The Last Olympian

Percy dreams he is observing two Titans speaking on Mount Othrys in California. Krios and a “golden Titan” (29) are plotting to overthrow Mount Olympus. Percy notices Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, spying on the interaction. He wakes up in Poseidon’s underwater palace, where Percy is able to breathe due to his relationship with Poseidon. His brother Tyson, a Cyclops, wakes him.

This is Percy’s first time in the palace, and he explores it with Tyson. A group of mermen fight a giant squid. They enter Poseidon’s temple, and the god appears as an “old man with a bushy white beard and grey hair” (35), much older than the man Percy remembers from their few previous encounters. He meets Poseidon’s immortal wife, Amphitrite, and merman son, Triton. Poseidon’s kingdom is at war with Oceanus, the “Titan of the sea” (37). Poseidon instructs Percy to return to Camp Half-Blood to hear the rest of the Prophecy from Chiron. Percy asks to stay and fight, but Poseidon refuses. The god also reveals that there must be a spy at the camp as Kronos was aware of Percy’s plan.

Percy returns to camp, and people flock to him, hoping for good news. Once everyone realizes the mission was not a success and Charles has died, they file away. Two friends stay: Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, Charles’s girlfriend. Silena begins crying when she realizes Charles has died, and she goes to the Big House. Percy tells the whole story to Annabeth and Chiron, the centaur who is in charge of the Camp and Percy’s mentor. Chiron agrees to reveal the rest of the Prophecy to Percy.

Percy and Annabeth go to the attic of the Big House, where the Oracle of Delphi is kept. She is “a shriveled female mummy in a tie-dyed dress” (50). The Prophecy is in a leather pouch around her neck. Percy prepares to read the Prophecy to the war council, made up of all the senior camp counselors. Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, storms out for reasons the text does not clarify, but she says, “Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help” (54).

Percy reads the Prophecy, saying he must choose to help or allow Olympus to be destroyed, and “a single choice will end his days” (56). He is distraught, but the other counselors comfort him. Percy reveals that there is a spy at the camp. 

Chiron calls upon the goddess Iris to show them a vision of the threat attacking Mount Olympus. In a cloud of mist, they see a monster named Typhon, who is causing floods and tornados in the Midwest. He is headed towards New York to destroy Mount Olympus, and he will arrive within five days.

Percy has another dream set in Rachel’s lavish room in her Brooklyn mansion. She is throwing darts at a picture she has painted of Percy. Her father comes in, and Rachel reveals that Percy will not be accompanying them of the family vacation to which he has been invited. Rachel’s father references her dreams and says she should see a therapist. Rachel removes sheets from two other canvasses. The first one depicts Luke as a young boy, and the second one depicts the Empire State building surrounded by lightning. There is a storm gathering in the distance, and an army surrounds the building. Percy wants to call Rachel, but he does not have access to a phone.

Percy and Annabeth perform their morning chores together. They visit all of the 12 cabins (each for one of the twelve Olympian gods) and give them reports based on how neat they are. The Aphrodite cabin is perfect, and Silena is there crying and eating bonbons. A fight breaks out between the Ares and Apollo cabins. Percy reveals his dream to Annabeth, who calls him a “coward.”

That afternoon, the campers hold a ceremony to burn Charles’s metal shroud, which turns to smoke and ascends. Percy tries to get Clarisse to agree to help. She insists that the Apollo cabin must give the Ares cabin the chariot they stole.