| “ | Being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible; it means you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed. | ” |
–Piper to Jason, in The Mark of Athena | ||
Piper McLean is a Greek demigod daughter of Aphrodite and Tristan McLean and is currently the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, after challenging Drew Tanaka. She is currently in a relationship with Jason Grace.
History
Piper got her name from her Grandpa Tom, who noted her strong voice, and hoped that she would one day learn all of the great Cherokee songs, including the Song of the Snakes. As opposed to many other children of Aphrodite, Piper was never very focused on her natural beauty and has a somewhat tomboyish style. At one point, she helped her actor father research Greek Mythology (for a role her father was about to take on) and learned quite a bit of information that she found interesting. Her father would also tell her old Cherokee stories he heard from Grandpa Tom. From time to time, Piper and her father would play a game called "Any Three Questions," though Piper wasn't able to learn much about her mother. She later recalls in The Blood of Olympus how her father had driven Piper past a meat-processing plant in Chino when she was little.The smell had been enough to turn Piper into a vegetarian. Ever since, just the thought of cows made her ill. As Asclepius would later reveal, Piper had broken her arm when she was six after falling off a horse.
In addition, Piper has always had the ability to charmspeak and uses it (not knowingly) to gain her father's attention by "borrowing" things from salesmen, for example a lawnmower or a car, causing her to get into trouble with the law when the people report her for stealing. At one point, she talked a car dealer into giving her a BMW and drove it away from the lot. She only stole items because she wanted attention from her father, who she believed wasn't spending enough time with her. The dealer pressed charges for theft after Piper took the BMW, but her father's assistant, Jane, made a deal for her to be sent to Wilderness School instead of going to jail. The school is a place for delinquent kids, but it was here that she meet Leo Valdez, and the two formed a friendship, she even trusted him with the truth that her father is the movie star Tristan McLean.
Piper and Leo's back-story is a rare one, since they are the only two known demigods who meet and befriended each other before they even knew they were demigods.
Mist History
Leo Valdez and Piper were both given false memories of Jason before he arrived at the Wilderness School. In these memories, Jason Grace, Leo, and Piper had been friends for about three months after Jason first arrived. Piper tried to get closer to him and the two eventually watched shooting stars from the school's roof, and shared a kiss. They began dating a few weeks before the events of The Lost Hero. This reality was proved to be fake when Annabeth asked Piper some basic things about Jason she doesn't know.
The Heroes of Olympus
The Lost Hero
Piper appears the first time in the Wilderness School bus driving towards the Grand Canyon on a field trip, holding hands with Jason, who she claims to be her boyfriend but the memorys she had with Jasonw was false. She's the first to realize something is wrong with him, and is devastated when she finds out that Jason doesn't remember her. This is because Hera erased his memory, as well as Percy Jackson's. Shortly afterward she is torn away by Dylan, who declares her his partner for the school work, but keeps flirting with her the whole while.
As a strong storm starts, Piper and Dylan help the others to leave the sky-walk, until only she, Dylan, Leo, Jason and Coach Hedge are left. As Piper loses control of the door, which suddenly seems to be magically locked, Dylan reveals to be a anemoi thuellai (Roman form ventus), a storm son of the storm giant Typhon, and battles the four of them along with his fellow venti (plural form of ventus). Piper tries to fight the venti with Jason using Hedge's baseball bat as a weapon, but when she hits Dylan to prevent him from taking Jason, she is thrown off the sky-walk. Jason jumps after her and saves her, stopping in midair and catching her before flying back up safely to the sky walk.
Coach Hedge, her protector.
Dylan takes Hedge away after Hedge saved Leo in the battle. The three are picked up by a chariot, driven by Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and Butch, son of Iris. Soon after, they crash land in a lake at Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth gives Piper a tour of the camp and helps her pick out her weapon, a dagger previously owned by Helen of Troy, called Katoptris (Ancient Greek for "looking glass") that has the ability to show much more than the user's reflection when looked at, such as depictions of the near future. Later that night when Jason is picking two others to come on his quest, after he picks Leo, Piper says she has to go too while trying to compete with Drew to be on the quest. She was then claimed by Aphrodite, much to Drew's chagrin. Later she becomes friends with two of her half-siblings, Lacy and Mitchell, and learns how to use her ability to charmspeak. However, Drew, the head of the cabin, keeps everyone under her thumb with her own ability to charmspeak and makes Piper so mad that when asked who her father was, Piper admits he is Tristan McLean. When the other members ask if it is true and she becomes the center of attention in the cabin, Drew tells everyone that it is a lie, but rips his poster off the wall a short time later. Piper claimed she did not like to play the "famous dad card," and felt bad and regretted what she did after using it against Drew.
The next day, Piper, Jason, and Leo take Leo's new "pet mechanical dragon," Festus, and begin their quest. They arrive in Quebec and they meet Boreas and his children, including Khione (goddess of snow) and the Boreads (immortal children of Boreas),where they get on a bad note with them. Later, while Piper is sleeping, they fall off the dragon and they crash land into a supposedly abandoned car factory in Detroit, which turned out to be the residence of three grown Cyclopes. Jason and Piper are held captive, but Leo rescues them and they find out he has fire abilities. After they escape, they stop to rest, but then they meet Medea, a sorceress and charmspeaker, who nearly causes Jason and Leo to turn against each other, however Piper gets them out of the trance and they fight Medea. They also find Coach Hedge and the storm spirits to trade with Aeolus. As they escape, the building explodes.
