Transcription
[Music]
Hello demigods, gods, and monsters alike. This is the Olympus Report. [Music] [Applause] [Music]
Every story has to start somewhere, and in this case, Percy didn't ask to be a half-blood. Here's everything you need to know about Percy Jackson, the Lightning Thief. [Music] [Applause]
Before we get started, here are some important things that you need to know:
A demigod or half-blood is the child of a mortal and a god.
The Mist is an aura that surrounds the Earth and prevents mortals from discovering the world of the gods, so it may trick them into seeing a sword as a pen.
Drachmas are gold coins and are the currency of the gods.
A satyr is a half-man, half-goat who is often sent out to find half-bloods and bring them safely to camp.
A centaur is a half-man, half-horse.
Naiads and nymphs are nature spirits that live in their respective plants or bodies of water.
The River Styx is a river that runs through the underworld, and if you swear upon it, it's a binding promise.
Half-bloods have dyslexia because their brains are hardwired to read ancient Greek. They also have ADHD because that antsy nature keeps them alive in battle.
Quests are limited to three people to prevent monster attraction.
The same way, demigods aren't permitted to use cell phones or other forms of technology because it's like sending up a signal to the monsters saying, "I am here."
Monsters explode into gold dust when they're killed, and while you can kill them, you can't kill them permanently because eventually they'll reform and come back—whether it be a day later or a decade later.
When a half-blood has a dream, they're often witnessing an event actually happening somewhere else.
Now, let's jump into our story. Our story starts at Yancey Academy, where we meet our main protagonist, Percy Jackson, and his friend Grover Underwood. They're on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Now we find out Percy is what most adults would call a troubled child. Besides the fact that he has dyslexia and ADHD, some pretty weird things have happened to him, like the time on his school field trip he accidentally caused his class to take a plunge into a shark tank, or the time he accidentally shot a cannonball at a school bus. However, this time Percy hoped things would be different because he really liked his Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner; his pre-algebra teacher, Mrs. Dodds, not so much.
Things started smoothly enough, besides the fact that Percy and Grover had to deal with the school bully, Nancy Bobafit. But besides that, things were going okay. Mr. Brunner was taking them through the Greek and Roman section, teaching them about Kronos.
So, Kronos is what we call a titan who ruled before the Olympian gods. When Kronos had kids—the said gods—he ate them because he was afraid they might take over one day. But when it came time to eat baby Zeus, Kronos's wife tricked him by giving him a rock instead. Later on, Zeus tricked Kronos into barfing up his other siblings, and together they sliced Kronos up and threw him into Tartarus—basically the worst possible place you could go.
When asked why this actually matters in real life, Percy isn't able to come up with an answer, but Mr. Brunner encourages him to really think about it because for Percy, this could be life or death.
Later on, we join Percy and Grover as they're eating lunch, but soon they're confronted by Nancy Bobafit. Nancy starts picking on Grover, and Percy gets so angry that he gets this pulling in his gut, and the next thing he knows, Nancy ends up in the fountain—even though he swears he didn't push her. Unfortunately, Mrs. Dodds, the nasty pre-algebra teacher, saw this and tells Percy to come with her. Grover looks on uneasily and tries to intervene, but to no success.
Percy is a little worried, but he thinks, "She's a teacher; she can't actually hurt me," right? Wrong. Right before his eyes, Mrs. Dodds transforms into a shriveled old hag with giant bat wings. She lunges for Percy and keeps screaming, "Where is it? Where is it?" But thankfully, Grover and Mr. Brunner show up in time.
Mr. Brunner throws Percy a pen, and when he catches it and uncaps it, it becomes a sword, where he then vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher. But when he looks around afterward, totally confused, everyone is gone. He goes back to confront Mr. Brunner, where Mr. Brunner retrieves the pen from Percy, but he has no idea who Mrs. Dodds is, and neither does anyone else.
Back at Yancey Academy, Percy tries to figure out what the heck is going on, but everyone is convinced Mrs. Dodds never existed—everyone except Grover, because Percy can tell he's lying.
On the night before exams, Percy is studying for his Latin test, and he really wants to do well and impress Mr. Brunner, so he decides to go ask for help. However, when he gets to Mr. Brunner's office, he overhears him and Grover talking about Percy. He listens in, and Grover says something about being concerned about Percy's safety and keeps rambling on about a summer solstice deadline. He feels he failed Percy because Percy saw her—meaning Mrs. Dodds.
