The Burning Maze

Apollo is a former god whose varied specialties include the sun, music, prophecy, plague, and poetry. After angering Zeus, he was demoted to mortality and sent to earth in the body of 16-year-old Lester Papadopoulos. As a human, his defining characteristics are his acne and his “love handles.” While both are normal for a mortal, they annoy Apollo because they contradict the effortless physical perfection that he enjoyed as a god, and they also serve as a reminder of his loss of status.

At the beginning of the Trials of Apollo series, Apollo is portrayed as a flat character, imperious and resentful. As a god, he simply wants to be worshiped and lacks empathy for others’ suffering, seeing everything and everyone in terms of his own benefit. He swears an oath on the river Styx that he will never play music or use his bow because he cannot do it as perfectly as he did when he was a god. Across the first two books, his character becomes more complex as he learns human lessons and develops bonds with others. Although he is in Meg’s service, he learns how she has suffered and develops protective feelings for her, irrespective of whether it helps him in the end.