Myths & Folklore : Gods, Heroes, and Monsters

01/13/2025

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite
Piper McLean is a daughter of Aphrodite and the famous actor, Tristan McLean. She is fifteen in The Lost Hero. Unlike most children of Aphrodite, Piper is not particularly concerned with beauty or fashion. Piper is Cherokee on her father's side. She has tan skin, eyes that change color constantly, and choppy chocolate-colored hair which she cuts herself.
Her demigod powers include "charmspeak" (essentially, magical persuasion) and the ability to speak French, as it is "the language of love". She is also occasionally able to see visions in her magic dagger Katoptris (Ancient Greek for "mirror"), which once belonged to Helen of Troy. The dagger lost that power after the battle against the giants in Athens.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

..... Piper's relationship with her father is mutually affectionate but strained, in part because of the small amount of attention he spares for her. When she was young, Piper used her persuasive skills to "borrow" (ask for in charmspeak) things to earn a little of his time.
After he is kidnapped by the giant Enceladus in The Lost Hero and subsequently rescued by Piper, Jason, and Leo, Mr. McLean's relationship with his daughter begins to improve. Piper is also very close to Jason.
Though she later learns it was all a trick of the Mist, she believed she was once his girlfriend while they attended the same school. She works hard to recreate this relationship in real life when she comes to Camp Half-Blood. She is also friends with all of the seven quest members in The Heroes of Olympus, especially Annabeth, Leo and Percy.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

..... Piper's main weapon is her dagger Katoptris, though she later acquires a magic cornucopia and uses it as a weapon. After being captured by pirates in The House of Hades, Piper asks Hazel to teach her sword fighting, using a jagged celestial bronze sword taken from the Boread Zethes.
In The Hidden Oracle, Nico mentions that Piper is currently attending school in Los Angeles, together with Jason. In The Burning Maze, it is revealed that her relationship with Jason ended a few months earlier. Apollo, as Lester Papadopoulos, is confused because the cloud nymph, Mellie, had seemed angry at Jason, leading Apollo to mistakenly believe that Jason had broken up with Piper, while in fact, Piper had ended the relationship because she felt it was forced.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

..... It is later unveiled that she wanted to discover herself and who she really was without the pressure of being the daughter of Aphrodite. The trick of the Mist that Hera used at the beginning of their relationship also contributed to the breakup as that meant that their relationship was technically "fake". Still, she is heartbroken when he sacrifices himself in The Burning Maze. In The Tower of Nero, because he was still one of her best friends who she could confide in. Later, she is revealed to be in a relationship with a mortal woman named Shel.
In The Sun and the Star, after returning from Tartarus, Nico contacts Piper who is still with Shel. The two discuss their grief over the loss of Jason and promise to be closer friends in the future. Piper reveals that she is truly happy with Shel, although she is still figuring herself out which Nico gives her advice on. Piper also admits that she had truly loved Jason.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

Biographical information:
Full name: Piper McLean
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Alias: Daughter of Aphrodite
Hero of Olympus
Counselor of Cabin Ten
Beauty Queen, Nurse Piper (by Leo)
Pipes (by Leo, Jason, and Tristan McLean)
Miss Movie Star, Dumpster Queen (by Drew Tanaka)
Family:
Aphrodite (mother)
Tristan McLean (father)
Aphrodite's Cabin members :(maternal half-siblings) Thomas McLean (paternal grandfather)
Ouranos (maternal grandfather)
Affiliation
Camp Half-Blood, Olympians
Residence:
Malibu, Los Angeles, California (formerly)
Camp Half-Blood
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Item: Katoptris
Cornucopia (formerly)
Boread Icicle Sword (formerly)
Blowgun (formerly)
Status: Alive
Physical description:
Eye: Kaleidoscope (change color from Brown to Blue to Green)
Hair: Chocolate brown
Height: 5'6-5'7
Species: Demigod

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

Abilities:
ADHD: Like most demigods, Piper possesses inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that she uses to analyze the fighting style of her opponent.
Dyslexia: Piper's brain is hard-wired for reading Ancient Greek instead of modern languages.
Fighting Skills: As shown in The Lost Hero, despite her lack of any real training, Piper was already a decent knife-fighter, being able to defeat dozens of monsters though she charmspoke them first, and in The House of Hades, she started to learn how to fight with a sword under Hazel and started improving.
Knowledge of Greek Mythology: As seen in The Lost Hero, through her previous research on the subject for a movie role her father played, Piper had an extensive knowledge of Greek mythology allowing her to know ways to defeat different ancient Greek characters.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

