The Camp Half-Blood Series: Major Gods / Characters

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/TheCampHalfBloodSeriesMajorGods

The Olympian gods (plus Hades and Hestia) and the primordial of The Camp Half-Blood Series (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus and The Trials of Apollo). As a note, names are written in this form: Greek Name/Roman Name. For the full list of characters, click here.

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The Olympians

In General

Tropes that apply to many of the Olympian gods.

Alien Blood: All divine entities and some monsters have a glowing gold liquid called ichor in place of blood.
Alternative Character Interpretation: The Roman aspects are this In-Universe — the Romans saw the gods differently than the Greeks did, after all.
Antagonistic Offspring: To Kronos.
Ascended Extra: Many of the minor gods, who were just offhand mentions or nonexistent in the previous series, play large roles in the series. This can double as Shown Their Work, since many of the Roman gods did have notably different jobs and personalities than they did when they were Greek. See Ares/Mars, Athena/Minerva, and Artemis/Diana for the most extreme examples. Juno, in particular, played a larger role in Roman public and cultural life than Hera did to the Greeks. Vesta was the guardian of Rome (and keeper of the Aegis), while Hestia is almost forgotten.
Back for the Finale: The Olympians — some of whom haven't been seen since the last series — show up again in The Blood of Olympus.
Badass Family: They're the most powerful and important gods and are all related in some way.
Berserk Button: Don't sit in their chair. Granted, said chairs are 10-foot-tall thrones on the summit of Mount Olympus (now located several miles above the top floor of the Empire State Building), so it's not like you can accidentally sit in them.
Big Damn Heroes: The Olympians show up just in time to help the Seven defeat the giants.
Big, Screwed-Up Family: Their counterparts from the original myths were already screwed-up. Uncle Rick takes it a few steps further; firstly by giving them tons of half-blood kids who can have Parental Issues with them, and secondly by giving all the gods Split Personalities. Lovely folks.
Birds of a Feather: Oftentimes, the reason why they'll fall for a mortal is because they are skilled in one of their domains.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: It's repeatedly mentioned that they can't really be held accountable for committing acts such as incest and adultery because godly culture and biology is vastly different from mortal ones.
Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: They're in no shape to defeat the giants because they're still recuperating from the last Titan war, with divine schizophrenia from their Greek and Roman sides as icing on the cake.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Many of the gods: Poseidon is one of the three most powerful gods in existence, and he walks around in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts (and likes blowfish!); Dionysus likes playing Pac-Man and whines about being forbidden to drink wine and can only drink pop; and Apollo is the god of medicine, drives the sun chariot as a Maserati Spyder, and lets fifteen-year-old girls take it for a spin.
Demoted to Extra: Most of the major gods from the first series are laying low in the second series, due to Zeus locking up Olympus and later being rendered out of commission by their split personas.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: Justified, as anyone less powerful than them seeing them in their true forms would be burnt to ash.
Gods Need Prayer Badly: Subverted, as their strength comes not from prayer, per se, but the Western Civilization. The gods can still lose strength if their discipline is not respected (like Pan does as the wild is increasingly damaged), and it's implied that the destruction of Olympus would plunge the western world into chaos.
Have You Seen My God?: Olympus is closed and the gods have gone MIA per Zeus's orders in the second series.
Honest Corporate Executive: Or Corrupt Corporate Executive in some cases. A lot of the gods run their disciplines like modern day businesses — Hermes has a postal service, Hephaestus has a TV station, and Iris lets demigods send emails through rainbows.
Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Unless otherwise stated (like in Akhlys's case), or if the narration says they cross into Uncanny Valley despite their beauty, you can expect a god's preferred form will be extremely easy on the eyes. Justified in that it's their preferred form which they chose, and they tend to be vain and proud enough to really want to look good.
Jerkass Gods: Most of the gods at one point or another, but especially Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite, and Bacchus. Even the most sympathetically portrayed have their moments. A few, like Iris, Thanatos, and Poseidon, are exceptions, however, and a majority of them in the end come off as being jerks who none the less do have good points to them who handle their jobs and responsibilities responsibly.
Mayfly–December Romance: With any demigod's mortal parent. The only major Olympians who do not have children are Hera/Juno, Hestia/Vesta, and Artemis/Diana due to being sworn to chastity.
Our Gods Are Different: While they bear most of the traits of the gods from Classical Mythology, there are some notable differences. They can exist in multiple places at once by spreading their essence around, can't truly die unless their thrones or spheres of influence are destroyed, and don't have DNA like in non-magical organisms. Hence non-sibling demigods can hook up with each other without it being considered incestuous (not to mention the gods' flings with each other).
Parental Abandonment: They're both victims of this and guilty of it.
Physical God: Well, they're actual gods, but even the weaker Olympians can cause wide-scale mayhem with their abilities, while Zeus, Posiedon, and Hades' are capable of causing a Class 6 Apocalypse How.
Really Gets Around: The gods have dozens of flings that populate Camp Half-Blood; and that's only counting the human kids that actually make it to camp. Piper once notes that her mother, Aphrodite, even has multiple kids who are around the same age. Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades were all forbidden from having more children due to the destruction their offspring wrought during World War II and how powerful they were relative to other demigods. Of them, only Hades upheld his end of the deal, as proven by the existence of Percy, Thalia, and Jason.
Really 700 Years Old: Bordering on Time Abyss; they've been around since before the fall of the Titans, as they represent humanity's concepts.
Split Personality: Between their Greek and Roman sides, although how bad it is tends to vary — some of the major gods are so incapacitated they have to lay low in order to not inconvenience the world. Other gods, such as Aphrodite and Nemesis, are hardly affected because of their "universal" domains.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: All of them can change their appearance at will, and hence have "preferred" forms.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Gods take different shapes due to the fact that their true forms will incinerate anyone who sees them as such.

Aphrodite/Venus

The goddess of beauty, love, desire, passion, pleasure, and fertility.

Played by: Serinda Swan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aphrodite_299x416.jpg

"Beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself — avoid trying to be something you're not. For a goddess, that's especially hard. We can change so easily."

As one might expect, her role in an adventure story is pretty minimal. Unlike the other Olympians her changes are minimal in her Greek and Roman forms and so her personality is virtually the same. She attests this to love being the same being Greek and Roman or anything else, and while she keeps the giggly, teasing, temperamental demeanor from the previous series, she hints at a steely competence and a deep empathy for those around her. She is Piper McLean's mother. Her cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 10.

All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played with. She ditched her nice (if detached) but ugly husband Hephaestus for the rebellious, angry war god Ares, although Aphrodite had no say in being married to Hephaestus^note , so it's not hard to understand why she wouldn't love a god she was essentially sold to.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: For Piper in The Mark of Athena, where she goes on about romance in front of her, Annabeth, and Hazel.
Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: When one encounters her, she will constantly alter her appearance to better fit the viewer's personal ideal of beauty, and thus looks different to everybody
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Played with. While no where as openly or obviously jerkass as Ares or Zeus, Aphrodite is incredibly vain, but openly admits to it.
Chocolate of Romance: They're a commonly used courting gift, and she may have been attracted to Silena's father (who owned a chocolate factory) for this reason.
Empathic Shapeshifter: Her appearance is dictated by what the viewer finds most beautiful.
Eternal Love: Even if the rest of Olympus were to crumble into dust, Aphrodite would live on, since she represents love and emotional attachment.
Foil: To Dionysus. Dionysus is an ugly god who appears apathetic but is willing to do things when need be, cares for his wife even if he does cheat on her, has a more subtle but overall concerned relationship with his children, and tells Percy at the end of the first series privately that the gods need mortal heroes. Aphrodite meanwhile is a hot god who can be apathetic as she sounds at times, cares nothing for Hephaestus whom she was forced to be with, is very upfront with Piper, but questions publicly at the end of the second series why the gods bother with mortal heroes.
Having a Blast: Aphrodite apparently has the ability to create "pretty pink explosions", as mentioned in Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes when Eros told her about his relationship with Psyche.
"Aphrodite hit the roof. Literally. She blasted the ceiling to rubble with a pretty pink explosion, giving Eros the new skylight he'd always wanted."
Head-Turning Beauty: As the goddess of love and beauty, she appears as everybody's personal standard of gorgeousness, invoking this. People can't help but look at her.
Heart Beat-Down: As the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite has absolute power over love, beauty, and desire. Percy makes it a point to say her powers scare him more that Ares'.
Hot God: Justified. She's the goddess of love and beauty, so she modifies her appearance to fit the viewer's perception of ideal beauty.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gold may be a strong word, but despite her occasional lack of empathy^note and one Berserk Button^noteSaying someone is prettier than her (which is so well known that no one presses it), she seems to be the most emotionally secure Olympian. For example, while the other Olympians get pissed when Piper asks why gods need demi-gods to do their bidding, Aphrodite giddily explains that they ask themselves that same question before explaining that they need mortals as much as they need them. While shes often not as helpful as the heroes would like her to be, she rarely overtly obstructs them.
Love Freak: She's very passionate about her domain.
Love Goddess: One of the most famous examples. Her domain is love and beauty.
Obfuscating Stupidity: It's hinted she's a lot smarter than she lets on.
Perpetually Protean: Her appearance is constantly changing to fit someone's perception of ideal beauty.
Proud Beauty: She's very proud of her status as the goddess of beauty.
Sadly Mythtaken. As you can see in Split Personality below, in the Riordanverse Venus and Aphrodite are depicted as one same goddess without any major variation. In truth the Roman Venus was quite different from the Greek Aphrodite: where Aphrodite was a goddess heavily focused on love and desire, both romantic and sexual, Venus was rather a mother-goddess for the entire Roman nation, offering things such as purification, good fortune or victory in war. The Romans also heavily emphasized Venus as a sea-goddess, making her the protectress of sailors, fishermen and sea-travels.
Shipper on Deck: She even tells Percy that she'll screw with his relationship with Annabeth just for the hell of it. Even more than in the first series — she doesn't care to hide it for anything. Add Jason/Piper to her list of ships.
Aphrodite: Paris and Helen were a cute couple...
Split Personality: Averted. Love is the same no matter Greek or Roman, so she's not as affected. It also doesn't hurt that she's the oldest Olympian, closer to creation than even the Titans!
World's Most Beautiful Woman: Justified and/or Invoked. Percy describes Aphrodite's face as constantly shifting slightly to better become his personal ideal beauty.

