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116-566: The Lightning Thief is a 2005 American fantasy - adventure novel based on Greek mythology , the first children's novel by Rick Riordan . The opening installment in the series Percy Jackson & the Olympians , the book was recognized among the year's best for children. Riordan followed the novel with various books and spin-off series, spawning the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles media franchise. A film adaptation of
232-562: A zombie apocalypse unless his helm is returned. When Percy finds the missing master bolt inside Ares's backpack, the group realizes they've all been manipulated by Ares. After they narrowly escape the Underworld , Percy meets Ares again on the beach and challenges him to a duel. After a long and tough fight, Percy wins, and he gives the Helm of Darkness to the Furies. Hades realizes that Percy
348-423: A brain wired to read ancient Greek rather than English. After Riordan finished telling the story his son asked that his dad write a book based on Percy's adventures, and he did. While he gave his manuscript to his agent and editor to review, Riordan took his book to a group of middle schoolers to critique. With their help, he came up with the name of the book and invented Percy's magic sword. Riordan first sent out
464-532: A central theme being the mistreatment of the poor by the rich during festival-time. In the dialogue, Cronus rejects the Hesiodic tradition of him eating his children and then being overthrown, and instead claims that he peacefully abdicated the throne in favour of his youngest son Zeus, although he still resumes rulership for seven days each year (his festival) in order to remind humanity of the plenteous, toil-free and luxuriant life they enjoyed under his reign before
580-487: A chapter of his book English Prose Style (1928) to discussing "Fantasy" as an aspect of literature, arguing it was unjustly considered suitable only for children: "The Western World does not seem to have conceived the necessity of Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups". In 1938, with the publication of The Sword in the Stone , T. H. White introduced one of the most notable works of comic fantasy . The first major contribution to
696-421: A company of Curetes , armored male dancers, shouted and clapped their hands to make enough noise to mask the baby's cries from Cronus. Other versions of the myth have Zeus raised by the nymph Adamanthea , who hid Zeus by dangling him by a rope from a tree so that he was suspended between the earth, the sea, and the sky, all of which were ruled by his father, Cronus. Still, other versions of the tale say that Zeus
812-493: A creature capable of dethroning Zeus. Hera did so, and thus Typhon came to be. Cronus was said to be the father of the wise centaur Chiron by the Oceanid Philyra , who was subsequently transformed into a linden tree. The god consorted with the nymph, but his wife Rhea walked on them unexpectedly; in order to escape being caught in bed with another, Cronus changed into the shape of a stallion and galloped away, hence
928-480: A fellow English professor with a similar array of interests, also helped to publicize the fantasy genre. Tove Jansson , author of The Moomins , was also a strong contributor to the popularity of fantasy literature in the field of children and adults. The tradition established by these predecessors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has continued to thrive and be adapted by new authors. The influence of J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction has—particularly over
1044-498: A flash of light. Percy kills the beast with one of its own horns. He learns that the camp is called Camp Half-Blood and that he is a demigod : the son of a human and a Greek god . He settles into camp life and meets several other demigods, including Luke and Annabeth . After a hellhound attacks him during a game of Capture the Flag, he is saved by Chiron and then claimed by his father, the god Poseidon . Chiron explains to Percy how
1160-477: A free path. RV 6 .47.4 varṣmāṇaṃ divo akṛṇod he cut [> created] the loftiness of the sky. This may point to an older Indo-European mytheme reconstructed as *(s)kert wersmn diwos "by means of a cut he created the loftiness of the sky". The myth of Cronus castrating Uranus parallels the Song of Kumarbi , where Anu (the heavens) is castrated by Kumarbi . In the Song of Ullikummi , Teshub uses
1276-581: A quite similar position in Egyptian mythology as the father of the gods Osiris , Isis , Seth and Nephthys as Cronus did in the Greek pantheon. This equation is particularly well attested in Tebtunis in the southern Fayyum : Geb and Cronus were here part of a local version of the cult of Sobek , the crocodile god. The equation was shown on the one hand in the local iconography of the gods, in which Geb
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#17327917917061392-516: Is based on older oral traditions, including "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine". It was influential in Europe and the Middle East . It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science . Talking animals endowed with human qualities have now become a staple of modern fantasy. The Baital Pachisi ( Vikram and
1508-625: Is mentioned in the Sibylline Oracles , particularly in book three, wherein Cronus, 'Titan,' and Iapetus , the three sons of Uranus and Gaia, each receive a third of the Earth, and Cronus is made king overall. After the death of Uranus, Titan's sons attempt to destroy Cronus's and Rhea's male offspring as soon as they are born. However, at Dodona , Rhea secretly bears her sons Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades and sends them to Phrygia to be raised in
1624-447: Is not the thief of the helm nor the master bolt and returns Sally home. Percy takes the master bolt back to Zeus on Mount Olympus and also meets his father, Poseidon, there. Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood as a hero and enjoys the rest of his summer. On the last day of camp, however, he goes into the woods with Luke, who reveals himself as the real thief of Hades's Helm and Zeus's bolt, following Kronos's orders. Kronos had manipulated
1740-618: Is related to "horned", assuming a Semitic derivation from qrn . Andrew Lang 's objection, that Cronus was never represented horned in Hellenic art, was addressed by Robert Brown, arguing that, in Semitic usage, as in the Hebrew Bible , qeren was a signifier of "power". When Greek writers encountered the Semitic deity El , they rendered his name as Cronus. When Hellenes encountered Phoenicians and, later, Hebrews, they identified
