Apollo

Apollo is the Greek god of the sun, light, healing, disease, plague, music, art, poetry, archery, reason, knowledge, truth, and prophecy. He is the twin brother of the goddess Artemis, and they are together known as the "twin archers".
Apollo drives the Sun around the Earth in his chariot—a responsibility he took on when Helios, the original sun-god, faded after he was downsized by the Romans. He bears the same name as his Roman counterpart.
== History ==
=== Birth and Fight with Python ===
When Leto was pregnant, Hera was furious with Zeus' unfaithfulness and forbade the Titan from giving birth on either the islands or mainlands. Fortunately, the floating Isle of Delos gave sanctuary to Leto, and through the help of all the goddesses, who begged Hera to allow Eileithyia (who's also her daughter) the goddess of childbirth, to come to Leto, she finally gave birth to the goddess Artemis and, nine days later, Apollo. A four-day-old Apollo petitioned Hephaestus for a golden bow and a set of arrows which he used to kill Python, a dragon that was previously sent by Hera to chase his mother, Leto. After his defeat of Python, Apollo established the Oracle of Delphi as recompense, for Python was the child of Gaea, and Gaea complained to Zeus about Apollo's act. He also established the Pythian Games and named his Oracle the Pythia, to honour his great foe.
=== First Love ===
One afternoon, Apollo came across Eros, who was in the form of a child and "playing" with his bow and arrows. He found the sight so humorous that he burst into laughter and mocked the young god of love, who decided to teach Apollo a lesson.
The next afternoon, when Apollo was walking by the riverside in Thessaly, Eros shot an arrow of love straight into his heart, causing him to fall instantly and hopelessly in love with a beautiful naiad who was bathing nearby named Daphne. He approached her and begged for her hand in marriage. Unfortunately for Apollo, Daphne had sworn off men due to the numerous tales of how being beloved by the gods had led many females to tragic endings, and therefore spurned his advances. Apollo has also wrote, in The Hidden Oracle, that Eros has shot a lead arrow into Daphne's heart, therefore Daphne has been stripped of any affection she had for Apollo.
A chase erupted, with some banter on Apollo's side. When Daphne started to tire, she cried to Gaea for help, and the goddess took pity on her and transformed her into a laurel tree just as Apollo was about to embrace her. Heartbroken by his loss of her, the god of the sun declared that though she now could not be his wife, he would still honour her: henceforth, the laurel tree would be a symbol of victory, and he would wear a crown of her leaves.
To this day, Apollo had never moved on from her memory, swearing never to marry (though he claims it is because he cannot decide between the Nine Muses.)
=== Losing his Cows ===
When Hermes was born, he stole Apollo's sacred cows. Outraged, Apollo demanded something to be done to him as punishment. Instead, to make up for it, Hermes created the lyre, a musical instrument, and gave it to Apollo as a peace offering. As soon as Apollo's gaze fell on the lyre, he was deeply mesmerized by it and instantly forgot about the cows. After that, Hermes and Apollo became the best of friends. Their friendship was so firm that Apollo said to Hermes that he was the most beloved of the gods to him. Later on, Hermes became an Olympian. Soon after, Hermes crafted the reed pipes. Apollo begged for them and so Hermes made a deal with him; he would give him the reed pipes in exchange for the caduceus. Apollo agreed to this deal. Apollo, then, became known as the god of music.
=== First Olympic Games ===
Apollo was believed to have won the first Olympic Games, established to honour Zeus' victory over Kronos and was originally a game for the gods, and he is said to have defeated Ares at boxing and Hermes at racing. Ever since then, the Ancient Greeks gave laurel branches as rewards to victors in honour of Apollo's success. After all, laurel was the holy tree of Apollo.