Singing:
While Piper's father had always told her that she had a good singing voice, she was too self-conscious and shy about ever singing in front of anyone, not even participating in campfire sing-alongs.
Superhuman Strength: As a demigod, Piper possessed physical strength greater than an average human's - she easily threw a fifty-pound shield at Medea, making the latter topple on a table full of potions.
Superhuman Agility: As a demigod, Piper is more agile than the average mortal - she was able to weave herself through a thick group of Giants to haul herself up to Achelous' neck.
Superhuman Durability: As a demigod, Piper is more durable than a regular human being, as shown by how she only suffered a broken ankle when she fell dozens of feet from the sky.
Superhuman Reflexes: As a demigod, Piper's reflexes are greater than the average mortal, as shown by her being able to dodge an axe thrown by the Giant, Mimas, even when she did not see it.
Willpower: Due to Piper's Charmspeaking ability, she is immune to other's Charmspeak like Drew's and Medea's.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

Abilities:
Amokinesis: As a daughter of Aphrodite, Piper has a level of control over the emotions of love, lust, etc., but on a much smaller scale than her mother.
Emotional Insight: As a daughter of Aphrodite, Piper is extremely good at reading people's emotions. In The Lost Hero, even without really knowing how she did it, she was able to translate the expressions on Annabeth's and Chiron's faces into a real conversation by just reading them even though she didn't know them very well yet.
Charmspeak: Piper has the power of charmspeak, which allowed her to influence others with enhanced vocal persuasiveness
Beauty: Regardless of how she looked and what she wore, Piper was able to radiate beauty, which sometimes prevented enemies from willingly attacking her even as she charged them head-on.
French fluency: As a child of Aphrodite, Piper is noted in The Lost Hero to be able to speak French fluently due to it being the "language of love."

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

Weapons/Items
Katoptris: Piper is the wielder of an Ancient Greek ceremonial dagger called Katoptris. It was given to Helen of Troy as a wedding gift from Menelaus, Helen's first husband.
The dagger seems to show a scene of something that has importance to whoever looks at their reflection in the blade (for example it showed her dad captured by giants in The Lost Hero).
Katoptris is a Greek word meaning "looking glass." In The Blood of Olympus, after Gaea and the Giants' defeat, the dagger's visions have stopped completely.

01/06/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite

Cornucopia:
In The Mark of Athena, Piper receives the Horn of Plenty after cutting off the horn of the River god Achelous. It allows her to summon food and water if she has enough will and concentration. It powers also seem to increase if multiple people focus at the same time. In The Blood of Olympus, her Horn is sacrificed to Deimos and Phobos, the twin gods of fear and terror.
Sword:
In The House of Hades, Piper also picks up Zethes's sword after he was defeated, and Hazel starts to teach her how to use it. But it was lost in The Blood of Olympus.
Blowgun:
During their journey for The Oracle of Erythaea, Piper uses a blowgun given to her by her grandfather. It was destroyed during her fight with Medea.

01/04/2025

Rick Riordan Character series:
Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

Rick Riordan Character series: Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

Leonidas "Leo" Valdez is a Greek demigod, the son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. He is one of the seven heroes of the Prophecy of Seven.
After sacrificing himself and being resurrected using the Physician's Cure, he rescued Calypso out of Ogygia. He is currently living with Josephine and Hemithea, while going to high school with his girlfriend Calypso.

Biographical information:
Full name: Leonidas "Leo" Valdez
Gender: Male .... Age: 16
Alias: Counselor of Cabin Nine
Hero of Olympus
Son of Hephaestus
Commander Tool Belt, Bad Boy Supreme, Admiral Leo, Super-sized McShizzle, Uncle Leo, Supreme Commander of the Argo II, Flaming Valdez, Hot stuff, The Dread Pirate Valdez (by himself)
Mijo (by Esperanza Valdez)
Joker Boy (by Nyssa)
Latino Elf

