The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Quintus seemed so nice. So concerned. And Mrs. O’Leary liked him, which had to count for something. […]

I felt ashamed that I could even think about mistrusting Quintus. But then again, I’d trusted Luke once.

‘Thanks,’ I told Quintus. I slipped the freezing whistle into my pocket, promising myself that I would never use it, and I dashed off to find Annabeth.”

Percy suspects Quintus is a spy for Luke because of his mysterious intentions for helping at camp and Juniper’s warning that she saw him near the Labyrinth entrance. Percy naturally tries to see the good in people, but also knows from previous experiences that demigods and gods can have ulterior motives for being kind. Percy has learned to be distrustful of gifts because some have almost killed him in the past; however, when Percy uses Quintus’s whistle as a last resort in Chapter 14, the gift turns out to be helpful.

“Excellent. The voice of Kronos didn’t so much speak as pierce my mind like a dagger. It was freezing with cruelty. Once we have the means to navigate, I will lead the vanguard through myself.

Luke closed his eyes as if collecting his thoughts. ‘My lord, perhaps it is too soon. Perhaps Krios or Hyperion should lead—’

No. The voice was quiet but absolutely firm. One more shall join our cause, and that will be sufficient. At last I shall rise fully from Tartarus.

‘But the form, my lord.’”

In a dream, Percy overhears Luke talking to the un-formed Kronos about his growing power and the invasion of Camp Half-Blood. Dreams are important to the story, as they allow Percy to see places that he can’t physically go and receive important information. This moment illustrates Luke’s subservience to Kronos, and his wariness about becoming the Titan’s vessel, his “form.” Luke tries to delay the transformation, but the fear Kronos inspires, evident in his piercing voice, ultimately makes Luke obey his every word.

“Annabeth tried her best to guide us. She had this idea that we should stick to the left wall.

‘If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it,’ she said, ‘we should be able to find our way out again by reversing course.’

Unfortunately, as soon as she said that, the left wall disappeared. We found ourselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and no idea how we’d gotten there.”

This passage exemplifies the trickery of the Labyrinth and its ability to think and move on its own. This version of the Labyrinth defies Annabeth’s extensive preparations and deep knowledge of the ancient Labyrinth. The modern Labyrinth can manipulate its walls at whim, deliberately deceiving the half-bloods whenever they make a plan. The maze is riddled with crossroads and diverging tunnels, which makes their movements more uncertain.

“The right face smiled. ‘You’re in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’

‘I—’

‘We know you, Annabeth,’ the left face said. ‘We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make a choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you.’

I didn’t know what they were talking about, but it sounded like it was about more than a choice between doors.”

Janus’s two faces offer Annabeth a choice of two tunnels—one leads to death and one continues their journey. This choice brings up more than just navigational indecision; it exposes Annabeth’s internal doubts about her leadership and her ongoing indecision about her feelings for the traitorous Luke. Annabeth has dreamed about leading a quest since she was young, but now that her quest is going wrong at every turn, she questions whether she can complete the journey successfully.

“You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things, petty things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish.”

Hera explains to the questers that some minor gods have grown so restless with their small responsibilities that they’ve started switching sides to join the Titan army. Hera’s advice about being altruistic aligns with how the half-bloods already act, but her own motivations prove to be quite selfish. She wants to protect the image of her family, not actual people, as we see later in her poor treatment of Hephaestus and Nico. Hera has a hidden duality—a sinister nature lurking behind a façade of kindness.

“Briares just shook his head. ‘I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game.’ To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.

‘Maybe that’s why monsters fade,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’s not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it’s because you give up on yourself.’

His pure brown eyes regarded me. His face morphed into an expression I recognized—shame.”

Briares has lost hope in the Olympian cause and his ability to help the half-bloods overcome the Titans. Although belief from humans is important to sustaining monsters and gods, monsters and gods must also make an effort to believe in themselves. Tyson’s words of encouragement can only do so much; Briares must trust those words if he wants to stay alive. Briares’s shame at letting Tyson down eventually drives him to recover his self-worth.

