Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old with ADHD and dyslexia who keeps getting kicked out of schools. Then his maths teacher turns into a monster on a museum trip, and he finds out why things keep going wrong: the Greek gods are real, they still have children with mortals, and he is one of them. Those children, demigods, are hunted by monsters, and the only safe place for them is Camp Half-Blood on Long Island.
Rick Riordan's first series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, ran for five books from 2005 to 2009 and grew into a whole shelf of follow-ups. A Disney+ series began in December 2023, with a second season adapting The Sea of Monsters following in December 2025. At camp, demigods live in cabins by godly parent, so that's how this guide is organised.
- Author
- Rick Riordan
- First series
- 5 books, 2005–2009
- Sequels
- The Heroes of Olympus; The Trials of Apollo; later Percy novels
- TV
- Disney+, from December 2023
- Films
- The Lightning Thief (2010), Sea of Monsters (2013)
Percy, Annabeth and Grover
The first book is a road trip across America with three kids, a quest and a deadline. The trio's friendship is the backbone of the series, and the books are narrated by Percy in a sarcastic, funny first person that makes even the gods sound like annoying relatives.
Percy Jackson
Son of Poseidon · Narrator
Percy is loyal to a fault, quick with a joke and terrible at taking orders from gods. He can control water, breathe underwater and talk to horses, and he fights with Riptide, a sword disguised as a ballpoint pen. His fatal flaw, as Annabeth points out, is personal loyalty: he'd let the world burn to save a friend. Over five books he goes from a confused kid to the hero who chooses mortality and turns down the gods' offer of immortality.
- TV
- Walker Scobell
- Film
- Logan Lerman
Annabeth Chase
Daughter of Athena · Strategist
Annabeth ran away from home at seven and has lived at camp ever since. She's brilliant, proud and impatient to prove herself on a quest. She carries a bronze knife and a Yankees cap that makes her invisible. Her fatal flaw is hubris, the belief that she can fix anything. Her old bond with Luke and her growing feelings for Percy pull against each other through the series.
- TV
- Leah Sava Jeffries
- Film
- Alexandra Daddario
Grover Underwood
Satyr · Percy's protector
Grover is a satyr, half goat, sent undercover to Percy's school to bring him safely to camp. He's nervous, kind, vegetarian and loves enchiladas and tin cans. His great dream is to find Pan, the lost god of the wild, and his search for him runs through the whole series. He and Percy share an empathy link that lets them sense each other's emotions.
- TV
- Aryan Simhadri
- Film
- Brandon T. Jackson
Camp Half-Blood campers
Camp is where demigods train, play capture the flag and get claimed by their godly parent, if they're lucky. Unclaimed kids bunk in the overcrowded Hermes cabin, and that resentment drives much of the plot.
Luke Castellan
Son of Hermes · Head counsellor
Luke is the friendly older camper who welcomes Percy in the first book, and the thief behind the theft of Zeus's master bolt. Abandoned by his father and scarred on a failed quest, he decides the gods deserve to fall and becomes Kronos's chief servant. He's the series' most tragic figure, and the final book turns on whether there's anything of the old Luke left.
- TV
- Charlie Bushnell
- Film
- Jake Abel
Clarisse La Rue
Daughter of Ares · Camp bully
Clarisse greets Percy by trying to dunk his head in a toilet. She's aggressive, competitive and desperate for her father's approval, which Ares rarely gives. Over the series she becomes a grudging ally, and in the final battle she makes a choice that turns the fight.
- TV
- Dior Goodjohn
Thalia Grace
Daughter of Zeus
Thalia was turned into a pine tree by her father as she died defending Luke and Annabeth at the camp's border, and the tree's magic protects camp. She's restored in The Sea of Monsters. Punk, fierce and afraid of heights, she later joins the Hunters of Artemis to avoid a prophecy, and becomes their lieutenant.
- TV
- Tamara Smart
Nico di Angelo
Son of Hades
Nico is introduced as a hyperactive ten-year-old obsessed with a monster card game. After his sister Bianca dies, he blames Percy, runs away and grows into a solitary, brooding demigod with power over the dead and shadows. He brings Percy a crucial plan before the last battle and wins over his father for the war.
