Poseidon

Poseidon is the Greek god of destruction, earthquakes, horses, hurricanes, oceans, seas, and storms. He is the son of the Titans, Kronos and Rhea, as well as one of the Big Three. His Roman counterpart is Neptune. He is portrayed by Kevin McKidd in The Lightning Thief film.

Titanomachy
Poseidon was born from Kronos and Rhea, rulers of the Titan race. Kronos feared that one of his children would seize his throne like what he did to his father, so he imprisoned the gods along with his elder siblings by swallowing them whole. Rhea managed to save Poseidon's youngest sibling Zeus and raise him secretly in order to free his captive brothers and sisters.

When reaching adulthood, Zeus managed to infiltrate his father's palace and trick him into ingesting a purgative, freeing Poseidon and the others. They soon joined their brother and waged a war of vengeance against Kronos and the Titans. It was during this war that Poseidon would gain the allegiance of the Telekhines and receive a powerful Trident that he would use to symbolize his authority among the gods. Poseidon proved to be a very dangerous and ferocious warrior with his Trident. After Kronos was destroyed and his followers were exiled; Poseidon, Zeus, and their brother between them and respectively claimed the Seas, Sky, and Underworld to rule. Sometime afterwards, Zeus imprisoned the Telekhines in Tartarus for using forbidden dark magic.

Marriage to Amphitrite
Early in his reign, Poseidon began searching for a wife. His attention soon turned to the Oceanid, Amphitrite but she rejected his proposal and fled. Delphin, the dolphin god, was sent in pursuit and managed to persuade the goddess into reconsidering the offer. Poseidon gratefully awarded his lieutenant by creating a constellation in his honor. He would father several children by Amphitrite, including a son named Triton. Like Zeus. he also went on to sire children by various goddesses and mortal women.

Rivalry with Athena
Athena and Poseidon had a rivalry between them since the two of them both wanted to be the patron of the city Attica, as it was named at the time. The people of the city petitioned the two gods to each create a gift for the city, and whichever gift was favored the most, that god would be the city's patron. Athena gave the people an olive tree and Poseidon made them a salt-water spring. At first, the people of Attica though Poseidon's gift was the more amazing, that is until they tasted the water and realized it was salt-water. Because they couldn't drink the water, they chose Athena's gift of an olive tree and made her the patron goddess of the city because they could use the olives for food and oil. As a show of appreciation to Athena, they named the city Athens after her and they turned the symbol of the city to an owl on an olive branch. They also had people build her the Parthenon in her honor.



Another time which marks a conflict between the two Olympians was when Athena transformed Coronis (whom Poseidon was trying to seduce) into a raven. As a result, a furious Poseidon longed for revenge. Hence, he took Medusa, his new lover, into Athena's temple. Furious with Poseidon and Medusa, Athena turned Medusa and her two sisters, who had helped her sneak into the temple, into the three Gorgons. She additionally cursed Medusa so that whenever anyone looked into her eyes, they would be turned to stone. As revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Poseidon also encouraged Hephaestus to seduce Athena. Yet another time both of them were at odds about Odyssesus. While Poseidon was furious with him for blinding his son Polyphemus, Athena favored him above all other mortals, and was always willing to aid Odysseus when he needed it most.

Despite their mutual animosity, there were times Athena and Poseidon worked together. They were responsible for inventing the chariot which combined their creations. Athena came up with the idea for the shape and design of the chariot while Poseidon supplied the horses to pull it. Furthermore, both Athena and Poseidon were on the same side during the Trojan War, supporting the Greeks.

Personality
Poseidon is overall a benevolent god even though he shares many characteristics with Zeus including pride, stubbornness, and being temperamental. However, he appears to have matured over the centuries to a point where these attributes do not dominate him to the same extent they do Zeus, making him much more reasonable (which is strange because in the myths Poseidon was considered the moodiest of the gods). Poseidon loves and cares for his children and watches over them more than most of the other gods, actively giving them advice, and aiding them indirectly, though this might be since he only has one son. Poseidon has a more caring and overall human personality, which Percy inherited many traits from. His personality in the book is the same in the movie, being calm and slow to anger unlike Zeus. However, when Poseidon falls into depression, he can be very very dramatic. In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, when unable to woo Amphitrite, Poseidon becomes extremely depressed, and pointlessly wandered about his palace, bellowing "louder than a humpback whale", giving many whales and giant squids terrible migraines. Poseidon was also greatly admired the fifty beautiful Nereids, and was infuriated when Queen Cassiopeia claimed to be more beautiful than any of them. As a result, Poseidon summoned a gigantic and bloodthirsty sea serpent, and ordered it to terrorize her kingdom. However, he later allowed Perseus to slay the serpent and save Andromeda (Cassiopeia's daughter) from it. However, after her death, while Poseidon did place Cassiopeia in the sky as a constellation, he insisted on placing her there upside-down.

