Annabeth Chase is a fictional character in Rick Riordan's Camp Half-Blood series, appearing as one of the main protagonists in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and a supporting character in its sequel, The Heroes of Olympus. She is a demigod; her father is the mortal Frederick Chase while her mother is Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, crafts and battle strategy. She first appears in the first novel of the series, The Lightning Thief, and becomes close friends with Percy Jackson, later becoming his primary love interest and girlfriend.
| Annabeth Chase | |
|---|---|
| Camp Half-Blood character | |
| File:AnnabethOnBook.jpg Original design by John Rocco. | |
| First appearance | The Lightning Thief |
| Portrayed by | Alexandra Daddario |
| Species | Demigod |
| In-universe information | |
| Family | Athena and Frederick Chase (parents) Mrs. Chase (step-mom) Matthew and Bobby Chase (half-brothers) Malcolm and Daedalus (half-brothers) Zeus and Metis (grandparents) |
She is played by Alexandra Daddario in the film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.[1]
Development
Author Rick Riordan, when asked in an interview, "Do you feel those who aid the main character, such as Grover and Annabeth, are heroes in their own right?" replied, "Annabeth is Percy's rational side. She can think through things and look at options that sometimes evade Percy in his moments of battle panic."[2]
Fictional biography
Annabeth Chase is the half-blood daughter of the Goddess Athena[3][4][5] and the mortal man Frederick Chase. Being a daughter of Athena, who is a maiden goddess, she was not physically born, but is a literal 'brain child'; she was born as a gift to the man her mother loved. When she was seven, she ran away from home. On her journey, she met Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace, and Grover Underwood. Together, they journeyed to Camp Half-Blood, running from and fighting hordes of monsters. Upon arrival at the borders of Camp Half-Blood, Thalia sacrificed her life when they were all attacked by monsters so that Luke, Grover and Annabeth could safely get into camp. She lived at Camp Half-Blood for five years prior to Percy Jackson's arrival.
It has been shown that Annabeth does not get along with her father and stepfamily. According to her, her father was not very happy when she first appeared and tends to look at her as a nuisance. Her stepsiblings appear to dislike her and feel afraid of her. Her stepmother seems to hate her and feels that she endangers her family by being only half-mortal. At the end of The Lightning Thief, Annabeth returned to her family to see if she could get along with them. She was able to stay with them for approximately a year, but it is unknown if her feeling towards her family have changed; however, in The Titan's Curse, her father and stepmother seem to care for her deeply, and her father helps fight off Kronos's army to save Annabeth.
Annabeth is a good fighter, and has been shown to be able to think on her feet in high-pressured situations. Despite this, Annabeth dreams of being an architect, and the story has made many references to this. In The Lightning Thief, she enjoys and quickly becomes addicted to the 3-D holographic SimCity-esque game at the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and in The Sea of Monsters, it was shown that Annabeth’s greatest dream is to redesign the whole world to make it better, make Luke good again, and be accepted by her mother and father. In The Last Olympian, she is granted the status of being the architect of Olympus.
In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy says "Annabeth wasn't going to accept an easy answer, even if it got her in serious trouble". He also says that's one of the things he likes best about her.
