Kronos (Percy Jackson)

"Percy Jackson... Your destiny was written long ago."

- Kronos Kronos is the main antagonist of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians franchise. As well as being the king of the Titans, he is known as the Lord of Time. To the Romans, he is known as Saturn.

In the 2013 film, he was portrayed by Robert Knepper (who also played King Chichak, Keith, William Tockman, General James Harkness, Jonas Johnson, Theodore Bagwell, and Jonah Aldrich).

Origin
Kronos was the youngest child of the sky, Ouranos, but he used a scythe given to him by his mother, the earth Gaia, to destroy him and control the universe. He ruled for a long time, but he ate all his children, because he was told one of his children would overthrow him. His wife, Rhea, hid their youngest child, Zeus, and tricked Kronos into eating a rock instead. Many years later, Zeus tricked Kronos into vomiting out his five other children, who joined up with Zeus, who lead them on an attack against the Titans stronghold, Mount Othrys. Zeus used his most powerful weapon, the Master Lightning Bolt, to reduce Kronos to dust, not truly dead. Zeus threw his remains into Taratus, the deepest pit on Earth, with the rest of many of the Titans.his son Hades grab his soul and the rest of army of titan

The Lightning Thief
In The Lightning Thief, Kronos never physically appeared but manipulated two of the books main villains, Luke Castellan and Ares, God of War. Luke, who was ignored by his father Hermes and had to defend himself from monsters for years, was resentful against the Olympians and Kronos easily convinced him to steal Zeus's Master Bolt and Hades's Cap of Invisibility. He intended for Luke to bring them to Taratus for him to use, but Ares caught Luke. Thankfully for the young demi-god, Kronos convinced the War God that Zeus would blame the thievery of his Master Bolt on Poseidon, causing a huge war. Ares was interested and was manipulated into helping. Cronus then had Ares take the Master Bolt and the Cap.

Instead of having Luke take the weapons to him right away, he decided to give it to an ignorant Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, who had already been blamed for the theft of the Master Bolt by Zeus. Hades also blamed the son of the Sea God for the theft of his symbol of power and was having several of his monsters stalk him. Percy Jackson eventually made it to Camp Half-Blood, the haven for demi-god children, where Luke was, and Cronus decided to have Percy sent on the quest to the Underworld, where he would have the Master Bolt unknowingly, making Hades sure he also had the Cap and that Poseidon was going to try to take over Olympus for himself. He had Luke summon a Hellhound into the boundaries of the camp, which would convince the people at the camp that it wasn't safe anywhere.

Percy was then sent on a quest to the Underworld with his friends Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase because they thought Hades was the one who stole the Master Bolt. Luke gave Percy winged sneakers, which were cursed so they would pull him into Tartarus when they were close enough to it. Halfway through their adventure, Ares gave them a magic backpack, which seemed harmless enough, filled with supplies, but in reality, it hid the Master Bolt inside it and it would only appear when in the Underworld. The plan would've gone perfectly, except Percy didn't want the winged shoes and gave it to his friend Grover. He nearly got pulled into Taratus, but his friends saved Grover from being trapped in the endless pit. Later, after escaping the underworld, Ares tried to take the Bolt from Percy, but the God of War was defeated and gave up the Cap of Darkness. Percy managed to return both symbols of powers, and the Olympians and the half-bloods both realized that Kronos was behind all of these events. Luke then revealed he was a spy and left Camp Half-Blood, leaving the gods and their children to prepare to fight the Titan.

The Sea of Monsters
In this book, Kronos has convinced Luke to gather an army of monsters. The Titan Lord has also been rallying half-bloods to join his troop, with each half-blood that pledges loyalty to him bringing back one piece of his soul from Taratus, with the pieces being stored in a sarcophagus on his battleship, the Andromeda. Kronos has also made Luke poison the tree that protects the border to Camp Half-Blood, which can only be saved using the healing powers of the Golden Fleece. However, Kronos's plan works three ways. If the demi-gods do not get the Fleece, he can have his army of monsters destroy the camp. If they do, he can take it from them and use it to quicken his return from Tartarus. If his forces fail to take the Fleece, then the Golden Fleece will heal the tree so much it will bring back the soul of the half-blood Thalia Grace, as her father, Zeus, turned her into a tree when she was killed by monsters on Half-Blood Hill. This would help Kronos because of in the Great Prophecy, it foretold a child of the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) would make a choice that would save or destroy Olympus at age sixteen. It turns out that the last of those happened, as Percy Jackson managed to recover the Fleece and bring to Camp Half-Blood, resurrecting Thalia, although her tree stays with all of it's protective abilities.

