- “I once warned you, Percy Jackson, that to save a friend you would destroy the world. Perhaps I was mistaken. You seemed to have saved both your friends and the world.”
- ―Athena
Athena is one of the supporting characters of Rick Riordan's book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus. She is the daughter of Zeus, the Greek goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and the mother of the series' protagonists, Annabeth Chase.
Background[]
Athena is the Greek Goddess of wisdom, battle, strategy, arts, and crafts. She was born from her father's head after Zeus had swallowed her mother while in fear that his son would one day overthrow him.
She was born from her father's head after he began suffering headaches, already dressed in armor. Zeus openly welcomed Athena, who in turn, became his favorite daughter, as an Olympian, becoming the goddess of wisdom and warfare. She taught the Greeks many talents, including mathematics and how to fight in a battle because she did not like combat.
Athena did multiple deeds over the course of the years. She once was best friends with Pallas, a nymph who was the only one who could best Athena in combat. Zeus, who was watching the battle, mistook it for mortal combat and fearing for his daughter, he distracted Pallas, who was accidentally stabbed by Athena. The young goddess proceeded in being called "Pallas Athena" in order to keep her best friend's memory alive after she accidentally killed Pallas.
The only child she ever had in Greek Mythology was Erikthonius, with her half-brother Hephaestus, who had become smitten with her. Erikthonius was born from a cloth. However, in the series, Athena had multiple children by connecting her minds with other men and having children. One of them included Daedalus.
One day, Athena was bathing in the waterfall in central Greece. Unfortunately, another man, Tiresias, came across her on accident. Humiliated and terrified, Athena blinded Tiresias. However, she was very sympathetic when she learned how apologetic Tiresias was and instead gave him supernatural powers of precognition and sent him birds and snakes to lead and protect him.
Personality[]
Athena is bright, brilliant, quick-witted and disciplined. However, she voted against Percy and sometimes cannot understand what her daughter Annabeth sees in him. Athena does not approve of Annabeth's and Percy's relationship, probably due to the fact that Percy is Poseidon's son.
Despite her flaws, Athena is god enough to admit she is wrong, as shown in The Last Olympian, when she goes to Percy and tells him she might have been wrong about him and decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. She also cares about all of her children, as she helped Percy Jackson at Hoover Dam, so he could rescue Annabeth. She did learn to set aside personal grudges, as she helped Bellerophon (son of Poseidon) how to tame a Pegasus. Furthermore, she has a sense of fairness and justice, even if it applied to her own children. For example, she punished Daedalus by branding him with a partridge (the mark of a murderer).
Though she never got along well with Ares or Aphrodite, she and Artemis had a strong sisterly relationship, often having conversations with each other after Council meetings.