Ares/Mars

The god of war, violence, battlelust, and rage.

Ares

Played by: Ray Winstone (films), Adam Copeland (TV series)

"Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

A brutish biker. As one might expect, he's petty and not that bright. His cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 5.

Absurd Phobia: After spending time as a Sealed Evil in a Can (relatively speaking) he's developed a fear of jars, all jars.
Abusive Parents: The god of war oftentimes isn't the friendliest to his kids. Clarisse is clearly terrified of him whenever she's in his presence.
Adaptational Dye-Job: Due to Rick Riordan's belief in Ability over Appearance, his hair is brown as opposed to black in the Disney + series.
Agony of the Feet: Percy beats him in combat by stabbing him in the foot.
Ax-Crazy: As expected of a God of War, Ares is extremely brutal and violent.
Badass Biker: His preferred form is one of these, riding a black Harley-Davidson.
Bad People Abuse Animals: Apollo mentions in The Tower of Nero that Ares, who has been long established to be a Jerkass, once dropped a cat down from Mount Olympus to prove it would land on its feet in Manhattan below.
Battle Aura: Emanates an aura that makes people violently angry.
BFS: Ares prefers a massive sword in battle, with a skull serving as its scabbard.
Big Bad: Subverted; his tricking Percy into delivering the Master Bolt to Hades sets him up as the titular Lightning Thief, but he's nothing more than an Unwitting Pawn for Luke and Kronos.
Blood Knight: Loves combat quite a lot, as the god of war.
Boots of Toughness: Part of his biker guise.
Cool Shades: Wears them as part of his Badass Biker persona.
Dumb Muscle: Sort of. While quite a competent tactician, Ares's pettiness and temper causes him to forgo strategy and use brute force in battle. His arrogance also causes him to underestimate his opponents. This is in contrast to Athena, goddess of tactical warfare.
Foil: To Athena. They're both war gods, but Athena prefers tactics and strategy while Ares prefers brute force. More or less, he's the god of battle and she's the goddess of large-scale war.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Even his own family doesn't know why they put up with him, and he verges Nominal Hero status by being a god and not a Titan. The exception to this is his lover Aphrodite.
Genuine Human Hide: The seats of his motorcycle look like they're covered in human skin.
Inhuman Eye Concealers: Wears sunglasses to cover his Fireball Eyeballs, in keeping with his Badass Biker image. However, this doesn't always work, as the fire in his eyes grows hotter as he gets angrier, at one point melting his sunglasses through sheer wrath.
Jerkass: Ares is not that nice. He bullies his demigod children and picks fights with Percy every chance he gets.
Karma Houdini: Other than losing a fight against Percy, he was never punished for his actions in The Lightning Thief.
My Horse Is a Motorbike: The bike is actually his chariot in modern form.
Necromancer: Ares has cursed human soldiers so that if they are on the losing side of a war, they must serve his children in the afterlife. For example, he provides a crew of zombie Confederate soldiers and an ironclad ship for Clarisse in The Sea of Monsters.
One-Man Army: Can bless demigods and possibly mortals, temporarily turning them into one of these.
Politically Incorrect Villain: More of a Jerkass than a proper villain, but he apparently believes men are better fighters than women, as he tells Clarisse it would have been better had he brought one of his sons for a mission.
The Power of Hate: As the God of War, Ares has absolute power over feelings associated with war, including hate, fear, and anger.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Behind his sunglasses, his eyes are mainly red orbs. They've melted his sunglasses at least once.
Shotguns Are Just Better: The Mist surrounding his duel with Percy in The Lightning Thief has Ares using a shotgun.
So Proud of You: After Clarisse single-handedly kills the drakon, Ares grants her with the Blessing of Ares. When she arrives on Mount Olympus, the first thing he does is excitedly congratulate his daughter as being the best warrior he's ever seen.
Sore Loser: After losing to Percy in a duel, he curses Percy so that he needs his sword skills the most, his strength would fail him. It comes back to bite Percy in The Titan's Curse when he goes up against Atlas and the curse kicks in when Percy tries to chop Atlas' spear.
Unwitting Pawn: Of Kronos and Luke in The Lightning Thief.
Would Hurt a Child: Attempts to kill Percy Jackson in the book.

Mars

"I'm the god of Rome, child. I am the god of military might used for a righteous cause. I protect the legions. I am happy to crush my enemies underfoot, but I don't fight without reason. I don't want war without end."

Mars is a mature, respected, militaristic god and draws an unflattering contrast between himself and his Greek form. He's also Frank Zhang's father, which Frank isn't very proud of.

Doting Parent: Compared to how Ares treated Clarisse, his Roman counterpart nearly rivals Poseidon.
Hidden Depths: One might expect that a war god is nothing but a brutal Blood Knight, but Mars is actually very smart and kind of nice. His What the Hell, Hero? speech to Percy in The Son of Neptune is impressive: Mars is the god of war for a just purpose. Ares just likes to brawl. It's the difference between Special Forces and a biker gang. In particular interest is when he gives his son Frank a copy of Sun-Tsu's The Art Of War. Percy's response? "I don't think Ares can read."
Obfuscating Stupidity: He pretends to not remember who Percy is in front of the Romans even though Frank can tell he's lying.
Pet the Dog: He keeps Grandmother Zhang company while she’s waiting for Frank to come home one last time.
Prophecy Twist: Defied and parodied. His "prophecy" in Son of Neptune is the most blunt and to the point one in the series with no ambiguity whatsoever, consisting solely of "Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die." When Octavian calls him out on this and tries to get him to write a more traditional one, Mars casually threatens him back in line with a grenade.
So Proud of You: Mars grants Frank his blessing in the fourth book, something he only does to children he's extremely proud of (like Clarisse in the previous series). Well-deserved, as Frank had just killed 200+ monsters with poison breath and poison gazes single-handedly.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He acts like this with Percy, who's probably a lot more appealing to Mars than he was to Ares.

Artemis/Diana

The goddess of the moon, radiance, hunt, archery, wilderness/forests, animals, maidenhood and childbirth. She is sworn as a perpetual maiden, and thus has no true children, but she does "adopt" maidens who foreswear men forever. Her main weapon in combat is a bow and quiver of arrows to use with it.

Artemis

Played by: Ona Grauer

"Brother, you do not help my hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my hunters. And you do not call them sweetheart."

A calm and reserved goddess as well as stoic, serious and extremely pragmatic. She does not like males and often speaks poorly of them unless they prove themselves. She is; however, far more reasonable with them then her hunters. Her cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 8.

Action Girl: Very good in combat, as expected of the goddess of the hunt.
Adaptation Dye-Job: It's stated she has auburn hair in the books, but is a brunette in the graphic novel.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: Typically appears as a twelve-year-old girl, since most of the Hunters are around that age.
Age Lift: In the movie, she appears as a full-grown woman instead of the young-girl form she assumes in the book.
Animorphism: Possibly. When Artemis is fighting against Atlas she is seen taking different animal forms at great speed by Percy. He then admits that another possibility could be that the pain of holding the sky is making him hallucinate and "see things".
Badass in Distress: During The Titan's Curse. Once she's freed, she gets to battle Atlas.
Benevolent Boss: In The Last Olympian, she strong-arms Hades into making sure every single one of her fallen Hunters achieves Elysium in recognition of their service.
Berserk Button: Do not harm a maiden in front of her. To a lesser degree, Apollo flirting with her Hunters.
Big Sister Instinct: To Apollo when he's mortal. Though she's forbidden from helping him or ordering her followers to help him, she "merely informs her hunters about his situation" so they can "pass through the area" he's in.
Crazy-Prepared: According to Apollo, Artemis is continually hiding emergency bunkers, stashes of supplies and small city-states from the other gods. The Waystation is a very notable example of her doomsday prepper mindframe.
Cute Bruiser: At least in her preferred form.
Does Not Like Men: But doesn't exactly dislike them either, as shown when she praises Percy and supports keeping him alive. Her sphere just includes the protection of women and children; therefore, until a man proves himself, he's beneath her notice.
Dual Wielding: Wields two knives during her fight with Atlas in The Titan's Curse.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Isn't the warm and cuddly type, Does Not Like Men, and isn't immune to the occasional dog-kicking like the rest of her family, but she genuinely grows to respect Percy and, despite their bickering, loves Apollo, using Loophole Abuse to send her Hunters to aid him and when he has a mental breakdown after becoming a god again due to his series-long Trauma Conga Line and confusion over his identity and life, she stays with and comforts him.
Kick the Dog: When Aphrodite bewitched one of her maiden hunters into falling in love with a bear, Artemis abandoned her in disgust.
Mama Bear: To her Hunters and maidens in general. Harm towards them isn't allowed when she's around.
Not Bad: At the end of the The Titan's Curse she tells Percy that he didn't do bad, for a man. At first Percy thought it was an insult but then he realized that it was the first time she actually called him a man instead of a boy.
Not So Above It All: She's usually serious and stern, but when it's just her and her brother Apollo, she's not shy about teasing him.
Parental Substitute: Artemis has no biological children, having sworn to stay a maiden forever. However, it can be argued that the Hunters she leads are the closest she has to children.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She has the size and appearance of a twelve-year-old, but it doesn't stop her from kicking ass.
Polar Opposite Twins: She and Apollo are extremely different in appearance and temperament.
Reasonable Authority Figure: One of the Olympians who tends to be reasonable with people and less prone to egotism. Unlike many Olympians you can leave your oaths to her without issue beyond being mortal again, provided you are upfront about it and don't lie to her.
Sibling Seniority Squabble: With Apollo. She's older. According to mythology, she helped deliver him as a baby. He cheerfully ignores this fact in favor of calling her "little sis" at every opportunity.
Straw Feminist: Subverted; Percy does note how ridiculously radical she and her hunters are, but Artemis is also a goddess and hero who can be profoundly wise and kind, and is not nearly as misandrist as Percy makes out at first. And, given the sheer number of times Artemis or her followers are outright assaulted in the myths by gods and nature spirits who view their unavailability as a challenge (even her own father Zeus raped her nymphs), she's kind of entitled to a bit of wariness.
Team Mom: To the Hunters; shares the role with Zoe, though she's more at ease and welcoming than her lieutenant.
Token Mini-Moe: Her preferred form, as it's the same age as many of her Hunters.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: As Artemis fights Atlas, she appears to change forms into various animals. Or maybe it was Percy hallucinating from the pain of holding up the sky.

