The Trials of Apollo, Book One: The Hidden Oracle is a young adult fantasy novel by Rick Riordan. It is the first in Riordan's Trials of Apollo series. Rooted in mythology, the novel begins as Apollo is blamed for the civil war between Greek and Roman gods after one of Apollo’s sons was tricked into beginning the war. As punishment, Apollo is made mortal and plummeted to Earth. He lands in Manhattan as a mortal where he is no longer an invincible, handsome, muscular god. Instead, Apollo is a geeky, curly-haired, flabby sixteen year-old whose name is Lester Papadopoulos. Apollo is attacked by two punks who say they were sent by their boss. A twelve year-old girl named Meg pelts the punks with fruit and saves Apollo.
Apollo quickly learns Meg is a demigod. Meg claims Apollo as her servant. Apollo explains his predicament. He wishes to get to Camp
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At Camp Half-Blood, Apollo learns from two of his teenage children and the temporary director that a number of student campers have gone missing.
Through all of these events, Apollo experiences things he has never experienced before because he is now mortal. For example, he is amazed when he bleeds. He is also stunned to have feelings of sadness and guilt. The lives of his children now mean more to him as mortality makes him aware of the others around him. It makes him a more caring, mature person.
Also, while at Camp Half-Blood, Apollo participates in a race to find golden apples with the other campers by using a racecourse that opens up into the Labyrinth. There, Apollo and Meg discover the plans of the Beast, known as Roman Emperor Nero, who seeks to control all the Oracles in the world to prevent the Greek gods and demigods from hearing and interpreting prophecy. Without hearing prophecies, they will have no future. Nero kidnaps Austin and Kayla to antagonize Apollo. Apollo is one of the few who can open the gates to the oldest Oracle of all, the Grove of Dodona. Eventually, Meg herself is
The world is far too problematic and challenging for an animal to survive. Apollo is the correct God in this instance.
Apollo Character Traits First Character Trait: Selfishness. Throughout the book, Apollo only wanted to gain his powers as a god again and go back to Mount. Olympus, cared for only his own troubles, and cared for only himself (only in the beginning though). This all proves The main reason for Apollo wanting to finish his quest, which requires Apollo to find and restore the other four oracles, is to regain his position in the Olympian Council and earn his godly powers and privileges back. The apartment that Apollo arrived in “ had no grand throne room, no colonnades,no terraces or banquet halls or even a thermal room..
Risking his life for Megs has shown that Hercules is a true hero. The hero will restore peace to the world they’ve returned to, along with the world they came from. They will build it back up to what it was before they left. Hercules is given the option to live with his parents and stay in the home of the gods, but he looks down and sees how sad this makes Meg. He stands by her side and tells Zeus that he would rather stay with her.
The first element of cosmic irony is fate, and fate has a role in book nine of The Odyssey. It typically involves a powerful deity (or something fate itself) with the ability and desire to manipulate or even control events in a character’s life. Fate is demonstrated from many characters. An example of fate is when Odysseus, son of Laertes, blinds Polyphemus, one of the cyclops, after Telemus, Eurymus’ son, tells Polyphemus this. “Oh no, no-that prophecy years ago . . ./it all comes home to me with a vengeance now!/We once had a prophet here, a great tall man,/Telemus, Eurymus’ son, a master at reading signs,/who grew old in his trade among his fellow-Cyclops./All this, he warned me, would come to pass someday-/that I’d be blinded here at the hands of one Odysseus” (9.564-570). This shows how it is meant for Odysseus to blind Polyphemus. It is not just Odysseus choice, he has to do it even though he has no idea Telemus tells Polyphemus that. Poseidon, the god of earthquake, also shows fate at the end of book nine with his plans to destroy Odysseus’ journey home, “Zeus was still...