Percy is so shocked he drops his book and rushes back to his room. After exams, in the school year, Percy and Grover board a bus back to New York, but Grover is acting really weird and very jumpy—especially when their bus breaks down, and they see three old ladies across the street with yarn and scissors.
Percy, having had enough of Grover's weird behavior, decides to question him on the old ladies and what he overheard in Mr. Brunner's office. Grover kind of dodges the question and makes Percy promise that if he needs help this summer, to come see Grover. He gives him a business card with his number and address on it. Grover also makes Percy promise to let him walk him home from the bus station.
Percy does not keep this promise. As soon as they step off the bus, Grover runs to the bathroom real quick, and Percy dips.
Once home, we meet Percy's awful stepfather, whom he calls Smelly Gabe, and describes as looking like a tuskless walrus. You see, Percy doesn't actually know who his father is. Percy’s mother, Sally Jackson, told Percy that his father got lost at sea when Percy was very young. The only thing Percy remembers about him is a warm smile and a feeling of safety.
Soon, Percy's mother, Sally, comes home from her job at the Grand Central Station candy store, where they munch on blue candy. You see, Percy and his mother both love blue food. They get to talking about what Percy’s been up to that semester, but Percy leaves out all the weird stuff that's been happening to him, even though Percy's mother can tell he's hiding something.
They decide to leave on a vacation to the Long Island beach. They have a great time, but over a campfire that night, Percy pushes for more information about his father. Percy's mother reveals that Percy's father left before Percy was even born. This doesn't make sense in Percy's mind, as he remembers his father's smile.
Percy's mother says that Percy's father wanted to send him to a summer camp, but she didn't want to send him there for fear that she would never see Percy again. Percy wants to push more on the subject but can tell his mother’s about to cry, so he drops it.
That night, during a crazy thunderstorm, there's a banging on the door, and when they answer it, it's Grover, and he is frantic. He claims he's being chased and they have to go now. While they race towards the car, Percy's mother questions Percy on what he's not telling her. In a hurry, they set off, but the craziest thing is that Grover isn't wearing pants, and instead of normal legs, he's got furry goat ones.
As Grover, Percy, and Percy’s mother race down the road, we learn that Grover is a satyr—a half-man, half-goat who is actually sent to Yancey Academy to protect Percy. We learn Percy is a demigod or half-blood, which means he's half mortal, half god. His father was one of the actual Olympian gods, and because of this, he can live a pretty dangerous life, as monsters will constantly hunt them down.
They continue to race down the road towards the camp that Percy's father told Percy’s mother about, but before they can get there, their car explodes and is sent off into a ditch. All survive, but soon they're confronted by a creature in tidy whities and the upper body of a bull—the Minotaur.
Grover is knocked unconscious and Percy’s mother is squeezed by the creature and erupts into golden light. Percy is furious, and he gets an unexpected boost of power where he's able to jump over the creature and land on his back. He's able to dislodge one of the creature's horns and stab him with it. The creature then erupts into dust.
Percy carries an unconscious Grover towards a house he sees in the distance. When he gets there, he passes out on the front porch.
Percy wakes up at Camp Half-Blood, a safe place for demigods where they can learn to fight and protect themselves. Percy and Grover get to talking on the front porch, and Grover apologizes and blames himself for Percy’s mother's death, but Percy doesn't blame him.
Percy eats and drinks the food and drink of the gods: nectar and ambrosia, which can heal him, but if he drinks or eats too much, it can literally burn him up from the inside. Soon they are interrupted by Mr. Brunner, who is actually a centaur—a half-man, half-horse named Chiron. You see, in the mortal world, Chiron appears in a wheelchair, which is actually a container for his horse body.
Chiron tells Percy more about the Greek gods, and Percy has a hard time believing this. Chiron also takes Percy and introduces him to the camp director, Mr. D. You see, Mr. D is actually Dionysus, the god of wine, and he's a little on the callous side as he's serving a hundred-year punishment from Zeus at Camp Half-Blood, so he's just a little salty.
Finally, we meet Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom. We find out Annabeth is what they call a full-timer, meaning she stays at camp for the full year and has been there since she was seven.
