Briares

"I want to see Cyclopes; I don’t want to be lonely anymore."

- Briares

Briares  (Gr: Βριαρεως)is the last Hekatonkheire (giants with a hundred hands) alive as his two brothers, Cottus and Gyges, have faded away because no one remembered their story.

History
Briares is the younger brother of the Titans and Cyclopes, a son of Gaea and Ouranos. Their father, hating them, jailed the Hekatonknieres in Tartarus, where the Elder Cyclopes had already been thrown into. After defeating his father Ouranos, Kronos became the King of Mount Orthys, and kept his promise of releasing the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonknieres from Tartarus. In return, Briares and his Hekatonkniere brothers Cottus and Gyges, built a magnificent black marble palace for Kronos on Mount Orthys. However, Kronos was later disgusted by all of the unbearable noise that the Hekatonkheires and Elder Cyclopes constantly made, as well as their revolting stench. Hence, Kronos, Hyperion and Atlas (the three most powerful Titans) chained all six of them up, and hurled them into Tartatus once again, this time guarded by Kampê, the most ferocious and terrifying monster in all of Tartarus that Kronos personally hired.

Many years later, after Zeus freed his elder Olympian siblings from Kronos' belly, they all went down to Tartarus (with Hades' guidance). There, the Elder Cyclopes forged three incredibly powerful weapons for the gods: the Master Bolt (for Zeus), the Trident (for Poseidon), and the Helm of Darkness (for Hades). With these weapons, Zeus killed Kampê, and Poseidon shattered the chains of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires.

In return, all six of them fought on the side of the Olympians in the Titanomachy. Briares had massive strength (and he was very proficient at hurling huge boulders), which greatly contributed to the Titans' ultimate defeat. At the final battle on Mount Orthys, all three Hekatonkheires were of great help, throwing so many rocks that the Titans thought that the mountain was falling apart. Since the Hekatonkheires had initially built Kronos' fortress on Mount Orthys, they knew exactly how to destroy it. In the subsequent final battle of the Titanomachy, the Olympians finally overwhelmed and defeated the Titans, including Kronos himself. In the aftermath of the battle, the Elder Cylopes chained up all of the Titans, while the Hekatonkheires forced them to kneel before Zeus. Afterwards, Zeus offers the Hekatonkheires to return to Tartarus, this time as the jailers of the Titans, to which they readily agreed.

Years later, Briares ended up marrying Kymopoleia, the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Kymopoleia was large, clumsy, and loud, which did not earn her as much love from her parents as Benthesikyme, Triton and Rhode (her elder siblings). However, since, Briares was large and loud himself, he had nothing against having such a wife.

When, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena, and Hera organize the first ever Olympian riot, they manage to tie down Zeus. Finally, the trashing and bellowing King of Olympus is found by the Nereid Thetis. After convincing Zeus to be merciful towards the rioting Olympians, Thetis managed to find Briares by the sea shore. He was more than happy to save Zeus, recalling that he owes his own freedom from Tartarus and Kampê to him. Briares quickly untied Zeus, after which the latter punished the rioting gods.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Briares had been captured by the Titan army and imprisoned on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, being tortured and threatened by Kampê to join them, but despite this he had refused to give in. Spurred on by Tyson and realizing that they had encountered a potentially powerful ally for the war the group planned a rescue. Even so, Briares was immensely terrified of Kampê and refused to leave until Percy beat him in a game of rock, paper, scissors by using a finger gun (a trick taught to him by his stepfather, Paul Blofis), which defeated Braires' many rocks, papers, and scissors. They save him from Kampê but Briares subsequently leaves; having lost his confidence and also in a state of depression because his brothers had faded. This breaks Tyson's heart as Tyson had held high respect and regard for the Hundred Handed-Ones.

He reappears during the battle at the end of the book with the help of Daedalus and buries Kampê  by throwing boulders (from Zeus' Fist) from each hand at her.

Afterwords, he goes to Poseidon's forges to make weapons for the war and to teach the Cyclopes ways they had forgotten in weapon forging in order to give the heroes a much needed edge in the war. He fights for Poseidon in the war against Oceanus, the Titan Lord of the sea.

The Last Olympian
He is seen by Percy just outside Poseidon's palace fighting in the war against Oceanus, battling a giant lobster. Poseidon said that he wished more of them were around to fight for it would ensure victory.

Personality
Briares is originally very timid and scared after being kept in jail by Kampê. Briares even gave up on himself, as shown when refuses to even free himself when given the chance. Despite Tyson seeing him as a hero, Briares only lets him down. Briares is also depressed because of the passing of his two brothers. It isn't until later that Briares finds his courage and helps defend Camp Half-Blood, as well as helping the Olympian Army make weapons.

Appearance
As his species name suggests, Briares has one hundred arms that protrude from his chest, and, according to Percy, he looks like a "forkful of spaghetti" in The Battle of the Labyrinth or "like there are multiple squids attached to his body" in The Last Olympian. His arms look like human arms, but his huge feet are unlike humans' with eight toes on each foot. He also changes faces along with his emotions, except for his eyes, which are solid brown and have no whites. According to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Briares was very loud, and smelled "like a composting toilet."



Abilities
Briares is one of the largest giants alive and has a total of a hundred hands, as well as a multitude of faces. With his hands, he can pick up rocks and toss them at enemy monsters. These rocks can also grow in size and completely crush those that get in their way.

Briares is also a skilled blacksmith, willing to show the Cyclopes working for the Olympians new ways of forging weapons that they had forgotten over time. He can also fluently converse in the Tongue of the Old Times (which his mother Gaea used to speak to him in).

Trivia

 * Briares is the only friendly child of Gaea in Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and the only brother of Kronos who helps fight against him.
 * As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Briares was freed by Poseidon, who smashed his chains with his new mighty Trident.
 * Briares and his Hekatonkniere brethren (along with the Elder Cyclops) built all of the palaces on both Mount Orthys and Mount Olympus.
 * In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, it is mentioned that Briares married Cymopoleia, the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite.
 * As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Briares was the one who released Zeus, after the latter had been tied down by Poseidon and Hera (who were organizing an Olympian riot).