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Rick RiordanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Oracles and prophecies feature prominently in The Hidden Oracle. In Greek mythology, the oracles offered people guidance, insights, and warnings. Oracles were often inspired by the gods and could foretell the future. An oracle typically referred to the priest or priestess speaking the prophecy, such as the Pythia at the Oracle at Delphi. For the demigods in Rick Riordan’s extended universe, the Oracles are extremely important as they provide the heroes crucial clues about their quests. In the absence of prophesizing, the demigods often find themselves at sea, especially when confronted by dark and mysterious forces, such as when campers start disappearing into the woods in The Hidden Oracle. Since the Oracle at the camp has stopped prophesizing, the other campers and Chiron do not have any pointers about where to search for the missing demigods.
At the symbolic level, the silence of the Oracles signifies the fall of Apollo, the god of prophecy and the patron of the Oracle of Delphi. Apollo himself can no longer see the future in his present form. Delphi, Apollo’s most important Oracle, described as the “deepest taproot of a tree” (98), has been captured by Python, the ancient snake-like monster. Python’s seizure of Delphi has “strangled” this taproot, starving off the branches of the trees of prophecy.
By Rick Riordan
Daughter of the Deep
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The Battle of the Labyrinth
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The Blood of Olympus
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The Burning Maze
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The Chalice of the Gods
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The Dark Prophecy
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The Hammer of Thor
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The House of Hades
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The Last Olympian
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The Lightning Thief
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The Lost Hero
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The Mark Of Athena
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The Maze of Bones
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The Red Pyramid
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The Sea of Monsters
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The Son of Neptune
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The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure
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The Sword of Summer
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The Throne of Fire
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The Titan's Curse
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