NOTE: This page is only about his book version as his 2010 film version was not voted as Pure Good. Thus, only his book version's acts be put here.
“
Am I a troubled kid? Yeah, you could say that.
„
~ Percy about himself in the first book.
Perseus "Percy" Jackson is the titular main protagonist of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series by Rick Riordan, serving as one of the main characters in it's sequel book series The Heroes of Olympus, a supporting character in the second sequel series The Trials of Apollo and a guest character in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.
He is the son of Poseidon, the God of the Sea. He was initially an outcast growing up, and his step-father Gabe constantly belittled him. However, he learned from his friend Grover about his identity as a demi-god, and was taken to Camp Half-Blood to be trained as a hero. From there, he would fight multiple monsters and learn what it means to be a hero.
While initially Percy was hot headed, argumentative, and impulsive, he grows out of this as the series progresses.
Throughout the entire series, Percy is never tempted to make the choice to turn against the Olympians, even when they were being Jerkass Gods to him; the closest he ever gets is when he thinks about how releasing Hope from Pandora's Pithos would stop the war and bloodshed Kronos was causing.
He also has a tendency to make peace with the people he loses and move on, which is something that many demigods are incapable of doing. In The Demigod Files, Percy, Thalia and Nico encounter Melinoe, the goddess of ghosts. While Thalia and Nico are swayed by her power, Melinoe is shocked by how Percy has literally no one whose death he is haunted by.
He never excuses the wrongdoings of any demigod or even god which is more questionable deeds of his father such as taking revenge on Minos by having his wife fall in love with the sacrificial bull or raping Demeter in horse-form in both Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes and Percy Jackson's Greek Gods.
He doesn't care about power, money, fame, or any other temptation that Kronos and/or Luke throw his way.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians[]
Defending Grover from bullies in school.
While he did ditch Grover once while returning home, he felt really bad about it after learning it almost got his best friend in trouble.
He advises Annabeth to give living with her dad and stepmom one last chance, helping her make amends with Frederick and fixing the wounds of that relationship.
Allows his mother, Sally, to keep Medusa's head so she can use it to turn his abusive stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, to stone and then sell his statue for money, as they no longer needed Gabe's odor to hide Percy's scent from monsters. This can come off as a morally ambiguous act, it should still be noted that Gabe was a selfish domestic abuser to Sally and an indifferent lowlife to Percy. It's safe to assume that this was mostly justified and nobody was upset nor even cared about Gabe's fate, and Sally quickly disposed of Medusa's head afterward.
By convincing Zoë that not all half-bloods are arrogant through his good behavior, he broke the cycle of half-blood arrogance after learning what Hercules did to Zoë, and helped her grow past her misandrist views.
He has lied to the camp and Chiron, his most trusted mentor, about Nico being the Son of Hades, but later apologizes to him when the secret's out. Chiron acknowledges that Percy wasn't being distrustful of him, but rather did it out of concern for Nico's safety, and Percy at one point said that if Zeus discovered Nico, he'd get angry at Hades and likely murder Nico (which he almost did 70 years ago).
Cleaning Geryon's stables in order to stop Nico from being sold to Luke, despite Nico hating Percy at the time.
Inviting Nico to join in with his birthday party, after realizing that he probably hadn't been to one in his entire life.
At one point he had both Zeus's Master Bolt and Hades' Helm of Darkness in his possession and didn't even think of the immense power this would give him.
With Luke and Annabeth, he helped defeat the evil Titan Kronos for good and save the world.
After the death of Luke Castellan, he asks that the gods provide a burial shroud for Luke, despite Luke having been his enemy for years.
When given the opportunity to become a god by Zeus as reward for saving Olympus and the world from Kronos, the Titans, and other hostile creatures, Percy rejects the offer after thinking about his deceased allies (even Luke, who redeemed himself before his death); and instead requests that Hades and every minor god should have a cabin for their kids at Camp Half-Blood, so people like Nico feel welcomed at the camp. This is given that he is very empathetic towards those, like Nico, who feel like outcasts due to their godly parents lacking a cabin for them to stay in, and puts the needs of others first.