Divine intervention is often an integral part of ancient epic poetry as seen in Homer's The Odyssey. The role of the goddess Athena was an essential part of Odysseus's journey back to Ithaka. Athena also played a vital part in Telemakhos's life before the return of his father. Even Penelope is impacted by the help of the "grey-eyed" goddess, often inspiring Penelope to hold off the suitors as well as putting her to sleep when a situation became too difficult. Athena demonstrates that she is a critical component of development within the father Odysseus and his son Telemakhos as well as guiding Penelope as a beautiful mother waiting for the return of her husband.
Taking a risk is something very few people are willing to do. If you think about it all the greats had to take a risk before they succeed in anything. In The Odyssey, Odysseus takes a huge risk fighting in wars, trying to get back to his beloved Penelope. Much like Vincent Willem van Gogh , A painter, who took huge risks living off of his art, but now he is One of the greatest painters of all times. They both risked their lives to succeed in something great.Van Gogh could have gone broke and starved to death Odysseus could have died at sea or in war. People take risks every time they get up and present a paper or show people there art work. You could mess up, but you also could succeed. This quote from book twelve, “ But as I sent them on toward
A rosy cheeked child plays “Chutes and Ladders” with uncanny ruthlessness as his soft, plump hands curl into fists ready to obliterate the board in a reign of terror. Only an unforgiving god who waits for the game of a prophecy to unfold on its victims rivals the child’s merciless disposition. In each case, the game is unwinnable for the tyrant’s opponents. The opponent’s only choice is to refuse to play the game; he can refuse to be subjugated to either the child’s tantrums or the god’s wrath. For a god, a prophecy is a game that makes the competitor the rival and the pawn. Apollo manipulates both Oedipus and Jocasta in the game that is their lives. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus and Jocasta struggle to survive in a world that Sophocles portrays
of Apollo: "A prophet? Listen to me and learn some peace of mind: no skill in
A hero is someone who is confident and competent. They show that they are fearless and put others before them. A hero is alert and aware of the lives he or she lives. Heroes usually have a passion for what they do and they do it and finish it, no matter the consequence. Therefore sacrifice contributes more to heroism because heroes putting themselves before others shows that they are selfless.
Mark Twain once said, “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” This quote illustrates the idea that the hero’s achievements and journeys are largely based on their personal confidence level. The main character Odysseus from the epic poem The Odyssey, David Dunn from the movie Unbreakable, and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games are all heroes that showed different confidence levels, which greatly influenced their achievements and journeys. Through the analysis of Odysseus, Katniss, and David, it becomes evident that a hero's path and ultimately the final outcome can be greatly affected by the strength of their confidence; having just the right amount of confidence is paramount when traveling
The epic poem called The Odyssey, which was written by the poet Homer, is one of the many classical stories from Ancient Greek culture. It tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his journey back home from the war with Troy, which had occurred in Homer’s other epic Greek poem, The Illiad. Odysseus faces many trials and quests in his journey home and to take back his kingdom from the suitors, such as meeting the witch Circe, blinding a Cyclops named Polyphemus, dealing with Poseidon, and staying with the goddess Calypso. The poem has many themes that are relevant to it. One such theme is the factor of redemption. Redemption is usually a typical subject in any kind of religion, like the Greek religion and Christian religion. The story of Odysseus has an underlying message of him receiving redemption from the Greek gods. The Odyssey is a tale of redemption because it deals with Odysseus being forgiven by the gods after having to go through many trials and wrongs to rightfully claim back his wife and the throne of Ithaca.
book takes place in, is called to action and set in motion on his Hero
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his family.
To view the links that are instilled between mortals, immortals, and fate in The Iliad, it is worthwhile to examine each on its own to observe how they connect. The characteristics of the three are inherently unique in relation to each other, though in some areas there is overlap. Man is defined as a mortal, someone who can die from old age and disease. Products from mortal and immortal procreation, such as the hero Achilles, fall into a sort of category all their own, but Achilles himself suggests that he would die from old age if he were to return home (9:502-505). In this weakness of the flesh they differ from the immortal gods, who cannot die from natural causes. Nevertheless, the gods share the imperfections of man: disloyalty, deceit, anger, and even lust. They see themselves as above man, and yet their actions are often as selfi...