Reading Skills for The House of Hades

 

"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.

To storm or fire, the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death"

 

     Known as the Next Great Prophecy to the Greeks, and the Prophecy if Seven to the Romans, this prophecy plays a key role in the entire Heroes of Olympus series, by Rick Riordan. I want to, for my purposes, focus on the third line;

    

"An oath to keep with a final breath,"

 

 

     In the book, one the Seven half-bloods, Leo Valdez is blasted from their flying ship, Argo II, and winds up on the island of Ogygia, the home of Calypso. Calypso is the daughter of the Titan Atlas, and her punishment for assisting hi in the last war is that she must remain on this island. Part of the island's curse is that she always falls in love with the men who wash up onto her island, and once they leave the island, they can never find it, or her again.

 

     "'You can't come back,' Calypso insisted.

     Leo's heart went clunk. "'Because I'm not welcome?'

     'Because you can't. It's impossible. No man finds Ogygia twice. That is the rule.'

     Leo rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, well you might've noticed I'm not good at following rules. I'm coming back here with my dragon, and we'll spring you. Take you wherever you want to go. It's only fair.'

     'Fair...' Calypso's voice was barely audible."

 

     Throughout Leo's visit to Ogygia, Calypso, as always inevitably fell for him; only this time her love was finally matched by her island's guest.

 

     "As his raft skimmed over the water, taking him back to the mortal world, he understood a line from the Prophecy better- an oath to keep with a final breath.

He understood how dangerous oaths could be. But Leo didn't care.

'I'm coming back for you, Calypso,' he said to the night wind. 'I swear it on the River Styx.'"

 

     In their world, swearing on the River Styx is a binding oath, that I can't hardly think of any demigods breaking throughout the entire series. It's much like The Unbreakable Vow, for all my fellow Harry Potter fans!

     This conversation between Ron and Harry takes place in J.K. Rowling's book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It shows the extremity of the Vow, as does the third line of the Prophecy imply about the vow it is referring to. I honestly think that Leo's vow to come back for Calypso is indeed the "oath to keep with final breath" that the Prophecy is referring to. I feel like this could be compared to the ULTIMATE of all promises, pinky-swears, and the likes, yet it doesn't even come CLOSE. The fact that there is some form of power surrounding these vows and oaths (and not just our own human consciences)  makes them all the more intimidating.

     It is not unheard of for people in our society today to give "promise rings" as a symbol of exactly what the name implies; a promise. Well, in my opinion, a promise ring would have been much more simple in this case; but then, where's the adventure in that?

     Hopefully, this oath is indeed completed and is not broken, thus resulting in whatever terrible consequences that would befall Leo.