| Place | Primordial |
| “ | You cannot kill me! I am the pit itself. You might as well try to kill the Earth. Gaea and I - we are eternal. We own you, flesh and spirit! | ” |
–Tartarus to Damasen, in The House of Hades | ||
Tartarus is the Greek Primordial god of the abyss. Tartarus is also the deepest, darkest pit in the Underworld.
History[]
Tartarus is the father of Typhon and the Gigantes, of whom Gaia is the mother. The father of Tartarus is Chaos. He is the "prison guard" of Tartarus, the darkest pit in the Underworld where monsters go to reform once they are slain. Tartarus is also the place where Uranus threw, in chains, the Elder Cyclopes and the Hekatonkhieres, and the place where most of the Titans were chained after the First Titan War, thus literally making Tartarus both a place and a being. He is one of the Protogenoi.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The House of Hades[]
Tartarus takes on a physical form, remarking on how wise his consort Gaia was to consider doing so while she was awakening. Annabeth Chase notes that the only reason she, Percy Jackson, and Bob were still alive was because Tartarus was too busy marveling at his mortal form. She realizes that protogenoi like Tartarus are unlike their descendants to the point that not even a Titan could stand alone against Tartarus. To her dismay, she notes that this was what it would be like if Gaea were to awake fully. Feeling hopeless, Annabeth and Percy resign to fighting to the death against Tartarus. They are saved by the arrival of Tartarus' own son, the giant Damasen. He and Iapetus/Bob sacrifice themselves to allow Percy and Annabeth to escape through the Doors of Death to the mortal side in the House of Hades in Epirus.
The Trials of Apollo[]
The Tower of Nero[]
As he falls through Tartarus with Python, Apollo reflects on how it's the physical personification of the primordial being who is currently slumbering away.
After hearing a voice calling for help from the depths of Tartarus, Nico di Angelo suspects that it could be Iapetus, suggesting that he had survived his encounter with Tartarus at the Doors of Death.
The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure[]
While traveling through Tartarus, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace sense the true nature of the Pit and the primordial whose body it is. However, Tartarus is asleep once again and takes no part in their quest.
Despite Tartarus' anger, it's revealed that he did not destroy Bob and Damasen as was previously feared. Instead, the Titan and the Gigantes perished fighting the primordial and were allowed to go to reform, although Bob's Regeneration Pod was captured by Nyx. Damasen is still reforming from his death fighting Tartarus, even over a year later, but the two demigods are able to rescue Bob and Small Bob and bring them back to the mortal world.
Personality[]
| “ | Be honored, little demigods. Even the Olympians were never worthy of my personal attention. But you will be destroyed by Tartarus himself! | ” |
–Tartarus to Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, in The House of Hades. | ||
Literally being the abyss where monsters go to regenerate, Tartarus is, fittingly, a completely evil and sadistic being whose whole existence is to bring sorrow and death. He showed himself to be a highly arrogant god with an immense disdain and contempt for humans and even the titans, whom he openly described as "lesser beings" after easily destroying them. However, Tartarus is honest and admits when someone forces him to take direct action.
Like other primordials, Tartarus hates assuming a physical form, since that prevents him from being everywhere in his domains; however, he claimed to have a taste for having a physical form and also showed delight in inciting terror in his victims, showing himself to be a massive sadist. Like Gaea, he also takes great pride in his Gigantes children (except for Damasen).
However, like some of his siblings, he also proved to be generally an impartial entity, to the point of being completely devoid of feelings and ideals as he remained neutral and almost ambivalent of the constant wars that were waged between the gods against the titans, even claiming that he does not usually interfere. However, at the same time, Tartarus's impartiality has limits, since he joined Gaea more than once to overthrow the Olympians and, millennia later, dealt personally with Percy and Annabeth. Tartarus's choices to help his earth goddess wife in her wars also showed that, while evil and ruthless, he deeply loved her, referring to her as his "beloved" Gaea and wondering if she was right in her desire to awaken from her slumber and take on a physical form. He also believes that his and Gaea's giant children were always better, stronger and more vicious than the Titans Gaea had spawned with Ouranos, a belief possibly created either due to how powerful the giants had been (the gods requiring demigods to battle them and his and Gaea's youngest giant son, Typhon, actually did defeat the Olympians) or out of seeing the Titans as a reminder that Ouranos had been Gaea's first consort, possibly implying that he was jealous of Ouranos.
This feeling of pride did not extend, however, to children who defied their destinies and refused to fight the gods, with Tartarus referring to his peaceful Gigantes son, Damasen, as his "disgraced son" and being quite fine with battling and possibly destroying his own son, effectively disowning him; this likely extends to his other traitorous children. It is therefore unknown how he felt about Orion, another of his Gigantes children who refused to fight for Gaea in the First Gigantomachy, but became a loyal son of the Earth Mother in his second life. Despite his apparently low opinion of Damasen and Bob the Titan for fighting against him, he at least allowed for them to regenerate instead of killing them; however, this would later be taken advantage of by Nyx for her own ends.