=== Hyacinthus ===
At some point, Apollo fell in love with a handsome mortal man called Hyacinthus. One day, Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, who was also smitten by Hyacinthus, came across him and Apollo playing a game of quoits. Jealous that Hyacinthus preferred the radiant archery god to him, Zephyrus shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring flung by Apollo right at Hyacinthus’s head, instantly killing the mortal. Devastated, Apollo transformed his lover's deceased body into a flower, the hyacinth. In order to avoid Apollo's wrath, Zephyrus sought protection from Eros, who had mercy on him because he was driven crazy by love. Cupid took advantage of the situation by forcing the guilt-ridden wind god to work for him forever. As mentioned in The Hidden Oracle, Hyacinthus would forever remain one of Apollo's two all-time favourite lovers (on par with Daphne).
=== Punishing Niobe ===
When Niobe insulted his mother Leto, saying her children were more numerous and better overall, Apollo shot arrows at Niobe's seven sons, while Artemis shot arrows at Niobe's seven daughters. However, Artemis spared one of her daughters.
=== Pandora ===
When his father Zeus decided to create the irresistible Pandora (in order to punish Epimetheus for his brother Prometheus's actions), Apollo helped by teaching the girl how to sing and play the lyre.
=== Olympian Riot and Apollo's Punishment ===
Hera, enraged at her husband's infidelity, decided to start the first (and last) Olympian riot against Zeus. Hera managed to gain the support of Poseidon, Athena, and Apollo himself. That evening the three hid in the hall adjacent to Zeus' royal chambers, awaiting Hera's signal. As soon as Zeus had fallen asleep, all four of them quickly tightly bound the King of Olympus with unbreakable and tightening golden chains. Even chained up and completely immobilized, an infuriated Zeus looked very intimidating. Finally, Poseidon attempted to reason with his brother and demanded that Zeus be a better ruler. Zeus refused, which prompted Hera to advocate leaving him chained up in his chambers until he agrees. Shortly thereafter, the four Olympians departed for the Throne Room for the first (and last) democratic meeting of the Olympian Council, which proved to be a very cumbersome task.
Fortunately, the violently thrashing and bellowing King of Olympus was found by the Nereid, Thetis. After convincing Zeus to be merciful towards the rioting Olympians, Thetis managed to find the Hekatonkheire, Briares, by the seashore. He was more than happy to save Zeus, recalling that he owes his own freedom from Tartarus and Kampê to him. Briares quickly unchained Zeus, after which the latter seized his Master Bolt, and barged into the Throne Room, violently ending the meeting. Zeus remained true to his word and was merciful towards the rioters, but he still punished them all accordingly.
Apollo and Poseidon were temporarily stripped of their godly powers and immortality, and forced to work as laborers on Earth for years. Hera was tied up and suspended on a rope across the abyss of Chaos, and subjected to Zeus' daily threatening of blasting the rope to let her fall into the nothingness and be dissolved. Fortunately for Athena, she managed to completely evade punishment by talking herself out of it.
=== Asclepius and Punishment ===
Apollo is also the god who found Chiron and raised him, attributing Chiron's skills and wisdom to Apollo's tutelage. Thus, after Asclepius, the demigod son of Apollo was born, he was raised by Chiron. The centaur taught the demigod in medicine and would drive him to become the greatest of healers. Asclepius is said to have been Apollo's favorite demigod child.
Asclepius became even more skilled in medicine than his father Apollo, most likely because he devoted all of his time to it. With the help of Gorgon Blood (given to him by Athena), Asclepius could cure any illness, heal any injury, and even bring back the dead with Physician's Cure. He most notably resurrected Hippolytos at his aunt Artemis' request. Furious, Hades forced Zeus to strike Asclepius dead with lightning as punishment for violating the natural laws.
Apollo was angered and devastated by his favorite son's death but couldn't take out his anger on Zeus himself as the king of gods was way too powerful, so he subsequently killed one of the Cyclopes (who forged Zeus's thunderbolts) in retaliation which caused Apollo to be suspended for a year. To prevent a feud, after Zeus resurrected his cyclopes, Asclepius was resurrected and made into a god, but was forbidden by Hades from ever resurrecting the dead ever again.