“‘Rooster ponies,’ Tyson said in amazement. ‘Do they lay eggs?’

‘Once a year!’ Geryon grinned in the rear-view mirror. ‘Very much in demand for omelettes!’

‘That’s horrible!’ Annabeth said. ‘They must be an endangered species!’

Geryon waved his hand. ‘Gold is gold, darling. And you haven’t tasted the omelettes.’

‘That’s not right,’ Grover murmured, but Geryon just kept narrating the tour.”

The tour of the Triple G Ranch demonstrates Geryon’s greed and his disregard for the lives of the animals he raises. Geryon thinks the material outcomes—gold and delicious eggs—are worth exploiting an endangered species for. Annabeth and Grover express their compassion for animals through their disgust. Tyson displays his childlike curiosity, as his fascination for the half-horse half-bird animals contrasts with the gravity of Triple G Ranch’s practices.

“Well let me tell you, this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your daddy is Poseidon. This is freshwater territory mister. The last guy who asked me this favor—oh, he was better-looking than you, by the way—he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I’ve ever made! Do you have any idea what horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I’ll never get the muck out of my plants. I’ll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!”

The freshwater naiad confronts Percy at the Triple G Ranch, refusing to let him use her water to clean out the stables. The naiad references the ancient myth of Hercules, who redirected a river to clean out King Augeas’s stables for one of his Labors. The naiad tells Percy of the myth’s aftermath—environmental pollution—which compels Percy to find a less destructive method of cleaning. The naiad prepares to fight Percy to defend her territory, but Percy’s commitment to act differently leads the naiad to help him.

“‘Maybe you can change things,’ I said.

Eurytion narrowed his eyes. ‘How?’

‘Be nice to the animals. Take care of them. Stop selling them for food. And stop dealing with the Titans.’

Eurytion thought about that. ‘That’d be all right.’

‘Get the animals on your side, and they’ll help you.’”

After defeating Geryon, Percy talks to Eurytion about fixing the Triple G Ranch. Percy presses the importance of respecting the animals, listening to their needs, and not selling them to people who will mistreat them. Ecological conservation is a central theme in the book, and the change from Geryon to Eurytion displays the importance of compassion towards nonhuman beings.

“‘You’re mad because I left you to become a Hunter of Artemis. You’re mad because I died and left you alone. I’m sorry for that, Nico. I truly am. But you must overcome your anger. And stop blaming Percy for my choices. It will be your doom.’

‘She’s right,’ Annabeth broke in. ‘Kronos is rising, Nico. He’ll twist anyone he can to his cause.’

‘I don’t care about Kronos,’ Nico said. ‘I just want my sister back.’”

Nico summons Bianca’s ghost, who warns him against holding onto his misdirected anger and apologizes for leaving him. At this point, Nico only cares about his own feelings of grief and completely disregards Kronos’s threat—as well as Bianca’s desire to stay dead. Nico will eventually take Bianca’s words to heart and let go of his grudge so he can help Percy.

“Hephaestus grunted. ‘There was a time I admired the Hundred-Handed Ones. Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops. You can’t trust ‘em. Look at my loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn’t you? She’ll smile in your face and talk about how important family is, eh? Didn’t stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face.’”

Hephaestus warns the group of questers against trusting anyone. From prior experiences, like Hera “pitching” him from Mount Olympus, Hephaestus has grown isolated and wary of everyone, leaving him cynical and guarded. Tyson and his friends, however, choose to believe in their friends and strangers, even if it is the more difficult and vulnerable decision to make. Nevertheless, the half-bloods also know that being wary of gods’ intentions is prudent, as proven by their encounters with Hera and Janus.

“I wished I had a plan. I wished I hadn’t been lying to Annabeth. I’d wanted her to get to safety, and I hoped she’d been sensible enough to do it. But now it was dawning on me that this might be the place that I would die. No prophecies for me. I would get overrun in the heart of a volcano by a pack of dog-faced sea-lion people.”

