Circe

"You, my dear, have the makings of a sorceress. Like me."

- Circe

Circe is a minor Greek goddess of magic living on the island of Aeaea. She is the daughter of Helios, the Titan of the sun. Her mother is said to be Hecate in The Sea of Monsters.

History


Circe's parents were Helios, the Titan of the sun, and Hecate, the goddess of magic. Circe transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals through the use of potions. She was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs. Circe also purified the Argonauts for the death of Apsyrtus, as related in Argonautica, may reflect early tradition. In Homer's Odyssey, banished by the gods, Circe is described as living in a mansion that stands in the middle of a clearing in a dense wood. Around the house prowled strangely docile lions and wolves, the drugged victims of her magic; they were not dangerous, and fawned on all newcomers. Circe worked at a huge loom. She invited Odysseus' crew to a feast of familiar food, a pottage of cheese and meal, sweetened with honey and laced with wine, but also laced with one of her potions, and she turned them all into pigs with a wand after they gorged themselves on it. Only Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn Odysseus and the others who had stayed behind at the ships. Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was intercepted by Hermes, who gave him the holy herb moly to protect himself from Circe's potion and, having resisted it, he told him to draw his sword and act as if he were to attack Circe. From there, Circe would ask him to bed but Hermes advised caution, for even there the goddess would be treacherous. She would take his manhood unless he had her swear by the names of the gods that she would not.

The Sea of Monsters
Circe ran a magical beauty salon on an island in the Sea of Monsters. She was extremely glamorous, and sometimes went by the alias of C.C. Although she treated females to a spa treatment, she turned all males who came to the island into guinea pigs. She formerly turned them into actual pigs, but found them too hard to take care of. She had captured Blackbeard and his crew mates and kept the ships in harbor. When Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase came, she turned Percy into a guinea pig by tricking him into drinking a magic potion. When Annabeth found out, she used Hermes' multivitamins to become immune to Circe's sorcery and free Percy from his curse and make their escape on the Queen Anne's Revenge. When trying to save Percy, she couldn't tell which guinea pig was Percy however, so she stuffed all of the multivitamins in the cage, also freeing all of the pirates that were also captured.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Annabeth and Percy reminisce about their previous encounter with Circe, with Annabeth saying to Percy that he made a "cute guinea pig" much to his chagrin. She then gives him a hint that she likes him, which Percy does not understand.

The Lost Hero
Medea mentions that Circe is her aunt, and that she taught Medea to charmspeak.

The Son of Neptune
It is revealed that Reyna and her sister Hylla were at C.C.'s Spa and Resort when Percy and Annabeth were there. After Annabeth gave the pirates Hermes' Multivitamins, they were immune to magic and took over her island, forcing Reyna and Hylla to flee.

The Mark of Athena
When Chrysaor captures the crew of the Argo II he mentions selling Hazel Levesque and Piper McLean to Circe to help at her spa as trainees or slaves. However he was unsuccessful.

The House of Hades
Clytius mentioned her to Hazel the reason she can't trust the goddess Hecate.

Appearance
Circe is described as a beautiful woman with piercing green eyes and long dark hair braided with threads of gold. She wore a silky black dress which had shapes that moved with the fabric, like animal shadows.

Abilities
She possesses the standard powers of a goddess.
 * Mystiokinesis: As a goddess of magic, she has absolute control and divine authority over magic, but not quite as much as Hecate. She is still a goddess-level sorceress, however.
 * TransformationCirce is infamous for her ability to transform men into animals, particularly guinea pigs (real pigs during ancient times). She achieved this through the use of a magic potion.
 * Weaving: Circe is a talented weaver, as her hands were said to be "weaving colored thread back and forth with amazing skill". Additionally, a tapestry of hers was described to shimmer like it was three-dimensional.
 * Pyrokinesis: Circe has minor pyrokinetic abilities, shown when she made a flame appear in her palms.
 * Charmspeak: She has the ability of charmspeak, allowing her to influence others with enhanced vocal persuasiveness. Circe used charmspeak to enchant Percy into drinking a potion that turned him into a guinea pig in The Sea of Monsters. Medea also claimed in The Lost Hero that Circe taught her charmspeak.

The Sea of Monsters
Tyson mentions that the goddess Circe thought it was a good idea to open Circeland over Polyphemus lair, which was bad for business.

Trivia

 * In mythology, Circe's parents were either Helios and Perseis or Aeetes and Hecate. This differs from her parentage in the books, which is said to be Helios and Hecate. This is most likely a change made for the series.
 * In The Mark of Athena, Chrysaor planned on selling Hazel and Piper to her as slaves or trainees. It is unknown, however, if Circe managed to take her island back from Blackbeard sometime after Reyna and Hylla left, or possibly she opened a new spa.
 * Circe has been mentioned in every book of The Heroes of Olympus series released thus far.
 * Pasiphaë and Circe share the same title: Immortal Sorceress.
 * In the myths, Circe was said to give food to Odyseuss' men and they would turned into pigs after eating. Odyseuss ate herbs that were given to him by Hermes. Therefore, he remained human.