Helped Ganymede retrieve his stolen magic chalice from Geras and saved him from Zeus' wrath. As Poseidon explained, he did this not just for a college letter, but simply because it was the right thing to do. Adding to that, he could've easily left Ganymede to his fate and asked Geras for a letter instead, but instead honored his deal. Poseidon even calls him a true hero.
Helps pet/housesit for Hecate, Percy develops an emotional bond with Hecuba, the hellhound, and Gale, the polecat as he realizes they’re actually people who were transformed under tragic circumstances, and realizes Hecate did so out of pity and to preserve them.
When he learns Grover had accidentally drank Hecate’s strawberry milkshake and set the pets loose, he is understandably angry, but doesn’t hold it against his friend. Even when Grover continuously blames himself, Percy empathizes with him as he knows Grover feels bad about it. Percy was also horrified and concerned when Grover uses his grounding ability that nearly killed him.
While tracking down Hecuba, they shadow travel to where Troy once was (as it was Hecuba's former home) and Percy emotionally bonds with her after seeing a vision of her losing her family. He helps the queen-turned-hellhound get over her grief.
Discovers that four greedy naiads, Filomena, Silbe, Phaedra, and Daedra had kidnapped Gale the polecat to use her knowledge of alchemy to profit themselves. Percy eventually learns that the four naiads were formerly students of Circe and had left their home due to Percy and Annabeth unleashing the pirates on them while escaping. He does feel bad when Annabeth reminds him, but nonetheless he doesn’t excuse the naiad’s grudge over something he had no control over, let alone them kidnapping Gale for their own gain. In the end, Percy kills Filomena, petrifies Silbe, and destroys Phaedra and Daedra’s shop out of self-defense.
When he was cursed with octopus tentacles, Percy was willing to sacrifice his only cure to Gale so she could be human again, but as touched as she was, she allows him to take the cure.
After using Hecate’s torches to repair her manse, Percy aids Annabeth in banishing the rogue undead led by Peter Stuyvesant, a son of Hecate.
At the end of the week, Percy tells Hecate the truth about what happened to her pets and her manse instead of lying to her. While she was understandably disappointed, she acknowledges Percy for being honest and how he bonded with Hecuba and Gale, even agreeing with their requests. He even convinces Hecate to reopen her school for magic on Eudora’s behalf to give her another chance.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
Helped Frank and Hazel retrieve the Legions Eagle and became a hero to Rome.
Saved a harpy named Ella from the abusive Phineas and taking her to Camp Jupiter where she'll be safe and loved.
Selflessly grabbing onto Annabeth's arm as she fell into Tartarus, despite her warning to let her go for his own safety, and even falling into the pit with her.
He still helped the amnesiac Iapetus/Bob even after the latter got his memories back and remembered that they were enemies.
He helped the Gods and the other members of the Seven to defeat the Giants.
The Trials of Apollo[]
He helped Apollo in a few small favors to regain his godhood.
In The Hidden Oracle, he helped distract the Colossus Neronis so that Apollo could shoot it in the ear, thus saving Camp Half-Blood from Nero.
When Leo returned to Camp Half-Blood, he was the only camper not to punch Leo, instead hugging him.
Misc.[]
In The Ship of the Dead (the third Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard book), he trained Magnus Chase to help him with his upcoming quest. He also taught him the valuable lesson that the best help you can have is the support from your friends.
In The Sun and the Star, he tries convincing Nico not to go to Tartarus out of concern for his safety.
Trivia[]
So far, Percy is the only approved Pure Good hero from Rick Riordan's novels.
A potential corrupting factor is how he inflicted severe pain on Akhlys out of rage in The House of Hades and even enjoyed doing so. However, this was just a brief heating up period that didn't reflect on his general character; in fact, he stopped it when Annabeth's pleading calmed his anger and is quickly horrified afterwards. Additionally, his rage was justified as Akhlys was a sadistic immortal who tried to kill Percy and Annabeth with the same poison Percy used against her in self-defense.
✓