For his murder of the Cyclopes, Apollo was forced by Zeus to live on Earth for a year again, stripped of his divinity and godly powers, and forced to serve the mortal King Admetus of Thessaly as a shepherd for a year. Fortunately for Apollo, Admetus was very hospitable and treated the banished god with great respect. As a reward for his hospitality, Apollo even persuaded the Fates to reprieve Admetus of his fated day of death, as long as Admetus could find someone willing to die in his place.
=== Trojan War ===
During the Trojan War, Apollo was the chief patron and protector of the Trojans, Hector in particular. Apollo shot arrows of horrible plague into the Greek encampment as retribution for Agamemnon's insult to his priest, whose daughter had been captured by them. He demanded her return and the Greeks complied, indirectly causing the anger of Achilles, as Agamemnon took Achilles' concubine, Briseis, as compensation. Apollo also taunted Achilles in the form of Agenor so that he would chase him, giving the Trojans time to escape back to Troy.
When Diomedes injured Aeneas during a battle, Apollo rescued him after Aphrodite was wounded by Diomedes as well, trying to save her son, rebuking the latter lest he think fit to make attack upon a god again. He transported the Trojan to Pergamus where his wound was tended by his mother and sister. Throughout the war, he constantly drove on Hector and nearly destroyed the Greeks. At the behest of Zeus, Apollo used Zeus' Aegis to force the Greeks back to their ships. He also threw down the great wall the Greeks built, as easily as a child breaks a sandcastle. Apollo also aided Paris in slaying the invulnerable Achilles by guiding the arrow of his bow into his vulnerable (Achilles') heel.
== Appearance ==
In The Titan's Curse, Apollo was portrayed as having a resemblance to Luke Castellan, looking about seventeen or eighteen, with the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. However, he was taller than Luke, with no scar on his face, and his smile was brighter and more playful, and he was dressed in jeans, loafers, and a sleeveless T-shirt. When guiding Percy and his friends to help rescue his sister, he was forced to take the form of a homeless, toothless man who looked like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck, dressed in a ripped coat and worn-out almost-white jeans. After Artemis was rescued and the Olympians gathered to decide how to prepare for Kronos' uprising, he resumed his former attractive appearance.
In The Blood of Olympus, he was depicted as a seventeen-year-old youth, with curly blond hair and a perfect tan. He wore tattered jeans, a black T-shirt and a white linen jacket with glittering rhinestone lapels.
In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo was described to be an extremely handsome god, being as tall and muscular and bronzed as a Baywatch lifeguard, with long golden hair tied back in a "man bun" and eyes that shone like the sun, much like those of Hyperion, though less harsh. His radiance was enhanced by his wearing a Greek robe of gold, and a beautiful golden bow and a quiver of magical arrows over his shoulders. His handsomeness was such that even his stepmother, Hera, who had a deep natural hatred of Zeus' mistresses and illegitimate children, did not dare object to his claiming his place among the Olympian gods. Apollo is often seen driving the Sun Chariot, and almost always has a laurel wreath on his head. The other novels also depict him as handsome and charming (when he chooses to be), though there are some inconsistencies with the description provided by Percy Jackson's Greek Gods.
In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, when he first approached Cyrene, Apollo wore his best purple robes, and a laurel wreath across his brow. His smile was "blinding", while his eyes "shone like molten gold", and he was surrounded by a flickering aura of honey-coloured light.
In The Trials of Apollo, as a mortal, Apollo appears as a Caucasian sixteen-year-old of average build with blue eyes and dark curly hair.
In The Tyrant's Tomb, Apollo gains sickly purple marks that slowly cover his body when he is scratched by a Eurynomos on the way to Camp Jupiter.
The differences in Apollo's physical description throughout the novels could be attributed to the fact that, as a god, he has the ability to assume any shape he desired, though he is always handsome and attractive when he chooses to be. He also commented in The Hidden Oracle that he always had "eight-pack abs".
In The Tower of Nero, its revealed that Apollo can choose the form he appears in to mortals, taking on both his godly form or that of a mortal of his choosing. After regaining his godhood, Apollo chooses to adopt his Lester form when dealing with his friends even though he no longer needs to as Apollo now feels at home in that form.
