| “ | They send a person who can never stay. Who can never accept my offer of companionship for more than a little while. They send me a hero I can't help... just the sort of person I can't help falling in love with. | ” |
–Calypso talking to Percy about the Fates, in The Battle of the Labyrinth. | ||
Calypso was a second generation Titan, daughter of Atlas. As punishment for her support in the First Titanomachy, she was banished to Ogygia, a remote island where different heroes whom she couldn't help but fall in love with would end up. None of those heroes whom she falls for would ever be able to stay with her. Calypso was rescued by Leo Valdez after the Second Giant War ended. Once she left her island, she gave up Titan-hood and is currently a mortal, but regained her magical powers. Calypso is the girlfriend of Leo Valdez.
History
Early life
Atlas, her father
Calyso was born from Atlas and his sister Tethys. Though her parents never married, she developed a close relationship with her father.
First Titan War
When the First Titan War began, Calypso was the only of her sisters to help her father, uncles, and cousins to fight against the gods. Though the Titans initially had the upper hand in the battles, since they were very skilled and much more experienced warriors, the gods quickly became skilled warriors as well, and with the help of their new extremely powerful weapons (Zeus' Master Bolt, Poseidon's Trident, and Hades' Helm of Darkness) and the aid of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, the gods finally prevailed.
During the final battle, Zeus and his siblings ascended to Mount Olympus (the tallest mountain in Greece after Mount Orthys), used his Master Bolt to shear off the top of Mount Othrys, and hurled Kronos from his black throne, defeating the Titan King. Shortly thereafter, the gods invaded the ruins of Mount Orthys, and finally overwhelmed the remaining Titans. In the aftermath of the battle, the Titans were all chained up by the Elder Cyclopes, after which the Hekatonkheires forced them to kneel before the gods. Only Kronos' mighty former second-in-command, Calypso's father, received a different punishment, as he was forced to hold up the sky while being chained to the ruins of Mount Othrys.
As punishment, Calypso was imprisoned in the phantom island Ogygia by the Fates. She cannot leave the island, but others can. As Hera felt pity, the gods gave Calypso several servants and will come to visit her every so often to bring the word of the outside world. Every thousand years or so, the gods of Olympus will send Calypso a "companion" (hero) to Ogygia so that Calypso will "tend to him and befriend him." All the heroes sent to her attract her, so she falls in love with them, but they always send someone who will break her heart and never stay.
The Odyssey
Calypso was the absolute ruler of the isle of Ogygia, where she imprisons the Greek hero Odysseus to make him her immortal husband. According to The Battle of the Labyrinth, Odysseus is content at first with Calypso, but he soon becomes unwilling to stay with her. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus in her island for seven years until Odysseus wished to return to his wife, Penelope, the queen of Ithaca.
Odysseus' patron goddess, Athena, asks Zeus to release Odysseus. Zeus complies and sends Hermes to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free. Calypso begrudgingly accepts this command and gives Odysseus the supplies he needs to make a raft home. Her winds allowed the hero to sail away to his destination safely.
Meeting lovers
Several centuries after Odysseus arrived on Ogygia, Calypso's companion was an English pirate named Drake, who was possibly Sir Francis Drake. He was loved by Calypso as well, though he ultimately chose to part with her to be with his wife, Elizabeth Sydenham.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Sea of Monsters
Calypso is briefly mentioned by Circe as being a powerful sorceress, along with Medea. [1]
The Battle of the Labyrinth
After Percy causes an eruption at Mount Saint Helens, Hera sends him to the island of Ogygia (pronounced oh-jee-jee-ah). Calypso nursed Percy back to health, but he at first was unsure of her as she and the island were both very beautiful, and in his experience, places like that are usually traps. She did admit that she was the daughter of Atlas, but said she wouldn't hurt him and let him roam around the island.
One night when they were eating dinner, Percy asked her why Calypso always pulled away when they were having a nice time and why she refuses to enjoy herself. She tears up when she looked at him. She was about to finish telling him her story when Hephaestus showed up. He told them what was going on back in civilization and left after a short time.