Diana

The Roman counterpart of Artemis. Unlike her brother, she underwent some changes in her Roman form, but otherwise remained fairly similar personality-wise.

Literal Split Personality: According to Thalia, she sometimes gets worried about the now mortal Apollo that she splits into her Greek and Roman forms

Apollo

The god of the sun, poetry, prophecy, and medicine, and Artemis's twin brother (but don't bring that up). He speaks through the Oracle of Delphi. The main protagonist of The Trials of Apollo. For related tropes, see here.

Athena/Minerva

The goddess of wisdom, civilization, mathematics, strategy, defensive warfare, crafts, the arts, and skill.

Athena

Played by: Melina Kankaredes

"There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it."

A perpetual maiden, her "children" are born from a quite literal meeting of minds between herself and a mortal. She is dignified, wise, and cautious. Mother of Annabeth Chase. Her cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 6.

Abusive Parents: Not normally, but in Mark of Athena, she shows an incredibly nasty side towards her daughter. Justified in that she was suffering from divine schizophrenia as a result of the Greek-Roman war, like most of the other gods. On top of the stress breaking down her usual logic, Athena has just had all her hatred of Rome stirred up again. She seems to have returned to normal in the final book, where she fights alongside Annabeth to defeat Enceladus.
Action Mom: For Annabeth.
Brainy Brunette: She's dark-haired and the Goddess of Wisdom.
Brutal Honesty: As the goddess of wisdom, she makes her decisions based on what is logical, even if it may not be ethical. In The Titan's Curse, she points out that Thalia, Percy, and the Ophiotaurus may be too dangerous to let live, because as long as they're alive, the possibility exists that Kronos could use them to win the war and wipe out the Olympians.
Athena: Wise counsel is not always popular, but I speak the truth.
Disproportionate Retribution:
- The Romans turned her from a major goddess to a minor one and offended her as a warrior. In addition, the Romans stole the grand statue of Athena from her temple in Greece and have hidden it for centuries. She wants all Romans killed in response and has her children keeping the grudge between the two sides going strong.
- Annabeth states that Arachne is a better weaver when compared to Athena, but her true crime was insisting she was better since it was a sign of hubris against the gods. Even then Annabeth thought turning Arachne into a spider was going too far. Going by other comments, Athena is prone to this when someone claims or is better than her at something whether it is true or not or is one of her own children.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the first book, Percy mentions that all the Athena kids have blond hair. This heavily implies that Riordan initially envisioned Athena as being blond. However, when Athena actually appears for the first time in The Titan's Curse, she is black-haired.
Family Eye Resemblance: One of the trademark signs of a child of Athena is them sharing her gray eyes.
Foil: To Ares. They're both war gods, but Athena prefers tactics and strategy while Ares prefers brute force.
Genius Bruiser: She is the goddess of both wisdom and battle strategy, and in classical mythology is one of more powerful gods, next to Zeus and Poseidon. Percy himself points out that Athena would be a worse enemy to have than even Dionysus or Ares, because if she planned to have you killed, then you would die. No matter what.
God of Knowledge: As per her classical Greek self, she is the goddess of strategy, wisdom, and crafts. Her dominion over knowledge leads Percy to claim that in a fair fight she is essentially impossible to defeat, and she is held responsible for granting her favor to most great thinkers throughout history.
Has a Type: She prefers blondes if her children are anything to go by.
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Invoked by Athena towards Percy in regards to his friendship with Annabeth. As stated above, Athena would be the worst enemy to have amongst the gods. If she wanted you dead, then you would be dead, no matter how hard you would try to evade her.
Lady of War: One of the oldest ones in the book, she's calm and solemn but also very capable of kicking your ass.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She had nothing against Percy while voting him to be killed to stave off the Big Three prophecy and actually consented to Percy/Annabeth (though she does threaten Percy if he mistreats Annabeth.) This does not apply to Romans.
Rule of Cool: Her being able to have demigod children. This goes against all traditional mythology, as Athena was a virgin goddess. Downplayed in the sense that an In-Universe explanation is given as to how Athena can have kids and still be a virgin. However, Riordan has admitted the real reason she can conceive is because the idea of a demigod child of Athena was too cool to not include.
Sore Loser: Is seen as this by Arachne, although whether or not she actually was one at the time is...confusing.
The Strategist: Tactical warfare is part of her domain, so she fulfills this role among the Olympians.
Ungrateful Bastard: The half-serpent, immortal Kercrops was the first king of Athens, judged the contest between Athena and Poseidon, and ruled in her favor. Athena eventually drove him and his people underground in favor of humans and drove his daughters mad so they flung themselves off a cliff.

Minerva

"Yes, my children will avenge me."

Furious at the Romans for devaluing her as a war goddess^note and for stealing her statue, the Athena Parthenos. When she appears, she is Revenge Before Reason incarnate, saying that the Romans must die for the disgrace. Unlike Athena she has no demigod children, but she does consider Athena's children as her own, not that that's a good thing.

Abusive Parents: Likely causes this in Athena along with the divine schizophrenia as a result of the Greek-Roman war, like most of the other gods.
Chickification: In-Universe. As a Greek goddess, she had a major role and was a strong warrior. However, the Romans made her a minor goddess who only made crafts, which enraged her. It didn't help that they also stole her statue and hid it for centuries.
Entitled Bitch: Her conversation with Annabeth was just straight up emotional abuse.
It's All About Me: Her Roman mode, at the very least, seems to be of the opinion that retrieving her statue is of the utmost importance, to hell with any toes she might step on the way. As it turns out, it could be crucial to keeping the peace between the camps.
Karma Houdini: She is the cause of thousands of years of bloodshed between the Greek and Roman demigods and all of the lives that have been hurt because of it or dragged into it or the wars that were increased because the demigod conflict got involved all over a statue. She is never held accountable and in fact gets her statue back.
Revenge Before Reason: To the Romans. Percy's scared of her because this is usually inverted.
Sadly Mythtaken: While it is true that Minerva was a goddess of crafts before all, unlike her Greek counterpart, she wasn't as minor or unimportant as Riordan makes her seem to be. Minerva was widely worshipped throughout the Roman Empire, with numerous temples and festivals dedicated to her, and she was part of the Capitoline Triad, which means she was on equal footing with Jupiter and Juno.

Demeter/Ceres

Goddess of the harvest, grain, and fertility, and Persephone's mother.

Demeter

"I warned you, daughter. This scoundrel Hades is no good. You could've married the god of doctors or the god of lawyers, but noooo. You had to eat the pomegranate."

A somewhat fussy goddess with overprotective maternal instincts. She also seems to be absent-minded, possibly explaining how Persephone could have been kidnapped by Hades. She is stated by Apollo to be warm and loving. Her cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 4.

Demoted to Extra: From the original mythology, at least; she only gets an appearance in the winter solstice in the first book, a scene with her daughter and Hades in The Last Olympian, and a few appearances in battle. Her role is a bit larger in the Trials of Apollo series where her daughter is a main character, though only by having her personality fleshed out beyond Persephone and cereal.
Green Thumb: Plants are part of her domain. In the last book she turns an entire army into a wheat field.
Jewish Mother: Though obviously not literally, the sheer speed in which she cranks out complaints about her daughter and brother-in-law's lives has shades of this.
My Beloved Smother: To Persephone.
- Apollo also expresses condolences for her being Meg McCaffrey's mother.
Obnoxious In-Laws: Manages to be this to her brother Hades regarding him and Persephone, criticizing Hades' work and wishing Persephone could have married someone with a more respectable domain.

Ceres

Though Demeter's Roman form Ceres exists, she has yet to appear in the series proper. What we do know comes from a conversation the heroes had with Bacchus.

Lady of War: Apparently has been driven to this thanks to Gaia and is trying to get Bacchus to help her.

Dionysus/Bacchus

The god of wine, parties, and insanity.

Dionysus

Played by: Luke Camilleri (first film), Stanley Tucci (second film), Jason Mantzoukas (TV series)

"If I had my way, I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."

Dionysus is currently being "punished" by being assigned as the head of Camp Half-Blood for 100 years after chasing after an off-limits nymph, and is grouchy due to being forced off the bottle until his punishment is over. Has an extremely strong dislike of heroes. Known as "Mr. D" to the campers. His cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 12.

