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Apollo   Apollo (Roman)    

Always. The sun always comes back.

–Apollo to Meg on leaving Aeithales in The Tower of Nero.

Apollo, known as Lester Papadopoulos in his most recent human form and the Trials of Apollo, is the Greek god of the sun, light, healing, disease, plague, music, art, poetry, archery, reason, knowledge, truth, and prophecy. He is the twin brother of the goddess Artemis, and they are together known as the "twin archers". He is the main protagonist and narrator of The Trials of Apollo series and one of the supporting characters in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series.

Apollo used to drive the Sun around the Earth in his chariot—a responsibility he took on when Helios, the original sun-god, faded after he was downsized by the Romans. As punishment for encouraging his legacy Octavian to pursue his perilous approach to conflict, Apollo is cast down from Olympus by his father, Zeus; stripped of his godhood, he becomes human for the third time. Alongside his new master Meg McCaffrey, Apollo is sent on a quest to secure the Oracles and is expected to have to face his old nemesis Python to become a god again. After erasing Python from existence, Apollo is restored to godhood. He bears the same name as his Roman counterpart.

History

Birth and Fight with Python

Apollo Killing Python

Apollo slaying Python.

When Leto was pregnant, Hera was furious with Zeus' unfaithfulness and forbade the Titan from giving birth on either the islands or mainlands. Fortunately, the floating Isle of Delos gave sanctuary to Leto, and through the help of all the goddesses, who begged Hera to allow Eileithyia (who's also her daughter) the goddess of childbirth, to come to Leto, she finally gave birth to the goddess Artemis and, nine days later, Apollo. A four-day-old Apollo petitioned Hephaestus for a golden bow and a set of arrows which he used to kill Python, a dragon that was previously sent by Hera to chase his mother, Leto. After his defeat of Python, Apollo established the Oracle of Delphi as recompense, for Python was the child of Gaea, and Gaea complained to Zeus about Apollo's act. He also established the Pythian Games and named his Oracle the Pythia, to honor his great foe.

First Love

One afternoon, Apollo came across Eros, who was in the form of a child and "playing" with his bow and arrows. He found the sight so humorous that he burst into laughter and mocked the young god of love, who decided to teach Apollo a lesson.

The next afternoon, when Apollo was walking by the riverside in Thessaly, Eros shot an arrow of love straight into his heart, causing him to fall instantly and hopelessly in love with a beautiful naiad who was bathing nearby named Daphne. He approached her and begged for her hand in marriage. Unfortunately for Apollo, Daphne had sworn off men due to the numerous tales of how being beloved by the gods had led many females to tragic endings, and therefore spurned his advances. Apollo has also wrote, in The Hidden Oracle, that Eros has shot a lead arrow into Daphne's heart, therefore Daphne has been stripped of any affection she had for Apollo.

A chase erupted, with some banter on Apollo's side. When Daphne started to tire, she cried to Gaea for help, and the goddess took pity on her and transformed her into a laurel tree just as Apollo was about to embrace her. Heartbroken by his loss of her, the god of the sun declared that though she now could not be his wife, he would still honor her: henceforth, the laurel tree would be a symbol of victory, and he would wear a crown of her leaves.

To this day, Apollo had never moved on from her memory, swearing never to marry (though he claims it is because he cannot decide between the Nine Muses.)

Losing his Cows

When Hermes was born, he stole Apollo's sacred cows. Outraged, Apollo demanded something to be done to him as punishment. Instead, to make up for it, Hermes created the lyre, a musical instrument, and gave it to Apollo as a peace offering. As soon as Apollo's gaze fell on the lyre, he was deeply mesmerized by it and instantly forgot about the cows. After that, Hermes and Apollo became the best of friends. Their friendship was so firm that Apollo said to Hermes that he was the most beloved of the gods to him. Later on, Hermes became an Olympian. Soon after, Hermes crafted the reed pipes. Apollo begged for them and so Hermes made a deal with him; he would give him the reed pipes in exchange for the caduceus. Apollo agreed to this deal. Apollo, then, became known as the god of music.

First Olympic Games

Apollo was believed to have won the first Olympic Games, established to honor Zeus' victory over Kronos and was originally a game for the gods, and he is said to have defeated Ares at boxing and Hermes at racing. Ever since then, the Ancient Greeks gave laurel branches as rewards to victors in honor of Apollo's success. After all, laurel was the holy tree of Apollo.

Hyacinthus

At some point, Apollo fell in love with a handsome mortal man called Hyacinthus. One day, Zephyros, the god of the west wind, who was also smitten by Hyacinthus, came across him and Apollo playing a game of quoits. Jealous that Hyacinthus preferred the radiant archery god to him, Zephyros shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring flung by Apollo right at Hyacinthus’s head, instantly killing the mortal. Devastated, Apollo transformed his lover's deceased body into a flower, the hyacinth. In order to avoid Apollo's wrath, Zephyros sought protection from Eros, who had mercy on him because he was driven crazy by love. Cupid took advantage of the situation by forcing the guilt-ridden wind god to work for him forever. As mentioned in The Hidden Oracle, Hyacinthus would forever remain one of Apollo's two all-time favorite lovers (on par with Daphne).

Punishing Niobe

ArtemisGG

Artemis, his twin sister

When Niobe insulted his mother Leto, saying her children were more numerous and better overall, Apollo shot arrows at Niobe's seven sons, while Artemis shot arrows at Niobe's seven daughters. However, Artemis spared one of her daughters.

Pandora

When his father Zeus decided to create the irresistible Pandora (in order to punish Epimetheus for his brother Prometheus's actions), Apollo helped by teaching the girl how to sing and play the lyre.

Olympian Riot and Apollo's Punishment

Hera, enraged at her husband's infidelity, decided to start the first (and last) Olympian riot against Zeus. Hera managed to gain the support of Poseidon, Athena, and Apollo himself. That evening the three hid in the hall adjacent to Zeus' royal chambers, awaiting Hera's signal. As soon as Zeus had fallen asleep, all four of them quickly tightly bound the King of Olympus with unbreakable and tightening golden chains. Even chained up and completely immobilized, an infuriated Zeus looked very intimidating. Finally, Poseidon attempted to reason with his brother and demanded that Zeus be a better ruler. Zeus refused, which prompted Hera to advocate leaving him chained up in his chambers until he agrees. Shortly thereafter, the four Olympians departed for the Throne Room for the first (and last) democratic meeting of the Olympian Council, which proved to be a very cumbersome task.

Fortunately, the violently thrashing and bellowing King of Olympus was found by the Nereid, Thetis. After convincing Zeus to be merciful towards the rioting Olympians, Thetis managed to find the Hekatonkheire, Briares, by the seashore. He was more than happy to save Zeus, recalling that he owes his own freedom from Tartarus and Kampê to him. Briares quickly unchained Zeus, after which the latter seized his Master Bolt, and barged into the Throne Room, violently ending the meeting. Zeus remained true to his word and was merciful towards the rioters, but he still punished them all accordingly.

Apollo and Poseidon were temporarily stripped of their godly powers and immortality, and forced to work as laborers on Earth for years. Hera was tied up and suspended on a rope across the abyss of Chaos, and subjected to Zeus' daily threatening of blasting the rope to let her fall into the nothingness and be dissolved. Fortunately for Athena, she managed to completely evade punishment by talking herself out of it.

Asclepius and Punishment

Apollo is also the god who found Chiron and raised him, attributing Chiron's skills and wisdom to Apollo's tutelage. Thus, after Asclepius, the demigod son of Apollo was born, he was raised by Chiron. The centaur taught the demigod in medicine and would drive him to become the greatest of healers. Asclepius is said to have been Apollo's favorite demigod child.

Asclepius became even more skilled in medicine than his father Apollo, most likely because he devoted all of his time to it. With the help of Gorgon Blood (given to him by Athena), Asclepius could cure any illness, heal any injury, and even bring back the dead with Physician's Cure. He most notably resurrected Hippolytos at his aunt Artemis' request. Furious, Hades forced Zeus to strike Asclepius dead with lightning as punishment for violating the natural laws.

Apollo was angered and devastated by his favorite son's death but couldn't take out his anger on Zeus himself as the king of gods was way too powerful, so he subsequently killed one of the Cyclopes (who forged Zeus's thunderbolts) in retaliation which caused Apollo to be suspended for a year. To prevent a feud, after Zeus resurrected his cyclopes, Asclepius was resurrected and made into a god, but was forbidden by Hades from ever resurrecting the dead ever again.

For his murder of the Cyclopes, Apollo was forced by Zeus to live on Earth for a year again, stripped of his divinity and godly powers, and forced to serve the mortal King Admetus of Thessaly as a shepherd for a year. Fortunately for Apollo, Admetus was very hospitable and treated the banished god with great respect. As a reward for his hospitality, Apollo even persuaded the Fates to reprieve Admetus of his fated day of death, as long as Admetus could find someone willing to die in his place.

Trojan War

During the Trojan War, Apollo was the chief patron and protector of the Trojans, Hector in particular. Apollo shot arrows of horrible plague into the Greek encampment as retribution for Agamemnon's insult to his priest, whose daughter had been captured by them. He demanded her return and the Greeks complied, indirectly causing the anger of Achilles, as Agamemnon took Achilles' concubine, Briseis, as compensation. Apollo also taunted Achilles in the form of Agenor so that he would chase him, giving the Trojans time to escape back to Troy.

When Diomedes injured Aeneas during a battle, Apollo rescued him after Aphrodite was wounded by Diomedes as well, trying to save her son, rebuking the latter lest he think fit to make attack upon a god again. He transported the Trojan to Pergamus where his wound was tended by his mother and sister. Throughout the war, he constantly drove on Hector and nearly destroyed the Greeks. At the behest of Zeus, Apollo used Zeus' Aegis to force the Greeks back to their ships. He also threw down the great wall the Greeks built, as easily as a child breaks a sandcastle. Apollo also aided Paris in slaying the invulnerable Achilles by guiding the arrow of his bow into his vulnerable (Achilles') heel.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Titan's Curse

Apollo's sister, Artemis, decides to hunt the Ophiotaurus, a powerful monster that has the power to bring down the gods and Olympus itself. Before Artemis leaves, she asks Apollo to take her Hunters and various demigods to Camp Half-Blood because this mission is too dangerous for them, although Zoë Nightshade wanted to come with her.

He agrees and makes a haiku about their meeting, but he and Artemis get into a tiny argument about "I am so cool," only being four syllables, he then changes it to, "I am so awesome." Everyone believes his haikus are terrible.

Apollo gives Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, Nico and Bianca di Angelo, and the Hunters a ride, and he allows Thalia to drive his chariot, as she is the daughter of Zeus, Lord of the Sky, saying that he won't zap her out of the sky. However, Thalia is terrified during the ride because of her fear of heights and ends up accidentally scorching New England. Apollo appears to be scared during the drive too, though he did say a few reassuring words during the ride.

The combination results in a gut-retching experience for the group. But at last, they arrive at Camp Half-Blood (by crashing into the lake) where Apollo sees them off and leaves.

After Artemis is kidnapped, Percy, Thalia, Zoë, Bianca, and Grover Underwood leave to rescue her and Annabeth Chase. Apollo is worried about his sister, and when he tries to use his supernatural sight to find her, he discovers she has been clouded from him, so he breaks the Ancient Laws, and helps the questers by getting on a train headed west. Apollo is in disguise as a homeless man named Fred, however, he tells Percy a haiku, which reveals himself (as Percy has never met anyone else who could tell such a horrible haiku). He warns Percy not to let anyone know he spoke to him and advises him to seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea.

Later, at Olympus, Apollo votes for Percy not to be killed, and gives him a thumbs-up from his throne. He was listening to his iPod at the time, so it is unknown how much of the debate he actually heard. He also offers Percy the chance to drive his chariot and archery lessons though Percy rejects the latter as he's terrible with a bow.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Apollo is mentioned when Percy is attempting to shoot Geryon through his three hearts, and he prays to Artemis and Apollo to ask them to guide his arrow.

The Last Olympian

Rachel Dare

Rachel, his Oracle.

Apollo joins forces with the other gods of Olympus against Typhon in his golden chariot. Apollo also cures Annabeth and he presides over the initiation of Rachel Elizabeth Dare as the new Oracle of Delphi at Camp Half-Blood while also healing Chiron. When Poseidon defeats Typhon, Apollo joins the rest of the gods on Olympus and is there when Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are all thanked for their efforts. When Annabeth is made the official architect of Olympus, Aphrodite and Ares agree with Apollo's suggestion for lots of statues of the gods.

The Heroes of Olympus

The Son of Neptune

Due to his archery skills, Frank had initially assumed that he was a son of Apollo and frequently prayed to the god to claim him, and he was rather dismayed after Mars claimed him even though Apollo wanted him to be.

The Mark of Athena

Apollo, along with most of the other Olympians, was incapacitated (with his personality split between him and his Roman form) after Leo was manipulated by Gaea into shooting upon Camp Jupiter from the Argo II.

The House of Hades

When Percy sees Apollo's grandfather, the Titan Koios, he notes that he has Apollo's bright smile.

Also, Zephyros mentions to Jason and Nico how both he and Apollo has once been in love with the handsome mortal man Hyacinthus, and how the West Wind killed the youth out of spite and jealousy.

The Blood of Olympus

In Ithaca, Hera/Juno notes how they can find Apollo and Artemis on Delos.

When the Argo II docks at Delos, Leo, Frank, and Hazel find the Twins, saying how only on Delos are they not incapacitated with pain by the Greek-Roman schism. Apollo expresses his strong disapproval of his legacy Octavian and then reveals that he has lost his sight of prophecy, as Python blocks the cave on Delphi once more. Leo talks to Apollo alone, asking for advice on his plan to defeat Gaea, as well as the physician's cure. Apollo remarks that the plan could work, similar to how the Titans once defeated Ouranos, by destroying his physical manifestation while he was at his weakest, as far as possifor his own realm. Apollo, however, warns Leo that any mortal close by would be destroyed if Gaea were to be defeated in such a way. Apollo tells Leo of the curse of Delos, the final ingredient for the Physician's Cure. When Leto was ready to give birth to Apollo and Artemis, Hera made all the nature spirits swear to reject Leto so she couldn't give birth. However, Delos was a floating island then, so Leto gave birth to the twins, causing the island to bloom yellow flowers out of happiness, but Delos became rooted then, so flowers picked by Apollo or Artemis on Delos are the curse of Delos. Leo trades Apollo a Valdezinator, a musical contraption that translates feelings into music in exchange for his help.

When Reyna, with the help of six pegasi, finally manages to place the Athena Parthenos on Half-Blood Hill, golden light ripples across the ground, seeping warmth into the bones of both Greek and Roman demigods and curing all of the Olympians (including Apollo) of their split personalities. As a result, Apollo and Artemis promptly leave Delos to participate in the final battle with the Giants in Athens. The twins help slay quite a few Giants with their arrows, after which Hades sends their bodes back to Tartarus, by opening up abysses after each Giant is killed.

After the battle, Zeus punishes Apollo for encouraging Octavian to follow his dangerous path but also for revealing the prophecy much too soon. He sends Apollo back to Olympus, even though Apollo told Leo that prophecy doesn't work that way, just that Zeus wants someone to blame.

Later, when Will Solace confronts Octavian, he claims that Apollo would strongly disapprove of the latter's actions. It can be assumed that Apollo wasn't at all saddened by his legacy's horrific fiery demise.

Between the Series

Apollo, due to having a mortal mind, has no recollection of what transpired during the six months between The Blood of Olympus and The Hidden Oracle, and it is only known that his father Zeus went through with his threat to severely punish Apollo, and decides to do so by making Apollo mortal for the third time, but this time without any powers whatsoever.

The Trials of Apollo

The Hidden Oracle

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Apollo crash lands in a dumpster as a human with vague memories of what happened to him. Two thugs see him with his wallet and attempt to rob him. Eventually, Apollo is rescued by a girl, Meg McCaffrey, and goes to Percy Jackson's house to seek his help on how to get to Camp Half-Blood. While there he is shocked to learn that the battle with Gaea was six months ago. He asks Percy for help in regaining his godhood, but Percy says that he is busy with school work but agrees to drive him and Meg to camp.

Along the way, they are attacked by three Nosoi, who infect him and the son of Poseidon. When Meg summons a Karpoi, who she names Peaches, they devour the plague spirits. They head to camp through the woods while Percy stays behind to deal with a police officer who arrived at the crash. While wandering through the forest Apollo hears voices calling out to him. Meg pulls him out of the woods and to camp. They make it to the amphitheater and he passes out. He dreams he is driving his sun chariot and a familiar-looking woman sits next to him. He then sees a man in a mauve suit telling him to find the gates and lead him to the oracle.

He wakes up in a cot in his children's cabin being tended to by Will Solace. Two more of his children arrive wondering if his being human will cause them to lose their powers and disappear, Apollo assures them that it would not happen. He is then brought to the big house to talk to Chiron, who fills him in on what has been happening at camp and hoping that he can solve the disappearances. They then go to dinner were Meg is claimed by her mother.

The next day he had physical training with Sherman Yang, which greatly tires him. He then has a music class and plays a beautiful melody that makes everyone present weep, but the former god immediately received the fatiguing consequences of playing in such a way. He has archery next and gets one bulls-eye and hit the white of the target with his other shots much to his dismay. His daughter Kayla tells him to practice, but out of frustration, he swears on the Styx to not play music or practice archery until he is a god again. He then sees Sherman going towards the forest calling his brother's and girlfriend's names. He snaps out of it and remembers nothing. The horn sounds for the three-legged death race and they head out.

For the race, he is paired with Meg and they search the Labyrinth for three golden apples. Then, they wind up under Delphi and hear Python talking with the Beast. After they find all three apples, their binds are undone and they run for camp. They make it to camp to learn that Kayla and Austin have vanished.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare arrives at camp and tells them about a company called Triumvirate Holdings, a company run by three of Rome's worst emperors. He then brings up the other Oracles he has, much to Rachel's annoyance.