Percy Jackson
Percy realized that as much as he wanted to stay, he had to go back to Camp Half-Blood eventually. Calypso was saddened by the news and explained to Percy that she was cursed to stay on Ogygia forever by the gods because she supported her father in the First Titan War. She is also cursed to have heroes wash up on her island, wounded or hurt for her to heal. However, the people that landed on her island were always people she would fall in love with, but they would never be able to stay with her.
Calypo reluctantly offers Percy the chance to stay with her on Ogygia, where he would be immortal. Though Percy hated to refuse, he did because his friends needed his help and he had duties. Accepting his choice, Calypso makes him a magical raft and sends him off, asking him to take one of her magical plants, moonlace, which has a delicious smell, with him and plant a garden for her, which he did. As he was leaving on the raft he stated that Calypso would always be his biggest "what if".
The Last Olympian
Calypso is mentioned in the book. The moonlace she gave Percy appears again in the windowsill of his apartment. He said that the moonlace "bloomed like crazy" under his mother's care. Calypso is mentioned when Prometheus asks Percy to surrender. Prometheus said not all Titan offspring were bad, such as Calypso. Percy replied to that, saying Calypso was different.
After the Battle of Manhattan, Percy makes a request to the gods that Calypso along with any other peaceful Titans who didn't fight in the original war be allowed amnesty and be freed, pointing out that their treatment by the gods was what caused some of them to switch sides.
The Heroes of Olympus
The House of Hades
Calypso is first mentioned when Percy Jackson is forced to fight a number of arai in Tartarus. The arai make curses real when they are destroyed, revealing that Calypso had cursed Annabeth for being Percy's love interest at the time. When Annabeth Chase destroyed one of the arai, she began to wonder why Percy left her. Percy tried to tell her he was right there, but every time he got close, she would be transported away. As Percy takes on more curses and becomes too weak to stand, he feels bad about how poor a friend he had been and feels that he should have made sure the gods had freed her from Ogygia, which they didn't.
Leo Valdez
Later, Leo lands on her island after being blasted from the Argo II. At first, she despises Leo and think that the gods are mocking her. After the two become angry at each other, Leo builds a small hut far enough away from Calypso so that she couldn't see him, but close enough where Calypso could continue to bring him food. After Leo finds some Celestial Bronze and begins working on a way to navigate off the island, Calypso visits him to yell about all the noise he is making from his makeshift forge and how he is scaring away the birds. However she brings him some food and tells him to eat, as he hasn't eaten in two days. Later she visits again, bringing him a recreated set of his favorite clothes, except these were fireproof so Leo couldn't burn them like he had with the other clothes Calypso had made him. Leo comments that she is warming up to him, but she claims she is returning a favor for all the things on her island he had fixed during his time there. She begins to take an interest in one of his projects and helps Leo get it to work with her magic after Leo sets his shirt on fire when he turns it on. The two watch a vision in the device of Camp Half-Blood preparing for battle, Camp Jupiter soldiers being attacked by the Kerkopes, and Reyna trying desperately to reach Rome, with Calypso believing that Reyna is Leo's girlfriend, which he says she isn't.
When the machine stops and Leo tries to get it started again, Gaea appears before the two. She taunts Leo until Calypso steps in and tells Gaea she is not welcome on her island. Gaea turns her attention to her and offers Calypso a chance to join her, as Ogygia will be destroyed when she remakes the world. She tells Calypso that all she needs to do is kill Leo and she will free her from her island. Calypso refuses as Ogygia is not only her prison, but her home and she banishes Gaea from it.
Calypso then spends every moment trying to help Leo build a ship to escape her island so that he can stop Gaea. She even makes a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, thinking they are more practical after making Leo so many pairs. As the two bond, Leo offers Calypso the option of leaving with him, but she refuses as it would destroy any chance Leo has of escaping. They continue to work and Leo is so impressed that he offers Calypso a job if she ever leaves her island. The two joke about how they could open a shop called "Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters," which would not only fix machines, but sell fruit, vegetables, cider, and stew.