1856-462: Is that Rhea and Cronus were given names of streams: Rhea from ῥοή (rhoē) "river, stream, flux" and Cronus from χρόνος (chronos) "time". Proclus (5th century), the Neoplatonist philosopher, makes in his Commentary on Plato's Cratylus an extensive analysis of Cronus; among others he says that the "One cause" of all things is "Chronos" (time) that is also equivalent to Cronus. In addition to
1972-426: Is too bland or simplistic creates the impression that the fantasy setting is simply a modern world in disguise, and presents examples of clear, effective fantasy writing in brief excerpts from Tolkien and Evangeline Walton . Michael Moorcock observed that many writers use archaic language for its sonority and to lend color to a lifeless story. Brian Peters writes that in various forms of fairytale fantasy , even
2088-629: The Kalevala , they compiled existing folklore into an epic to match other nation's, and sometimes, as in The Poems of Ossian , they fabricated folklore that should have been there. These works, whether fairy tale, ballads, or folk epics, were a major source for later fantasy works. The Romantic interest in medievalism also resulted in a revival of interest in the literary fairy tale. The tradition begun with Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile and developed by Charles Perrault and
2204-456: The Age of Enlightenment . Many of Perrault's tales became fairy tale staples and were influential to later fantasy. When d'Aulnoy termed her works contes de fée (fairy tales), she invented the term that is now generally used for the genre, thus distinguishing such tales from those involving no marvels. This approach influenced later writers who took up the folk fairy tales in the same manner during
2320-534: The Elizabethan era in England , fantasy literature became extraordinarily popular and fueled populist and anti-authoritarian sentiment during the 1590s . Topics that were written about included " fairylands in which the sexes traded places [and] men and immortals mingl[ing]". Romanticism , a movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was a dramatic reaction to rationalism, challenging
2436-677: The Middle East has been influential in the West since it was translated from the Arabic into French in 1704 by Antoine Galland . Many imitations were written, especially in France. The Fornaldarsagas , Norse and Icelandic sagas , both of which are based on ancient oral tradition influenced the German Romantics, as well as William Morris , and J. R. R. Tolkien . The Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf has also had deep influence on
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#17327917917062552-498: The Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award in 2009. Scholastic Parent & Child magazine also included the novel within its 100 "Greatest Books for Kids." When asked about the various awards, Rick Riordan said: "The ultimate compliment for a children's writer is when the kids like it." In June 2004, 20th Century Fox acquired the feature film rights to the book. In April 2007, director Chris Columbus
2668-534: The Romantic era . Several fantasies aimed at an adult readership were also published in 18th century France, including Voltaire 's " contes philosophique " The Princess of Babylon (1768) and The White Bull (1774). This era, however, was notably hostile to fantasy. Writers of the new types of fiction such as Defoe , Richardson , and Fielding were realistic in style, and many early realistic works were critical of fantastical elements in fiction. However, in
2784-440: The supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy is considered a genre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these may overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were in written form , but since
2900-563: The "First Terrible Fate that Awaiteth Unwary Beginners in Fantasy", alluding to young writers attempting to write in Lord Dunsany's style. According to S. T. Joshi , "Dunsany's work had the effect of segregating fantasy—a mode whereby the author creates his own realm of pure imagination—from supernatural horror. From the foundations he established came the later work of E. R. Eddison , Mervyn Peake , and J. R. R. Tolkien. In Britain in
3016-480: The "sickle with which heaven and earth had once been separated" to defeat the monster Ullikummi , establishing that the "castration" of the heavens by means of a sickle was part of a creation myth , in origin a cut creating an opening or gap between heaven (imagined as a dome of stone ) and earth enabling the beginning of time ( chronos ) and human history. A theory debated in the 19th century, and sometimes still offered somewhat apologetically, holds that Κρόνος
3132-589: The 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films , television programs , graphic novels , video games , music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , the Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia , and The Hobbit . Stories involving magic and terrible monsters have existed in spoken forms before
3248-511: The Attic month of Hekatombaion , a festival called Kronia was held in honour of Cronus to celebrate the harvest, suggesting that, as a result of his association with the virtuous Golden Age, Cronus continued to preside as a patron of the harvest . Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity with the Roman deity Saturn . In an ancient myth recorded by Hesiod 's Theogony , Cronus envied
3364-772: The Best Books List, 2005. It was also in the VOYA Top Shelf Fiction List and was the winner of the Red House Children's Book Award Winner (UK), 2006; Askews Torchlight Award (UK), 2006; and the Mark Twain Award (Missouri Association of School Librarians), 2008. It was an American Library Association Notable Book, 2006 and a New York Times Notable Book (2005). It received the Young Reader's Choice Award in 2008 and
3480-637: The Blessed , having been released from Tartarus by Zeus. This version of Cronus's fate is also found in Pindar . In a fragment of an Orphic cosmogony, Zeus intoxicates Cronus with honey, sending him to sleep, and then castrates him. In a Libyan account related by Diodorus Siculus (Book 3), Uranus and Titaea were the parents of Cronus and Rhea and the other Titans. Ammon, a king of Libya , married Rhea (3.18.1). However, Rhea abandoned Ammon and married her younger brother Cronus. With Rhea's incitement, Cronus and
