89 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Hidden Oracle
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Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
Apollo considers it a good sign that he can see Camp Half-Blood from his vantage point atop a hill, since the camp is normally shielded from mortal eyes. The camp consists of three square miles of woods, meadows, and strawberry fields surrounded by dense forests and hills. A gold and white statue of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, guards the camp from intruders. Though Meg is awestruck at the sight of the camp, Peaches the karpos and Apollo sense an eeriness in the air. As the trio tries to enter the woods that surround the camp, the very trees seem to be blocking their way. In the best of circumstances, Apollo is wary of woods, possibly because they contain dryads or tree-protecting spirits, who remind him of Daphne. As Meg and Apollo lose their way in the woods, Meg asks Peaches to help. Peaches glows bright green and disappears in a swirl of leaves. Apollo hears a feminine voice speaking his name, asking him to find “it.” The voice reappears in Apollo’s head, saying “THE FALL OF THE SUN. THE FINAL VERSE” (70). Disoriented by the voice, Apollo falls into a stream, and Meg fishes him out. Meg drags Apollo through the forest and seems to coax the trees to make way for the two. As the trees relent, Apollo and Meg reach the camp, and Apollo passes out.
Chapter 10 Summary
Apollo hallucinates about a woman who is dressed like a “Libyan queen.” The woman asks him to follow the voices and find the gate. The vision of the woman disappears and is replaced by a bearded man who refers to Apollo as his forefather. The man and Apollo are in a school bus that soon turns into a flaming, tumbling chariot, a reference to the chariot Apollo, the sun god, drives around the earth. The man tells Apollo to lead him to the Oracle, since he will enjoy burning it down. Apollo wakes up to find himself in a camp bed in the Apollo cabin. (At Camp Half-Blood, the demigods live in different cabins according to their divine parentage.) Next to Apollo is his demigod son Will Solace, now a healer and older than the teenaged Apollo. According to Will, Apollo’s wounds are healing faster than those of a normal mortal. Apollo meets his other children, Austin and Kayla. Kayla has inherited a talent for archery from Apollo, and Austin, music. Apollo notes that there are fewer demigods at camp than he expected. Additionally, his priestess, Rachel Dare, is not at the Camp, and her cave, representing the Oracle of Delphi, is shut. Will introduces Apollo to his boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, a son of Hades, the god of death. Nico can sense Apollo’s mortality, since an aura of death is hanging around him. The group finally meet the camp’s administrator, Professor Chiron, who is a centaur.
Chapter 11 Summary
Though Apollo cannot fathom Will’s attraction to a son of Hades, he is perfectly comfortable with Will having a boyfriend. Unlike most mortals, Gods are more open-minded about love, and Apollo himself has had 11 mortal boyfriends. Apollo learns about the crises that have befallen Camp Half-Blood. Not only has the Oracle of Delphi stopped receiving prophecies, but all other methods of divining the future have also suddenly failed. The Oracle of Delphi was located in a cave in Greece, where Apollo’s priestess, the Pythia, would receive prophecies and guide people with their help. After the Greek gods relocated to America in 1860, Apollo transferred the Oracle to Camp Half-Blood, where the power of prophecy passes from priestess to priestess over the years. Rachel Dare is the present Oracle. The Oracle has stopped working because Apollo’s ancient foe, a snake-like monster called Python, has reclaimed the cave of Delphi, cutting off the spirit of the Oracle.
According to Chiron, even travel and communication in and out of Camp Half-Blood have stalled. Phones and Internet no longer work in the area. In fact, Meg and Apollo are the first newcomers who have managed to find their way to Camp Half-Blood in the last two months. The worst problem facing Camp Half-Blood, however, is the disappearances of its inhabitants. In the last month, Cecil Markowitz from the Hermes Cabin, Ellis Wakefield from the Ares Cabin, and Miranda Gardiner, head of the Demeter cabin, have vanished, probably into the surrounding woods. Chiron wants Apollo to help him resolve this crisis, but Apollo would prefer to focus on regaining his powers. Chiron reminds him that the loss of Apollo’s power may be connected to the happenings in Camp Half-Blood and therefore both problems have to be prioritized. Apollo must undertake a quest to liberate the Oracle at Delphi since Delphi is his responsibility. Though Apollo is unsure of his abilities in his mortal form, Chiron reminds him of his previous heroic feats, including killing Python and rescuing the Oracle from him.
Chapter 12 Summary
Feasting on hot dogs, potato chips, and “bug juice” (a sugary drink) at the dining pavilion, Apollo counts 19 campers in all. Will informs Apollo that many demigods are missing because, like Percy and Annabeth, they are busy with their families and academic pursuits. However, the whereabouts of one demigod, Leo Valdez, are unknown. Leo and his bronze dragon, Festus, disappeared in a “mid-air fiery explosion” during the fight with Gaia (112), leading everyone to assume he is dead. Days after Leo’s disappearance, a holographic message from him arrived at the camp in which Leo explained to the campers that he was resurrected and went on to rescue the nymph Calypso from the island where she was bound. The rest of Leo’s message is truncated and abrupt. Apollo fears that if Leo is involved with the enchantress Calypso, then he may not return for a very long time. The demigods, including Nico, seem angry with Leo for not having returned to camp despite being resurrected. Meanwhile, Apollo is touched by Austin and Kayla’s filial concern for him. Just then, Chiron rises from his table to make an announcement about “tomorrow’s three-legged death race” (116).
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
Chapters 9-12 introduce the important motifs of Apollo’s vivid dreams, voices in the woods, and Apollo’s frequent fainting fits. The voices and Apollo’s dreams are the first indication that Apollo is not as estranged from his powers as he first believed. As the god of prophecy, he is still intercepting messages and portends, though he cannot yet decipher them. An interesting feature of the voices Apollo hears is that the constructive voices appear feminine, whereas the destructive voice, asking him to burn down a grove of trees, belongs to a man. In a telling statement, Apollo notes, tongue-in-cheek, that the voice he is hearing is feminine, though his conscience is not feminine. The juxtaposition of the feminine voice and his conscience suggests Apollo’s redemption is tied with non-patriarchal powers, such as those of Meg and Daphne.
Apollo’s fall into unconsciousness serves as a narrative device and is also symbolic of the fall of the god. At another level, it explains Apollo’s fragile, shifting physical and mental state. Apollo still has some divine abilities, such as his ability to heal quickly, but his human form is struggling to cope with them, causing Apollo to often collapse. Other important motifs that occur here, foreshadowing the future, are the burning bus-turned-falling chariot of Apollo’s dream and the mysterious, destructive bearded man. Notably, the man is dressed in purple, a color associated with royalty and a very coveted dye in the ancient world. In imperial Rome, only emperors were allowed to wear robes dyed in Tyrian purple, a dye made from sea snails. Thus, it becomes obvious that the man in Apollo’s dreams is connected to imperial Rome.
The chapters reintroduce figures from the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, such as Chiron, bridging the two pentalogies. Rich with exposition, this section also quickly updates Apollo and the reader on the crises occurring at Camp Half-Blood. Apollo shows his immaturity by expecting Chiron to solve his problems first before turning to the crises at the camp. Again, Apollo expects that the world will revolve around him and is unable to see that his fall and the events at Camp Half-Blood may be linked. Humorous mix-ups around Apollo’s limited knowledge of the mortal world continue, such as when Apollo thinks “bug juice” is literally insect juice instead of a sugary soft drink.
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By Rick Riordan
