71 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Lost Hero
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A 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.
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Chapter Summaries & Analyses
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BetaChapters 41-44Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 41 Summary
The cab stops and Leo sees that the earth has become sticky, due to Gaea’s influence. They walk up to a depression in the mountain and find the 30-foot-tall giant Enceladus. They agree that Hedge, Leo, and Jason will distract the giant while Piper frees her father. Leo has an idea and reaches for a small mechanical toy he began building on the walk up.
Chapter 42 Summary
Enceladus breathes fire on the demigods. He spots Piper almost immediately and tries to convince her to betray her friends. Then, he raises ogres, the Earthborn, from the earth. Jason makes eye contact with his friends, and they develop a new game plan. A fight breaks out, and Leo uses nearby construction equipment to shatter the Earthborn. In a moment of panic, he calls on his father, and Hephaestus comes to his aid. Piper frees her father and joins the fight.
Chapter 43 Summary
Jason’s instincts take over, and he begins to fight Enceladus. The giant knows him, and calls him, “‘the mighty Jason Grace […] the one who led the assault on Mount Othrys. The one who single-handedly slew the Titan Krios and toppled the black throne’” (462). The giant breaks his spear, and the release of a magical force forms a crater. Jason is left without a weapon.
Chapter 44 Summary
Leo and Piper come to Jason’s aid, but Jason soon remembers that giants cannot be slain by demigods alone—they need a god’s aid. Jason mentally calls on his father, offering to sacrifice his life for his friends’. Lightning comes down, and Enceladus falls into a crevice at the bottom of the crater. They have defeated the giant, but need to get Piper’s father to safety. Piper prepares to call up to a helicopter with a bullhorn.
Chapters 41-44 Analysis
These chapters trace one of the book’s major battles. Over the course of their journey, the demigods have learned to communicate almost wordlessly. They have also agreed that Jason is their leader; they all have the knowledge that he is an experienced fighter, even if he can’t remember that experience.
This is confirmed when Enceladus reveals he knows Jason, and many of his deeds. However, Jason is not able to defeat him alone. He must rely on his friends, as well as ask for help from Zeus. When demigods, gods, and even satyrs work together, they can slay a giant, but it’s hard work. They rescue Piper’s father, knowing that they still haven’t battled their true enemy or completed the central task of their quest.
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By Rick Riordan
