The Lost Hero

“Piper gazed at the crazy assortment of cabins in the valley. Her new home, a family who supposedly understood her—but soon they’d be just another bunch of people she’d disappointed, just another place she’d been kicked out off. You’ll betray them for us, the voice had warned. Or you’ll lose everything.”

At Camp Half-Blood, Piper struggles with her feelings: she is both thrilled to find a group that might actually understand her, and convinced it can all be taken away. She has been warned by Enceladus that she must betray her friends to save her father, but rather than trying to find a way out of the situation, she pities herself.

“There was a Plan C, but he’d promised himself never to use it again. He felt an urge to try it now—something he hadn’t done since the accident, since his mom’s death […] The flames flickered to life, curls of red-hot fire dancing across his palm.”

As Leo learns about the malfunctioning dragon, his desire to prove himself and impress others leads him to experiment with a skill he’s long known he had: fire-wielding. However, we also see the roots of his insecurity and fear. He has not used the power for years because he blames himself for his mother’s death.

“‘The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth,’ Rachel said. ‘That’s right, isn’t it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods.’” 

Here, Rachel gives a prophecy. Others are unsure why demigods need to come to Hera’s aid—shouldn’t she be powerful enough on her own? However, Rachel explains that the groups must always work together, and this working together becomes a recurrent theme throughout the book.

“Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. /To storm or fire the world must fall… And oath to keep with a final breath. /And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.”

Rachel recites the first two lines of the prophecy, and Jason gives the second two lines (first in Latin, but Rachel translates in the lines above). The characters will seek to translate these lines throughout the text. The “foes” seem to be the Greek and Roman demigods.

“‘Beautiful,’ Jason exclaimed. ‘Piper, you…you’re a knockout.’ Under different circumstances, that would’ve been the happiest moment of her life. But now everyone was staring at her like she was a freak.”

Jason compliments Piper after Aphrodite blesses her. Piper is immediately upset: while she longs for Jason’s affection and approval, she is uncomfortable with the attention from him and the other campers. Her father’s fame and identity have made her doubtful that others like her for who she is.

“Leo didn’t stick around after Piper turned beautiful. Sure, it was amazing and all—She’s got makeup! It’s a miracle!—but Leo had problems to deal with.” 

Leo has a different reaction to Piper’s blessing than the other campers. Here, we see the sense of humor that is omnipresent in the chapters focusing on his perspective. He sarcastically puts aside a major, miraculous occurrence to focus on the task at hand.

“You are our saving grace, as always. The she-wolf curled her lip, as if she had just made a clever joke. Do not fail, son of Jupiter.”

Lupa the she-wolf gives Jason a hint about his identity. Here, she gives him a warning, rather than encouragement—something characteristic of her harsh Roman mentoring style. “Grace” refers to his last name, and points to the large importance of codes in the book.

“Last night when he’d called down the lightning, the other campers’ reactions had seemed familiar to him. He was pretty sure he’d been dealing with that for a long time—people looking at him in awe just because he was the son of Zeus, treating him special, but it didn’t have anything to do with him.”

Jason regrets complimenting Piper so publicly. He can deeply relate to the feeling of being liked for his father, rather than for himself. Although Jason has few memories, this sense of pressure weighs on him heavily throughout the text.

“[Piper] didn’t understand exactly how this charmspeaking business worked, but she didn’t feel like she was putting any special power into her words. She didn’t want to win an argument by tricking people. That would make her no better than Drew.”

This shows Piper’s initial impression of charmspeak. She believes that when you persuade someone, you lie to them or hide something, and is thus hesitant to practice it. Piper has many misconceptions about Aphrodite’s powers, and soon she will learn that her power comes from conviction, rather than deception.

“‘[…] we must prove our love for our parents. That’s what I’m doing. Show me you value your father’s life by doing what I ask. Who’s more important to you—your father, or a deceitful goddess who used you, toyed with your emotions, manipulated your memories, eh?’”

Enceladus tries to persuade Piper to betray her friends. He stresses the importance of filial piety, and reminds her that Hera made her believe she loved Jason. He tries to speak to her insecurities as much as possible, thus manipulating her (just as he accuses Hera of doing).

“Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too—the First Mother. Do not oppose me. Walk away now. Let my son Porphyrion rise and become kind, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.”

Gaea appears to Leo in the porta-potty waste and tries to persuade him to her side. He accuses her of killing her mother, but she protests that she is also his mother, and capable of taking away his feelings of guilt and pain. Here, we see Gaea’s charmspeak in action, and confront the strangeness of an evil mother earth.

