The Battle of the Labyrinth

In Chapter 6, Riordan develops the Labyrinth’s trickery and its sentient qualities. Annabeth tries to approach the maze with logic, but the Labyrinth defies her knowledge at every turn. Whenever Annabeth says a plan aloud, the maze instantly thwarts her decision. The maze acts “like its alive” (96), taking on an antagonistic role. Riordan creates a feeling of hopelessness and frustration for the quest that contrasts with Annabeth and Percy’s earlier determination. The human skeleton they find in the maze warns of the potentially deadly outcome of their journey: If they cannot find a way to navigate through the maze, they could end up trapped in the same way.

As Riordan introduces Hera, the queen of Olympus and goddess of marriage and family, Chapter 6 casts doubt on Hera’s intentions and motivations for helping the quest. She appears to the questers as a caring motherly figure, but Annabeth knows the goddess has tried to kill heroes like Hercules before. Hera purposely sought them out, which alarms Percy: Percy has grown wary about receiving too much help from the gods because they usually only “want something” for themselves (103).

The novel asks whether meeting one’s heroes always ends in disappointment when Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, and Grover meet Briares and Kampe, two legendary beings from Greek myth. In myth, Briares is the son of Uranos and Gaea. Kronos imprisoned Briares and his brothers in Tartarus, with Kampe, a dragon-like monster, guarding them. During the first Titan war, the Olympians released Briares and his brothers to fight alongside the gods. In the modern day, despite Tyson’s immense adoration and belief in Briares’s abilities, Briares has lost hope in himself and in the Olympians’ ability to win another war. Shattering Tyson’s illusions, this depletion of self-worth makes Briares appear small and weak; he must be coaxed to escape his cell with a game. He offers no help as they flee, much to Tyson’s embarrassment.