Quest for Hera

The Quest to free Hera was a quest taken up by Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, and Piper McLean to save the goddess Hera from Porphyrion in The Lost Hero. The prophecy was given to Jason by Rachel, the current Oracle.

"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."

This prophecy unravels throughout the book:


 * The first line warns Jason, son of Jupiter, to beware Gaea, the mother of the Titans and a personification of the Earth.
 * The giants, Gaea's sons, start to wake up and begin their plans to conquer Olympus. Jason, Piper, and Leo are the first three of the seven.
 * Leo, son of Hephaestus, God of the forges, and Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, Lady of the Doves, work together to free Hera.
 * Hera reveals to her true form to destroy the minions of Khione, the goddess of snow, also killing Jason in the process (since he's a demigod and not a mortal he doesn't disintegrate). However, since the Doors of Death are open, Piper called to Jason by using her charmspeak to revive him and bring his soul back from Hades.

The Lost Hero
Jason Grace, a demigod son of Jupiter, the Roman counterpart of Zeus, takes his first quest from Camp Half-Blood along with Piper McLean, a demigod daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo Valdez, a demigod son of Hephaestus to save Hera, the queen of heavens and the sister-wife of Zeus. She has been imprisoned by Khione, the minor goddess of ﻿snow and a traitor to Olympus, in the original place where Jason was before he went to Camp Jupiter, the Wolf House.

Along the way, the three run into various gods, monsters, and supposedly dead mortals, including Medea and Midas.

Before saving Hera, Jason, Piper, and Leo have to fight Khione, who had betrayed the Olympian gods and joined the Giants' side, once they realize that she had trailed them to the Wolf House. Leo fights her with his fiery aura and things that are useful such as his two hammers which he sets ablaze. However, Khione turns to snow which shows a mirror image of herself. Khione's strategy doesn't work because the hammers break the image of her into streams of mush.

While Jason tries his best to fight Porphyrion, Leo and Piper try to break open the cage where Hera is imprisoned. Leo saws through the base of the thickest tendril which is touching the ground closest to the earth while Piper charmspeaks the cage to fall asleep to allow an easy cut on the tendril. The cut severs the cage's connection to Gaea which frees Hera. Afterwards, the mud surrounding Hera disintegrates letting Hera to grow in size and making her glow with her power.

Soon after the goddess is freed, she throws off her black robes revealing a white gown and her arms bedecked with golden jewelry. Her face is described as being both terrible and beautiful, and a golden crown glows in her long black hair. Once she is free, she screams "...Now I shall have my revenge!.." However, the giant Porphyrion backs away and disappears away into the ground (evidently appearing somewhere in Greece) before Hera is able to vaporize him along with every other monster. After his leave, all the other monsters start to panick and retreat but they don't have the room to escape. Hera glows brighter and turns into her Divine Form and shouting, "...Cover your eyes, my heroes!..." The goddess then vaporizes the monsters.

However, Jason is too late to cover his eyes because he is in shock and understands too late. He watches as Hera turns into her godly form and is supposedly killed. Since the Doors of Death were weak at the time, Piper is able to bring his soul back from Underworld by using her charmspeak ability. Hera then teleports the heroes back to Camp Half-Blood.