The next day, he and Meg head into the woods and find a Palikos named Pete. He says his business partner Paulie has vanished. They are then attacked by three Myrmekes. Apollo breaks his oath and plays his combat ukulele and saves himself, but Meg is captured. He passes out from a head injury and is spoken to by Rhea. She says the Beast plans to burn the Grove of Dodona. He wakes up in Cabin Seven and goes to rescue Meg, but is stopped by Will, who wants him to rest.

After resting, he goes to the armory and grabs a bow and stuffs a quiver full of arrows. He goes to the Myrmekes' nest and sings about his faults to distract the giant ants. He rescues Meg but they are surrounded by three ants and he only has one arrow left. He shoots the ceiling of the cavern but nothing happens. In desperation, he waves Paolo's bandana, and the cave collapses. The two then face the queen ant and after Apollo sings to her she lets them pass.

They make it to the grove's antechamber and see the missing campers and the palikos Paulie. As they are about to free them, Nero shows up and reveals Meg as his step-daughter. Apollo is shocked. After trying to get Meg to see through him, she orders Apollo to open the gate so no one has to die by the Beast. After the gate is opened, Nero tries to set Austin on fire, but Peaches snatches the matches away. A fight ensues and Apollo temporally regains his divine strength and manages to defeat Nero's two Gemini guards, after which Nero sets the grove on fire and leaves. Apollo pulls his son off the stake and cuts him free, telling him to free the others.

BowAndPlagueInflectedArrow

The plague arrow he used to kill the automation

He goes into the grove to find Meg. He sees Meg struggling with the oracular voices of the grove, and he tells her to hang a wind chime. When they put the wind chimes on a tree, the voices stop and he hears a prophecy. Meg tries to set him free then leaves. When he returns, all the captives are free. He then summons the Myrmeke queen and the six fly to camp as it's getting attacked by Nero's automation. They land on a beach. Apollo comes up with a plan to strike the automaton with a plague arrow but needs a chariot. Nico gets him one and Apollo, Austin, and Kayla flies into battle. Apollo grabs an arrow from the automaton's armpit and succeeds in enchanting a plague arrow, but they crash to the ground. Luckily, Percy shows up and helps distract the automation while Apollo aims. He misses but the wind (Zephyros) blows it into the automaton's ear. It then sneezes its head off, but most of the camp gets hay fever by nightfall.

The next morning, Apollo decides to head out to find the oracles on his own, but he is visited by Percy and Rachel. They try to talk him into getting some help, but he declines. He tells them the prophecy and Percy says his companions will be at camp soon. Leo and Calypso arrive seconds later. After the two are filled in, they agree to company him. He is shocked to learn that they are dating and that Calypso has lost her powers as well. They agree to leave in the morning before they go for s'mores at the sing-along. The story ends with Apollo and Calypso convincing Leo to join the sing-along.

The Dark Prophecy

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Six weeks after Nero's attack on Camp Half-Blood, Apollo lands with Leo and Calypso on Festus in Indianapolis. The couple asks Apollo if he sees anything and he tells them no. The fallen god wonders why a member of the Triumvirate Holdings would want to set up their base in Indiana. He also worries about Meg, as he had a vision of Nero telling her to bring Apollo to him dead or alive, which concerned him since as his demigod master she could order him to do anything (like commit suicide). Also, he makes a remark about Hera's licorice. After getting off the roof, they notice the odd behavior of the pedestrians before they are approached by a woman named Nanette who immediately recognized him, grabbed him, and called to let others know he was in the state capital. Calypso punched the woman and freed Apollo, only to reveal that she was a Blemmyae working for the Triumvirate Holdings calling for back up. As they are surrounded, the three retreat as more blemmyae arrives on the scene. Calypso sees an alley where they head to and encounter a "headless cheese ghost". Upon leaving the alley, they are soon surrounded by the blemmyae. As they are about to be killed, Leo tells him and Calypso to distract the crowd. Apollo tells his story of how he became mortal while Leo made his way to a bulldozer that the blemmyae had with them. They made their way to the bulldozer and attempted to leave. As Nanette was about to kill the trio, she is shot and killed by an arrow, but not before she mentioned a naming ceremony for slaves in three days. A woman who knew Apollo was revealed to have fired the shot and killed the other blemmyae. She revealed her name is Emmie and she takes them to the Waystation.

When they arrive, Emmie takes Calypso to the infirmary and tells Apollo and Leo to talk with Josephine. They see an abandoned bedroom for a young girl along the way. They arrive in the main area and meet up with Josephine, who tells them of the Waystation's function as a safe house for wandering demigods, satyrs, and hunters. She explains that Emmie's real name is Hemithea, to which Apollo realizes that she was a princess from Ancient Greece that he made immortal before she became a hunter. Josephine then leaves the two to make themselves at home. After Leo heads over to Josephine, Apollo has a flashback of the day he made Emmie and her sister into minor goddesses and a vision of Nero telling Meg to catch him dead or alive. He then sees Emmie, Josephine, Leo, and Calypso standing over him saying that he has been out for hours. They tell him that Agamethus, the headless ghost from before, wants to talk with him, the group theorizes that the headless ghost wants to tell them something. Josephine gets a Magic 8 Ball so he can communicate. Agamethus tosses it to Apollo who read aloud 'Apollo will find her'. Emmie and Josephine then reveal their adoptive daughter, Georgie, who has been missing for two weeks. Emmie explains how she and Josephine left the hunters to be with each other, to Apollo's annoyance as he felt she wasted immortality. Apollo then realized that Agamethus was decapitated by his brother Trophonius, the dark oracle, he then asks about the emperor. The five make lunch and discuss matters. Apollo tells Emmie and Josephine the limerick the Grove of Dodona told him and they tell him the Cave of Trophonius was south on them in the Bluespring Caverns, but they are heavily guarded by enemy forces. They also say that the emperor has been abducting the Waystation's inhabitants and Georgie. They hear banging coming from the roof and Emmie and Josephine arm themselves before going to investigate. The three talk about Trophonius while doing the dishes, much to Apollo's annoyance. He explains that to prepare for the Oracle, one must drink from two springs representing forgetfulness and memory. Then they must head into the cave where they see a prophecy in the form of horrific visions. Then the priest sits them on the Throne of Memory to speak the prophecy for them to write down. He theorizes that Georgina might have gone through the ritual but had not sat on the throne. Then she went back a second time to sit but was captured. After Leo and Calypso fight, he hears their hostesses voices and heads into the main area where he is trapped in a net by Britomartis, the goddess of nets. After she freed him, Apollo concludes that she in charge of the Waystation. She asks Emmie and Josephine to leave while she talks with the trio. She tells them that the emperor is planning to rename Indianapolis in three days, and she wants them to use that time to save her griffin's from the city's zoo. She says that if they do this then she will tell them where Georgina and the Throne of Memory are. He also realizes that the emperor plans to kill him and Georgia during the ceremony. Britomartis sends him and Calypso to liberate her griffins while Leo works on their defenses. After they tell Emile and Josephine what Britomartis told them, the ex-hunters had them do chores with Apollo scrubbing toilets and sending him and Leo to sleep in separate quarters from Calypso. He and Leo talk about his relationship with the formerly immortal sorceress. He feels that sometimes she hates him for taking her from Ogygia and sometimes she loves him for it. Apollo dreams of his son, Trophonius, decapitating his half brother, Agamethus, after a failed robbery attempt. His dream then shifts to the emperor and his former lover, Commodus, having three people executed for failing him and losing the daughter of Demeter. He then orders a new agent, Lityerses, the son of Midas, to capture her and Apollo alive and move the griffins to him for safekeeping. Calypso wakes him up and they set out to free the griffins.

Saving the Gryphons

Apollo and Calypso saving the gryphons of the Waystation.

Apollo and Calypso make their way to the Indianapolis Zoo. At Calypso's request, he consulted with his talking arrow. The arrow told him the griffins were being held by a train and to bring tatters tots. He and Calypso argue about their mortal states, with Apollo revealing his hatred for Emmie giving up hers, though he offended Calypso too on that matter. They make their way to the zoo and find where the train is, unfortunately, Lityerses and five Germani are almost by them. They duck into a nearby cafe for cover, he keeps a lookout while Calypso picks the lock. They find a package of griffin tatters and combat ostrich cubes which reminds Apollo of a time he was with Commodus the day his father was killed. Calypso brings him back to the present and tells him that she found the train ride on a map, but hear Lityerses order one of his men to stay in the cafe. The duo makes a break for it but is cornered by the reptile house. He manages to shoot one Germanus in the foot before Calypso scares the man off with fake magic. They make it to the train but run into Lityerses who calls for backup. Apollo notices the vegetation aboveboard Lityerses's head moving but pulls Calypso out of the way as it falls on the swordsman, thinking this is Meg's doing. He then offers to drive the train. The train starts off slowly but they manage to accelerate. Apollo sees the sign for the monster enclosure and they switch to head for it. He notches an arrow and hits the lever. They wind up in the enclosure and find the griffins and others locked behind plexiglass partitions. They find the button to open the griffin enclosure and enter. Apollo realizes that the female griffin, Heloise, is about to lay an egg. He and Calypso sing an ancient song Zeus and Leto sang to him and Artemis when they were younger, this brought tears to the former god's eyes. He feeds the male griffin, Abelard, while Calypso feeds Heloise. Lityerses then appears behind them, as he is about to kill the two of them, Meg McCaffrey arrived and blocked his attack then orders him to leave. He mounts the Abelard and takes off, but not before firing an arrow at the control box releasing the other monsters. He pulled Meg onto Abelard and Calypso forced the net above them out of the way. The two former immortals were astonished by this act and he embraces his demigod master as they fly back toward the Waystation.

The three arrive at the Waystation. While Leo and Josephine take Calypso to the infirmity, Apollo and Meg talk with each other before Emmie informs them that the net goddess wants to speak with them. She informs them that Calypso's magic is her doing, much to the anger of Apollo and the recently returning Leo. Britomatris then tells them that Apollo will either succeed in his quest for Trophonius or be executed. She tells them where the entrance to Commodus' palace is and to avoid it. She tells Apollo to take Leo and Meg and go along the waterway to get into the palace. The goddess then leaves and Meg shouts Commodus' name at the top of her lungs, sparking Apollo to remember a time when he killed Commodus. He reminisces of the time he drowned and betrayed Commodus when he was disguised as his personal trainer, Narcissus, that flashback forces him to throw up in the toilet. Josephine comes in and talks with him about making past mistakes and moving on from them, as well as using life to benefit others. He spent the afternoon aiding Heloise in laying her egg.

When Apollo, Leo, and Meg headed for Canal Walk, Josephine gave him a tracking device to wearing so he can send reinforcements when they find Georgie. They take a peddle boat to find the secret entrance where Apollo tells them he killed Commodus. They see it as something he had to do and Meg tells them she met him and the western emperor, who, along with Nero, is keeping him in check in the center of the country. They soon spot a monster under the surf and proceed with caution. A little further down they find the entrance but are attacked by the Carthaginian Serpent and abandon ship. Meg manages to blind it in one eye before it is about to crunch her as it did to their pedal boat. Apollo notices bricks from a nearby condominium coming to lose and shouted to collapse it on the serpent, killing it and freeing Meg before the gate Leo opened closed again. They wade through the water until they find an alcove to get out and dry off. Meg thanks Apollo for saving her and theorized that his powers return temporarily to help others in life or death situations. They continue and wind up in the throne room, just behind Commodus. He orders Lityerses to destroy the Waystation by tomorrow morning. After the swordsman and others leave for the entrance he tells a guard, Alaric, to have Lit killed when he returned and puts him in charge of destroying the Waystation by tomorrow afternoon. The three exit and devise a plan of action. They wander around until they find where the prisoners are kept. After Meg and Leo take out the guard and open the door, Apollo is appalled by this and the three free the slaves. They find Georgie and free her before she comes running up to Apollo. He tells Leo to take the prisoners and head for the Waystation while he and Meg search for Throne of Memory. They eventually find the throne behind metal doors, which he unlocks with sulfuric acid, water, and baking soda. He straps the throne to his back and they head out of the compound. Meg synced a familiar presence and headed towards an empty chamber, which was revealed to be the stadium for the Indianapolis Colts. Commodus then revealed that this was only the rehearsal for the naming ceremony.

DP picture

Apollo and Meg face off against Commodus’ forces.

After unleashing monsters, animals, and mercenaries onto the field, Meg jumped on a combat ostrich and rid for the god-emperor while Apollo took his place on an elephant named Livia. Commodus ordered the fighting to stop before revealing a bound Peaches suspended in the air. As Commodus prepares to kill Peaches by setting him on fire, Apollo rides Livia onto the track to block Commodus' car. He cut off the helmet Livia was wearing and the elephant flung it at the god-emperor, causing him to swerve off the track and roll and crash on the field while Meg freed Peaches. The god-emperor reveals that he killed Livia's mate so that she would fight. Lityerses returned to inform Commodus that the Hunters of Artemis have attacked the gate and took out ten guards before retreating. Commodus orders Apollo, Meg, and Peaches to be locked up until the real naming ceremony tomorrow and was about to kill Lityerses before the roof exploded. Leo, Festus, and the Hunters of Artemis arrive and fend of Triumvirate's forces. He saves Lityerses and tells Leo to get him out, Thalia Grace rode with him on Livia. When they stopped to free the elephant from her armor Thalia told him that their father had forbidden Artemis from assisting him, but they were close by on other business and decided to help. Apollo wondered what else his sister was keeping from him, the three of them headed for the Waystation.

The three returned to the Waystation with habitat for Livia. They head to the main hall where they find everyone taking care of the released prisoners. As Emmie and Josephine sit Georgie on the throne she relays a message from Trophonius telling Apollo and Meg to go to his cave at first light so that his or Commodus' prophecy will come true. Georgie then becomes faint and passes out, but not before saying she was his daughter. Emmie was enraged by this and demanded Apollo to fix her daughter. He says he can not but she might be okay. After wondering what the part about the emperor meant, Literyses says that Commodus knows where the Waystation is and will attack in the morning. After Emmie stops the residents from killing Lit, she gives a speech with Apollo chiming in occasionally. As the Waystation prep airs for battle, Apollo is concerned for everyone's safety during the battle. After dinner, Emmie asks him if he sent Georgie to punish her, which he denies. After struggling to get to sleep he had a conversation with Olujime, one of the freed prisoners. He then wandered around until he found the library and spoke with the arrow of Dodona on transportation, it told him he can drive to the Oracle's cave in almost two hours. He is told by Leo and Calypso that they have decided to stay at the Waystation to have a normal life, he understands and is going to miss them.

After Leo got them a Mercedes they went south stopping only when they were pulled over by a police officer. When dawn was approaching he asked the Arrow of Dodona for directions. It told him to drive west until they found the emperor's sign and to find the two rivers and defeat the beasts that cannot be killed. They arrive and sit their car to find the unkillable guardians, Yales, which are an endangered species and they will be cursed if they kill them. After he and Meg are chased up a tree the daughter of Demeter encases the beasts in grass bindings before they find and make a break for the cave's entrance. He drinks a handful from the two streams at once, causing his mind to go somewhat blank and childlike before Meg tackled him down the entrance. After falling into the water he forgets who he is. Apollo sees a vision of Leto and Zeus in Florida, the former begging the latter to make him immortal again. He then sees the goddess Styx, who swears vengeance on the god for breaking his oath about not using instruments or a bow. Meg then snaps him back to reality and they head deeper into the cave. He asks Meg for honey cakes to appease the snakes, which she had no idea about. They reached the location where they would receive the prophecy, an island in the middle of a snake-infested lake. As he went into the water Meg demanded that he sing to detract the snakes, when that failed she sang her self, showing her memories of the father and his murder. He reaches the island in the heart of the lake and begs Meg to stop. The Oracle appears and berates his father for failing to save his brother. Apollo apologizes and offers himself in Meg's place, as she involuntarily invoked Trophonius. He agrees if Apollo grants him a wish, but then claims the daughter of Demeter anyway. Apollo tries frantically to help Meg to no success. Apollo begs his son for assistance but he does nothing, so he performs CPR on Meg to ease the girl's suffering. He takes on her negative emotions and memories, as well as parts of a prophecy. He finishes, but Trophiounus says she may be permanently insane. He then requests Apollo destroy his cave and warns him that Commodus' forces will be waiting for him with his explosives, he agrees. After surfacing, he sees Nanette and two other blemmyae. He notices they have trouble arming the bomb and theorized that they are colorblind. They notice him and an unconscious Meg and are about to kill them until he requests he pulls them assure politely. He makes a plan to trick them into destroying the oracle and themselves with the explosive device while and Meg escape. Nanette volunteers to go while the other two will kill both of them if anything happens to the female blemmyae. After Nanette was killed in the explosion, he told the other two to wait and look away while he kicked one of the blemmyae into the water only for him to be crushed by a rock. The other blemmyae took hold of him and broke his arm. Just the Peaches and two other Karpoi assaulted and killed the last blemmyae before checking if Meg was okay. Apollo told him they had to get her to Indianapolis fast before passing out.

Peaches and his friends drove Apollo and Meg back to Indianapolis halfway through the battle. He saw smoke coming from the Waystation and went as fast as his wounded body could take him after asking the fruit spirits to guard Meg. After taking out a badly wounded demigod working for the emperors, he made his way towards to Waystation to find battle and carnage. He found Heloise dead in the library and was worried for Abelard and their egg. When he reached the kitchen he saw Commodus with two Germani holding Emmie, Georgie and Leo hostage while Josephine, Calypso, Lit, and Thalia stood on the opposite end at a stalemate. Commodus demands the throne for the hostages, but Apollo tells his friends to stand down and he tells the emperor to leave before he sees the fear in Commodus' eyes. The mortal god miraculously unleashes his Divine Form and blinds the emperor and his troops. They take out the Germani and throw Commodus out of the Waystation. As they looked out, Commodus had vanished, not even those fighting outside saw him. As they saw the Karpoi carrying Meg, he told them to bring out the throne of memory, Meg revealed a long unnerving prophecy. They then cleaned up the Waystation and searched for Commodus. Then they had a funeral for Heloise, after which Apollo told Emmie she did the right thing in giving up her immortality.