Annabeth gives Percy a tour of the camp: the eating pavilion where you eat lunch and dinner, the lava wall where you try not to die, the bonfire pit where you can make s'mores, the armory where you make weapons and try not to die, the volleyball court where you can play a nice round of volleyball, and the Coliseum where you once again try not to die. So, you know, normal camp activities.
On their walk, they meet Clarisse LaRue, a.k.a. the Nancy Bobafit of camp. Clarisse is the daughter of Ares, the god of war, and she and some of her cabin mates try to take Percy and shove his head in the toilet. Percy gets that pulling feeling in his gut again, and the next thing he knows, the toilets in sync all erupt, totally soaking Clarisse but leaving him completely dry.
Annabeth takes Percy to the cabins—12 cabins for 12 Olympian gods. Each demigod is assigned to the cabin that their godly parent represents. Percy is assigned to Cabin Eleven, Hermes, god of thieves and travelers. You see, if you don't know who your godly parent is, you're considered undetermined and sent to Hermes cabin, so as you can imagine, it's pretty crowded here.
We meet Luke Castellan, son of Hermes. Luke and Percy talk a little bit, and we get the sense that Luke is a little bitter as he's only met his father once. We also learn more about the gods and their demigod children.
See, some demigods are more powerful than others, especially those of the big three: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. However, after World War II, Zeus's and Poseidon's kids on one side and Hades's kids on the other side, the big three decided to form a pact not to have any more children because they were just too powerful. Zeus, however, broke this promise and fathered Thalia.
Unfortunately, Thalia never made it to camp safely, as she sacrificed herself so two other demigods could make it there. Thalia died on the hill, but Zeus decided to take pity on her and turned her into a pine tree where she now stands guard over camp.
Eventually, Percy heads to dinner where he's introduced to the entire camp and burns some of his food as an offering to the gods. Percy settles into a kind of routine at camp, learning ancient Greek, wrestling, archery, and swordplay—which is the only thing he's kinda good at—but he can't seem to find the right sword that feels balanced in his hand.
One day, Percy is training with Luke, where Luke shows him a disarming move which you can use to knock the weapon out of the enemy’s hand. The first time Percy tries this, he utterly fails, but he takes a deep breath and splashes some water on his face and tries again. This time, he totally owns Luke. Luke is seriously impressed and tries to get Percy to do it a second time, but Percy can't.
That night, Percy plays his first round of Capture the Flag. Tasked by Annabeth to guard the river, Percy is soon confronted by Clarisse and her cabin mates who are still pretty pissed about the bathroom incident. Percy tries to fight them off, but with Clarisse and her electric spear, things go south pretty quickly.
Fortunately, Percy is knocked back into the creek, and with an unexpected boost of power, he's able to fight off Clarisse and even break her spear. Annabeth and Luke return triumphant from stealing the other team’s flag, and Percy realizes that Annabeth used him as a decoy to distract Clarisse. He's pretty pissed about this, but before he can confront her, a hellhound attacks.
A hellhound is a monster of Hades and shouldn't be in the camp borders unless it was summoned there directly by someone. The hellhound slashes at Percy’s chest, but before it can do more damage, Chiron manages to kill it.
Everyone is completely shocked, but what they're even more shocked about is all of Percy’s wounds are healed. When Annabeth tells Percy to step out of the creek, he suddenly collapses in exhaustion, and the next thing he knows, there's a golden blue trident above his head. His father has claimed him; Percy is the son of Poseidon!
You see, this explains all of Percy’s feats. The night he beat the Minotaur, it was raining. When he faced Luke, he splashed some water on his face, and when he destroyed Clarisse's spear, he fell in the creek. Percy gains his power from the water.
Percy, now being claimed, moves into Cabin Three, the cabin of Poseidon, where he's all alone, and not only that, the others seem to be avoiding him, as being one of the big three puts everyone on edge. Also, there's something weird going on that no one's telling him about—people keep mumbling something about a prophecy.
Chiron finally tells Percy about the big issue of the novel: Zeus's Master Bolt was stolen during the winter solstice on Mount Olympus, which happens to be on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. And here's the thing: Zeus thinks Poseidon had Percy steal it. Chiron knows Percy is innocent, but here's the thing: if Percy doesn't return the bolt by the summer solstice, a war is gonna break out between the gods.
So, Chiron sends Percy to see the Oracle. The Oracle is a mummified corpse that lives in the attic that seriously creeps Percy out. Green smoke starts to billow from the Oracle's mouth, and it speaks a prophecy:
"You shall go west and face a god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned. You shall be betrayed by the one who calls you friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end."