3596-762: The Cyclopes who gifted him his thunderbolts. In a vast war called the Titanomachy , Zeus and his older brothers and sisters, with the help of the Hecatoncheires and Cyclopes, overthrew Cronus and the other Titans. Afterwards, many of the Titans were confined in Tartarus . However, Oceanus , Helios , Atlas , Prometheus , Epimetheus , and Astraeus were not imprisoned following the Titanomachy. Gaia bore
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3712-622: The French précieuses was taken up by the German Romantic movement. The German author Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué created medieval-set stories such as Undine (1811) and Sintram and his Companions (1815), which would later inspire British writers such as George MacDonald and William Morris . E.T.A. Hoffmann 's tales, such as The Golden Pot (1814) and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) were notable additions to
3828-493: The Greeks considered Cronus merely an intermediary stage between Uranus and Zeus, he was a larger aspect of Roman religion . The Saturnalia was a festival dedicated in his honour, and at least one temple to Saturn already existed in the archaic Roman Kingdom . His association with the "Saturnian" Golden Age eventually caused him to become the god of "time", i.e., calendars, seasons, and harvests—not now confused with Chronos ,
3944-674: The Judaeo-Christian week is called in Latin Dies Saturni ("Day of Saturn"), which in turn was adapted and became the source of the English word Saturday . In astronomy , the planet Saturn is named after the Roman deity. It is the outermost of the Classical planets (the astronomical planets that are visible with the naked eye). In Greco-Roman Egypt, Cronus was equated with the Egyptian god Geb , because he held
4060-473: The Olympians took over. During antiquity, Cronus was occasionally interpreted as Chronos , the personification of time. The Roman philosopher Cicero (1st century BC) elaborated on this by saying that the Greek name Cronus is synonymous to chrónos (time) since he maintains the course and cycles of seasons and the periods of time, whereas the Latin name Saturn denotes that he is saturated with years since he
4176-514: The Semitic El , by interpretatio graeca , with Cronus. The association was recorded c. 100 AD by Philo of Byblos ' Phoenician history, as reported in Eusebius ' Præparatio Evangelica I.10.16. Philo's account, ascribed by Eusebius to the semi-legendary pre- Trojan War Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon , indicates that Cronus was originally a Canaanite ruler who founded Byblos and
4292-532: The Southwest Wind an irascible but kindly character similar to J.R.R. Tolkien 's later Gandalf . The history of modern fantasy literature began with George MacDonald, author of such novels as The Princess and the Goblin (1868) and Phantastes (1868), the latter of which is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel written for adults. MacDonald also wrote one of the first critical essays about
4408-450: The Titans", and in another poem (476 BC), Pindar has Cronus released from Tartarus and now ruling in the Isles of the Blessed , a mythical land where the Greek heroes reside in the afterlife: Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus's road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of
4524-701: The Vampire ), a collection of various fantasy tales set within a frame story is, according to Richard Francis Burton and Isabel Burton , "the germ which culminated in the Arabian Nights , and which also inspired the Golden Ass of Apuleius , (2nd century A.D). Boccaccio 's Decamerone (c.1353) the Pentamerone (1634, 1636) and all that class of facetious fictitious literature." The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) from
4640-534: The advent of printed literature. Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy) being the works of Homer (Greek) and Virgil (Roman). The philosophy of Plato has had great influence on the fantasy genre. In the Christian Platonic tradition, the reality of other worlds, and an overarching structure of great metaphysical and moral importance, has lent substance to
4756-529: The aftermath of World War I, a notably large number of fantasy books aimed at an adult readership were published, including Living Alone (1919) by Stella Benson , A Voyage to Arcturus (1920) by David Lindsay , Lady into Fox (1922) by David Garnett , Lud-in-the-Mist (1926) by Hope Mirrlees , and Lolly Willowes (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner . E. R. Eddison was another influential writer who wrote during this era. He drew inspiration from Northern sagas, as Morris did, but his prose style
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4872-438: The audio book saying "Although some of Jesse Bernstein's accents fail (the monster from Georgia, for instance, has no Southern trace in her voice), he does a fine job of keeping the main character's tones and accents distinguishable". The Lightning Thief was published as a graphic novel on October 12, 2010. It consists of 128 pages with cover art by Attila Futaki and Jose Villarrubia. A one-hour musical aimed at young audiences
4988-419: The blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others. With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of Rhadamanthys , whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner. Prometheus Lyomenos ( Prometheus Unbound ), an undated lost play by
5104-599: The book was theatrically released in the United States on February 12, 2010. The Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians adapted The Lightning Thief in its first season, which ran from December 19, 2023 to January 30, 2024. Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old boy with dyslexia and ADHD living in New York City . While on a school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , one of
5220-550: The book was "[a]n adventure-quest with a hip edge" and that "[r]eaders will be eager to follow the young protagonist's next move". Kirkus Reviews reviews said, "The sardonic tone of the narrator's voice lends a refreshing air of realism to this riotously paced quest tale of heroism that questions the realities of our world, family, friendship and loyalty." Eoin Colfer , author of Artemis Fowl called it "A fantastic blend of myth and modern". Finally, Publishers Weekly also praised