Hubris, or deadly pride, is Annabeth's fatal flaw. Annabeth thinks that she is able to do anything: get her parents back together, build great monuments, and save Luke as shown in the second book. She sometimes even thinks she can rebuild the world into an even better place than the immortals did. She also has a deep fear of spiders, due to the contest between Athena and Arachne.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
The Lightning Thief
Annabeth meets Percy Jackson after he was attacked by the Minotaur and makes his way into Half-Blood Hill. When Percy first saw Annabeth, Percy described Annabeth as "pretty" with blond hair curled "like a princess's". After Percy heals from the Minotaur attack, Annabeth hears that he is to go on a quest and she wants to go along, thinking Percy is "the one" from Chiron's prophecy. Together, she, Percy, and Grover go searching for Zeus's stolen lightning bolt. Throughout the book, Annabeth shows her unique intelligence, which she inherited from her mother, and also her arachnophobia (fear of spiders) that she shares with all her siblings on her mother's side (originating from the story of Arachne and Athena). At the end of the book, Annabeth is deeply hurt by Luke's betrayal.[6]
The Sea of Monsters
Annabeth and Percy are more friendly towards each other than they were in The Lightning Thief . Together, they journey to the Sea of Monsters (now located in Bermuda Triangle) to find the Golden Fleece and save Grover from Polyphemus the Cyclops. The Golden Fleece is needed to save Camp Half-Blood. She hears the Sirens' song and confirms that her fatal flaw is hubris, which means "deadly pride." When hearing the Sirens' song, she gets kind of "vision" of everything could be perfect; her real mom together with her father and Luke who is saved and forgiven of betrayal according to Percy when he touches her when they are underwater. Annabeth had been previously tied up by will to make sure she didn't escape to go to the Sirens, but by mistake, Percy had forgotten to disarm her beforehand, leaving Annabeth with a knife to cut herself free. This resulted in Annabeth jumping overboard and Percy having to follow her in order to save her life. On Circe's island, she gives Percy multivitamins to change him back into a human after being turned into a guinea pig. She also learns to accept Tyson, Percy's young, Cyclops half-brother after having a bad experience with another Cyclops long ago. When they return back to camp, she and Percy team up and win the chariot race. Her feelings for Percy seem to emerge at the end when she kisses Percy on the cheek after winning the chariot race.[7]
The Titan's Curse
In this one Annabeth is kidnapped by the headmaster Dr.Thorn, a manticore, and hide in Mt. Othrys with Artemis the Goddess of Hunting who is made to bear the weight of the sky and relieving Titan Atlas of the burden. Percy, Thailia, Zoe, Grover and Bianca set on a quest to rescue Artemis and Annabeth.After Percy and the others reach Mt. Othrys they free Annabeth and Artemis and while fighting Atlas Luke and the monster army , Annabeth hesitates to kill Luke when she gets a chance. While on their quest Aphrodite Goddess of Love convinces Percy of his feeling about Annabeth . [8]
The Battle of the Labyrinth
By this book, Annabeth is fourteen. Percy and Annabeth find an entrance into the Labyrinth. She realizes that Luke may try to use this entrance to invade Camp.
Annabeth leads the quest into the Labyrinth, fulfilling one of her ambitions at last. Annabeth descends into the Labyrinth with Percy, Grover, and Tyson to find a way to stop Kronos's evil forces from penetrating the borders of Camp Half-Blood by searching for its inventor, Daedalus. The prophecy the Oracle gave her appears to have scared her, it talks of 'the child of Athena's final stand,' and she refuses to say the last line. As they go into the Labyrinth, they face many obstacles. Annabeth faces a Sphinx and finds the riddles (which are actually factual questions) not challenging and an insult to her intellect. They escape the claws of the Sphinx and continue on to find Hephaestus so he can tell them about where to find Daedalus.
As they head towards Hephaestus' forge in Mount St. Helens, they find telekhines there making a weapon for Kronos. Percy tells Annabeth to escape while she can. She kisses him for luck and they part ways. Annabeth believes that he dies when Mount St. Helens erupts, but this is not the case. Percy fell onto the island Ogygia, prison of the nymph Calypso, a daughter of Atlas. When Percy comes back to camp, Annabeth is performing a funeral ritual for him. When she notices him, she hugs him, making a scene. Percy then asks a mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, to help them on their way through the labyrinth (Rachel has a rare ability to see through the Mist). Annabeth becomes very jealous at how close Percy and Rachel are getting. The three of them discover Luke, who has become Kronos's vessel. After a battle, Luke is forced back into the Labyrinth, leaving two casualties. Annabeth refuses to believe that Luke is all bad, and gets quite mad at Percy for saying otherwise.