01/04/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

Family:
Hephaestus (father) &
Esperanza Valdez (mother)
Josephine and Hemithea (foster moms)
Hephaestus's Cabin members (paternal half-siblings)
Charles Beckendorf, Jake Mason, Isaac Schuster, Shane, Christopher, Harley and Archimedes (paternal half-brothers)
Nyssa Barrera and Heloise (paternal half-sisters)
Georgina (foster sister)
Rosa Valdez (maternal aunt)
Raphael (maternal first cousin)
Sammy Valdez, Jr. (maternal grandfather)
Hera (paternal grandmother)
Sammy Valdez, Sr. (maternal great-grandfather)
Affiliation:
Camp Half-Blood & Olympians
Residence: Houston, Texas (formerly)
Wilderness School (formerly)
Camp Half-Blood (part-time)
Waystation, Indianapolis, Indiana (part-time)
Items: Magical Toolbelt
Status Alive (Resurrected)
Physical description
Eye Brown .....Hair Black & Curly
Height 5'6 / 167 cm ..... Species Demigod

01/04/2025

Rick Riordan Character series:
Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

History:
Early Life:
Leonidas "Leo" Valdez was born in Houston, Texas, to the mechanic Esperanza Valdez, and the blacksmith god Hephaestus. Unlike most of his half-siblings, Leo has the rare ability to control fire.
He is the first child born of Hephaestus to be able to control fire in centuries.
When Leo was just a baby, his mother took him to see his bisabuelo (great-grandfather), Sammy Valdez. Sammy was overjoyed to see Leo and held him, chuckling and tickling his chin. Sammy told him about Hazel and said he would not live to see her again.
He told his great-grandson that a woman named Doña Callida had warned Hazel's danger would not happen in his lifetime, but he'd promised he would be there for her.
He then told Leo to tell Hazel that he was sorry and told him to help her. He told him to apologize on his behalf for selling the diamond and that the diamond came with a curse: she never saw her again. He gave his great-grandson his blessing and said Leo was special, just like Hazel.

01/04/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

Family:
Esperanza Valdez (Mother)
Leo is shown to love his mother very much. Esperanza is very protective and caring of him.
The two had a very strong relationship and Leo was devastated when his mother died.
He blames himself for her death, and for that reason, didn't use fire again until he needed to in order to help his cabin. When Leo defeats Gaea, he yells that it's for his mother.
Hephaestus (Father)
When Leo and Hephaestus first meet in The Lost Hero, it began with Leo telling him off for disappearing from his life.
Hephaestus laughs at this, saying Leo reminds him of Esperanza, whom he misses quite a bit. Hephaestus later reveals that he has been watching Leo, and that he is very proud of him.
He also admits that he is not very good with people, which is why he doesn't meet with his children often.
When Festus is destroyed, Hephaestus takes his head to Bunker 9 upon Leo's request. In The Blood of Olympus, they meet again and courageously fight the Giants side by side.
Hephaestus compliments his son's work on the Argo II as well.

01/04/2025

Rick Riordan Character series:
Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

General Abilities:
As a member of the Seven and a son of Hephaestus, Leo is extremely powerful and had displayed excellent battle skills even without formal training.

ADHD:
Like most demigods, Leo possesses inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that he uses to analyze the fighting style of his opponent. According to Annabeth Chase, however, Leo is seriously ADHD, even for a demigod.
Dyslexia:
Leo's brain is hard-wired for reading Ancient Greek instead of modern languages.
Morse Code:
Leo's mother taught him Morse code, a skill he has retained, and he was therefore able to understand Festus' last wish.
As of The Blood of Olympus, Leo and Annabeth are the only known demigods to know Morse code.
Trilingual:
Leo can speak Spanish, Greek, and English fluently, having learned both English and Spanish from his mother as a child, and knowing Greek naturally because of being a demigod.

01/04/2025

Rick Riordan Character series: Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus

Genius Intellect:
Leo is very intelligent. He had learned to think three-dimensionally and solve mechanical problems in his head. Even at the age of eight, he can do math better than most adults. He is very clever and witty, and is good at adapting, letting him build at any circumstance. He had used his wits, which helped him survived in tough schools and neighborhoods, and a master problem-solver.
Superhuman Strength:
Being a demigod, Leo is stronger than a regular mortal. However, Leo has many times labeled himself as weak because of his small stature and is definitely the weakest male demigod of the Seven, indicating that Leo is pretty weak for a demigod. Leo also is extremely skinny and short and doesn't look very strong. However, Leo has been shown to be quite a bit stronger than he looks as he used two silver-tipped blacksmith hammers to smash full-grown monsters that got in his way.
Superhuman Agility:
Being a demigod, Leo is more agile than a regular mortal as he was able to twist his body in mid-air to hang on to a ledge of a cliff after flung off. He was even able to easily launch himself in a backwards somersault to avoid getting crushed by rocks thrown by the Earthborn.