Naiads are the daughters of the Potamoi, the river gods, and thus grandaughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. They are nymphs which preside over bodies of fresh water.
Description
The naiads are divided into various sub-classes: krenaeae (fountains), pegaeae (springs), eleionomea (marshes), potameides (rivers), and limnades or limnatides (lakes). They are intimately connected to their bodies of water, as their own existence seems to depend on it. If a spring dried out, the Naiad presiding over it might die.
As they live in fresh water, the naiads don't serve directly in Poseidon's court at the sea, but they do honor him. Their saltwater cousins are known as the Nereids.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Lightning Thief
Many naiads live in the Canoe Lake at Camp Half-Blood and looked with curiosity at Percy Jackson's arrival. When a Nereid visits Percy in the Mississippi River, she tells him that the Naiads are sustaining her life because the water was too foul too stay there long.
The Titan's Curse
The Naiads help to push the boats upstream when Percy asks them. While he and Zoë Nightshade were in the canoe together, a Naiad splashed water at Zoë and said that they had never forgiven her for becoming a Huntress of Artemis instead of staying with the Hesperides.
The Battle of the Labyrinth
| “ | You're not so different from me, demigod. Even when I'm out of the water, the water is within me. It is my life source. I hope you find a way to rescue your friends. | ” |
–A Naiad advises Percy Jackson, in The Battle of the Labyrinth | ||
There was a Naiad that lived in the river near the Triple G Ranch. Percy had planned on using the river to clean the flesh-eating horses' stables so Geryon would set his friend free, but she angrily (and rather understandably) didn't want her river to become polluted again, as it did when Hercules was given the same labor. The naiad was prepared to fight to protect the river even if Percy was the son of Poseidon and could easily beat her, but Percy didn't want to push her around and refused to fight, surprising the naiad. The naiad reminded him of Rachel Elizabeth Dare because she was asking so many questions it felt like she was throwing rocks at him.
In order to avoid the river pollution, the Naiad taught Percy how to summon seawater to clean away the dung by throwing fossilized seashells onto the ground, claiming that water used to cover everything and the sea follows Percy wherever he goes. She then leaves by turning into water while standing in the river.
Percy later remembers the Naiad's words while trapped under Mount Saint Helens and uses what she taught him to save himself.
Wrath of the Triple Goddess
While searching for Gale, Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood are confronted by four Aenean Naiads named Filomena, Silbe, and the twins, Phaedra and Daedra, all of whom kidnapped Hecate's polecat and forced her to brew products for their stores to profit themselves. All four naiads are bitter and hostile towards the son of Poseidon, from trying to melt him, petrify him, and transfigure him and his friends with their concoctions and Beast Breath. He eventually learns that the naiads were originally from Circe's Island, which had been ransacked by pirates when Percy and Annabeth escaped, forcing them to flee to New York. He ends up killing Filomena, petrifying Silbe, and destroying Phaedra and Daedra's store in order to save Gale from their captivity. Percy manages to cure himself and his friends from the naiads' Beast Breath, thanks to Gale's guidance.
While speaking with his Nereid counselor, Eudora, she's unaware the naiads have tried to kill Percy unprovoked and hoped the four were okay. Percy awkwardly tries to change the subject.
Trivia
- Like Artemis, the Naiads were seen as the divine nurses of the young and the protectors of maidens.
- Piper states that they get on very well with children of Aphrodite.
- It is mentioned that the Naiads honor Poseidon, despite not serving in his court.
- However, as Wrath of the Triple Goddess reveals, they are capable of showing hostility towards his children, as four Aenean Naiads held a grudge against Percy Jackson for destroying their home on Circe's Island, even though he had little to do with it.
- A moon of Neptune was named after this species.