The Titan’s Curse (2007) is the third installment in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, following The Lightning Thief (2005) and The Sea of Monsters (2006) and preceding The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008) and The Last Olympian (2009). The series centers around the adventures of Percy Jackson, a boy who is the son of the Greek god of the sea Poseidon and a mortal woman named Sally Jackson. Percy learns that he is a demigod—meaning that he is half-human and half-god—and joins with other children of the Greek gods at Camp Half-Blood. There, they complete quests and fight against the Titan Kronos, who desires to emerge from banishment and return to destroy the Olympian gods, including Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, among others. The series is geared toward young adult readers who are interested in fantasy.

The Titan’s Curse follows The Sea of Monsters, in which Percy went on a quest to retrieve the golden fleece and bring it back to Camp Half-Blood. Laying the fleece down at the tree marking the boundary between the camp and the rest of the world, its powers not only restore the tree but also transform Thalia Grace, a daughter of Zeus who had become a part of the tree several years earlier, back into human form. In this novel, she embarks on her first quest after coming back.

This study guide refers to the 2007 edition published by Hyperion, an imprint of the Disney Book Group.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with Sally Jackson driving her son Percy, Thalia Grace, and Annabeth Chase to Westover Hall to find Grover Underwood, a satyr tasked with bringing new demigods back to Camp Half-Blood where they will be safe. There, they battle Dr. Thorn, a manticore, and bring back Bianca and Nico di Angelo to the camp. However, during their altercation, in which the Hunters of Artemis assisted, Annabeth went missing. Thalia blames Percy for this because he tried to fight Thorn alone. Bianca decides to join the Hunters, a group of women who have pledged their lives to their leader, the goddess Artemis of Greek mythology.

Artemis sets out on a hunt for a monster that supposedly threatens Mount Olympus and the rest of the Greek gods, and she sends the Hunters back to Camp Half-Blood with the rest of the demigods under the leadership of her lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade. Per a tradition, the campers face the Hunters in a game of Capture the Flag, which the campers lose because of Percy. The Oracle of Delphi appears and recites a prophecy in which five must go find Artemis, who is in trouble, and rescue her. The prophecy also states that two of the five will die on the journey. Despite this, Zoë, Thalia, Bianca, Grover, and another Hunter named Phoebe prepare to set off. However, Phoebe becomes ill and cannot go. Instead, after freeing a mysterious sea creature he names “Bessie,” Percy decides to follow along from afar, especially after learning that both he and Zoë have had nightmares about Annabeth and an evil figure named the General, who works for Kronos, the Titan working to destroy the gods. Percy also promises Nico di Angelo that he will keep Bianca safe.

The journey takes them first into New York City, where Percy is confronted by “Mr. D,” who is the Greek god Dionysius and director of the camp. Mr. D tells him that heroes don’t take others into account, telling him how his wife Ariadne was abandoned by another hero. He also hints that Zoë had a similar experience. However, Mr. D lets Percy continue his quest, which then continues into Washington, D.C. There, Percy spots Luke—another demigod who allied himself with Kronos—and the general as they instruct a group of zombie skeletons to go after the heroes. Percy reveals that he has been following Thalia, Grover, Zoë, and Bianca and tells them that they’re being followed. After defeating the Nemean Lion, which has come to attack them, and warding off several zombies, Zoë allows Percy to join them.

Eventually, Percy has another dream about Zoë, discovering that she gave another hero the sword that Percy now carries. Zombies find them again in New Mexico, but they are saved by a wild boar that carries them to a junkyard.

Aphrodite warns Percy not to take anything from the junkyard. However, as they cross, Bianca takes a small figurine for Nico, and Talos, the giant metal guardian, awakens. Fulfilling the prophecy that “one will die in the land without rain,” Bianca dies stopping Talos (89). Mourning, Zoë reveals that she once lived in the garden of twilight, which is home to the golden apple tree and is guarded by a dragon named Ladon. When she gave the hero in Percy’s dream the sword, she was exiled by her family.

After a stop at the Hoover Dam, they arrive in San Francisco to find Nereus, who, once captured, tells Percy that the monster they’ve been looking for is in fact Bessie. Whoever captures and sacrifices Bessie will have the power to overthrow the gods. Then, the manticore reappears, looking to capture Bessie and kill the heroes. However, knowing that Thalia is a daughter of Zeus will soon turn 16 and become subject to a prophecy in which a child of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades will have the power to either destroy or save the gods, the manticore tries to tempt her to join Kronos. She hesitates but eventually refuses him. Percy calls Mr. D, and he tries to get him to help, which he finally does after Percy asks nicely.

Percy sends Grover with Bessie to Mount Olympus and, with the help of Annabeth’s father, ascends Mount Tamalpais with Thalia and Zoë to rescue Annabeth and Artemis. This brings Zoë back to the home from which she was banished, and she helps them get around Ladon the dragon to fight her father Atlas, who is the mysterious “General,” and Luke. Artemis is trapped holding up the sky, which is “the titan’s curse” of the novel’s name. Percy takes Artemis’s place holding up the sky, and she battles Atlas. When Zoë tries to distract Atlas, he hits her, but the distraction gives Artemis enough time to recover and send Atlas flying back into Percy, who lets go of the sky in time for it to fall back on Atlas. Thalia also defeats Luke, seemingly killing him. With Atlas trapped and Luke gone, the heroes saved the world. However, Zoë dies of her wounds, but Artemis creates a constellation in her honor.

On Mount Olympus, the gods consider killing Percy and Thalia since they could have the power to destroy them. However, Poseidon and Zeus intervene on behalf of their respective children, and they, along with Bessie, are spared. They also decide to prepare for war with Kronos. Thalia decides to take Zoë’s place as Artemis’s lieutenant and joins the Hunters, making it impossible for her to fulfill the prophecy and making it more likely that it is about Percy. Poseidon warns Percy that Luke isn’t really dead.

Upon returning to the camp, Percy has to tell Nico that Bianca died. Nico is enraged, and his anger opens up a crack in the earth before he runs off. This makes Percy realize that Nico is a son of Hades, so the prophecy about the children of the Big Three could also be about him. At the end of the novel, Percy decides that Nico has had enough suffering, and he claims the prophecy as his, then goes home for the holidays.