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 (The Lightning Thief), while the other four have gone to Clarisse La Rue (The Sea of Monsters), Zoë Nightshade (The Titan's Curse), Annabeth Chase (The Battle of the Labyrinth), and Jason Grace (The Lost Hero). These prophecies always come true, but there true meaning is always left ambiguous until after the event have 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' stolen Master 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. While in the west, Percy faces Ares on the beach. We learn he allowed the bolt to be stolen and was following orders from Kronos.
 * 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 is trapped in Polyphemus' stone cavern with no way to escape.
 * She would have failed without Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson, but 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 (but Percy goes to find Annabeth)
 * Bianca sacrificed herself in the desert to save the group against a defective prototype of Hephaestus' robot, Talos.
 * They followed the Ophiotaurus, which was called the bane of Olympus because if he was sacrificed in flames, the person that sacrificed it would have the power to destroy Olympus.
 * The only way the quest would be successful was if campers and Hunters worked together. The quest consisted of 3 campers (Percy, Grover, and Thalia) and 2 Hunters (Bianca and Zoe)
 * The curse of holding the sky above the earth had to be taken by someone (Luke took the sky from Atlas; Annabeth took the sky from Luke; Artemis took it from Annabeth; Percy took it for Artemis and Artemis forced Atlas back under the sky).
 * In the end, Zoë after already suffering from being poisoned by the dragon Ladon was killed by her father Atlas after he tossed her against a wall, resulting in her death.

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 Labyrinth to find 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 Labyrinth 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 almost killed by Luke/Kronos and his monsters.
 * Percy finds the whole city of Manhattan asleep from Olympus, so the war can go on without any of the humans interfering.
 * Percy handed Luke Annabeth's knife, the same knife that he gave her when she was little. He promised that they would be there for her and that they (including Thalia) would be a family.
 * Percy had to choose between giving Annabeth's knife to Luke and allow him to destroy himself or trying to destroy Luke himself.
 * Percy's choice would result in the destruction of Olympus, or preserving Olympus the way it is.

The Next Great Prophecy
At the end of The Last Olympian after the original Great Prophecy is fulfilled, 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 Gaea and her most powerful children, the giants. The six of the seven half-bloods are, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang.
 * The second line has not happened yet, Leo believes that the prophecy could be talking about Jason (the storm) or himself (having power over fire), and the world will fall because of one of them,
 * It is unknown at this time what this line is referring to.
 * Gaea opened the Doors of Death to allow the most evil people of the Underworld to rise again. The Greek demigods from Camp Half-Blood and the Roman demigods from Camp Jupiter must unite as one and close them.

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 Gaea (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. Working together, the two manage to 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.

The Son of Neptune
Frank's prophecy, given to him by Mars, his father, in The Son of Neptune:

''Go to Alaska. ''

''Find Thanatos and free him. ''

Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die.

This prophecy isn't like any others (probably because of Mars' not able to rhyme things well). It is unfolded throughout the story like this:
 * Frank, the leader of the quest, Hazel, and Percy make it to Alaska after several different trails and close calls.
 * Frank, while being protect by Percy (who has made another personal hurricane), is able to free Thanatos using his piece of "life wood."
 * They make it back to Camp Jupiter, are able to defend the camp from invading forces, and live.

The real prophecy though, as recited by Ella started of with this:

"To the north, beyond the gods, lies the legion's crown.

Falling from ice, the son of Neptune shall drown."

The next part of the prophecy was burnt before Ella could read and memorize it.

The Mark of Athena
This prophecy is assumed to be the focus of the next book recited by Ella, which could not be complete:

“Wisdom’s daughter walks alone,

The Mark of Athena burns through Rome.”