| “ | Rarr! Don’t try your pretty talk on me, girl! I’m Ma Gasket! I’ve eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch! | ” |
–Ma Gasket to Piper McLean, in The Lost Hero | ||
Ma Gasket is a female Hyperborean Cyclops and the mother of two other Cyclopes, Sump and Torque. Unlike the better known Elder Cyclopes, Hyperborean Cyclopes don't make weapons for the gods; instead they eat demigods, much like the Southern Cyclopes.
The Heroes of Olympus
The Lost Hero
Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, and Piper McLean meet Ma Gasket when they crash into a car factory in Detroit (Monocle Motors). Leo is able to kill her with an engine block. But instead of staying in Tartarus, she tries to reform, but by the time she does, Leo, Jason and Piper were already half way to their destinations. She is said to be twelve feet tall and is also boastful of being a Northern Cyclops, for they are said to be much fiercer than the Southern ones.
The Son of Neptune
Some time after reforming from Leo's attack, Ma Gasket joined up with Polybotes' army. She lead a group of Cyclopes south to Camp Jupiter, but Polybotes complained about her troops slowing them down. She's eager to get revenge against Leo, Piper, and Jason. When Polybotes arrives at Camp Jupiter the day before the Feast of Fortuna, Ma Gasket had taken the other Cyclopes to a wine tasting and prevented Polybotes from attacking that day. She was killed by Tyson during the battle on the Field of Mars. Tyson kills her saying "Bad Cyclops lady! General Tyson says GO AWAY!"
Tyson, the one who killed Ma Gasket.
Trivia
- She is the only female Cyclops ever mentioned.
- She wears a chainmail "muumuu," as both Leo and Hazel have called it.
- In her "muumuu," her appearance reminds Leo of his Aunt Rosa.
- She likes eating demigods with salsa.
- She is most likely a Roman Cyclops, since she calls Piper "Venus spawn", when Piper is really Aphrodite's child, and because was seen in the battle in Camp Jupiter.
- She also tells Piper that she once ate a son of Mercury, who is Hermes in Roman form, the boy wore a purple t-shirt, like Jason had when he first showed up at the Grand Canyon, the boy also spoke Latin, like Jason. When Piper told Jason about it, he felt like he should know that boy.
- She also says that most Cyclopes grow up on the streets, and that she should have abandoned her kids too, as growing up on the streets makes a Cyclops grow up stronger.
- Piper's Charmspeak doesn't work on her, but does on her sons.
- Ma Gasket has been killed in the first two books of the Heroes of Olympus series. She is killed by Leo Valdez in The Lost Hero and later by Tyson in The Son of Neptune while fighting at Camp Jupiter.