Appearance[]
Tartarus is monstrous in his physical form, standing at immense height, with his purple glistening flesh rippling with muscle. His fingers are tipped with razor-sharp black talons. However, his most terrifying and distinguishing feature is his face- in place of a normal face is a swirling whirlpool and inward spiral of darkness, and his voice sounds like it is being drawn back inward rather than projecting outward. Tartarus' black Stygian iron boots are each the size of a coffin, and his hands are "as large as crane scoops." His breastplate has faces of gorgons, monsters, cyclopes and drakons all pressing against his armor as if trying to escape. According to Percy, Tartarus is so massive, and radiates such pure malevolence, that Percy wanted to crawl away and hide as soon as he saw him, and even dropped his sword in terror. Tartarus' laughter sounds like a mountain "cracking in half". According to Annabeth, everything around Tartarus seems to be drawn to him.
Abilities[]
As the Protogenos of the Primordial Abyss, Tartarus proved to be one of the most powerful and terrible entities of the series and infinitely powerful while in his domains. Besides Gaea, Ouranos and possibly Chaos, Tartarus is likely the most powerful entity. Proof of his terrifying power was that even the Titans could not threaten him since he easily defeated Krios, Hyperion, and possibly Iapetus without much difficulty. Even after the arrival of Damasen, the maximum that did was to distract so that Percy and Annabeth escaped since there would be no way to defeat him in his home domain. And even so, he overpowered all his opponents (which included a Titan and a Giant) within moments, even though he was only using tiny manifestations of his power. According to Annabeth, if Tartarus wanted to, he could kill them all with a single thought, if it were not his desire to experience the pleasure of killing his victims one at a time as he rarely assumes physical forms.
- Supreme Power: As the Protogenos of the Abyss, Tartarus holds immense levels of power and was so powerful that Annabeth Chase stated that Tartarus could kill her and Percy with a single thought if he wanted to. His mere presence was more than enough to scare Percy into submission. In fact, Tartarus is so powerful and menacing that not even the Titans can mess with him, as he easily defeated Hyperion and Krios after ambushing them. It took Bob, Damasen, Small Bob, and the Drakon just to hold him off long enough for Percy and Annabeth to escape, and even combined they apparently were defeated, even though he was only using a small manifestation of his power.
- Godly Strength: Tartarus has incredible physical strength, far surpassing that of even a giant or a Titan, and was easily able to overwhelm Bob and destroy his Spear. He was even able to hold his own against and apparently ultimately defeat Damasen, Bob, Small Bob, and the Drakon all at once while in a physical from of limited power, though the Titan and giant were both at a fraction of their full power. Not even his own children pose any challenge to him as he easily defeated them. They only hold him off all at once though they were all at a fraction of their full power and even combined they were defeated.
- Dark Gravity: Tartarus has something like a dark gravitational field around him, which pulls everything in his close proximity into his terrifying whirlpool of a face.
- Essence Absorption: Tartarus has the ability to suck beings into the swirling whirlpool of darkness on his face, which he did to the immortal essence of Hyperion and Krios. This means that, to some extent, he can "kill" Titans, gods and possibly Giants by sucking them into his armor; however, it's unknown for how long he can use this power, but Percy assumed that he could do this forever.
- Monster Lordship: As the Protogenos of the Abyss, Tartarus has absolute control and divine authority over monsters.
- Umbrakinesis: As the Protogenos of the Abyss and the Pit of Evil, he has absolute control and divine authority over darkness, although not so much as Nyx and Erebos.
- Darkness Generation: He can shoot solid bolts of darkness, and surround enemies in pitch-black clouds of lightless space.
- Darkness Shields: He can solidify shadows into virtually impenetrable shields.
- Invisibility: He can use shadows to cover himself in darkness to become invisible.
- Shadow Travel: Using shadows, he is able to travel anywhere he wants at incredible speeds.
- Telumkinesis: Tartarus can likely summon and control weapons that cause pain and suffering.
- Power Suppression: Just by being in his domain, Annabeth's innate capacity to heal slowed to a near halt forcing her to drink from the River of Fire.
Trivia[]
- Tartarus, along with Percy and Annabeth, appears on the UK and the Dutch cover of The House of Hades.
- Tartarus, like the location that shares his name and that he is, is able to hold monsters within himself. He was even able to hold Titans, such as Krios and Hyperion though it is unknown for how long - possibly forever as Percy said in The House of Hades.
- He is the step-father of the six Elder Titans.
- Tartarus, as the father of Echidna and Tartarus, is the grandfather of many of the greatest monsters in Greek Mythology.
- Like most protogenoi, Tartarus's power lies not in combat but in his manipulation of the physical pit of Tartarus. It can be assumed that he was only able to easily defeat Krios and Hyperion, two Titans at a fraction of their full power because he caught them by surprise and had their allegiance, as it took him much longer to defeat (if he did) a Titan and a giant of similar power.
- Although Tartarus tells Percy and Annabeth that not even the Olympians deserved his attention, this is not entirely correct, as he has helped Gaea twice to try to destroy the Olympians, if only indirectly.
- In The House of Hades, while looking at Tartarus' breastplate, Percy notices gorgons trapped in his armor, although there are only three Gorgons: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale. Unless Tartarus defeated Medusa's sisters, this is impossible.