Accidental Misnaming: Mr. D staunchly refuses to get any of the campers' names right. Just ask Peter Johnson. Nico seems to be the only exception to this.
Adaptational Ugliness: Justified. Dionysus is typically depicted as a pretty boy on par with Apollo but here is an aging, scruffy, and overweight man. Since Gods can shapeshift and he's been in a funk since his exile, his physical form changed to match his mood. Apollo suggests that this is Dionysus’ way of throwing a temper tantrum over being stuck at Camp Half-Blood.
- This is a bit of a misconception in fandom. Dionysus's image changed over time. Earliest depictions of Dionysus were of a bearded, older man. Most of the male Greek gods were sometimes depicted as older (with the exception of Apollo, given him being the god of young men). Then, later, Dionysus was depicted as a young, androgynous pretty boy, but even at that time, there were occasional depictions of him as older, such as Dionysus Sardanapalus. At this there was also "The Frogs" by Aristophanes, a satirical Ancient Greek play where he was described as having a pot belly. In Neoclassical art, again, often he was depicted as a good-looking young men. However, other artists, such as Cornelis de Vos and Rubens depicted him as overweight or even obese, representing gluttony and dissipation. Thus, Riordan's depiction of him is not as unusual as the fanon seems to think, and hilariously, is rather close to how Rubens depicted him.
The Alcoholic: Although he's forbidden to touch anything wine-related for the next century, much to his annoyance. Dionysus drinks Diet Coke instead (versus Bacchus, who drinks Diet Pepsi).
Annoying Younger Sibling: Apollo describes him as one.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: According to him, the three greatest games invented by humans are pinochle, gladiator fighting and Pac-Man.
Berserk Button: Do not call him "the wine dude".
Big Damn Heroes: In The Titan's Curse, saving Percy, Thalia, Zoë, and Grover from Dr. Thorn and his soldiers.
Boomerang Bigot: He hates demigod heroes, because of how the demigod Theseus treated his wife, Ariadne. This despite him having been a demigod hero in his own right and having demigod children that he cares for.
Deadpan Snarker: Given how unhappy he is with his current posting, he takes every opportunity he has to snark at people.
Demoted to Extra:
- In the film series, his punishment doesn't seem to be in effect, and as such Chiron seems to be camp director instead of him. He only has a cameo appearance at the Olympian council. He appears in the second film however.
- His Greek form, who was previously the Supporting Leader of Camp Half-Blood, is no longer in effect in the later series due to Zeus recalling him and not seemingly putting him back until the final book of the third series.
Disproportionate Retribution: It's mentioned early on in the first Percy Jackson books that Mr. D was banished from Mt. Olympus and is at the camp and off the bottle because he chased after the wrong nymph. In The Tower of Nero, Apollo finally explains why that particular nymph was off limits: Zeus had an eye for her, too. So Dionysus was banished from his home and his wife, forced to babysit all the other gods' kids, and banned from touching the thing he invented, the actual thing he is the god of, all because Daddy wanted to do the same thing he did, but Zeus is the king and Dionysus is not. It's no wonder he's so cranky and bitter all the time.
Everyone Has Standards: Even Dionysus disagrees with Luke's extremism and going rogue by choosing to help the Titans destroy the Olympians. He explains to Percy why the gods need their demigod children, because, whether the gods admit it or not, the entire world would be destroyed if the gods and their thrones on Olympus were destroyed.
The Exile: This is the reason why he's head of Camp Half-Blood, since he was exiled from Olympus for chasing a Dryad deemed "off limits".
Foil: To Aphrodite. Dionysus is an ugly god who appears apathetic but is willing to do things when need be, cares for his wife even if he does cheat on her, has a more subtle but overall concerned relationship with his children, and tells Percy at the end of the first series privately that the gods need mortal heroes. Aphrodite meanwhile is a hot god who is as apathetic as she sounds, cares nothing for Hephaestus, is very upfront with Piper but 'moves on' shortly after she hooks up with Jason, and questions publicly at the end of the second series why the gods bother with mortal heroes.
Freudian Excuse: A non-villainous example. The reason he dislikes demigod heroes is because his wife Ariadne were abandoned by the demigod Theseus. Probably not helped by the fact that he's The Alcoholic forbidden from touching anything even remotely wine- or alcohol-related, thus going through withdrawal. (For more information on his backstory, be referred to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods.)
Happily Married: To Ariadne, who's back on Olympus while he serves out his exile. When Percy sees them together, he is a little surprised at how Dionysus seems genuinely happy for once.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Often comes across as mean and uncaring, but he genuinely cares about the protagonists and comes to their aid in one crucial moment.
- He also seems to be a pretty caring dad as far as Olympians go. He sits with the twins at dinner, is visibly devastated when Castor dies, and later personally asks Percy to make sure Pollux survives.
- Even he agrees Nico has been through hell (literally, at one point) and is actually giving him therapy to help him deal with the insane amount of emotional and mental scars.
Manchild: At least Apollo implies he has this mentality, citing that the fact he looks so pot-bellied and ugly in appearance is simply his way of throwing a childish tantrum and showing his disagreement with his punishment, similar to a child refusing to behave themselves.
Mind Rape: His signature move, being the god of insanity. He does say that the insanity he put on Thorn's soldiers was temporary, but it is scary.
Misery Poker: Inverted. He is absolutely gleeful about Apollo getting punished worse than he is.
Nailed to the Wagon: Part of his 100-year punishment is not being able to drink any wine. He drinks Diet Coke instead.
"Not So Different" Remark: He rather explicitly expresses his disdain of mortal tendencies to speak ill of his fellow gods for their behavior when mortals have plenty of their own bad apples.
The Other Darrin: Played by Luke Camilleri in the first film and Stanley Tucci in the second. Justified in-universe due to all the gods being able to change their appearance.
Papa Wolf: Minor example, but he contacts Percy in a dream to make sure his one remaining son is safe.
Pet the Dog: As the most accessible of the Olympians and the head of Camp, he gets the chance to grudgingly show his softer side fairly often.
- When the Council of Cloven Elders trying to outcast Grover, Mr. D steps in and uses his authority to out-vote the old goats and keep Grover's place secure. After the war, he promotes Grover to take Leneus' place among the council.
- Underneath all the crankiness, he's surprisingly wise as he gives some advice to Percy that even just a little change can make a huge difference to the world, especially the Greek gods themselves.
- Restoring Chris Rodriguez' sanity in The Battle of the Labyrinth.
- When one of his twin sons is killed in The Last Olympian, he contacts Percy personally to check on the other and ask him to keep his remaining son safe.
- He's the only Olympian Hercules has any real respect for, since he does understand what a raw deal demigods have.
- Also giving Nico therapy in The Tower of Nero, acknowledging that he has been through a nasty Trauma Conga Line and harshly averting the There Are No Therapists trope. He continues this into The Sun and The Star and even goes so far as to say he doesn't want Nico being hurt when the subject of a quest comes up.
Put on a Bus: In the second series, he is absent from camp due to Zeus recalling all the gods back to Olympus.
Sadly Mythcharacterized: One of the most egregious examples. In actual mythology, Dionysus is beautiful, easygoing, and generally kind to humans, although he can still drive them insane or rip them to pieces. It's suggested in The Tower of Nero by Apollo that this is a deliberate choice on Dionysus to not appear as he did the myths: his 'trailerpark cherub' form is him being spiteful about his punishment.
The Shrink: Type 3 in The Tower of Nero, as he helps Nico with his PTSD and acts as the therapist that he deserves to have.
You Are What You Hate: He was himself a demigod hero, since his mother was mortal, despite hating them.

Bacchus

"Did someone just call me the wine dude? It’s Bacchus, please. Or Mr. Bacchus. Or Lord Bacchus. Or, sometimes, Oh-My-Gods-Please-Don’t-Kill-Me, Lord Bacchus."

Far more jerkish and unreasonable than his Greek counterpart Dionysus without the moments of kindness to him.

The Alcoholic: Much like Dionysus he's forcibly off the bottle. Bacchus drinks Diet Pepsi instead (versus Dionysus, who drinks Diet Coke).
Jerkass: The biggest one of all the Roman gods so far. All of the faults of Dionysus magnified to the point he refused to "help" without a huge tribute. Once he has it, he forces to Jason and Percy to fight the giants AGAIN for his entertainment and only after they have once again killed them does he bother to banish them.
Miles Gloriosus: Boasts about fighting in the first giant war barely remembering that Hercules did most of the work and he himself defeated the weakest giants. Later, talks as if his killing Otis and Ephialtes was a major victory for him.

Hephaestus/Vulcan

The god of fire, blacksmiths, metallurgy, and technology.

Hephaestus

Played by: Conrad Coates (Film), Timothy Omundson (TV Series)

"It isn't easy being a brilliant inventor. Always alone. Always misunderstood. Easy to turn bitter, make horrible mistakes. People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can't be fixed."

A aloof, pragmatic and cynical god that has a subtly fatalist point of view of others, especially his fellow Olympians, if not all organic life forms in general. He has a tendency to be gruff, as well as to be bitter and disappointed in life and as such puts his faith in machines. Leo Valdez's father. His cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 9.

The Engineer: Frequently seen working away at his forge, coming up with new weapons and the like.
Gadgeteer Genius: Dreams up fantastic bits of tech for the gods. According to Aphrodite, he also uses his skill with technology to keep humiliating her and Ares.
Genius Bruiser: He's physically strong despite his crippled status and is the gods chief inventor.
The Grotesque: On special occasions he'll spruce himself up, so that he looks merely "normal" ugly.
Handicapped Badass: He may be grotesquely deformed, but that doesn't stop him from being an immensely powerful god.
Nice Guy: Probably the nicest of the Olympian gods, bar Hestia. For example, he forgives Percy for jumping on his throne, he and Hermes were the only gods to visit Calypso while she was trapped on her island, and his response to Leo ranting at him is to laugh. The only other Olympian that wouldn't blast their child for impertinence on the spot is implied to be Hades, of all people. He may be socially awkward, but he's still a good guy.
No Social Skills: He freely admits he prefers the company of his machines to people.
Race Lift: Depicted as white in official artwork; Black in the films.
Truly Single Parent: His mother Hera conceived him all by herself, which is why he might have come out deformed. However, he does consider Zeus to be his father for practical purposes.
The Unfavorite: His mother pitched him off a mountain for being ugly. He's still a wee smidgen bitter.
You Remind Me of X: Leo giving him a Calling the Old Man Out rant causes him to laugh and fondly note he reminds him of his mother Esperanza.

Vulcan

Though Hephaestus's Roman form Vulcan exists, he has yet to appear in the series proper.

Hera/Juno

The goddess of marriage, women, and motherhood, as well as Queen of Olympus and Zeus's sister/wife. She is one of the three gods who does not have and never will have a demigod child (the other two being Artemis/Diana and Hestia/Vesta).

Hera

Played by: Erica Cerra

"You must forge your own path for it to mean anything."

Although Hera at first appears to be pleasant and a very maternal goddess, she can quickly become very harsh to those that do not fit her definition of a "perfect family". Her cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 2, the second-largest (after Zeus), though since she is always faithful, the place is always empty.

