Leo Valdez
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Leonidas "Leo" Valdez is a Greek demigod, the son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. He is one of the seven heroes of the Prophecy of Seven. After sacrificing himself and being resurrected using the Physician's Cure, he rescued Calypso out of Ogygia. He is currently living with Josephine and...
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“ I try not to think. It interferes with being nuts. ”

–Leo , in The Mark of Athena

Leonidas "Leo" Valdez is a Greek demigod, the son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. He is one of the seven heroes of the Prophecy of Seven. After sacrificing himself and being resurrected using the Physician's Cure, he rescued Calypso out of Ogygia. He is currently living with Josephine and Hemithea, while going to high school with his girlfriend Calypso.

History

Early Life

Leo was born in Houston, Texas, to the mechanic Esperanza Valdez, and the blacksmith god Hephaestus. Unlike most of his half-siblings, Leo has the rare ability to control fire. He is the first child born of Hephaestus to be able to control fire in centuries.

When Leo was just a baby, his mother took him to see his bisabuelo (great-grandfather), Sammy Valdez. Sammy was overjoyed to see Leo and held him, chuckling and tickling his chin. Sammy told him about Hazel, and said he would not live to see her again. He told his great-grandson that a woman named Doña Callida had warned Hazel's danger would not happen in his lifetime, but he'd promised he would be there for her. He then told Leo to tell Hazel that he was sorry, and told him to help her. He told him to apologize on his behalf for selling the diamond and that the diamond came with a curse: he never saw her again. He gave his great-grandson his blessing and said Leo was special, just like Hazel.

Leo was about two when Tía Callida decided to lay Leo down for a nap and said she wanted to see if he was her brave little hero. She nestled him in blankets and laid him in what Leo thought were red and yellow pillows, but realized later was actually a fireplace. He remembered sleeping comfortably and grabbing at sparks. He dreamed of being on a boat made of fire, and Tía sang him lullabies as he slept, in Greek. He didn't know what the language was at the time. When Esperanza came home, she was furious, went to take Leo from the flames, and yelled, "How could you?", but Tía had disappeared.

Tía continued to show up at his house, and when he was three, she let him play with knives, saying that he needed to learn his blades early if he wanted to be her hero someday. When he was four, she found him a rattlesnake from a cow pasture, gave him a stick, and told him to poke it to show that he was brave, and that the Fates were right to choose him. He didn't poke the snake as it didn't seem fair, and it disappeared into the grass.

The last time Tía Callida watched him was when he was five. She brought him paper and crayons, and sat at a picnic table under a pecan tree while Leo drew. As she sang songs, Leo drew the boat he'd dreamed about- what would become the Argo II- with crayons. When he was about to sign his name, it flew away. Tía told him that it wasn't time yet to be a hero, and that he would find his destiny, but first he had to face many sorrows. She then told him to make a fire to warm her old bones. A few minutes later, Esperanza came out and shrieked when she saw him sitting in the middle of a fire, with his hands burning the picnic table, and the crayons melted into goo. The fire left his handprints in the table, leaving the people in his apartment complex to wonder for years how he did it. After the visit, Esperanza had a talk with him and said she couldn't come back again, and that he wasn't ready to be a hero. She told him to never use fire again until he met his father, and when he did, he would explain everything.

He and his mom were very close. She taught him Morse code, and they would communicate simple things with it, tapping messages on the walls. Esperanza would switch between English and Spanish when she talked to him, and made him bilingual. It took years for him to realize not everyone spoke that way. His mom worked at her machine shop since no one would hire her, providing for the both of them. She consistently told him that he would someday meet his father, but would not answer questions about him. By the time Leo was eight, he spent every spare minute at the shop, knew how to use the machines, and could do math better than most adults, solving mechanical problems in his head. They would also have special Friday night dinners of shrimp and catfish from a local seafood restaurant in Houston.

Leo had a cousin who bullied him, named Raphael, and a mean third grade teacher named Mr. Borquin. During Día de los Muertos, his Aunt Rosa took it seriously and dragged him to the local cemetery in Houston, where they would clean their relatives' graves and leave offerings of lemonade, cookies, and marigolds. Rosa would force him to stay for the picnic, as if eating with dead people would fix his appetite.

In The Blood of Olympus, Leo recalled how he used to play with plastic organ models as a kid. He once got in trouble after turning a cross-section kidney and some skeleton legs into a kidney monster, and scared the school nurse. In kindergarten, he was taught how to sign his name.

