Previous

“You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, 
You shall find what you seek and make it your own, 
But despair for your life entombed within stone, 
And fail without friends, to fly home alone.”

The above quote is the Oracle of Delphi’s prophecy for Clarisse’s quest, which is relayed for the first time in Chapter 17. The Oracle is an entity that resides in the attic of the Big House at Camp Half-Blood and delivers predictions of the future to aid demigods on their quests. Prophecies are integral to many Greek myths, and, just as in Greek mythology, the prophecies in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series are often vague and do not offer any clear instructions or guidance for how to proceed. As a result, the prophecies are ripe for misinterpretation—which is what happens to Clarisse. The first two lines are fairly straightforward. “You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone” refers to Clarisse’s ship, the CSS Birmingham, which is manned by dead soldiers who owe tribute to Ares. “You shall find what you seek and make it your own” correctly indicates that the quest will be successful and that Clarisse will claim the glory of bringing the Golden Fleece to Camp Half-Blood. The second half of the prophecy sounds like a grim omen, but it simply means that Clarisse will need Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson’s help to escape Polyphemus’s island, and that she’ll be the one to fly the Fleece back to New York. The convoluted, misleading fortune demonstrates to the reader that prophecies cannot be taken at face value, and it trains them to think critically when they encounter prophecies throughout the rest of the series. This skill will be especially important because, as the reader learns midway through the novel, there is a key prophecy about the fate of Olympus that Percy is just starting to put together.

Previous section Famous Quotes Explained Page 2

Take a Study Break