Affair? Blame the Bastard: Not that she doesn't take revenge on Zeus' girlfriends, too. As Thalia puts it, she's been nothing but a curse to Zeus' extramarital children. While she can't attack them directly, due to fear of retaliation from Zeus, she will make their lives hell, including driving Dionysus' foster parents mad until they killed their own children and then themselves in horror, driving Hercules mad until he killed his wife and children, and poisoning the water supply of Aeacus' entire kingdom.
Ascended Extra: She's a secondary character at best in the previous series, but is much more important in the Heroes of Olympus series.
Babysitter from Hell: For Leo.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Acts pleasant, but has a particularly nasty side when she doesn't get her way.
Character Development: Compared to how she was in the previous series, she's far nicer to demigods. She's shown Jason AND Percy respect and even been supportive, not even getting mad when Percy was basically chewing her out in his dreams. While Jason has some leeway as his Patron Saint, Percy has only the fact that he's one of the seven, and while she could try to boss him around, she's being pretty nice about everything. Though of course you would be nice to a demigod who requested the gods pay more attention to their children (bringing family closer) after saving Olympus. She extended Frank's life as well.
The Chessmaster: She's been putting her pieces into place for over seventeen years.
Clingy Jealous Girl: To Zeus.
Damsel in Distress: In The Lost Hero, she's held prisoner in a cage at the Wolf House that utilizes her power to awaken Porphyrion and consequently Gaia, hence Jason, Piper, and Leo have to free her.
Disproportionate Retribution: She seems fond of insane punishments, especially for children of Zeus.
Thalia: Save it! You've been nothing but a curse to every child of Zeus for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally challenged cows after my friend Annabeth!
Hera: She was disrespectful!
Thalia: You dropped a statue on my legs.
Hera: It was an accident!
Dysfunctional Family: Tries to hide the fact that she's the matriarch of one, but it doesn't really work.
Gambit Roulette: She seems to be pulling this considering the whole Jason/Percy switch was her idea. Bonus points for working on this long before the first series, considering her actions with Frank and Leo.
Karma Houdini: When Piper is both shocked and disgusted to learn Hera caused Hercules to murder his family, but Hercules was the one punished for it, the river god Achelous sadly notes Olympians rarely pay for their crimes.
Knight Templar: For the "perfect family" ideal. Unfortunately for the goddess of marriage, she's stuck with an infamously philandering husband.
Only Sane Woman: Presented as this in The Lost Hero. She is stated to be the primary peacekeeper on Olympus and proposes the compromises that keep Olympus from falling apart thanks to her focus on family and duty. With her missing the egos and personality quirks of the other gods threaten to tear the world apart unless she is returned.
Parental Favoritism: She flung Hephaestus off of Olympus for having the audacity to be born less than beautiful, and makes it painfully obvious that she dislikes those demigods born to already-married gods and goddesses.
- While she's very ruthless towards her stepchildren, she does seem to have a soft spot for Jason, who was offering to her as a baby, and weeps when he dies.
Run or Die: The new war has resulted in her being forced to flee from not only the giants, but the gods as well since she's trying to bring the Greek and Roman demigods together. This is because conflict between the two camps lead to severe conflict between the Greek and Roman identities of the gods, the most obvious side effect of which is excruciating pain.
Single-Target Sexuality: Being the goddess of marriage, Hera will always be faithful to her husband Zeus. And, trust us, remaining faithful to your spouse is a very rare feat for Olympians.
Stepford Smiler: She's pleasant and charming, but this crumbles pretty fast. Although being the matriarch of a Big, Screwed-Up Family will do that to you.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She knows several demigods (such as Annabeth and Thalia) don't like her, but they're going to have to work together to defeat Gaia and the giants.
Took a Level in Kindness: Somewhat. She's still a cold and ruthless queen but the old Hera would probably never weep for a dead child of Zeus.
Truly Single Parent: After seeing Zeus have so many affairs, Hera conceived Hephaestus all by herself out of pure spite.
Wicked Stepmother:
- Displays this the most out of the Big Three's wives, as she's the goddess of marriage and her husband's demigod children are an attack upon her domain. This is the reason she and Thalia don't get on.
- Apollo also apparently saw her this way, as he outright calls her by the trope name in the narration. This leads to much astonishment when he realizes she's been crying on account of the hardships and challenges he's been going through.
Yandere: For Zeus. She particularly dislikes Thalia because she's the result of Zeus's infidelity.

Juno

"All roads lead there, child. You should know that."

Juno shares many of the same characteristics that Hera has, but unlike her Juno is willing to go against her husband's decrees. She is also very sure of herself.

The Chessmaster: Same as Hera above.
Gambit Roulette: Same as Hera above.
Patron Saint: For Jason, and of Rome in general.
Queen Incognito: Juno briefly pretends to be an old hippie lady dressed in trash bags when she dishes out her Sadistic Choice to Percy. She drops the act once they make it to Camp Jupiter.
Run or Die: Same as Hera above.
Wicked Stepmother: Same as Hera above, but startlingly inverted towards Jason. Jason's birth was apparently the last straw for Juno, and Jupiter promised her Jason's life to placate her, naming him after her favorite hero.

Hermes/Mercury

The god of roads, speed, messengers, commerce, travel, thieves, merchants, athletes, and mail deliverers.

Hermes

Played by: Dylan Neal (first film), Nathan Fillion (second film), Lin-Manuel Miranda (TV series)

"Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum."

As the messenger of the gods he's always extremely busy. He is Luke Castellan's father. His cabin in Camp Half-Blood, Cabin 11, is always busy; as the god of travelers, he accepts anyone who seeks sanctuary, including unclaimed demigods and (before the Second Titanomachy) those born of minor gods.

Adaptational Early Appearance: In the Disney+ series, he shows up at the Lotus Hotel and Casino during the events of The Lightning Thief, which is earlier than his debut in the books (The Sea of Monsters).
Been There, Shaped History: Casually takes credit for inventing the internet.
Berserk Button: Never imply that he doesn't care about his sons.
Flying Postman: He's the messenger of the gods, can fly, and runs deliveries for both the gods and their demigod children.
Healing Serpent: Ironically Hermes is one, despite the Sadly Mythtaken nature of his Caduceus in real life, due to being the apparent creator of Hermes' Multivitamins, which function much like regular vitamins do in real life. In The Sea of Monsters Hermes' Multivitamins were also able to return Percy and others back to their human forms after being turned into guinea pigs.
Jack of All Trades: Hermes is the god of messengers, thieves, boundaries, crossing boundaries, shepherds (of livestock, men, and souls), heralds, commerce, travelers, trickery, gatekeepers, athletes, diplomacy, writing, persuasion etc. He's also an excellent singer, swordsman, and inventor, only losing out to Hephaestus in the latter. Needless to say, he has a lot under his belt and Luke even refers to children of Hermes as jack of all trades.
Magic Staff: His preferred weapon is a caduceus, which can form a cattle prod-like weapon.
Momma's Boy: The activation phrase for the winged shoes he provides is his mother's name, Maia. His most prominent mortal relationship is with a woman named May, a name believed by some scholars to be derived from said mother's name.
My Greatest Failure: May's fate and how it ultimately helped destroy Luke as well.
Never Heard That One Before: When Hermes meets Percy for the first time, he is surprised when Percy refers to him as Luke's father, with most other people using his various titles.
Non-Human Sidekick: The snakes on his caduceus can talk. They're named George and Martha.
Obfuscating Stupidity: He knew all along what would happen to Luke. It doesn't make it any less hard for him to bear it.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Hermes is one of the most consistently friendly, down-to-earth and helpful of the Olympians. His extremely harsh reaction to Annabeth apologizing for what happened to Luke hammers in just how badly it's effected him.
The Other Darrin: Dylan Neal in the first film, Nathan Fillion in the second. Justified in-universe due to gods being able to change their physical appearance at will.
Parental Favoritism: Considered Luke his "greatest pride" even after his betrayal.
Parents as People: Hermes actually did love Luke but his absence from his life and failure to properly express his feelings caused Luke to hate him.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Compared to most of the other gods, Hermes is kind, reasonable, and level-headed. He frequently intervenes on the behalf of demigods and lacks the condescending attitude of his brethren, urging Percy to go along with his quest in The Sea of Monsters despite Tantalus' denial and giving him a plethora of magical items to aid him. He also dearly loves his children and the only thing stopping him from helping them is the fact that doing so would make things worse for them than they already are.
Stepford Smiler: His amiable and easy-going nature hides tons of guilt.
Trickster God: One of the oldest examples.

Mercury

Though Hermes's Roman form Mercury exists, he has yet to appear in the series proper.

Poseidon/Neptune

The god of the oceans, storms, earthquakes and horses.

Poseidon

Played by: Kevin McKidd (films), Toby Stephens (TV series)

Dubbed by: Alexis Victor (European French, films)

"Percy, lesser beings do many horrible things in the name of the gods. That does not mean we gods approve. The way our sons and daughters act in our names...well, it usually says more about them than it does about us. And you, Percy, are my favorite son."

Percy Jackson's father. Poseidon is shown to take greater care of his children than other gods and is more mature than his brother Zeus. His cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 3.

Adaptation Dye-Job: In the films, he has reddish-brown hair, in the Disney+ series, owing to Rick Riordan's preference of Ability over Appearance his hair is dirty blonde, matching Walker Scobell's own hair.
Adaptational Heroism: Poseidon, despite his failings, comes across a lot kinder and considerably more reasonable overall than he is in stories like The Odyssey, where he's known to be infamously petty and temperamental, not unlike his brother Zeus.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Lord of the Ocean and even by Olympian standards, he's shown to be obscenely powerful. By the time of The Last Olympian he has not only been personally fighting against Oceanus and his forces for over two years without giving in, but during his Big Damn Heroes moment he's the one who delivers the first real substantial blow towards Typhon and it's his efforts (alongside the Cyclopes under his command) that play the most important role in once again sealing Typhon.
Big Damn Heroes: At urging from Percy, he abandons his battle against Oceanus and leaves his own realm vulnerable, showing up to the battle against Typhon in time to help the rest of the Olympians.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Part of his absence was to protect Percy from Zeus' wrath, since the King of the Sky would have smote Percy on the spot if he found out that Poseidon had broken the covenant.
Demoted to Extra: In the first series, he featured more often due to him being Percy's dad, but Percy mentions that the last time he'd seen his father was on his sixteenth birthday. He finally appears in The Blood of Olympus.
Doting Parent: As doting as an absentee god parent can be, anyway. But he's especially this for Percy in comparison to some of the other gods, especially Zeus and Hades, aiding Percy when he can and outright admitting that Percy is his favorite kid.
Father Neptune: The Greek equivalent of the Trope Namer. Especially apparent while fighting against Oceanus in The Last Olympian.
Happily Married: To Amphitrite, despite his numerous affairs. To the extent that she's even friendly to his demigod children.
Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Explicitly said to look like this, as part of his modernization — he wears Birkenstocks, khaki shorts, and Hawaiian shirts. Fitting for the god of the sea.
Immortal Immaturity: Averted. In ancient times he was very similar to Zeus in temperament. He would often hold grudges and be highly vindictive when things did not go his way. In the series he comes across as having matured to a degree where he is much more reasonable, at least in comparison to his brother.
Lord of the Ocean: God of the ocean and all water. Trope Codifier in Classical Mythology.
Making a Splash: God of seas and oceans, natch.
Not So Stoic: Though Poseidon is much more mellow compared to his classical counterpart, he freaks out and nearly turns Percy into sea foam when the latter sits on his throne to get his attention. Thankfully, he immediately relents once he realizes who it is.
Only Sane Man: Out of The Big Three, being a lot more affable and easygoing than Hades while at the time being considerably more responsible and wiser than Zeus. Worth of notice is the fact he's the only among The Big Three who averts Would Hurt a Child in the series and does not try to kill his nephews or nieces in a fit of rage, something both Zeus and Hades are guilty of.
Parental Favoritism: He confesses that Percy is his favorite child; however this does not mean he doesn't love his other children, as seen with his obvious concern for Tyson was the reason he sent him to the Camp.
Parents as People: He's understandably awkward around his son due to being absent for most of Percy's life.
Prongs of Poseidon: The Trope Namer.
Took a Level in Kindness: Not over the course of the story, but he has matured considerably since ancient times.

