The Lightning Thief: Chapter 19 Summary & Analysis

The Asphodel Fields are packed with spirits, but the mood is sad and damp. Percy looks for familiar faces but can’t recognize anyone. He does discover that the dead aren’t scary—they’re just sad. He, Grover, and Annabeth creep along until they reach the judgment pavilion. They can see the Fields of Punishment beyond on the left. On the right is Elysium, and in the middle are the three Isles of the Blest. They’re for people who have been reborn three times and reached Elysium each time. Percy knows he wants to go there when he dies, and Annabeth echoes his thoughts. Percy thinks it’s depressing that so few people make it there. The trio continues on until they hear the Furies screeching and they see the palace.

Grover nervously suggests that they go search Elysium first, but his sneakers suddenly sprout wings and begin to pull him away. Percy and Annabeth race after him into a cavern. The tunnel is dark and cold, and it makes Percy think of blood and murderers. He stops dead when he sees the huge chasm from his dreams, but Annabeth shouts that they have to save Grover. The shoes try to drag Grover into the pit, but fortunately, the shoes don’t fit his hooves and one comes off. He manages to grab a rock, and the other shoe comes off too. Percy shushes Grover and Annabeth—he hears a muttering, evil voice coming from the pit. Annabeth, terrified, says that this is the entrance to Tartarus. Percy uncaps Riptide and begins to pick out ancient, magic words.

The trio moves away as quickly as they can. They struggle against a cold wind to the end of the tunnel,   collapse outside, and hear an outraged cry from the tunnel. Annabeth and Percy exchange a look, but they’re both too scared to say what they think is in the tunnel. Percy caps Riptide and thinks that after the old, powerful, and evil thing in the chasm, he’s almost relieved to confront Hades. The Furies circle the parapets as Percy, Annabeth, and Grover walk through the gates and a courtyard filled with poisonous plants, jewels, and Medusa’s statues. They pass a grove of pomegranate trees and Annabeth says they have to keep going. Percy desperately wants to eat the fruit, but he remembers Persephone’s story—if they eat Underworld food, they’ll never leave.

They enter the palace. Skeleton guards dressed in all manner of military garb guard every door, and Percy realizes that his backpack is suddenly very heavy. Doors swing open to reveal Hades’s throne room. Hades, 10 feet tall and dressed in black silk robes, lounges on his throne of bones. He radiates power and makes Percy want to submit, but Percy tells himself to snap out of it. Hades tells Percy that he’s very cocky to show up after what he did. Percy ignores this and says he has two requests, wishing that Persephone were here to calm Hades. Gulping, Percy says that war among the gods would be bad, so he needs Zeus’s master bolt back. Incensed, Hades accuses Percy of keeping up a pretense after “what he’s done.” Confused, Percy asks what he did.

Hades shouts, asking if Percy thinks he really wants war. Percy carefully says it’d expand the kingdom, but Hades moans that his kingdom is already growing. There’s overcrowding and traffic problems, and he has to pay his staff overtime. Percy blurts out that Charon wants a raise, which makes Hades shout that Charon is impossible. Hades doesn’t want war, and he doesn’t want more dead. When Percy suggests that Hades did steal the bolt, Hades stands and says he sees Poseidon’s plan: Poseidon made Percy steal the bolt and his own helm of darkness, but Hades found Percy out by sending Mrs. Dodds to Yancy. Confused, Annabeth confirms that Hades’s helm is missing. Hades snarls that he hasn’t said anything because no one on Olympus will help, and he knows that Percy has the helm, which he orders Percy to hand over.

Percy is angry. Hades says he wants to torture Percy forever, which is why he let the trio enter his kingdom easily. Percy insists that he doesn’t have the helm and that he came for the bolt, but Hades shouts that Percy already has the bolt. Percy opens his backpack and sure enough, the bolt is in it. Hades gripes that heroes are all prideful and foolish, and he orders Percy to hand the bolt over and tell him where the helm is. Percy has no idea what’s going on, but he realizes that someone tricked him. He says that this is a mistake, but Hades says there is no mistake—he knew that Percy would come for Mom. She’ll die if Percy doesn’t hand over the bolt. Mom appears frozen in a shower of gold.

Percy thinks of the pearls and pulls them out at Hades’s request. Hades points out that there are only three, so either Percy must leave Mom or one of his friends. Annabeth, Grover, and Percy agree that they’ve been tricked—but they don’t know why. They argue about which of them should stay as a sacrifice to save Mom, but Percy can’t stand the thought of losing his only friends. He knows that Mom would never let him sacrifice himself, and he knows that he has to take the bolt to Zeus and tell the truth. He thinks of the prophecy saying he’d fail to save what matters most, apologizes to Mom, and promises Hades he’ll find his helm. The trio smashes the pearls, and milky spheres encase them and carry them up through the ceiling and into the ocean. Percy helps his friends to shore, where L.A. is on fire.