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Kampê was the jailer. She worked for Kronos. She kept our brothers locked up in Tartarus, tortured them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampê and freed Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Ones to help fight against the Titans in the big war.

Tyson, in The Battle of the Labyrinth

Kampê is an extremely powerful and monstrous ally of Kronos. She was originally the jailer of Tartarus, before Zeus arrived and destroyed her, after which he freed the Cyclops and Hekatonkheires. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Kronos once again recruits her to fight Camp Half-Blood. However, she is later killed in battle.

History[]

Kampê was a jailer for the giants, the Cyclopes, and the Hekatonkheires (a.k.a. the Hundred-Handed Ones) during Kronos' rule, before Zeus freed them and started the First Titanomachy. Kampê was the first foe that Zeus destroyed with his new Master Bolt.  

Percy Jackson and the Olympians[]

The Battle of the Labyrinth[]

Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares. If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think on this until I return.

–Kampê to Briares, in The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy Jackson and his friends met her in the Labyrinth. She is guarding Briares, a Hekatonkheire, or a Hundred-Handed One, from escaping Alcatraz. Kampê chased after Briares, as he escaped from Alcatraz, thanks to the help of Tyson.

Later, Percy sees her in a dream in which she asks Luke Castellan for a more important role in the battle against the Olympians and, after she's gone, he comments that they shouldn't have freed her, since she's too powerful and chaotic.[1]

During the Battle of the Labyrinth, Kampê is one of the deadliest Titan combatants. Percy and Annabeth Chase fight her, but are almost killed until Briares joins the battle, now at full size and carrying a hundred huge rocks. Briares buries Kampê by hitting her with all these rocks at once. She died in Camp Half-Blood near Zeus' Fist, and her scimitars were taken as spoils of war, kept in the Big House attic at Camp Half-Blood.

Kampe2

Kampe with her whip

The Heroes of Olympus[]

The House of Hades[]

While discussing what they will curse Percy with, the arai wonder if he will be crushed like Kampê.

Appearance[]

Percy jackson book 4

Kampê as she appears on the British cover of The Battle of the Labyrinth.

According to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kampê is the most fearsome and ferocious monster in all of Tartarus, the "greatest nightmare of your greatest nightmares". Even Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades initially shuddered with horror after seeing the infernal monster for the first time. Kampê has a human head, with snakes for hair, like Medusa. She has a half human body, like a centaur, but with reptilian skin and a dragon half, with gigantic claws.[2] Her dragon half is said to be black with white stripes down her back. She has huge dark reptilian wings, a huge venom-dripping scorpion tail (that is extremely venomous), and at the point where her halves meet, her skin "bubbles and morphs", occasionally producing ferocious mutated animal heads that constantly change shape (bear, boar, wombat, tiger, crocodile, wolf, etc.) like a gruesome, monstrous belt. Hundreds of violent darting vipers are sprouted from her legs. Her eyelids blink sideways, "like a reptile's." Percy notes that even just standing near Kampê is like "standing in an acid fog." Kampê is also known to speak in an 'ancient rumbling language'.[3]

Weapons[]

Main article: Kampê's Scimitars
  • Whip: In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kampê is shown holding a huge fiery whip, which she wielded in tandem with her extremely venomous scorpion tail (one sting of which could incapacitate even an immortal Elder Cyclops for hours of excruciating pain).
  • Scimitars: In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Kampê now wields two poisonous twin scimitars that will kill demigods, after they painfully shrivel slowly into dust. This does not kill Cyclopes or Hekatonkheires (Hundred-Handed Ones), though it causes them hours of extreme and ineffable pain, according to Tyson. The scimitars themselves glow with a "weird greenish aura boiling wisps of vapor that smelled sour and hot even across the yard." They are also extremely sharp, shown when Kampê used them to instantly slice through steel cell bars and stone walls. Kampê is able to fight with both of her hands independently, and she nearly overwhelmed Percy and Annabeth simultaneously.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • In some myths, Kampê was a giant snake and covered the door that lead Zeus to the Hekatonkheires and Cyclops. Zeus turned into a bee and got in a giant rock on the top and became himself again and make the giant rock roll her head and killed her.
  • Kampê speaks the "Tongue of the Old Times", which Gaea initially spoke to the Titans, Elder Cyclops, and Hundred-Handed Ones.  
  • As seen in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kampê was so fearsome, that even Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades shuddered with horror after seeing her for the first time. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, even though she is on Luke's side, he is visibly terrified of her. Kampê is also one of the few monsters that Percy chooses to run from, instead of engaging her in battle.  
  • As seen in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kampê is the first foe that Zeus wields his Master Bolt against. Thus, she is the first monster ever fought and destroyed by the Olympians.
  • Kampê seems to have incredible endurance, since she was completely unfazed even after Chiron shot her with three arrows in the chest.
  • She and Gigantes are the children of Gaea and Tartarus, which may be the reason for her dragon-like appearance and the horrific threats she makes to Olympians.
  • Along with Cerberus and Ladon, she is one of the monsters that Percy Jackson is too terrified to fight and the only monster that even frightens Luke Castellan. She is also the only one that is not related to them.

References[]

  1. The Battle of the Labyrinth, chapter 9: I Scoop Poop
  2. The Battle of the Labyrinth, page 110
  3. The Battle of the Labyrinth, page 111
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
Monsters
Species: Amphisbaena | Apollo's Cattle | Blemmyae | Basilisk | Carnivorous Sheep | Centaur | Cyclops | Cynocephali | Dragon | Drakon | Empousa | Eurynomos | Feather-Shooting Bird | Fire-Breathing Horse | Flesh-Eating Horse | Gegeines | Geminus | Giant Eagle | Giant Scorpion | Giant Snake | Ghoul | Gorgon | Gryphon | Harpy | Hellhound | Hippalektryon | Hippocampus | Hydra | Hyperborean Giant | Ichthyocentaur | Karpoi | Katobleps | Keres | Khromandae | Laistrygonian Giant | Leucrotae | Lycanthrope | Makhai | Merperson | Myrmekes | Nikai | Pandai | Pegasus | Pit Scorpion | Satyr | Scythian Dracaena | Sea Serpent | Siren | Strix | Stymphalian Birds | Tauri Sylvestres | Telekhine | Troglodyte | Unicorn | Vrykolakai | Yale
Friendly Monsters: Argus | Blackjack | Briares | Bombilo | Chiron | Cottus | Don | Ella | Festus | Gleeson Hedge | Gray | Grover Underwood | Guido | Gyges | Lysas | Mrs. O'Leary | Ophiotaurus | Peaches | Peleus | Porkpie | Rainbow | Scipio | Tyson | Tempest | Sssssarah
Enemy Monsters: Antaeus | Agrius and Oreius | Arachne | Cacus | Carthaginian Serpent | Charybdis and Scylla | Chimera | Chrysaor | Clazmonian Sow | Colchis Bulls | Echidna | Euryale | Geryon | Kampê | Karkinos | Kekrops | Lamia | Manticore | Medusa | Minotaur | Nemean Lion | Polyphemus | Python | Skolopendra | Sphinx | Stheno | Sun Dragons | Typhon | Trojan Sea Monster
Neutral Monsters: Cerberus | Erymanthian Boar | Gray Sisters | Furies | Ladon | Orthus | Sybaris
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