Neptune

Though Poseiden's Roman form Neptune exists, he has yet to appear in the series proper. Some things are known about him though thanks to the Romans.

Untrusting Community: He's highly feared in Camp Jupiter and all Roman demigods in general, his children are considered bad luck and has only a shed as a temple on Temple Hill. Apparently Pluto has it worse though.

Zeus/Jupiter

Lord of Olympus and god of storms, justice, and oaths. The last two being ironic considering his actions throughout the series.

Zeus

Played by: Sean Bean (films), Lance Reddick (TV series, Season 1)

A very proud god, commanding and has an extremely high amount of self-respect, almost to the point of sanctimoniousness, condescension and narcissism. He demands respect and precedence from mortals, demigods, and the other gods. He is the father of Thalia Grace. As the king of the gods, his cabin in Camp Half-Blood is Cabin 1, the largest of them all.

0% Approval Rating: No one likes him whether mortal or immortal. Those who start out with respect quickly lose it once they learn more about him.
Abduction Is Love: Kidnapped Ganymede because of the boy's beauty and was so smitten with him Zeus made his immortal.
Abusive Parents: Flip flops between this and Papa Wolf. He threatens to vaporize Jason for talking back to him, and apparently Apollo has a good reason to dislike lightning. This is made apparent in The Trials of Apollo when he had a mirror in The Tower of Nero, whom Apollo found disturbingly similar to his own father, from the Parental Neglect to the It's All About Me attitude to the Why Did You Make Me Hit You? way to deal with his child.
Adaptational Villainy: While Riordan built his character by focusing on and amplifying the flaws and failings of the god in his ancient mythological and literary depictions, Ancient Greek religion actually considered Zeus to be truly the embodiment of order and justice, a fair god who always punished the undeserving and planned things for the best. He was revered as the benevolent father of the world and the protector of things such as civilization and decency — in fact, his flawed depiction by ancient authors sometimes caused the wrath of the religious authorities of the time.
Badass in a Nice Suit: The king of Olympus, fought against the Titans in his youth, and personally lead the Olympians into battle against Typhon, and is shown wearing dark, pinstriped suits.
Badass Longcoat: His civilian attire in the film series, as shown in his opening conversation with Poseidon.
Bolt of Divine Retribution: Quite literally. His symbol of power is the "master bolt". The first lightning bolt and most powerful weapon in the series. It winds up being the MacGuffin for The Lightning Thief.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: "Evil" may be a strong word for a Jerkass God like him, but after swearing on the River Styx to grant Percy one request in The Last Olympian, he's shocked that Percy uses his request to make the world better for other half-bloods instead of trying to become more powerful.
Evil Uncle: He nearly killed Bianca and Nico when they were small children. They survived, but their mother wasn't so lucky. It's implied in The Lightning Thief that he sent Echidna to attack Percy, either to test his mettle or possibly as another way to get rid of Poseidon's son whom he believed stole his master bolt (which would've prevented Percy from stopping a war among the gods if the boy was dead).
Failed a Spot Check: Because of his pride, he's not as sharp as he gloats himself to be. One major instance was in The Lightning Thief. He accuses Poseidon's demigod son, Percy Jackson, as the Lightning Thief (as demigods can steal a god's symbol of power), even though there's clear evidence to the contrary, and believed that Poseidon and Hades were plotting to start a war amongst the gods to overthrow him. The actual Lightning Thief was a half-blood child of Hermes, the god of thieves: Luke Castellan, and the god who conspired against the Olympians to start a war was Ares, the god of war.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Zeus attends all the Olympian parties and council meetings because he is technically the king and it is his house. At the same time, the different series make it clear no one respects him or wants to hang out with him.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: At first, he refuses to allow discussion on the rising threat of the Titans over the protests of the other gods until Artemis forces him to confront irrefutable evidence. In The Heroes of Olympus, he does the same with the threat of the rising giants refusing to take action once again over the protests of the other gods.
Hypocrite: Zeus tears into Poseidon for breaking his oath and calls Percy's birth a crime, and tries to kill Hades' illegitimate children, Nico and Bianca (who were born even before WWII, which the oath was taken place after that). Yet he broke the oath after being the one to force it on his brothers. No one bothers to mention it since he just got his lightning bolt back and in his next sentence he is clearly just all talk as he says he should have killed Percy on the plane when he well knew the master bolt was with him and everyone knows he would never have risked destroying that.
- He sent Dionysus to Camp Half-Blood for a century and forbade him to get into contact with anything wine-related. Why? Because Dionysus was after a nymph that was declared out of bounds... the exact behaviour that is almost daily routine for Zeus. Even worse, the reason the nymph was declared out of bounds was because Zeus was also chasing after her.
Idiot Ball: Refuses to believe that Hera's plan of uniting Greeks and Romans was the only way, insisting that there are always at least three ways because there are three Fates and three is a magic number. He blames Apollo for setting the prophecy in motion, oblivious to the fact that the prophecy would have occurred regardless.
- Jason even lampshades the fact that his father's actions are stupid, and calls them "unwise." Zeus takes offense nonetheless.
Immortal Immaturity: In ancient times, Zeus and Poseidon had almost interchangeable personalities. By modern day, Poseidon has matured to a degree, so he tends to be more reasonable. Zeus has not and still comes across as a pompous git who thinks he is perfect.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: One interpretation of his behavior. He quarrels with Poseidon over who their mother Rhea likes better, is paranoid that Poseidon is constantly plotting against him, demands respect when no one respects him, closes off Olympus due to wounded pride, and tries to blame others for his mistakes. His massive ego and demands for people to respect and obey him comes across as at least partially trying to cover up his own mistakes and knowledge he is a failure that no one likes, particularly compared to a non-senile Ra and Odin, who don't get mocked or defied nearly as much as he does.
I Reject Your Reality: Zeus tries to deny the return of the Titans until he is presented with irrefutable evidence but by then it is too late to do anything. He denies the return of the Giants as well and that the Olympians need demigod help to stop them. Hera states in The Heroes of Olympus that Zeus has a long history of this thanks to his pride.
Informed Attribute: Zeus supposedly has a charming, fun side that attracts ladies, a more fatherly side that cares for his children, a better king than he once was, and some sort of wisdom that helps him rule the god. All we seen and truly hear about is an arrogant, short-tempered, judgmental jerk that is willing to send his children and lovers up the creek for his own benefit, a terrible king, and no wisdom at all. In the second book series, things fall apart the moment Hera isn't around to keep the peace.
- The charming and fun side are shown more clearly in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, which is a feat given his and Percy's history, as is at times his more caring side, such as him planning for Hercules to be high king before he was born or the origin of the Myrmidones. And though he is petty, hypocritical, proud and stubborn, what we see of him in the books (which are short in comparison to an immortal's life, admittedly) as a king, show at least a tiny improvement from the person who levelled a whole city for their king cosplaying as the King of the Gods and who hung his own wife over a chasm and threatened to let her fall into the pit of Chaos for days if not weeks.
It's All About Me: Both Jupiter and Zeus hold this view and tend to let it decide things for them letting hurt pride lead to closing Olympus and blaming others for the disaster of the Second Gigantomachy to avoid looking bad. All that keeps him from being easily a textbook Narcissist is his status as king and being more powerful than pretty much anyone else somewhat justifies his attitude.
Jerkass: All the gods are this to a degree, but Zeus stands out compared to the others. His father-son moment with Jason is ruined by this.
Karma Houdini: Despite breaking a sacred oath and pulling a ton of other crap Zeus is never held accountable for his actions. Instead his children often have to pay for his crimes and mistakes. Being the most powerful god around has its perks.
King of the Gods: Trope Codifier.
Large Ham: In the first book, after leaving Percy with Poseidon and a very stern warning, Percy's dad apologizes to him for Zeus's behavior, swearing his brother should've been the god of theater.
Poseidon: Your uncle has always had a flair for dramatic exits.
Mister Seahorse:
- When he swallowed his pregnant wife Metis, their unborn daughter Athena proceeded to finish her development inside of him, eventually bursting through his skull.
- After one of his mortal girlfriends died while pregnant, Zeus took the premature baby and put him in his leg so he could finish proper development.
Never My Fault: Zeus blames Apollo and Hera for the Second Giant War. He claims that Apollo appointing a new oracle who revealed the prophecy, and giving his blessing to Octavian sped up the prophecy, the rise of the giants and the war between the Roman and Greek demigods. He blames Hera for her meddling, which narrowed the possibilities on how the prophecy could have unfolded. He is only partially right since Apollo's blessing ignited the war, and the Fates agree his stance on Hera is somewhat right, however Apollo has little control over new oracles and cannot always control when a prophecy is spoken. On Hera's part, several of the giants had already risen before any of the Seven were born or were even assembled. Following Zeus' plan of doing nothing would have had Porphyrion rising at full strength, Hera no more, and Olympus imploding without her to hold the Olympians together.
The Oath-Breaker: Came up with the idea to have no more demigod children and forced the oath upon his brothers for the sake of Olympus. A few decades later, was the first to break the oath and later forced the consequences upon his child.
Parental Neglect: Among his many Jerkass qualities Zeus neglected to have a proper cabin built for his children which ironically makes him one step more of a neglectful parent than other gods who at least built actual cabins for their kids. Instead of a place where a person can live and sleep, Zeus' cabin is a temple dedicated to him. Children of Zeus have to move eagle statues out of the way to sleep in alcoves with a statue of Zeus staring down at them.
Pet the Dog: About Zeus's only redeeming quality is that he occasionally will help his children such as turning Thalia into a pine tree to save her from the wrath of Hades and using it to put a barrier around camp to finally make it safe. Whether this in any way makes up for being a crappy parent or being turned into a pine tree is a "good" thing is debatable.
Pride: His defining characteristic and source of many of the problems throughout both series.
Race Lift: Due to Rick Riordan's preference of ability over appearance, Zeus is played by the late Lance Reddick, who is Black, in the first season of the Disney Plus series. Justified as he is a god and can shapeshift.
Sadly Mythtaken: As talked about in Adaptational Villainy above, Riordan's decision to make a much more antagonistic, flawed and incompetent Zeus resulted in numerous liberties taken with the original mythological figure. Most noticeable of all is Zeus' status as The Oath-Breaker, when Zeus was the god of oaths (in fact him being bound by his word came into play several times in mythology, such as Herakles' birth and is one of the few consistent traits of Zeus), or Zeus' frequently unfair decisions when it comes to dealing with his kingly duties - when Zeus was the god of justice in Ancient Greece, frequently depicted surrounded by various embodiments of law and wisdom assisting him in his duties (Themis, Athena, Metis).
Shock and Awe: Being god of the sky gives him lightning powers. His weapon is even a Bolt of Divine Retribution.
Tough Love: Is capable of returning Apollo's full power to him at any moment but keeps him depowered to avoid trivializing the lessons Apollo's stint as a mortal is supposed to teach him.
Toxic Friend Influence: A lot of the problems are caused either directly by him or made worse by him. In particular, his bad behavior and mistreatment of others trickles down to the other gods and later mortals. At the end of his series, Apollo realizes this and decides to spend as little time with Zeus from now on.
Ungrateful Bastard: At the end of the first book, Zeus can not cough up a thank you to Percy and threatens to kill him if he travels in the sky again. At the end of the first series, he can barely eke out a thank you to Hades and Poseidon, agree to Percy's requests, and fails to fulfill all of them. At the end of the second series, Zeus says he is proud of Jason, yet the moment Jason questions Zeus (when Zeus is wrong) Zeus is one step away from killing his own son.
Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: He warned Apollo to say clear of his lightning bolt, absolving himself of any responsibility.