Soon, Festus crash lands again and they fall in front of a mansion. Inside they meet King Midas and his son Lit. Jason helps himself and his two friends escape after Leo and Piper get turned to gold, by calling down lightning. After they get turn back to normal they run into Lycaon (the first werewolf) and the rest of his pack, but the Hunters save them. Thalia Grace, Artemis's lieutenant and Jason's sister leads them to Aeolus's palace before getting separated when the ice vapor bridge melts after Leo gets too excited about a theory he formed about Jason's appearance and Percy's disappearance. They meet Mellie the aura, who has a huge crush on Coach Hedge and who ends up marrying him and having his son whom they named Chuck. The trio meet Aeolus who, in the end, tries to kill them on the order of Gaea. When they escaped, winds shot them to California. They confront the giant Enceladus to rescue Piper's dad, Tristan McLean. They manage to defeat the giant, but her father is mentally broken and Piper is forced to give him a potion that Aphrodite had given her, one that will erase all his short term memories. Piper then allows the medical team to take her father away while she charmspeaks a pilot into letting them borrow their helicopter to travel the wolf house to rescue Hera. They find out that Khione has been spying on them and they plan to help the rise of Porphyrion, the giant king. Leo battles against Khione and he turns out to until Porphyrion rises and Jason keeps him occupied while Leo tries to cut Hera free. Piper lulls Gaea to sleep; showing her amazing skills in charmspeaking.
After their quest is completed, Piper, Jason, and Leo return home to Camp Half-Blood. The next morning, Piper challenges Drew to a duel to be head counselor, but Drew grudgingly backs down for she does not wish to fight Piper. Later Piper video chats with Coach Hedge, Mellie and her dad who remembers nothing of his ordeal and thinks Piper is in a special school. Then Piper shares a moment with Jason, in which she accepts that she loves Jason, but she doesn't know if he feels the same way. Later, she heads into the woods with Jason, Leo, Chiron and the Hephaestus cabin, as Leo shows them Bunker 9. As the book draws to an end Piper hears Jason say that it is most likely that Percy Jackson is at the Roman camp, called Camp Jupiter.
The Son of Neptune
Piper makes a brief appearance in a dream of Percy Jackson along with Jason Grace and Leo Valdez as they construct the Argo II. Later, her voice is heard calling Leo a "repair boy" when he asks her what his title is during a video message to Camp Jupiter, asking them not to blast them out of the sky. By the end of the book, she sets out to meet the rest of the seven demigods at Camp Jupiter.
Earlier in the book when Polybotes and the Giant Army are marching toward Camp Jupiter, Ma Gasket is shown to have reformed and joined the army. She complains that the purple and orange ones destroyed her home and she wants revenge against Piper, Leo, and Jason. While the name Jason sounds familiar to Percy, Hazel, and Frank, they don't know who Leo and Piper are.
The Mark of Athena
Piper is on the Argo II, practicing her lines for when they land at Camp Jupiter. While using charmspeak to talk about lowering their weapons and talking, Annabeth Chase almost put down her knife to have a talk. When Terminus arrived she tried to charmspeak him but instead, being a god, he was unaffected and instead tried to slap the knife out her hand, despite having no arms.
After the welcome feast Camp Jupiter prepares, Leo (who was possessed by an Eidolon) begins to attack Camp Jupiter. Jason goes unconscious after saving Piper from a brick that was about to hit her. Thus, Piper takes care of an unconscious Jason. To pass the time, she looks through her dagger Katoptris and sees the sign Topeka 32, the Romans preparing an attack against the seven, and the most unsettling image: her, Jason, and Percy all drowning. After Jason wakes up, and Hazel and Leo are back, she goes with Percy and Jason to Topeka 32 in Kansas. They meet Bacchus there who tells them to go see Phorcys because he knows information about Gaea. Afterwards, he disappears.
Immediately after, Gaea tells Piper that she wants her and either Jason or Percy. She tells Piper she must choose between who should die, and if she doesn't, Jason and Percy will have to fight to death, when an Eidolon begins controlling their bodies. Jason battles Percy with Tempest, while Percy battles with his Pegasus Blackjack. Percy knocks Jason out and is about to kill him. Unable to stop the two from fighting, Piper tells Blackjack to knock Percy out, which he does so. Blackjack carries all three of them back to the Argo II.
After Percy and Jason wake up, the seven have a meeting, discussing about Annabeth's quest, what they learned from Bacchus and who possessed Leo, Jason, and Percy. Piper charmspeaks the Eidolons to leave their bodies and never come back. Even though they know now that it wasn't Leo's intent to hurt the Romans, they have no proof to tell them.
After the seven leaves Atlanta, they dock at Charleston Harbor, Hazel, Annabeth and Piper agree to go find the southern bell ghost Piper saw in her dagger. They find the ghost, who turns out to actually be Aphrodite/Venus. The girls have tea with her and Hazel asks whether she is Aphrodite or Venus. Aphrodite tells her she is both because love is universal and that's why she isn't that involved in the ongoing war. Hazel denies that there is any war yet. Aphrodite then explains that when Athena told Annabeth to avenge her, she meant to get her statue, Athena Parthenos.
After getting back on the ship, the Argo II finally sets sail to the Mediterranean Sea and Rome. Once they finally reach there, they see the Pillars of Hercules, and Hercules is guarding it. Piper and Jason decide to go talk to the god. Hercules will allow then to pass only if they have steal Achelous' horn to humiliate him.
When the two demigods get to Achelous River, they hear a peaceful hypnotic singing come from Achelous. Achelous figures that they are here to take his other horn, but Achelous explains why Hercules does not deserve it. Despite feeling bad, Jason and Piper still attempt to take the horn, which Achelous retaliates at by trying to drown them. Jason gets pulled under, so Piper tries to bargain with Achelous, who believed she wanted to become his bride in trade for Jason's life. When he picks her up, she threatens him that he must let Jason go and she proceeds to cut his second horn off. The two demigods escape.