Death of Mother

One night, when Leo was eight, Esperanza and Leo were working late at night. Esperanza was making a prototype for a drill bit, and if she sold the patent, they would finally get a break. While they worked, Leo helped out by passing her supplies and made corny jokes to keep her spirits up. Esperanza would laugh at them and say his father would be proud of him. After they were done, as they were walking through the break room, Esperanza realized that she left her keys in the warehouse and thought she had them, and smiled at Leo for the last time. A few seconds later, the door closed and locked. Leo heard something heavy crash, and tried in vain to open the door. He then tapped with Morse code, "You okay?". But then a woman appeared, and explained that Esperanza couldn't hear him. The woman turned out to be Gaea (though Leo was unaware at the time). She was asleep with black robes made of earth and a veil that covered her face.

Leo thought she was Tía Callida, but she said she wasn't, just a family resemblance. He asked where his mom was, and she said that he will fight her children someday, and that when they would try to wake her, Leo would try to prevent it, which Gaea did not want. Leo said he didn't want to fight anybody, and Gaea said that she could not destroy him yet, because the Fates wouldn't allow it. But Gaea said that they didn't protect Esperanza, and that the Fates could not stop her from breaking Leo's spirit. She told him to remember this night, when they ask him to oppose her. Leo became angry and told her to leave his mother alone, and she asked how he would stop her. His hands caught fire as he realized he was the only thing standing between the woman and Esperanza. Leo lost consciousness as the room went up in flames, burning down the shop with his mother trapped inside.

Leo woke up in an ambulance, and the paramedic was kind to him, saying that the warehouse had burned down and his mom hadn't made it out. Leo felt hollow, and realized he had lost control like his mom had warned him about. He thought her death was his fault. The police were not nice to him and said the fire started where Leo was standing, and he miraculously survived, but his mom didn't make it. The police wondered what kind of child would've started a fire. His neighbors in the apartment complex gossiped about him, saying they always knew something was wrong with him.

Life in Foster Care

His Aunt Rosa turned his entire family against him and called him a diablo (meaning "the devil"), and shouted at social workers to take him away. Leo never forgave Rosa for that, and kept a grudge against her for the rest of his life. Rosa would forever be the person Leo hated most. His relatives wouldn't take him in, so he was sent to foster care. His first foster home only lasted for a few days, as he ran away a few days later.

He would be at five more foster homes after that. Some foster homes would last longer than others and he would make friends, joke around, and pretend that nothing bothered him, but he always ran away sooner or later. At the foster homes he was at, he was frozen out and ignored, and they often treated him like they didn't need him. He even had an abusive foster mom, Teresa. From being in foster care, and in rough schools, he learned to tell when fights were going to get ugly. He would have nightmares and hug his pillow, which he thought was embarrassing in the foster homes.

Leo was bullied when he was younger by popular girls, who would make fun of him, gossiped a lot, and did everything to make his life miserable. He would tease bullies, make them laugh, and mess with them to save himself.

Whenever Leo was between foster homes, he would sleep under the Houston bridge for around a month.

Wilderness School

After Leo ran away for the sixth time, when he was fifteen, he was caught by a truancy officer in New Mexico. He was taken to court and sentenced to go to the Wilderness School in Nevada, a correctional facility for delinquents, where he would stay for almost half a year. While Leo was there, he was protected by Coach Hedge and befriended Piper McLean, with whom he shared secrets with: Leo learned how Piper's dad was a celebrity and how she stole a BMW, and Piper learned how Leo ran away six times. Leo hated being at the Wilderness school, likening it to a prison, and would have to run ten miles a day and be pushed to his limits. It also forced Leo to go on several forced marches. However, he liked to mess with Coach Hedge.

Leo was given fake Mist memories of Jason Grace being there for four months before he left, and Leo and Jason became best friends. They would joke about Piper, and Jason would be fine with Leo's annoying jokes. In the Mist memories, Piper and Jason had started dating a few weeks before the beginning of The Lost Hero. Even though Leo was happy for them, he felt like the third wheel and that they didn't need him anymore.