== Personality ==
Apollo is described as arrogant, self-centred, and cocky, as is typical among the gods. However, in The Trials of Apollo his personality progressively changes as he starts to feel guilt and sorrow, becoming more empathetic and kind. This is especially shown in Chapter 27 of The Hidden Oracle when he sings about Daphne and Hyacinthus, the most famous of his lovers, taking the responsibility for their deaths. However, he does have a big ego as said in The Tyrant's Tomb when Reyna rejected him.
He has been obsessed with haikus ever since he visited Japan and also appears to obsess over other kinds of poems, depending on where he visits. In The Titan's Curse, Zoë Nightshade briefly mentions that after Apollo visited Ireland, he obsessed over limericks for a time.
He loves his 'little' sister Artemis, even though they often clash, as he is the more laid back, less serious twin; he is always hitting on her Hunters as well, though she has forbidden it, and they refuse to be charmed by him due to their oath. He was also shown to have good relations with his demigod relatives, such as Percy, as demonstrated by how he illegally helped him during one of his quests (though a prominent reason for his help would be because Artemis was in grave danger), and offering to teach him archery.
However, Apollo also has a dark cruel side: he placed a terrible curse on his son, Halcyon Green, for trying to defy fate to help another in need. As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, one of the factors that fuelled Apollo's dark side was his protectiveness of his mother, Leto - after Niobe insulted Leto, Apollo ruthlessly killed all seven of her sons. Later on, he personally asked Hades to eternally torture Tityos for harassing his mother. He even went as far as to flay alive the satyr Marsyas after winning their musical contest, although he later denied having flayed him alive, implying that while he can be quite cruel when angered, he is not so cruel as to painfully kill others.
As revealed in The Hidden Oracle, Apollo's sunny and optimistic demeanour actually conceals deep sorrows: he had never truly moved on from the two greatest loves of his life - Daphne (who turned into a tree to escape his advances) and Hyacinthus (who died due to a feud between Apollo and Zephyrus), and was haunted by their memories, to the extent where anything that could be associated with them would almost reduce him to tears if he saw it. Apollo also acknowledged to himself that he secretly harboured a good deal of resentment towards his father, Zeus, and his killing the Cyclopes who forged Zeus's lightning bolt had not been a rash decision, as it was easier for him to hate and blame the weapons which his father frequently used to threaten him with, than to hate his father himself.
Apollo was also revealed to have a tendency to brag about his previous accomplishments, particularly his victory over Python, to the point of embellishing it: though he told storytellers that he had vanquished Python with a single arrow the instant he arrived at its cave, the truth of the matter was that he had needed all of his godly strength, his divine powers, and his bow (which he described to be the deadliest bow in the world) to defeat Python, who had been "no pushover". In fact, the battle between Apollo and Python had been such that the former suffered from nightmares about the latter for centuries.
After being turned into a mortal, it was evident that Apollo could be intensely selfish, given how he viewed his need of regaining his divinity as well as his issues of struggling with his newfound mortality as being more important than the troubles or concerns of others - including those of his own demigod children. However, even in the midst of this, Apollo still proved to be an open-minded and even, in a way, affectionate person, especially to his children: he supported the romantic relationship between his son, Will, and Nico, and when his children made sincere effort to welcome him as one of their own and even promised retaliation on those who dared to target him in his current vulnerable state, he was simultaneously touched by their affection and ashamed of himself for not having done more for them.
Besides this, despite his frequent annoyance with Meg, Apollo grew to truly care for her as a most cherished friend, which eventually led him to acquire the courage and the willingness to admit his own faults and to stand up to Nero. Later on, even after learning that Meg had been a double agent of sorts, Apollo still cared for her and worried about her when she ran away. It's noticed too that despite his fearful behaviour, Apollo showed being able to have a great sense of courage, risking his life to save his children, Austin and Kayla, and Meg after they were kidnapped.
