Geryon

Geryon is the son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe and is the grandson of Medusa and Poseidon. He was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far west of the Mediterranean. A more literal-minded later generation of Greeks associated the region with Tartessos in southern Iberia. He is currently in a relationship with Menoetes.

Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes

One of Hercules' twelve labours for his cousin, the high king Eurystheus was to steal some of Geryon's red cattle. When Hercules goes through Geryons territory, he meets his two headed hound Orthus and his rancher Eurytion. They try to kill Hercules but he kills them instead. This angers Geryon as it is hard to find servants in his territory. Enraged, he attacks Hercules who smashes a club onto his chest. However, Geryon's wound promptly healed. Hercules soon figured that Geryon could only be killed if all of his hearts were shot through at once. Hercules draws an arrow and shoots it through all three of Geryon's bodies, killing him.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Geryon owns a two-headed hound named Orthus, which was the brother of Cerberus, and a herd of Apollo's magnificent red cattle that were guarded by Orthus, and a herder Eurytion, who was a son of Ares. Geryon is the owner of Triple G Ranch, with Orthus guarding the ranch. On a tour at the Triple G Ranch, they found out that he doesn't care about the animals, only his money. He gave Percy Jackson an impossible task; to clean out the stables of carnivorous horses which was also one of the tasks Hercules did. Once Percy completed the task Geryon went back on his deal to let his friends free and the two fought. Percy found Geryon a worthy opponent as he was a challenge due to his three hearts which allowed him to be almost impossible to defeat. Geryon had quoted that he had three hearts, "the perfect backup system." Percy defeated Geryon with a well placed arrow (later revealed to be thanks to Hera) that went through Geryon's sides hitting all three hearts at once, thus killing Geryon. Eurytion later takes control of the ranch, telling the demigods that Geryon won't reform for at least a hundred years since he's slow at reforming. Percy mentions that with the changes Eurytion is going to make, when Geryon returns, he will be serving Eurytion rather than the other way around.

The Heroes of Olympus

The House of Hades

As revenge for his defeat at the hands of Percy, Geryon cursed him to perish in the same manner as he had. In Tartarus, after Percy killed an arai, he was inflicted with pain on both sides of his chest. The arai informed him of Geryon's curse after his defeat, causing Percy to remember the events in Texas.

Upon reaching the Doors of Death, Percy spotted Geryon awaiting his turn to return to the mortal world. However, Percy and Annabeth are able to seal the Doors of Death before Geryon can travel back through them, leaving him trapped in Tartarus.

The Senior Year Adventures

The Chalice of the Gods

Percy compares the idea of changing diapers to cleaning Geryon's stables of Flesh-Eating Horses.

Later, while trying to figure out who Gary is, Grover suggests Geryon. Percy shudders at the memory of meeting the three-bodied rancher and quips "been there. Killed him." While searching in the library for possibilities, Percy finds Geryon's name amongst the beings whose name sounds even remotely similar to Gary.

The Nico di Angelo Adventures

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure

Menoetes reveals that Geryon has reformed from Tartarus and has changed since the Doors of Death were closed. According to Menoetes, who is Geryon's boyfriend, Geryon lost everything, including his ranch, and it has caused him to reevaluate and change his life.

After eating one of the pomegranates that Nico di Angelo and Will Solace steal from Persephone's Garden, Menoetes tells the demigods that he's not worried about getting stuck in the Underworld as he loves it there and doesn't ever want to leave which Menoetes is sure that Geryon would agree with. The two will never be accepted in the mortal world, but in the Underworld they have a job that they love and each other. Menoetes is impressed that Nico got more than one pomegranate for him despite Nico's mixed feelings about Geryon which Menoetes doesn't blame Nico for.

Appearance

Geryon was often described as a monster with human faces. Geryon had one head and three bodies with a total of two arms. Some accounts state that he had six legs as well while others state that the three bodies were joined to one pair of legs. Although there are some mid-sixth century Chalcidian vases portraying Geryon as winged, it is not known whether Geryon had wings: it seems unlikely. Apart from these strange features, his appearance was that of a warrior.

In the book, he is described as having a normal head. His face was weathered and brown from years in the sun. He had slick black hair and a pencil-thin mustache. He had two very beefy legs, wearing a very large pair of Levis. Each of his chests wore a different colored shirt: green, yellow and red.

Personality

Geryon is a cruel monster who is only interested in making money. To this end, he will betray anyone he comes across as long as there is someone with a better offer and tends to break laws that the gods themselves had created (such as killing Apollo's Cattle). He will also break any promise he makes, as long as he isn't held to accepting the terms. Geryon tends to be on the lazy side however, as he will make Eurytion do all the hard work instead of doing things himself. When forced into combat, he relies on his ability to regenerate as long as all three of his hearts are working. This makes him somewhat overconfident in his own abilities and lead to his defeat by Percy.

After his death at Percy's hands, Geryon loses everything, including his ranch. As a result, according to Menoetes, he reevaluates his life and begins working on changing. According to Menoetes, neither he nor Geryon will mind if they are bound to the Underworld forever as they no longer have anything left for them on the surface.

Abilities

Being a monster, Geryon is very hard to kill unless facing Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, or Stygian Iron. Even with these metals, his ability to regenerate allows him to tire out his opposition instead of fighting them head on. Because Geryon has three torsos, he also has three hearts which means he can not be defeated unless all three of his hearts are destroyed at the same time. Destroying one or even two at a time will weaken Geryon, but he will reform within moments. However without this ability, he isn't very strong and can be easily defeated.

Gallery

Geryon, Eurytion, Nico and the campers.

Geryon's pretty face.

Death of Geryon.

Death of Geryon.

Trivia

• When cooking he wears an apron on each chest, with one word on each, together they spell "Kiss - The - Chef."
• He also sold Giant scorpion type monsters to Quintus for Camp Half-Blood.
• He supplied the Titan Army with meat illegally, as some of the animals were endangered species.
• He likes deals, and described himself as "a business man."
• He is the third one who has excessive body parts to be met by Percy Jackson and his friends in the Labyrinth: first is the minor Roman god, Janus with his two faces, and second is Briares, the Hundred-Handed One.
• Being the grandson of Medusa and Poseidon, that would make Percy his uncle.
• Eurytus says that it should take him about a hundred years to reform under normal conditions.
  • Despite this, he was shown to be reformed after only two years. However, this could be because of Gaea's interference.