89 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Hidden Oracle
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Chapters 21-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary
Though Rachel is the only Pythia or priestess among the Oracles, the other Oracles are unique in their own way. One is the Sibyl of Cumae, who wrote the Sibylline books, prophecies memorized by Camp Half-Blood’s resident harpy Ella. The demigods at Camp Jupiter are now trying to reconstruct the prophecies based on Ella’s recollections. There are also the Oracles of Erythaea and the Cave of Trophonius. The oldest is of course, the Grove of Dodona, planted by Rhea, the Mother Goddess who preceded Gaia and gave rise to the first generation of Olympian gods. Apollo believes the crowned woman whom he has been seeing in his dreams is Rhea, a beneficent goddess who fought for the gods in their first great war. However, Rhea has not been seen for thousands of years since her grove was burned by the cruel ruler Theodosius in ancient times. Though the grove was incarcerated, if the Labyrinth can rebuild itself in modern times, so can Dodona.
In the old days, the energy of the trees of Dodona was focused by caretaking priests and priestesses. With the priests gone, the voices of the trees are unfocused, driving mortals to madness and luring them into the woods, where they are captured by a waiting malevolent force. Apollo is sure this force is the Beast. The Beast will not stop until he captures and kills Apollo himself. The best hope for the demigods and the world is for Apollo to gain access to the Grove of Dodona and somehow channel its prophecies before the Beast burns it to the ground. Therefore, Apollo must go into the woods to find the missing campers and Dodona. Meg commands Apollo to take her along.
Chapter 22 Summary
As Apollo and Meg prepare to leave for the woods, there is a perceptible sense of unease in the camp. Apollo feels the demigods see him as a harbinger of bad news. He feels unloved by the Olympian gods and the campers alike but tries to shake off his solemn mood. Chiron, Rachel, and Harley try to use the camp’s only Internet connection to find out more information about Triumvirate Holdings. Meg asks Apollo to choose a weapon from the camp’s armory for their quest. Apollo cannot choose a bow since he has sworn an oath on the River Styx to desist from archery in his mortal form. An exasperated Meg hands him a heavy sword. Meg herself needs no other weapons than her ring-swords.
Apollo’s mood lifts as the campers bid him and Meg good luck and give him gifts for the quest. Will gives Apollo a “combat ukulele” made from Celestial bronze. Will assures Apollo the ukulele is strictly for fighting, not playing, so Apollo would not have to violate his oath. Nico offers Apollo some ambrosia wrapped in a napkin. Apollo senses Nico can see the possibility of death in his and Meg’s future and is offering them the elixir as protection. Billie Ng, daughter of Demeter, gifts Meg a flashlight and a packet of flower seeds. Paolo, handsome son of Hebe, goddess of youth, offers Apollo a bandana version of the Brazilian flag, his good-luck charm. Apollo reassures Will he will be back by the following morning since he is the sun god and always rises at dawn.
An angry, tired Apollo and a quiet Meg have been wandering in the cold, rainy woods for what seems like hours when Meg steps on the crushed carapace of a giant insect. Apollo tells her the beast is a myrmeke or a giant ant. Apollo is not scared about a possible myrmeke colony in their vicinity until he remembers he is no longer a god and that myrmeke come as large as grizzly bears, spit acid that can melt metal, and are attracted to shiny things, like light. On their guard, Apollo and Meg proceed into an area of the woods that is warmer, like a tropical rainforest. Apollo senses a hot geyser nearby and tells Meg it is a good sign since the geyser gods may be able to guide them through the woods.