They discussed the prophecy over dinner. It told that he and Meg would have to warn Camp Jupiter of an attack in five days. He theorizes that he and Meg can use the Labyrinth to get to the third emperor in the southwest. He talks with Thalia and she tells him to give her brother her best before she left. After breakfast, he spoke with Agamethus, apologized for his death, and told him he would do what he could to get him into Elysium when he was a god again. Meg brought him onto the roof where she summoned a satyr, Grover Underwood, to guide them through the Labyrinth as the prophecy said.

The Burning Maze

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For the past two days Apollo, Meg and Grover have been wandering the Labyrinth. He is worried that the longer it takes to find the Oracles, the harder it will be to become a god again. They stop just as a wave of fire comes before them and head to wear it came from. They hear a sound and run. They make it to a room and he tells Meg and Grover to block the entrance with tomato plants. They do, but a Strix comes in and scratches him, leaving the former god paralyzed. He tells them not to kill it or they will be cursed. Meg defends Apollo and slices off the strix's wing sending to die by hitting a wall, which he scolds her for. He is taped to Grover’s back and he asks the Arrow of Dodona how to defeat strip without killing them. The arrow says they need pig entrails, which they do not have. However, they could also use abrutus. Just then, more strixes break through their barrier. Meg catches up with them and she gives Apollo one of her scimitars. They reach the top and it is sealed. After they realize that a Brutus is a plant similar to strawberries, he plays his combat ukulele as Meg and Grover grow the plants at rapid speed. With the dome over their heads destroyed, the Strix disintegrated in the sunlight that shined through the cracks. They have made it to their destination.

After they exit the labyrinth, Apollo passes out. He dreams of the a woman shackled over a pit of lava, apologizing and telling Apollo it is a trap. It shifts to a Roman villa near Pompeii where a praetorian guard informs a young man of a man’s passing. He wakes up in a tent with a sleeping Meg grasping his wrist and Grover standing watch. Grover tells him that they are at his base in Palm Springs. He also tells the fallen god that there have been nature spirit deaths from numerous natural disasters that do not feel natural. He also says Meg was nervous about being here. Just as the daughter of Demeter woke up, Grover invites them to speak with his other companions. He takes them to a greenhouse and introduces them to a group of dryads. After telling them that they are the only scouting party to return, they disband and he and Grover carry an unconscious Meg to a well and meet up with Mellie and her infant satyr son. She says her husband has not returned and asks the two to look for him at a nearby military surplus store.

As they walk Grover tells him that the part of the labyrinth beneath Southern California is 'infected' by the third emperor referred to as Neos Helios. He also tells Apollo that he misses Pan and that preserving the wild is hard as most humans, demigods, and even some gods do not care about it. They arrive at Macro’s Military Madness and find Coach Hedge’s car in the almost empty parking lot. They go inside and find coach Hedge in the firearms isle. As they are about to leave, the manager approaches them and asks Lester if he is Apollo. When he wanders aft being flattered, he tells the employees, both automatons, to take Apollo alive and kill the satyrs. Apollo recognizes him as the killer of Tiberius from his dream and tells Grover and Hedge to run after hearing the emperor's full name. He is carried away by Hedge after the satyr causes an explosion to distract Macro and his employees. They make it to the front door but are locked in, just as Macro surrounds them. Grover crushes the manager with a canoe and the three flee. They make it to the back room and barricade the doors. He opens more employee automatons and has them surrounded Macro by shouting Plan Twenty-Three. They obey but confuse their order with another and start to self destruct the three open the cargo doors and get out just in time.

They land in a dumpster and hear the voice of a follower of the emperor. He leaves as police arrive and minutes later Apollo and the satyrs head back to base camp and discuss what they learned, mostly the emperor's name, to the Dryads. Everyone is shocked by this knowledge and asks what to do. Apollo says they need to go into the burning maze and find The Oracle of Erythaea before confronting Caligula. He is very upset that he is the third emperor, he was hoping it was kindly old Marcus Aurelius, noble Hadrian or bumbling Claudius. He is told by Coach and Mellie that Jason Grace and Piper McLean might know where the oracle is being held. He also tells the dryads their home might be destroyed. When he says this, Meg reveals her father built Aeithales. She leaves and Apollo goes after her. When he catches up with her, she shows him her memories of her old home and hopes Jason and Piper have the answers they need.

He, Meg and Grover take Coach Hedge's car and drive to Malibu. He thinks of the oracles and wonders if he was meant to liberate his forgotten oracles. They arrive at the McLean House and find movers emptying the house and Tristan McLean pacing the driveway. He tells them Piper is inside. They meet up with the daughter of Aphrodite and talk to her about their current events. Piper informs them that several associates of her father worked with Caligula to ruin her father. Apollo mentions that he did something similar to Meg and that they need to find the Oracle of Erythaea. Piper agrees to join them and they set out. After they wait for Piper to get her weapons, they head to downtown Los Angeles in a car Piper borrows from her neighbor. He drives and they get out at a metal gate, the entrance to the labyrinth, and stand by as Piper shoots the guard with a blow dart. After the guard is knocked out the four take a service elevator bellow ground. After turning a few corners, they run into two of Grover's allies, Agave and Money Maker. After Grover and Meg do what they could, Grover takes them above ground to heal properly. He and the girls continue on until they reach an abandoned parking garage and run into Medea. She requests Meg and Apollo to come with her. Apollo realizes her plan is to merge the last of his immortal essences with that of Helios to turn Caligula into the new sun god. He stands his ground and she sticks her dragons on them. The dragons are quickly slain by Piper and Meg. However, the sorceress soon knocks Meg unconscious and traps Apollo in a swarm of venti. She tells them the only way to reach the oracle is to be allowed to go to the center of the maze by her. Medea agrees to a duel with Piper, however, the sorceress uses Helios as a weapon. He takes Meg and hides behind a column. The daughter of Demeter regains consciousnesses and goes to help Piper. Apollo asks the arrow for help and it tells him to fire a dart at the sorceress. Apollo tells this to Piper and the daughter of Aphrodite shoots Medea in the shoulder. After the sorceress passes out, the fire of the titan goes out of control and the three retreat.

The three managed to get back to the service elevator and to the surface before passing out. Apollo dreams of a brief meeting he had with Caligula that kept him away from Rome for decades. He awakes back in Aeithales and is relaxed that Meg and Piper are going to be fine, however, he is upset that Money Maker died. He tells Grover to call a meeting. They discuss what their next move should be and decide it is to ask Jason about what the oracle of Erythethea told him and to find Caligula’s boots to guard them through the maze. That night he dreams of Nero speaking to Python about their plans. He wakes up and helps Meg plant the seeds her father showed her years ago before they head out to talk with Jason in Pasadena with Piper and Meg. They reach his school and head to the son of Jupiter's dorm room to talk. He tells them of his plan to honor all the gods before telling them what he knew. He agrees to go with them and Apollo stays while Piper and Meg go to the office. He asks the son of Jupiter what he was really told. He speaks with Jason about the prophecy the oracle gave him and said that if they faced Caligula, either he or Piper will die. Apollo tells him that he can not hide a prophecy for long. He tells Apollo that he tried to stand up for the fallen god when Zeus sent him to Olympus. Jason asks Apollo to remember what it was like to be human and, in case the son of Jupiter dies, to take his plans for temples to Camp Jupiter. Apollo agrees and they leave to meet up with the girls.

The car they borrowed from Mr. Bedrossian had been towed, so Piper gets them a school van and they drive to Santa Barbara. They search Stearns Wharf but find nothing, Apollo mentions that this looks like Baiae. During a dinner break, they see a small fleet of yachts form a blockade around the harbor, with police, The coastguard and mercenaries going out to help with security. Apollo suggests they start with the middle yacht. Piper manages to lure a dinghy of mercenaries to the shore and take their boat and head for the central yacht. Jason and Piper go onboard first and he talks with Meg about her recent violent thoughts. Just then they are captured by two Pandai and taken prisoner. The two are taken aboard and, along with Jason and Piper, to an interrogation room after Meg tells the pandai she wants to kill Caligula. After they reveal the pandas inadvertently reveal the location of the shoes and the location of Caligula to be boats forty-three and twelve respectively, Meg breaks free. While he and the demigods take care of most of the pandai, he takes out a cyclops with the Arrow of Dodonna, with the exception for Crest who Apollo said to spare. They split into two groups, Piper and Apollo find the shoes and Jason and Meg find Caligula. He dresses Piper’s head wound and they set off to find the shoes. They go a few boats without being noticed until they are and Piper asks Apollo to help her while she sings. During the song, he learns of her conflicting emotions. They stop in Caligula's wardrobe boat so Piper can rest. He asks her about her strong emotions during the song. The daughter of Aphrodite tells the former god she broke up with Jason because she felt their relationship was forced onto them by Hera and forced to continue by her mother. She says she wants time to define herself without anyone else and Apollo agrees. They make it to the shoe boat and get the location of the shoes. They make it to the room and find the shoes, adult versions of the legionnaire sandals that gave Caligula his nickname, when Crest finds them and tells them Meg and Jason have been captured. Just then Incitatus arrives and knocks out Piper and Crest, subdues Apollo, and takes them to Caligula. Apollo starts to fear for his life. They arrive in the emperor’s throne room and he greets them. Caligula taunts the fallen god and orders Medea to kill Meg and Jason, however, Apollo takes the arrow of Dodona and, knowing Caligula needs him alive, threatens suicide if they die. He performs a standoff until a pandos came in and told Caligula their attack on Camp Jupiter failed. After the emperor kills the messenger Apollo stabs himself, but the arrow moves away from his heart. Caligula and Medea rush to perform the ritual, just as Apollo hoped so the tornado prisons weaken. He watches as Jason breaks free and takes out the pandai with his lightning and fights Caligula. Piper helps him up and they watch as Caligula kills Jason. They flee on the back of Tempest.

They are taken to Piper’s house and see Crest and Meg. Tempest arrives with Jason's body, Meg orders Apollo to heal him but can not as he can not cure death. Tristan arrives soon after and tells Apollo to call 911 on the landline in the house. The daughter of Aphrodite tells him to leave. After having Crest call an ambulance, he, Meg and the pandos take Coach Hedge’s pinto to Palm Springs. Meg tells him the son of Jupiter’s death was not his fault. They tell everyone about Jason’s sacrifice and decide to go to find the Oracle in the morning. He is told by Crest of another entrance to the Burning Maze. Meg gets Grover to join them.

He wakes up at three in the afternoon and, after eating an enchilada, overhears Meg and Joshua and goes over to them. The seeds they planted the day before had grown into ash tree saplings. Apollo realizes them as Meliai, the original dryads, and praises the daughter of Demeter and her father for their work and research. Grover gets a car and, with Crest, the head for the old Las Angeles zoo. They find a sealed entrance in an old bear exhibit and have trouble opening it until Grover plays a song. He, Meg and Grover go in while Crest keeps watch. Once they enter he puts on the sandals and, a few moments later, word puzzles start to appear. They go down the path with the same number of glowing tiles there are letters in the answer. After the third puzzle, the fallen god realizes it reads APOLLO FACES DEATH, much to his horror. They continue with the next two answers being TARQUIN, the last king of the Rome (he brought back some bad memories to Apollo even though the Roman Kingdom was like a backwater and the period was a little hazy, the gods were still based in Greece then), and TOMB. They then receive a puzzle referring to both his long-deceased boyfriend Hyacinthus and the plant named after him, Hyacinth. Apollo becomes frustrated and gets the answer wrong, the right one being UNLESS, causing the floor to vanish and the three to fall. He and Meg are caught by Grover before falling into the fires of Helios. He has an idea and tells Grover to release him. He falls into the fire and speaks with his predecessor, learning he wants Apollo to kill Medea so the Titan can be free. Apollo agrees and the fire vanishes. The three proceed. They reach the room holding Herophile and continue the prophecy to get across, which states DOORWAY SOUNDLESS GOD OPENED YO BY. Before they can get more Medea arrives with Crest and more pandai. Meg cuts the oracle free, but her molten chains ensnare Apollo as soon as they are cut off. Medea sends two pandai to guard Apollo and, after Meg and Grover try to help Apollo, are trapped in a vortex over the lave of burning Ichor. The sorceress proceeds to take Apollo’s essence and he starts to forget and lose himself. At Herophile's urging, the fallen god recites a prophecy. He is saddened when a Medea kills Crest when he finishes. The sorceress proceeds to kill Apollo. At that moment, Piper arrives with the Meliai and stabs Medea in the back before pushing her into her grandfather's flames. Apollo runs over to Crest and comforts him until he dies. He examines the prophecy he recited and with Meg’s help, notices the first letter of each line spells BELLONA'S DAUGHTER. Piper tells him they will need the help of Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. As the room is collapsing, he convinces Helios to leave. The group exits the Labyrinth, but are cornered by Incitatus and dozen pandai. However, Meg quickly orders the Meliai to kill their enemies and they head back to Palm Springs.

They drive back to Aeithales in a daze of sorrow. When they arrive he tells Herophile she should live there, which she accepts. Grover tells them he is heading back to Camp Half-Blood and wishes him and Meg luck. That night Apollo dreams of Styx, she tells him there will be more death. The next morning he wakes up and Meg tells him to come with her. The house had been regrown by the dryads to an almost identical copy of the original. He gets concerned when they ask Meg to stay, but she chooses to go with Apollo. They head to an airfield in Santa Monica Beach and meet up with Piper, who gives them the plane to take themselves and Jason to Camp Jupiter while her father and the Hedges drive to Oklahoma. The daughter of Aphrodite give Apollo Jason’s planes and he hears his promise to remember being human. Just then Leo Valdez arrives on Festus, the son of Hephaestus tells them that the Twelfth Legion Fulminata had managed to ward the attack, however many lives were lost and the camp was almost destroyed, but Frank, Reyna, and Hazel Levesque are all okay. Apollo and Meg take the plan to the Bay Area, promising that he would not let these deaths be in vain.

The Tyrant's Tomb

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Shortly after taking off from Santa Monica, Apollo and Meg McCaffrey land in Oakland Airport. As Apollo fills out paperwork, Jason Grace's coffin is loaded onto a hearse ordered for them by the McLeans. They two put their things on in the backseat and drive to Camp Jupiter. He thinks about Caligula's upcoming attack and worries about facing off against Python as a human. However, they are attacked by an Eurynomos and Meg orders him to swerve. He drives off the freeway and into a grove of trees that the daughter of Demeter uses to break their fall. The Eurynomos informs them that Caligula is not his master and they try to stop it from eating Jason. Luckily, they are saved by a girl in Roman armor who manages to kill it. She introduces herself as Lavinia and they inform her of Jason's death. She is saddened and escorts them to camp as a second eurynomos is heard in the distance.

He, Meg, Lavinia, and Don, a faun Lavinia made help carry Jason's coffin, each act as pallbearers for the son of Jupiter and take his body down a secret passageway. They are met by Lavinia's centurion partner and centurion, Hazel Levesque, just as the other eurynomos, along with a third, finds the tunnel. He, Hazel, Meg, and Lavinia try to fend them off and succeed in killing them, however, someone speaks through the eurynomos and he is lightly scratched in the gut. As he steels himself to tell Hazel Jason is dead, the daughter of Pluto realizes who it is and cries on the coffin. The four then continue to carry Jason to camp.

The group arrives at camp and meet with Frank Zhang and Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. When he sees Reyna’s face, he remembers a warning Venus gave him to stay away from someone named Reyna and he realizes this is that Reyna. He is announced as the god Apollo and the camp is in disbelief. He sings a song about his situation, quest, and Jason's sacrifice. The praetors declare a state funeral and the complete Jason's dream by the weekend. After he and Meg are allowed to stay, he passes out. He dreams of Caligula and Commodus sailing to Camp Jupiter, saying they will reach it in a week. The dream then shifts to an underground chamber with a skeletal figure in it. He wakes up to learn from Meg that it has been a day and a half since he passed out. He sees construction at Temple Hill and learns that Jason’s funeral is that night. Frank flies into their room as a raven and takes human form when he lands. He says he can take them to Tyson and Ella to discuss the burning maze.

As they walk to Tyson and Ella, Frank tells Apollo of the attack and the results, telling how many are dead or missing and fearing that they would be resurrected and fight against the legion. When they reach the city's boundaries, Terminus appears and mocks his current mortal form as payback for centuries of making fun of him. When he learns his Birthday is April 8th, he realizes that is when the forces of Triumvirate Holdings will strike again. They reach a bookstore and are greeted by Tyson as he is getting a tattoo. When they enter he is mildly unsettled by Aristophanes, the cat of the bookstore‘s late owner. When they enter the makeshift tattoo parlor I’m the back room, he realizes that Ella's tattooing of Tyson is mentioned in the prophecy line "The words that memory wrought are set to fire“ and asks Ella about an attack within four days. She finds a passage on Tarquin and reads it" A wildcat near the spinning lights The Tomb of Tarquin with horses bright. To open his door, two-fifty-four.” He and Frank then leave the attend the funeral precision where he performs the rites. Just as the pyre is about to be lit, Lupa arrives and requests to speak with him alone. The wolf goddess tells him to be strong and, if he can find the tomb and defeat Tarquin, he can call for godly help and start to regain his godhood. She vanishes. Apollo tells Frank and Reyna he will tell them at the senate meeting the next day.