5336-577: The book, regarding it as "swift and humorous" and added that the book would "leave many readers eager for the next installment." On April 8, 2007, The Lightning Thief was ranked ninth on The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books. The Lightning Thief was the winner of the School Library Journal Best Book of 2005 as well as one of the books in the Chicago Public Library Best of
5452-432: The canon of German fantasy. Ludwig Tieck 's collection Phantasus (1812–1817) contained several short fairy tales, including "The Elves". In France, the main writers of Romantic-era fantasy were Charles Nodier with Smarra (1821) and Trilby (1822) and Théophile Gautier who penned such stories as "Omphale" (1834) and " One of Cleopatra's Nights " (1838) as well as the novel Spirite (1866). Fantasy literature
5568-453: The care of three Cretans. Upon learning this, sixty of Titan's men then imprison Cronus and Rhea, causing the sons of Cronus to declare and fight the first of all wars against them. This account mentions nothing about Cronus either killing his father or attempting to kill any of his children. In Hesiod's Theogony , and Homer's Iliad , Cronus and his Titan brothers are confined to Tartarus, apparently forever, but in other traditions Cronus and
5684-474: The chaperones, Mrs. Dodds, turns into a Fury and attacks him. Percy's favorite teacher, Mr. Brunner, later revealed as Chiron , lends Percy a magical sword-pen to defeat her. After the school year ends, Percy's mother, Sally, takes him to Long Island . Percy's friend from school, Grover , reveals himself as a satyr and warns of danger. At a summer camp , Sally is attacked by the Minotaur and disappears in
5800-411: The continent. Other writers, including Edgar Rice Burroughs and Abraham Merritt , further developed the style. Several classic children's fantasies such as Lewis Carroll 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), as well as the work of E. Nesbit and Frank R. Stockton were also published around this time. C. S. Lewis noted that in
5916-416: The deed was done, Cronus cast his sickle into the waves, and it was concealed under the island of Corfu , which had been noted since antiquity for its sickle-like shape, and gave it its ancient name, Drepane ("sickle"). While Hesiod seems to imply Cronus never set them free to begin with, Pseudo-Apollodorus says that after dispatching Uranus, Cronus re-imprisoned the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes and set
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#17327917917066032-489: The development of fantasy with their writing of horror stories. Wilde also wrote a large number of children's fantasies, collected in The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891). H. Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the lost world subgenre with his novel King Solomon's Mines (1885), which presented a fantastical Africa to a European audience still unfamiliar with
6148-478: The dragon Campe to guard them. He and his older sister Rhea took the throne of the world as king and queen. The period in which Cronus ruled was called the Golden Age , as the people of the time had no need for laws or rules; everyone did the right thing, and immorality was absent. In some authors, a different divine pair, Ophion and Eurynome , a daughter of Oceanus, were said to have ruled Mount Olympus in
6264-446: The earlier part of the 20th century, fantasy was more accepted in juvenile literature, and therefore a writer interested in fantasy often wrote for that audience, despite using concepts and themes that could form a work aimed at adults. At this time, the terminology for the genre was not settled. Many fantasies in this era were termed fairy tales, including Max Beerbohm 's " The Happy Hypocrite " (1896) and MacDonald's Phantastes . It
6380-528: The early age of the Titans. Rhea fought Eurynome and Cronus fought Ophion, and after defeating them they threw them into the waves of the ocean, thus becoming rulers in their place. After securing his place as the new king of gods, Cronus learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own children, just as he had overthrown his father. As a result, although he sired the gods Demeter , Hestia , Hera , Hades , and Poseidon by Rhea, he devoured them all as soon as they were born to prevent
6496-508: The epic Mabinogion . One influential retelling of this was the fantasy work of Evangeline Walton . The Irish Ulster Cycle and Fenian Cycle have also been plentifully mined for fantasy. Its greatest influence was, however, indirect. Celtic folklore and mythology provided a major source for the Arthurian cycle of chivalric romance : the Matter of Britain . Although the subject matter
6612-519: The fantasy genre, "The Fantastic Imagination", in his book A Dish of Orts (1893). MacDonald was a major influence on both Tolkien and C. S. Lewis . The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, an admirer of the Middle Ages and a poet who wrote several fantastic romances and novels in the latter part of the 19th century, including The Well at the World's End (1896). Morris
6728-407: The fantasy genre; although it was unknown for centuries and so not developed in medieval legend and romance, several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner 's Grendel . Celtic folklore and legend has been an inspiration for many fantasy works. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, owing to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work,
6844-411: The fantasy worlds of modern works. With Empedocles ( c. 490 – c. 430 BC ), elements are often used in fantasy works as personifications of the forces of nature. India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters, dating back to Vedic mythology . The Panchatantra ( Fables of Bidpai ), which some scholars believe was composed around the 3rd century BC. It
6960-520: The first literary results of this trend was the Gothic novel , a genre that began in Britain with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole . That work is considered the predecessor to both modern fantasy and modern horror fiction . Another noted Gothic novel which also contains a large amount of Arabian Nights -influenced fantasy elements is Vathek (1786) by William Thomas Beckford . In