Jupiter

Is described by Thalia Grace as being more forbearing, mature, and fatherly. Despite this he still shares many of the same characteristics as Zeus. He is the father of Jason Grace.

Bolt of Divine Retribution: Same as Zeus above.
The Ghost: We never get to see him in person. By the time he shows up in Blood of Olympus, his Divine Schizophrenia has stabilized, and he's become Zeus again.
Good Parents: Maybe. According to Thalia, he's more fatherly than Zeus. This of course is not hard to be, so how much of a good parent he is is rather debatable.
King of the Gods: Much like Zeus he is the Trope Codifier.

Other Major Gods

Hades/Pluto

The god of the underworld.

Hades

Played by: Steve Coogan (Film), Jay Duplass (TV Series)

Dubbed by: Boris Rehlinger (European French, films)

"And the dead just keep arriving. No, godling. I need no help getting subjects! I did not ask for this war."

Bitter and asocial, but not truly evil. He is distant and angry due to past tragedies which lead him to behave the way he does, though he tries hard not to show it. Father of Bianca and Nico di Angelo. Despite being a major god, he doesn't have a cabin in Camp Half-Blood, because nobody ever really paid him attention. After the Second Titanomachy, however, Nico now has Cabin 13 to call home.

Adaptational Villainy: The film adaptation of The Lightning Thief gives us the usual portrayal of Hades as a full fledged villain.
Animal Motifs: He is described as been similar to a panther: lithe, graceful and dangerous.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: In The Lightning Thief upon Percy’s meeting with Hades he states that Hades, above Ares and Dionysus, radiated power and that he had an air of order and lordship. The Asskicking part is seen in his Big Damn Heroes moment in The Last Olympian
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite his grim demeanor, Hades does care about his family deep down and will show it. He even grudgingly acknowledges that if Kronos won, he'd miss bickering with his siblings.
Hades: (to Nico) My children are so rarely happy. I... I would like to see you be an exception
Badass Boast: Delivers a pretty epic one to Kronos in The Last Olympian.
"Now fight me! For today the House of Hades will be called the saviors of Olympus!"
Big Damn Heroes: At the end of The Last Olympian, he arrives in the nick of time to support the gods against Kronos.
Calling the Old Man Out: "And if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that you were a TERRIBLE father."
The Chains of Commanding: The main reason he's annoyed by the fact that people believe he would want to steal Zeus's lightning bolt and start a war with it. The underworld is so big he already has enough trouble running it. Why in the world would he ever want to make his kingdom even bigger?
Character Development: In the previous series, he was angry and resentful, and downright abusive to Nico, tricking him and telling him how inept he was compared to Bianca. Since then, he's recognized that Nico was right and tries to get Nico to let go of his anger, too.
Cool Helmet: His personal artifact, similar to Poseidon's trident and Zeus' Lightning. It allows him to become obscurity itself.
Cool Sword: The titular weapon of the short story "The Sword of Hades", newly forged (on orders from Persephone in an attempt to boost his power) and then stolen by Ethan Nakamura. Made of Stygian Iron and containing one of the Keys of Hades, it allows the wielder to send anyone to or from the Underworld with the lightest touch. Hades himself initially wasn't happy over its creation, since Persephone had gone behind his back to have it made, and swore an oath to never use it against his fellow Olympians; however, he has no problem wielding it against Kronos and his army in The Last Olympian.
Creepy Good: Scares the hell out of his family, but he's on their side when shit hits the fan.
Dark Is Not Evil: Though everybody is convinced he is.
Disc-One Final Boss: He is set up as the Big Bad for most of the first book, but it's eventually revealed he actually had nothing to do with the theft of the lightning bolt. In fact, he is hilariously pissed about people believing he would want a new war.
Doting Parent: Is coming around to be this towards Nico. He gave Nico a zombie!
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Pale and dark-haired, befitting the god of the Underworld.
Everyone Has Standards: After Percy honored his word and got him his helm back, Hades doesn't want Percy dead. He can see the kid is not his father and a hero who has protected Nico at every turn. So when he makes Nico betray Percy, he says that he'll simply lock up Percy as a Cruel Mercy until the battle with the Titans is over and Nico can be the chosen one of the prophecy. Percy takes offense to this since that means Nico has a great chance of dying in his place, and he doesn't like being locked up.
- The Gods of Olympus don't agree on much. What they do agree on, however, is that if anyone messes with Hestia, all bets are off; this includes Hades.
Everybody Hates Hades: Even though he didn't do anything to deserve it. Although this gets better in the end.
Good Is Not Nice: The reason he has such a spotty reputation. He can be very harsh with his children if they disappoint him, and is so proud that he won't help save the world over an old grudge. This is par the course for gods, but he's also very brooding and abrasive.
Happily Married: To Persephone, more or less.
Heel–Face Turn: In The Last Olympian, he is initially an antagonistic figure when he decides to imprison Percy forever so that he can use Nico to fulfill the prophecy and take over Olympus for himself. Nico eventually persuades him to help regardless.
I Gave My Word: The only one of the Big Three to take the vow of no new demigod children seriously. Or at least more seriously than the other two. Zeus being Zeus will screw anything at the drop of a hat, Poseidon fell in love with Sally Jackson, resulting in Percy. Hades' last set of children were born in the 1920s and his lover got nuked because of it. He had no known children since. A smaller example occurs at the end of The Lightning Thief, when, after Percy gets him his Helm of Darkness back as he promised he would, he promptly takes Sally back to her home — as Poseidon states, the Lord of the Dead knows how to honor his debts.
It's Personal: This is why he initially refuses to help the gods and demigods fight the Titans. Zeus killed his lover Maria when he was aiming for the children, out of fear that Nico and Bianca would become threats to the king of the gods; to rub it in, he sent the Oracle to relay I Told You So about how bad an idea it was for Hades to try and skirt the treaty, even though Hades pointed out it was before the treaty was in place. Instead, his plan was to ensure that Nico was the chosen one of the prophecy so that his son would have the biggest chance to survive the whole mess. Nico convinces him pragmatically that if the Titans destroy the world, then there will be no one against whom he can hold grudges and likely Kronos will come for the undead realms as well.
Necromancer: One of Hades' abilities is raising armies of the dead to do his bidding, something he also passes down to his children.
Not So Stoic: Around his family.
Orcus on His Throne: How Percy, Annabeth and Grover find him in The Lightning Thief.
Papa Wolf: Hades, it seems, is willing to go to much further lengths to protect his children than his brothers, including visiting them in person. Plus, it's stated that Nico lives in the Underworld with him.
Parental Favoritism: Hades makes it quite clear that he'd rather have Bianca alive instead of Nico, though it's probably because of Bianca's resemblance to their mother. He's learning to move past this.
Terror Hero: He's not nice, but he's definitely on the side of good, and his godly powers along with his Helm of Darkness allows him to terrify virtually anyone into submission, causing Kronos' armies to break ranks and flee in horror at Hades' presence.
Undeathly Pallor: Being the god of the dead, his skin is a corpse-like gray.
Would Hurt a Child: Hades sent monsters after Thalia, upon learning that she was a daughter of Zeus. While his actions were unjustified, Hades had every right to hate Zeus. Zeus forced the oath of not having children on Poseidon and Hades. He killed Hades's lover in an attempt to get rid of Bianca and Nico, forcing the God of the Dead to erase their memories and isolate them from the world for many years. However, Zeus didn't think twice about breaking the oath himself. Years later he's also the one responsible for sending Alecto and later all three Furies after Percy when he believed that the boy had stolen his Helmet Of Darkness.
Your Soul Is Mine!: He's the Lord of the Underworld, and the moment you die, you're automatically sent to his domain. He even takes Sally hostage as a shade (a variation of a soul) to use her as a bargaining chip for Percy, which sets the adventure of the first book in motion.