Upon their return, Hercules allows them to pass through. He also asks for the horn, however Piper does not give it to him, because Hercules does not deserve it. She and Jason manage to fly back to the Argo II after bruising the god when the horn turns into a cornucopia which spouted a pile of food at him. While flying off, Hercules continues to throw food at them, but they nevertheless escape all the attacks and finally get back to the Argo II.
Later on in the journey, Piper is shown tied up and kidnapped by Chrysaor, who's ship rammed into the Argo II. He tells the seven that he has plans on selling Piper and Hazel to Circe, while giving Percy and Annabeth to Gaea. Percy stops Chrysaor from doing this, by scaring Chrysaor's crew of dolphin men, telling them that their captain is Dionysus, who turned them into dolphins in the first place. Frank then shapeshifts into a dolphin, scaring all of the crew men back onto their boat. Chrysaor, though not scared, is forced to retreat along with his crewmen.
After Annabeth and Percy prepare for Annabeth's quest in Rome and Frank, Hazel, and Leo are off in the city, Piper, Jason, and Coach Hedge are left on the Argo II. Piper plans a picnic for her and Jason using the cornucopia. A birthday cake comes out along with the rest of the food, Jason admits it is his birthday. Percy returns a little afterwards and asks Piper if they can find the giants through Katoptris. She however sees the Romans forming an invasion plan, a spiral staircase near the forum, the same place where her, Jason, and Percy are drowning. They set out in search for the staircases.
When the three do find it, Percy volunteers to go first, in case the place is flooded. When he comes back, he says he found a Nymphaeum. Soon afterwards, the nymph Hagno and the nine other nymphs who nursed Zeus when he was younger appear and flood the chamber with magic water, which took away Percy 's ability to breathe underwater. Piper decides to funnel her, Jason, and Percy's energy into the cornucopia, releasing clean water and age the nymphs back to youth. The nymphs give them their powers and strength back and tell them whereabouts of Ephialtes and Otis.
They arrive to the twin giants' lair where Nico di Angelo is. Piper defends Nico against all the releasing monsters, while Percy and Jason go against the giants. The giants release a Hydra, leading to Percy to set a stack of fireworks off, destroying the Hydra, as well as knocking out Piper.
After being nursed back to health, Piper and the rest go and search for Annabeth. When they get there, Piper works to grab Athena Parthenos and get it on the Argo II. She manages to do so, but fails to help Percy and Annabeth from falling into Tartarus, which she feels bad about. Leo encourages them all that they will find Percy and Annabeth and tells Festus to start the engine towards Greece.
The House of Hades
Piper is talking to Jason and Leo on deck of the Argo II. She tells them about the vision she has been seeing in Katoptris, and shares her predictions about a line from the Prophecy of Seven: To storm or fire the world must fall. She explains why she thinks Jason is storm, Leo is fire, and Gaea is the world that must fall. She also says that she thinks that the three of them will be the final strike, as it started with the trio on their first quest to save Hera.
Piper starts to wonder why the weather has been so cold lately, as it is summertime. She soon realizes why, but does so too late. Khione soon shows up with her two brothers Zethes and Cal. She sends Leo to Ogygia and freezes Jason and the rest of the crew below deck, but allows Piper to stay as she has been claimed by Zethes, despite the fact that Khione hates her very deeply for what she did in Quebec. Khione starts to tell Piper about her plans with Gaea, and how the Earth Mother will soon re-create the world as she sees fit. Zethes then mentions the bomb that they had planted that would let out strong winds that would blow the Argo II far off course. Piper, trying to think of an escape plan, is soon reminded of fire and how it is Khione's only known weakness. She then remembers Festus, and knows how he can "blow some serious flames", though she needs to figure out a way to reactivate him since Leo turned him off. Piper then says that she supposedly has a secret, knowing that Khione would demand to know what it is. Piper then places her hand on Festus' neck, and says some things about the dragon, putting all the confidence she has into her words. Festus wakes, and torches Zethes and Cal while she charges towards Khione with her knife, and drives it into her chest, causing her to explode. She dives for the bomb that Zethes had told her about, but grabs it right as it explodes. The winds burst out and blow the Argo II all the way to the southern tip of Africa.
After they finish their repairs and Jason flies the Argo II to Greece, they meet up with Leo. They then head to the Necromantium where Leo and Hazel gets separated from the rest of the group. Piper, Jason, Nico and Frank fight of monsters while Jason gives Frank his position as Praetor. They meet up with Hazel and Leo after Annabeth and Percy come out of the doors of death. The seven and Nico fight Cyditan before Hecate comes to finish him off. With the temple about to claps on top of them, Nico and Hazel shadow travel the group to the surface where they meets up with Reyna and have a picnic about what to do next. The seven decide to go east to mount Olympus to stop Gaea from waking While Nico shadow travels the Athena Parthenos west to Long Island to prevent the civil war. Later on the Argo II Hazel is telling her and Annabeth how to fight with a sword.
The Blood of Olympus
Along with Jason and Annabeth, Piper infiltrates Odysseus’s palace with the help of Hazel’s magic. Later, Piper volunteers to be one of the four demigods going to subdue Nike. She wants to try to use charmspeak on the goddess; however, Annabeth says that Nike may see Piper as a threat.
Piper had a conversation about Jason with her mother the night before the mission, and Aphrodite had given her a glimpse of the future. Afterward, Frank and Piper scour the port of Pylos to find the poison with no luck. Piper uses her charmspeak on a ghost to get directions to Frank’s relatives, the fellow descendants of Periclymenus. Frank receives a vial of Pylosian mint from one of them. Piper and Frank return to the ‘‘Argo II’’, where Piper says she saw a vision of her and Annabeth exploring ruins in her knife, Katoptris. The ship lands in Sparta, and the two girls set out to find the chained god’s heartbeat. In the shrine of Phobos and Deimos, they face a giant called Mimas, who was born to slay Hephaestus. Piper and Annabeth defeat the giant with emotions, not rationality. Piper summons the makhai, the spirits of battle, and they kill Mimas.
