The Dark Prophecy

The other protagonist of the novel, 13-year-old Meg, is the demigod daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and the late Philip McAffrey, a mortal botanist. Meg has had a traumatic childhood, with her beloved father being murdered by Nero, one of the villains of The Trials of Apollo series. Nero then adopted Meg and terrorized her into doing his bidding. When Apollo meets her, she is still under Nero’s manipulative influence and tricks Apollo into being enslaved. Throughout the series, Meg begins to come into her own as a particularly powerful demigod. In The Dark Prophecy, Nero again threatens Meg to do his bidding. Meg’s physical appearance symbolizes her emotionally traumatized state: Apollo describes Meg as looking like a “wilting plant” in his vision. Apollo describes Meg as being grubby, stubborn, and sometimes rude, but he is also impressed by her courage and power. Though Apollo’s sarcastic narration often paints Meg as an oddity, his affection for her is palpable.

Often associated with plant imagery, Meg believes in the values of hope, change, and regrowth associated with crops. She often provides insightful comments, such as when she tells Apollo that every living thing deserves a chance to grow. Her surprising wisdom shows she is wise beyond her age. Though Meg’s loyalty seems slightly ambiguous in the first half of her narrative, it becomes clear toward the end of the book that she is trying hard to break free of Nero’s hold on her. The reader gets a direct glimpse into Meg’s psyche when her mind and Apollo’s commingle at the Cave of Trophonius. This enables Apollo and the reader to see the extent of her ordeal and, thus, sympathize with her. Like Apollo, Meg is also a dynamic character because she doesn’t end up in the same place she started when the novel began. She is trying hard to confront her past and move on. The more she changes, the more her powers grow. Though Meg can be taciturn, her concern for others speaks volumes. She rescues Apollo and Calypso at the zoo, urging them to leave her so they can be safe. When she and Apollo are near death in the heart of Chaos, Meg refuses to give up and die because that would also kill Apollo. Thus, she is a hero who perseveres despite her fear and limitations. Significantly, Meg jumps into the cave of Trophonius without preparing her mind, demonstrating that she sometimes confuses recklessness with bravery. At the novel’s end, she leaves on the next quest with Apollo, one that involves finding her extended family.

The novel’s chief antagonist, Commodus, is a resurrected emperor from ancient Rome who wants to kill Apollo and take over the city of Indianapolis. Commodus bears an old grudge toward Apollo: Though Apollo and Commodus were once lovers, Apollo had to kill the emperor to end his cruel reign. In history, Commodus was the son of the philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius, to whom the tract Meditations is attributed. While Marcus Aurelius was known for his wisdom, Commodus was considered vain and narcissistic. He considered himself as powerful as the legendary Hercules and admired cruel gladiatorial contests. However, some historians argue the portrayal of both Marcus Aurelius and Commodus may be a little biased in the accounts of the historians of ancient Rome.

Riordan reimagines Commodus as a tyrant and a sadistic lover of spectacle. He symbolizes the dangers of absolute authority, an important motif in the book. One of Commodus’s main quirks is that he replaces one general with another with lightning speed. If a deputy fails him in the slightest, Commodus has him killed and replaced by another soldier, as in the case of Cleander and Lityerses. He refers to his soldiers as his “minions,” which shows that he believes in hierarchy and tyranny. Commodus also loves to put his stamp on everything around him, chase violence as entertainment, and deny the counsel of others. Apollo notes that power corrupted the ancient Commodus, turning him from a hedonistic, handsome youth to a bloodthirsty emperor. Because Commodus is against the novel’s key principles of teamwork, cooperation, and democracy, it is understood he will be defeated. In the climactic battle, Apollo manages to vanquish Commodus. Commodus remains unrepentant, showing that he is stuck in time. He is a static character who refuses to change and is therefore bound to fail.

A crossover character from The Heroes of Olympus series, Leo Valdez is a mechanical genius and the demigod son of Hephaestus, the Greek god of metals and fire. Since Leo’s mortal mother was a mechanic, Leo has extraordinary prowess with machines and can produce fire. After his mother’s death when he was eight, Leo has mostly been in foster care. He and the nymph Calypso fall in love with each other, and Calypso gives up her powers to be with Leo. Leo and Calypso accompany Apollo on his quest to Indianapolis. A happy-go-lucky character, Leo is described as handsome and slight, so much so that he fits into the clothes of seven-year-old Georgina. Leo loves to tinker with machines which shows his resourcefulness. In The Dark Prophecy, he shows the depth his jocularity sometimes masks. He empathizes with Calypso, realizing she needs space and time to grow accustomed to her new, mortal existence. A fan of the “Valdez method,” which involves spontaneity and going with the flow, Leo is a good complement to the worrier Apollo. As the narrative progresses, Leo develops a strong bond with Jo (who, like him, is the child of a mortal mechanic) and the Waystation. Since the Waystation offers him the domestic sanctuary he and Calypso have lacked in their lives, they decide to stay back at the novel’s end.