As Leo begins plans on a boat, he admits that he plans on coming back with Festus in order to spring Calypso from her island. Calypso says he can't as the rule is that no one can visit Ogygia twice, but Leo isn't convinced, believing he can use a crystal from her island to navigate back; as he can't start Leo and Calypso’s Auto Repair without Calypso. Just then the magic raft appears and Calypso forces Leo onto it before it vanishes. Leo makes the connection that the raft only appears to take away people Calypso is in love with, but she says she still hates him. Leo tries to promise her that he will return, but she cuts him off with a kiss, not wanting to hear Leo's promise. After the kiss however, Leo makes an oath on the River Styx that he will return.
The Blood of Olympus
That oath he made actually represented the third line of the Prophecy of Seven: "An Oath to keep with a Final Breath". After Leo was revived by the Physician's Cure, he arrived at Ogygia on Festus where Calypso was standing on the beach, wearing jeans and a white blouse. She comments that he "is late". After helping Leo from his fall, Calypso kissed him. After Leo asked her if she wanted to get off Ogygia, she stepped back, raised her hand and her invisible servants brought two suitcases and set them at her feet. They soon got on Festus, with Calypso's arms around Leo's waist, and they soared into the unknown.
Between the Series
She and Leo were wandering the winds for the past six months until Festus picked up a signal from Harley's homing beacon.
The Trials of Apollo
The Hidden Oracle
She and Leo arrive at Camp Half-Blood after Nero's attack on the camp. She and Leo agree to join Apollo on his quest to become a god again.
The Dark Prophecy
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Calypso, along with the rest of the group, lands on the capital building in Indianapolis. They land before a woman named Nanette approached them and took hold of Apollo after identifying the former god. The woman grabbed Apollo before the former immortal sorceress punched her in the head, resulting in the woman's head to be revealed as a metal fake and Calpyso to break her hand. Leo ran over to her before finding out she was a Blemmyae working for Triumvirate Holdings calling for back up. She attacks Nanette again with a kick, resulting in the blemmyae to be disoriented and her breaking her ankle. Leo and Apollo helped her walk as the three retreated into an alley way where a ghost was pointing them somewhere, but they are quickly corned by their headless hunters. When Leo has a plan, she helps Apollo distract the blemmyae by acting as chorus to his story, mostly in the form of insults. She is aided on the bulldozer and the three make a break for it. As Nanette is about to kill them she herself is killed by a stray arrow. A woman comes to their aide as she takes out all the blemmyae. She introduces her self as Emmie and states that Calypso looks like her half-sister and takes them to the Waystation. After arriving she was lead by Emmie to the infirmary. Several hours later she is good as new and watching the fallen god have a vision. They gather around a table as Agamethus tries to tell them something. When the trio learned that Emmie and Josephine's adoptive daughter Georgie has been taken by the emperor she sands her condolences. As they prepare and eat lunch, Emmie and Joesephine talk about what has happened to the Waystation's inhabitants and their daughter. A noise is coming from the roof, the former hunters go to investigate and tell their guests to stay put. Apollo explains to her and Leo the ritual for seeing Trophious. When Leo says he will get Festus she scolds him. Moments later the two find Apollo trapped in a net by the net goddess Britomartis. The goddess tell she them that she wants them to free her griffins in three days time or they will never save Georgiana. She tells her and Apollo to head to the city's zoo while Leo works in defenses. After telling the ex hunters what Britomartis told them they had their guests do chore days with her planting with Emmie before they send her and the boys to separate wings for the night. At first light she wakes Apollo to head to the zoo to free the griffins. As they make their way to the Indianapolis Zoo she tells Apollo to ask his arrow, which they learn to look by a train and have tatter tots. They argue about their mortal status along the way. When they reach the zoo they find a directory pointing them to the train but hear Lityerses and others coming towards them. She pulls him towards a near by cafe