The Prophecy of Seven is the main focus of The Heroes of Olympus series. It is also the first prophecy spoken by Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and is considered the next great prophecy after the completion of the first by Percy Jackson.
History
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
After the events of the Second Olympian War and Kronos' defeat at the hands of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, the Great Prophecy had been fulfilled. Rachel Elizabeth Dare used Blackjack to fly to Camp Half-Blood, where she took on the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi. Shortly after the spirit settled into Rachel's body, Rachel collapsed and soon began to speak a new prophecy which would later be known as the Prophecy of Seven. While a few of the campers tried to figure out the meaning of the prophecy, Apollo said that it may not even come true in their lifetimes as the first great prophecy took almost seventy years to complete.
The Heroes of Olympus
The Prophecy of Seven had also been known for some time by the Romans. The prophecy was kept in the Sibylline Books, a collection of prophecies that detailed every major event in Roman history. The books however were lost in a fire and only a few prophecies were saved from the flames, including the Prophecy of Seven. The prophecy was handed down through the years as the Twelfth Legion followed Western Civilization and recruited Roman demigods to the Legion for training. The Prophecy of Seven was then engraved, along with many other prophecies, on the floor of the Temple of Jupiter.
During the 1980s a demigod by the name of Michael Varus thought he could fulfill the Prophecy of Seven against the advice of the current augur. However, wanting glory he lead the Fifth Cohort north to Alaska in hopes of finding the true meaning of the prophecy. The cohort was completely wiped out by Alcyoneus and the Twelfth Legion's Eagle was lost, bringing shame to Fifth Cohort. From then on, the prophecy laid ignored on the floor of the Temple of Jupiter for almost twenty years.
However, knowing that Gaea would soon awaken and wage war against the gods, Hera/Juno began to visit the seven mentioned in the prophecy, preparing them for the day that they would have to face it. She watched over Leo Valdez as his baby sitter for many years. She also saved Frank Zhang's life by telling his mother and grandmother about how his life was dependent on a burned log in the fire. She took Jason Grace away from his family when he was two to be trained by Lupa in order to one day make it to Camp Jupiter.
Before Hera was eventually captured by Khione and Gaea, she sent Jason Grace to the Wilderness School without his memory. There, Jason met Piper McLean and Leo Valdez and the three were taken to Camp Half-Blood. At the same time, Hera had also taken Percy Jackson and placed him in a deep sleep until the time was right for him to arrive at Camp Jupiter. With Jason earning the trust of the Greek demigods and Percy eventually becoming one of the leaders of Camp Jupiter, Hera hoped the two groups could work together and stop Gaea's rise, as well as her children, the Gigantes.
After Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, fulfilled the first prophecy, his friend Rachel, the new Oracle, gave the next Great Prophecy:
To storm or fire, the world must fall
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death
The Prophecy's Progress
The Second Great Prophecy has not been fulfilled yet; information will be updated as it becomes available, but speculation will be removed.
- This line refers to the seven demigods that will rise to the task of trying to defeat the Gigantes. All of the Seven have been identified (See below).
- While it is currently unknown what the true meaning of this line is, Leo Valdez wonders if the line is referring to him, Jason, or Percy. Leo has pyrokinesis (control over fire), Jason has some power over the skies being a son of Jupiter, and Percy can also create storms through hydrokinesis (control over water). The second part of this line's meaning is unknown, but Piper suspects that the world could be Gaea, as Gaea is the Greek word for Earth (the world). However she fears that only one will defeat Gaea and the other will die, possibly in connection to the next line in the prophecy.
- This line has not been explained in The Heroes of Olympus. During The Mark of Athena however, Piper mentions becoming scared any time Jason makes a promise, fearing that it could become the oath of the prophecy. She also wonders in The House of Hades if Jason or Leo will die in combination with the previous line. This oath may be referring to the oath that Leo swore on the River Styx that he would return to Ogygia to take Calypso away with him.
- In order to close the Doors of Death, the Titan Iapetus and the two demigods, Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, all meet at the doors in order to close them. However Tartarus appears before them to prevent them from escaping and he succeeds until the Gigantes Damasen appears and fights his father. The combination of Gigantes, Titans, and demigods, who are normally enemies, fighting a common foe allows the demigods to escape Tartarus and seal the Doors of Death. It is now believed that they have, in doing this, fulfilled the final line of the prophecy.
The Seven
The Seven, as officially announced in The Demigod Diaries:
The first three demigods of the Prophecy of Seven
- Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon
- Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena
- Jason Grace, son of Jupiter
- Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus
- Frank Zhang, son of Mars and legacy of Poseidon
- Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite
- Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto
Trivia
- The seven demigods needed to stop Gaea from using her Giant children to destroy the Olympians in Greece to destroy the world.