“[…] those powers went along with hard stuff, like sitting in a sewer in the middle of winter, running from monsters, losing your memory, watching your friends almost get cooked, and having dreams that warned you of your own death.”

After running from the Cyclopes, Jason thinks once again about the burden of being a demigod. He laments the events that have just passed, as well as his own memory loss. Once again, he is not sure he has the strength and conviction to do what is required of him as a demigod.

“‘We’re gods, after all. We need to be admired, looked up to, held in awe and admiration.’

“‘Even if you’re wrong?’

“‘Especially then!’” 

In a dream, Leo has his first conversation with his father, Hephaestus. The god explains that all gods crave love and admiration, especially as a form of comfort after a failure. This demonstrates the human side of the gods.

“‘The gods hate needing humans. They like to be needed by humans, but not the other way around. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before Zeus admits he made a mistake closing Olympus.’”

Coach Hedge explains the hubris of gods. Although they need humans, they resent their own insecurity. Therefore, Zeus will be unlikely to permit contact between gods and demigods—or provide help to demigods—until the situation worsens even more.

“Leo might have lost his mom. He might have had some hard times. But at least he remembered her. He found himself tapping out a Morse code message on his knee: Love you.”

Leo listens as Thalia tells Jason about their mother. He is often envious of his friends’ power and good luck. This time, though, he realizes that his good memories of his mother are a blessing that his friend will never experience. It also hints that he may want to communicate with her from beyond the grave, now that he knows mortals are being raised up by Gaea.

“‘If Jason is a bridge, what’s he connecting? Maybe two different places that don’t normally get along—like the air palace and the ground. You had to be somewhere before this, right? And Hera said you were an exchange.’”

Leo has a sudden insight while on the bridge to Aeolus’s palace, and realizes that Hera’s words may have greater meaning. Jason is not just “an offering,” but also “a bridge.” Here, he comes close to guessing the existence of a camp for Roman demigods. This connects to the importance of codes throughout the book.

“Their dad wasn’t much of a bargain, either. Jason understood why Thalia had renounced that part of her life too, but he was still resentful. He couldn’t be so lucky. He was left holding the bag—literally.”

Here, Jason laments his power and responsibility once again. Although Thalia is the daughter of Zeus, she has renounced him to become an Artemis Hunter. Jason understands her decision, but feels this puts even greater pressure on him to right Zeus’s wrongs and save Hera.

“‘[...] you will have to find your own strengths, and fight for what you love […] The seven greatest demigods must be gathered to defeat the giants, and that effort will not succeed without you. When the two sides meet […] you will be the mediator.’”

When Piper meets her mother, Aphrodite, for the first time, Aphrodite assures Piper of Piper’s own importance. Although Piper doesn’t know how to use her gifts against monsters, Aphrodite explains that her communication skills will be key in uniting the seven demigods from Rachel’s prophecy.

“Even if he had no memory, Jason had a kind of balance to him. You could just tell he’d been in battles before, and he knew how to keep his cool. Leo wasn’t exactly the trusting type, but he trusted Jason with his life.”

The group officially proclaims Jason as their leader. Here, we see that in spite of Jason’s memory loss, his instinct and knowledge of battle has stayed with him. Moreover, we see the deepening bond between Leo and Jason.

“‘I sent you away because I didn’t want you exposed to my life. Not the way I grew up—the poverty, the hopelessness. Not the Hollywood insanity either. I thought—I thought I was protecting you.’”

After being freed from Enceladus, Tristan explains his reasons for sending Piper to the Wilderness School. Newly in awe of her skill and power, he affirms that he’s always loved and wanted the best for his daughter.

“Piper’s dad had called him a hero earlier. And Leo couldn’t believe some of things he’d done—smacking around Cyclopes, disarming exploding doorbells, battling six-armed ogres with construction equipment […] He was just Leo Valdez, an orphaned kid from Houston.”

As Leo struggles against Gaea and her minions, his self-image begins to change. He has always seen himself as unlucky and disempowered. Now, with the help of Tristan’s vote of confidence, he is beginning to see his own heroism and ability.

“‘Humans and their talk of global warming. Pah! I’ll cool them down quickly enough.’”

Khione mocks human concern with global warming. As goddess of snow, she can easily change the temperature of the atmosphere. This ties to the theme of climate change, and emphasizes how little control humans have over larger forces in this novel.

“‘I’m a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion […] I slew the Trojan sea monster, I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now I’m going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves.’”

Before attacking Porphyrion, Jason lets out a boast. Although he still has no memory, his past accomplishments suddenly come rushing back to him. Realizing all that he’s done in the past, Jason has the confidence to attack the giant.