Chapter 23 Summary
Apollo and Meg rush toward the sound of the geysers and find themselves in a warm, green glade full of flowers and tropical birds. In the ground are two bubbling craters. Apollo tries to invoke the geyser spirits with a poem that is a mash-up of several classic poems. A mud-colored muscular geyser god or palikos appears over one of the craters, his lower half made of steam. Much to Apollo’s bafflement, the palikos tells Apollo his name is Pete and he and his partner are responsible for marketing the woods at Camp Half-Blood. Pete does not particularly appreciate Apollo’s poem and prefers slick ad language that can sell the woods to tourists. Addressing Pete as “Mr. Steamy Mud,” Meg wants to know if he has seen any lost demigods. However, Pete is too preoccupied with his marketing spiel for the woods to answer Meg’s question. He informs Meg and Apollo that he has installed spotlights in the woods to attract tourists, though the lights sometimes attract the wrong kind of attention.
It is only when Meg asks him about a “secret grove with whispering trees” that she catches Pete’s attention (222). Pete tells Apollo and Meg that he detests the grove since his partner Paulie went to convince the grove to relocate from the camp’s woods but never returned. As Apollo tries to goad a reluctant Pete into giving him and Meg directions to the grove’s entrance, three black ants the size of “Sherman tanks” appear in the glade, attracted by Pete’s spotlights.
Chapter 24 Summary
As the three soldier ants advance in the glade, Apollo curses Zeus for inventing ants and tells Meg not to make sudden movements. When Apollo asks Pete how he manages myrmeke invading his territories, Pete replies “by hiding” and promptly disappears into the geyser, leaving Apollo and Meg to fight the giant insects. Meg draws out her scimitars against two charging ants, severing a leg from each. The third ant goes after Apollo, spitting acid. Apollo tries to swat away the acid with his sword, but the acid melts the blade. Apollo calls to Meg for help, but the girl is too busy lopping off the legs of the ants that have attacked her. Apollo notes that Meg’s skills with the swords are better than any gladiator he has seen in combat, but her sword cannot break the carapace of the ants. The third ant snaps at Apollo and hits his face. A stunned Apollo falls, the ant looming over him. With Meg busy fighting her attackers and Peaches the karpos nowhere in sight, Apollo has no choice but to play the battle ukulele to distract the myrmeke. As he plays and sings “Sweet Caroline,” the ant gets disoriented by the music, rushes into the boiling geyser, and dies. However, he cannot prevent the other two ants from carrying away an unconscious Meg.
Chapters 21-24 Analysis
In Chapter 21, Apollo demystifies the Oracles, indicating that, like Delphi and Dodona, they can often be benevolent forces, in contrast to the contemporary perception of clairvoyance as a dark art. The Grove of Dodona emerges as a prominent symbol in the text, representing the benevolence of nature as well as antiquity. Interestingly, the talking trees of Dodona are all oaks, which is the sacred tree of Zeus. Much like the trees of Dodona speak in “a wild choir of disharmony” (202), Zeus, too, is temperamental and unpredictable. Thus, the voices of the trees need to be interpreted through powers inspired by gods and demigods with strengths different from Zeus, such as the titan queen Rhea, or Apollo and Meg.
The next three chapters plunge the characters and the reader into the thick of the action in the foreboding woods. Interestingly, the woods are a traditional motif in a hero’s perilous quest across different cultures and mythologies. The hero or heroes, here Meg and Apollo, must carve their own path through an unknown forest beset with dangers. In the process, the heroes complete their external quest and also undergo an internal transformation. Riordan uses the metaphor of the forest in this section to symbolize the physical and emotional challenges Meg and Apollo will face.
The chapters are also notable for introducing the geyser spirit Pete, who is humorously imagined as a half-mud, half-steam avid salesperson for the woods, as well as for the giant ants called the myrmeke, with a penchant for spewing acid and marinating their prey in their juices. Through Pete the palikos’s response to Apollo’s poetry, the author also indicates that the god’s faith in his poetic capabilities is misplaced. The fact that Apollo himself is blind to this fact is a source of humor in the text. However, what Apollo lacks in poetical skills, he makes up for in his adeptness in music. In Chapter 24, Apollo’s playing of Will’s ukulele distracts an attacking myrmeke. In this process, he breaks his first oath to the River Styx, an act that foreshadows future trouble for the god.
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