The Mist (also known as the Duat or Glamour) is a supernatural force controlled by the goddess Hecate that twists a mortal's sight from seeing monsters, gods, Titans, and other supernatural occurrences by replacing them with things the mortal mind knows about and can comprehend. Some mortals can see through the Mist as well, including Rachel Elizabeth Dare, May Castellan and Sally Jackson. Demigods and mythical creatures can all see through the Mist at most times, though sometimes the Mist is strong enough to fool even demigods. It is possible to gain the ability to see through the mist, as demonstrated by Loki, who removed the Mist from the eyes of Mr. Fierro and his wife.
Description[]
It is Hecate's job to make sure the mythological events are replaced with visions of normality. Under the influence of Mist, a mortal would see gods or monsters as ordinary humans or animals and supernatural objects become commonplace items. The Mist not only distorts vision, but also creates false memories and suppresses real ones.
In the short story Son of Magic in The Demigod Diaries, the Mist is shown to be able to form into physical objects by Hecate and her children. Lamia distorted the vision of humans enough that they don't even realize that hazardous and deadly things are happening to them. Dr. Claymore's friend, Burly Black, burned to death without realizing a thing. Alabaster C. Torrington created an Imperial Gold sword and a guardian from Mist. Hecate created a Mistform body for the soul of Howard Claymore, who died to protect Alabaster.
History[]
The Mist divided the Roman demigods and Greek demigods for years - implicated by the strong presence of the Mist near Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians[]
The Lightning Thief[]
The Mist is mentioned several times, normally hiding Percy's sword from mortal eyes by making it appear as a rifle or a baseball bat. It also hides monsters, such as when the Furies attacked Percy and his friends on a bus, but the people only saw Percy attacking three old ladies. The Mist also hides most of Percy's fight with the god Ares, making their swords appear as guns to the police and also hiding Ares' appearance as a god. The Mist also hides Camp Half-Blood from the eyes of humans, as anything inside the Camp Borders appear as nothing more than a strawberry field and the protective borders of the camp will prevent people from entering the camp.
The Sea of Monsters[]
The Mist made a group of Laistrygonians appear as normal students who were tall and scary until they showed their true form when they attacked Percy. The Mist also hid the fact that Tyson was a Cyclops until Percy looked directly at him. Later when given a quest into the Sea of Monsters, it is explained that there is a strong layer of Mist in the Bermuda Triangle, resulting in ships and planes getting lost inside it. Chiron later uses the Mist to make up a fake cover story to shift the blame away from Percy for the attack on the gym.
The Titan's Curse[]
Thalia Grace showed that she is able to manipulate the Mist, as shown when she snapped her fingers and a teacher thought they went to the school but will Percy be able to do it or just envy her. Later, as the group climbed up Mount Othrys, Thalia explained that the top of the mountain had a very strong layer of mist. Percy then asked if she meant the magical kind or the natural kind, she explained that both forms were strong. This may also indicate the strength of the Mist in California due to the existence of Camp Jupiter in the vicinity (particularly San Francisco).
The Battle of the Labyrinth[]
The Mist is very strong inside the Labyrinth. It is strong enough to fool demigods into traps or to get them lost. Percy eventually had to ask Rachel Elizabeth Dare for help, as she was a clear sighted mortal and could see through the Mist in the maze.
The Demigod Files[]
In The Stolen Chariot a mortal child can see the horses that pull Ares' War Chariot. It is possible that she can see through the Mist.
In The Sword of Hades, the Mist makes Mrs. O'Leary look like a poodle, yet satyrs and centaurs must disguise themselves as opposed to going around as it is.
The Last Olympian[]
The Mist hid Typhon's true form from the eyes of demigods and humans. Regular humans saw it as a freak storm system that was moving across the country toward New York City, although demigods such as Percy Jackson could see part of his form. However, Percy claims that he could have been driven crazy if he looked at Typhon for too long.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Lost Hero[]
The Mist causes many false memories of Jason Grace with Piper McLean and Leo Valdez. However, their false friendship becomes a reality, with Piper's love interest with Jason eventually becoming true. It is also revealed how the gods used the Mist to divide the two camps.
The Son of Neptune[]
Even in Alaska, the land beyond the gods, the Mist is very strong. Hyperborean Giants live freely there, but most humans simply ignore them and act like they aren't there.
The Mark of Athena[]
The Mist is mentioned by Percy when the seven heroes land the Argo II in Rome.
The House of Hades []
On the bequest of Hecate, goddess of the Mist, Hazel Levesque learns to manipulate the Mist in order to confront the sorceress Pasiphaë and the Gigante Clytius. She also uses her abilities with the Mist to manipulate the demigod Sciron.
Piper McLean finds manipulating the Mist to be very similar to charmspeaking; in order to perform both tasks, one has to show what their victim wants to see, not what he or she wants them to see.
Hazel uses the Mist to bend the Labyrinth to her will, making passages appear and tricking Pasiphaë, making her believe that she fell into a chasm.
The Blood of Olympus[]
Hazel Levesque uses the Mist on the island of Ithaca to disguise Piper McLean and Annabeth Chase as Greek maids.
Hazel helps Leo Valdez by manipulating the Mist to make Piper believe she was receiving the bottle containing the Physician's Cure, when in reality it was just an empty cloth.
Lou Ellen uses the Mist to hide Will Solace, Nico di Angelo, Cecil, and herself from the Roman demigods.
Film[]
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters[]
Unlike in the series, where the Mist will blind mortals to anything relating to magic, the gods, or monsters, the Mist can be applied using a magical "spraying" object. However, the Mist itself does exist without the spray, which is shown when the gang visits the coffee shop and the mortals see the man at the kiosk with only two hands instead of eight.
Humans With Clear Sight[]
- Marie Levesque
- Maria di Angelo
- May Castellan
- Sally Jackson
- Frederick Chase
- Dr. Howard Claymore
- Amir Fadlan
- Rachel Elizabeth Dare
- Mr. & Mrs. Fierro (Mist was cleared for them by Loki)
- Some mortal children can see through the Mist, as they are more open minded and have a much more vast imagination.
- Several Los Angeles gang members in The Lightning Thief were able to see Riptide as a sword.
Known Manipulators of Mist[]
- Chiron
- Thalia Grace
- Medea
- Hazel Levesque
- Hecate & her children
- Pasiphaë
- The Olympians
Trivia[]
- The Mist doesn't completely hide some of the physical features of Satyrs/Fauns, leading them to find numerous ways to disguise themselves.
- Some parents of demigods (such as Sally Jackson) are able to see through the Mist, while others (like Tristan McLean) are unable to.
- As revealed in The Crown of Ptolemy, the Mist is actually the uppermost layer of the Duat. This connection is first hinted at in The Staff of Serapis.
- It is noted that Carter Kane saw flying horses near the Empire State Building or Olympus. It is unknown if the effects of Mist don't apply to him because he is a magician or if it was really his imagination. However, Carter was able to see Riptide in The Son of Sobek, implying that magicians can see through the Mist a little bit.
- Hearthstone stated in The Sword of Summer is that the Mist is between fire and ice which translated to Ginnungagap but he couldn't explain more in sign language.