The House of Hades

The Doors of Death are guarded by Thanatos, the god of death, who decides which souls return from the dead. They are supposed to move around to locations known only by him. However, Gaea’s forces captured the Doors of Death and chained them in Tartarus and the House of Hades so she could return her monstrous forces to the world at will. The Doors of Death are where Tartarus meets the mortal world. Percy and Annabeth, who have fallen into Tartarus, travel through Tartarus to the Doors to get back to the mortal world and meet their friends Jason, Piper, Nico, Hazel, Frank, and Leo, who fight their own battles to get to the Doors of Death. The Doors of Death symbolize a meeting place as well as teamwork because each member of the quest must overcome their own battle with their inner selves and work together to rescue the Doors of Death from Gaea’s forces.

Each team member has a necessary part in freeing the Doors of Death. Percy and Annabeth must fight their way to the Doors of Death and leave their friends, Bob and Damasen, behind. A necessary sacrifice to stop Gaea, but Percy and Annabeth have never willingly left someone behind and must make the choice of a tactical retreat and loss to try to win the war. Hazel must fully accept her heritage and powers as a daughter of Pluto and control the Mist to defeat Pasiphaë and delay Clytius long enough for her friends to arrive and defeat him. Jason has to realize that he is no longer Roman, choose to be Greek, and relinquish his Roman powers to Frank, who steps up as a leader and child of Mars to defeat the monsters. Piper must realize she has power as a daughter of Aphrodite and isn’t useless to fully step into her role as a warrior. Leo realizes his friendship is his strength and backs off to let Hazel fight Clytius when he can’t beat him. Each demigod accepts their power and chooses to work together to open the Doors of Death at the climax of the novel to set them free.