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Harpocrates was the Ptolemaic god of silence and secrets, captured and used by Triumvirate Holdings to cause the communication trouble for the demigods. He willingly leaves the world to help Apollo save Camp Jupiter.

History[]

Harpocrates was created during the time of the Greek rule of Egypt. Originally, he was an incarnation of Horus, Harpa-Khruti or "Horus the Child". He was usually depicted with his finger to his lips, it symbolized the hieroglyph for child. When Alexander the Great invaded Egypt, the Greeks saw all the statues of Harpocrates and didn't know what to make of them. They thought his gesture meant be quiet or shh, so they decided that he must be the god of silence and secrets. They changed his name to Harpocrates as a hellenization, built some shrines, started worshiping him, and he became a very minor Greek-Egyptian hybrid god just like that.

Harpocrates was in charge of secrets and his symbol was a rose. According to one myth, Aphrodite gave her son, Eros, a rose who gave it to Harpocrates to ensure that his mother's indiscretions were kept under wraps. This tale led leaders to hang a rose from the ceiling of conference rooms in the old days. It meant that everybody in the conversation was sworn to secrecy. They called it sub rosa, or "under the rose". This continued through the Middle Ages and the modern era.

Apollo bullied Harpocrates because he was a very minor god and rather silly-looking. He made some jokes at his expense in front of the Olympians, he zapped glowing letters on the back of his toga, and he tied up and locked him in the stalls with his fiery horses overnight. Harpocrates swore to Apollo that someday he'd vaporize him.[1]

The Trials of Apollo[]

The Burning Maze[]

Harpocrates is indirectly mentioned by Herophile while she was creating a prophecy with Apollo, Meg McCaffrey, and Grover Underwood. She mentioned that she could either talk in puzzles or be completely "soundless" and that they must stop Caligula from becoming the new sun "god", the two words made referred to Harpocrates but none of them knew it at the time.

The Tyrant's Tomb[]

Harpocrates was imprisoned by Triumvirate Holdings using their fasces in a large box on top of Sutro Tower and forced to silence communications for the demigods. Eventually, a Eurynomos under the control of Tarquin hands him the jar containing the sibyl of Cumae as a cruel joke by the Triumvirate. The two end up forming a sort of wistful relationship. When Apollo, Meg, and Reyna find Harpocrates and open the door to his holding container, he bombarded them with negative memories of Apollo bullying him and the emperors mocking him. The three then show him good and bad memories of their own. After Reyna and Meg destroy the fasces binding him to his prison, they stop him from vaporizing Apollo by showing him memories of how he changed. He agrees to be used as the sacrifice and tells Apollo to release his dying breath at a shrine or temple and wills himself out of existence along with the Sibyl of Cumae. Harpocrates' death restores demigod communications, although the effect spreads slowly.

His breath is used for the Ceremony to Call for Divine Help that summons Diana to help win the Battle of San Francisco Bay.

The Tower of Nero[]

It's mentioned that magical means of communication have slowly been coming back online ever since Harpocrates' death, but they are still spotty. As a result, the news of Jason Grace's death doesn't reach Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase before they leave on a road trip and, although Nico di Angelo sensed it, Camp Half-Blood doesn't have confirmation until the arrival of Meg and Apollo.

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure[]

Months after Harpocrates' death, demigod communications appear to have been fully restored as Nico di Angelo is able to Iris Message Piper McLean without any trouble.

Appearance[]

Harpocrates takes the form of a ten year old boy with an olive complexion in a toga and wearing the crowns of a combined Egypt. He had a mostly shaved head with a black ponytail on the side.

During his imprisonment by Triumvirate Holdings, his skin became wrinkled and pale.

Personality[]

Harpocrates is shown to be bitter due to millennia of bullying by Apollo. And has shown to have developed enough hatred for him to immediately try to vaporize him on the spot when he was turned human. However, despite this, its been shown that Harpocrates will temporarily stop trying to kill him given enough of a reason, showing he has a strong sense of rationality and self-control when needed. Harpocrates is aware of his existence as god born out of misinterpretation, and longs for the release of fading.

During his time imprisoned by Caligula, Nero and Commodus together with the Oracle of Cumae, Harpocrates is shown to have a strong capacity for love, as seen where he deeply fell in love with the Oracle and genuinely wept for her when she sacrificed herself.

Additionally Harpocrates is able to forgive Apollo for his past abuses, if only to die peacefully without any grudges or malignant thoughts in his heart.

Abilities[]

As a very minor god, Harpocrates is not particularly powerful, being described as a D-list god by Apollo. Despite this, his powers were put to effective use by Triumverate Holdings.

  • Silence Inducement: As the soundless god, Harpocrates is able to induce silence around him, those that get too close to him are unable to speak or hear. Once imprisoned, his powers were used to amplify the act of silencing communications for demigods with the help of the Sutro Tower boosting his signal. Harpocrates' effect was so powerful when boosted that various forms of communications, including Iris Messages, wouldn't go through and attempts by demigods to use mortal forms of communications such as cell phones failed as well. Even once he had faded, this effect took time to wear off, with a communications parchment having a bad connection and then bursting into flame from being overworked. By the time that Apollo and Meg return to Camp Half-Blood, it's stated that although all magical means of communication have been restored with Harpocrates' death, communication is still spotty, suggesting that Harpocrates' effects were still wearing off. Two months later, approximately three months after Harpocrates' death, demigod communications appear to have been fully restored.
  • Telepathy: Due to his silence, Harpocrates spoke telepathically to those around him.
    • Memory Projection: He can project his memories to those that he is communicating with.
  • Telekinesis: By extending his hand, Harpocrates was able to call the broken fasces into his hand.
  • Pyrokinesis: After being set free, Harpocrates was able to melt Caligula and Commodus' broken fasces. He also intended to vaporize Apollo for the other god's bullying of him.

Trivia[]

  • Some people believed that Harpocrates was the son of Isis and Serapis. Isis invented sails when looking for her son.[2]
  • Groucho Marx once jokingly said that his brother, Harpo, was named after Harpocrates, it was actually because he played the harp. However, Discordians considered Harpo an avatar of Harpocrates.[3]
  • Harpocrates is the first god to be seen dying in the series, with other gods either fading or scattering. The second was Caligula and the third was Commodus.

References[]

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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