Percy is alarmed by the prophecy and doesn't tell everyone the whole truth, but Chiron, knowing he's hiding something, tells Percy that prophecies often aren't exactly what they mean.
They conclude that since the hellhound and the Furies—Mrs. Dodds—attacked Percy, and those are Hades's monsters, Hades must be behind the theft of the Master Bolt. So, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth set out to find the entrance to the Underworld in Los Angeles on their first quest.
Before leaving for their quest, Luke gives Percy some flying shoes, a gift from his father that unfortunately Percy can't use because air travel is Zeus's domain, and Zeus would probably blast him out of the sky. So, Percy gives the shoes to Grover.
Chiron also gives Percy the pen he used to vaporize Mrs. Dodds, known as Riptide. Riptide is the first sword that finally feels balanced in Percy's hand, and the best part is if he loses it, it will always return in pen form in his pocket.
On their trip to the bus station, Percy finds out that since he's been gone, he's a wanted criminal in the disappearance of his mother, and his stepfather is offering a reward for his capture.
Soon, our three heroes board a bus towards New Jersey, but things go south very quickly when Mrs. Dodds and her two sisters, the Furies, board the bus. Percy uses Annabeth's Yankee cap, which turns the user invisible, and sneaks to the front of the bus, but he refuses to leave his friends behind, so he hits the emergency stop button on the bus, causing the bus to pull off to the side first.
He then helps fight the monsters and allows for him and his friends to escape the bus, where the bus is then struck by lightning and explodes. Our three heroes flee from the scene and set off into the woods on foot.
Percy and Annabeth that night start to chat, where we learn a little bit more about Annabeth's past. We learn that Annabeth has always had a rocky relationship with her father, and after her father married her stepmom, she always felt unwanted. So, she ran away when she was seven to Camp Half-Blood. This is where her friendship with Percy starts to form.
The next day, hungry and tired, our heroes stumble along the side of the road where they smell something really delicious—cheeseburgers. The smell leads them to Auntie M's Garden Gnome Emporium. Starving, they go inside, which they come to see is littered with really lifelike statues. They meet Auntie M, the owner of the establishment, who seems really nice and even serves them dinner. Percy doesn't even question how she knows their names. However, Grover is a little uneasy.
Percy, in heaven, though, is totally tricked. Auntie M asks if they would take a picture for her. Percy complies, but thankfully Annabeth realizes what's going on before it's too late. She pushes Grover and Percy to the ground and puts on her Yankee cap to turn invisible. Annabeth warns the others not to look, and when Percy hears a hissing noise, he realizes what's going on. Auntie M is actually Medusa, who can turn you to stone with one look.
Medusa especially has it out for Percy and Annabeth, as the reason she was turned into a monster was because she was caught in Athena's temple with her boyfriend Poseidon, and Athena cursed her. Annabeth gives Percy a spear so he can see the reflection of Medusa, and using that, he's able to chop her head off. Percy then ships the head in the box to Mount Olympus.
That night, our heroes camp in the woods. Percy and Grover start to talk, and we learn that Grover really wants to gain his searcher's license and look for the lost god of the wild, Pan—a goal of all satyrs. But the Council of Cloven Elders, who oversees the satyrs, deemed Grover a failure after he failed on his last mission to safely see a demigod to camp, and after the mix-up with Percy and his mom, this quest is Grover's last chance to prove himself.
That night, Percy has a weird dream where he's standing on the edge of a gaping pit, and from the pit comes a sinister voice. He sees a frozen image of his mom, and the voice says, "If you bring me the Master Bolt, I'll give you your mother back." Percy wakes with a start.
The next day, Grover has made friends with a pink poodle who he can talk to. It turns out the poodle ran away from their owners but agrees to go back so our heroes can gain the reward. With the $200 reward, they book a train. They travel on the train for two days, where Percy, an even bigger fugitive now after his picture was taken at the bus incident, tries to keep a low profile.
On the train, the three talk about Percy's weird dream, and Annabeth says that doesn't sound like Hades, as Hades always appears on a throne. Why ask for the Master Bolt if Hades already has it?
