Rick Riordan's "The Hidden Oracle" Quiz

Answer: New York

Zeus is punishing Apollo for encouraging the Roman heroes to attack the Greek heroes during the recent war with Gaea and the giants. Apollo tells us in the story that this is the third time that Zeus has sentenced him to a mortal life on earth. He guesses that he has landed somewhere on the west side of Manhattan -- "Zeus must have been really angry with me".

Answer: Lester Papadopoulos

Apollo describes his new mortal self as a dorky, curly-haired teen with acne and stomach flab, wearing sneakers, jeans and a green polo shirt. The other names are used for characters in Rick Riordan's stories, but so far no real Lester Papadopoulos has appeared.

Answer: Demeter

When Apollo first meets Meg in the dead-end alley, she looks like a pint-sized twelve-year-old, but on their journey to the Camp she is able to use plants, fruits, and vegetables as weapons to help them escape from the attack of disease-bearing spirits. During dinner at the Camp, sickles appear above her head, the symbols of Demeter, the goddess of the fruits of the earth, who thus claims Meg as her daughter.

Answer: Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson lives on the Upper East Side with his mother and step-father -- his actual father is the Greek sea-god Poseidon. After allowing Apollo to have clean up and have some food, Percy drives Apollo and Meg to Camp Half-Blood on Long Island. Needless to say, the journey there is not without incident.

Answer: Athena Parthenos

In the previous series "The Heroes of Olympus", seven heroes have retrieved from an underground cave in Rome the great statue of Athena that used to stand in the Parthenon at Athens. By taking it to Camp Half-Blood, they have healed the rift between Roman and Greek demi-gods, and the statue stands over the Camp as a protection and a symbol of the end of that disunity.

Answer: Haiku

A haiku is a traditional Japanese form of poetry, usually about themes in nature and life. It consists of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables respectively. Apollo was the god of poetry and inspiration in Greek myth, and claims credit in the story for many of the great poems in human history. These haikus are not up to his usual standard.

Answer: Healing

Names in Rick Riordan's stories often have a significance. For instance, Hermes is the god of thieves and his son at Camp Half-Blood is called Connor Stoll ("stole"). Here Will has his father's ability to heal (hence "solace"), but not his powers with the bow or with music. Two other sons of Apollo in the stories, who bear the last names of Yew and Fletcher, do possess Apollo's prowess with the bow.

Answer: The Grove of Dodona

During "The Blood of Olympus" we learned that the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, the greatest source of divine knowledge in the ancient world, had been taken over by the Python, the great serpent and servant of Gaea, the Earth Mother. Thus, the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood, currently Rachel Elizabeth Dare, has no access to prophecy about the future.

A search is underway for another ancient oracle, that of Zeus among the talking oaks at Dodona, which are now believed to be located in the dense woods at Camp Half-Blood.

Answer: The Emperor Nero

As the story progresses, Apollo and Meg become aware that there are sinister figures at work, who are also trying to gain possession of the oracles. One of these is referred to as "the Beast", and when Apollo learns that he runs a company called Triumvirate Holdings and likes being addressed as "Imperator" ("Emperor"), he realises that "our enemy is Emperor Nero".

It is often thought that "the Beast" in the book of "Revelation", that bears the number 666, is meant to allude to the Emperor Nero.

Answer: Leo Valdez

At the end of "The Blood of Olympus" Leo Valdez appears to have been lost in the final battle at Camp Half-Blood, but the reader knows from the last chapter that he survived and met up again with Calypso, the sea-nymph. A beacon built by a clever son of Hephaestus directs him to Camp Half-Blood, where he and Calypso arrive triumphantly on the back of Leo's metal dragon Festus.