In The Burning Maze, Apollo seems to understand more about being a human, and started caring more for the "little losses". When fighting with Caligula, he was willing to sacrifice himself, because he knew this would be the best chance to save his allies. Even though he says he probably wouldn't have done this if Medea wasn't going to heal him and doesn't see it as something heroic because of that, Meg says it was heroic especially for a god. After Jason's death, Apollo even cried on the plane on the way back for everyone who had sacrificed themselves. Apollo still brags about himself and acts like a god, but now he is more sentimental and protective of his friends.
In The Tower of Nero, after regaining his godhood, Apollo struggles to remember how to be a god again and not just a mortal. After awakening, he is horrified by the thought that he may have been asleep for centuries and thus will never see his friends again who all likely think him dead. The experience gives Apollo a new view of his "wicked stepmother" Hera and a sympathetic stance towards Dionysus. He also comes to terms with his relationship with his father and vows to never forget the lessons he learned as a mortal.
== Abilities ==
Apollo is known to be the most powerful son of Zeus, for Zeus trusted him with more significant powers than any of his other children. Hence, Apollo is an extremely powerful god who is surpassed only by the six oldest Olympians (the Big Three, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia). He is equal to Artemis and perhaps rivalled by Athena.
However, as revealed by Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and in The Trials of Apollo, Apollo has been temporarily stripped of his powers thrice, and while he did retain some of his godly powers the first two times, he becomes completely mortal the third time. As revealed in The Dark Prophecy, he can only use small bursts of his godly powers when he is doing selfless acts or protecting others who he feels protective of. As stated in The Burning Maze, Apollo can feel himself becoming more human by the day and fears he will never become a god again. In The Tyrant's Tomb, Apollo's godly archery skills returned much to his surprise while Reyna was temporarily able to restore his godly strength with her ability to boost the powers of others. In a moment of rage, even while weakened by his zombie infection, Apollo was able to obliterate a severely weakened Commodus, shocking Apollo as he had used an aspect of his powers he'd never seen before in the process. In The Tower of Nero, Apollo's powers start coming back in bursts during his fight with Python to the point that he describes himself as being in between god and human. After Apollo understands the lesson he was meant to learn, his godly powers return fully and he becomes a god once again in time to save himself from the Sea of Chaos. However, the effort involved in both this and his fight with Python leave Apollo unconscious for two weeks.
* Battle Prowess: Apollo has great superhuman strength and combat skills, and the Homeric hymns also described that no ropes could bind him. During the very first Olympic games (which were for the gods), he defeated Ares in boxing and outran Hermes. As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, when Hercules attacked his Oracle, Apollo engaged him in battle, and they were equally matched, only when Zeus threw his thunderbolt between the two of them did the fight stop. In The Last Olympian, Apollo participated in the battle between the Olympians and Typhon, and apart from being one of those who were not taken out by the colossal Storm Giant, he set Typhon's loincloth on fire by shooting a "blazing volley of arrows". In The Tower of Nero, Apollo is able to face off with the much more powerful Python with little of his godly powers intact and hold his own for a brief time.
* Archery: As the God of Archery, Apollo excelled in archery and other target-shooting-based activities, such as basketball. According to Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, his arrows are invisible to mortals, and would always strike its intended target, regardless of the distance. His archery skills can only be rivalled by his sister, Artemis, and the Giant, Orion. In The Tyrant's Tomb, his godly archery skills return even while human, much to Apollo's surprise.
* Swordsmanship: Given Homer's description him as "Apollo of the Golden Sword", Apollo is an expert swordsman. In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, it was revealed that he once had an extremely sharp sword made of adamantine and gold, but rarely used it, and he later gave it to Hermes in exchange for the flute.
* Musical Ability: As the God of Music, Apollo is the leader of the Nine Muses, as well as an expert musician who could play any musical instrument perfectly, though he is most often seen with his lyre. As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, during his musical contest with Marsyas, Apollo was able to play his lyre flawlessly while holding it behind his back and not looking at the strings. Apollo was also the one who taught Pandora how to sing and play the lyre, making her irresistible to Epimetheus. As of The Blood of Olympus, Apollo is determined to master the newly invented Valdezinator. It was also shown in The Hidden Oracle that, despite being stripped of his godly powers, Apollo had still retained his extraordinary musical talents - his song reduced Meg to tears. His music can be used to cause temporary memory loss or increase the speed of corrosion, as seen in The Dark Prophecy, based on the song that he sings.