The train takes a pit stop in St. Louis, so our three heroes decide to explore. Annabeth, being the daughter of Athena, loves architecture and forces the other two to go see the Gateway Arch with her. They take a ride to the top, but when it's time to go back down, there isn't enough room in the elevator for all of them, so Percy hangs back while Grover and Annabeth go down.
Percy is left with a woman and her dog who has a forked tongue. Once again, things go bad. The woman is Echidna, mother of all chimeras. Chimera is a creature made up of multiple different animals, and the Chihuahua was actually a chimera with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and a serpent for a tail. Percy does not fare well, and after an explosion causes a hole in the side of the archway, Percy has two options: die or plummet to his death, so he jumps.
Percy miraculously survives the fall as he lands in a river and is protected by his father. Not only does he survive, but he learns that he can breathe underwater, and he's also not wet in the river.
Percy meets a messenger from his father who tells Percy he should visit the beach in Santa Monica before traveling to the Underworld. The spirit isn't able to stay long in the dirty water but tells Percy not to trust the gifts he receives and then disappears. Percy is really confused but swims to the surface anyway, where he meets back up with Grover and Annabeth, who are ecstatic that he's not dead.
But the bad news is Percy is even more of a wanted criminal after the explosion in the archway. The three run back to the train. The train only takes Percy, Grover, and Annabeth as far as Denver. Once they get off in Denver, they try contacting camp. This is done through iris messaging. See, if you make a rainbow and offer a gold drachma to the goddess Iris, she may connect your message.
Our heroes are able to contact Luke back at camp, who says things at camp are getting very tense. Our heroes then decide to stop at a diner for dinner, but unfortunately don't have any money. All seems hopeless until the god of war himself shows up—Ares.
Percy instantly dislikes him, and Ares's aura makes Percy extremely angry. Ares asks for a favor in exchange for helping our heroes west, and Percy instantly refuses. But when Ares offers up information about Percy's mother, Percy reluctantly agrees.
Percy must retrieve Ares's shield from an abandoned water park, where he left it when he went on a date with his girlfriend Aphrodite. Once in the water park, they spot the shield instantly in the Tunnel of Love ride. Annabeth and Percy climb down to retrieve the shield while Grover flies around overhead with his flying shoes.
However, soon it's revealed it's a trap. They're locked into the ride, and cameras pop up, broadcasting them to Olympus. You see, this was actually set up by Hephaestus, Aphrodite's husband, to get back at Aphrodite and Ares for cheating on him. Thousands of tiny mechanical spiders attack them, and Annabeth, being terrified of spiders, freezes up. So, it's up to Percy to get them out of danger.
Percy urges the pipes to life and floods the ride, shooting them towards the exit. After nearly avoiding death, the trio receives the shield and returns to Ares. Ares has arranged a ride west for them in a tractor-trailer and also reveals to Percy that Hades took Percy’s mother and that she's still alive. Ares also gives them a backpack with food and supplies. Percy is even more determined now to go to the Underworld.
The trio hops onto the truck to continue their quest. They end up sharing the ride, though, with some very poorly treated zoo animals: an antelope, a zebra, and a lion. The lion was given some turnips to eat, and the zebra and antelope were given some hamburger meat. The zebra also had a bunch of gum matted in its mane.
Percy and his friends try and help the animals as much as possible but can't do much more until they reach their destination. Our heroes talk more on the ride and learn a little bit more about each other. It's revealed that Grover was the satyr in charge of protecting Thalia, and the other two demigods with her were Luke and Annabeth. Grover blames himself for Thalia's death, but Percy says just because he wouldn't abandon two other half-bloods doesn't make him a failure. Grover falls asleep with a smile on his face.
Percy and Annabeth also talk a little bit, and we learn that Annabeth recently tried to go back and live with her father, but things quickly went south as her stepmother didn't want her around. But Percy urges her not to give up on her father. That night, Percy has another nightmare with the creepy voice from the pit, but this time the voice isn't talking to him. He's overhearing a conversation between the voice and the pit and someone else. They seem to be arguing about an item and how it should be brought to the voice in the pit.
In the morning, they now realize they're in Las Vegas. After setting the zoo animals free, they go off to explore. They end up in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. When they enter, they're completely blown away—there are rides and games and pretty much anything you could imagine. A bellhop checks them in and gives them credit cards with unlimited cash on them.