The Titan's Curse
Kronos slowly starts regenerating in this book, still not playing much of a direct role. For the most part, his nephew Atlas and Luke Castellan do most of the scheming and fighting and manipulation. His base, Mount Othrys, is rebuilt on Mount Tamalpais. some time before or during this book, he manages to persuade Luke to take the Mark of Achilles, making him unable to be killed or injured except for a small weak spot below his armpit. This is in preparation for when Kronos returns, and controls Luke's body, as he needs a host body before he returns to his full power, but a normal mortal or monster would be killed if they consumed the essence of a Titan. The Titan army suffers a large loss when Atlas once again becomes trapped under the burden of the sky, and on the same night, Thalia becomes an eternally young companion of Artemis, stopping her from aging into a sixteen year old.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
At this point, Kronos's army has become massive, with almost every species of monsters serving him in some form. Before attacking Olympus directly, Kronos wants to destroy Camp Half-Blood, so he sends troops to investigate the famous Labyrinth of Daedalus, which has moved under America, like most other magical Greek locations and creatures. However, it seems impossible to find a way through the Labyrinth, so he redirects his attention on find the creator of the Labyrinth, Daedalus, and collect the string of Ariadane to use to navigate the giant maze. Meanwhile, some telekhines work on rebuilding Luke's sword, Backbiter, into the scythe of Kronos in Mount Helena, Hephaestus's forge. However, Percy Jackson comes to Mount Helena to stop the telekhines for Hephaestus, but he ends up causing the volcano to erupt and destroy the forge, but Kronos's scythe is saved from the destruction. Eventually, his troops find Daedalus's workshop and the inventor gives them the string. They later betray him, but he escapes their wrath. Only a little while later, Kronos's scythe is finished and he only needs one soul to be resurrected into Luke's body. Percy, using an invisibility cap, sneaks into his base and opens his sarcophagus, paralyzed at the sight of Luke's lifeless body in the Titan's sarcophagus. He sees Ethan Nakamura, a demi-god he fought and didn't kill, who pledges loyalty to Kronos, who then awakens in Luke's body, which now has golden eyes instead of blue.

Kronos takes his scythe and taunts Percy, showing off his powers over time, but the half-blood escapes thanks to the resourcefulness of his friends and the fact that the Titan is still getting used to his new body. The Titan Lord sends a huge army of monsters into the Labyrinth to storm Camp Half-Blood, which are either killed, or retreat when the legacy of Pan scares them away. The Titans can no longer use the Labyrinth, has Daedalus killed himself, destroying the Labyrinth with him.

The Last Olympian
In the final book of the Percy Jackson series, Kronos seems to have already won the war. Most of the minor gods, such as Hypnos, Nemesis and Hecate, have joined his side, he has a near endless army of monsters, the most fearsome monster ever, Typhon, has reawakened and is heading towards Olympus (now at the top of the Empire State Building), nearly all the Titans have been freed from Taratus, Hades and Demeter refuse to help the gods, Poseidon and his troops are bust fighting a war underwater and many half-bloods have been killed in action, have deserted the camp or have disappeared. Kronos is sailing the Andromeda into the ports of New York City, prepared to destroy Olympus while all the gods are busy fighting Typhon in the West. Percy Jackson and his friend, Charles Beckendorf, sneak onto the ship and plant bombs in the engine room. However, Kronos has a spy in the camp (ironically, it's Beckendorf's girlfriend, Selena Beauregaurd) and has his monsters catch Beckendorf and Percy. Percy tries to attack Kronos, but the Titan Lord uses his control over time to dodge without any challenge and gives Percy a small cut, although this cuts through his soul. Beckendorf manages to set off the bombs, as the monsters forgot to disarm them, and blows up the ship, killing himself and many monsters, although Kronos survives, along with Percy, who escaped into the ocean.

