Hellhounds are massive, dog-like Monsters from the Underworld.
Description
Hellhounds are children of the goddess Nyx and Cerberus, the guard dog of the Underworld. They are feared by demigods save for children of Hades and other chthonic deities.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Lightning Thief
Just after Percy's first capture the flag game, he is attacked and almost killed by a hellhound, which is defeated by arrows fired by Chiron. It is later revealed that Luke Castellan, who was working for Kronos at the time, had summoned it since no monster can enter within the camp's borders unless given permission.
The Sea of Monsters
Two hellhounds were seen on the Princess Andromeda.
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The main hellhound that appears is Mrs. O'Leary, a friendly hellhound. She was probably trained by Quintus, because she is very loyal to him and is very sad when he dies. Her bark is said to be "slightly louder than an artillery gun." Quintus claims that he and Mrs. O'Leary became friends through "many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys". She later comes to the questers' rescue when Percy uses the Stygian Ice Whistle that Quintus gave to him and fights in the Battle of the Labyrinth.
When Daedalus finally decides to accept death, he gives ownership of Mrs. O'Leary to Percy.
The Demigod Files
Persephone sends Mrs. O'Leary to Goode High School during Percy's winter English exam to lure him into the Quest for the Sword of Hades. Thanks to the Mist, the mortals can only see Mrs. O'Leary as a poodle.
The Last Olympian
Mrs. O'Leary appears when Percy shadow travels for the first time after Nico di Angelo teaches her how to do it.
During the Battle of Manhattan, numerous hellhounds are a part of Kronos' army. They mainly shadow travel behind the demigods' lines.
The Heroes of Olympus
The Son of Neptune
Mrs. O'Leary assists Tyson in looking for Percy. They arrive at the remains of the Zhang Mansion, where Percy via dream orders them to find Ella the harpy and take her to Camp Jupiter. They make it back in time to assist Percy and his friends with the defense of the camp against Polybotes and his army. Mrs. O'Leary pulls the Roman chariot carrying Percy, Frank, Hazel and the recovered Roman weapons into battle before participating in it herself, killing at least one of the gorgons.
The Mark of Athena
Mrs. O'Leary carries Tyson and Ella around New Rome before Percy has the hellhound take them back to Camp Half-Blood for safety after Ella recites a prophecy from the Sibylline Books.
The House of Hades
When Hecate contacts Hazel Levesque, she is accompanied by Hecuba, the former Queen of Troy, whom she has transformed into a hellhound.
Percy considers summoning Mrs. O'Leary for help while he and Annabeth are in Tartarus, but he ultimately decides against it out of concern about the negative impact that being in Tartarus could have on her personality.
The Senior Year Adventures
Wrath of the Triple Goddess
Hecate enlists Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood to house-sit for her and look after Hecuba and Gale for a week while she's gone. After Grover drinks one of the goddess' concoctions, Hecuba and Gale escape. Percy summons Mrs. O'Leary to help track down Hecuba, but they instead find a lone hellhound puppy Percy adopts and names Nope.
Chiron tells Percy about Hecuba's history as the queen of Troy and suggests that she's in Astoria because of the large Greek community there and Hecuba's desire for revenge on the Greeks for the fall of Troy. He also advises Percy that Nope could be useful because female hellhounds like Mrs. O'Leary have a motherly instinct, and Hecuba, still haunted by the deaths of her children, would be motherly in her own way.
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover bring Nope with them to Astoria, where they find Hecuba looming over Sal's Souvlaki, having summoned half a dozen undead Trojan soldiers to terrorize the mortals. When Percy is grabbed by two of the soldiers, he's hit by visions of the fall of Troy from Hecuba's point of view, her grief, rage, and transformation into a hellhound, causing Percy to realize that Hecuba just wants to make people feel her pain and grief. Percy, Annabeth and Grover are able to use Nope and his need for a mother to help calm Hecuba down, helping Hecuba to remember the good parts of being a mother instead of all of the pain that she'd been unable to properly express for centuries.
However, after Percy attaches a leash to her, Hecuba shadow travels away, dragging Percy and Nope with her through the shadow world to several different locations before finally arriving at the ruins of Troy. Sitting next to her, Percy opens up to Hecuba about his life, his concerns for his unborn sister, the people that he's lost and how Percy wanted revenge when he loses someone. However, Percy remembers that his friends and mother want him to be happy, to find people who matter, and hang onto them for as long as he can and he encourages Hecuba to do the same with Hecate, Gale and Nope. Recalling how Zeus once turned Thalia Grace into a tree in order to save her, Percy suggests that Hecate had turned Hecuba into a hellhound in order to save her the only way that the goddess knew how. Hecuba agrees to return and Percy agrees not to put her on the leash again and to talk to Hecate about getting her more freedom.
The Trials of Apollo
The Hidden Oracle
During the attack by the Colossus Neronis, Mrs. O'Leary shadow travels Percy to Camp Half-Blood for his weekend visit and participates in the battle along with him.
Pandava Quintet
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Not part of Riordanverse
The following article/section is from the Pandava Quintet continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon. |
Aru Shah and the End of Time
Ek and Do are two hellhounds who guard the Kingdom of Death.
Storm Runner Trilogy
|
Not part of Riordanverse
The following article/section is from the Storm Runner/Shadow Bruja continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon. |
The Storm Runner
Two hellhounds appear next to Ixtab when she arrives at the Old World, one of them is Rosie after she was killed by a Demon Runner.
Appearance
Hellhounds are usually described as being large, black mastiffs with glowing red eyes. The average size of hellhounds are about the size of a grizzly bear or a rhino, but can be as tall and large as a garbage truck (e.g. Mrs. O'Leary).
Abilities
- Shadow Travel: They can travel through shadows. However, it takes a lot of energy, especially the first couple of times they use it, and they usually must rest afterwards.
- Enhanced Physical Prowess: They have superhuman strength and speed.
Magic Items
- Stygian Ice Whistle: A whistle forged from ice near the River Styx, created by Daedalus to summon Mrs. O'Leary. He gave this to Percy to help him on his mission in the Labyrinth. The whistle was one-use, shattering upon use.
- Celestial Bronze Whistle: The successor to the Stygian Ice Whistle, created by Leo Valdez. Like its predecessor, it is designed to summon Mrs. O'Leary, though it is permanent and be used as many times as pleased. Percy keeps it on his keychain as a last resort, preferring to summon Mrs. O'Leary by either thinking about her hard enough or by using treats.
Film
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
In the film, Percy does not encounter a hellhound in the forest, but is instead visited by Hades at the bonfire. Later in the Underworld when they enter his palace, they are 'greeted' by angry hellhounds, but Persephone scolds them and they leave. She tells the demigods that the hellhounds sense the presence of another animal, indicating Grover, a satyr. In the film, they resemble gargoyles, having a grayish lion like face and fur.
Trivia
- The film version made hellhounds smaller, but more ferocious, having flat heads and with larger, reptilian-like teeth.
- In real life, Hellhounds come from English/British folklore and have been sighted throughout Great Britain.
- Notable names for these beasts include Black Shuck, Barghest, Gwyllgi, Cu Sith, Gytrash and Yeth Hound.
- Hellhounds were made famous in the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of The Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
- In Wrath of the Triple Goddess, Percy theorizes that, like Cyclopses, Hellhounds are left to survive on their own at a young age when he comes across Nope.
- Mrs. O'Leary, Nope, and Hecuba are the only friendly hellhounds in the series.
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