Our heroes take a much-needed shower and then set off to have some fun. Percy goes bungee jumping, Annabeth plays an architecture game, and Grover plays a reverse hunting game where the deer shoot the people. However, Percy realizes something's not quite right when he runs into Groovy Darren, who says the year is 1977.
This snaps Percy back into reality, and getting his wits about him, he grabs the other two and they flee the casino. It turns out, even though it felt like hours, they were actually in the casino for five days, and now they only have one day left until their summer solstice deadline.
Annabeth, Percy, and Grover hail a taxi and, using their casino credit cards, book a ride to Los Angeles. In the car, they talk about Percy's dream and they conclude that Hades must not have been the one to steal the Master Bolt. The voice in the pit must have had someone else steal the bolt, and that must be why Hades sent his monsters after Percy looking for it.
Finally, they reach Santa Monica beach, where the voice in the river in St. Louis told Percy to go. Percy goes into the water, where he meets the voice again—Anerid, a spirit of the sea who serves Poseidon. She gives Percy three pearls that will help him escape the Underworld.
Afterwards, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover set off to find the entrance to the Underworld. On their way there, they get chased by a group of mortal kids and end up seeking refuge in Krusty's Waterbed Palace. They meet Krusty, an extremely tall waterbed salesman who tricks Grover and Annabeth into lying down on a massage bed. When they lie down, ropes shoot out, attaching to their hands and feet. The ropes then try and pull them apart.
You see, Krusty is actually Procrustes, the Stretcher who tries to make people taller. Percy, however, is able to trick Krusty into lying down into one of his own traps, and he's able to cut Annabeth and Grover free.
Afterwards, they find the address for the Underworld, which is only a few blocks away in DOA Recording Studio. In the recording studio, they meet Charon—not to be confused with Chiron—who guides the dead to the Underworld. By playing into the guide's greedy side and bribing him with some golden drachmas, they're able to gain passage to the Underworld.
Charon takes them down the River Styx, which has been polluted throughout the years by mortals' lost hopes and dreams. He drops them off in the Underworld, which Percy describes as looking like a cross between airport security and the New Jersey Turnpike.
They see different entrances for different parts of the Underworld: Elysium, Asphodel, and the Fields of Punishment. But before they can continue, they need to pass Cerberus, a giant three-headed Rottweiler who guards the gates of the Underworld. Annabeth, using some obedience training and a red rubber ball, is able to distract Cerberus long enough for them to advance. Grover concludes that maybe even monsters in the Underworld just need a friend from time to time.
Percy, Grover, and Annabeth proceed through the Underworld. Percy describes Asphodel as a crowded concert, Elysium as a Bahama paradise, and the Fields of Punishment as a place you don't want to go. However, when they get further into the Underworld, something bad happens. Grover’s flying shoes activate, even though he didn't activate them himself—they start dragging him towards a giant cavern—the cavern Percy saw in his dreams.
But thankfully, the shoes had always been a loose fit since Grover has hooves, and he's able to shake them off just in time to stop the plunge into the cavern. Then, Percy and Annabeth realize what the cavern is: the entrance to Tartarus, which basically would make the Fields of Punishment seem like a vacation.
Getting far away from the pit eventually, they make it to Hades's mansion. They finally meet the god of death—the third god Percy has met but the first one he describes as seeming godlike. Percy pleads with Hades to return the bolt and not to start a war with the gods, but here's the thing: Hades really doesn't have the bolt, and he doesn't want a war with the gods. He doesn't want more dead people, as his kingdom is already crowded enough.
And on top of Hades not having the Master Bolt, it's also revealed that Hades's Helm of Darkness has also been stolen. Hades blames Percy for stealing the helm just like he stole the Master Bolt. As Hades says this, Percy feels a weight in his backpack—the backpack that Ares gave him in Denver. When he looks inside, the Master Bolt is in there!
However, Hades doesn't want the Master Bolt; he wants his Helm of Darkness, and offers Percy in exchange his mother for the helm. But the issue is Percy doesn't have the helm, so our heroes must use the pearls to escape, as Hades is furious with the issue. They only have three pearls and four people to rescue: Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Percy’s mother.
Percy, Grover, and Annabeth use the pearls, but Percy swears he'll come back for his mother. When the trio returns to Santa Monica, Percy is furious. It was all a trick—all that wasted time! The prophecy was right: he would face a god that had turned but not Hades; Ares. And he did fail to save what matters most—his mother.