7076-723: The genre after World War II was Mervyn Peake 's Titus Groan (1946), the book that launched the Gormenghast series . J. R. R. Tolkien played a large role in the popularization and accessibility of the fantasy genre with his highly successful publications The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Tolkien was largely influenced by an ancient body of Anglo-Saxon myths , particularly Beowulf , as well as William Morris's romances and E. R. Eddison 's 1922 novel, The Worm Ouroboros . Tolkien's close friend C. S. Lewis , author of The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–56) and
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#17327917917067192-435: The genre of high fantasy —prompted a reaction. In China, the idea of fantasy literature as a distinct genre first became prevalent in the early 21st century. China has long had pre-genre stories with fantastical elements, including zhiguai , ghost stories, and miracle tales, among others. It is not uncommon for fantasy novels to be ranked on The New York Times Best Seller list , and some have been at number one on
7308-614: The half-human, half-equine shape of their offspring; this was said to have taken place on Mount Pelion . Two other sons of Cronus and Philyra may have been Dolops and Aphrus, the ancestor and eponym of the Aphroi, i.e. the native Africans . In some accounts, Cronus was also called the father of the Corybantes . Cronus is featured in one of the works of satirical writer Lucian of Samosata , Saturnalia , where he talks with one of his priests about his festival Saturnalia, with
7424-416: The islands of the blessed along the shore of deep swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them; for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds. The poet Pindar , in one of his poems (462 BC), wrote that although Atlas still "strains against the weight of the sky ... Zeus freed
7540-537: The later part of the Romantic period, folklorists collected folktales, epic poems, and ballads, and released them in printed form. The Brothers Grimm were inspired by the movement of German Romanticism in their 1812 collection Grimm's Fairy Tales , and they in turn inspired other collectors. Frequently their motivation stemmed not merely from Romanticism, but from Romantic nationalism , in that many were inspired to save their own country's folklore. Sometimes, as in
7656-431: The list, including most recently, Brandon Sanderson in 2014, Neil Gaiman in 2013, Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin in 2011, and Terry Goodkind in 2006. Symbolism often plays a significant role in fantasy literature, often through the use of archetypal figures inspired by earlier texts or folklore . Some argue that fantasy literature and its archetypes fulfill a function for individuals and society and
7772-530: The manuscript for The Lightning Thief under a pseudonym, as he did not want to rely on anyone in the publishing industry, who would have known him through his previous work . After many rejections, an agent picked up the manuscript as she liked its premise. In 2004 the book was sold to Miramax Books for enough money that Riordan could quit his job to focus on writing. The book has since been released in multiple versions (including hardcover, paperback, and audio editions) and has been translated and published all over
7888-550: The messages are continually updated for current societies. Ursula K. Le Guin , in her essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", presented the idea that language is the most crucial element of high fantasy , because it creates a sense of place. She analyzed the misuse of a formal, "olden-day" style, saying that it was a dangerous trap for fantasy writers because it was ridiculous when done wrong. She warns writers away from trying to base their style on that of masters such as Lord Dunsany and E. R. Eddison , emphasizing that language that
8004-465: The modern image of "medieval" is more influenced by the romance than by any other medieval genre, and the word medieval evokes knights, distressed damsels, dragons, and other romantic tropes. At the time of the Renaissance romance continued to be popular, and the trend was to more fantastic fiction. The English Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (c.1408–1471) was written in prose, and
8120-566: The monster Typhon to claim revenge for the imprisoned Titans. Accounts of the fate of Cronus after the Titanomachy differ. The most popular account is that found in the Iliad , Hesiod's Theogony , and Apollodorus, all of which state that he was imprisoned with the other Titans in Tartarus. In two papyrus versions of a passage from Hesiod's Works and Days , however, Kronos rules over the Isle of
8236-641: The most influential writers of fantasy and horror in the 20th century. Despite MacDonald's future influence, and Morris' popularity at the time, it was not until around the start of the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience, with authors such as Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) who, following Morris's example, wrote fantasy novels, but also in the short story form. He was particularly noted for his vivid and evocative style. His style greatly influenced many writers, not always happily; Ursula K. Le Guin , in her essay on style in fantasy "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", wryly referred to Lord Dunsany as
8352-421: The movie for significantly altering the book's story, attempting to appeal to an older audience at the expense of the book's younger target demographic, making changes that would create problems for possible sequel films, and generally being poorly written. A sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters , was released in 2013. On June 28, 2005, a 10-hour and 25 minute audio book version, read by actor Jesse Bernstein,
8468-409: The mythological Golden Age until he was overthrown by his son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus . According to Plato , however, the deities Phorcys , Cronus, and Rhea were the eldest children of Oceanus and Tethys . Cronus was usually depicted with a harpe , scythe , or sickle , which was the instrument he used to castrate and depose Uranus, his father. In Athens , on the twelfth day of
8584-411: The name Cronus, portraying the deity as a great ruler over others within the aeons . During the Renaissance , the identification of Cronus and Chronos gave rise to " Father Time " wielding the harvesting scythe. H. J. Rose in 1928 observed that attempts to give the name Κρόνος a Greek etymology had failed. Recently, Janda (2010) offers a genuinely Indo-European etymology of "the cutter", from
