Ares

"That means I can smash him into a pulp as often as I want he'll just keep coming back for more. I like this idea."

- Ares

Ares (Ἄρης in Ancient Greek), is the God of war, fighting, violence, bloodshed, anger and conflict. He is sometimes associated with more virtuous aspects such as courage and strength in battle. He is one of the sons of Zeus and Hera. He is a brother to Hephaestus and a half-brother to Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes and Dionysus and many other gods and goddesses. He is a nephew to Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon and by marriage; Amphitrite and Persephone. He was given the name Mars by the Romans, who also associated him with the harvest, therefore making him much more prominent and respected in the Roman pantheon. His symbols include the vulture, dog, boar, serpent, spear and sword.

Physical Description
Ares typically dresses in a leather duster with a muscle shirt, a bulletproof vest (actually his shield in a modern version of itself), an iron padlock necklace, black jeans, and combat boots. He wears red tinted wraparound sunglasses to cover his eyes which are hollow sockets filled with flames. He is described as having black, oily crew cut hair, stands at 6' 7", with a bulked up body, and a handsome face with scarred cheeks. He rides a large, black Harley Davidson chopper motorcycle with a flame pattern paint job, a leather seat made from human skin, with shotgun holsters riveted to the motorcycles sides. This motorcycle is actually his war chariot in a modern version of itself. (Military motorcycles serve the same purpose as Ancient Greek war chariots.) He also has a hunting knife strapped to his thigh and an aluminum baseball bat (actually his spear in a modernized form) that can turn into various weapons, including a two handed broadsword and a shotgun.

Mars
Ares can change his appearance and turn into his Roman counterpart, Mars. As Mars, he becomes more disciplined, warlike, and militaristic (if the latter two are even possible). He might have more children at the Roman Camp Half-Blood in San Francisco. In Roman myth, Mars was worshiped more than feared, even more so than Jupiter.

Personality
Ares is proud, violent, cruel, aloof, and rebellious; an easily angered bully who seems to care only about fighting, or as Rick Riordan put it: "He could pick a fight in an empty room". Because of this he isn't very well liked among the Gods. He was brainwashed into starting a fight among his family against his own will, and still thought it was amusing. As the god of war he has a degree of intelligence and is an expert in warfare. However, his temper and arrogance often lead to his own humiliation and defeat because these traits make him overconfident, leading him to underestimate others and make foolish mistakes. He will often focus more on brawn than brain when angered, making it easier for more clever opponents to overcome Ares' raw strength. He hates being called a coward and is willing to pick fights with people for no apparent reason. He is a bad winner and loser, when he wins he brags about it, when he lost in The Lightning Thief, he put a curse on Riptide. Due to being the god of war and bloodlust, Ares thinks that all problems are solved by hitting it, and encourages that violence, war, and rebellion are above everything else. Although he seems to show no one respect, he does have a soft spot for his daughter Clarisse, who he loves, even though he can be strict to her. He also has respect for Percy, but is not willing to show it out of his pride. He is really quite fond of himself.

Abilities
Possesses the natural abilities of a God in addition to having vast physical strength and the ability to control fire. As the personification of war, he is an expert in all areas of warfare. He owns a magic war chariot that can transform into different modes of travel including a motorcycle (his preferred form) and a German Panzer. One of his most notable possessions is his magical spear that can turn into various weapons. He also has the ability to invoke feelings of anger, passion and violence in others. In The Last Olympian it is shown that he give his blessing to notable warriors like Clarisse, giving them invulnerability when they show true courage and righteous wrath in the heat of battle.

Chariot
Ares' War Chariot is Ares' personal chariot. When not being used by him, it is usually being driven by Phobos or Deimos. As tradition, his sons normally drive it aged fifteen.

Relationships
He is Aphrodite's boyfriend, and has been for millenia. Her husband Hephaestus once caught them together in a golden net of his own design, and invited the gods to come and laugh at their affair. Hephaestus seems to enjoy inventing new ways to humiliate them, so Ares and Aphrodite pick the locations for their dates very carefully.

His demigod children all have the same cruel, aloof, and rebellious attitude as he does, especially his daughter Clarisse.

Children

 * Clarisse La Rue
 * Deimos
 * Phobos
 * Sherman
 * Mark
 * Edward Teach (Blackbeard)
 * Eros (with Aphrodite)
 * Eurytion
 * Oliver/Ares (clone)-(Disabled because he is a robot clone and killed under the rules of his sister)

The Lightning Thief
During the Winter solstice, Luke Castellan stole the master bolt and the helm of darkness. Ares caught him, but Luke convinces him into carrying out Kronos' plan. Ares let Luke go and kept the helm and the bolt until Percy came along to complete the delivery.