That night he dreams of a meeting between Tarquin and the Oracle of Cumae when she was selling her books to Rome. Soon Meg wakes him up and they sit with Lavinia at the Senate House. She asks him about her mother, the muse of dance, but he can not recall much about her. Reyna then calls him to speak. He mentions the approaching attack with unknown weapons and the undead forces of Tarquin. He says that if they find the tomb they can ask the gods for help. After approving the quest, he is sent with Meg, Hazel and Lavinia to find the tomb. After the meeting the four have lunch at the bell tower of New Rome University, he uneasily tells Meg to stop her cartwheels on the roof. The four of them agree to meet up at sunset in the Field of Mars. He goes back to the coffee shop and dreams of the day he cursed the Oracle of Cumae after rejecting him and feels guilty. He wakes up and readies his things for the quest. He gets there early and asks the Arrow of Dodona for advice, which it thinks on. Just then Frank and Hannibal arrive and he speaks with the praetor. He and Frank talk about quests and the son of Mars' curse before the girls arrive and set off.

Tyrant's Tomb Quest

Apollo and the others on a reconnaissance mission in Tarquin's Tomb

As they hike, Hazel explains how Frank turned the tide of the invasion by himself with little regard for his own well-being, while he tells her everything he can about Tarquin. They reach Tilden Park and find the entrance, after realizing the numbers are different then what that thought, they put in the closet they can and enter. They make their way to the throne room and see the zombies of the recently killed legionnaires. They learn that he plans to attack with the emperors, Tarquin then turns to the four, calling them out. After Meg launches herself at Tarquin. the others are forced to follow, he fires all his arrows in under twenty seconds before Tarquin triggers the poison in his system, turning him into a zombie. However Hazel crushes him and the four get away. Meg takes them to the surface. When Hazel senses the enemy. Lavinia points them in the right direction and goes to hold them off.

He passes out on the way back to camp and dreams of Python in Delphi. He wakes to Pranjal, the legion's best healer, doing what he can to help Apollo but his remedies fail due to his status as a former immortal, saying he can only slow it down. Meg then takes him to their room so he can freshen up and to the Mess Hall to eat on their way to speak with the praetors. When they see them, Frank and Reyna inform them that in invoke the aid of the gods, the need to sacrifice one. He is relieved when they say the soundless god must be sacrificed. After reciting the rest of the prophecy he theorizes that Triumvirate Holdings is using the soundless god to blackout communications between demigods. They guess he is at either Sutro Tower or Mount Sutro. Frank uses emergency powers to send Meg, Apollo, and Reyna on the quest.

When they return to their room, Meg tearfully says she thought she could cure him if she killed Tarquin. He embraces the daughter of Demeter and calms her down. He sleeps as she gets dinner. He dreams of the Julia Drusilla Yachts each armed with a canon filled with enough Greek Fire to take down a building. He wakes up in the middle of the day and goes to the Mess Hall for lunch and sits with the Fifth after Lavinia calls him over. He explains what he saw in his dream, worrying the others. After lunch, he is assigned to teach archery to the Fifth Cohort. He lands twenty bullseyes when demonstrating, much to his surprise. The lesson goes alright and later, as he makes his way to dinner he is dragged away from camp by Don and Lavinia. They drag him to People's Park in Berkeley to tell the nature spirits their what happened in Southern California and sees Peaches. He explains what happened and the dryads and fauns become worried. Lavinia leads Apollo back to camp and she hints at deserting the legion, he realizes that she was never happy in the twelfth. She leaves Apollo at his room and leaves. He goes to sleep and wakes up the next morning ready for the battle.

He meets up with Reyna and Meg at the front gates of camp just as Frank and Hazel pull up in a red pickup truck and the three, plus Reyna‘s dogs, head out. She explains that they will head to Sutro Tower due to the information she obtained from Thalia Grace. As she talks highly about the daughter of Zeus and the Hunters, Apollo silently questions himself on how Reyna truly feels about the hunters. They park near the tower and hike up. When Reyna asks why he acts strange around her, he tells her what Venus said about her and suggests they become involved romantically. The daughter of Bellona laughs historically at this and rejects the idea before they continue. They reach the base of the tower and as Reyna investigates the station, he tells Meg about what he said to Reyna and about Peaches. She says she knows about both and knows that Peaches is focused on protecting the nature spirits. The praetor returns and the three start to climb the tower. As they climb, Meg smells roses and when the three are close to the second platform, they are attacked by a conspiracy of ravens. He tells the girls he turns ravens from white to black as punishment for telling him his pregnant girlfriend was cheating on him and had Artemis kill her. The girls scold him for this and he then sings a Dean Martin son as badly as he can, scaring the birds away. He also spots a red metal crate on the second platform.

When they reach the platform they see the crate and smell roses. Meg goes to investigate but when she shouts back at them he and Reyna only hear every other word. He goes over and sees Alexandria, Egypt written on it in Arabic. He knows who the god is but cannot remember his name. He pulls out the Arrow of Dodona and it reminds him of the god's name, Harpocrates, the Pletomic god of silence. He goes back to inform the girls who the god of silence is and that he vowed to vaporize Apollo one day. He says how he used to bully him, much to the girl’s anger. They quest if they have to kill him to get the gods to help them but cannot think of an alternative. He suggests hacking away at the chains of the shipping container, but it would take to long. Reyna decided to boost Apollo's strength to rip the chains. He agrees and easily does so before entering. The three are forced to their knees by Harpocrates' anguished memories. Meg and Reyna show him their memories with Apollo showing him his worst moments as a human. He notices the Fasces of Commodus and Caligula are holding Harpocrates back and, if they destroy them, can weaken the two and tells the demigods to do so. When the axes are destroyed. Harpocrates tries to vaporize Apollo but the girls send good memories to show how he changed. He then notices a jar on the silence god's lap, what is left of the Oracle of Cumae. The two agree to leave the world to help Apollo save Camp Jupiter and he questions how easily they agreed to it. As Harpocrates put his last breath in the jar, he crumbles. The girls notice that Apollo’s condition is getting worse and Meg hears the ravens returning.

They fight them off and see that it is sunset and the emperors have entered San Francisco Bay. Meg creates a beanstalk to get them down quickly but she passes out from the effort and he and Reyna carry her to the truck. They hit traffic on the way back to camp and they talk about Apollo forming a consciousness. Reyna has him pull out a scroll to call Frank and they get through. As Frank reveals he is working on something in the Caldecott Tunnel before the scroll burns up. When they hit traffic, Reyna drives through the roadblock just as Meg wakes up. As they near camp, a Eurynomos attacks and he and Meg drive while Reyna fights. He feels pain when Reyna stabs it and swerves off the road and plummets to the ground below. The next thing Apollo remembers, he is in a Target parking lot pushing Meg in a shopping cart and Reyna is injured by the remains of the pickup truck with her dogs guarding her. Soon Lavinia and a group of nature spirits arrive and take them to the woods by the parking lot. He overs hears two of them saying he will become a zombie once it is dark. Lavinia reveals she has a plan and has a faun knock Reyna out before she can punish her. The group leaves and leaves them their things. The jar is intact and he and Meg find a way to get to Camp Jupiter.

Meg rents public bikes and they cycle to camp through a passage Lavinia told Meg about. They take out a group of Khromandae and save the second cohort from a group of Cynocephali. Larry has two legionnaires, Carl and Reza, take them to Frank. When they arrive they see him and Hazel arrives soon after riding Arion, Terminus then informs them New Rome is being overrun by zombies coming up from the sewers. Hazel takes him and Meg to Temple Hill to perform the ritual with Tyson and Ella. They arrive and the girls leave him so they can fight, Apollo thinks hard about which god to summon. He thinks of summoning his father but feels he will just laugh at him and do nothing. He chooses to summon his sister. The three go to the Temple of Diana and begin the ritual. He starts a fire and reads what to say off of Tyson’s left armpit. He places the jar in the fire, it explodes and nothing happens. Ella says he read a line wrong. Looking around the valley, he decides to go into battle and tells Ella and Tyson to stay.

He goes to the start of the Caldecott Tunnel to see the last dozen members of the legion and Frank defending it. Soon the fighting stops and Commodus and Caligula roll up on chariots pulled by de-winged Pegasi. This outrages Apollo and he fumbles towards them. The emperors demand their surrender but Frank calls spolia opima, single combat to the death, and they accept. Apollo joins in and both sides order their followers to leave. Frank tells him he is ruining his plans and to run when he says so. Commodus fights him while Frank fights Caligula. They head into the tunnel, he dodges Commodus’ attacks and goes to strike him with his combat ukulele, but the god-emperor crushes it and Apollo, in a fit of rage, regains his strength and swats Commodus across the road and into a guardrail. He looks around the tunnel and notices explosives and flammable oils on the ground. While he is distracted, Commodus comes up and punches him in the starch. He sees Caligula about to stab Frank, but his cloak saves his life. The son of Mars tells him to hobble Commodus and he stabs him behind the knees. The praetor tells Apollo to run as he ignites his stick, covering him and Caligula in flames as the tunnel explodes. He is burned by the blast but the emperor‘s troops just stare at him. He senses Caligula died in the explosion but sees Commodus crawl out severely burned. In a fit of rage, Apollo tackles him and shouts, rendering his former lover to ashes. As the yachts fire their projectiles, they land right on the ships and destroy the fleet. The emperors‘ forces flee and he watches as emergency responders enter the scene. He wishes to die to end his pain, but knows that others still need him. Apollo frees the two mutilated Pegasi and asks for a ride, one leaves and the other agrees.

He arrives in New Rome to find it nearly overrun by the undead. He sees Meg run into battle with the unicorns, who have had their horns converted to Swiss Army Knife like contraptions. She sees him and knows something has happened from his face and they go to Hazel. They find her battling the undead and she and Arion fight their way out. Just by seeing his face the daughter of Pluto knows something happened to Frank and has Arion find him. They reach the bookstore to find Tarquin questioning Aristophanes about the local of the Sibylline Books and when Apollo makes his presence known he forces the information out of Apollo and summons more of his hoard. Nothing happens and Aristophanes attacks the undead king while Hazel joins him and Meg fights the zombies. As the poison takes it's effects, Diana arrives and finishes off Tarquin and heals Apollo. As they exit the store he sees the hunters and Thalia, who share a silent agreement to talk about Jason later. He sees Lavinia and learns she was responsible for destroying the fleet on Reyna's orders, which the daughter of Bellona confirms. He and his sister talk before Arion returns with a living Frank Zhang. They rush Frank to the medical tent and save him. Apollo and Hazel wait at his side and theorize how he survived. After Frank wakes up and they talk, he walks the medical tents and sees Don dying of his injuries he sustained from staying on the yachts to make sure they are destroyed. He asks Apollo what reincarnation is like before dying and becoming a laurel tree. He has the nature spirits plant the tree, telling them to plant it somewhere where it will grow strong, adding that Don was a hero.

Over the next few days, he aides in the clean up of New Rome and attends a mass funeral for those who died in the battle. Thalia comes up to him and says she does not blame him for Jason‘s death, which made him feel worse. Reyna then comes up to him and they walk to the Senate House. On the way she explains that she has been forcing herself to find someone romantically and that his proposal caused her to realize how foolish she has been. At the Senate meeting he cheers along with everyone else when Reyna resigns from the legion to join the Hunters of Artemis, Hazel is appointed praetor, and Lavinia is promoted to centurion of the Fifth Cohort. He and Neg are given gifts, Apollo is given his bow from when he was a god and the daughter of Demeter is given a pouch of seeds. They head to the Mess Hall for a victory feast and Apollo's belated birthday.

In the morning, they say goodbye to their friends and head to Tyson and Ella to receive a prophecy. After hearing it Apollo realizes it is incomplete and they will find the rest at their destination, Nero’s Building in New York City.

The Tower of Nero

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Luguselwa by John Rocco

Apollo and Meg being "taken" by Nero's forces.

As Apollo and Meg ride an Amtrak from Washington, D.C. to New York City, he sees an Amphisbaena get on and become suspicious, Meg tells him to leave it be and he thinks of his upcoming fight against Python and if he will regain his godhood in the next few days or die trying. When he realizes the amphisbaena is still on the train when they reach Philadelphia he goes over to investigate. It snatched his wrist and recites the next three lines of the prophecy he heard before leaving Camp Jupiter. It snaps out of a trance before being killed by Luguselwa, a Gaul under the service of Nero who takes him and Meg to the concessions car. As they enter Lu tells them to go to the bathroom when they reach the New York State line. She explains that Nero used the Oracle of Delphi to know then they would arrive in the city and had teams at every station and port to find them. When they cross into New York, Lu escorts him and the daughter of Demeter to the bathroom and while Lu and Meg have a mock sword fight, he hold the doors closed and unhooks the cars from the rest of the train. As they walk through the maintenance tunnels he realizes Luguselwa trained Meg, but has a hard time trusting her. They exit through a manhole on the Upper East Side in a rainstorm and they wonder where to go next. He argues with Meg about going to Percy's apartment, but reluctantly agrees to go for help.

When they arrive, they are greeted by Sally, Paul, and Estelle Blofis. They explain the son of Poseidon just graduated high school and is going to the west coast with his friends. They are invited to stay for dinner and they agree. As Paul helps him select dry clothes, he talks about the strength and determination his step-son showed while getting his high school diploma. He leaves and Apollo bathes as he wonders how he can repay the Blofis-Jackson family for their kindness in addition to Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter, and Waystation. He gets dressed and joins the others for dinner. They tell Sally and Paul about their travels and they discuss their next move, Lu mentions there is a secret entrance at the bottom of the building that a small team of demigods can sneak into as he and Meg surrender as a distraction. He objects to this as be does not trust her, but Lu says if they don't Nero will destroy the city and anywhere they were harbored. He reluctantly agrees and, questioning how Lu will return and convince Nero she is still on his side, Lu says he will push her off a roof. The following morning after breakfast, they Lu takes them to a ten-floor building under construction across the street from one of Nero’s properties. She explains she and Meg will have a mock fight while he hides and tosses her off the roof. She elaborates more on getting captured by saying the holding cells are close to the vault housing Nero's fasces, but it is guarded by something. The Gaul gives something to Meg before they put the plan in motion. He hides as the others fight, but things get to real when she slices his forehead and stabs Meg in the thigh. His strength returns and he tosses Lu ten blocks away before she lands on a car. He and Meg go to the ground as she reveals what Lu gave her, a coin for the Chariot of Damnation. They enter after he proves he's Apollo by revealing personal details he knows about them. They allow him and Meg to ride and they take them to Camp Half-Blood. Along the ride, they reveal the next three lines of prophecy before they arrive at Half-Blood Hill. They are greeted by Dionysus, who hugs him and is grateful their father punished someone worse then him and walks Apollo around camp, introducing him as his new assistant Mr. A as they make their way to the Big House. Once they arrive, they are greeted by Will Solace and Nico di Angelo. Will hugs him as Apollo cries and the son of Hades asks about the son of Jupiter. They keep silent as Meg takes Nico’s hand and he senses something that scares him and runs off. Soon after Apollo passes out.

He dreams of Lu being brought before Nero on a stretcher as the emperor addresses eleven of his adopted demigod children to prepare to burn New York in forty-eight hours. It shifts if Python slithering underground as he taunts Apollo. He wakes up the following morning alone in his cabin with Seymour in his bed, which Dionysus takes back to the Big House, and Will comes out of the shower revealing the others went for a hike. His gives him fresh clothing and they exit just as his children return. He is introduced to his sons Jerry and Yan and his daughter Gracie. They head to breakfast and his children reveal they want to help him with Nero. Soon Dionysus calls him and Will to the head table. Meg joins them as Dionysus reveals he was sent a letter detailing the burning of the greater New York area if he and Meg do not surrender. They also dissect the prophecy and tell them about the plan Lu made to surrender to Nero so that his guard will be down and they talk about Nico's "friends" that Will is against and they will need the help of Rachel Elizabeth Dare. He and Meg are given the day off to rest as they get ready for the infiltration. He speaks with Sherman Yang about the possibility of Nero stockpiling enough Greek Fire to burn the Greater New York Area and if he knows of any secret entrances in the tower, the son of Ares thinks it is possible and that if they did exist they would be rigged with traps. He then goes to speak with Malcolm Pace if he knows anything about the tower, he says he can do research but it would take him four weeks. Apollo then goes into the woods to speak with the Arrow of Dodona about the road ahead. It says it cannot go back until the quest is completed and it sees something about his future but withholds it and Apollo ends the conversation. He hears something and finds Peaches being fawned over by dryads, who vanish when they see him, with Meg. The two talk about their uneasiness about slipping back into their old selves when they reach the tower before accepting they must do it. In the morning with wakes him up and they meet up with Meg and Nico as the head to the road where Argus is waiting to drive them to Brooklyn.

Argus drops them off a block away and they walk to their destination. Rachel greets them and tells them the cattle are watching. She brings them to her room and he sees paintings of his and Meg's adventures over the past few months as she tells him every time he freed an oracle, she would get temporary glimpses of the events before her visions fogged up again. She shows them cattle cars fill with livestock that have been there for a past day and no one has brought them food or water. She called the authorities but they could not see them. They then get comfortable and talk about Nero. She pulls out blueprints of his tower and, confirming what they already know, tells them the fasces is on heavily secured floor in the central levels of the building along with the holding cells. She also says it is guarded by something with a lion’s head and a serpent's body. They then focus on the plan to burn the city, and she points out a heavily guarded and fortified room underground with what appears to be a water treatment center connected to the city's main sewer pipes. After realizing that if the plan goes wrong, Nero could burn the city with only his tower left stand. Nico reveals his “friends” are Troglodytes), a race of underground tunnels who can dig into anything that Apollo thinks is a myth, his son confirms this and the son of Hades thinks they could be dig into the pumping system without Nero noticing. Just as Rachel says she is going with them, she utters a prophecy in Python's voice before passing out and the cattle break into a fortified yard. They rush out of the room to find a set of stairs destroyed and they rush out of the house just as it collapses As they reach a construction site with a fifty foot pit, he realizes they are Tauri Sylvestres, the natural enemy of the troglodytes. They jump up onto a crane and some of the cattle falls into the pit and chokes to death on their anger. As they wonder if they can take them, Apollo fires arrows at them to demonstrate their indestructible hide and Rachel says they stayed locked up for days without food or water before they arrived and could outlast them. She then thinks Nero planted them their for when they came to her and could come for them as they speak. However Nico sees a patch of darkness and thinks he can Shadow Travel them out of their. As they climb, Rachel asks him about Python and the prophecy, he explains that python has added his own verses to the prophecy and it is now a part of it. They reach the shadows and after Nico takes a quick rest as one of the cows come down. When it does he tells the son of Hades to take Will and Rachel with him, as he can only take two other people with him alone. He does so and Apollo and Meg fight the bull. They do okay until another slides down and they are forced to separate. He fights the first one while Meg takes on the new comer. As more start coming down, Nico returns and takes them away.