8700-589: The name, the story of Cronus eating his children was also interpreted as an allegory to a specific aspect of time held within Cronus's sphere of influence. As the theory went, Cronus represented the destructive ravages of time which devoured all things, a concept that was illustrated when the Titan king ate the Olympian gods—the past consuming the future, the older generation suppressing the next generation. The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia (3rd–4th century) references
8816-781: The oldest recorded form of many well-known (and some more obscure) European fairy tales. This was the beginning of a tradition that would both influence the fantasy genre and be incorporated in it, as many works of fairytale fantasy appear to this day. In a work on alchemy in the 16th century, Paracelsus (1493–1541) identified four types of beings with the four elements of alchemy: gnomes (earth elementals); undines (water); sylphs (air); and salamanders (fire). Most of these beings are found in folklore as well as alchemy, and their names are often used interchangeably with similar beings from folklore. Literary fairy tales, such as those written by Charles Perrault (1628–1703) and Madame d'Aulnoy (c.1650 – 1705), became very popular early in
8932-477: The other Titans made war upon Ammon, who fled to Crete (3.71.1–2). Cronus ruled harshly and Cronus in turn was defeated by Ammon's son Dionysus (3.71.3–3.73) who appointed Cronus's and Rhea's son, Zeus, as king of Egypt (3.73.4). Dionysus and Zeus then joined their forces to defeat the remaining Titans in Crete, and on the death of Dionysus, Zeus inherited all the kingdoms, becoming lord of the world (3.73.7–8). Cronus
9048-537: The other imprisoned Titans are eventually set free by the mercy of Zeus. Two papyrus versions of a passage of Hesiod's Works and Days mention Cronus being released by Zeus, and ruling over the heroes who go to the Isle of the Blessed; but other editions of Hesiod's text make no mention of this, and most editors agree that these lines of text are later interpolations in Hesiod's works. And they live untouched by sorrow in
9164-558: The playwright Aeschylus (c. 525 – c. 455 BC), features a chorus composed of freed Titans as witnesses of Prometheus's freeing from the rock, perhaps including Cronus himself, although the now freed Titans are not individually identified. In one version of Typhon's origins, after the defeat of the Giants , Gaia in anger slandered Zeus to Hera, and she went to Cronus. Cronus gave his daughter two eggs smeared with his own semen and told her to bury them underground, so that they would produce
9280-412: The power of his father, Uranus , the ruler of the universe. Uranus drew the enmity of Cronus's mother, Gaia , when he hid the gigantic youngest children of Gaia, the hundred-handed Hecatoncheires and one-eyed Cyclopes , in Tartarus , so that they would not see the light. Gaia created a great stone sickle and gathered together Cronus and his brothers to persuade them to castrate Uranus. Only Cronus
9396-411: The power-hungry Ares into taking part in the scheme. Luke explains his beliefs that the gods are too irresponsible and are poor leaders who need to be overthrown. He offers Percy the chance to join him, and when Percy refuses, Luke tries to kill him with a scorpion . Percy is stung and faints. When he wakes up, he is given the choice of staying in camp or going home for the school year. He decides to spend
9512-481: The priority of reason and promoting the importance of imagination and spirituality. Its success in rehabilitating imagination was of fundamental importance to the evolution of fantasy, and its interest in medieval romances provided many motifs to modern fantasy. The Romantics invoked the medieval romance as a model for the works they wanted to produce, in contrast to the realism of the Enlightenment. One of
9628-553: The prophecy. When the sixth child, Zeus , was born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save them and to eventually get retribution on Cronus for his acts against his father and children. Rhea secretly gave birth to Zeus in Crete , and handed Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, also known as the Omphalos Stone, which he promptly swallowed, thinking that it was his son. According to one Roman author, when Rhea presented
9744-600: The root *(s)ker- "to cut" (Greek κείρω ( keirō ), cf. English shear ), motivated by Cronus's characteristic act of "cutting the sky" (or the genitals of anthropomorphic Uranus). The Indo-Iranian reflex of the root is kar- , but Janda argues that the original meaning "to cut" in a cosmogonic sense is still preserved in some verses of the Rigveda pertaining to Indra 's heroic "cutting", like that of Cronus resulting in creation: RV 10 .104.10 ārdayad vṛtram akṛṇod ulokaṃ he hit Vrtra fatally, cutting [> creating]
9860-450: The school year with his mother. Grover and Annabeth also leave the camp. Development for The Lightning Thief began when author Rick Riordan made up stories for his son Haley, who had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia . His son had been studying Greek mythology in second grade and asked that his father come up with bedtime stories based on Greek myths. Riordan had been a Greek mythology teacher in middle school for many years and
9976-407: The series would follow the storyline of the books, and Riordan and his wife Becky would be involved in "every aspect of the show". The first season of the show would adapt the story of The Lightning Thief . On July 13, 2021, Riordan announced Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz as the show's showrunners, and on January 25, 2022, the show was officially green-lit by Disney+. On April 11, 2022, Walker Scobell
10092-452: The son of Misor and inventor of writing. While the Greeks considered Cronus a cruel and tempestuous force of chaos and disorder, believing the Olympian gods had brought an era of peace and order by seizing power from the crude and malicious Titans, the Romans took a more positive and innocuous view of the deity, by conflating their indigenous deity Saturn with Cronus. Consequently, while
10208-597: The source material. The Lightning Thief is followed by The Sea of Monsters , in which Percy and Annabeth rescue Grover, who has been taken by Polyphemus the Cyclops , and recover the Golden Fleece to save the camp. They are accompanied in this mission by Percy's Cyclops half brother, Tyson , and by Clarisse La Rue. Like The Lightning Thief , it won several prizes and received generally positive reviews as well. It sold over 100,000 copies in paperback. It