to hide. She picks the lock with a Bobbi pin and she and Apollo hide in the cafe. They find the griffin tatters in a locked freezer she easily opened and she finds the train ride on a map. They hear Lityerese order one of his men to stay by the cafe and they wonder how to get past him. They make their way towards the train but are cornered by Germanus by the reptile house. She scares them off with fake magic. They reach the train station only to find Lityerses blocking their way and calling for backup. He teases her for being Leo's girlfriend and Apollo pulls her out of the way when he us crushed by vegetation. They board the train and locate the monster enclosure. They then find the griffins, open their enclosure and sing an ancient duet to calm them. She feed the female while Apollo feeds the male before Lityerses appears behind them. As Lityrses is about to kill them, Meg McCaffrey arrives and fends him off. After she and Apollo mount the griffins and he releases all the other monsters, and forces the net on the ceiling away to the astonishment of both former immortals. She passes out right after that, and Apollo and Meg escorts her to Waystation.  Calypso and Apollo saving the gryphons of the Waystation. She is feint when she arrives and is taken to the infirmary by Leo and Josephine. It is later revealed that Calypso's magic was Britomartis' doing, to the anger of Leo and Apollo. However Joesephine claims she can help restore her magic. She is told to stay behind when Apollo, Leo and Meg infiltrate Commodus's palace. When the released prisoners made their way to the waystation she handed out refreshments and medical supplies. She took a note pad when Georgie was on the Throne of Memory. She managed to perform minor feets of magic, such as moving a mug across a table. But she feels it will be a while before she gets her full powers back, assuming they survive the mornings attack. After speaking with Emmie and Joesophine, she and Leo have decided to stay at the Waystation. Halfway through the battle she, Josephine, Thalia and Lit were at a standstill while Commodus had Leo, Emmie and Georgie hostage. After Apollo blinds Commodus and his men and the others take out his guards, Calypso summons a blast of air and pushes the god emperor out of the waystation. They could not find the god emperor and neither could their search parties. She then aided in the cleaning and attended Heloise's funeral. She and Josephine decipher some of the prophecy over dinner, she objects to Leo warning Camp Jupiter alone of the attack on their camp. The next morning she is arguing with him about what to pack. |
Relationships
Family
Atlas
Atlas, her father.
Though her parents never married, Calypso developed a close relationship with her father. Despite her father is ruthless to his enemies, she still loves him. She was the only of his daughters to help her father fight against the gods.
Love Interests
| “ | Love will make you do crazy things. Or, more accurately, being trapped on a deserted island for centuries will make you do crazy things. | ” |
right, Leo Valdez, her boyfriend.
| “ | Don't push your luck, Leo Valdez; I still hate you. | ” |
–Calypso to Leo Valdez, in The House of Hades | ||
In The House of Hades, Leo lands on Calypso's island, as the gods had not seen to Percy's wish of setting her free from Ogygia, her cursed home. Although Leo and Calypso do not get along very well when they first meet, when he works to escape, she turns out to be a great help and they become friends. They also share a kiss just before Leo leaves. Leaving Ogygia, Leo doubts that he really is "in love with an immortal girl" and that Calypso is in love with him. He then swears upon the River Styx that he will come back for Calypso. When he returns to the world, it is clear that he misses Calypso: Jason notices that he has lost most of his nervous energy and has the same heartbroken expression that he saw from Nico.
In the The Blood of Olympus, Leo is obsessed with returning to Calypso after he has defeated Gaea. Once Gaea is gone, he returns to Ogygia and takes Calypso back into the mortal world.
Percy Jackson, her former romantic interest.
Calyso first met when Percy was stranded on Ogygia. She had healed Percy after he was severely weakened at Mount Saint Helens. Percy later learns about her punishment for helping her father Atlas. She asks him to join her and live with her forever where he would become immortal, but he turns her down, even though it would save him from the Great Prophecy (if he had stayed on the island, he would never turn 16).
