Gigantes

The Gigantes (singular: Gigas) are the children of Gaia and Tartarus. They are the lesser brothers (and sisters) of the ancient Titans. They serve Gaea, their mother and one of the most powerful beings in the series. Each Olympian corresponded to at least one Giga (probably more in fact as it was mentioned that there were at least 30 giants).
== History ==
The Gigantes were not born until after the gods won the first Olympian War and took the throne from Kronos. While it was originally Gaia's idea for the gods to defeat her own children, the Titans, she grew unhappy with the way the gods ruled and hence gave birth to a new set of children with the primordial god of the pit Tartarus, the Gigantes.
Each Gigantes was born and bred specifically to oppose one of the Olympian gods, to usurp that god's domain. The King of the Giants was Porphyrion, the anti-Zeus, and he made an official declaration of war on the Olympians by kidnapping their queen, Hera though he fell in love with the queen of Olympus. It was prophesied that only a god and demigod working together could defeat this threat to Olympus, so Zeus called upon his own sons Heracles and Dionysus to help win the war, called the Gigantomachy.
First, Hercules manage to incapacitate Alcyoneus the eldest giant and anti Hades then dragged him out of his home country as Alcyoneus could only be killed if dragged out of his home territory. One by one, the Gigantes fell and all were killed except Aristaios, who was turned into a dung beetle by Gaea so the giant might be safe from the wrath of Olympus. The only way to get rid of a giant is for a god and demigod to work together against the giant.
After the fall of the gigantes, Gaea raised another child with Tartarus, a brutal storm giant named Typhon. At the sight of him, all the Olympians except Zeus fled. Zeus tried to put up a match but was outmatched and had his divine tendons tore out. Zeus later defeated Typhon with the help of several other gods by tricking the latter. After that, with her last and strongest son defeated Gaea officially fell back to her slumber and admitted defeat.
== The Gigantes ==
There are at least 20 of them all together (without even counting Orion, Damasen, Mimas, and Clytius, none of whom were present), though not all of them have been portrayed and named in the series.
* Porphyrion - King of the Giants, Bane of Zeus/Jupiter.
* Polybotes - Bane of Poseidon/Neptune.
* Alcyoneus - The Eldest Giant, Bane of Hades/Pluto.
* Enceladus - Bane of Athena/Minerva.
* Ephialtes and Otis - Banes of Dionysus/Bacchus.
* Damasen - Bane of Ares/Mars.
* Clytius - Bane of Hecate/Trivia.
* Orion - Bane of Artemis/Diana and Apollo/Phoebus.
* Hippolytos - Bane of Hermes/Mercury.
* Mimas - Bane of Hephaestus/Vulcan.
* Thoon - Bane of the Fates.
* Periboia - Princess of the Giants, Bane of Aphrodite/Venus.
== Appearances ==
The Gigantes are massive muscular humanoids with long hair and dragon-like legs. And they're dressed with Greek armors.
== Personalities ==
The Gigantes have some diverse personalities, for instance, Porphyrion, as the leader of the Gigantes, is proud and demands respect from all his siblings. His brothers, Otis and Ephialtes, are always seeking attention and making huge shows to gain it. Damasen, as the opposite to Ares/Mars, is a pacifist and a healer, living as a farmer instead of fighting against the gods.
However, they also share several traits. One of the main traits they share is their intense reverence for Gaea, their mother. This reverence for the Earth Mother have caused a rivalry between the Gigantes and their older siblings, the Titans, about who would Gaea let rule the world. Porphyrion and other Gigantes have claimed themselves to be superior to Kronos and the Titans several times.
== Trivia ==
* In most versions, the Gigantes were born with the the Furies, nymphs, satyrs, and the Meliai when Ouranos' ichor fell on the Earth when Kronos chopped him up.
* Eurymedon is called the King of the Gigantes by Homer, but not much is known about him. 
* In most myths, Orion, Otis and Ephialtes are demigod children of Poseidon.
* In the original myth, Damasen, Orion, Otis, and Ephialtes weren't among the Gigantes who sought to destroy Olympus.
** In the series itself, Damasen admits he refused to take part in violence and stayed out of the war, and while it never directly mentioned, Orion's life story never hints that he fought either; in fact, he and Artemis were close friends.