Bianca di Angelo
Daughter of Hades · Nico's sister
Bianca and Nico were born in the 1930s and spent decades trapped in the Lotus Hotel. She joins the Hunters of Artemis, leaving her brother behind. She dies during the quest in The Titan's Curse, and her loss shapes Nico's whole story.
Charles Beckendorf
Son of Hephaestus · Head counsellor
Beckendorf is camp's best metalworker, calm and respected by everyone. He goes with Percy on a sabotage mission against Kronos's ship at the start of the final book. His relationship with Silena gives her betrayal its sting.
Silena Beauregard
Daughter of Aphrodite
Silena is the kind, popular head of the Aphrodite cabin and Beckendorf's girlfriend. It's revealed that she has been passing information to Luke. She redeems herself in battle by taking Clarisse's place in a fight against a drakon.
Ethan Nakamura
Son of Nemesis
Ethan wears an eyepatch for the eye he gave up in a deal with his mother. He joins Kronos because the minor gods' children get nothing from Olympus. His last words help persuade Percy to ask the gods for one important change.
Travis and Connor Stoll
Sons of Hermes
The Stolls are camp's resident pranksters and thieves, mostly harmless and generally useful in a fight. After Luke leaves, they become joint heads of the Hermes cabin.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Clear-sighted mortal · Oracle
Rachel is a rich, artistic mortal who can see through the Mist that hides monsters from humans. She helps Percy in the Labyrinth and becomes the new Oracle of Delphi at the end of the series, which settles where she and Percy stand.
Tyson
Cyclops · Percy's half-brother
Tyson is a young Cyclops, sweet-natured and enormously strong, and Poseidon's son by a nature spirit. He shows up at Percy's school as a homeless kid. Percy's embarrassment, then pride, in him is the emotional heart of The Sea of Monsters. He later works in Poseidon's forges.
- TV
- Daniel Diemer
Zoë Nightshade
Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis
Zoë is a daughter of the Titan Atlas and has served Artemis for two thousand years. She distrusts boys in general and heroes in particular, with good reason. She leads the quest in The Titan's Curse and dies at its end, and Artemis places her among the stars.
Demigods by cabin and godly parent
Camp Half-Blood has a cabin for each Olympian, numbered in order. The table lists the cabin and the main characters from it in the first series. New cabins for minor gods are built after the final book.
| Cabin | Godly parent | Main demigods |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zeus | Thalia Grace |
| 2 | Hera | None (honorary cabin) |
| 3 | Poseidon | Percy Jackson; Tyson (a Cyclops, visits) |
| 4 | Demeter | Katie Gardner |
| 5 | Ares | Clarisse La Rue |
| 6 | Athena | Annabeth Chase, Malcolm |
| 7 | Apollo | Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, Will Solace |
| 8 | Artemis | None (used by the Hunters when visiting) |
| 9 | Hephaestus | Charles Beckendorf |
| 10 | Aphrodite | Silena Beauregard |
| 11 | Hermes | Luke Castellan, Travis and Connor Stoll, unclaimed campers |
| 12 | Dionysus | Pollux and Castor |
| 13 (later) | Hades | Nico di Angelo (Bianca died before it was built) |
The gods and camp staff
Riordan's gods are powerful, petty and often hilariously modern. They are also absent parents, and the series takes that seriously: almost every villain in the first series is a child who felt ignored.
Chiron
Centaur · Activities director
Chiron is the immortal centaur who trained Heracles and Achilles. He first appears as Mr. Brunner, Percy's Latin teacher in a wheelchair that hides his horse half. He's the patient mentor every camper trusts.
- TV
- Glynn Turman
- Film
- Pierce Brosnan
Dionysus (Mr. D)
God of wine · Camp director
Dionysus has been sentenced to run camp as punishment, and he is banned from drinking wine, so he's stuck with Diet Coke. He gets every camper's name wrong on purpose. He's lazy and rude, and he occasionally reveals a real sadness about the heroes he has seen die.
- TV
- Jason Mantzoukas
Poseidon
God of the sea · Percy's father
Poseidon is easygoing, moody and fond of Hawaiian shirts. He can't openly help Percy without breaking ancient laws, so he does it at a distance. Percy spends much of the series deciding whether that counts as love.