Kronos later had Hypnos put all of New York City to sleep (excluding monsters, demi-gods, gods and a few special humans due to the limits of his powers), and Kronos combined his powers with Hecate to slow down time around New York City and make anyone else entering force themselves to leave. They sent forces around all sides of New York City, from the water, the tunnels and the bridges (air attack was made impossible thanks to the Winds). The demi-gods of Camp Half-Blood and the Hunters of Artemis helped defend New York City. Kronos later helped at the Williamsburg Bridge, which was being defended by the children of Apollo and Percy Jackson, who had taken the Mark of Achilles so he could defeat Kronos. Kronos had his half-bloods attack Jackson, who outclasses them, but Percy was forced to retreat when his friend Annabeth was stabbed while trying to protect Percy's weak spot (she didn't know it was his weak spot, she just had a feeling). Percy destroyed the bridge to stop the Titan from advancing.

Kronos and his forces retreated when day came and took refuge in Aunty M's Garden Gnome Emporium, the old lair of Medusa before she was killed. He sent his nephew, Prometheus, to negotiate with the half-bloods, but they refused to surrender. Meanwhile, Kronus talked to Ethan Nakamura, who delivered the blow of the knife. He asked if he knew Jackson's weak spot, but Ethan said he didn't and that he just tried to hit somewhere random. The fighting continued the next day, where along with an army of giants, dracaenae and other monsters, the Titan Hyperion and the Clazmonian Sow both attacked, but they were stopped by Percy Jackson. However, while he was distracted by that, Kronos managed to surround the Empire State Building, leading the attack on a golden chariot, but Chiron, his centaur son, and several hundred centaurs rushed in and sent the Titan retreating with his army. This time, they took refuge in the United Nations building, which Kronos was disgusted by the idea of mortals uniting. Before it even turned into nighttime, he sent a Lydian drakon to attack the defenders of Olympus, with all the other monsters following behind it. The drakon did a lot, terrifying the heroes and causing mass destruction. However, the spy, Silena, who felt guilty about helping Kronos, led the Ares cabin into the fight with the drakon (disguised as Clarisse, their counselor), as they had an argument with the rest of the campers and refused to help in the battle. However, she was killed, and then Clarisse came in, and became so filled with rage, that she killed the drakon by herself and began to lead her siblings against the enemy. However, Kronos's army was just to much and the forces of Olympus were pushed in front of the Empire State Building's doors. However, Hades came in with Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, and his half-blood son, Nico di Angelo and changed the tide of the battle, with his forces of the dead equaling the forces of the Titans.

Kronos created a force field that separated the armies of Olympus, the dead and his own forces from the State Building, the portal to Olympus, himself, Ethan Nakamura, Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood. Kronos and Ethan entered the portal to Olympus and went on a rampage. They destroyed statues, cut buildings in half and a lot more. He entered the throne room of the Olympians and prepared to destroy them, thus destroying the powers of the gods and everything they created. However, Percy, Grover and Annabeth fought him and tried to stop him (Thalia was crushed under a statue, not dead, but trapped). In the ensuing battle, Ethan decided that Kronos was causing more harm then good and tried to stop him, but was easily killed. Annabeth was injured in the battle, and all Grover could do was keep her out of the way of Percy and Kronos. Annabeth eventually stopped Kronos by reminding Luke of all of his friends and the promises he made to them, which brought him back to his mind. Luke's body started to disintegrate as the Titan Lord began to return to his true form, but Percy gave Luke Annabeth's knife, which he used to stab himself in his weakspot, killing him, and reducing Kronos to dust. While all this was happening, the Titan Krios was defeated and Mount Othyrs was destroyed, thus ending the Titan Lord's return.

The Sea of Monsters
Kronos makes his first physical appearance in this movie. Percy learns about a prophecy that states he will either aid or prevent Kronos from destroying Olympus when he turns 20. Later on, Percy, Annabeth and Tyson encounter, Luke who reveals to them that he seeks to resurrect Kronos with the use of the Golden Fleece. Near the end of the movie, Luke succeeds in obtaining the Fleece after Percy, and his friends defeat Polyphemus. Percy attempts to stop Luke from completing his mission, but fails when Luke fights him. Kronos is resurrected, and "rewards" Luke by eating him. He begins a rampage in Polyphemus's lair but is stopped and defeated by Percy, whose sword, Riptide, disintegrates him and once again imprisons him in his sarcophagus. Percy assumes he has completed the prophecy, but Chiron points out that Percy is not yet 20, so he may yet fight him again. However, after this conversation, its shown that Kronos had managed to enact a secret plan by resurrecting Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Personality
Kronos is utterly evil, cruel, greedy, ruthless, conniving, oppressive, treacherous, manipulative, diabolical, arrogant, savage, and cunning, with an insatiable lust for power and domination that surpassed that of any other Titan. As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Kronos was the youngest Titan of all, which is why both of his parents initially ignored him, and had trouble recalling his name. As a result, Kronos would always strive to prove himself as superior to his elder brothers, in any possible way, which also inspired him to murder his father. As a child, Kronos would frequently retort to dirty fighting tactics while wrestling his elder brothers, earning his infamous "The Crooked One" nickname.

