62 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Last Olympian
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 17-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “I Sit On The Hot Seat”
Silena reveals Kronos’s scythe charm and admits she has been the spy. She started helping Luke before he was evil, and then he did not let her stop. She explains that she wanted to bring the Ares cabin to help fight the Titans. Silena dies.
The campers keep fighting, and Percy says, “Clarisse did all the work” (298). The enemy retreats, and the campers return to the Empire State Building where they tend the wounded. Leneus dies and turns into a laurel sapling.
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover ride the elevator to Mount Olympus. They enter the palace and see Rachel in front of the thrones carrying Pandora’s jar. Percy warns her not to open it. They go to see Hestia, who is tending the hearth. Percy looks into the hearth and sees pleasant images of friends and family. Rachel tells Percy that she must let go of distractions so that she can “understand [her] true sight” (307). Percy is upset and says, “I was pretty sure Rachel had just dumped me” (307).
Before leaving, Percy entrusts Pandora’s jar to Hestia so that he will not be tempted to open it. Rachel stays with Hestia. Thalia arrives and announces that Kronos’s army is advancing.
Chapter 18 Summary: “My Parents Go Commando”
Percy returns to the street and sees his army in bad shape. Chiron faces Kronos, and the two fight. Kronos wins, and Chiron disappears. Annabeth begins attacking Kronos, but the fighting pauses when they see Mrs. O’Leary and Nico arrive.
Hades’s army of the dead emerges from the earth, and Hades himself arrives on a chariot to challenge Kronos. Before they can begin fighting, Kronos seals them in, and “a wall of force shimmered along the fissure line separating Kronos’s vanguard, [Percy's] friends, and [Percy] from the bulk of the two armies” (317). Outside of the wall, the rest of Manhattan wakes up. The armies fight, and the people run screaming. Percy’s mother and stepfather wake up and partake in the fight. Percy tells Mrs. O’Leary to find Chiron. He, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover rush to Mount Olympus.
Chapter 19 Summary: “We Trash The Eternal City”
The group arrives on the 600th floor, where “the bridge to Olympus was dissolving” (321). They rush to the palace as more of the ground and surroundings begin to disintegrate. A statue of Hera falls on Thalia, and the group leaves her to go to the palace.
Kronos and Ethan are there, and Percy begins fighting Kronos, whose scythe turns into Luke’s sword, Backbiter. Meanwhile, Grover plays his reed pipes to encourage grass and roots to grow on the ground in order to distract Kronos. Percy convinces Ethan that he has made the wrong move in supporting Kronos and this is not what his mother wants. Ethan attacks Kronos but loses, and he falls into open air.
Percy cuts a gash in Kronos’s armor, but Kronos slows time to recover, and Percy cannot move. Kronos shows Percy visions in the smoke of the fire, and Percy sees all the Olympians fighting outside of the building. Percy hears the sound of the conch horn, and Poseidon’s army rises out of the sea and begins to attack Typhon.
Annabeth talks to Kronos and connects to Luke within him. She says that the prophecy does not apply to Percy, but instead applies to Luke—he will be the one to vanquish Kronos. Luke’s voice emerges, and he connects with Annabeth. He stabs himself under the left shoulder and dies.
Chapter 20 Summary: “We Win Fabulous Prizes”
The Fates take Luke’s body away in a shroud, and Hermes kisses him on the forehead before he goes. Apollo heals Annabeth of her wounds, and she is back to normal. Mrs. O’Leary finds Chiron, and he survives.
All of the Olympians gather in the throne room and begin repairing it. Poseidon embraces Percy and congratulates him. Next, “the Olympian council convened” (346). The gods recognize all the demigods in turn for their service. Athena allows Annabeth to redesign Olympus. Zeus offers Percy immortality, but he refuses. Instead, he asks that all gods recognize and claim their children by age 13. Also, minor gods should be recognized at Camp Half-Blood, and they should each get their own cabin. The gods agree and once again recognize Percy for saving Olympus.
Chapters 17-20 Analysis
Magical objects continue to figure as a motif in these chapters and serve as crucial elements of the ongoing battle. For example, Percy is still in possession of Pandora’s jar—if he opens it, he will signal surrender to the Titans. Percy is tempted to use it but decides that he must resist. Instead, he gives the jar to Hestia for safekeeping, signaling his commitment to moving forward. When Percy is fighting Kronos, the latter’s scythe turns into Luke’s sword, “Backbiter, with its half-steel, half Celestial bronze blade” (325). As this magical weapon morphs, the author demonstrates how Luke’s spirit is slowly gaining power over that of Kronos. In fact, Luke uses Backbiter to sacrifice himself and kill Kronos—the object is crucial in the Olympians’ victory over the Titans. Finally, upon Luke’s death, Percy sees the “snippet of blue yarn” (339) shown to him by the Fates. This object represents Luke’s lifeline that is cut short. Percy had seen the yarn before as a child and assumed it was his own. As this magical object reappears, it signifies Luke’s journey rather than Percy’s.
So, too, do these chapters explore the theme of interconnectivity and Otherness. Annabeth and Luke are able to connect to each other during the battle. They draw upon their shared history to reform their deep connection. Here, the author suggests that deep bonds between characters are lasting. In a similar manner, Luke is able to reconnect to himself and his purpose. Throughout most of the novel, Luke spirit has been completely divorced from his body and overtaken by Kronos’s mission. As Luke gains control over his own personhood, he is able to vanquish his enemy. In this way, the author suggests that there is victory in reconnecting with one’s self.
On the other side of the coin is Otherness. The author explores this most significantly in the relationship between Percy and Rachel. When Rachel visits Mount Olympus, she tells Percy that they must distance themselves: “Our fates aren’t intertwined” (307). Their interconnectivity, though strong in the past, can no longer continue. As Rachel embraces her abilities to see beyond the Mist, she essentially makes herself an Other. She rejects the mortal world and instead becomes part of the world of gods and demigods.
Finally, these chapters touch on the theme of the hero’s journey through Percy’s trajectory. Here, the author problematizes the classical journey. At this point, Percy is supposed to vanquish his enemy, Kronos. However, it turns out that the prophecy was not meant for Percy. Instead, it is Luke who is the hero of the prophecy: “A hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap” (336). It is Luke’s blade, Backbiter, that ultimately kills Kronos. In this way, Riordan throws a fork in the typical path. Percy is still a hero, but not in the classical sense.
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