Percy Jackson and the Olympians has officially wrapped up its first season. With all the action and emotion, some viewers may not have realized that the season’s overarching prophecy wasn’t actually fulfilled—at least not completely.
***Spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians ahead***
Prophecies in the Percy Jackson universe are notoriously vague. In the book series, it’s usually not until the final pages that readers realize what the prophecies actually mean. This is what happens in The Lightning Thief, but while the book accounts for each component of Percy’s first prophecy, the show does not. For reference, the season 1 prophecy behind the lead trio’s quest read:
You shall go west, and face the god who has turned, You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned, You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
As in the book, most of the answers are apparent by the show’s finale. Ares (Adam Copeland) is the god who turned, the lightning bolt is the item that was stolen and returned, and Luke (Charlie Bushnell) turned out to be the friend who betrayed Percy. However, what did Percy fail to save in the end?
The show’s changes from the book leave the prophecy unfulfilled
In The Lightning Thief book, the final line of the prophecy is fulfilled, but subtly enough that some readers might have missed it. Fortunately, on Riordan’s website, one can find The Light Thief Rationale, which explains what the final line of the prophecy means and why it’s so significant to the story. In the book, Percy’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, is verbally and emotionally abusive towards him and his mother, Sally Jackson. By the end of the story, Percy has the revelation that Ugliano may have been physically abusive towards his mother, too.
As a result, Percy is prepared to use Medusa’s severed head to petrify Ugliano and get rid of him once and for all. However, Sally asks him not to, and he complies. Eventually, she finds the strength to petrify Ugliano herself, breaking free of his abuse and toxicity and going on to build a wonderful life for herself. In the end, Percy didn’t save her because the prophecy was never about saving her from Hades and the Underworld. It was about stepping back and letting her save herself from Ugliano.
However, the show changes this storyline significantly. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Ugliano (Timm Sharpy) is an unsavory figure who gambles and mooches off Sally but is not abusive. Sally clearly does not need saving as she yells at him and puts him in his place when he raises his voice at her. Despite viewers probably still wanting the satisfaction of seeing Sally petrify him, he doesn’t really deserve such a severe punishment. Hence, in the post-credit scene, it’s revealed that he accidentally petrifies himself after digging through Sally’s and Percy’s mail.
That still leaves us with the question of what Percy failed to save. When speaking with Luke at the end, Percy expresses the fear that it pertains to his mom. However, he returns home and finds that she’s safe and he did save her in the end. It’s quite odd that the characters, who were so fixated on the prophecy, don’t mention this lingering question. Meanwhile, showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg hinted to Variety that this ambiguity was intentional. He stated:
We were having a bit of fun with it. Like, if Gabe answers Sally’s phone, he also opens her mail — that was baked in from the pilot script. And I like the idea that this prophecy is still ongoing. There’s this piece of it that still needs to be resolved. I like feeling that there aren’t clean interpretations of everything. There’s still question marks that make you feel like the story isn’t isn’t finished.
Either the prophecy was unfulfilled in such an unexpected way that viewers didn’t notice it, or it was never fulfilled, meaning that if the show continues, it might remain a fear that Percy will have to carry on to his next quest. It’s difficult to imagine what it could mean, especially when it seems unlikely there’s anything or anyone that matters more to Percy than his mother. Hopefully, it’s not hinting at an emotional loss of a loved one or friendship. However, given how the series took several departures from the source material, this loose end could take any form if season 2 is greenlit.
(featured image: Disney+)