Soon Ares shows up, where he reveals he was hoping Percy would die in the Underworld, invoking Poseidon's rage and then blaming Hades for stealing the bolt, causing an all-out war. Percy questions Ares's motives, as some of it just doesn't make sense. Why not just keep the bolt for himself?
Percy concludes that someone else must have been behind Ares, controlling the scheme the whole time. It also turns out Ares also stole the Helm of Darkness. So Percy challenges Ares for the bolt and the helm. Percy is able to win with the ocean behind him, but before Ares can do a counter-attack, a dark presence creeps by him, and Ares backs off and leaves— but not before putting a curse on Percy and warns him that whenever you raise your blade in battle, watch your back.
After Ares leaves, the three Furies show up, having witnessed the whole thing. So Percy gives them the Helm of Darkness to return to Hades and clear his name with the god of the Underworld.
And another good thing came from Percy’s battle with Ares—the whole thing got captured by the news, where the mortals interpreted the situation as Ares being Percy’s kidnapper, and everything Percy had done up until this point was him trying to escape, so Percy’s no longer a fugitive.
Percy decides to fly back to New York in an airplane so he can get to Mount Olympus in time for the summer solstice deadline. He figures Zeus won't blast him out of the sky since he's carrying Zeus’s Master Bolt.
Percy takes the elevator in the Empire State Building up to the 600th floor—Mount Olympus. Percy enters the palace, which he describes as looking like Hades, except this one glitters in white and silver. Inside, there are 12 thrones like the 12 cabins at Camp Half-Blood.
Percy, with his legs trembling, approaches the gods. There's two gods in the throne room: Zeus and Poseidon, and they appear ginormous. Zeus is dressed in a suit and Poseidon in Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.
Percy explains everything, and while Zeus still doesn't trust him, he decides not to kill him. Percy brings up the voice in the pit, but Zeus wants to hear nothing of it and leaves. Poseidon tells Percy who the voice belongs to—Kronos, the Titan Lord. Poseidon tells Percy that Kronos has been healing all these years and eventually will come back; but in the meantime, Poseidon tells Percy not to worry about it.
Percy had succeeded in his quest. Percy hails a cab back to his apartment where his mom has been safely returned by Hades as thanks for getting the helm back.
Percy sees a package on his bed—the same package he sent to Olympus, the one with Medusa's head in it. Percy gives it to his mother and says if you want to be rid of Gabe forever, then she should use it.
Percy’s mother would eventually use the package and sell a Gabe-like statue and use the money to go back to school. When Percy gets back to camp, everyone is shocked that he, Grover, and Annabeth returned alive, but they’re happy nonetheless.
Things continue normally at camp from then on, and the best thing of all: Grover finally got a searcher’s license, where he's about to set off to look for Pan.
Percy, though, still feels uneasy. One line of the prophecy never came true: "You shall be betrayed by the one who calls you friend."
At the end of summer, Percy gets ready to leave camp and return to his mom in New York, but before he does, he goes on a walk with Luke where they chat for a bit. Here, we really learn how much Luke resents the gods, and Percy remarks that it sounds like Luke is saying goodbye.
Luke says he is saying goodbye and brings out a scorpion. Percy then realizes the prophecy was talking about Luke the whole time. It's revealed that Luke is actually working for Kronos and stole the Master Bolt and put the whole plan into motion: Luke wants to rise Kronos and overthrow the gods.
The whole cursed shoe fiasco with Grover? Luke's idea. Manipulating Ares? Luke's idea. Percy tries to fight Luke, but is stung by the scorpion and passes out, allowing Luke to escape.
Percy wakes up after being healed by Chiron and reveals to Annabeth and Chiron what he learned. Chiron and Annabeth are shocked, but Chiron says he will report the incident to Mount Olympus, even though Zeus wants to hear nothing of Kronos.
Percy also questions Chiron on the great prophecy, but Chiron refuses to tell him. Percy figures it must have something to do with Kronos.
Annabeth and Percy say goodbye to each other, and Annabeth reveals that she's gonna go home to her father and try living with him one more time. She promises Percy that they'll track down Luke next summer, and with that, our heroes part ways, bringing us to the end of our first book.
Well, that's everything you need to know about Percy Jackson, the Lightning Thief. Let me know down in the comments below if I left anything out or what your favorite part was, and until next time, demigods, stay safe. [Music]