They end up in a spacious area of the sewer and wait until Nico, who has recently passed out, regains consciousness. While they wait they express their concerns about the time they have left to surprise, only having until that night. When the son of Hades wakes up, he guides them to the troglodytes and advises them not to touch their weapons. He expresses pride in his son when Will reveals he can glow. Soon after Nico announces he is present and has brought guests, the five are soon surrounded and one of the trogs, the leader Screech-Bling, asks if they are sacrifices. Nico tells him they are not and gives him a skink, a rare delicacy among them, and the five are brought to their encampment. He talks with Rachel and Meg as the son of Hades speaks with Screech-Bling as dinner is being made. Rachel informs him that they need time to dismantle the filtration system and suggests Camp Half-Blood attack the tower. He is shocked and vetoes the idea and suggests lying about it, but Rachel says it must be real as Python could see it as a lie. He reluctantly agrees that it is for the best as they are told dinner is ready. As they eat they are given hats to wear, he is given a Mets hat as no one else would wear it. As they eat, he and his companions make a case for the trogs helping them, the decline as they see surface dwellers as pests, however they mention their food supply and hat supply could be in danger as well as their livelihood as being fed to Python. After he sings of his time as a mortal, the trogs are moved and agree to help. However they quickly change their minds when they hear the forest bulls coming toward them. He loses sight of Will, Nico, and Rachel as the heard stamped through the camp. He saves a child troglodyte from being crushed as he goes after his ball and promises to return it to him. He catches sight of Meg with another troglodyte, Grr-Fred, and rushes over to them. The three jump in a river and Grr-Fred pulls them out of the river and onto a small ledge. They rest before the troglodyte digs a tunnel up and collapses it to hide them from the bulls. He brings them to a stairway that will take them to a subway station fifty feet from Nero’s tower. Apollo gives him the ball to return to the boy and he leaves the two to head up. They approach the building as enter to inform the guard of their surrender. After they reach Nero’s throne room, they are walked in by a dryad named Areca. When they enter, they are met with Nero, his eleven other children, and several of his followers. Nero reveals he knows Lu helped them escape and he and Meg are held back as Lu is thrown to the ground. Nero reveals he is still going to burn New York City and have his twelve adoptive children replace the olympians. He also reveals he knows about the assault. Nero orders him and Lu, who has had her hands cut off, placed in a cell while the daughter of Demeter is "re-educated".

Apollo is placed in a cell resembling a five star hotel and stocked with snacks. He spends half an hour screaming about Lu before the Gaul is thrown into his cell. He immediately gets to work at treating Lu's wounds so that she would not die and brings out chloroform to knock out Lu. As he treats her, Apollo summons a fire in his hand to cauterize her wrists and he gets his healing power back temporarily. After performing his task he passes out and dreams of Jason. He apologizes to the son of Jupiter and he says he is not responsible for his death. Jason warns Apollo that the fasces is guarded by a servant of Mithras, something he is familiar with. He wakes to find Lu, who apologizes for underestimating Nero, responsive and moments later Gunther brings them lunch and informs the two they will be tortured that night. The two are left alone and discuss thief options. Lu says the cells are not as heavily monitored as the rest of the tower and she could have easily disabled the security system. As they eat lunch, Lu theorizes they have eight hours until sundown, as that would be Nero’s preferred time to burn the city. When he asks about the guard in the vault, she mentions she only saw it once before. When Lu suggests he try controlling his dreams to find out more, Apollo expresses doubt that he can but the Gaul urges him on. He decides to try it and goes back to sleep. He plummets through the building until he gains control and searches for Meg. He finds the daughter of Demeter trapped in her room, as she is trashing the place Nero arrives and speaks with her. Apollo listens as the god-emperor manipulates Meg to think she is responsible for Apollo’s imprisonment and Lu’s double amputation. The scene then shifts to the vault housing Nero’s fasces and Apollo realizes that when they destroyed Caligula and Commodus's fasces, the power transferred to Nero’s and he became thrice as powerful. He also sees the guardian, a Leontocephaline, as it stares him down and he realizes that the only think it will stand down for is another's immortality. He wakes up to find Lu up and about and she informs him Gunther brought dinner and left the silverware, he notices Lu taped a knife and fork to her stumps and he tidies up her work as he explains what he saw. When he finishes the Gaul informs him of his plan.

He smears burn ointment by the door and they wait. When Gunther comes and orders him to tie up, they bait him into coming the cell to do it himself and he slips on the ointment as he and Lu walk over him before the door closes in and nearly crushes Gunther. They go to the prisoner storage room and he finds the Arrow of Dodona. Lu tells him to get the daughter of Demeter and gives him directions while she tries to take on the guardian in the vault. He goes to get Meg and knocks out a mortal guard and incinerates two Germani. However he miscounts the floors and ends up in a control room where the Germanus in charge orders the other guards to kill him and the technicians to burn the city. Apollo leaps into action, disabling and killing as many opponents as he can, but the lead Germanus stops him and kicks him in the face. He orders the technicians to to activate the pumps, but nothing happens. He laughs as as the Germanus is about to kill him, he is disintegrated by Nico di Angelo, who scares away the technicians, and helped Apollo before informing him the tower is under attack. Nico helps him up and walks him over to the next floor. As they exit the stairwell he sees Nero’s forces fighting the troglodytes and in the next room he witnesses campers as they are being dropped off via Pegasi. Kayla comes over and the son of Hades hands him over to her as he looks for Will. She patches him up and gives him Mountain Dew as she explains the camp’s attack strategy. She brings him into a dining room as campers are being chased by a forest bull. She passes him off to Austin as they make their way to the residential area. Soon an elevator opens and they come face to face with Cassius, the young demigod who cut off Lu’s hands. He apologizes as he hands over Meg’s rings and a key card. He leaves and Apollo and Austin continue. As they exit the elevator Austin stops him and pulls out a mirror. He sees about sixty people in a conference room waiting for the city to burn and an empty library. Austin informs him he will have to cross a crowded room to get to Meg and his son creates a diversion that empties the entire room and Apollo make his way to the daughter Demeter’s bedroom. He finds the room empty and is greeted by Nero via video chat. Screech-Bling arrives but Apollo has him stay out of sight. The god emperor informs him that Meg is with him and despite disabling the Greek Fire pumps, he can still release Sassanid Gas, a deadly gas he is going to release into the tower on every floor below the throne room. He gives Apollo fifteen minutes to come to the throne room and hangs up. Screen-Bling informs Apollo that Rachel sent him to find him and that the trogs will find and disable the gas as Apollo goes to Nero.

He approaches the throne room and Nero lets him in. He sees seven of Nero’s adoptive children holding torches to dryads plants and a dozen germani, but no Meg. He surrenders all his weapons, save for Meg’s rings, and Nero talks to him. The god-emperor explains all the good he has done in his millennia of life, such as giving homes to orphans employing others, and explaining Apollo’s faults, letting others die for him and bringing death and destruction wherever he went. Apollo demands to see Meg and Nero calls over the daughter of Demeter and explains that she is to decide if the building will be gassed or not. As Apollo tries to talk to her, Nero says he is alone and orders the tree nymphs to attack him. They attack Apollo with little effort until one of them is burned and they attack him much more furiously. As Nero orders their plants burned, Meg unleashes a flurry of her power, strengthening the plants and putting out the torches. The dryads run away and as the daughter of Demeter runs over to Apollo and stands up to Nero, the door is broken down by Nico using a dead forest bull and has it attack Nero, most of the Germani and demigods try to stop the bull as he and Meg take on the Cynocephali and three demigods while the son of Hades informs them the troglodytes are still looking for the gas. In the fighting he is stabbed by Lucius and Nero finds the remote for the gas. Apollo fights off Lucius and tries to stop Nero from pushing the button. He takes out various opponents as more arrive and when Nero pushes the button, they learn that the gas was disabled. Will Solace came at that moment and commanded everyone to stop fighting. He, Rachel, and Lu had gotten the fasces and Nero makes his way over the him and the two fight over the fasces with equal strength. He manages to destroy the fasces and, as Nero crumbles away, he watches as what was left of the emperor be absorbed by Python. The fighting stops and Apollo passes out. He sees the other Olympians watching him and sees half of them begging Zeus to save him, but his father says he can not as Apollo must still fight Python. He then wakes up. Meg gives him a quick patch job as the others grab his supplies. He and the daughter of Demeter say their goodbyes as he goes to face Python. Along the way he sees some of his children and gives them a knowing look before he meets up with Chiron and, after a handshake, he goes to face Python.

Apollo vs

Apollo facing off against Python.

He finds Python and fires an arrow but misses his target, but interrupts Python absorbing Nero's essence. The serpent taunts Apollo until he hits him in the throat. He evades Python's worst attack, but is hurt through lesser attack and the surrounding area. He loses his bow and hides in a crevice as he speaks with the Arrow of Dodona. He notices some of his wounds are glowing and the arrow says it is starting but says nothing more. He then hits Python with the ukulele until it breaks and Python picks him up, tries to lull him into a sense of piece, and starts to crush him. In a last ditch effort to save himself, the arrow tells him to use it and he reluctantly does so. He jabs Python in the eye and pull himself and the serpent in a crevice, they fall through Erebos before landing in the River Styx and get swept down to Tartarus before ending up at the edge of the Sea of Chaos. Along the way Apollo could feel his form as Lester falling apart and is somewhere between god and human when they arrive. Python clings to him to avoid falling into Chaos, but he kicks him free and the serpent plummets into the sea, erasing Python from existence. After Apollo defeats erased Python from existence, he is confronted by Styx but even though he broke an oath, she does not kill him.

Apollo wakes on Olympus with his sister, Artemis, next to him. They talk and she tells that it has been two weeks since he erased Python from existence and that word of his victory over the serpent has been spread to the demigods. She also informs him that he is summoned to the council. He tells her he will be their shortly and she leaves him to reflect on his time as a mortal. After a few minutes he heads to the throne room. When he arrives the gods welcome him back and he silently questions if he was truly meant to be a god, as Zeus explains how Python was able to control the Fate’s thread. After the meeting is over Zeus tells him he did him proud and that he was the only one who could have made Python cease to exist. He then leaves to see some people. First he stops by the Sun Palace to find it unkept in the half a year he was away and goes to check on his horses. They greet him and he feeds and grooms them before he hames various copies of himself and has one of them take the Sun Chariot across the sky and the others visit all those he met during his time as Lester.

One of the copies stops by Camp Half-Blood, where he greets his children, the other campers, and Chiron and Dionysus. He and Chiron greet each other and he and his divine half-brother talk and play Pinochle. He then goes to the Grove of Dodona to tell the voices about the arrow’s sacrifice and how he never could have completed his mission with out it. During the camp fire he sits with Nico, Will, and Rachel and they talk. Rachel says she is going to Paris to study art for a year and the son of Hades reveals he has been hearing a voice he believes to be of a Titan he befriended and he plans to have the troglodytes tunnel into Tartarus so that he can get him out if he survived. Just then Rachel utters a prophecy that only Nico and Will hear. When he asks them about it, they only say it isn’t good.

Another one of his copies goes to the Waystation where he learns that the Hunters of Artemis and learns that their hunt for the Teumessian Fox is still fruitless. He learns that Leo is teaching homeless kids mechanic skills and that Calypso is a councilor at a mortal band camp. Georgina walks over to him and asks about the pipe cleaner doll she made for him, which he lost. When he asks for another one, she rejects the offer.

Another copy goes to Camp Jupiter where he learns they have started to rebuild from the Battle of San Francisco Bay and they have already recruited twenty new demigods with plans to build more barracks. He then meets up with Percy and Annabeth and they explain their plans for college and their sadness at the son of Jupiter’s death. When Apollo mentions the son of Poseidon’s mother back in New York, he wishes for her cooking and he summons a plate of blue chocolate chip cookies.

Another copy goes to Tahlequah to speak with Piper and finds the daughter of Aphrodite in the romantic embrace of a girl named Shel as he inadvertently reverts from his Lester form to his Apollo form. She introduces him to Shel as a family friend and goes to talk to him. She reveals that she and her father are adjusting well to the relocation and she congratulates him on becoming a god again.

Another copy goes to Aeithales to speak with Meg. He is stopped by the Meliai and escorted to the daughter of Demeter. He finds her planting cactai with her foster siblings and she greets him as they head inside. He says hello to Lu as she ensembles a rocking chair and he and Meg go to the back porch. They spend hours talking and when the sun sets, they say their goodbyes as he gives her a unicorn and promises to be there for her.

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

The Hammer of Thor

Annabeth Chase mentions the fallen god's situation to her cousin.

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure

Apollo, in the form of Lester, appears to Will alongside Meg in a nightmare caused by the demon Epiales.

Throughout Nico and Will's quest, Will discovers that he's inherited greater powers from Apollo than just his healing ability. Will learns how to weaponize his glow into deadly rays of light that kill Epiales and harm Nyx. Will is also revealed to have inherited his father's plague powers, tapping into them to give Nyx hay fever by channeling his own darkness.

Sikander Aziz series

Sikander Aziz Not part of Riordanverse

The following article/section is from the Sikander Aziz series continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Fury of the Dragon Goddess

Under the influence of the Mesopotamian god Lugal, a band of kids steals a statue of Apollo from the British Museum.

Appearance

In The Titan's Curse, Apollo was portrayed as having a resemblance to Luke Castellan, looking about seventeen or eighteen, with the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. However, he was taller than Luke, with no scar on his face, and his smile was brighter and more playful, and he was dressed in jeans, loafers, and a sleeveless T-shirt. When guiding Percy and his friends to help rescue his sister, he was forced to take the form of a homeless, toothless man who looked like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck, dressed in a ripped coat and worn-out almost-white jeans. After Artemis was rescued and the Olympians gathered to decide how to prepare for Kronos' uprising, he resumed his former attractive appearance.

In The Blood of Olympus, he was depicted as a seventeen-year-old youth, with curly blond hair and a perfect tan. He wore tattered jeans, a black T-shirt and a white linen jacket with glittering rhinestone lapels.

In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo was described to be an extremely handsome god, being as tall and muscular and bronzed as a Baywatch lifeguard, with long golden hair tied back in a "man bun" and eyes that shone like the sun, much like those of Hyperion, though less harsh. His radiance was enhanced by his wearing a Greek robe of gold, and a beautiful golden bow and a quiver of magical arrows over his shoulders. His handsomeness was such that even his stepmother, Hera, who had a deep natural hatred of Zeus' mistresses and illegitimate children, did not dare object to his claiming his place among the Olympian gods. Apollo is often seen driving the Sun Chariot, and almost always has a laurel wreath on his head. The other novels also depict him as handsome and charming (when he chooses to be), though there are some inconsistencies with the description provided by Percy Jackson's Greek Gods.

In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, when he first approached Cyrene, Apollo wore his best purple robes, and a laurel wreath across his brow. His smile was "blinding", while his eyes "shone like molten gold", and he was surrounded by a flickering aura of honey-colored light.

In The Trials of Apollo, as a mortal, Apollo appears as a Caucasian sixteen-year-old of average build with blue eyes and dark curly hair.

In The Tyrant's Tomb, Apollo gains sickly purple marks that slowly cover his body when he is scratched by a Eurynomos on the way to Camp Jupiter.

The differences in Apollo's physical description throughout the novels could be attributed to the fact that, as a god, he has the ability to assume any shape he desired, though he is always handsome and attractive when he chooses to be. He also commented in The Hidden Oracle that he always had "eight-pack abs".

In The Tower of Nero, its revealed that Apollo can choose the form he appears in to mortals, taking on both his godly form or that of a mortal of his choosing. After regaining his godhood, Apollo chooses to adopt his Lester form when dealing with his friends even though he no longer needs to as Apollo now feels at home in that form.

Personality

Apollo is described as arrogant, self-centered, and cocky, as is typical among the gods. However, in The Trials of Apollo his personality progressively changes as he starts to feel guilt and sorrow, becoming more empathetic and kind. This is especially shown in Chapter 27 of The Hidden Oracle when he sings about Daphne and Hyacinthus, the most famous of his lovers, taking the responsibility for their deaths. However, he does have a big ego as said in The Tyrant's Tomb when Reyna rejected him.

He has been obsessed with haikus ever since he visited Japan and also appears to obsess over other kinds of poems, depending on where he visits. In The Titan's Curse, Zoë Nightshade briefly mentions that after Apollo visited Ireland, he obsessed over limericks for a time.

He loves his 'little' sister Artemis, even though they often clash, as he is the more laid back, less serious twin; he is always hitting on her Hunters as well, though she has forbidden it, and they refuse to be charmed by him due to their oath. He was also shown to have good relations with his demigod relatives, such as Percy, as demonstrated by how he illegally helped him during one of his quests (though a prominent reason for his help would be because Artemis was in grave danger), and offering to teach him archery.

However, Apollo also has a dark cruel side: he placed a terrible curse on his son, Halcyon Green, for trying to defy fate to help another in need. As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, one of the factors that fueled Apollo's dark side was his protectiveness of his mother, Leto - after Niobe insulted Leto, Apollo ruthlessly killed all seven of her sons. Later on, he personally asked Hades to eternally torture Tityos for harassing his mother. He even went as far as to flay alive the satyr Marsyas after winning their musical contest, although he later denied having flayed him alive, implying that while he can be quite cruel when angered, he is not so cruel as to painfully kill others.

