![tower of the ancients oracle of worlds tower of the ancients oracle of worlds](https://brewminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/041118-37-Greek-Greece-Oracle-Delphi-History.jpg)
While hiding from the monster Python, they overhear Python and a mysterious man who calls himself the Beast in conversation about controlling all Oracles (but burning the fifth Oracle, the one they cannot control). His behavior clues Apollo in to the fact that the woods may not be all that they seem.ĭuring the Three-Legged Death Race in the Labyrinth, Apollo and Meg find themselves at Delphi as they attempt to retrieve the first Golden Apple. At the time, no one knows where they have gone, but later that day Apollo and his son Will Solace just barely prevent Ares' son Sherman Yang from wandering off into the forest. While unconscious, Apollo/Lester dreams that he is riding the Sun Chariot with a woman whom he recognizes, but cannot remember the name of, at his side telling him, "Follow the voices and find the gates." Later in the dream, the sun chariot transforms into a bus, and Apollo (still driving) sees through the rearview mirror a man sitting in the back seat telling Apollo to lead him to the Oracle so that it may be burnt.Īfter recovering from the blight the nosoi attempted to place on him, Apollo consults with Chiron to discover that three campers have disappeared: Ares' son Ellis Wakefield, Hermes' son Cecil Markowitz, and Demeter's daughter Miranda Gardiner. On the way to Camp Half-Blood, Apollo, in the form of Lester Papadopolous passes out after the encounter with the nosoi that attempted to destroy him, Meg, and Percy. At some point after the 1860s, once the Olympians had moved to America and Camp Half-Blood had been established, the Grove re-grew mysteriously in the forest around Camp Half-Blood. The original Grove of Dodona was eventually burned by Emperor Theodosius, who ordered the last oak cut down. It must still be noted, though, that Rhea had planted Dodona to serve as a benevolent force, and Apollo confirmed that it had indeed helped heroes in the past: for example, the masthead of the original Argo, which could speak to the Argonauts and give them guidance, was carved from a branch cultivated from one of the sacred trees in the grove by the priests of Dodona. Without proper care, though, the voices of the trees would become unfocused and disharmonious, and the grove itself would eventually drive mortals to madness. (Interestingly, the Grove of Dodona was unique in that it had no connection with Apollo, the God of Prophecy, since the trees' powers emanated from Rhea instead.) Given proper care, the trees could divine the future, and therefore served as an Oracle of sorts. Hence, in ancient times, the priests of Dodona would take every imaginable care of the trees and channeled the trees' voices by hanging wind chimes in their branches. These sacred trees could actually speak and sometimes even issued prophecies. As explained by Apollo in The Hidden Oracle, the Grove of Dodona had been planted by Rhea in the first days of the world and were ancient even when the first generation of Olympians were born.