The Heroes of Olympus

The Lost Hero

To see this text, hit the "Expand" link to the right. Leo goes to the Wilderness School with Piper and Jason. He partners up to complete their assignment with Jason on their field trip to Grand Canyon. During the ride there, Jason says he does not remember anything and Leo thinks that he is playing a joke on him. When Gleeson Hedge, their coach, yells at them from the front of the bus, Leo says that he can not hear him, prompting Hedge to use his megaphone. When Hedge turns on the megaphone, it sounds like Darth Vader or shouts out phrases like "The cow says moo." Leo pranked him by mechanically modifying his megaphone. He seems to be good friends with Piper and Jason at first and he seems to know Piper very well, knowing who her dad is and being able to tell that she likes to fight her own battles when she is picked on by some of the mean girls on the trip. When they are walking across the sky-walk, a storm appears around them, and Leo is the one that notices the storm is only in this area and nowhere else. As the storm begins to get bad, most of the students run away back inside except for Jason, Leo, Piper, Dylan, and Coach Hedge.

Dylan reveals himself to be a Ventus, or a storm spirit and attacks the others with the help of two other ventis. Leo is thrown off the sky-walk and slams into one of the canyon walls. While Jason and Piper try to fight Dylan, Hedge takes off his disguise and shows the others that he is a satyr sent to protect Leo and Piper. He jumps over the side and manages to grab Leo, pulling him back up as Jason fights off the venti using his Imperial Gold sword, Ivlivs thus saving him. Hedge manages to get Leo back onto the sky-walk, where Dylan tries to abduct him. At the last minute, Hedge intervenes and is abducted instead.

Annabeth Chase and Butch arrive to rescue them on a flying chariot, bringing the three demigods to Camp Half-Blood. While on the way back, Leo makes a few jokes about how Butch is a child of the rainbow goddess, Iris, and is one of the best campers with the pegasi. When Butch threatens to toss him off the flying chariot, Leo sarcastically backtracks saying that rainbows and ponies are very macho. Once arriving at camp, Leo is immediately claimed by his father, Hephaestus, and goes on a tour of the camp with Will Solace, a son of Apollo and head counselor of cabin seven, who brings him to Hephaestus's cabin. It is here that he meets Jake Mason, the current head of the cabin. Jake is in a full-body cast after trying to stop the Bronze Dragon that has started going crazy and attacking the camp. He also explains that after Charles Beckendorf's death, the cabin has been under a curse that makes any creation of the cabin turn to junk. When Leo asks if anyone at the cabin can control fire, one of the members of Cabin 9, Nyssa, tells him that only a few people in history have ever had that power and it is considered a curse because it normally causes great destruction.

That night, at the campfire, Leo is very quiet until Rachel Elizabeth Dare gives out a quest to Jason. When Jason is about to pick which member will go with him and Nyssa volunteers herself, Leo stands up and claims that it is him that must go on the quest, offering that he also has an idea on the transportation problem. Jason says that if he can get them away to fly, then he can go with them. That night, Leo goes into the woods looking for the bronze dragon and stumbles upon a trap set up by Cabin 9 to capture it. The dragon appears in front of Leo, who is upset that the dragon does not have wings to fly. The dragon blasts him with fire, but Leo's body is unharmed because of his Pyrokinesis. After it falls into the trap, Leo takes the chance to find the control panel and fix some of the wirings inside its head. After he fixes him up the best he can, the dragon asks Leo to climb on his back and takes him to Bunker 9 where he finds a magic toolbelt and a set of bronze wings for the dragon. He spends most of the night working on the dragon and appears in front of everyone the next morning saying he found Jason and Piper a ride, naming the dragon Festus meaning "happy" in Latin. When asked where he got the wings, he says he found them in the woods but does not mention the bunker. Jason keeps his promise and chooses Leo as the last member of the three campers to go on their quest to save Hera.

They begin to fly to Quebec, Canada to talk to Boreas to find out where to find Hera. They meet the two sons of Boreas, Zetes, and Calais. The brothers say that they can't land unless it's an emergency landing, so they trick them into letting them into Boreas's palace. Festus is not allowed in as he is a fire dragon, so Leo flips a switch and Festus turns into a suitcase (but still weighs the same, which is 6 billion pounds). Luckily, Festus in suitcase form has wheels. When Khione, the snow goddess, comes down the stairs, Leo immediately falls in love with her as soon as he sees her, but she dislikes him because she can sense that he can summon fire (as Boreas's children can smell fire). He is not allowed to meet with Boreas as ice and fire would not be ideal in this situation. While his friends were gone, he has his clothes cleaned of the oil and dirt gathered on him from fixing Festus. Leo is upset that Jason and Piper made Khione mad because he was planning on making her his prom date, not knowing that she likes to collect demigods as ice statues. Jason later explains this to him, which Leo thanks him for.