** Audiokinesis: As shown in The Blood of Olympus, Apollo's son, Will Solace, could make a sharp ultrasonic whistle-like sound that can temporarily stun his opponents, making them clutch their ears in confusion, suggesting that Apollo may be able to do the same thing. In The Tyrant's Tomb, in one of his bursts of godly powers, Apollo loosed a guttural roar at a severely weakened Commodus, described as "a song with only one note: pure rage and only one volume: maximum." The onslaught of pure sound caused Commodus to crumble into ash, leaving behind a charred outline on the asphalt. Apollo was left stunned by this as he had never actually killed someone with his voice alone in his thousands of years of existence.
* Heliokinesis: As the God of the Sun, Apollo has absolute control and divine authority over sun. His abilities include:
** Photokinesis: As the God of the Sun and Light, Apollo has absolute control over sunlight.
*** Sunlight Rays: As his twin sister could create shots of moonlight, it is probable that he can generate rays of sunlight.
*** Dazzling Appearance: In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo appeared before Marsyas in "a blaze of golden light", and in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, as he approached Cyrene, Apollo was surrounded by a flickering aura of honey-coloured light.
** Pyrokinesis: As the God of the Sun, Apollo has absolute control and divine authority over the flames of his Sun Chariot. However, this power of his is inferior to that of Hephaestus, the God of Fire, and Helios, the original driver of the Sun Chariot and Titan of the Sun. Examples of abilities he derived from this province are:
*** Fiery Appearance: In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Apollo first appeared next to Cyrene in "a huge ball of fire".
*** Fire Generation: In The Tower of Nero, in one of his bursts of godly power, Apollo is able to use flames to cauterize Luguselwa's stump. He is later able to fire a blast of flames from his hand that burns two Germani to ash.
*** Fire Immunity: Apollo is completely immune to any amount of fire and heat. In The Tower of Nero, after destroying Nero's fasces in one of his bursts of godly power, Apollo was left unharmed by the firestorm it released which Nero stated would be enough to kill whoever managed to break it.
* Supernatural Sight: As the God of the Sun and Light, Apollo is able to see almost anything and anywhere during the day - he remarked in The Titan's Curse that he "saw a lot".
* Vitakinesis: As the God of Healing and Medicine, Apollo could manipulate and modify a person's anatomy, as well as restore the injured to full health. Examples of abilities he derived from this province are:
** Enhanced Healing: As shown in The Last Olympian, Apollo could instantly heal wounds - he healed all of Annabeth's wounds by speaking an incantation, and later did the same with Chiron. His demigod children were able to channel his healing abilities when they hummed a hymn to him in Ancient Greek, but it required a good deal of energy on their part, and in The Blood of Olympus, his immortal son, Asclepius, was revealed to slightly surpassing him in this regard. In The Tower of Nero, in one of his godly bursts of power, Apollo appears to heal Luguselwa somewhat treating her injuries.
* Nosokinesis: Apollo also had power over plagues and epidemics, and he channelled this ability through special arrows that exploded into foul vapours that spread the very disease he wanted inflict his victims with. During the Trojan War, when Agamemnon offended him, Apollo infected the latter's army with a plague. In The Hidden Oracle, it's mentioned that Apollo was the one who created hay fever. Even as Lester he has this power, only it was considerably weaker and required a hymn about himself, creating a plague arrow. However, he only succeeded in creating a hay fever arrow, not the more deadly illness that he was aiming for. It managed to affect not only the Nero Colossus but the entirety of Camp Half-Blood.
* Prophecy: As the God of Prophecy and Foresight, Apollo is able to see into the future. However, he is unable to tell anyone future events, except through his Oracles, as then the information would become meaningless. This is a dangerous ability, and his only children known to have inherited it are Idmon and Halcyon Green, as well as his Roman legacy Octavian. Apollo does not have full control over this power either. He does not always know what the prophecies mean, nor can he always control when they are told.