- TV
- Toby Stephens
- Film
- Kevin McKidd
Zeus
King of the gods
Zeus is proud, paranoid and quick to blame. When his master bolt goes missing he accuses Percy and threatens war with Poseidon. He's less a villain than an obstacle, a ruler who won't listen.
- TV
- Lance Reddick (season 1); Courtney B. Vance (season 2)
- Film
- Sean Bean
Hades
God of the Underworld
Hades is resentful at being left out of Olympus, and the first book lets you believe he's the thief. He isn't. He's later shown as a grieving father to Nico and Bianca, and his decision to join the final battle is a turning point.
- TV
- Jay Duplass
- Film
- Steve Coogan
Ares
God of war
Ares appears as a biker with flaming eye sockets. In the first book he's secretly helping steal Zeus's bolt to start a war between the gods. Percy fights him on a beach in Los Angeles and wins, earning a lifelong enemy.
- TV
- Adam Copeland
Hermes
Messenger god · Luke's father
Hermes is a busy god with a phone made of snakes, and he is the parent most clearly in pain over what his child has become. His talk with Percy in The Sea of Monsters explains a lot about Luke.
- TV
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
Athena, Artemis and Apollo
Olympians
Athena disapproves of Percy and of Annabeth's friendship with him. Artemis leads the immortal Hunters, girls who swear off romance, and is captured in the third book. Apollo is a sun god who drives a red sports car and recites terrible haiku; he later stars in his own series, The Trials of Apollo.
Sally Jackson
Percy's mother
Sally is a mortal who could see through the Mist and loved Poseidon. She stayed with a horrible man, Gabe Ugliano, because his smell hid Percy from monsters. She's warm, funny and much tougher than she looks, and she eventually marries Paul Blofis, an English teacher.
- TV
- Virginia Kull
- Film
- Catherine Keener
Monsters and Titans
Monsters in Percy's world don't stay dead. They re-form in Tartarus and come back, which is why demigods are never fully safe.
Kronos
Lord of the Titans
Kronos was chopped into pieces by his children, the gods, and has been slowly gathering himself back together in Tartarus. He controls time, works through dreams and needs a host body for his return. He is the series' main villain.
Alecto (Mrs. Dodds)
Fury · Servant of Hades
Alecto poses as Percy's pre-algebra teacher and becomes the first monster to attack him. Her attack in a museum starts the story.
- TV
- Megan Mullally
Medusa
Gorgon
Medusa runs a garden-gnome emporium on a New Jersey roadside, full of suspiciously lifelike statues. She has a personal grudge against Athena's children.
- TV
- Jessica Parker Kennedy
- Film
- Uma Thurman
The Minotaur
First monster Percy defeats
The Minotaur chases Percy, his mother and Grover to the camp border on the night Percy arrives. Percy beats it with one of its own horns.
Polyphemus
Cyclops of the Sea of Monsters
Polyphemus guards the Golden Fleece on his island in the Sea of Monsters (the Bermuda Triangle). He captures Grover and plans to marry him, mistaking him for a lady Cyclops.
Atlas
Titan general
Atlas is Zoë's father and Kronos's general. He tricks Artemis into holding up the sky in his place.
Disney+ series and film cast
Rick Riordan was closely involved in the Disney+ series after being openly unhappy with the 2010 and 2013 films, which aged the characters up and changed much of the plot.
| Character | Disney+ series | Films (2010, 2013) |
|---|---|---|
| Percy Jackson | Walker Scobell | Logan Lerman |
| Annabeth Chase | Leah Sava Jeffries | Alexandra Daddario |
| Grover Underwood | Aryan Simhadri | Brandon T. Jackson |
| Luke Castellan | Charlie Bushnell | Jake Abel |
| Sally Jackson | Virginia Kull | Catherine Keener |
| Chiron | Glynn Turman | Pierce Brosnan |
| Dionysus | Jason Mantzoukas | — |
| Clarisse La Rue | Dior Goodjohn | — |
| Poseidon | Toby Stephens | Kevin McKidd |
| Zeus | Lance Reddick; Courtney B. Vance | Sean Bean |
| Hades | Jay Duplass | Steve Coogan |
| Hermes | Lin-Manuel Miranda | — |
| Medusa | Jessica Parker Kennedy | Uma Thurman |
Reading and watch order
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians — The Lightning Thief (2005), The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian (2009).