With Leo and Jason, Piper visits Asclepius, the god of medicine. She convinces Asclepius to help them by using her charmspeak, and the god gives them the physician’s cure.
The Argo II flies to Athens. With the help of the gemini, she, Annabeth, and Percy go to the Acropolis using an underground route. Using her charmspeak, Piper finds out that King Kekrops (the king of the gemini) really intended to deceive the demigods and destroy them in the underground tunnels. She successfully convinces him not to go through with the plan, and the three infiltrate the giant army disguised as Earthborn, and begin to disable onagers. However, Percy and Annabeth are seen and captured by the giants, while Piper remains undiscovered. Just as Percy and Annabeth are about to be sacrificed, Piper interferes, and the Argo II crew begins attacking the giants. Still, with the full force of the seven demigods, they could not be defeated without the gods.
The gods soon join the battle, but it was a little too late—Gaea was already awake. However, they successfully defeat the giant army with the assistance of the gods. Piper fights Periboia with her mother’s help.
The seven demigods return to Camp Half-Blood with Zeus’s help. There, they find Gaea awake and the Greek and Roman demigods fighting a horde of monsters. Leo snatches Gaea’s body into the air with Festus, and Piper and Jason join him. Piper uses her charmspeak on Gaea, trying to get her to sleep. Leo then blows up Gaea, and everyone assumes he was killed from the blast. Piper was devastated that she could not save him.
Before the legion leaves back to Camp Jupiter, Piper asks Reyna what she was told in Charleston two years before by Aphrodite. Reyna tells Piper that Aphrodite was told her that she would end up being alone. Piper curses her mothers and tells Reyna that she does not need a boyfriend. That night after the legion leaves Jason takes Piper to the top of Cabin One where there is a secret passage to the roof. While on the roof they kiss.
Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes
Right after finishing his narration of this book, Percy reveals that after the events of The Blood of Olympus, he, Piper, and the rest of the Seven started the tradition of monthly Argo II reunion parties, and he is quite worried about being late to the current one.
Between the Series
Several days after the deaths of Gaea and Leo, a parchment scroll with a holographic message, sent from the resurrected Leo, came fluttering into Camp Half-Blood on the wind. Piper and Jason, while angry at Leo for his long absence, are extremely relieved to learn that he is alive, and both of them spend most of September searching for Leo, Festus, and Calypso.
Eventually, however, Chiron persuades them to resume their school year, and so Piper and Jason depart to a school in Los Angeles (where her father Tristan McLean now lives), taking Gleeson Hedge, Mellie, and Chuck along with them.
The Trials of Apollo
The Hidden Oracle
Piper is not present at Camp Half-Blood when the depowered Apollo and Meg McCaffrey arrive, so Nico di Angelo explains where she and the rest of the Seven are now, while showing Leo's holographic message. In the story, it is noted that Jason and Piper are together in Los Angeles, studying after an unsuccessful search for Leo.
The Dark Prophecy
Leo mentions Piper when commenting on Emmie's tofu enchiladas. Lityerses mentioned her when confronting Apollo and Calypso at the Indianapolis Zoo.
Personality
Piper McLean a calm, but rebellious spirit. Always loyal and protective of her friends. She is not afraid to stand up for her family and friends. Piper has always followed her heart and her guts, which does her well in Blood of Olympus. Piper is also a leader, as she is counsler of Aphrodite cabin. Her disagreement with the rite of passage and Drew's tortures on her siblings show that, unlike most of Aphrodite kids, she doesn't care about looks as much as the personality and shows children of Aphrodite aren't cowards and gossip-aholics. She stands for her believes and fights to right the wrongs in her cabin.
Piper is very caring and loving towards her boyfriend Jason and is frightened, sad and angry at anything that may pose a threat to her bond with him, such as when Drew claims that Piper needs to break his heart as an initiation into the cabin. She is greatly saddened by the possibility that her first relationship with Jason was a Mist-induced illusion and breaks down in tears when Annabeth asks her what Jason's last name is (which she doesn't know). She also likes to touch Jason in very kind and loving ways such as holding his hand, leaning against his chest, resting her head on his leg, wrapping her arms around him and having his arms around her, probably since they were together in her Mist-manipulated memories. These memories are much sharper to Piper because she is a daughter of Aphrodite, so she can sense possibilities. She also seems to have a soft spot for her friend Leo Valdez.
Compared to the other children of Aphrodite, Piper is much more aggressive and down to earth, not constantly focused on herself or her looks. She has a funny sense of humor, and laid-back most of the time. When claimed by Aphrodite, she complains that she can't get rid of her makeup or her new hairstyle and finds it to be annoying to say the least. Before she was claimed by Aphrodite, Piper expressed that she wanted to be the daughter of Athena, Hecate or any goddess that wasn't Aphrodite, and she also thought Aphrodite cabin had been a "life-sized dollhouse" where supermodels went to die, and when she was claimed, she didn't fit in at all, and still doesn't. Rachel, the Oracle of Delphi, thinks even Annabeth wants Piper to be a child of Athena. Aphrodite herself also said that she was much smarter than most of her other children. Piper hates make-up, skirts, magazines, dresses and popular girls. She said that if she started a craving for fashion magazines, she would complain to her mother. She also has no care of her looks at all.