As revealed in The Hidden Oracle, Apollo's sunny and optimistic demeanor actually conceals deep sorrows: he had never truly moved on from the two greatest loves of his life - Daphne (who turned into a tree to escape his advances) and Hyacinthus (who died due to a feud between Apollo and Zephyros), and was haunted by their memories, to the extent where anything that could be associated with them would almost reduce him to tears if he saw it. Apollo also acknowledged to himself that he secretly harbored a good deal of resentment towards his father, Zeus, and his killing the Cyclopes who forged Zeus's lightning bolt had not been a rash decision, as it was easier for him to hate and blame the weapons which his father frequently used to threaten him with, than to hate his father himself.

Apollo was also revealed to have a tendency to brag about his previous accomplishments, particularly his victory over Python, to the point of embellishing it: though he told storytellers that he had vanquished Python with a single arrow the instant he arrived at its cave, the truth of the matter was that he had needed all of his godly strength, his divine powers, and his bow (which he described to be the deadliest bow in the world) to defeat Python, who had been "no pushover". In fact, the battle between Apollo and Python had been such that the former suffered from nightmares about the latter for centuries.

After being turned into a mortal, it was evident that Apollo could be intensely selfish, given how he viewed his need of regaining his divinity as well as his issues of struggling with his newfound mortality as being more important than the troubles or concerns of others - including those of his own demigod children. However, even in the midst of this, Apollo still proved to be an open-minded and even, in a way, affectionate person, especially to his children: he supported the romantic relationship between his son, Will, and Nico, and when his children made sincere effort to welcome him as one of their own and even promised retaliation on those who dared to target him in his current vulnerable state, he was simultaneously touched by their affection and ashamed of himself for not having done more for them.

Besides this, despite his frequent annoyance with Meg, Apollo grew to truly care for her as a most cherished friend, which eventually led him to acquire the courage and the willingness to admit his own faults and to stand up to Nero. Later on, even after learning that Meg had been a double agent of sorts, Apollo still cared for her and worried about her when she ran away. It's noticed too that despite his fearful behavior, Apollo showed being able to have a great sense of courage, risking his life to save his children, Austin and Kayla, and Meg after they were kidnapped.

In The Burning Maze, Apollo seems to understand more about being a human, and started caring more for the "little losses". When fighting with Caligula, he was willing to sacrifice himself, because he knew this would be the best chance to save his allies. Even though he says he probably wouldn't have done this if Medea wasn't going to heal him and doesn't see it as something heroic because of that, Meg says it was heroic especially for a god. After Jason's death, Apollo even cried on the plane on the way back for everyone who had sacrificed themselves. Apollo still brags about himself and acts like a god, but now he is more sentimental and protective of his friends.

In The Tower of Nero, after regaining his godhood, Apollo struggles to remember how to be a god again and not just a mortal. After awakening, he is horrified by the thought that he may have been asleep for centuries and thus will never see his friends again who all likely think him dead. The experience gives Apollo a new view of his "wicked stepmother" Hera and a sympathetic stance towards Dionysus. He also comes to terms with his relationship with his father and vows to never forget the lessons he learned as a mortal.

Abilities

Apollo is known to be the most powerful son of Zeus, for Zeus trusted him with more significant powers than any of his other children. Hence, Apollo is an extremely powerful god who is surpassed only by the six oldest Olympians (the Big Three, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia). He is equal to Artemis and perhaps rivaled by Athena.

However, as revealed by Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and in The Trials of Apollo, Apollo has been temporarily stripped of his powers thrice, and while he did retain some of his godly powers the first two times, he becomes completely mortal the third time. As revealed in The Dark Prophecy, he can only use small bursts of his godly powers when he is doing selfless acts or protecting others who he feels protective of. As stated in The Burning Maze, Apollo can feel himself becoming more human by the day and fears he will never become a god again. In The Tyrant's Tomb, Apollo's godly archery skills returned much to his surprise while Reyna was temporarily able to restore his godly strength with her ability to boost the powers of others. In a moment of rage, even while weakened by his zombie infection, Apollo was able to obliterate a severely weakened Commodus, shocking Apollo as he had used an aspect of his powers he'd never seen before in the process. In The Tower of Nero, Apollo's powers start coming back in bursts during his fight with Python to the point that he describes himself as being in between god and human. After Apollo understands the lesson he was meant to learn, his godly powers return fully and he becomes a god once again in time to save himself from the Sea of Chaos. However, the effort involved in both this and his fight with Python leave Apollo unconscious for two weeks.

  • Battle Prowess: Apollo has great superhuman strength and combat skills, and the Homeric hymns also described that no ropes could bind him. During the very first Olympic games (which were for the gods), he defeated Ares in boxing and outran Hermes. As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, when Hercules attacked his Oracle, Apollo engaged him in battle, and they were equally matched, only when Zeus threw his thunderbolt between the two of them did the fight stop. In The Last Olympian, Apollo participated in the battle between the Olympians and Typhon, and apart from being one of those who were not taken out by the colossal Storm Giant, he set Typhon's loincloth on fire by shooting a "blazing volley of arrows". In The Tower of Nero, Apollo is able to face off with the much more powerful Python with little of his godly powers intact and hold his own for a brief time.
  • Archery: As the God of Archery, Apollo excelled in archery and other target-shooting-based activities, such as basketball. According to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, his arrows are invisible to mortals, and would always strike its intended target, regardless of the distance. His archery skills can only be rivaled by his sister, Artemis, and the Giant, Orion. In The Tyrant's Tomb, his godly archery skills return even while human, much to Apollo's surprise.
  • Swordsmanship: Given Homer's description him as "Apollo of the Golden Sword", Apollo is an expert swordsman. In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, it was revealed that he once had an extremely sharp sword made of adamantine and gold, but rarely used it, and he later gave it to Hermes in exchange for the flute.
  • Musical Ability: As the God of Music, Apollo is the leader of the Nine Muses, as well as an expert musician who could play any musical instrument perfectly, though he is most often seen with his lyre. As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, during his musical contest with Marsyas, Apollo was able to play his lyre flawlessly while holding it behind his back and not looking at the strings. Apollo was also the one who taught Pandora how to sing and play the lyre, making her irresistible to Epimetheus. As of The Blood of Olympus, Apollo is determined to master the newly invented Valdezinator. It was also shown in The Hidden Oracle that, despite being stripped of his godly powers, Apollo had still retained his extraordinary musical talents - his song reduced Meg to tears. His music can be used to cause temporary memory loss or increase the speed of corrosion, as seen in The Dark Prophecy, based on the song that he sings.
    • Audiokinesis: As shown in The Blood of Olympus, Apollo's son, Will Solace, could make a sharp ultrasonic whistle-like sound that can temporarily stun his opponents, making them clutch their ears in confusion, suggesting that Apollo may be able to do the same thing. In The Tyrant's Tomb, in one of his bursts of godly powers, Apollo loosed a guttural roar at a severely weakened Commodus, described as "a song with only one note: pure rage and only one volume: maximum." The onslaught of pure sound caused Commodus to crumble into ash, leaving behind a charred outline on the asphalt. Apollo was left stunned by this as he had never actually killed someone with his voice alone in his thousands of years of existence.
  • Heliokinesis: As the God of the Sun, Apollo has absolute control and divine authority over sun. His abilities include:
    • Photokinesis: As the God of the Sun and Light, Apollo has absolute control over sunlight.
      • Sunlight Rays: As his twin sister could create shots of moonlight, it is probable that he can generate rays of sunlight.
      • Dazzling Appearance: In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo appeared before Marsyas in "a blaze of golden light", and in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, as he approached Cyrene, Apollo was surrounded by a flickering aura of honey-colored light.
    • Pyrokinesis: As the God of the Sun, Apollo has absolute control and divine authority over the flames of his Sun Chariot. However, this power of his is inferior to that of Hephaestus, the God of Fire, and Helios, the original driver of the Sun Chariot and Titan of the Sun. Examples of abilities he derived from this province are:
      • Fiery Appearance: In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Apollo first appeared next to Cyrene in "a huge ball of fire".
      • Fire Generation: In The Tower of Nero, in one of his bursts of godly power, Apollo is able to use flames to cauterize Luguselwa's stump. He is later able to fire a blast of flames from his hand that burns two Germani to ash.
      • Fire Immunity: Apollo is completely immune to any amount of fire and heat. In The Tower of Nero, after destroying Nero's fasces in one of his bursts of godly power, Apollo was left unharmed by the firestorm it released which Nero stated would be enough to kill whoever managed to break it.
  • Supernatural Sight: As the God of the Sun and Light, Apollo is able to see almost anything and anywhere during the day - he remarked in The Titan's Curse that he "saw a lot".
  • Vitakinesis: As the God of Healing and Medicine, Apollo could manipulate and modify a person's anatomy, as well as restore the injured to full health. Examples of abilities he derived from this province are:
    • Enhanced Healing: As shown in The Last Olympian, Apollo could instantly heal wounds - he healed all of Annabeth's wounds by speaking an incantation, and later did the same with Chiron. His demigod children were able to channel his healing abilities when they hummed a hymn to him in Ancient Greek, but it required a good deal of energy on their part, and in The Blood of Olympus, his immortal son, Asclepius, was revealed to slightly surpassing him in this regard. In The Tower of Nero, in one of his godly bursts of power, Apollo appears to heal Luguselwa somewhat treating her injuries.
  • Nosokinesis: As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo also had power over plagues and epidemics, and he channeled this ability through special arrows that exploded into foul vapors that spread the very disease he wanted inflict his victims with. During the Trojan War, when Agamemnon offended him, Apollo infected the latter's army with a plague. In The Hidden Oracle, it's mentioned that Apollo was the one who created hay fever. Even as Lester he has this power, only it was considerably weaker and required a hymn about himself, creating a plague arrow. However, he only succeeded in creating a hay fever arrow, not the more deadly illness that he was aiming for. It managed to affect not only the Nero Colossus but the entirety of Camp Half-Blood.
  • Prophecy: As the God of Prophecy and Foresight, Apollo is able to see into the future. However, he is unable to tell anyone future events, except through his Oracles, as then the information would become meaningless. This is a dangerous ability, and his only children known to have inherited it are Idmon and Halcyon Green, as well as his Roman legacy Octavian. Apollo does not have full control over this power either. He does not always know what the prophecies mean, nor can he always control when they are told.
  • Madness Inducement (limited): In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, it is believed that Apollo drove Orion insane with the urge to hunt every beast on earth.
  • Truth Sense: As the God of Truth, Apollo possibly knows when people are telling the truth or lying.
  • Couplets Curse: As seen in The Last Olympian, Apollo's demigod children can curse others to only speak in rhyming couplets that can take days or even weeks to wear off, so Apollo himself most likely has this same ability as well.
  • Flight: As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo has the ability to fly, which was shown when he flew to the island of Delos to slay Python, and when he and Artemis descended on the city of Thebes to punish Queen Niobe for her hubris.[1]
  • Invisibility: While first spying on the playing satyr Marsyas in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo floated invisibly above the gathered crowd.
  • Hypnokinesis (limited): As shown in The Titan's Curse, Apollo has the power to induce slumber - he put Percy to sleep just by snapping his fingers. However, it is unknown as to what extent his power over sleep is.
  • Shapeshifting: Apollo is capable of altering his appearance at will, shown when he transformed into his mortal alter-ego "Fred" in The Titan's Curse. He was later forcibly transformed by Zeus into the mortal teenager, Lester Papadopoulos, in The Hidden Oracle.
  • Power Granting: As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Apollo had the ability to grant the gifts of longevity and naiad-hood to whomever he desired - he transformed his lover, Cyrene, into a naiad with a very long lifespan. He also grants the Sybil who wrote the Sibylline Books as many years of life as there were grains on the beach where they were; however, he regrets doing this. He also, like all gods, has the power to create new gods; however, this comes at a price. For every god he creates, he loses a piece of his own power as was seen with Hemithea and her sister. This creates very minor gods bestowed with only a tiny fraction of actual powers. The stronger he makes them, the weaker he becomes.
  • Teleportation: Apollo can forcibly teleport others both to his side and away from him, which he did to Chiron in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes.
  • Cloud Transformation: As was mentioned by Apollo in The Hidden Oracle, Apollo had the ability to turn himself into a cloud.
  • Dreams: Similar to a demigod, the mortal Apollo received dream visions. When he was a god, Apollo could send dream visions as a way of communication. Although the mortal Apollo initially had no control over his dreams, in The Tower of Nero he manages to take control of his dreams to spy on Nero, find his fasces and learn the identity of its guardian.

Attributes

Apollo's attributes are his golden bow and arrow, his golden lyre (made for him by Hermes), the laurel wreath (in honor of Daphne, his unrequited love), the sacrificial tripod (representing his prophetic powers), and the hyacinth flower (which sprouted out of the blood of Hyacinthus, Apollo's deceased lover). Apollo's sacred animal is the swan.

As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Hermes' Caduceus, winged sandals, and his golden sword originally belonged to Apollo. However, he admittedly never used them and readily gave them to his younger brother, Hermes, in exchange for the latter's lyre and flute. In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, it was revealed that he eventually gave his original golden lyre to Orpheus after the latter's skill impressed him and created another one for himself.

Attendants

Apollo has several loyal attendants, including the Nine Muses (some of which he fathered children with) and four golden Celedons, all of which accompany him in musical performances.

Family

Apollo loves both his mother and twin sister above all other women and will fiercely defend them. He is surpassed only by his father and Poseidon in his romances. Many of his demigod children have become famed artists, poets and musicians (e.g. William Shakespeare).

Immortal Children

Partner

Children
Koronis Asclepius
Cyrene

Aristaeus

Calliope Hymenaios

Mortal Children

Partner

Children
Cyrene Idmon
Unknown Eurydice
Aethusa Eleuther
Dryope Amphissus
Creusa Ion
Parthenope Lycomedes
Rhoeo Anius
Euboea Agreus
Chrysorthe Coronus
Acalle Amphithemis
Phthia Laodocus, Dorus, Polypoetes
Unknown Trophonius
Celaeno Delphus
Manto Mopsus
Unknown Melite
Chione Philammon
Aethusa Linus of Thrace
Hyrie Cycnus
Thero (granddaughter of Iolaus) Chaeron
Unknown Melaneus
Proclia Tennes, Hemithea
Unnamed woman from Miletus Branchus
Laodice Seleucus I Nicator
Caterina Da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci
Mary Shakespeare William Shakespeare
Anne of Austria Louis XIV, King of France
Ms. Green Halcyon Green
Ms. Fletcher Lee Fletcher
Ms. Yew Michael Yew
Naomi Solace Will Solace
Latricia Lake Austin Lake
Darren Knowles Kayla Knowles
Unknown Jerry
Unknown Yan
Unknown Gracie

Video Game

Partner

Children
Unknown Victoria

Apollo's Chariot

This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it.

–Apollo, talking about his Chariot

Apollo's sun chariot is the one that brings light to the world, making the mortals believe that it is a huge ball of fire-the sun-in outer space (although Apollo infers that the Sun does still exist in space, just that the Sun Chariot is the embodiment of the Sun's Effect on Earth). Apollo's sun chariot can also turn to any other car; as shown in The Titan's Curse, the chariot changed into a Maserati and a bus.

Relationships

Family

Zeus

Zeus, king of the Olympians and his father.

Apollo respects his father as the king of the Olympians. However after becoming mortal for a third time, he starts to see the subtle abuse his father has put him through and questions his current opinion of him.

As he is about to perform the Ceremony to Call for Divine Help, Apollo feels that if he calls on his father he would not come and leave him to fix things himself, showing how he has lost his faith in his father as an ally during this time.

After becoming a god again, he and his father share an awkward moment when the king of the gods asks the sun god what he learned from his time as a mortal. His father saying he has done him proud, but Apollo only thinks Zeus said that because of how he said that, he made his plan work (as in making him look a good leader), his heart did not melt, feeling that is was not a warm-and-fuzzy reconciliation with his father, and is incapable of loving him as who he is. Even when they were alone Apollo supposed he could have raged and called bad names without getting punished, believing Zeus to have expected it, given his awkward self-consciousness at the moment. Yet Apollo believes it would not have changed him or make anything different between them. Only wanting to be better than him, more human, and spending the least amount of time around him as possible. Even after Apollo said "I understand father". "Zeus seemed to understand what I understand was not perhaps the same thing he understand, but he accepted the gesture, I suppose because he had little choice."

Apollo loves and respects his mother, going so far as to wiping out an entire family when a queen insulted her.

Artemis RR

Artemis, his twin sister.

Out of all his fellow Olympians, Apollo is closest to his twin sister. He would playfully tease her by calling the goddess of the hunt his "little sister", despite Artemis being born nine days before him. When she was kidnapped by Atlas's forces, he breaks ancient laws and spoke with Percy Jackson as the son of heads west and tells him to find Nereus to get his sister back.

When performing the Ceremony to Call for Divine Help, he chooses her and, after a delayed reaction, she ascends to Camp Jupiter as Diana and, after the Battle of San Francisco Bay is won, reveals she misses him before leaving. Diana also heals Apollo's injuries during her brief time with him, saving his life.

Thalia Grace

Thalia Grace, his demigod half-sister.

Thalia first meets Apollo in The Titan's Curse, where Thalia calls him hot and Apollo playfully flirts with them. Back then, they did not know they were related. Apollo lets Thalia drive his bus and comforts her while she drives his bus.

They meet again in The Dark Prophecy, where they are on good terms and no longer think the other is attractive. Thalia, Leo, and Festus save him on a rescue mission from Commodus. Thalia tells Apollo that she no longer thinks that the god is not Thalia later defends the Waystation from Commodus and his army. Thalia and Apollo talk, and Thalia reveals that Artemis misses him, and agrees to say hi to her for him. Apollo, in return, agrees to say hello to Piper and Jason for him. Apollo also tells her about the different pantheons.

In The Tyrant's Tomb, Thalia sees Apollo and does not blame him for Jason's death. They talk a little bit, and they walk to The Senate House together with Reyna. The two say goodbye the next morning.

Jason Grace-Viria

Jason Grace, his demigod half-brother.

Apollo first meets Jason in The Blood of Olympus, where Apollo is punished by Zeus. Jason desperately tries to defend Apollo and talk him out of it, to no avail.

