71 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Lost Hero
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaChapters 37-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 37 Summary
Jason wonders if he will ever be part of Thalia’s life, and worries about what it means to be “a bridge.” Finally, they arrive at Aeolus’s floating island, which has four sections, one for each wind god and cardinal direction. Coach Hedge goes to graze in the springtime section, and an aura, Mellie, arrives to escort the demigods to Aeolus.
Chapter 38 Summary
The demigods enter Aeolus’s fortress, which is a huge television studio. There is no floor until harpies build one out of plywood, duct tape, and debris. Mellie introduces the demigods to Aeolus, who immediately recognizes Jason from a year prior. When he receives the storm spirits, he reveals that he has no memory of ordering the killing of all demigods. He also wants to renegotiate his contract: he is not sure if he is a god or a nature spirit, and wants more clarity. He seems inclined to help the demigods, until suddenly, he is contacted via his headset by someone, a woman, who hasn’t spoken to him for centuries. He has a sudden change of heart, and tells the demigods, “You all have to die” (423). Mellie and Jason embrace the demigods and Coach Hedge, and escape out of a shoot. As they travel, Mellie and Coach Hedge flirt.
Chapter 39 Summary
In a dream, Piper sees her mother, Aphrodite. Aphrodite is encouraging about Piper’s future with Jason, but tells her she has many more trials to face first, as “the Doors of Death have opened,” and all the dead monsters and mortals who hate the gods are reawakening (429). It is Gaea herself who has opened them. She also explains that Piper’s father never knew she was a goddess, and gives Piper a serum to erase his memory after rescuing him. Aphrodite tells Piper that she must “find [her] own strengths, and fight for what [she loves]” (434). She also warns Piper that she will be the mediator when “two sides” meet, although she does not tell Piper what or who comprises those two sides.
Chapter 40 Summary
Piper, the demigods, and Coach Hedge wake up in a café wearing new clothes selected by Aphrodite. They eat, and Piper explains that Gaea is their enemy (without revealing that she spoke to Aphrodite). Coach Hedge explains that Gaea persuaded her son, Kronos, to kill her husband, Ouranos. Gaea is “literally the mother of all bad guys” (442). She is huge, ancient, and partially asleep, but if she wakes up, she will start a full-on war with the gods. The group hires a taxi driver to take them towards Enceladus’s lair.
Chapters 37-40 Analysis
The introduction of Aeolus introduces a subtle critique of media culture into the novel. While the characters in this book have few encounters with media (outside of Piper, who is connected to the world of media by her father’s fame), Aeolus spends most of his life on television. Although he is lord of the Winds, his main task seems to be broadcasting the weather as dictated by the gods. He has little power, and has been driven near crazy by the constant onslaught of information and the constant demand of being on camera.
These chapters also reveal one of the central mysteries of the book: the identity of the sleeping woman, and the “patron” of the many malevolent figures the demigods have encountered. It is Gaea, mother earth herself. While Piper is at first surprised to hear that mother earth could be evil, Aphrodite explains that she persuaded her children to kill her husband. The characters have encountered plenty of obstacles at the hands of nature, or gods and spirits who control nature, and it turns out that mother earth is their source.
Finally, Piper meets her mother (making Jason the only demigod who has not talked to their parent). Aphrodite clearly knows that some of her children are shallow, but she assures Piper that her children can also be powerful, citing Helen, Paris, and Aeneas as examples.
Related Titles
By Rick Riordan