Piper also does not like it when Drew bullies the other Aphrodite children. She feels that Drew is running her cabin like a dictatorship and she doesn't truly understand what love is. Piper is not afraid to stand up to Drew, and because they can both use the charmspeak ability, Drew cannot control her like she does with the other campers. After Piper returns from her quest, she challenges Drew for her position as cabin leader because Drew has never been on a quest and thus, Piper is able to take the leadership role. At the end of The Blood of Olympus, Drew seems to not mind Piper's position of leadership as she can spend more time gossiping and doing in-cabin makeovers.
She appears to be more perceptive of others' feelings compared to the rest of the members of the Argo II. Out of the seven demigods, Piper is the most compassionate and understanding one.
Like everybody on the Argo II, she had an insecurity with her own identity. As seen in The House of Hades, hers appeared to be that she felt useless and not a hero at all without her friends. This was exploited by Khione as she attacked the ship. Though those thoughts have likely stopped after she found confidence during that same confrontation.
Appearance
Piper is described to be a very beautiful girl of Native American (Cherokee) descent, with dark tanned skin, chocolate-brown hair that is cut choppy and unevenly, with thin strands braided down on the sides, usually breaded with a feather, and beautiful eyes that seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope, going from brown to blue to green. Her beauty is such, that she drew attention even when trying not to do so. Jason, her boyfriend, also mentioned that he could stare all day into her eyes and not be able to figure out what color they were. Before she was claimed by Aphrodite, she seemed to have facial imperfections such as pimples, namely one at the base of her nose, which had been there for quite a while, though they appeared to have permanently vanished after the claiming, even after the blessing faded a few days later.
After Piper was claimed and subsequently blessed in The Lost Hero, however, she for a time became the most gorgeous girl in Camp Half-Blood: her hair became lush and long, braided with gold ribbons down one side, so it fell across her shoulder. She also wore perfect makeup that made her lips cherry-red and brought out all the different colors in her eyes. Though this blessing of Aphrodite eventually faded after a few days. In The Blood of Olympus, when she uses her Charmspeak to its full potential, her smile becomes "so warm it would’ve melted a Boread", according to Leo.
After being claimed, Jason Grace says "Beautiful. Piper, you're a knockout." in front of the whole camp, but confesses she looks better in her snowboarding jacket and without make up on.
Despite her stunning beauty and her parentage, Piper is described as having a relatively simple, tomboyish style most of the time.
Abilities
- ADHD: Like most demigods, Piper possesses inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that she uses to analyze the fighting style of her opponent.
- Dyslexia: Piper's brain is hard-wired for reading Ancient Greek instead of modern languages.
- Fighting Skills: Even before she had any real training in Lost Hero, Piper had shown that she was quite a decent knife fighter as she defeated dozens of Earthborn and monsters. In The House of Hades, Hazel starts to teach Piper to fight with a sword. By The Blood of Olympus, her skills improved to the point that she single-handedly defeated an entire flock of "demon chicken ladies" while on guard duty, implying that Piper is a prodigy swordswoman. During the final battle with the Giants, Piper held her own against the Giantess Periboia, in an intense fencing duel, and ultimately defeated her with Aphrodite's help. Piper had also held her own to the giant, Mimas, and finally defeated him with godly help.
- Knowledge of Greek Mythology: As seen in The Lost Hero, Piper knows a lot about Greek mythology, after doing research on the subject for a role her father had.
- Singing: While Piper's father had always told her that she has a good singing voice, she was too self-conscious and shy about ever singing in front of anyone, not even participating in campfire sing-alongs. However, when Piper finally does sing in front of her friends and Kekrops in The Blood of Olympus, her words "filled the mess hall", greatly impressing Jason and Leo. Piper can also weave Charmspeak into her singing
- Superhuman Strength : Being a demigod, Piper is stronger than the average human. She had shown this when she easily threw a fifty-pound shield at Medea, making the latter topple on a table full of potions.
- Superhuman Agility : Being a demigod, Piper is shown to be more agile than the average mortal as shown as she was able to weave herself through a thick group of giants, to haul herself up to Achelous neck, and many other impossible feats.
- Superhuman Durability : Being a demigod, Piper is more durable than a regular human as shown as she fell dozens of feet from the sky and only had a broken ankle, a heavy sandbag fell on her shoulder, but managed to shake it off.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Being a demigod, Piper's reflexes is greater than the average mortal. This was shown when she dodged an ax thrown by the giant, Mimas, even when she didn't see it.
- Surfing : Piper used be very poor at surfing, but as she noted that she promised to teach Annabeth and Hazel surfing, may indicate she gotten better.
- Willpower: Piper has shown that she has a massive level of willpower. This was shown when she resisted charmspeak from both Drew and Medea.
Aphrodite, her mother.
- Amokinesis: As a daughter of Aphrodite, Piper has some control over many degrees of love, lust, beauty, and etc., though on a much smaller scale than her mother.
- In The House of Hades, Piper's powers may have increased, when she uses the power of love to melt Khione's ice and permanently start up Festus. However, it may be just a new-found understanding of her abilities.
- Emotion Reading: As a daughter of Aphrodite, Piper is extremely good at reading people's emotions. In Lost Hero, she was able to read the expressions on Annabeth and Chiron faces, and translate it to a real conversation, without really knowing how she did it.
- Charmspeak: She has the gift of charmspeak, allowing her to influence others with enhanced vocal persuasiveness, an ability of hers that that gradually becomes more and more powerful as the series progresses. It can even affect some of the gods. As of the The House of Hades, Piper's skill with charmspeak has improved to the point that she was even able to awaken Festus after finally gaining an understanding of the ability. In The Blood of Olympus, she uses her charmspeak to make a fully-powered Gaea herself fall back to her slumber, though she states it wouldn't have lasted long, had Leo and Octavian not succeeded in destroying her slumbering body.
