106 pages • 3 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Sword of Summer
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A 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.
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BetaChapters 58-60Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 58 Summary: “What the Hel?”
Magnus finds himself alone on Bunker Hill. Jack is a pendant again, and Magnus is no longer exhausted from the sword’s deeds. Hel (Loki’s daughter) appears beside Magnus. One side of her looks like a beautiful human woman, and the other is hideous, making her look like a monster who tried to transform but got “interrupted in the middle of the process” (416).
Hel again offers Magnus the option to give Jack to Randolph for safekeeping. If he does, she will reward him. Magnus’s mother has not yet been claimed by an afterlife, and Hel could reunite them, and they would live out eternity in her dark realm. He must decide now, and if he fights in the battle, he will “never see your mother again in this life or any other” (419). Magnus thinks of his mother and how she thrived in nature. She wouldn’t want to be stuck in Hel’s realm, and he refuses the deal. Hel vanishes, leaving Magnus on the roof of a five-story building.
Chapter 59 Summary: “The Terror That Is Middle School”
Sam is there, and the building is Malcolm X Middle School, her old school and where she became a Valkyrie. She saved the school from a frost giant, and Odin offered her a position among the Valkyries. Magnus asks if she regrets bringing him to Valhalla, and Sam reminds him she was told to bring him and finally tells him by whom: “by Odin himself” (424). Magnus doesn’t know what to make of this, and the battle with Fenris Wolf is more important. He sets aside Odin’s involvement to find Blitz and Hearth because they have “a fire giant to extinguish” (426).
Chapter 60 Summary: “A Lovely Homicidal Sunset Cruise”
Sam and Magnus find Blitz and Hearth outside the New England Aquarium. Blitz has a new outfit, and Hearth has a staff that seems to be missing a piece. Magnus explains his encounter with Hel that “reminded me of everything I’ve lost” (428). He realizes now that the group feels like family and gives the perthro rune back to Hearth. It fits into place on his staff as if it were meant to go there.
The group finds the dwarves Thor spoke of (Fjalar and Gjalar). Blitz recognizes them and warns the others not to let their guards down for a moment. The dwarves offer a wolf-watching cruise, tonight only. Knowing they have no choice but to take the cruise, Magnus says they’d “love four tickets” (431).
Chapters 58-60 Analysis
Magnus’s refusal of Hel’s offer to reunite him with his mother shows how Magnus has grown. For much of the book, Magnus wanted nothing more than to find his mother and stay with her in whatever afterlife she went to. Having seen the sacrifices his friends made, Magnus’s desire to find his mom and remove himself from the conflict feels selfish. The Nine Worlds need him, and as a hero, he must help. Letting go of the desire to find his mother shows Magnus growing into an adult. He recognizes how his quest and the fate of the worlds is more important than what he wants.
Sam finally reveals that Odin instructed her to bring Magnus to Valhalla, showing that the god has an agenda of his own. Later, in Chapter 62, Fenris claims he influenced Odin’s order for Sam to bring Magnus to Valhalla. Fenris’s strength shows how powerful Loki is and implies the gods (Odin included) fear Loki, which may explain Odin’s absence. In Riordan’s story universe, godly children have some of the powers and abilities associated with their parents. If Fenris can trick Odin, it implies Loki has even more power. It may be that Balder’s death was only a catalyst. Until Loki murdered Odin’s son, the gods feared him but had no reason to take action against their fear. After Balder’s death, the gods may have dealt Loki an irrationally heavy punishment because they feared him and what he could do.
In Chapter 48, Hearth compared himself to the perthro rune. Here, perthro becomes Hearth’s personal rune. It fits into place on Hearth’s staff as if meant to be there, implying Hearth is, in fact, an empty vessel for magic. In addition, Hearth lost his family because they wanted nothing to do with his disability, which left him empty. Magnus returning perthro to him symbolizes how Hearth’s family emptiness is filled by the group.
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