The Asphodel Fields are HUGE, swampy, and dismal. Black trees are here and there.In the distance, they can see the Fields of Punishment burning "with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas" (19.9).In the other direction, they can see Elysium – a lovely gated community featuring "beautiful houses from every period in history, Roman villas and medieval castles and Victorian mansions" (19.10).Elysium has a beautiful blue lake, and in the middle of the lake are three islands: The Isles of the Blest, "for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium" (19.12). That's where heroes retire when they die. It's the place to be in Hades.Elysium is way less populated than either of the other fields. Percy realizes how few people in the world choose to do good things in their lives.They continue to walk through the Asphodel Fields for miles.In the distance is a palace of obsidian towers: Hades's house.The Furies are flying proud over Hades's house. Gulp.Then, Grover's magic shoes do something weird: they fly without him telling them to, and they drag him away from Hades's house toward a narrow cave.The magic shoes are going so fast that Grover can't take them off, and Percy and Annabeth can't help him.The walls of the tunnel widen into a huge chasm, a pit "the size of a city block" (19.38).One of the shoes pulls itself free from Grover's foot and zips into the chasm below.Grover hangs on for dear life, clutching a big rock.Annabeth and Percy grab Grover and pull him uphill, towards a safer spot.They are exhausted, and Percy feels like someone has put rocks in his backpack – it is so heavy.Grover is a bit black and blue.They hear a faint whispering.Annabeth realizes that the deep chasm Grover almost got sucked into is the entrance of Tartarus.Percy unsheathes Riptide, and the whispering pauses for a little bit.They are super-scared at this point. Tartarus is not a place you want linger.They walk uphill out of the tunnel completely.The pit seems to inhale as they climb out of the tunnel, pulling them backwards.They run for safety."Something was not happy we'd gotten away" (19.64).On their way into Hades's house, they notice the scenes of death carved into his gates, his garden made out of jewels, and Persephone's (his wife) pomegranate garden. They also recognize some of Medusa's handiwork: statues of all kinds of people and animals.They walk through Hades's palace – everywhere there is black marble and bronze floors.Skeletons of former soldiers stand guard.The doors to Hades's throne room swing open, and the three walk right in. Percy's recognizes the room from his dreams.Then he gets his first look at Hades:
He was the third god I'd met, but the first who really struck me as godlike […] He was at least ten feet tall, for on thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther. (19.86-87)
Percy calls Hades, "Uncle," and he tells his uncle that he has two requests.Hades is furious at Percy's arrogance, "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?" (19.101).Hades clearly thinks that Percy has done something really wrong. Percy asks him what he has done wrong.Hades tells him that he doesn't want war – he can't afford to have a huge surge in dead people. The Underworld is already way too full of dead people. And they're sucking his wealth dry.Hades accuses Percy of stealing the master bolt himself in order to help Poseidon start a war. He accuses Percy of stealing his own symbol of power, his helm of darkness.Hades tells them that if they don't return his helm of darkness, he will stop death and "make your lands a nightmare" (19.124).Percy tells Hades that they don't have his helm of darkness and that they don't know where it is.Hades doesn't buy this. He tells Percy that the master bolt is in his backpack, proving that Percy stole the master bolt all along.Percy opens his backpack to find that this is true – how did the master bolt get there?Hades tells him to hand both the master bolt and the helm of darkness over.
I realized I'd been played with. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades had been set at each other's throats by someone else. The master bolt had been in the backpack, and I'd gotten the backpack from… (19.142)
Hades tells Percy he knows that that Percy came to the Underworld to barter for his mother.Hades makes a glowing image of Percy's mom – frozen at the moment the Minotaur seized her – appear.Hades tells Percy that his mom is not dead, but that if Percy doesn't hand over his helm of darkness, he will kill her.
Could you mark as brainliest please? Let me know if you need more help :)