- Beauty: Piper is able to radiate beauty, regardless of how she may look. This ability sometimes prevents enemy forces from willingly attacking her, even as she charges them head-on.
- She can attract the opposite gender when she walks by.
- She may have the ability to change her physical features, as Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. This can be seen when Jason mentions that her eyes "constantly change color, like a kaleidoscope going from brown to blue to green."
- French fluency: As a child of Aphrodite, Piper is noted in The Lost Hero to be able to speak French fluently due to it being the "language of love."
Weapons/Items
- Katoptris: Piper is the wielder of an Ancient Greek ceremonial dagger called Katoptris. It was given to Helen of Troy as a wedding gift from Menelaus, Helen's first husband. The dagger seems to show a scene of something that has importance to whoever looks at their reflection in the blade. Katoptris is a Greek word meaning "looking glass." In The Blood of Olympus, after Gaea and the Giants' defeat, the dagger's visions have stopped completely, and Piper subsequently locks it in her hope chest in Aphrodite's Cabin.
- Horn of Plenty: In The Mark of Athena, Piper receives the Horn of Plenty after cutting off the horn of the River god Achelous. It allows her summon food and water if she has enough will and concentration. It powers also seem to increase if multiple people focus at the same time. In The Blood of Olympus, her Horn is sacrificed to Deimos and Phobos, the twin gods of fear and terror.
- Sword: In The House of Hades, Piper also picks up Zethes’s sword after he was defeated, and Hazel starts to teach her how to use it. But it was lost in The Blood of Olympus
Relationships
Love Interests
Jason Grace
Jason Grace, her boyfriend.
Piper's love interest is Jason Grace. This first happened under the influence of the Mist (Hera/Juno placed false memories) but soon more pronounced feeling blossomed from both of them over the course of Jason's quest. She announces to the Aphrodite cabin that Jason is hers alone and that no one else should dare pursue his affections. Piper said she would catapult Drew over the Long Island Sound if she touched Jason. She stated that for now, she was content in simply being at his side. She could see possibilities with her having a true relationship with Jason. However, she is unaware that Jason is starting to remember a girl named Reyna, someone that Jason feels is very important but can't remember why. In The Son of Neptune, Reyna exposes a strong relationship or feeling for Jason, suggesting a rivalry between the two might occur. In The Demigod Diaries, Leo also remarks Jason and Piper are dating, showing that they seemed to have finally gotten together. They even share a kiss when they are battling the maenads in the woods of Camp Half-Blood. In The Mark of Athena, Annabeth states that Jason and Piper are dating confirming their relationship has continued for the past six months. Piper becomes somewhat jealous every time Jason mentions Reyna, but their relationship remains intact. In The Blood of Olympus, Jason admits that while dating the daughter of the goddess of love, he is always afraid of doing something unromantic and angering her mother.
At the end of The Blood of Olympus, he kisses her passionately under the stars. He reminds her of their first kiss, which was really just a trick of the Mist, but has now finally come true. He tells her that they're starting over, and that was their first kiss. They then rest there, and Piper says that, for once, she feels like it is it possible to start over.
Rivals
Reyna, her former rival and good friend.
When Piper first met Reyna in The Mark of Athena, she initially prepared to hate her for liking Jason, but came to admire her for not showing her feelings at all, having total control of herself, and acting silently considerate. She is constantly afraid that Jason still has feelings for her, although Jason claims he never did have romantic feelings for Reyna, even in his 'previous' life. Reyna was unpleasantly surprised, and additionally jealous of Piper when Jason introduced Piper as his girlfriend. Annabeth mentioned that Reyna was trying to hide her pain and anger inside when talking with her. Piper was also uneasy when Jason asked Piper to talk to Reyna and when he talked about his and Reyna's quest together. Jason seemed entirely oblivious to both.
During The Blood of Olympus, however, the two grow closer, as Reyna begins to address Piper, not Jason (having successfully moved on from her feelings for the son of Jupiter). The two, along with Annabeth and Hazel, become inseparable, as they help the camps get along after Gaea's defeat. The three other girls valued Piper's skills as a go-between to smooth over any conflicts. Shortly before leaving Camp Half-Blood, Reyna speaks to Piper, asking her about something the latter's mother, Aphrodite had once told her in Charleston, about no demigod ever being destined to "heal her heart", something that Reyna had never spoken about to anyone before. Piper cheers her up, saying that it need not be a demigod that heals Reyna's heart, hinting at the possibility of her future soul mate being a mortal or a legacy instead, and in the meantime, promises to always be there for Reyna as a friend. Reyna says that Piper has a way with words, even without Charmspeak, they shake hands, with Reyna claiming that she has a feeling that they'll meet again soon.Drew and Piper dislike each other from the get-go, because they both like Jason, Piper's current boyfriend. Drew flirted with Jason constantly during The Lost Hero, making Piper jealous. Piper also disliked Drew as head of the Aphrodite cabin, for being cruel to Piper and her cabinmates, and for supporting things that were unkind. Drew, on her part, is unimpressed and harshly critical of Piper's tomboyish style, and is horrified after Aphrodite claims the latter shortly thereafter. At the end of The Lost Hero, Piper challenges Drew to a fight to become head of the Aphrodite cabin. Out of fear, Drew steps down anyway. By The Blood of Olympus, however, Drew seems to not mind Piper's position of leadership, as she can spend more time gossiping and doing in-cabin makeovers as a result.
Friends
Leo, one of Piper's best friends.