Calypso was in love with Percy, who felt very attracted to her and liked her as well. He considered her more beautiful than Aphrodite, "but I wouldn't say that out loud or she'd blast me to ashes,". In The Last Olympian, Percy requested that the Olympians show leniency to the Titans who did not support Kronos, freeing Calypso from her prison. Percy has even stated, that for as long as he lived, she would always be his biggest "what-if".However, like all other heroes that land on her island, Percy had to leave her for others (in this case, for the safety of his friends and family), which too was part of her punishment.
In The House of Hades, it is revealed when Percy made the gods swear to free her from her prison, she was forgotten and stayed trapped on Ogygia. She blamed the gods for this, but also Percy's best friend and girlfriend, Annabeth, as she thought it was Annabeth's fault she was alone. Although she cursed Annabeth for it, Percy didn't blame her but instead blamed himself for not ensuring that the gods freed her from her island. In The Hidden Oracle, Percy and her have an awkward reunion and hug. Leo, Calypso, and Percy spend time together for most of the day before Percy has to leave.Francis Drake was an English sea captain, privateer and politician who ended up at Ogygia at some point in his life. Like all other of Calypso's lovers, he left for his wife, Elizabeth Sydenham.
Calypso fell in love with the clever Odysseus after he washed up in Ogygia during his trip back to Ithaca, after the Trojan War. However, Odysseus left to return to his wife, Penelope, and their son, Telemachus.
Friends
It is unknown if Calypso knew Apollo, but the two see each other in The Hidden Oracle, where Calypso agrees to go west with Apollo and Leo. Apollo thinks Calypso is beautiful, describing her as “beguiling”.
When Calypso and the guys make it to Indianapolis, Calypso defends Apollo from Nanette, getting her hand broken in the process, and breaking her leg, resulting in Apollo helping her walk. She then helps Apollo distract the Blemmyae while Leo gets a bulldozer, while also calling Apollo “most worthless of teens”.
The next day, the two go to the Indianapolis Zoo to rescue Hemethea and Josephine’s griffons, Heloise and Abelard. They argue on the way, with Apollo saying is mortal experience is worse and saying that Calypso is just as bad as Hemethea, making her upset. The two hide in the café from Lityerses, then they scare him off twice. When they find the griffins, they sing a duet to them, then when Lityerses appears again, Meg McCaffrey rescues them. When Apollo finds out that Britomartis gave Calypso magic again, Apollo is furious.
Apollo supports Calypso wholeheartedly staying at the Waystation, even though he will miss her and Leo.
Calypso meets Emmie when she saves her, Apollo, and the Blemmyae and takes her to the Waystation, and to the infirmary, where she heals her wounds. Calypso and Emmie later plant together. Calypso currently lives with Emmie, as she convinced her to live at The Waystation with her and Jo.
Emmie thinks that Calypso looks like Zoë Nightshade, Calypso’s half sister and Emmie’s old friend.
Personality=
As seen in The Battle of the Labyrinth, Calypso is kindhearted, and caring. She has a warm heart, revealing that even if her father was ruthless to his enemies, she still loves him and has no anger toward the gods despite their actions.
Calypso is very down to earth, understanding why the gods decided to trapping her on her island. She shows a level of curiosity, asking Percy about how the world has changed in the time she has been trapped and feels bad that there is a place where flowers cannot grow, like New York City.
However, Calypso can be feisty and rebellious. She didn't like the fact that she had to fall in love because the gods wanted to punish her. She was very shy around visitors to her island as anyone that arrives there is someone she would fall in love with, causing her to hide her feelings. In The House of Hades, Calypso was angered for still being trapped on the island despite the gods promising to release her. As a result of this, she was hostile to Leo at first when he lands at her island. She tells him she doesn't like being told what to do and is shown to be harder, more blunt and sarcastic than before.
Appearance
| “ | She wasn't trying to be beautiful and didn't even care about that. She just was. | ” |
–Percy Jackson, talking about Calypso in The Battle of the Labyrinth | ||
Calypso was described to have cinnamon-smelling caramel hair that was braided over one shoulder, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a face that appeared to be timeless. According to Percy, it was difficult to tell whether she was 15 or 16 due to her timeless features, but he found her to be "twice as brilliant" as the stars, and far more beautiful than even Aphrodite herself, for she seemed more natural. In The Odyssey, Calypso was described to be a "goddess of strange beauty". Aphrodite's husband, Hephaestus, acknowledged Calypso's beauty, as shown by his compliment of her.
