Luke Castellan: Betrayed by the Gods

 

The personality and development of a character is the most important part of the book, as it makes for the plot and affects their decisions later on. There is always a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the book when a character can do something they couldn't at the beginning, be it facing a fear, forgiving someone, or even a subtle change in their personality.

 

The main character of the book always has some sort of character development, but what interests me, is to see how the side characters have changed, how the people who weren't in the spotlight still had their challenges to face, and what kind of direct effect does this have on the protagonist.

 

This is why analyzing a side character is always interesting, as you do not have a reliable source to know about them, other than the main character's perspective, which can often be unreliable. To be able to separate the lead character's opinions from the facts about a supporting character always takes skill, and being able to read between the lines.

 

In this post, I will be analyzing the central antagonist of the Percy Jackson series, Luke Castellan. There are various debates in the Percy Jackson Fandom about Luke actually being evil, or just being provoked to be evil. Usually, antagonists always have some sort of motive to become a hurdle in the protagonist’s path, and I have various theories about Luke and his descent into borderline insanity. I will do my best to justify Luke's harmful actions while viewing him from a neutral perspective.

 

 

Personality traits

 

Some adjectives to describe Luke in his childhood would be righteous, responsible, protective, and clever. But later he turns vengeful, cunning, stubborn, conniving, and spiteful.

 

 

 

Childhood

 

Being born as a child of Hermes, the god of thieves, he was naturally smart. His mother, May Castellan, was born with the gift of prophecy, which attracted Hermes' attraction. As later in the books, Hermes had a lot of kids from various mortals, all of which he neglected due to being busy with godly duties.

 

Hermes told May about her gift, and she managed to convince him to let her host the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi, which in turn drove her insane. Hermes had to leave and left a toddler Luke with a mentally unstable May. From a young age, Luke had to fend for himself, which made him independent but also gave him trust issues. 

 

Ever since he was a kid, Luke felt betrayed by Hermes. Looking at it from my perspective, Luke was supposed to have everything. He was rich, smart and lived in the most prestigious neighborhood in Connecticut. Yet his childhood was snatched from him, he grew up without a father, without emotional support from his mother, and had to deal with being a demigod all by himself.

 

 

Life on the Run

 

 

When he was nine, Luke grew sick of his mother and ran away. He tried explaining to mortals his situation as a demigod and how monsters tried to kill him, but nobody listened. He was lonely, miserable, and had to fight to survive.

 

When he turned 14, he met Thalia Grace, a daughter of Zeus, and they started traveling together. Luke felt very attached to Thalia, as she was the first person he considered a friend in a long time.

 

Halcyon and the Prophecy

 

When the duo reached Virginia, they were lured into a large mansion and trapped there. In the mansion, they met Halcyon Green, a demigod son of Apollo. Halcyon had the power of prophecy and had used it to save a girl who was destined to die. As he had disrupted the order of fate, he was punished to lure young demigods into this mansion so they could be eaten by leucrotae. Part of his curse was that he couldn’t speak, and couldn’t save the demigods who entered the mansion.

 

Luke and Thalia began looking for ways to escape and made Greek Fire burn the mansion down, but Halcyon had to sacrifice himself in the process. Right before dying, Halcyon mentioned something of Luke being destined to an ill fate. Luke, who had developed a strong bond with Halcyon throughout the short duration of his stay there, was extremely hurt.

 

He began resenting the gods, feeling strong hatred for them. This was the turning point of his personality. It was no longer his self-preservation causing him to defend himself, but his hatred for the gods. The very same gods, who betrayed their children in unfavorable situations, the same gods who left their children to fight for themselves. He began to think the gods were nothing more than self-absorbed beings who only cared about their own problems, and cast cruel punishments over anyone who didn’t obey them.

 

Annabeth Chase

 

 

Later, Luke and Thalia met a seven-year-old demigod who had also run away from home. This girl was Annabeth, who would later become one of the three main protagonists in the series. Luke and Thalia adopted Annabeth as their little sister, protecting her and teaching her to defend herself.

 

Later, due to being wounded, the trio returned to the Castellan home, where Luke met Hermes. Hermes refused to tell him more about this prophecy and refused to talk to him. Luke gave up what little hope he had left for the gods, and decided he wants revenge.

 

Years at Camp Half-Blood

 

 

The trio traveled to Camp Half-Blood, which was the haven for all demigods on Earth. At the very end of their journey, right as they entered the boundary, an army of monsters attacked them. Thalia sacrificed herself to protect the other 2, and to honor her, Zeus her father, turned her into a pine tree.

This was the last straw for Luke. His best friend was willing to die for him, and instead of protecting her, his father turned her into a tree. He wanted revenge.

The Thalia tree now stood tall on the boundaries of Camp Half-Blood, serving as a barrier against monsters.

 

As a part of his revenge, Luke worked for years, earned the trust of everyone in the camp, became a councilor for the Hermes cabin. He planned to resurrect the titans, who would get rid of the gods so they could reshape a better world. In reality, the titans were pure evil and would end humanity, but he was too blinded by rage to notice.

 

Flash forward to the actual series starting, Luke became a role model for Percy Jackson, who was lost in this whole world of monsters and gods. He taught Percy to swordfight, earned his trust, did everything.

 

It was only until the end of the book when Percy realized that Luke was the traitor, the spy who let monsters into the camp. That’s when Luke escaped the camp, but not before stabbing Thalia’s tree, poisoning it so the campers were left unprotected.

 

Antagonist Luke

 

Throughout the rest of the series, Luke was seen recruiting demigods and resurrecting the titans one by one. Percy and Annabeth were seen trying to stop is schemes as the protagonists throughout the books.

 

One thing which was seen in the series: Luke killed various demigods, but was never able to hurt Annabeth. Even though his rage, his thirst for revenge, he still considered Annabeth as his little sister, even protected her.

 

It was in the last book, that Luke gave over his body to Kronos, the king of titans, so he could finish off the gods. He fought as Kronos throughout the battle of Manhattan, until the end, where his armies had reached the thrones of the gods, about to destroy them.

 

Kronos (in Luke’s body) tried to attack Annabeth who was in a duel with him. Annabeth refused to hurt Luke, while Kronos was more than willing to finish her off.

 

In his very last moments, Luke regained control of his body and talked to Annabeth. He let Percy knock his sword out of his hand, and tried to control Kronos. Annabeth passed her dagger to Percy, who in turn gave it to Luke, who stabbed himself in his Achilles heel near his elbow. Kronos was thus defeated by Luke, and in his last moments, he said he would try for rebirth and live a good life. He made Percy promise that no other demigod would be neglected by the gods, and meet the same fate as him.

 

His body was later carried away by the fates themselves, and while leaving, Hermes kissed his forehead. He died the death of a hero and was honored by the gods.

 

 

Last thoughts

 

There will never be a day where I won't cry after reading about Luke’s death. Luke Castellan, struggled through his childhood, and let his emotions get the best of him, like any other person. But what is important, is that he figured out he was in the wrong and fixed his mistakes in the end. He sacrificed himself for the ones he loved and embraced death willingly. Even while dying, he tried to make sure nobody would meet the same fate as him.

 

Luke Castellan died a hero.