Piper and Leo have been friends for a long time, meeting at the Wilderness School shortly before The Lost Hero. Piper trusts him enough to tell him the truth about her father, Tristan McLean, who is a famous movie star. Leo knows enough about her to know that she doesn't like when people fight her battles for her. When he was given fake memories by the Mist about Jason Grace, he had feelings of become a third wheel to Jason and Piper, something that begins to happen again when Jason and Piper start getting close all over again. Despite Piper being very beautiful, Leo never flirts with her or asks her out, acting more like a brother who looks out for her. In The Mark of Athena, Piper gives him a sisterly kiss on the cheek after he returns safe and sound from Camp Fish-Blood, showing that she really does care for him, even if the two sometimes tease each other. She also isn't upset at Leo for shooting down on Camp Jupiter, and sticks up for him, since she claims that Leo for her is "like the annoying little brother [she] never had", promising to always stick up for him. In The House of Hades, when Leo returns from Calypso's island, Piper is one of the first ones to hug and kiss him, showing a very strong friendship between them. Leo was also the one of the first to praise Piper's unexpectedly beautiful singing in The Blood of Olympus.
After Leo's death in The Blood of Olympus, Piper is devastated, and several days later, she and Jason do their best to remember all of the cheerful memories associated with Leo and stay up all night on the roof of Cabin 1 in the process. Part of her is still hopeful that Leo has somehow survived, despite all odds.
Piper and Leo's back-story is a rare one, since they are the only two known demigods who meet and befriended each other before they even knew they were demigods.
Percy, one of Piper's good friends.
Piper states that when she initially met Percy Jackson, she was initially not overly impressed by him when compared to boyfriend Jason Grace, however she seems to have gained more appreciation for him over time. Their relationship is not shown in depth in The Mark of Athena, which simply implies that Piper sees kinship with all the members of the Prophecy of the Seven. Piper and Percy get along reasonably well, with Piper technically saving his life twice (as well as Jason's). The instances are charmspeaking Jason and Percy into not killing each other and Piper, Jason, and Percy combining their powers into Piper's Horn of Plenty to save them in tainted waters when Jason and Percy's powers where useless. She seems to think he is a bit reckless and rebellious but has no complaints having either Jason or Percy being the "leader" of the Prophecy of the Seven. Later she admits she feels guilty for letting Blackjack knock Percy on the head. She also seems worried when Percy almost drowns in the tainted water along with her and Jason. She is shown to trust him enough to use her Katroptris just because he asked her to despite her overall reluctance in ever using it. She once notices that he smells like the ocean. Percy is shown to trust Piper enough to use his life-force along with hers and Jason's on the Horn of Plenty despite his concerns of the water killing them faster.
In The Blood of Olympus, Piper notes that Percy can be scary many times, even when he doesn't want to, and wonders what could he do If he actually wants to be intimidating. She later witnesses Percy and Annabeth kiss in Greece, and she approves of Percy, confirming that he is indeed a great boyfriend for her friend Annabeth.
Annabeth, one of Piper's best friends.
Hazel, one of Piper's best friends
Piper and Hazel first meet in The Mark of Athena, and seemed to be on good terms. Hazel encouraged Piper to coerce the Eidolons to leave, and Piper comforted Hazel after Jason and Leo accidentally insulted her by questioning Nico's loyalties.
In The House of Hades, both are the only girls left on board the Argo II, which allows them to bond and become good friends. Hazel would constantly train Piper in swordsmanship (with great success), while Piper would attempt to help Hazel control the Mist by telling her about Charmspeak. They also enjoy laughing about the bad habits of the boys, and had a number of good private talks, while also sharing tears about Annabeth. Both of them also rush to hug Leo right after he returns from Ogygia.
Hazel is impressed at how skilled a swordsperson Piper has become by The Blood of Olympus. In The Blood of Olympus, Piper stated if it wasn't for her being a demigod she wouldn't have "met her two best friends Hazel and Annabeth Chase". At Leo's insistence, Hazel doesn't reveal his suicidal plan to Piper, and magically tricks the latter into believing that she has the actual Physician's Cure. After Leo's death, Hazel breaks down crying and reveals the truth to Piper, who initially looks furious, but her rage quickly dissipates by the time Hazel is done explaining, since Piper admits that staying mad at her was hard when Hazel was crying, and the plan sounded like the exact thing that Leo would have done. In the several days after that, Piper and Hazel, along with Annabeth and Reyna become inseparable, as they help the camps get along after Gaea's defeat. The three other girls valued Piper's skills as a go-between to smooth over any conflicts. The evening after Hazel leaves, Piper already misses her, claiming that the camp now feels somewhat empty without her and the other Romans.
As mentioned in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Hazel and Piper have remained in contact during the year after Gaea and the Giants' defeat, with both of them attending monthly Argo II reunion parties.
Frank, a good friend of Piper.
Piper and Frank first meet in The Mark of Athena, and though not much interaction between them was seen, they seem to be on good terms. During the battle with Gaea's forces in The House of Hades, Piper is very impressed at Frank's fighting under Mars' Blessing, and calls it "completely terrifying, but amazing."
In The Blood of Olympus, Piper and Frank go to Pylos, in order to meet the latter's distant relatives. She admits to liking the fact that he has remained sweet and soft-spoken after his transformation, since he would have otherwise been a scary guy. She comforts Frank after the latter's relatives treat him coldly, claiming that they must be idiots, if they're unable to see how great of a person Frank is. Overall, Piper can't help liking him, since he was a kind and considerate boyfriend for Hazel,and was also the one to step up and take Jason's place as Praetor, taking a huge responsibility off of her boyfriend's shoulders, leaving him free to spend more time with Piper. At Leo's insistence, Frank doesn't reveal his suicidal plan to Piper. After Leo's death, Frank breaks down crying and reveals the truth to Piper, who initially looks furious, but her rage quickly dissipates by the time Frank is done explaining, since she admits that staying mad at him was hard when Frank was crying, and the plan sounded like exact thing that Leo would have done. The evening after Frank leaves, Piper already misses him, claiming that the camp now feels somewhat empty without him and the other Romans.
