Prophecies

Prophecies have a large role in the series, with one appearing in each book of the series. In The Last Olympian, only the Great Prophecy is heard. A selected half-blood is sent to see the Oracle, whose power comes from the prophecy deity Apollo, to go and receive a prophecy that will be used as a guideline through their quest. Percy Jackson has personally received one prophecy (Lightning Thief), while the other four have gone to Clarisse La Rue (Sea of Monsters), Zoë Nightshade (Titan's Curse), Jason Grace (Lost Hero), and Annabeth Chase (Battle of the Labyrinth). These prophecies always come true, but it is always ambiguous until the event has passed. They all rhyme in an AA, BB, CC, and so on pattern, except for the prophecy from the Titan's Curse, which only has a near rhyme for the first couplet : "chains / ... rain"

The Lightning Thief
In book one of the series, The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson is selected to visit the Oracle and to lead the quest to discover Zeus's stolen lightning bolt. When he meets the mummified oracle, he receives this prophecy:

You shall go west, and face the god who has turned,

You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned,

You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,

And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.

This prophecy unravels throughout the story:
 * Percy, Annabeth, and Grover travel west to find Zeus' master bolt, in which they face Ares, who apparantly is "the god who has turned"
 * Percy finds the Master Bolt and Hades' Helm of Darkness and returns them safely.
 * Luke, son of Hermes, betrays Percy by revealing he stole the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness for Kronos.
 * Percy fails to save his mother from the Underworld, forced to leave without her and instead with Annabeth and Grover. He also failed in saving his friend, Luke.

The Sea of Monsters
In book two of the series, The Sea of Monsters, Clarisse La Rue is given the prophecy as follows:

You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone.

This prophecy unravels throughout the story:


 * Clarisse sailed aboard the CSS Birmingham with skeleton warriors.
 * She, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson find the Golden Fleece and take it from Polyphemus.
 * She and her new "friends" get trapped inside a stone cavern with no way to escape
 * She would have failed without Percy and the rest's help, and she flew back to camp alone to get there faster.

The Titan's Curse
In the third book of the series, The Titan's Curse, Zoë Nightshade is given a prophecy to save Artemis:

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

This prophecy unravels throughout the story:


 * The group consisting of Zoë, Thalia, Grover, Bianca, and Percy (originally Phoebe) go west to find the goddess in chains, Artemis, and eventually find Annabeth.
 * Bianca sacrificed herself in the desert to save the group against a defective prototype of Hephaestus's robot, Talos.
 * They followed the Ophiotaurus, which was the Bane of Olympus because if the Ophiotaurus was sacrificed in flames, the sacrificer would have the power to destroy Olympus.
 * The group that took the quest consisted of 3 campers (Percy, Grover, and Thalia) and 2 hunters (Bianca and Zoe)
 * Percy (withstood it for Artemis, who withstood the curse for Annabeth) withstood the Titan's curse (holding up the sky).
 * In the end Zoë was killed by her father, Atlas, after being poisoned by the dragon Ladon.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
In book four of the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth, Annabeth is given the prophecy as follows:

You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze,

The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise.

You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand,

The Child of Athena's final stand.

Destroy with a hero's final breath,

''And lose a love to worse than death. ''

This prophecy unravels throughout the story:


 * Annabeth, Grover, Percy and Tyson enter the the endless maze, which is the Labyrinth created by Daedalus.
 * Nico, son of Hades, raised the dead; Ethan Nakamura, the traitor, was spared; and Pan's spirit and message is raised
 * 'The Ghost King' was Nico (since he is a son of Hades, god of the underworld), who decided to help Annabeth and the rest of the campers.
 * A child of Athena's final stand refers to Daedalus, one of Athena's children, because he dies during the Battle of the Labyrinth
 * The Labryinth was destroyed with Daedalus's last breath, as he and the maze's life force were tied together.
 * Annabeth loses Luke to Kronos, since he becomes Kronos' host body, which is worse than if she would have lost him if he died.

The Last Olympian
In book five of the series, The Last Olympian, the Great Prophecy is revealed:

A Half-Blood of the eldest gods,

Shall reach sixteen against all odds

And see the world in endless sleep

The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap

A single choice shall end his days

Olympus to preserve or raze

This prophecy unravels throughout the story.
 * Percy was a half-blood child of Poseidon, one of the eldest gods, otherwise known as the Big Three.
 * Percy reaches sixteen despite all of the numerous times he was to be killed by Luke/Kronos and his monsters.
 * Percy finds the whole city of Manhattan asleep, so the war can go on without any of the humans finding out what happened.
 * Percy turns out not to be the hero, but Luke was, who was killed by Annabeth's knife, cursed because of Luke's broken promise to protect her.
 * Percy made the choice to give Luke Annabeth's knife so Luke could kill himself, thus banning Kronos from the mortal world.
 * Percy/Luke/Annabeth and the Olympian Army save Mt. Olympus from being destroyed and everything goes back to normal . . . sort of.

The Next Great Prophecy
At the end of The Last Olympian after the original Great Prophecy is fufilled, and Rachel (the new body for the Oracle) reveals a new prophecy:

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.

To storm or fire, the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.


 * The first line refers to seven half-bloods that will save Olympus from Gaia and her most powerful children, the giants. It is unknown who all the the seven half-bloods are at this time, but Jason, Leo, Piper are three of the seven.
 * The second line has not happened yet (but according to Leo, either the Storm (presumably Jason/Percy) or the Fire (Leo) must destroy the Earth (Gaia).
 * The third line has not happened yet.
 * Gaia, the enemy of the seven demigods, opens the Doors of Death to release monsters and villains, that have already been killed, and bring them back to life.

The Lost Hero
Jason's prophecy to rescue Hera in The Lost Hero:

Child of Lightning, beware the earth,

The giants' revenge the seven shall birth,

The forge and dove shall break the cage,

And death unleash, through Hera's rage.

The prophecy unfolds throughout the story like this:
 * Jason, a child of Jupiter, has to beware of the awakening of Gaia (the Earth).
 * The Giants rise to defeat the Olympians and cause the appearance of the seven heroes of the Great Prophecy.
 * The forge and the dove represent Leo and Piper, children of Hephaestus and Aphrodite. They break the cage Hera is trapped in.
 * Hera goes into her Divine Form and kills all the monsters except Pophyrion and almost kills Jason, but he lives.