10324-458: The swaddled rock to him, Cronus asked her to nurse the infant one last time before he swallowed him. Rhea pressed her breast against the rock, and the milk that was sprayed across the heavens created the Milky Way galaxy. Cronus then ate the rock. Rhea kept Zeus hidden in a cave on Mount Ida, Crete . According to some versions of the story, he was then raised by a goat named Amalthea , while
10440-505: The three eldest male gods —Poseidon, Zeus , and Hades — swore an oath not to have children; Percy's birth was a violation of the oath. He is the second violation of the oath, as the first was Thalia Grace . Percy is sent on a quest to locate Zeus's lightning bolt. Annabeth and Grover accompany him to the realm of Hades, who is believed to be the most likely culprit. Percy brings Chiron's magic sword, Anaklusmos, and Luke's flying sneakers. The trio travels to Los Angeles to visit Hades. Along
10556-479: The two-hour long production would be going on a national tour beginning in the fall of 2018. In 2019 it was announced that the production would make its Broadway debut at the Longacre Theatre , running from September 2019 until January 2020. On May 14, 2020, Riordan announced that there would be a live-action Percy Jackson & the Olympians series made for Disney+ . Unlike the earlier film adaptation,
10672-460: The unrelated embodiment of time in general. Nevertheless, among Hellenistic scholars in Alexandria and during the Renaissance , Cronus was conflated with the name of Chronos , the personification of " Father Time ", wielding the harvesting scythe. As a result of Cronus's importance to the Romans, his Roman variant, Saturn, has had a large influence on Western culture . The seventh day of
10788-452: The villain's language might be inappropriate if vulgar. Cronus In Ancient Greek religion and mythology , Cronus , Cronos , or Kronos ( / ˈ k r oʊ n ə s / or / ˈ k r oʊ n ɒ s / , from Greek : Κρόνος , Krónos ) was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans , the divine descendants of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Sky). He overthrew his father and ruled during
10904-734: The way, they are attacked by the Furies, Medusa , Echidna , and the Chimera . They perform a favor for the god Ares , who gives them a backpack full of supplies and safe transportation to Nevada , where they are stalled by the Lotus-eaters . Percy learns more about his companions, his powers, and the world of the Greek gods. In Hades's realm, Grover is nearly dragged into Tartarus by Luke's flying shoes. The battered group finally meets Hades, who reveals that his Helm of Darkness has also been mysteriously stolen and accuses Percy of stealing it. Hades threatens to kill his hostage, Sally, and unleash
11020-541: The wicked ways the author has updated the gods and monsters for the 21st century". However, it did criticize some aspects of the book, describing the prose as "choppy and attitude-filled" and complaining that "[t]he characters aren't emotionally involving". Its overall rating was 4 stars out of 5. Numerous other reviews were more positive. The New York Times praised The Lightning Thief as "perfectly paced, with electrifying moments chasing each other like heartbeats". School Library Journal said in its starred review that
11136-589: The work dominates the Arthurian literature. Arthurian motifs have appeared steadily in literature from its publication, though the works have been a mix of fantasy and non-fantasy works. At the time, it and the Spanish Amadis de Gaula (1508), which was also written in prose, spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received. It later produced such masterpieces of Renaissance poetry as Ludovico Ariosto 's Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso 's Gerusalemme Liberata . Ariosto's tale in particular
11252-509: The world. A deluxe version with illustration was released on January 30, 2024. The Lightning Thief received mostly positive reviews. The book has a rating of 4.25 out of 5 on Goodreads with over 1,900,000 reviews. Common Sense Media said, "There are two levels of fun in The Lightning Thief . One is the fast-paced quest of a young hero and his friends to save the world..." and added, "Another level of fun here – laughing at
11368-436: Was a source text for many fantasies of adventure. During the Renaissance , Giovanni Francesco Straparola wrote and published The Facetious Nights of Straparola (1550–1555), a collection of stories of which many are literary fairy tales . Giambattista Basile wrote and published the Pentamerone , which was the first collection of stories to contain solely what would later be known as fairy tales. The two works include
11484-440: Was able to remember enough stories to please his son. Soon Riordan ran out of myths and his son requested that Riordan make new ones using the characters from Greek myths with a new twist. Riordan created the fictional character Percy Jackson and his travels across the United States to recover Zeus' lightning bolt. In his new story, Riordan made ADHD and dyslexia part of a demigod's powers - respectively, heightened battle reflexes and
11600-475: Was announced to be playing Percy Jackson. In May 2022, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri joined the cast, respectively playing Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood. Principal photography began on June 2, 2022, and concluded on February 2, 2023. Percy Jackson and the Olympians premiered on December 19, 2023, on Disney+, with the first season consisting of eight episodes. The series received positive reviews from critics, who largely praised its faithfulness to
11716-421: Was depicted as a man with attributes of Cronus and Cronus with attributes of Geb. On the other hand, the priests of the local main temple identified themselves in Egyptian texts as priests of "Soknebtunis-Geb", but in Greek texts as priests of "Soknebtunis-Cronus". Accordingly, Egyptian names formed with the name of the god Geb were just as popular among local villagers as Greek names derived from Cronus, especially
11832-485: Was devouring his sons, which implies that time devours the ages and gorges. The Greek historian and biographer Plutarch (1st century AD) asserted that the Greeks believed that Cronus was an allegorical name for χρόνος (time). The philosopher Plato (3rd century BC) in his Cratylus gives two possible interpretations for the name of Cronus. The first is that his name denotes κόρος (kóros), "the pure" ( καθαρόν ) and "unblemished" (ἀκήρατον) nature of his mind. The second
