Tartarus (place)

"You cannot kill me! I am the pit itself. You might as well try to kill the Earth. Gaea and I - we are eternal. We own you, flesh and spirit!"

- Tartarus to Iapetus Tartarus is the most horrifying, darkest, and deepest area of Hades' realm, known as the Underworld, where the gods imprison their enemies. Tartarus is also the primordial Greek god of the abyss, the third one to manifest in the yawning void of Chaos. When a monster is slain, it is sent to Tartarus until they reform, for a time ranging from days to sometimes centuries. Only immortal enemies (such as Kronos) are sent here; the mortals (such as Tantalus) are sent to the Fields of Punishment.

History
While Erebus is the main realm of the dead in ancient Greek mythology, Tartarus also contains a number of villains from Greek history. In early stories, it is primarily the prison for defeated enemies. The first beings to be jailed there, however, were the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires, by Kronos, although Zeus later freed them so they could fight for his cause. The Titans were condemned to Tartarus after their battle with the Olympians. The Hekatonkheires, after the Titanomachy, became the guards of Tartarus with the Titans imprisoned. Kronos is known for being held there. Later Greek Mythologies depicted Tartarus where the dead souls who were wicked in their lives were also placed. But in this series, the souls of the wicked, including those listed in Tartarus in the myths like Tantalus and Sisyphus are sent to and imprisoned within the Fields of Punishment.

According to the Greek poet Hesiod, a bronze anvil falling from heaven would take nine days and nights to reach earth, and an object would take the same amount of time to fall from earth into Tartarus. Tartarus is described as a dark, gloomy pit, surrounded by a wall of bronze and beyond that a three-fold layer of night. It is one of the primordial objects that sprung from Chaos, along with Gaea, though some believe it was a son of Aether and Chaos, whilst Orphic sources claim Tartarus to be the unbounded first-existing entity. Tartarus is also the father of Typhon and the Giants, of whom Gaea is the mother.

The Lightning Thief
Although it is frequently mentioned within the series, Percy Jackson only visits the entrance of Tartarus once. While the group goes to the Underworld to confront Hades, the cursed shoes given by Luke Castellan drag Grover Underwood to the entrance. When Percy gets to the entrance, Kronos speaks to him, and he realizes that the dreams he had been having before were from Tartarus.

The Titan's Curse
At one point, Percy remembers how Kronos had tricked them into almost falling into Tartarus when they went to the Underworld to meet with Hades. He also mentions how Tartarus is like the gods' recycling bin for their enemies.

Atlas at one point threatens to through Dr. Thorn into Tartarus for bringing him a child of Athena, instead of a child of the Big Three as he had asked.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
In the Labyrinth, there is a bottomless pit that is connected directly to Tartarus. Percy does not dare to explore this deep pit.

The Last Olympian
As Typhon steps into the Hudson River, Poseidon's cyclopes spring from the water and bind him in chains. Zeus strikes him with a lightning bolt and sends Typhon down to Tartarus.

The Lost Hero
When boasting to Jason Grace before their battle in the Wolf House, Porphyrion states "In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods."

The Son of Neptune
After Gwen is killed and returns to life on the Field of Mars, Mars himself appears and reveals that Thanatos is captured. He explains that as a result, people are returning to life and monsters aren't staying in Tartarus as they should.

Nico di Angelo leaves camp soon after to gain information on the Doors of Death, Thanatos' personal gateway in and out of the Underworld. It is discovered that Gaea had forced the gates open to allow monsters to reform instantly and to allow souls to escape to fight the gods. Nico is pulled into Tartarus and captured immediately, as the monsters are even stronger in the pit.

Later when Thanatos is freed, he is able to slow down the revival of monsters, not allowing them to escape Tartarus as they had been.

The Mark of Athena
After being rescued from the giants Otis and Ephialtes, Nico di Angelo reveals that he discovered the location of the Doors of Death. The Underworld side of the doors is located in Tartarus. Nico adds that Gaea's minions are strongest in Tartarus, and despite being the son of Hades, he was overwhelmed and captured immediately.