* In the first four The Heroes of Olympus books, there are two main Gigantes featured:
** In The Lost Hero, Enceladus and Porphyrion were featured.
** In The Son of Neptune, Alcyoneus and Polybotes were featured.
** In The Mark of Athena, Otis and Ephialtes were featured.
** In The House of Hades, Clytius and Damasen were featured.
** In The Blood of Olympus, however, all but Clytius and Damasen have reformed.
* There are more Gigantes than Olympians, suggesting that they were physically weaker.
** The giants were shown to be able to be defeated in single combat by demigods such as Hercules and Dionysus, even at full power.
** Although these Gigantes could be the counterpart of some minor gods. This has precedent in Clytius being born to oppose the minor goddess Hecate, Thoon being born to oppose the Fates, and the fact that Otis and Ephialtes were born to oppose a demigod Dionysus.
* Only the goddesses Hera, Hestia and Demeter do not have a Gigas counterpart in the series or myths.
** Although Enceladus mentioned that each Olympian corresponded to at least one Gigas, so is possible that actually Hestia, Demeter and Hera has a Gigas counterpart and are only not mentioned in both myths and in the series.
* Though Porphyrion and some others Gigantes claimed that they were superior to the Titans, this is clearly not true, as the Titans were showed to be stronger and harder to defeat than the Gigantes.
* Despite technically requiring a god and demigod working together to be killed, there are several instances of Gigantes being killed through other means.
** Alcyoneus was killed first by Hercules and later Frank, Hazel, and Arion by dragging him out of his home territory and decapitating him. This is because his weaknesses are different from the other giants and are unique to him.
** Damasen died at the hands of the primordial Tartarus alone while buying time for Percy and Annabeth to escape. In his case, Tartarus is capable of absorbing the essences of lesser beings. However, he was able to begin reforming rather than being totally destroyed.
** Ephialtes and Otis died in a conflict seemingly separate from the First Gigantomachy wherein Artemis tricked them into attacking and killing each other.
** During the fight in the Colosseum, Ephialtes is taken down by the weapons of the Argo II fired by Gleeson Hedge, a satyr, not a demigod. This may have been because he was using weapons made by a demigod since Leo and Hephaestus were mentioned to take down several lesser giants together using the Argo II's weapons.
** Orion was killed long after the first Gigantomachy concluded by a giant scorpion sent by his mother Gaea after Apollo afflicted him with madness. This may have to do with Gaea's power as a primordial goddess.
** Thoon is seemingly killed by the Fates alone without the help of any demigods.
* When a god and a demigod work together to kill a giant, the giant must first be weakened by the demigod before the god finishes them off. However, this has been shown to only require minimal involvement by the god in question as Percy was able to defeat Polybotes by hitting him in the nose with Terminus' head, Bacchus merely finished off Ephialtes and Otis with taps from his thrym and Reyna strangled Orion with her cloak infused with a piece of Aegis without a god actually being present, although both Athena and Bellona helped lend her the strength that she needed from a distance.
* When a giant is killed, the demigod appears to require the god in question's active help or at least their permission to use their representation against the giant.
** In The Son of Neptune, Percy seeks Terminus' help and doesn't wield the god's head against Polybotes until he gains his agreement to kill the giant together.
** In The Blood of Olympus, Piper prays to Phobos and Deimos for their help and makes a sacrifice to them, resulting in Phobos dropping his statue's head on Mimas rather than Piper and Hazel attempting to wield the statues against the giant.
* In The House of Hades, Annabeth speculates that Bob, despite being a Titan rather than a god, might be able to help her and Percy kill any Giants they meet in Tartarus, though she seems doubtful about it being true. This ends up being confirmed later in the same book, when Hecate, technically a Titan herself, helps the rest of the Seven and Nico kill Clytius
* The Gigantes appear to be slow at reforming in general, requiring thousands of years and the Doors of Death to get back to the mortal world following their first defeat. In The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure, Damasen is still reforming over a year after his death, much to the frustration of Nico di Angelo.
Category:Characters
Category:Gigantes
Category:Children of Gaia
Category:Children of Tartarus
Category:Tartarus Residents