The Prophecy of Seven.
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
Partly because the suspense about what it means is dragged out through the entirety of the Heroes of Olympus series, but also because the way it's been written means that it can be interpreted in so many different ways, and I think that's really clever.
For instance, on a first reading, it looks like "storm or fire" will end up destroying the world. But, if you take into account that they're fighting Gaea, the earth goddess, then it could actually mean that "storm or fire" must save the world by causing the world - or earth - to "fall".
Also, what's storm and fire? It's been generally assumed by everybody that "fire" must refer to Leo, since, being pyrokinetic, he's kinda the fire guy, but what about "storm", huh? Jason, son of the sky god, can cause lightning strikes and control the winds, but Percy, son of the sea god, can make hurricanes. Either one of those guys could be storm, as far as we know.
Or - as has been suggested by one of the fans - maybe it doesn't refer to either of them at all. One of the wind gods Jason talks to in the fourth book is known as "stormy" in his Greek form and "fiery" in his Roman form. Maybe it doesn't mean Percy or Jason or Leo at all. Maybe it's referring to Greek or Roman.
And what's this oath to keep with a final breath, huh? Could it refer to Leo's promise to Calypso? Could it refer to Percy's promise to return home to his mother? Maybe something that hasn't come up yet? It could be anything, and it's killing me, because it means that one of the Seven are probably going to die and I am going to cry. (It's really set up so that Leo could be it - he made that oath to Calypso, first of all, and also, if the second line's connected to the third one, then pay attention to the word, "or". It implies that possibly "storm" or "fire" won't make it and if Leo is fire, ugh, this is killing me).
And the fourth line - everyone assumed it was referring to Greeks and Romans joining forces to close the Doors of Death, but as of the fourth book, in which they closed the Doors of Death, it actually referred to even deadlier foes - demigods and Titans, demigods and giants. Percy and Annabeth had a Titan on their side as they fought to seal the Doors, and a giant, which is the race of sons of Gaea that they're fighting, even helped them do it.
What this prophecy actually means is anyone's guess.
And it is tearing me apart.
Bravo, Riordan. Bravo.
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