Apollo and Jason meet again in The Burning Maze, where Jason is happy to see him and he gets invited in to his dorm, and sees his plans to honor the minor gods. Apollo is later the first person Jason tells about his plan to sacrifice himself to Caligula. Apollo tries to talk him out of it, but Jason tells him that's what he has to do, but Jason does convince him yo tell Piper about it. Jason then tells Apollo that when he becomes a god again, to remember what it’s like to be human.

Jason, Piper, Meg, and Apollo then go to get Caligula's shoes to navigate the maze, and Jason and Meg get captured. Apollo goes to try to save him, and Caligula threatens to kill him and Meg, causing Apollo to stab himself in the chest with his arrow. Jason then sacrifices himself so everyone can survive, and his last words are to Apollo, telling him to go and remember, calling back to their old conversation, then gets stabbed numerous times. Apollo is devastated over his death, but knows that he will stay dead and he wouldn't have cheated death, since he follows all the rules.

Apollo cries a lot about Jason's death, and blames himself for it, which doesn't help when Styx tells him it was his fault. Apollo promises to remember and become a god again, and carries his coffin to Camp Jupiter with Meg. He then sings a song to the campers about Jason's deeds, and how great of a warrior he is, bringing everyone to tears. He then sings the same song to the fauns and nymphs.

Will Solace

Will Solace, his demigod son.

Apollo cares greatly for his demigod son. At first when he became human a third time, he thought Will and his other demigod children could be of use to him in regaining his godhood.

However, as time went on, he started care for Will as a loving father and would think of his son constantly during his quest. He is also supportive of his relationship with Nico di Angelo.

When he returned to camp to prepare for go to Nero’s tower, he greets his father and heals him when he passes out. They help each other when traveling underground to get help from the Troglodytes and his father becomes concerned when they are separated.

After his father becomes a god again, they spend the night at camp with the rest of his children, Nico, and Rachel.

Austin Lake

Austin Lake, his demigod son.

Apollo cares greatly for his demigod son. When he was first turned into a human for a third time, he thought Austin and his other demigod children could be of use to him to regain his godhood.

However, he grew to care for him. After he and Kayla were kidnapped by Nero, he was concerned for his safety and happily kissed his son on the head when his son is safe. He would think of Austin during his quest.

When he returned to camp to get ready to fight Nero and liberty Delphi, he tells his father that he is with him, worrying the mortal god. When Apollo becomes a god again, he hugs his father.

Kayla viria

Kayla Knowles, his demigod daughter.

Apollo cares greatly for his demigod daughter. When he was first turned into a human for a third time, he thought Kayla and his other demigod children could be of use to him in regaining his godhood.

However, after she and Austin are kidnapped by Nero, he grows concerned for her safety and is happy when she is safe. He thinks of her often when on his quest.

When Apollo returns to camp to prepare to face off against Nero, she offers her support, and he becomes concerned. After he becomes a god again, they hug when he returns to camp.

Asclepius

Asclepius, his son.

Asclepius is Apollo's favorite son of Koronis and Apollo. When Apollo ordered Koronis to be killed, he made sure Asclepius lived.

When Zeus killed Asclepius with his lightning bolt, Apollo was so furious about what happened that he killed the cyclops who made Zeus's thunderbolts. Because of this, Apollo was turned into a mortal for the second time. After he was done, Asclepius was revived by Zeus and made the god of medicine.

Apollo has huge respect for his son and let him give Leo the Physician's Cure on Delos. Apollo thinks his son is a great healer, even better than he is.

Apollo and Anne of Austria had a son, Louis XIV. During the French Revolution, Apollo got worried about his son, Louis, and came to visit, only to find out he died 75 years prior.

Nero viria

Nero, his enemy and descendant.

Nero is a legacy of Apollo through Emperor Augustus. Apollo is disgusted with Nero and hates his abuse towards Meg, and hated him since his reign. He kidnapped Apollo's children, who are technically his family.

Six months later during the attack on his legacy's tower, he expresses nothing but hatred for Nero. When the god-emperor's fasces is retrieved he tries to have Nero surrender to no avail. When the two fight. he revokes his descendant's immortality and watches him crumble away.

Octavian RR

Octavian, his Roman legacy.

Despite him never meeting Octavian, Apollo is appalled by the former augur of Camp Jupiter and blames his descendant as one of the reasons for him being turned into a human for the third time. After the Battle of San Francisco Bay, he had a laugh at his legacy's expense when Reyna said she considered the augur as a possible romantic partner, much to his amusement.

Friends

Meg Viria

Meg McCaffrey, a demigod he travels with to secure the oracles.

Apollo finds Meg outside a dumpster when Meg defends him from two boys. Apollo and Meg slowly become friends, with Meg slowly learning to like Apollo. When Meg is kidnapped by Myrmekes, Apollo has a lot of guilt and saves her. Apollo is devastated when Meg betrayed him for Nero.

Apollo never starts hoping that Meg will rejoin him and when she does, he is happy, but Meg cries to him about Nero. When Trophonious gives Meg the prophecy, Apollo is devastated and does anything to save her from him and protects her from him. Apollo also sees Megs memories if Nero and her father.

When staying at her old house, Meg trusts Apollo enough to show him her memories of her old home, showing her trust towards him. Meg comforts Apollo over the death of Jason.

While at Camp Jupiter. Meg and Apollo are close friends and they confide to each other about their problems. Meg hates what Apollo did in the past but trusts that he is a good person and defends him.

After returning to New York and surrendering to Nero, Apollo feared she would be manipulated by him again, however he is happy when she stands up to Nero.

Nico di Angelo

Nico di Angelo, a demigod dating his son.

Apollo and Nico first meet in The Titan's Curse. Nico is excited and giddy around Apollo and asks him a lot of questions, while Apollo answers them and gets along with him fine. At the time, he sees Nico as a little kid.

Nico and Apollo seem to be on good terms, since he is the father of Will Solace, Nico's boyfriend. The two interact in The Hidden Oracle and Nico tells him of the whereabouts of the seven. Apollo sees the son of Hades as a capable fighter, and Apollo is supportive of his relationship with Will, even if he doesn’t know why he would be attracted to a Son of Hades.

Later, Apollo helps Will and Nico help heal Paolo Montes after he loses a leg. Nico also comes to Apollo and Meg McCaffrey going away party.

Nico helps Apollo defeat Nero and the Colossus Neronis.

Six months later, he expresses concern for the son of Hades when he learns he is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Leo Valdez-Viria

Leo Valdez, a demigod he traveled with.

Apollo first meets Leo on the island of Delos, where Leo asks Apollo where to find the Physicians cure, where Apollo gladly helps him, in exchange for the Valdezinator.

They meet again in The Hidden Oracle, where Leo returns with Calypso. Apollo and the couple go west on Festus, where they become close friends and begin to understand each other. Leo is one of the first people to find out Apollo’s murder of Commodus, and doesn’t blame him for it. They then help find the Throne of Mnemosyne to cure Georgina, and free Commodus’s prisoners. Leo also confides in Apollo about how he thinks Calypso blames him for everything.

When Leo tells Apollo that he and Calypso are staying at the Wayststion, Apollo understands, but also is going to miss him and knows he was a good friend to him.

They reunite after he becomes a god again and he complements the son of Hephaestus for his charity work.

Piper McLean

Piper McLean, a demigod he quested with.

Apollo finds the daughter of Aphrodite to be a cunning and skilled fighter. He meets Piper at Tristan McLean’s mansion, where he finds out the terrible things Caligula did to her and her father.

On the Julia Drusilla Yachts, Piper and Apollo go to find Caligula's shoes, and they fight off Pandai. Apollo learns why she broke up with Jason and respects her decision, even giving her advice about finding herself. However, the two get into a fight when Jason dies, and Piper blames him and tells him to go away.

At the last minute, while Meg, Grover, and him were fighting Medea, Piper kills Medea and forgives Apollo.

Crest

Crest, a pandai he befriended in Southern California.

Apollo meets Crest on the Julia Drusilla Yachts. Apollo learns that Crest wants to learn music, and swears on the River Styx to teach him an instrument.

In the labrynth, Crest helps Meg, Apollo, and Grover and is ultimately stabbed and killed by Medea. Crests death affects Apollo badly, and he weeps by his side as he dies.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare RR

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, one of his oracles.

Apollo meets the Oracle at Camp Half Blood, and Rachel tells Apollo that the Oracle of Delphi is missing, and asks Meg about The Beast.

When Apollo says he is leaving Camp, Rachel tells him to stay and that he will get Meg back.

He expresses joy in seeing her when he returns to New York and becomes concerned when they are separated from each other. After he regains his godhood, they sit next to each other during the campfire.

Hazel Levesque

Hazel Levesque, a demigod he quested with.

Apollo and Hazel first meet formally when Apollo and Meg McCaffrey are carrying the coffin of Jason Grace to Camp Jupiter, and respects her as a fighter. Hazel does not blame Apollo for what happened to Jason and tells Reyna Ramírez-Arellano about the whole situation. Later, Apollo, Hazel, Meg, and Lavinia Asimov sat on the roof of New Rome University for lunch, and Hazel rants about how Frank Zhang constantly puts himself in danger, and about her curse.

On the way to Tarquin's Tomb, Hazel and Apollo bond over how they tune out teachers and lectures, and talks about how she doesn’t want to lose Frank and her worries about him. Apollo is knocked out by Tarquin, and Hazel gets so worried and upset about it that she screamed and made the back walls collapse, and helped carry him back to Camp. The next day, Apollo immediately asks where Hazel is after he wakes up from his injuries.

The next time the two see each other, Hazel asks him how his wound is and mentioned that his death aura is getting stronger by the hour. Hazel confides in Apollo that she wished Nico di Angelo was here, and joked about Lavinia stressing her out, making Apollo laugh. Hazel assigns Apollo to teach archery and goes off with her Fifth Cohort.

During the Battle of San Francisco Bay, Apollo and Meg go meet Hazel and they go to the bookstore to find Tyson, Ella, and Tarquin, and he tells Hazel about what happened to Frank. Hazel defends Apollo when he is attacked by Tarquin, and then kills the undead king. Later, Apollo and Hazel sit at Frank’s bedside all night long,and he explains to her that Frank took control of his destiny, and maybe Juno got rid of Frank’s curse, and they grieve over Jason.

At the next meeting at the Senate, Apollo is proud of Hazel becoming Praetor and notes that Rome is in good hands. Apollo also thinks he did little compared to what Hazel did, noting the respect he has for her. Apollo says goodbye to Hazel the next day, thinking that the Twelfth Legion Fulminata would rise from the ashes and enter a golden age with her as leader.

Frank Zhang

Frank Zhang, a demigod he fought with.

At first, Frank admired Apollo and prayed to him, wishing that he was his father. Apollo thought that the son of Mars was adorable, like a teddy bear, and pitied him. However, when Frank lost his baby fat abs became a capable warrior, Apollo began to respect him and thought that he was a good fighter.

The two have a formal introduction in The Tyrant's Tomb, when they greet each other at the beginning of the camp, and Frank agrees to have Apollo stay at Camp Jupiter. After Apollo sleeps for a day and a half and wakes up, Frank is there to greet him and knows about the prophecy because Meg McCaffrey told him. Frank and Apollo go to New Rome to talk to Tyson and Ella, and a Frank tells Apollo about the casualties in the battle and Leo’s visit. That same day, Apollo and Frank walk together with Hannibal and he tells him that he has accepted his life being tied to a piece of wood.

At the Battle of San Francisco Bay, Frank greets Apollo and Meg at the Caldecott Tunnel and tells him what's happening in the battle. Frank challenges Caligula to a fight to the death, worrying Apollo which causes him to join the fight. However, Frank tells him that he is ruining his plan. They lure Commodus and Caligula in the tunnel and they both fight them. Frank then hugs Caligula and tells Apollo to run, and blows himself up. Apollo is heartbroken by this and keeps yelling for Frank's name, but accepts he is dead and blames himself for it. Apollo is overjoyed when Frank lives, and sits at his bedside with Hazel Levesque. He says goodbye to Apollo and Meg in the morning.

Hemithea by Viria

Emmie, a princess and legacy he made immortal.

When the former hunter first saved him and his companions from Blemmyae, Apollo did not immediately recognize her, only when he hears her name at the Waystation does he remember making the princess immortal. When Apollo learned she gave up her immortality, he felt Emmie made a mistake.

Apollo and Emmie have tension during Apollo's stay and Apollo says that Emmies cooking isn't as good as Sally Jackson's, making Emmie mad. When Emmie finds out that Georgina may be Apollo’s daughter and Apollo doesn't know, Emmie gets mad, and gets even madder when Apollo doesn’t sleep in her room. Emmie asks Apollo if Georgina was a punishment for everything, but Apollo says it isn't and that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her.

During the attack on the Waystation, Apollo finally understands why Emmie gave up her immortality. Apollo later apologizes to Emmie for everything.

Josephine by Viria

Josephine, a daughter of Hecate he met in Indianapolis.

Josephine is very kind to Apollo when she meets him and shows Leo Valdez and Apollo how the Waystation works. Apollo promises to help rescue Georgina for her and Emmie.

When Apollo remembers what he did to Commodus, he pukes in the toilet, and Josephine comforts him, telling him that she used to be a gangster for Al Capone and did bad things, but she changed. She also explains to Apollo why she and Emmie gave up their immortality, and that it’s ok that he doesn't get it.

Their relationship suffered a minor setback when it was revealed he might be the biological father of her adoptive daughter, but things were quickly mended.

Harley

Harley, a son of Hephaestus he met at Camp Half-Blood.

Apollo is initially very angry at the son of Hephaestus about the maze, but Apollo sees Harley crying about Will and Kaylas dissapearences and comforts him. He also tweaks his beacon to bring Leo home, with succeeds, and he comes home.

Lavinia

Lavinia Asimov, a demigod he quested with.

Apollo and Meg meet Lavinia at the Caldecott Tunnel, where Lavinia helps them get to Camp Jupiter. Apollo thinks that Lavinia reminds him of a baby giraffe and that she is VERY ADHD. Apollo also connects the dots and realizes quickly that she is attracted to women.

At the Senate meeting, she asks Apollo about her mother, but he doesn’t remember much about Terpsichore. Lavinia tells him about her father, Sergei Asimov, and Apollo is excited and almost calls him "smoking hot". Later, Apollo and Lavinia go to Tarquin's tomb, and Lavinia is concerned when Apollo slowly turns into a Zombie.

Lavinia and Apollo grow close during the duration of his stay, and they eat lunch and hang out together. Lavinia and Don sneak Apollo out and show him to the nature spirits, and tells him to sing to them. Apollo is very scared when he finds out that Lavinia is deserting, but relieved when she helps save Reyna Ramírez-Arellano.

When Apollo learns that Lavinia blew up Caligula's yachts, Apollo is very impressed with her, and is happy when she is promoted to Centurion. Lavinia later says goodbye to Apollo and Meg, and he is supportive of her relationship with Poison Oak.

Don the Faun-RR

Don, a faun he met at Camp Jupiter.

Apollo first meets Don in Caldecott tunnel on the way to Camp Jupiter. Apollo befriends Don and they talk at lunch. Don and Lavinia also sneak Apollo out to sing to the nature spirits.

When Don dies, Apollo is by his side, and Apollo is devastated and calls him a hero.

Calypso-Viria

Calypso, a former Titaness he quested with.

Calypso first meets Apollo in The Hidden Oracle, and the two, plus Leo, go on a quest to Indianapolis to find the Cave of Trophonius. Apollo and Calypso get on each other's nerves a lot, but the two become close and joke together sarcastically. Calypso and Apollo help rescue Heloise and Abelard the griffins.

The two get in a fight when Apollo thinks that his situation of being mortal is worse than hers, and when he says that she’s just like Josephine, giving up her immortality for love. However, Apollo learns to understand.

When Calypso chooses to stay at the Waystation, Apollo is supportive of her decision.

Love interests

Hyacinthus-RR

Hyacinthus, his former lover.

Hyacinthus is the son of the muse Clio, and both Zephyros and Apollo fall in love with him, but he chooses Apollo. They have happy memories together, but sadly, the jealous Zephryos manipulated the wind while playing discus to make it hit Hyacinthus above his left ear. Hyacinthus almost dies, and Apollo turns him into the first Hyacinth.

Apollo is very saddened by Hyacinthus's death and blames himself for what happened to him, even after thousands of years.

Daphne

Daphne, a nymph he went after.

After Apollo made fun of Eros, Eros got his revenge by shooting an arrow of love at Apollo, and an arrow of indifference to Daphne. Apollo became enamored with Daphne and started chasing her, but Daphne was uninterested. Daphne cried to Gaea for help, so Gaea turned her into a Laurel tree just as Apollo put her arms around her. Apollo was so heartbroken he made sure Laurel Crowns became symbols of victory.

Apollo first blamed Eros for what happened, but realises that he should of left her alone.

Commodus viria

Commodus, his lover turned enemy.

Apollo dated Commodus when he was a young adult, and fell madly in love with him. After Commodus became emperor, they grew far apart and he became mad with power. Eventually, Apollo became sick of Commodus's reign of terror and disguised himself as his trainer, Narcissus, and strangled him to death. He is filled with guilt about what he did, even though he was a bad person.

Apollo later blinds him during the Attack on the Waystation and fought with him during the Battle of San Francisco Bay after his and Caligula's fasces were destroyed. After he survived an explosion that killed Caligula and presumably Frank Zhang, Apollo jumped on him in a fit of rage and, having lost all romantic feelings for him, killed his former lover.

Koronis is the daughter of Zeus and the muse Clio. Apollo fell in love with her and she got pregnant. But Koronis cheated on him for a man named Ischys, and the ravens told Apollo. Apollo got so angry that he turned the ravens feathers black, plucked out Ischys's eyes, then ordered Artemis to kill Koronis and Ischys, but save the baby, who turned out to be Asclepius, the god of healing.