As mentioned in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Frank and Piper have remained in contact during the year after Gaea and the Giants' defeat, with both of them attending monthly Argo II reunion parties.
Nico, an ally of Piper.
Nico and Piper first meet in The Mark of Athena, after he is rescued. Though no formal interaction is seen between them at that point, Nico is definitely thankful to Piper for personally dragging him to safety after he fell out of the Bronze Jar during Jason and Percy's battle with the Giant twins. Like her friends, Piper is very much intimidated by the gloomy son of Hades, though she seems to try to be friendly with him throughout The House of Hades, making sure that he's all right when Nico suddenly staggers inside of the Necromanteion. Though they aren't close, Piper goes out of her way to personally ask Zeus about Nico's well-being after the Giants' defeat in The Blood of Olympus, hoping that he, Reyna, and Hedge are alive and all right after the completion of their dangerous quest to Camp Half-Blood.
Nico, on his part, despite his brooding and gloomy exterior, did in fact greatly appreciate Piper's prominent role in saving him in Rome, and the fact that she and the others welcomed him aboard their ship. While Nico had never up to that point allowed himself the luxury of friends (due to his immense fear of somehow exposing his homosexuality), he feels like the crew of the Argo II was as close as he'd ever come, so even though he wasn't particularly close with any of them, the idea of any one of them (including Piper) dying (as his father Hades had predicted would imminently happen) made Nico feel empty — like he was back in the Giants' Bronze Jar, alone in the dark, subsisting only on sour pomegranate seeds.
Interestingly, several things that both Nico and Piper have in common are them both fluently speaking a Romance language (Italian and French respectively), both of them having a close relationship with Hazel, and both of them finally becoming close friends with Reyna near the end of the series, with the latter sharing secrets with them that she'd never told anyone about before.Family
| “ | Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they’d be all bowing down to her and screaming, ‘We’re not worthy!’ | ” |
–Leo about Piper's dad, in ‘‘The Lost Hero’’ | ||
Aphrodite, Piper's mother.
Piper also had a grandfather called Grandpa Tom He was the one who named Piper. He named her that because she had a loud, strong voice.
Lacy is a young girl in the Aphrodite cabin. She helps Piper by building up a collection of clothes for Piper before she leaves on her quest. She is exuberant when Piper takes Drew's place at the end of The Lost Hero.
Another cabin-mate of Piper. He also helped Piper when she first arrived, and not in trouble with Drew after saying that Piper didn't seem so bad at all. Mitchell, like Lacy was exuberant when Piper took over the cabin from Drew at the end of the The Lost Hero.
Etymology
Piper is an Old English name meaning "pipe player," a possible reference to her ability to charmspeak and the story of the pied piper. According to her Grandpa Tom, he named her that as she had high vocal voice when she was a baby, also saying that one day she was going to play the biggest tune of them all. Piper is also a synonym for a squab, particularly that of a dove or pigeon. Interestingly Piper's mother is called "Lady of Doves."
McLean is a Scottish or Irish surname that is a variant of the name "McLain", which is rooted in the Gaelic "Mac Gille Eáin" meaning "son of the servant of John".
Trivia
- She got her name because her grandfather thought she would one day master all the Cherokee songs, including the snake song. Her father liked the idea and named her Piper.
- Percy, Piper, and Annabeth are the only demigods of the Seven whose mortal parents are alive.
- She sometimes calls Jason "Sparky."
- Piper was the first Head Counselor to be promoted, who had other siblings, in less than five days. She is also the first half-blood in both series to challenge another for the right to become Head Counselor.
- Piper is a vegetarian.
- Her cornucopia is able to channel her emotions and depending on their power, spill out more or less food.
- Piper dislikes the term half-blood due to her being called one for years, as other kids made fun of her for being half-Native American and half-white.
- Piper's role in The Lost Hero is vaguely similar to Hazel's in The Son of Neptune, as they both have a crush on a member of the quest, as well as possessing a dark secret. However, Piper is much more open about her crush than Hazel.
- There is somewhat an inconsistency in Piper's clothing in the American cover of The Lost Hero. She appears to still be wearing the dress Aphrodite gave her when she was claimed while she already changed it prior to riding Festus and going to Boreas castle in Quebec.[1]
- Unlike the rest of Aphrodite’s (known) daughters, Piper is a tomboy.
- It is thought that her charmspeak saved Jason's life when he saw Hera's divine form. The actual reason this worked, though, was that Thanatos (Death) was chained at the time. This was revealed in The Son of Neptune.
- She is called the "Mediator", by her mother Aphrodite, for when the two sides of demigods, Greek and Roman, will meet, she will have to mediate them, since she has the ability of charmspeak.
- She is the only one of the new main characters to have her mortal parent still alive.
- She is also the only new main character with a mortal father.
- Drew calls her the Dumpster Queen (for her lack of form and her simple clothes, the very things Jason likes about her) and Miss Movie Star (for when she says her father is Tristan McLean).
- At one point, she was interested in being a Hunter of Artemis, but she lost all interest after learning she'd have to swear off boys.
- Before receiving the blessing of Aphrodite, Piper had a pimple on the base of her nose that had been there for so long, she began to call it Bob. However, Bob disappears after her claiming.
- In her official portrait, an image of Enceladus is reflected in her dagger.
- Piper's first chapter in The Lost Hero is the first time in both series we don't hear from a child of the Big Three.
- Also, Piper is the first girl to have a point of view in either series.
- Piper is the only character whose face you can't see clearly in her official portrait, as she is shown from the back. You can see part of her face in her knife however.
- In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods when he is reflecting on a story, he mentions that he now understands what made Piper a vegetarian.
References
- ↑ The Lost Hero, pg. 183