In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Calypso wore a white sleeveless Greek dress with a low circular neckline trimmed in gold, and seemed to radiate a natural glow in the moonlight.
In The House of Hades, Calypso makes a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt for herself, as it is better suited for manual labor.
In The Hidden Oracle, Apollo acknowledged Calypso's beauty, describing her as "beguiling". When he saw her in the flesh, he observed that though she had become a full mortal about his current teenage age, she still retained her otherworldly beauty - her eyes were still dark and intelligent, and she had neither flab nor acne. The only difference was that instead of a chiton, Calypso wore modern jeans, a white blouse, and a shocking-pink ski jacket.
Abilities
As the daughter of the Titans Atlas and Tethys, Calypso was "a goddess of strange power". It is implied through Apollo's slight fear of her that she might be an extremely powerful being, especially given her eons of magical practice and how she is older than the Gods themselves.
- Mystiokinesis: Calypso can cast and manipulate powerful magic, though her ability is less than Hecate. Her magic is mainly directed through song. After leaving her island, Calypso lost all of her powers and became mortal. However, as of The Dark Prophecy, she regained her ability to cast magic. She once mentioned that if she had her full magic, she could throw Apollo across Indianapolis.
- Vitakinesis: Calypso possesses healing powers. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, she nursed Percy back to health though singing a song of enchantment.
- Immortality Bestowal: Calypso can grant the gifts of immortality and eternal youth to whoever she chooses. In The Odyssey, she offered Odysseus an "'immortal life, exempt from age and woe" if he would give up his mortal family and stay with her instead.
- Aerokinesis: Calypso can control and manipulate the the air to certain extent. In The Odyssey, she provided Odysseus with "'a gentle breeze" to ensure that the weather and sea remained safe enough for him to sail to his desired destination. Apollo mentioned in The Dark Prophecy that she had control over wind spirits, such as her invisible spirits on her island.
- Technokinesis: Calypso can construct and manipulate technology through magic, such as activate machines. Leo describes her as the most intuitive girl he had ever met, surpassing his siblings and mastering mechanics within moments despite never being exposed previously.
- Curses: As revealed in The House of Hades, Calypso can cast powerful curses. She cursed Annabeth to feel alone, as Percy had done to her once.
- Prophecy: Through her magic, she can see the past.
- Vitakinesis: Calypso possesses healing powers. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, she nursed Percy back to health though singing a song of enchantment.
- Territorial Juridistion (formerly): Through the curse of the gods, Calypso was the absolute ruler of Ogygia. She could banish powerful beings like Gaia from her island and call the magical raft to allow her visitors left, except for herself.
- Weaving: In The Odyssey, Calypso is once mentioned to be weaving at her loom with "a golden shuttle". In The Dark Prophecy, she mentioned that she spent literally thousands of years practicing at the loom. In The House of Hades, Calypso makes several outfits because Leo keeps burning his up.
- Lock-Picking: As shown in The Dark Prophecy, Calypso has the ability to undo any lock using pins, which it wasn't too different from weaving thread in a loom.
- Multilingualism: Calypso demonstrated numerous times that she is able to speak, understand, and communicate in a variety of languages, including Ancient Greek, Minoan, and English.
- Gardening: Perhaps her greatest skill, Calypso is a passionate and heavily experienced gardener, including rare flowers like moonlace.
Trivia
- Calypso is a moon orbiting Saturn (planet) that was discovered in 1980 and is named after her.
- Calypso is said to have children with Odysseus, as stated by Hesiod, Apollodorus and Homer, though they aren't mentioned in the series.
- In some versions of the Greek tales, it is noted that Calypso dies because of her heart suffering in the absence of Odysseus.
See Also
References
- ↑ Page 172, UK Copy.