takes to reform can take anywhere from a few days to a few centuries to a few millennia.

There are exceptions however, as not all monsters die in the same way. Satyrs for example will be reincarnated into something in nature when they die (such as a laurel). Also, Dryads and Water Nymphs can live forever, as long as the thing their life-force is tied to isn't destroyed (plant life and bodies of water respectively). If their life force is destroyed, they will die as well.

Fading
Fading is the only true way for most immortals to die. In the case of a god, if their realm is destroyed or not enough people believe in them, like in the case of Pan, they will fade from existence. In the case of Briares' brothers, they had faded because no one believed in them, but Percy suggested that they also stopped believing in themselves. The same can happen to monsters if not enough people remember them, but Gaea managed to find a way to reverse this somehow, as she brought back Medusa's sisters, who Medusa had claimed faded in The Lightning Thief.

Trivia

 * When Grover Underwood explains to Percy about what it means to be immortal in The Lightning Thief, Percy thinks it sounded like a pretty good deal. However when he was offered to become immortal in The Last Olympian, he refused in favor of another gift.
 * Mars seems to believe that mortals have it easy because they can die, and said something along the lines of it in the Son of Neptune while talking to Frank Zhang.