11948-531: Was followed by The Titan's Curse , The Battle of the Labyrinth , The Last Olympian and The Chalice of the Gods as well as the series, The Kane Chronicles , The Heroes of Olympus , and later, The Trials of Apollo . Fantasy literature Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe , often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic ,
12064-416: Was forced to regurgitate his children through Gaia's cunning and Zeus's might. Cronus disgorged first the stone that he had swallowed instead of Zeus, followed by Zeus's siblings. The stone was then placed by Zeus at Pytho on Mount Parnassus . In other versions of the tale, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the children. After freeing his siblings, Zeus released the Hecatoncheires and
12180-505: Was heavily reworked by the authors, these romances developed marvels until they became independent of the original folklore and fictional, an important stage in the development of fantasy. Romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that reworked legends , fairy tales , and history to suit the readers' and hearers' tastes, but by c. 1600 they were out of fashion, and Miguel de Cervantes famously burlesqued them in his novel Don Quixote . Still,
12296-524: Was hired to helm the project. The film, titled Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief , was released in the United States on February 12, 2010, and stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth Chase, Brandon T. Jackson as Grover, and Pierce Brosnan as Chiron. The film received mixed reviews from critics upon release and grossed $ 226 million at the worldwide box office. Riordan criticized
12412-412: Was inspired by the medieval sagas, and his writing was deliberately archaic in the style of the chivalric romances . Morris's work represented an important milestone in the history of fantasy, as while other writers wrote of foreign lands or of dream worlds , Morris was the first to set his stories in an entirely invented world . Authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde also contributed to
12528-449: Was modeled more on Tudor and Elizabethan English, and his stories were filled with vigorous characters in glorious adventures. Eddison's most famous work is The Worm Ouroboros (1922), a long heroic fantasy set on an imaginary version of the planet Mercury. Literary critics of the era began to take an interest in "fantasy" as a genre of writing, and also to argue that it was a genre worthy of serious consideration. Herbert Read devoted
12644-421: Was not until 1923 that the term "fantasist" was used to describe a writer (in this case, Oscar Wilde) who wrote fantasy fiction. The name "fantasy" was not developed until later; as late as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), the term "fairy tale" was still being used. An important factor in the development of the fantasy genre was the arrival of magazines devoted to fantasy fiction. The first such publication
12760-670: Was planned to hit the road on a nationwide tour in September 2014 following a stint in New York City in 2014. A two-hour version of the musical previewed Off-Broadway on March 23, 2017, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre . It officially opened on April 4, 2017, and ran until May 6 of the same year. On June 20, a cast recording was released on the Broadway Records label. In August 2017, it was announced that
12876-559: Was popular in Victorian times , with the works of writers such as Mary Shelley , William Morris, George MacDonald, and Charles Dodgson reaching wider audiences. Hans Christian Andersen took a new approach to fairy tales by creating original stories told in a serious fashion. From this origin, John Ruskin wrote The King of the Golden River (1851), a fairy tale that included complex levels of characterization and created in
12992-462: Was published worldwide by Listening Library . Kirkus Reviews magazine said, "the narrator's voice lends a refreshing air of realism to this riotously paced quest tale of heroism that questions the realities of our world, family, friendship and loyalty". AudioFile Magazine praised the audiobook, "adults and children alike will be spellbound as they listen to this deeply imaginative tale unfold." School Library Journal both praised and criticized
13108-565: Was raised by his grandmother, Gaia. One Cretan myth relates how Cronus once went to Crete himself, and Zeus, in order to hide from his father, transformed himself into a snake, and changed his nymph nurses, Helice and Cynosura into bears, who later became the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor respectively. In another myth, Cronus transformed the Curetes into lions, but Rhea made them her sacred animals and yoked them in her chariot. According to Hesiod, once Zeus had grown up, Cronus
13224-402: Was subsequently deified. This version gives his alternate name as Elus or Ilus , and states that in the 32nd year of his reign, he emasculated, slew and deified his father Epigeius or Autochthon "whom they afterwards called Uranus". It further states that after ships were invented, Cronus, visiting the 'inhabitable world', bequeathed Attica to his own daughter Athena , and Egypt to Taautus
13340-493: Was the German magazine Der Orchideengarten which ran from 1919 to 1921. In 1923, the first English-language fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was created. Many other similar magazines eventually followed. and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction H. P. Lovecraft was deeply influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and to a somewhat lesser extent, by Lord Dunsany; with his Cthulhu Mythos stories, he became one of
13456-609: Was willing to do the deed, so Gaia gave him the sickle and placed him in ambush. When Uranus met with Gaia, Cronus attacked him with the sickle, castrating him and casting his testicles into the sea. From the blood that spilled out from Uranus and fell upon the earth, the Gigantes , Erinyes , and Meliae were produced. The testicles produced a white foam from which the goddess Aphrodite emerged. For this, Uranus threatened vengeance and called his sons Titenes for overstepping their boundaries and daring to commit such an act. After
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