| “ | If you could capture the animus, the soul in another form... Well, you've told me about your automatons, Uncle. Bulls, eagles, dragons, horses of bronze. Why not a bronze form of a man? | ” |
–Perdix to Daedalus, in The Battle of the Labyrinth | ||
Perdix was the nephew of Daedalus and a cousin of Icarus.
History
The old master, Daedalus, was jealous of the boy's genius which rivaled his and one day, in a rage, caused his nephew to lose his balance and fall to his death. Athena saw what he had done and swore to make him pay, then and forever more for his part in the boy's death.
When Perdix died, Athena turned him into a small partridge. She then branded Daedalus with the image of a partridge for his crime, a murderer's brand.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy had many dreams in the Labyrinth and eventually sees the death of Perdix. In his dream, Daedalus tosses an object to Perdix, but Perdix went too far and went over the side of a balcony which Daedalus had planned to happen. As Perdix hung on, Janus, god of choices and doorways, appeared in the sky as Daedalus was faced with the choice of saving Perdix or letting him fall to his death. He said ”Go on, Perdix. Make your own wings. Be quick about it“ he then let Perdix fall to his death. Athena appeared before Daedalus and eternally punished him by placing a mark on his soul that would never go away and appear on any body he was inhabiting (Daedalus found a way to cheat death by transferring his soul to an automaton). He also got the idea for an automaton body from Perdix, but made a few modifications over the millennia. He asked Nico di Angelo to kill him after the Battle of the Labyrinth was over, and gave Percy Ms. O' Leary, and Annabeth his laptop. Daedalus said he wanted to make it up to Perdix, in the Underworld. Its later stated by Nico that Daedalus is allowed to visit Perdix and Icarus on the weekends in the Underworld.
Trivia
- Perdix, a species of Partridges, is named after him.
- As he is not a demigod himself but descended from one, this would make Perdix a legacy of Athena. He still contains the wits of those in the Athena's Cabin.
- Its unknown if his father or mother was his demigod parent.
- Minutes before Perdix's death, Perdix said to Daedalus, ”Is it true your son died flying, Uncle? I heard you made him enormous wings, but they failed.“ After that, Perdix proceeded to say ”I would like to fly, I'd make my own wings that wouldn't fail. Do you think I could?“. The quote is also what caused Daedalus to say seconds before his death, ”Go on, Perdix. Make your own wings. Be quick about it“
- Perdix never wanted to make Daedalus angry, nor did he ever notice how angry Daedalus got whenever he said something even slightly rude or confident of himself.
- Athena stated that both Daedalus and Perdix had her blessing.