The Last Olympian
In the fifth book, Annabeth first appears when Percy returns from blowing up Kronos's ship, the Princess Andromeda. Following his arrival, Annabeth helps Percy hear the Great Prophecy. Percy bathes in the River Styx (he narrowly escapes by envisioning Annabeth pulling him out of the river) and calls Annabeth, telling her to meet him in front of the Empire State Building with all the demigods from Camp Half Blood. When Annabeth and Percy go to Olympus, they meet Hermes, to whom Annabeth tries to apologize about Luke turning into Kronos. Hermes becomes angry at her and blames her for not saving Luke. Hermes leaves, and they return to the other campers to defend Manhattan and Mount Olympus. In battle, Ethan Nakamura attempts to stab Percy in the small of his back, his Achilles spot, and Annabeth jumps in front of him, taking the knife. After a few hours of rest, Annabeth, though still weak from poison, goes back into battle. Kronos goes to Olympus, and Grover, Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth follow him. Annabeth gives Percy her knife and tells him to give it to Luke. He gives the knife to Luke and Luke stabs himself. At the end of the book, she reminds Percy about his birthday and they both share a cupcake with blue frosting made by Annabeth with the help of Percy's half-brother, Tyson. Rachel Elizabeth Dare becomes the new Oracle of Delphi after several failed attempts. Percy and Annabeth also share two kisses, including one underwater after they were dumped in their camp's canoe lake by their friends.[9]
The Heroes of Olympus
The Lost Hero
In the beginning of the story, Percy Jackson is revealed to have disappeared, leaving Annabeth and the rest of the camp worried. Annabeth goes on a search for him but comes back unsuccessful, with no idea to where he might be. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Juno/Hera sent Percy to the Roman Camp Half Blood. Just as Jason was sent to Camp Half-Blood, Percy Jackson was sent to the Roman camp as a form of exchanging leaders, to make the two camps aware of each other, so they could try to unite and it could be that Percy might not remember who he is or who his friends are. She also discovers that there might be a chance that Percy may die, for Roman demigods are much more 'warlike' than their Greek counterparts and if are not deemed worthy, they are made the meals of wolfs at the Roman camp, in The Bay Area San Francisco. Annabeth then makes a plan to find the Roman Camp and bring Percy with them on their trip to Greece to defeat Gaea.
In the film
In the film, Alexandra Daddario plays Annabeth, a demi-god at Camp Half-Blood with Percy and potential romantic foil.[10] In the film trailer, Annabeth says to Percy, "I definitely have strong feelings for you. I just haven't decided if they are positive or negative yet." Another scene shows them leaning in, seemingly to kiss. It was really a tease which is shown when she surprisingly steals Percy's sword from his sheath and at the same time brings her own sword to his throat and says,"First rule of battle strategy, never let your opponent distract you." In the film, Annabeth is seen as a brunette with straight hair, a deviation from the book's description of her (with blonde and curly hair). She also does not really show much love towards Luke. Her character traits lean more towards Clarisse, even taking her place during capture the flag. Clarisse is not in the film. The characters are shown to be much older than in the books.
Romance
A key subplot in the series is the relationship between Annabeth, Percy, and Luke. Luke is Annabeth's hero and one of her first half-blood friends. Annabeth likes Percy, which she hints at, but she still cares for Luke. At the end of The Last Olympian, Luke shows slight feelings for her, sort of like an older brother. These feeling are present despite the fact that Luke and Percy are arch enemies and he has attempted to kill Percy numerous times. In The Sea of Monsters, it emerges that one of her life's wishes is to save Luke.
In the beginning of The Lightning Thief, Annabeth is shown to dislike Percy when she discovers that Percy is the hero of the prophecy. She thinks he is weak, and is influenced by the rivalry between her mother, Athena, and Percy's father, Poseidon. In The Sea of Monsters, after Annabeth listens to the Sirens, there are some suggestions of romance underwater. At the end, Annabeth kisses Percy on the cheek after winning the chariot race. In The Titan's Curse, there are more suggestions of some romance between Annabeth and Percy, although this is complicated by her lingering feelings towards Luke and the fact that her mother, Athena, disapproves of her "friendship" with Percy. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Annabeth finally expresses her feelings for Percy by kissing him good luck before vanishing using her Yankee's cap. When Percy returns, she is highly jealous when she concludes that Percy had been marooned on Ogygia with Calypso, but masks it under the guise of anger when he tells her that they need the help of a mortal. It is implied that Percy is trying to tell Annabeth about his feelings, but Annabeth remains distant due to her lingering feelings towards Luke.
In The Last Olympian, after the defeat of Kronos and the saving of Luke's soul, the romantic relationship between Percy and Annabeth is solidified. Annabeth also states Percy looks "cute when he's worried" when he first checks on her after she took a knife that was meant for him. Annabeth confides to Luke as he dies that she always saw him as a brother, but never loved him. Later, she and Percy share their third kiss after she tells him that she will never make things easy for him. He describes it as if his brain felt it was melting through his body. But, nosy campers snoop on this and throw them into the camp lake. This then comes to a fourth kiss underwater in an air bubble made by Percy. They are together as of the end of the Percy Jackson series.