Due to caring dearly for his children, according to Polybotes; Poseidon's greatest weaknesses is his demigod son, Percy Jackson, as if Percy is harmed the giants believe that Poseidon will weaken.

In The House of Hades, it is implied by Hazel that Poseidon has a dark side, something which is reflected by his other son, Sciron.

Appearance
Poseidon has black hair, a neatly trimmed beard, sea-green eyes, and a nice tan, as well as "smile crinkles" around his eyes and cheeks. When casual (which is almost always), he wears Birkenstocks (leather sandals), khaki Bermuda shorts, and a shirt with coconuts and parrots on it (or any other Hawaiian shirt), and a cap decorated with fishing lures which says "NEPTUNE'S LUCKY FISHING HAT."

Abilities
As one of the Big Three, Poseidon has the ultimate powers a god can possess, and is rivaled only by his brothers, Zeus and Hades.
 * Massive Strength: Poseidon has incredible physical prowess, and in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, he is mentioned being able to submerge entire islands, and hurl mountains at his enemies. Even after temporarily losing his divinity and godly powers, Poseidon's physical strength far surpassed that of any demigod, and he could easily carry six massive stone blocks simultaneously while building a mighty wall around Troy.
 * Powerful Roar: in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, when Poseidon becomes extremely depressed about his inability to woo Amphitrite, Poseidon bellows "louder than a humpback whale", giving many whales and giant squids terrible migraines. In The Last Olympian, when Poseidon attacks Typhon, his voice is so loud, that Percy isn't sure if he was hearing it from the smoke image, or from all the way across town.
 * Hydrokinesis: As the Lord of the Sea, Poseidon has absolute control over water, and has the same hydrokinetic powers as Percy, only extremely increased.
 * He can withstand any amount of water pressure.
 * He can generate water from his body.
 * He can use sea waves as a form of teleportation.
 * He can breathe underwater.
 * He can communicate with sea creatures.
 * Horses: As the god who initially created horses, Poseidon has divine authority and control over them. In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, this is shown when Poseidon makes a herd of horses part before him, and surround Demeter.
 * Geokinesis (limited): Being the god of earthquakes, Poseidon has the ability to cause earthquakes, giving him the nickname "the Earthshaker".
 * Aerokinesis (limited): Poseidon is also known as the god of storms since he controls the weather over the seas. He can create fierce hurricanes. However, he can also create clear skies for sailors if he wishes to. As god of the seas, it is unknown how far this power may extend over land.
 * Building Skills: in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Poseidon constructed the famous Walls of Troy, which were extremely durable, and kept the Greek forces at bay for 10 long years. It should also be noted that Poseidon was able to build them after he temporarily lost his divinity and godly powers.

Attributes

 * Dolphin (animal)
 * Horse (animal)
 * Ram (animal)
 * Bull (animal)
 * Trident (weapon)
 * Ash and White Pine (trees)

Family
Poseidon is married to Amphitrite and has three children by her (although only one appears in the series) but he is also the father of a diversity of children.

Trivia

 * Poseidon's children take their personalities from his changeable persona. As Sciron is darker and merciless, as a rough and murderous seas, whereas Percy takes his father's kind, soft, and peaceful sea persona.
 * In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, it was stated that Poseidon used Riptide to defeat Kronos. In the books however, Zeus used their father's scythe to cut Kronos into a thousand pieces, just as Kronos had done to his own father Ouranos.
 * Poseidon is the only known Greek god to have legacies in the modern day.
 * As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Poseidon and Apollo are the only two major Olympians who have temporarily lost their divinity and godly powers.
 * As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, after Ares brutally murders his son Halirrhothius, Poseidon convinces Zeus to assemble the first ever Olympian trial for murder. However, Ares was ultimately acquitted.
 * As Percy states in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, the only demigod son of Poseidon that he is ashamed of being related to is Halirrhothius, who tried to rape Ares' daughter Alcippe.
 * In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Poseidon is shown to be the only one to inherit his mother Rhea's brilliant green eyes. His son Percy Jackson later inherits them as well.
 * Kronos seems to have a particularly strong hatred for his son Poseidon, whom he describes as "too changeable, and too unpredictable."
 * After many competitions with other Olympians, Poseidon finally became the patron god of Corinth and Mantinea.
 * In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, the ram with the Golden Fleece is revealed to be the son of Poseidon and Theophane, a beautiful mortal princess.