The Last Olympian recap

As Percy nears sixteen and the great prophecy, Kronos in Luke's body launches all-out war. Percy and Beckendorf destroy the enemy's ship, but Beckendorf dies. Following Nico's plan, Percy bathes in the River Styx to become invulnerable except at one hidden point, with Annabeth as his human tether. When Kronos attacks New York and the gods are drawn off to fight the monster Typhon, Manhattan's mortals are put to magical sleep, and Percy leads the young demigods to defend the city and the gateway to Olympus. Through days of battle they are worn down; a spy is exposed as Silena Beauregard, who dies making amends, and Clarisse then slays the drakon. Kronos reaches Olympus, where Annabeth is wounded shielding Percy's weak point. In the throne room, Luke reclaims his will, takes Annabeth's knife, and kills himself at his own mortal spot to destroy Kronos. Typhon is beaten, Hades brings his army, and Olympus survives. Percy refuses immortality, wins honor for all demigods and minor gods, and Rachel becomes the new Oracle.

Previously: Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, has fought the rising Titans across four summers with his friends Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr. His old camp friend Luke betrayed the gods to serve the Titan lord Kronos, and by the end has surrendered his own body to become the vessel through which Kronos has fully returned. Along the way Percy gained a Cyclops half-brother, Tyson, and the wary alliance of Nico, a son of Hades. Daedalus's Labyrinth, once a threat to the camp, has been destroyed. A great prophecy says a child of one of the eldest gods will, at sixteen, make a single choice that saves or destroys Olympus, and it now points at Percy, whose sixteenth birthday is near.

The war begins in earnest. Percy and the demigod Charles Beckendorf slip aboard the enemy's ship to destroy it and cripple Kronos's invasion, but Beckendorf is caught and sacrifices himself to set off the explosives, dying so the mission succeeds. Grieving, Percy visits his father's undersea kingdom and finds it losing its own war against a Titan of the sea, so little help can come from Poseidon. Nico, a son of Hades, brings Percy a dangerous plan: a way for a demigod to gain the strength needed to stand against Kronos, though it means a terrible risk.

Following Nico's plan, Percy submits to a perilous ritual in the Underworld and bathes in the River Styx, which makes his body invulnerable everywhere but one small hidden point, with his thought of Annabeth as the tether that keeps him human. He learns the full wording of the great prophecy. When Kronos launches his assault on New York, the gods are drawn away to battle the monstrous Typhon crossing the country, and Manhattan's mortals are cast into a magical sleep. With the city defenseless, Percy rallies the young demigods of his camp to hold Manhattan and guard the entrance to Olympus.

Badly outnumbered and without the gods, the demigods fight to hold Manhattan's bridges and tunnels against Kronos's advancing army through days and nights of battle. The enemy sends emissaries offering terms and unleashes wave after wave of monsters. Losses mount among the young defenders, and it becomes clear that a spy in their own ranks has been feeding the enemy their plans. Exhausted and grieving, the demigods keep falling back toward the heart of the city as Kronos presses in.

The battle grows desperate as the enemy looses a monstrous drakon on the demigods. The hidden spy is revealed to be Silena Beauregard, who, wracked with guilt, disguises herself and leads a charge to make amends and is mortally wounded, confessing before she dies. Clarisse, enraged by the loss, finally brings her cabin into the fight and slays the drakon. Even so, the defenders are worn thin, and Kronos's forces drive on toward the tower that holds the gateway to Olympus.

Kronos breaks through the last defenses and advances on the Empire State Building, the mortal gateway to Olympus. Percy's single vulnerable point becomes a mortal danger in the fighting, and Annabeth is badly wounded shielding him when an attacker learns of the weakness. The surviving demigods, few and exhausted, retreat up to Olympus itself to make a final stand at the thrones of the gods, with Kronos close behind and the great prophecy about to be decided.

In the throne room, Kronos overpowers Percy, but Luke's own will surfaces from within his stolen body. Realizing the prophecy's choice was never truly his, Percy gives Luke the knife of Annabeth, and Luke stabs his own one mortal weak point, killing himself to destroy Kronos and save Olympus; he dies redeemed. The gods, having beaten Typhon with Poseidon's aid and rescued by Nico bringing Hades and the army of the dead, survive. Offered immortality, Percy refuses it and instead wins a promise that the gods will claim all their children and honor the minor gods and Hades. Rachel Elizabeth Dare becomes the new Oracle of Delphi and speaks a fresh great prophecy of trials to come. As the war ends, Percy and Annabeth, having survived together, become a couple.

In the throne room of Olympus, Kronos, wearing Luke's body, overpowers Percy, but at the decisive moment Luke's own will breaks through. Percy, understanding that the prophecy's single choice was never really his to make, hands Luke the knife of Annabeth. Luke drives it into his own one mortal weak point, killing himself to destroy Kronos and scatter the Titan lord once more; he dies a hero, redeemed. The gods, having beaten the monster Typhon with Poseidon's help and turned the tide when Nico brings his father Hades and the army of the dead into the battle, are saved and Olympus stands. Offered godhood as a reward, Percy declines. Instead he demands that the gods claim and acknowledge all their demigod children, and that the minor gods and Hades be given proper honor and cabins, so no future child feels abandoned as Luke did. Camp Half-Blood begins building new cabins for the once-slighted gods. Rachel Elizabeth Dare becomes the new Oracle of Delphi, the ancient curse on it lifted, and delivers a fresh great prophecy that hints at dangers still to come. Percy and Annabeth, having survived together, become a couple as the war ends.