He was also quite sadistic, dangerous, and unpleasant towards his father, Ouranos, whom he had always hated, and brutally murdered him in cold blood. As the Titan Lord of Time, Kronos relished being immortal, and enjoyed speeding up the growth of plants and humans, watching them wither up and die before his eyes. Kronos was also an extremely possessive, intelligent, untrustworthy, calculating, deceptive, finicky, loathsome, underhanded, surreptitious, meticulous, and excellent planner. Throughout the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, he creates and enforces an incredibly elaborate plan which benefits him in some way regardless of the outcome, preying on the personalities, powers, and (in his perspective) weaknesses of his opponents.

Nonetheless, earlier in his reign as Titan King, Kronos was shown to have a more honorable and conscientious side – he went through with his promise of releasing his Hekatonkheire and Elder Cyclops brethren (though only initially), and fairly rewarded his four Titan brothers (Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios) with control over the four corners of the world. Also, according to Percy Jackson, through Kronos had initially relished all of the power and authority that he possessed, he would later become quite miserable and disconsolate about none of his Titan siblings ever visiting him, knowing that they secretly feared him. Kronos would finally fall deeply in love with his beautiful sister, Rhea, and seemed to believe that marrying her would improve his personality.

As a result, the newlyweds enjoyed a perfect, wonderful, and magnificent honeymoon. Furthermore, before finding out that his eldest child, Hestia was not a Titan, Kronos seemed willing to be a good father, and not to resemble his own cruel father, Ouranos. However, realizing that his children could potentially become too powerful for him to control, Kronos's cruelty and megalomania began to surface once again. Even worse than his megalomania was his resulting savagery towards his own children, all of whom he brutally swallowed (except for Zeus), earning himself the infamous "King Cannibal" nickname.

Even Kronos's great love for Rhea was not enough to overpower his duplicitous, manipulative, egocentric, selfish, and evil nature. After swallowing five of his children (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon), Kronos had to constantly struggle with them trying to escape, which somewhat undermined the Titan King's clarity of mind. As a result, Kronos quickly hired Zeus as his royal cup bearer without a second thought, even though Zeus's appearance seemed vaguely familiar to him. This ultimately became Kronos's downfall, as it resulted in the first Titanomachy, and his final defeat at the hands of the Olympians.

Kronos is an exceptional master manipulator, who has influenced many demigods themselves through his scheming. While Kronos does seem to be irredeemable in this context, it should be noted that Kronos's reign is repeatedly referred to in Greek and Roman mythology as one of the best times in all of history for humanity, and that he is credited with control over such things as fate and the harvest.

However, it should also be noted that Chiron said in The Lightning Thief that "the Golden Age" was mere propaganda and mortals were only seen as fast food or cheap entertainment. Hence, Kronos's reign being referred to as one of the best times in history for humanity may have been a myth in and of itself (or lies/false propaganda). This is ultimately confirmed to be true in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, thereby making Kronos an irredeemably spiteful and malevolent character.

Powers and Abilities
As the leader of the Titans, Kronos is immensely powerful. He is immortal and can only be killed if his entire legacy is destroyed. In the body of Luke Castellan, he cannot even be killed unless he is hit in a small point under his left arm; protected by his armor due to the Achilles's Curse he bears from bathing in the River Styx. He also wields a scythe that can reap the souls of mortals, which can kill humans and monsters. He has control over time, using it to freeze and slow down time on multiple occasions. He also has immense skills while wielding his scythe. Also, in his true godly form, he can disintegrate mortals just by being in their presence.

In the films, Kronos is not shown to have any of his powers from the books. He is instead shown to be able to ingest a man whole, and is only vulnerable to Riptide, as it once belonged to his son Poseidon.

Trivia

 * Although he possessed Luke Castellan's body in the Book Series, he was himself in his own form in the movies. So his physical appearance was never described in the books, only as Luke Castellan.
 * Also in the books, his true form can disintegrate a mortal just by being near them, however, in The Sea of Monsters, Percy is able to fight him in close proximity without any adverse affects.