- The Heroes of Olympus — five books (2010–2014) that introduce Camp Jupiter, the Roman counterpart to Camp Half-Blood, and new leads Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. Percy and Annabeth return as main characters.
- The Trials of Apollo — five books (2016–2020) narrated by Apollo, turned into a mortal teenager as punishment.
- New Percy novels — The Chalice of the Gods (2023) and Wrath of the Triple Goddess (2024) follow Percy's senior year.
- On screen — start with the Disney+ series, which follows the books one season per book. The films are optional.
What the characters are about
Percy Jackson is a series about kids who've been let down by adults, especially their parents. Luke's war against Olympus is a child's anger at a father who wasn't there, scaled up to the size of the world. Percy has the same grievance and chooses differently, mostly because his mother, Grover and Annabeth showed up for him. The ending makes that point directly: Percy turns down immortality and asks instead that the gods claim all their children.
The other thread is that the things that mark these kids out at school, ADHD and dyslexia, are part of what makes them demigods: battle reflexes and a brain wired for ancient Greek. That's a big reason the books found readers who don't usually see themselves in heroes. If you like this mix of humour and myth, our Harry Potter and Hunger Games guides cover two other young-adult casts, The Lord of the Rings shows the older quest stories Riordan draws on, and found family explains why Camp Half-Blood works the way it does. For the gods' own power rankings, see our power scaling guide.
All Percy Jackson character names A–Z
A–B
- Alecto (Mrs. Dodds) — Fury
- Annabeth Chase — Athena
- Apollo — God
- Ares — God
- Artemis — God
- Athena — God
- Atlas — Titan
- Bianca di Angelo — Hades
C–G
- Charles Beckendorf — Hephaestus
- Chiron — Centaur
- Clarisse La Rue — Ares
- Dionysus — God
- Ethan Nakamura — Nemesis
- Gabe Ugliano — Mortal
- Grover Underwood — Satyr
H–M
- Hades — God
- Hermes — God
- Katie Gardner — Demeter
- Kronos — Titan
- Luke Castellan — Hermes
- Medusa — Monster
- The Minotaur — Monster
N–R
- Nico di Angelo — Hades
- Paul Blofis — Mortal
- Percy Jackson — Poseidon
- Polyphemus — Cyclops
- Poseidon — God
- Rachel Elizabeth Dare — Oracle
S–Z
- Sally Jackson — Mortal
- Silena Beauregard — Aphrodite
- Thalia Grace — Zeus
- Travis and Connor Stoll — Hermes
- Tyson — Cyclops
- Will Solace — Apollo
- Zeus — God
- Zoë Nightshade — Hunter
Frequently asked questions
Who is Percy Jackson's godly parent?
Poseidon, god of the sea. Percy is a forbidden child: after World War II, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades swore an oath not to have any more demigod children, because their children are so powerful. Percy's existence breaks that oath, which is why Zeus suspects him from the start.
Who is Annabeth Chase's mother?
Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Annabeth lives at Camp Half-Blood year-round at the start of the series and dreams of becoming an architect. Athena and Poseidon are old rivals, which gives her early friendship with Percy an edge.
Who is the villain in Percy Jackson?
Across the first five books, the main villain is Kronos, the Titan lord, who is trying to re-form himself and overthrow the Olympians. His most important human agent is Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes who feels abandoned by his father. In the first book, the god Ares is also working against Percy.
How old is Percy Jackson?
Percy is twelve at the start of The Lightning Thief, and each book covers roughly one year. He turns sixteen during The Last Olympian, which matters to a prophecy about a child of the Big Three reaching that age.
Who plays Percy Jackson in the Disney+ series?
Walker Scobell plays Percy, with Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth and Aryan Simhadri as Grover. In the 2010 and 2013 films, Percy was played by Logan Lerman, with Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth.
What order should I read the Percy Jackson books in?
Read the five Percy Jackson and the Olympians books in publication order, then The Heroes of Olympus (five books), then The Trials of Apollo (five books). The later Percy novels, starting with The Chalice of the Gods, come after those.