On Mount St. Helens, Percy urges Annabeth to leave him to handle the telekhines on his own. His doubts and fears exemplify the consequences of his fatal flaw. Percy rushes to save Annabeth without thinking of how he will escape, leaving him surrounded by monsters in a volcano. He confronts the reality of his mortality and the possibility that the Great Prophecy isn’t about him because he may die in this moment.

“I needed the sea. I felt a tugging sensation in my gut, but had nothing around to help me. Not a faucet or a river. Not even a petrified seashell this time. And besides, the last time I’d unleashed my power at the stables, there’d been a scary moment when it had almost gotten away from me. I had no choice. I called to the sea. I reached inside myself and remembered the waves and the currents, the endless power of the ocean. And I let it loose in one horrible scream.”

Percy’s growing power comes to a crescendo as he makes a desperate attempt to save himself from the telekhines. Contrary to his belief, Percy does not need a physical connection to water to summon and manipulate it; he only needs to visualize its power. His scream erupts into a disastrous explosion of water, confirming his fears about his lack of control. Percy remembers this moment in future chapters so he can avoid creating the same amount of damage to himself and his surroundings.

“‘Just because you’re related doesn’t mean you support him. This other daughter I knew, Zoe Nightshade—she fought against him. She wasn’t imprisoned.’

‘But, Percy,’ she said gently, ‘I did support him in the first war. He’s my father.’

‘What? But the Titans are evil!’

‘Are they? All of them? All the time?’ She pursed her lips. ‘Tell me, Percy. Do you support the gods because they are good, or because they are family?’

I didn’t answer. She had a point.”

On Ogygia, Calypso discusses her punishment for supporting her Titan father in the first war. Much to Percy’s surprise, Calypso was on the Titans’ side because she wanted to be dutiful to her dad. Percy saw the war as black and white—good versus evil—but now questions his support of the Olympians, who have proven at times to be just as unkind as the Titans. He continues to fight against Kronos and the Titan army, but his motivations shift to saving his fellow demigods over protecting the Olympian dynasty.

“I hadn’t been in control of myself in that mountain. I’d released so much energy that I’d almost vaporized myself, drained all the life out of me. Now I found out I’d nearly destroyed the Northwest U.S. and almost woken the most horrible monster ever imprisoned by the gods. Maybe I was too dangerous. Maybe it was safer for my friends to think I was dead.”

Percy confronts the damage he caused on Mount St. Helens, and he questions his purpose. Calypso eventually offers Percy the chance to stay on Ogygia with her forever—escaping his prophecy and the war—and this moment of self-reflection creates conflict for Percy. Above all, Percy wants to protect his friends. However, he becomes unsure of whether they would be safer with him gone than with him fighting alongside them.

“My mom frowned. ‘What’s going on with you two? Have you been fighting?’

Neither of us said anything.

‘I see,’ my mom said, and I wondered if she could see through more than just the Mist. It sounded like she understood what was going on with Annabeth and me, but I sure as heck didn’t.”

Percy and Annabeth visit Percy’s mom to ask her advice about recruiting Rachel for their quest. Annabeth dislikes having to ask a mortal for help, and she is also secretly jealous of Percy and Rachel’s friendship. Percy is characteristically oblivious, unable to see the tension between him and Annabeth as anything other than Annabeth’s contrariness.

“‘Get it over with,’ Ethan groaned.

I looked up at Antaeus. His red face was stony with displeasure, but he held up his hand and put it thumbs down.

‘Forget it.’ I sheathed my sword.

‘Don’t be a fool,’ Ethan groaned. ‘They’ll just kill us both.’

I offered him my hand. Reluctantly, he took it. I helped him up.”

In Antaeus’s death arena, Percy fights a fellow half-blood, Ethan Nakamura, at the behest of Luke, who wants safe passage. Percy bests Ethan but refuses to kill him for Antaeus’s entertainment. This reflects positively on Percy’s morality, but the decision leads to Kronos’s rise—Ethan pledges allegiance to the Titan Lord. Ethan’s experiences have led him down a path of vengeance; Percy’s act of mercy cannot sway him from Kronos’s side.