Pluto

"Perhaps that is not what I want to see, Hazel. Perhaps I was never here."

The father of Hazel Levesque, he is very sorry for her curse. As a gift of sorts he avoids her so she doesn't have to return to The Underworld. He's stated to resemble Adolf Hitler-or rather, the other way around.

Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: He doesn't directly acknowledge Hazel after she comes back to life, with others speculating it's so he doesn't have to enforce his own rules and send her back to the Fields of Asphodel. Uniquely, he is also one of the few godly parents who doesn't choose to abandon his kids. Hazel's mom refused him.
Doting Parent: Queen Marie talks about how proud Pluto was of baby Hazel.
Everyone Has Standards: According to the flashbacks that Hazel has to her first life, he did his best to dissuade her mother from the life she was leading. Pluto would say that this isn't a healthy situation for either Queen Marie or their child to pursue power and money. The judges of the Underworld are hard on Ms. Levesque after she and Hazel die, partly out of respect for Pluto and the fact that Hazel was destined to have a happier life if not for her mother making a deal with Gaea.
Face of a Thug: It doesn't really get worse then being the spitting image of one of history's most evil men. Despite this, Pluto is pretty reasonable in his few appearances.
Master of Illusion: Pluto shows some skill with Mist manipulation.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Pluto is a rules-bound Honor Before Reason god that takes his vows seriously, and he does not bend them for anyone he loves. Hazel knows that something is up when despite having killed herself in a Heroic Sacrifice a hundred years ago, she's back in the land of the living, and Pluto doesn't make her surrender her soul to Thanatos after her team saves the latter. She wonders if it's because he feels guilty about the fact that he was compelled to sire her and leave her at her mother's mercy, or if saving Thanatos meant she got a pass.
Untrusting Community: Even worse then Neptune since Percy is encouraged to try and become a praetor, while no one will follow a child of Pluto.

Hestia/Vesta

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hestia_6.png

"Now I tend the fire. I fade slowly into the background. No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia. Most demigods don't even stop to talk to me. But that is no matter. I keep the peace. I yield when necessary. Can you do this?"

The goddess of the hearth. She's often overlooked by the other characters, often quite literally. It is unknown if Vesta actually exists as Hestia's Split Personality. Like Hades, she does not have a cabin in Camp Half-Blood. She never needs to, as the camp's hearth is her home.

Ascended Extra: Plays a far more important role in The Last Olympian than she does in the original mythology.
Beware the Nice Ones: When Percy throws Kronos' scythe/Luke's sword, Backbiter, into the hearth, the weapon melts into liquid and not even the Curse of Achilles could bypass the flames without getting burned. Within the hearth itself, Hestia is seen giving her father a look of disgust while doing so, and as Percy once mentioned in the Greek Gods, the goddess remembers being eaten by Kronos since the day she was born.
Chekhov's Gunman: The little girl tending the hearth as Percy tours the camp for the first time in The Lightning Thief appears four books later as Hestia, goddess of the hearth and the titular Last Olympian.
Fire of Comfort: She's in charge of keeping it going. Even when they're outright warring with each other all the other gods are allowed to take a break next to her at the hearth and relax. Percy noted her eyes are much like Ares' only they're a relaxing glow.
The Heart: Fulfills this role for the Olympians.
Keep the Home Fires Burning: Effectively her purpose in life, as she stands watch over Olympus while the other gods are off fighting. She even says the trope name in a discussion with Percy and Nico.
Nice Girl: She's probably the kindest and most down-to-earth Olympian.
Non-Action Girl: Because her main role is to Keep the Home Fires Burning, she doesn't see much, if any, combat. That said, the fires of her hearth are hot enough to bypass the Curse of Achilles, which she ends up using during the final battle against Luke-Kronos.
Older Than They Look: Hestia in particular takes this trope out of all the gods, because she takes the form of a seven or eight-year old girl.

Protogenoi

In General

Tropes that apply to many of the primordial gods.

Anthropomorphic Personification: Everyone of them is the very thing they represent.
Eldritch Abomination: Same as Anthropomorphic Personification above.
Genius Loci: If what they represent is there, so are they.
The Older Immortal: Has been around long before the Titans and gods appear.
Time Abyss: Considering that they are the very things they're gods of it goes without saying that they're very old. After all how old to you think the Night is?

Akhlys

"Child of Hades, what more could I do to you? You are perfect! So much sorrow and pain!"

Goddess of Misery. A resident of Tartarus.

Badass Boast: Despite being perpetually miserable and pathetic, she doesn't take Annabeth calling her a minor deity well, stating she was old even when Gaea first awakened and she will last forever, as "Existence is misery."
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Despite being a Protogenoi, she's on the receiving end when Percy, though with great effort, manages to turn her poison against her and hurt her to such an extent Annabeth becomes more scared of him than of her.
The Eeyore: As the goddess of misery she's always miserable and self-pitying.
Faux Action Girl/Glass Cannon: We're not sure which since she's clearly powerful being a daughter of both Chaos and Nyx, but was rather quickly defeated by Percy when he takes control of her poison and uses it against her.
Foul Flower: Can make poisonous flowers spontaneously appear and grow.
Master Poisoner: She's also the goddess of poisons, and fittingly has an extensive knowledge of poisonous plants.
Nightmare Face: Her face is described as horrifying and ugly.
Required Secondary Powers: Apparently she doesn't have this. When she creates rivers of poison and Percy takes control, they affect her just as much as they did him.
Self-Harm: Her cheeks are bloody from scratching herself. Also a Genius Bonus, as clawing at one's cheeks until they bled was a real mourning ritual in Ancient Greece, fitting for the goddess of sadness and Death Mist.

Chaos

The first goddess (or deity, for that matter). She is described as a void, nothing or a soupy mist with all the matter in the cosmos just drifting around.

Cessation of Existence: What happens to those that fall into her.
Gender Reveal: Was identified as a goddess in The Tower of Nero.
The Ghost: Though she is technically seen, but as a Sentient Cosmic Force.
The Maker: Percy describes her as such in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, but openly admits that he's not sure how true it is.
Power of the Void: Everything came out of Chaos.
Primordial Chaos: The Trope Namer herself.
Sentient Cosmic Force: She's the void that the first primordials came out of.

Gaia/Terra

Goddess of the Earth. For related tropes, see here.

Nyx/Nox

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_mu75kwzbsy1rfx93bo1_1280.jpg

"I am the mother of all terrors! The Fates themselves! Hecate! Old Age! Pain! Sleep! Death! And all of the curses! Behld how newsworthy I am!"

The goddess of Night.

Abusive Parents: Nyx emotionally and mentally abuses her children as shown by her treatment of Nemesis, Hypnos and Epiales. This behaviour comes back to bite her back as this mistreatment causes them to betray her.
Adaptational Villainy: While Hesiod once described her as "evil Nyx", several other sources refer to her instead as "kindly Nyx," and she's said to weep over the plight of imperiled sailors. She's also only ever shown as a protective parent in the myths, protecting Hypnos from Zeus and grieving for Eos's anguish at her son's death in sources that name Eos as Nyx's daughter. In The Sun and the Star she's a force of villainy and an Abusive Parent.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Is described by Annabeth as "as tall as the Athena Parthenos, but very much alive". To note, Athena Parthenos is more than fifty feet tall.
Attention Whore: How Percy and Annabeth manage to talk her down: they pretend to be tourists and that when they booked the "Tartarus excursion", Nyx was hardly mentioned. She doesn't take this very well.
Big Bad: Of The Sun and the Star.
Casting a Shadow: Part of her power set as the goddess of night is the ability to move in and out of shadows.
The Dreaded: Being the oldest being in the universe besides Chaos itself, everyone in some way or another are afraid of her; she even recounts that not even Zeus has the guts to provoke her. Yes, it's based on a real story (from The Iliad, to be exact).
Dark Is Evil: Most depictions of Nyx have her as either a True Neutral being who's beyond mortal comprehension or embodying The Sacred Darkness. This version of her is an nasty combination of Evil Matriarch and Evil Reactionary who tries to keep everyone as their darkest selves.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her eyes shine like quasars.
God of Darkness: She is the goddess of the night.
Hellish Horse: Owns a pair of shadow-colored horses called Shade and Shadow.
In-Series Nickname: "Night", apparently.
Lady of Black Magic: Ur-Example.
Mother of a Thousand Young: She mothered a series of daemons and gods whose responsibilities mainly lay in miserable things, including death, old age, conflict, revenge, and, well, misery itself. Of course, she brags about this as well, summoning some of them to show Percy and Annabeth how important she is.
- She later creates 15 children from Nico Di Angelo's Darkness.
Required Secondary Powers: She literally is night and she and her children have power of over darkness and shadows. She can't see in the dark though, or at least not through mystical darkness generated by her children.
To Serve Man: Comments from Koios and Akhlys imply that she literally swallows people whole.
The Unfought: Thanks to Annabeth and Percy managing to distract her children and cause them to bicker long enough for them to hightail it out of there. Given she's one of the oldest deities it was the smartest call.
- Downplayed in The Sun and the Star where Nico, Will, Bob and Small Bob end up facing off with her. They mostly use distractions but the latter does physically attack her, showing it's possible to do so (thought not adviseable).
Winged Humanoid: As shown in her image, she has a pair of black wings.

Ouranos

God of the sky, husband of Gaia, and father of the titans.

Cruel and Unusual Death: Hacked apart by Kronos while being held down by four of his other sons.
Deader than Dead: As a god he can't truly die, but he was killed so thoroughly that he won't reform for a period of time slightly less than eternity.
History Repeats Itself: He tells Kronos that his children will one day over throw him, just as he overthrew Ouranos. Sure enough, Zeus and his siblings cast Kronos down into Tartarus and take power.
Posthumous Character: He died before just about every major event in mythology.

Tartarus

God of the pit, the most ancient and dangerous part of the underworld. For related tropes, see here.

Characters / The Camp Half-Blood Series: Major Gods

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