In the series' sequel, The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero Annabeth is revealed to still be dating Percy, who has gone missing. Three days after the disappearance of Percy, she has a dream, telling her to find a hero with one shoe at the Grand Canyon, where she finds Jason, Piper and Leo. Jason asks Annabeth if she wants to join them on their quest, but she says she is spending the time to find Percy. It is mentioned that Percy kissed her on the night before he disappeared. She tells this to Piper while giving her a tour in camp.
Powers and abilities
Like other half-bloods, Annabeth has ADHD, which increases battle awareness. Also like most other half-bloods, she has dyslexia, because her brain is "hard-wired" from birth to read Ancient Greek. Annabeth is trained in hand to hand combat during her stays at Camp Half-Blood, using a knife that Luke Castellan gave her, instead of a sword. Annabeth is knowledgeable in architecture, history, and Greek myths. She is a master strategist, extremely intelligent, wise, and clever.
Weapons/magical items
- A magical Yankees cap that turns her invisible.
- A celestial bronze knife, given to her by Luke while on the run with him and Thalia, only 7 at the time. In the Last Olympian, it is revealed to be the 'cursed blade' of the Great Prophecy, cursed by Luke's breaking of his promises of a lasting family to Annabeth.
- Daedalus's laptop with his ideas and information.
Physical Description
Annabeth is described as being athletic and having curly blond hair, tan skin, and steely gray eyes. In "The Lightning Thief" Percy describes her as "a princess" with golden curls" but in "The Last Olympian" Percy starts to think of her as "seriously beautiful.". At the end of The Titan's Curse Annabeth gains a grey streak in her blonde hair after holding up the sky.
Reception
In the books
B. Allison Gray praises how in Battle of the Labyrinth: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4, Riordan "successfully conveys Annabeth's emotions."[11]
In the film
The casting for the film has had an altogether different reception. On one hand, as Rama's SCREEN reports, "the one that’s been causing argument is Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth Chase... apparently some of Rama’s SCREEN readers out there did and the comments on her casting were in mixed response... Ashley thought Annasophia Robb (Race To Witch Mountain) should’ve played that role meanwhile Kara and Victoria saw Daddario as too old because the character Annabeth Chase in the book is about 12 years old but Lily thought Daddario should be given a chance to prove herself worthy and Joe said that to make this work, the movie needs to make her hot, athletic, with curly blonde hair and grey eyes."[12] On the other hand, Katey Rich writes that Daddario "looks just right for that Hermione-esque role of the brainy brunette....Daddario, ... may have just signed on for a role that will take over her life, and bring her plenty of Emma Watson-scaled fame in the process. I hope she's got her wizard's wand -- oh, wait, I mean mythical god powers -- ready for the challenge."[13]
References
- ^ 'Lightning Thief' finds female lead, The Hollywood Reporter (March 18, 2009).
- ^ As quoted in "Interview: Rick Riordan," BriMeetsBooks.com (July 22, 2007). [dead link]
- ^ Anita L. Burkham, "Review of The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One," Horn Book Magazine July/August 2005, Vol. 81 Issue 4, 479.
- ^ "Book review: Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth". BBC. September 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ MacPherson, Karen (May 10, 2009). "My Generation: Percy Jackson's adventures continue in Labyrinth". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ Riordan, Rick (28 June 2005). The Lightning Thief. Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Hyperion Books. p. 384. ISBN 0786856297. OCLC 60786141.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Riordan, Rick (3 May 2006). The Sea of Monsters. Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Miramax Books. p. 279. ISBN 0786856866. OCLC 64664383.
- ^ Riordan, Rick (1 April 2007). The Titan's Curse. Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Hyperion Books for Children. p. 312. ISBN 9781423101451. OCLC 76863948.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Riordan, Rick (5 May 2009). The Last Olympian. Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Disney Hyperion. p. 381. ISBN 1423101472. OCLC 299578184.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Lightning Hits Alexandra Daddario," Rama's SCREEN (March 18, 2009).
- ^ B. Allison Gray, "Review of Battle of the Labyrinth: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4," School Library Journal, 03628930, September 2008, Vol. 54, Issue 9.
- ^ "Dawson And Coogan Join PERCY," Rama's SCREEN (May 6, 2009).
- ^ Katey Rich, "Percy Jackson Finds Its Female Lead," Cinema Blend (2009-03-19).
External links
- "Annabeth Chase" on the Camp Half-Blood Wiki
- Official UK Site