“‘You’re going to let Luke destroy our camp, kill hundreds of demigods, and then attack Olympus? You’re going to bring down the entire world do you can get what you want?’

‘Your cause is doomed, my dear. I saw that as soon as I began to work at your camp. There is no way you can hold back the might of Kronos.’

‘That’s not true!’ she cried.

‘I am doing what I must, my dear. The offer was too sweet to refuse. I’m sorry.’”

Annabeth confronts Daedalus about his selfish decision to help Kronos even though the choice could lead to countless deaths. Daedalus’s guilt and fear blind him, making him believe that there isn’t another way to get what he wants. Daedalus isn’t optimistic about their chances of victory, but Annabeth and her friends stay hopeful against the odds. Eventually, Annabeth’s courage inspires Daedalus to fight alongside her at Camp Half-Blood.

“Nico walked for another fifty yards before answering. ‘It hasn’t been easy, you know. Having only the dead for company. Knowing that I’ll never be accepted by the living. Only the dead respect me, and they only do that out of fear.’

‘You could be accepted,’ I said. ‘You could have friends at camp.’

He stared at me. ‘Do you really believe that Percy?’

I didn’t answer. The truth was, I didn’t know.”

Nico confides in Percy that he feels like an outcast among the living. As a forbidden child of Hades—a god cast out from Olympus—Nico doesn’t believe the other demigods would welcome him at camp. Percy wants Nico to make friends so he’s not alone, but he recognizes that Nico’s personality and Underworld abilities could be off-putting for some half-bloods.

“‘But gods can’t die,’ Grover said.

‘They can fade,’ Pan said, ‘when everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to have power, and their sacred places disappear. The wild, my dear Grover, is so small now, so shattered, that no god can save it. My realm is gone. That is why I need you to carry a message. You must tell the satyrs, and the dryads, and the other spirits of nature, that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them of my passing. Because they must stop waiting for me to save them.’”

When Grover finally meets Pan, the god of the wild asks to be released from life because he has nothing left—power or domain—on earth. Pan reveals that the satyrs’ relentless search for him in hopes that he could fix the wild was misguided because is it too big of a problem for one being to solve. Pan implies that the satyrs have had the tools to be proactive all along; he hopes his passing will make them realize their important roles in saving the wild.

“‘The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now. You must tell each one you meet: if you would find Pan, take up Pan’s spirit. Remake the wild, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world. You cannot wait for anyone else, even a god, to do that for you.’

Grover wiped his eyes. Then slowly he stood. ‘I’ve spent my whole life looking for you. Now…I release you.’”

Pan gives Grover a new mission to spread the word of environmental conservation to everyone; they will need to work together when he is gone. Though Pan addresses Grover, this call to action also includes readers: Riordan invites readers to take up Pan’s mission alongside Grover and do what they can in their “own corner of the world.” 

“‘Whoa,’ I said. ‘Pass on? But you can’t just kill yourself. That’s wrong!’

He shook his head. ‘Not as wrong as hiding from my crimes for two thousand years. Genius does not excuse evil, Percy. My time has come. I must face my punishment.’

‘You won’t get a fair trial,’ Annabeth said. ‘The spirit of Minos sits in judgement—’

‘I will take what comes,’ he said. ‘And trust in the justice of the Underworld, such as it is. That is all we can do, isn’t it?’”

Daedalus decides to stop hiding from the Underworld and tells the half-bloods that he has been acting foolishly and “evil.” For those with mortal blood, death is an inevitable part of life. Daedalus realizes that he can’t run from it any longer, so he chooses to trust that the afterlife will judge him fairly.

“But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.”

Dionysus shows Percy that he has healed Chris Rodriguez’s madness. His advice to Percy verbalizes a common thread throughout the book: that a small of kindness can have a bigger influence than grand physical fights. Percy and his friends exemplify this kindness by standing up for each other, encouraging their heroes, and believing in their friends. These small moments of hope lead to personal transformations for many characters that secure their victory over the Titan army.