On June 14, 7 days before the summer solstice deadline, Ares approached Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, and Annabeth Chase on his motorcycle as they were trying to get dinner. He "generously" paid for their meal (frightening many of the customers and staff in the process) and then got the companions to retrieve his shield (in the form of a bulletproof vest) from the Tunnel of Love ride in an abandoned Waterland.

In return he told them to jump in an animal-smuggler's truck to get to Los Angeles. At this point he also gave Percy a backpack with $20, a pouch of golden drachmas, fresh clothes for the three of them, and a box of Double-Stuf Oreos.

However, this backpack was actually the modified sheath for the master lightning bolt, enchanted by Ares to have the master bolt appear in it when Percy got close to Hades. After Percy, Grover and Annabeth escaped from the Underworld by using the pearls given to Percy by the Nereid, Ares was waiting to kill them at the beach.

Ares revealed the reasoning behind his plan, but accidentally revealed that Kronos was controlling him through his dreams. He tried to kill Percy with a giant boar, but Percy sliced off one of its tusks with Riptide and engulfed it with a wave, killing it instantly. He then challenged Ares to a duel - if Ares won, he would turn Percy into anything he wanted, and get the master bolt; if Percy won, then he got both the bolt and the helm and Ares had to leave. Eventually Percy won the duel when he stabbed Ares in the foot; Ares tried to attack Percy again in a fit of rage, but Kronos prevented him. Before Ares departed, he warned Percy that he made a terrible mistake by making the God of War his enemy. He then curses Percy that his weapon would fail him when he needed it most, before leaving.

The Sea of Monsters
Ares does not appear much in the Sea of Monsters. He is only seen talking to his daughter Clarisse La Rue on the ironclad CSS Birmingham. He orders his daughter not to fail the quest, and get Percy Jackson and his friends out of the way. For this reason, Clarisse refuses to let Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson go, but they all escape when the ironclad explodes.

The Titan's Curse
He is seen first at the Junkyard of the gods, bringing a white limousine with the goddess Aphrodite inside. He is last seen in the Winter solstice of the Gods where he voted "Yes" on the destruction of Percy Jackson. In addition, the curse he gave to Percy in the first book (that, at a crucial time, his sword would fail him) comes back to haunt, as when Percy fights Atlas, his sword becomes too heavy to lift.

The Last Olympian
Ares is only seen attacking Typhon with a knife while riding his motorcycle, and to congratulate his daughter Clarisse La Rue on defeating the Drakon, and votes for Percy becoming immortal, muttering "I like this idea, then I get to smash him to the pulp and he'll keep coming back for more", when the gods give Percy Jackson the chance of becoming a god.

Trivia

 * Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, is named after Ares' Roman counterpart.
 * As said in The Lightning Thief he considers North America the best thing since Sparta, as ordinary citizens are allowed weapons and how the constitution allows more freedom when it comes to punishment by law.
 * He uses sunglasses to cover his eyes, which are actually hollow sockets filled with flames.
 * His weapon of choice seems to be a spear in the legends, but Ares moves with the times and uses an aluminum baseball bat and a shotgun as his first choice to a two-handed broadsword.
 * He cursed Percy near the ending of The Lightning Thief, when Percy managed to stab him in the heel with his sword "Riptide". Ares cursed him saying that his weapons would fail him when he needed them most. The curse took effect in The Titan's Curse, when Percy was fighting Atlas his sword suddenly became too heavy for him to lift.
 * In the The Demigod Files it says his hometown is Mount Olympus; however under his bumper sticker reads: "I wasn't born in Sparta but I got here as fast as I could".
 * According to Rick Riordan, Ares best quote is "Kill it dead".
 * In the legends Ares is portrayed as a professional warrior or military general. However, when western civilization moved to America, he took on a 1950's, rebellious, "Greaser" persona.

Film
In the film, he is played by Ray Winstone, though is not credited. He is seen briefly at the end of the film when the gods are arguing. He is seen on the left side of the screen with silver battle armor, and although it is a far camera shot of him, he is shown to have grey hair. When the gods are all sitting in their chairs, he is shown sitting crookedly (one leg is on the arm of the chair) in between Demeter and Athena.