Meanwhile, Arachne tells Annabeth Chase that the power of the Athena Parthenos draws monsters from Tartarus; the floor of her chamber is held together only by fragile tile and spider webs, and beneath it is a pit which leads directly to Tartarus. Shortly after, Arachne drags Annabeth into the pit. Percy grabs her by the hand, but does not have the strength to pull her or himself back out. Charging Nico to lead his crewmates of the Argo II to the earth side of the Doors of Death and refusing to leave Annabeth, Percy lets go, and he and Annabeth tumble into Tartarus.

The House of Hades
In the first chapter, Hazel Levesque mentions that Percy and Annabeth are captured in Tartarus. Percy and Annabeth stumble in Tartarus, searching for the Doors of Death. In the climax, Tartarus takes on a mortal form, remarking on how wise his consort Gaea was to consider waking up fully. Annabeth Chase notes that the only reason she, Percy Jackson, and Iapetus were still alive was because Tartarus was too busy marveling on his mortal form. She realizes that Protogenoi like Tartarus are unlike their descendants, that not even a Titan could stand alone against Tartarus. To her dismay, she notes that this was what it would be like if Gaea were to awake fully. Feeling hopeless, Annabeth and Percy resign to fighting to the death against Tartarus. They are saved by the arrival of Tartarus' own son, the Gigante Damasen. He and Iapetus sacrifice themselves to allow Percy and Annabeth to escape. They were likely destroyed by Tartarus.

Known Prisoners

 * Kronos (formerly)Typhon.jpg
 * Erebus (by some accounts)
 * Nyx (leaves during the night and comes back during the day)
 * Children of Nyx
 * Akhlys
 * Arai
 * Geras
 * Eris
 * Hemera (leaves during the night and comes back during the day)
 * Arke (messenger of the Titans thrown down after the first Olympian war)
 * Typhon
 * Chimera (According to his collar in The Lightning Thief)
 * Titans (some were known to have been released, others may still be prisoners)
 * Hyperion
 * Krios
 * Koios
 * Gigantes (All that have not already risen)
 * Numerous monsters that were slayed by heroes.
 * Kelli
 * Serephone
 * Telkhine
 * Cyclops
 * Percy Jackson (formerly)
 * Annabeth Chase (formerly)
 * Nico di Angelo (formerly)
 * Bob
 * Small Bob

Trivia

 * It is said that Tartarus is darker than Erebus, which is ironic given that Erebus is the embodiment of darkness and Tartarus' brother (being himself a Protogenos).
 * Typhon is currently imprisoned in Tartarus, but the myth says that Tartarus is Typhon's father by Gaea. This fact ironically means that Tartarus is the jailer of his own son, though probably not by choice.
 * Tartarus is once misspelled as "Tatarus" in The Lost Hero.
 * Between both series, four entrances to Tartarus have been shown. One in the Underworld (main entrance), one in the Labyrinth (destroyed/sealed off),  one underneath Rome, and one inside Epirus, the House of Hades (via the Doors of Death, which have now been removed)
 * Nico di Angelo, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase are the first demigods to survive Tartarus (although Gaea's forces captured Nico easily and sent him to the mortal world).
 * Along with his father Chaos, Tartarus is the only known figure to be both a place and a protogenoi, with the possible exception of Gaea.
 * According to Hesiod, it takes nine days to reach the bottom of the pit. However, time is very hard to tell in Tartarus- nine days in Tartarus could be 9 seconds in the mortal world, and vice versa.
 * All five rivers of the Underworld, flow into the heart of Tartarus.
 * The heart of Tartarus contain one side of the Doors of Death, though it is only temporary as they are chained there.
 * Monsters can be killed in Tartarus, but they just reform again in a different place.
 * The five rivers in Tartarus are the Lethe, the Styx, the Cocytus, the Phlegethon and the Acheron.