When Meg and Reyna find out what Apollo did to her, they became furious. Apollo expresses guilt for his past actions.

Apollo was in love with the Oracle, and kept asking her to marry him, but she refused, since she was the Oracle. They got in a falling out and eventually Apollo cursed her into growing old, but never dying. She forgave him in The Tyrant's Tomb.

Apollo met Latricia when she was a music professor at Oberlin. Apollo mentions that she had very good music skills, that even he had learned things in her music theory class. Latricia is the mother of Austin Lake.

Apollo met Darren when he was a Canadian archery instructor. They conceived a daughter, Kayla Knowles, from a same-sex Union. Kayla reminded Apollo of Darren.

Naomi was an alt-country singer Apollo met in Austin. They had a child named Will Solace. Will reminds Apollo of Naomi.

Cyrene

Cyrene, his former lover.

Apollo met Cyrene while she fought a lion and fell in love with her. Apollo promised her a kingdom of her own if she dated him, and Cyrene was charmed by him, so she agreed. Apollo took her to Libya and they had two children together: Idmon and Aristaeus. Cyrene built a city their and made the best temple dedicated to Apollo. Eventually, Apollo visited less and less as he moved on from her, and Cyrene became bored with life and returned to Thessally.

Cyrene eventually returned to Africa where Apollo was waiting for her, and didn't care about her other romances, and told her he had not been the best boyfriend to her, and respected that their romance was over. Apollo transformed Cyrene into the patron naiad of their city, and they ended it on good terms.

Apollo dated Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia during the Russian Revolution in 1917. She really needed him and was scared. The reasons they broke up were not clear.

She was a daughter of Demeter. Apollo fell in love with her when she sang at one of his Delphic festivals. Demeter did not approve of the relationship. They argued and settled into an uneasy truce. Apollo steered clear of Demeter's children ever since.

Reyna Ramirez

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, who he was told to stay away from.

Apollo first hears about the daughter of Bellona from Venus. When Apollo thinks she is pretty, Venus tells him to stay away from her. Later, when he comes to Camp Jupiter, Apollo recognizes her and is instantly attracted to her. At camp, Apollo acts very awkward around her and doesn’t really know what to say to her. Reyna helps Apollo with his quest to become a god again and tells him that he needs to sacrifice a god to summon one.

When Reyna, Meg McCaffrey, and Apollo go to Sutro Tower, Reyna dresses up in normal college clothes and Apollo thinks she almost looks normal. In the car, Reyna talks about how she is writing to Thalia Grace and Apollo asks her if they are in a romantic relationship, which Reyna denies, because they are friends and she is a maiden. Later, Apollo asks her out, and Reyna laughs at him hysterically and says no, embarrassing Apollo. When Reyna finds out about what he did to Koronis and Harpocrates, Reyna is disgusted but knows that he has changed. Reyna even defends Apollo against Harpocrates and shows him the good memories of him, showing his change.

The next day after the Battle of San Francisco Bay, Reyna asks Apollo to walk with her to the Senate House. Reyna thanks Apollo for asking her out, because Reyna now realizes how ridiculous she has been, thinking that she needed a guy, and even admits to Apollo's horror that she considered Octavian as a romantic partner and that she is sick of being shipped with people. Reyna then joins the Hunters of Artemis, which Apollo is supportive of wholeheartedly. Reyna says goodbye to him and Meg the next day.

Apollo thinks that Reyna is a capable warrior and that they both respect each other. They are both currently friends.

Apollo first meets Olujime when he, Meg McCaffrey, and Leo Valdez rescue him from Commodus. Apollo is instantly attracted to him and they strike up a conversation, calling him "Tall, dark, and handsome."

That night, Apollo talks to him on the balcony, and learns that he is from Nigeria and became a mercenary for Commodus to make money, and that he is a college student. Olujime mentions that he has a girlfriend, making Apollo awkward and flustered, and he ends the conversation. At the Battle at the Waystation, Apollo is impressed about Olujime's lightning powers, but realises that they are different from Zeus's. Apollo mentions it to Thalia Grace, and Thalia says he may be a Yoruba demigod.

Paolo Montes

Paolo Montes, a camper he met at Camp Half-Blood.

Apollo and the son of Hebe are on good terms. Apollo notices his arms when Will Solace points them out and later helps reattach his sawed off leg with Will.

When Apollo goes on the quest to rescue his children, Paolo is there for his going away party and gives him his Brazil bandanna for good luck, and kisses him on the cheek, making Apollo blush. Apollo thinks Paolo is quite attractive and that his bandana makes good luck.

Chiara Benvenuti and Apollo are on good terms, and Chiara witnessed him pass out twice. Apollo is attracted to her and thinks she is about eighteen and very pretty. Apollo teaches guitar lessons to Chiara bringing her to tears due to Apollo's talent, and later sees her and Damien White glaring at him at the canoe deck. Apollo helps Will Solace care for Chiara during the hay fever epidemic and sees her flirting with Damien when no one is looking. Apollo laments that he wants to stay at Camp Half-Blood to steal Chiara from Damien, or Damien from Chiara, but he hasn't decided yet.

Apollo and the son of Nemesis are on good terms, and Apollo is attracted to him. Apollo teaches Damien guitar lessons, bringing him to tears because of Apollo's talent, and later sees him and Chiara Benvenuti glaring at him from the canoe deck. Apollo helps Will Solace care for him during the hay fever epidemic, and notices that he and Chiara flirt with each other when no one is looking. Apollo laments about wanting to stay at Camp Half-Blood because he wants to steal Damien from Chiara or Chiara from Damien, but he hasn't decided yet.

Tristen

Tristan McLean, an actor he admired.

Apollo has seen Tristan McLean in King of Sparta and Jake Steel 2: The Return of Steel. He can't bear to see Tristan's abs never be on TV again.

Percy Jackson (film series)

The Lightning Thief

Apollo is played by Dimitri Lekkos. In the film, Apollo only appears once, during the council meeting during the Summer Solstice, he is seen, but not addressed by name, he is shown to be sitting by his sister Artemis.

Trivia

  • As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Poseidon and Apollo are the only two major Olympians who have temporarily been stripped of their divinity and godly powers (by Zeus). Apollo, however, is the only one to whom this has happened twice (three times if you count Apollo's Trials).
  • Hermes was said to have put his Winged Shoes on Apollo when he was sleeping in Athens but then woke up in Argentina in The Dark Prophecy.
  • Apollo is cousins with the Titaness Hecate on his mother's side.
  • Apollo gave Midas donkey ears after he declared Pan the winner in a music contest between the two gods.
  • Artemis calls him "big-headed" and many other names siblings often call one another. In fact, when Nico di Angelo pointed out that the sun was just a big fiery ball of gas, Apollo said that Artemis had called him a big fiery ball of gas once, which led humans to believe that was indeed what the sun was.
  • Apollo's epithet of "Phoebus" is mentioned in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods as being a reference to his grandmother Phoebe, from whom he inherited his prophetic powers and the Oracle of Delphi.
  • He slew the satyr Marsyas, flaying him alive, because he dared to challenge the god of music. However, in The Hidden Oracle Apollo denies these claims.
  • He likes to make haikus (Japanese poems) which probably mirrors the fact that Japan is referred as the 'Land of the rising sun' and Apollo is the sun god.
  • Apollo is the only Olympian to share his name with his Roman aspect because, in his own words, "perfection can't be improved." In reality the god had no Roman equivalent and was instead imported into the Roman pantheon, his Greek name Ἀπόλλων (Apóllōn) being Latinized as APOLLO (Apollō).
  • Apollo was equated with the Egyptian god Horus during the Hellenistic era, following Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt.
  • Apollo is the only male Olympian that is described as having blond hair, the female one being his aunt Demeter.
  • Apollo's incognito name 'Fred' may have been taken from the author of The Face of Apollo, Fred Saberhagen.
  • Apollo's name fits into his mortal alias "Lester Papadopoulos" exactly once.
  • Apollo told Thalia that "I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees." This is a reference to Apollo's first love, the nymph Daphne, who became a laurel tree to escape him.
  • Apollo is the one who informs Thalia of her age, which was previously unknown because of her transformation into a pine tree.
  • NASA's spaceflight program that landed the first human on the moon was called the "Apollo Program."
  • Ironically Apollo lies about being the elder twin (Artemis was born nine days before him) despite also being the god of truth. The latter may simply be him messing with his sister for fun (due to her favored form being a 12 year old and his that of a teenager).
  • As of The Hidden Oracle, Apollo is the first god to ever have a point of view in a Rick Riordan book.[2]
  • As revealed in The Hidden Oracle, Apollo is 4,612 years old.
    • If Apollo was 4612 years old by The Hidden Oracle, and the unofficial timeline was proven correct, that would make his birth year 2600/2601 BC, possibly exactly on a century's starting year.
  • It should be noted that Apollo is the first confirmed bisexual Olympian god in the series as he loved Daphne (who turned into a tree to escape his advances), Hyacinthus (who died due to a feud between Apollo and Zephyros), and Commodus (who was drowned in a hot tub by Apollo himself).
  • Apollo's daughter, Kayla Knowles' other parent is Darren Knowles, a Canadian archery instructor. Apollo seems to think it's ordinary for kids to be born from such relationships.
  • King Louis XIV of France was his son. Because of that, all the descendants of this king are legacies, including the Spanish Royal family.
  • Papadopoulos is the most popular Greek surname meaning "son of a priest".
  • Apollo's least favourite Roman Emperors are Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and Commodus. [3]
  • Apollo is also the only confirmed god to have met the Norse Gods because in The Hidden Oracle upon hearing the Arrow of Dodona talk, he says, "in a Stockholm tavern, I met this god who was smoking hot, except his talking sword just would not shut up," which is a reference to Frey and his sword Sumarbrander.
  • Sparta's most important festival, the Hyacinthia, was held in honor of Apollo.
  • The Pythian Games, one of the four Panhellenic festivals, were held in honor of Apollo every four years at Delphi.
  • Interestingly enough, in the traditional Greek works, Apollo is described as wielding a silver bow and his sister having golden shafts. This change in the Riordanverse (and most popular media) is most likely due to the two's later domains as the sun and moon, which are characterized as golden and silver.
  • His Egyptian counterpart is Ra.
  • His Norse equivalents are Bragi, Balder and Frey.
  • His Hindu equivalent is Surya.
  • His Mexica equivalent is Tonatiuh.

Gallery

References

  1. Percy Jackson's Greek Gods: Apollo Sings and Dances and Shoots People
  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsPe3xDIRfk
  3. Apollo's Least Favorite Roman Emperors; Companion to The Dark Prophecy
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Core Series: The Lightning Thief | The Sea of Monsters | The Titan's Curse | The Battle of the Labyrinth | The Last Olympian
Main Characters: Percy Jackson | Grover Underwood | Annabeth Chase | Tyson | Clarisse La Rue | Thalia Grace | Nico di Angelo | Chiron | Luke Castellan | Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Secondary Characters: Sally Jackson | Travis Stoll | Connor Stoll | Mrs. O'Leary | Silena Beauregard | Charles Beckendorf | Paul Blofis | Blackjack | Zoë Nightshade | Bianca di Angelo | Juniper | Ethan Nakamura | Daedalus
Minor Characters: Gabe Ugliano | Argus | Tantalus | Hylla Ramírez-Arellano | Frederick Chase | Michael Yew | May Castellan | Austin Lake | Kayla Knowles | Maria di Angelo | Will Solace | Elevator Security Guard
Olympian Gods: Zeus | Hera | Poseidon | Demeter | Ares | Athena | Apollo | Artemis | Hephaestus | Aphrodite | Hermes | Dionysus | Hades | Hestia
Minor Gods: Amphitrite | Ariadne | Ganymede | Hecate | Iris | Janus | Morpheus | Nemesis | Pan | Phobos | Deimos | Persephone | Triton
Titans: Kronos | Atlas | Calypso | Iapetus | Krios | Hyperion | Oceanus | Prometheus
Mythical Creatures: Minotaur | Centaur | Furies | Satyr | Cyclops | Manticore | Ophiotaurus | Nemean Lion | Empousa
Related Content: Rick Riordan | Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief | Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters | The Demigod Files | Demigods and Monsters | The Ultimate Guide | The Heroes of Olympus | The Trials of Apollo | Percy Jackson Demigod Collection | The Lightning Thief: Illustrated Edition | Disney+ Series
The Heroes of Olympus
Core Series: The Lost Hero | The Son of Neptune | The Mark of Athena | The House of Hades | The Blood of Olympus
Main Characters: Jason Grace | Piper McLean | Leo Valdez | Percy Jackson | Frank Zhang | Hazel Levesque | Annabeth Chase | Iapetus/Bob | Reyna Ramírez-Arellano | Nico di Angelo | Gleeson Hedge
Secondary Characters: Hylla Ramírez-Arellano | Dakota | Tyson | Ella | Octavian | Halcyon Green | Dr. Howard Claymore | Alabaster C. Torrington | Lamia
Minor Characters: Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Grover Underwood | Thalia Grace | Clarisse La Rue | Fleecy | Mrs. O'Leary | Kinzie | Arion | Calypso | Lou Ellen Blackstone | Chiron | Will Solace | Tristan McLean | Don | Julia | Jacob | Michael Varus | Burly Black | Medea | Midas | Lityerses | Phineas | Otrera | Echo | Narcissus | Sciron | Pasiphaë | Lycaon
Olympian Gods: Zeus | Hera | Poseidon | Hades | Ares | Demeter | Athena | Apollo | Artemis | Hephaestus | Aphrodite | Hermes | Dionysus
Minor Gods: Achelous | Aeolus | Asclepius | Boreas | Eurus | Hecate | Iris | Hypnos | Keto | Khione | Kymopoleia | Mithras | Nemesis | Nike | Notus | Phorcys | Serapis | Thanatos | Triptolemus | Zephyros
Roman Gods: Jupiter | Juno | Neptune | Pluto | Mars | Minerva | Ceres | Lupa | Bellona | Fortuna | Janus | Terminus | Vulcan | Mercury | Apollo (Roman) | Diana | Venus | Bacchus | Pomona | Aquilon | Hercules | Cupid | Auster | Favonius | Letus | Victoria
Giants: Enceladus | Porphyrion | Alcyoneus | Polybotes | Ephialtes | Otis | Damasen | Clytius | Mimas | Orion | Hippolytos | Thoon | Periboia
Undead: Gray | Zombie
Primordial Gods: Gaea | Tartarus | Ourae | Nyx | Chaos | Ouranos | Akhlys | Hemera | Elpis | Spes
Monsters and Magical Creatures: Cynocephali | Gorgon | Gryphon | Harpy | Basilisk | Lycanthrope | Gegeines | Cyclops | Katobleps | Unicorn | Giant Eagle | Ichthyocentaur | Satyr/Faun | Storm Spirit | Laistrygonian Giant | Lares
Related Content: Rick Riordan | Haley Riordan | Percy Jackson and the Olympians | Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide | The Demigod Files | The Demigod Diaries | The Son of Sobek | The Singer of Apollo | The Staff of Serapis | Percy Jackson's Greek Gods | Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes | The Crown of Ptolemy | Demigods & Magicians | Demigods of Olympus | Percy Jackson Demigod Collection
The Trials of Apollo
Core Series: The Hidden Oracle | The Dark Prophecy | The Burning Maze | The Tyrant's Tomb | The Tower of Nero
Main Characters: Apollo/Lester Papadopolous | Meg McCaffrey | Percy Jackson | Peaches | Leo Valdez | Calypso | Grover Underwood | Piper McLean | Jason Grace | Reyna Ramírez-Arellano | Frank Zhang | Hazel Levesque | Lavinia Asimov | Nico di Angelo | Will Solace | Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Secondary Characters: Chiron | Austin Lake | Kayla Knowles | Hemithea | Josephine | Georgina | Lityerses | Trophonius | Gleeson Hedge | Mellie | Chuck Hedge | Medea | Herophile | Crest | Don | Tyson | Ella | Tarquin | Luguselwa | Claudia | Janice | Blaise
Minor Characters: Sally Jackson | Thalia Grace | Mrs. O'Leary | Festus | Cade | Mikey | Harley | Connor Stoll | Miranda Gardiner | Cecil Markowitz | Ellis Wakefield | Sherman Yang | Damien White | Malcolm Pace | Paolo Montes | Valentina Diaz | Germani | Agamethus | Olujime | Phillip McCaffrey | Hunter Kowalski | Sssssarah | Prickly Pear | Aloe Vera | Joshua | Naevius Sutorius Macro | Incitatus | Tristan McLean | Bombilo | Aurum | Argentum | Julia | Jacob | Dakota | Poison Oak | Screech-Bling | Annabeth Chase | Elon | Mamurius Veturius | Mimi
Olympian Gods (Greek & Roman): Zeus/Jupiter | Hera/Juno | Poseidon/Neptune | Demeter/Ceres | Ares/Mars | Athena/Minerva | Apollo/Apollo (Roman) | Artemis/Diana | Hephaestus/Vulcan | Aphrodite/Venus | Hermes/Mercury | Dionysus/Bacchus | Hades/Pluto
Minor Gods: Nero | Commodus | Caligula | Iris | Britomartis | Styx | Terminus | Lupa | Terpsichore | Harpocrates | Cardea
Titans: Rhea | Leto | Mnemosyne | Helios
Monsters and Magical Creatures: Python | Nosoi | Karpos | Palikos | Myrmekes | Colossus Neronis | Blemmyae | Gryphon | Carthaginian Serpent | Scythian Dracaena | Cynocephali | Centaur | Cyclops | Yale | Satyr/Faun | Strix | Dryad | Dragon | Pandai | Eurynomos | Skeleton Warriors | Vrykolakai | Khromandae | Amphisbaena | Troglodyte | Tauri Sylvestres
Related Content: Rick Riordan | Percy Jackson and the Olympians | The Heroes of Olympus | Demigods & Magicians | Camp Half-Blood Confidential | Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio's Journal | Percy Jackson Demigod Collection | Un Natale Mezzosangue | The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure
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