* Madness (limited): In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, it is believed that Apollo drove Orion insane with the urge to hunt every beast on earth.
* Truth Sense: As the god of Truth, Apollo possibly knows when people are telling the truth or lying.
* Couplets Curse: As seen in The Last Olympian, Apollo's demigod children can curse others to only speak in rhyming couplets that can take days or even weeks to wear off, so Apollo himself most likely has this same ability as well.
* Flight: As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo has the ability to fly, which was shown when he flew to the island of Delos to slay Python, and when he and Artemis descended on the city of Thebes to punish Queen Niobe for her hubris.
* Invisibility: While first spying on the playing satyr Marsyas in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Apollo floated invisibly above the gathered crowd.
* Hypnokinesis (limited): As shown in The Titan's Curse, Apollo has the power to induce slumber - he put Percy to sleep just by snapping his fingers. However, it is unknown as to what extent his power over sleep is.
* Shapeshifting: Apollo is capable of altering his appearance at will, shown when he transformed into his mortal alter-ego "Fred" in The Titan's Curse. He was later forcibly transformed by Zeus into the mortal teenager, Lester Papadopoulos, in The Hidden Oracle.
* Power Granting: As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, Apollo had the ability to grant the gifts of longevity and naiad-hood to whomever he desired - he transformed his lover, Cyrene, into a naiad with a very long lifespan. He also grants the Sybil who wrote the Sibylline Books as many years of life as there were grains on the beach where they were; however, he regrets doing this. He also, like all gods, has the power to create new gods; however, this comes at a price. For every god he creates, he loses a piece of his own power as was seen with Hemithea and her sister. This creates very minor gods bestowed with only a tiny fraction of actual powers. The stronger he makes them, the weaker he becomes.
* Teleportation: Apollo can forcibly teleport others both to his side and away from him, which he did to Chiron in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes.
* Cloud Transformation: As was mentioned by Apollo in The Hidden Oracle, Apollo had the ability to turn himself into a cloud.
* Dreams: Similar to a demigod, the mortal Apollo received dream visions. When he was a god, Apollo could send dream visions as a way of communication. Although the mortal Apollo initially had no control over his dreams, in The Tower of Nero he manages to take control of his dreams to spy on Nero, find his fasces and learn the identity of its guardian.
== Attributes ==
Apollo's attributes are his golden bow and arrow, his golden lyre (made for him by Hermes), the laurel wreath (in honor of Daphne, his unrequited love), the sacrificial tripod (representing his prophetic powers), and the hyacinth flower (which sprouted out of the blood of Hyacinthus, Apollo's deceased lover). Apollo's sacred animal is the swan.
As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Hermes' Caduceus, winged sandals, and his golden sword originally belonged to Apollo. However, he admittedly never used them and readily gave them to his younger brother, Hermes, in exchange for the latter's lyre and flute. In Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, it was revealed that he eventually gave his original golden lyre to Orpheus after the latter's skill impressed him and created another one for himself.
== Attendants ==
Apollo has several loyal attendants, including the Nine Muses (some of which he fathered children with) and four golden Celedons, all of which accompany him in musical performances.
== Family ==
Apollo loves both his mother and twin sister above all other women and will fiercely defend them. He is surpassed only by his father and Poseidon in his romances. Many of his demigod children have become famed artists, poets and musicians (e.g. William Shakespeare).
== Apollo's Chariot ==
Apollo's sun chariot is the one that brings light to the world, making the mortals believe that it is a huge ball of fire-the sun-in outer space (although Apollo infers that the Sun does still exist in space, just that the Sun Chariot is the embodiment of the Sun's Effect on Earth). Apollo's sun chariot can also turn to any other car; as shown in The Titan's Curse, the chariot changed into a Maserati and a bus.
Category:Characters
Category:Greek Gods
Category:Olympians
Category:Children of Zeus
Category:Twins
Category:Immortals