‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’: Who Are the Furies?

One of the things that we know about the storyline of ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ is that Percy is set to go on a dangerous quest that has the fate of the entire world hanging in the balance. While we know that he is going to have to go on that quest with a few allies, we also know that there have been monsters going after him ever since he realized that he was a half-blood. Some of these monsters are the Furies. So, who exactly are the Furies?

The Furies are winged monsters who serve Hades

The first few scenes of ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ immediately allowed us to get a good look at what we are set to expect in the storyline of this series as Percy Jackson immediately had to defend himself against a monster. We know that he has always been a weird child growing up because he could see things that no one else could. But what he didn’t know was that he was a half-blood or a demigod, and his teacher, Mrs. Dodds, always thought that there was something interesting about him.

Dodds always hated Percy, and her true colors were revealed when Percy subconsciously used his powers to push Nancy Bobofit into a fountain. That was when Dodds realized who and what Percy was as she took the form of a hideous winged creature called a Fury. But what exactly is a Fury in ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians?’

Basically, the Furies are the spirits of vengeance who serve Hades, the god of the Underworld. They have been working for him ever since Hades took control over the Underworld after the Big Three defeated their father, Kronos. Hades hired the Furies to help him enforce his authority among the many different souls of the dead in the Underworld, and that means that the Furies often act as the torturers of the souls of the damned and the wicked.

In Greek mythology, the Furies also take the form of creatures who avenge a certain form of crime. To that end, they were often called the Kindly Ones. Of course, they also have a similar role in ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians,’ where they work under Hades.

The Furies, of course, have been working under the god of the Underworld for thousands of years and have done his bidding for a very long time. As such, while they often torture the souls of the wicked in the Underworld, the Furies also do whatever Hades tells them to do, even if they have to go to the world of the living. This is why the Furies are featured heavily during the earlier part of the storyline of ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians,’ as they are set to become minor antagonists.

Basically, the Furies are winged demon-like creatures who have the ability to use the Mist to disguise themselves as regular human beings, just like how Mrs. Dodds was able to take the form of a human. Furies are also capable of returning to life, as dying only means that they return to the Underworld, where they were originally from. Essentially, they are almost immortal because they can always return from the Underworld whenever they are killed.

The Furies are going to go after Percy and his friends

Of course, as mentioned, one of the Furies was actually Percy’s teacher, Mrs. Dodds, who had been secretly watching over him for a while so that she could tell whether or not he was actually a half-blood. It was during a field trip to the museum that Dodds attacked Percy, thinking that he was hiding something that was important to her and her master, Hade. 

However, Percy didn’t understand what was happening as he tried to defend himself against the monster before subconsciously using his sword, which was disguised as a pen, to kill the Fury before she could kill him.

Percy thought that he had hallucinated everything because he didn’t even know that he was the son of a god. As such, he brushed aside what happened between him and Mrs. Dodds, who was actually the Fury named Alecto. Everything made sense to him after he learned about his nature as a half-blood or a demigod and when he learned that monsters were coming after him for a reason that he wasn’t aware of.

At the end of episode 2, of course, Percy learns that he is the son of Poseidon and that he is the key to stopping a war before it starts. He learns that a Forbidden Child was said to have been the one responsible for stealing Zeus’ master bolt and that Zeus believes that Poseidon’s son was the one who stole it because Percy was the only Forbidden Child known to exist at that time. 

As such, Percy has to go on a quest to find the master bolt, which he and Chiron believe has something to do with Hades, to stop a war from breaking out.

Then again, the problem is that Hades seems to have something he wants from Percy as well, and that is why he sent Alecto to go after him. This means that the Furies are going to become a thorn in the side of Percy Jackson and his friends during their quest to get to the Underworld to recover the master bolt that they believe had been stolen by Hades.

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