After they leave, Festus is knocked out of the sky and crashes into an abandoned car factory while Leo was resting. Leo runs off to go and find where Festus landed, which turns out to be in a row of portable toilets. When he looks inside the dragon's head, it is shown the reason Festus crashed was that the wiring had frozen over, something that shouldn't have happened as it would have been too hot inside his head. While he is fixing the dragon, the face of Gaea appears in the snow, sludge, and dirt and tells him to walk away from his friends and let him die. He tosses one of the toilet lids at the face and the face disappears.

When he gets back to the factory, Jason and Piper have been captured by three cyclopes called Ma Gasket, Torque, and Sump. Piper sees Leo sneaking around and keeps the monsters talking while he creates a remote to control some heavy lifting machinery. When one of Ma's children leaves, he uses that moment to attack, taking out her son by tossing him through the roof and then crushing the other with a metal claw when he returns. Ma Gasket is also defeated when Leo uses his fire to break a chain, causing an engine to fall on top of her. When he goes to free Piper and the unconscious Jason, the dust of the cyclopes begins to reform. He rushes them back to Festus, hearing them reform inside the factory. Piper thinks that his fire powers are cool, but he still feels like they are a curse because he thinks that it was his fire that caused his mom's death. He also tells them that children of Hephaestus are only born with fire powers when bad things are about to happen, but Jason cheers him up by suggesting that they are born with those powers because that is when they are needed most.

When they arrive in Chicago, Leo takes a whistle out of his pocket and teaches Festus to come when he is called. After that, the group follows a group of storm spirits into the sewer system where they get some rest while Leo makes some food for the other two. They follow the wind into a shopping mall, which is owned and operated by Medea. They find that in Medea's mall, Coach Hedge and some venti are locked in cages. Medea begins to charmspeak the trio, but Piper is able to resist. Leo and Jason begin shopping for new clothes, potions, and soon forget the reason they were there in the first place. Medea soon turns Leo and Jason on each other and tries to force them to kill each other. Piper, trying to get them back to their senses, gets Medea to admit that she can see the future and told her patron about Leo being one of the seven, leading to the death of his mother. This is enough to break the spell over Leo and Jason, but Medea lets loose the Sun Dragons to fight them off while she escapes. He calls Festus who can fight off the other two dragons and the three fly off with Coach Hedge and the venti while the mall is destroyed thanks to Piper.

As they are flying, Leo falls asleep and has a dream of his father Hephaestus, who is using an old pirate radio broadcaster to speak to Leo without Zeus knowing. At first, Leo is very angry with him for not coming to see him sooner but softens after seeing that his father acts the same way he does when he is nervous (fiddling with gears and small machines). His father tells him that the gods closed themselves off from their children because of Zeus's orders; partly because he felt that their children should respect them and he felt ashamed that the gods needed the help of mortals, and also because Zeus was worried that their activities on Earth were awakening Gaea. Not long after the dream starts, Zeus picks up on the dream and cuts the connection.

When Leo wakes up, Festus is crashing to the ground and he tells Jason to carry Piper away. Jason is unwilling to leave his friend but does so anyway while Leo tries to reboot Festus. Once the dragon comes back online, it is already too late and the crash into the yard of a large house. Leo survives from the crash. When he comes to his senses, Festus is destroyed by the house's defense system (lasers) and Leo asks his father to bring his head back to Bunker 9 so he can reuse him, as that was Festus's final wish. Leo takes it very hard and thought it was his fault, leading Festus to his death. But soon, Jason said he couldn't do better, Festus was the best dragon he had ever seen.

The house turns out to belong to King Midas and his son Lityerses. At first, all seems to be going well until Midas turns Piper into gold and when he tries to fight him with his fire, he can't (the gold suppresses his powers). He is also turned into a gold statue but is freed after Jason defeats Lityerses and washes off Leo and Piper in the river, which is freezing cold. Jason uses the storm spirits to fly them away from the house and after setting up camp, Leo makes tofu burgers for Piper and the newly freed Coach Hedge.

Not long after, they are attacked by a pack of wolves lead by Lycaon, the first werewolf. He says that their weapons will not work on him because he can only be hurt with silver, but Leo pulls some gasoline out of his belt and lights some of the wolves on fire, but it isn't enough to hold them back. He is only saved thanks to the timely arrival of the Hunters of Artemis that shoot the wolves with silver arrows. Leo immediately likes Thalia after only seeing her for a second and thinks that she is too hot to be Jason's sister, but doesn't tell him that. When the Hunters set up camp, a few hunters go to take care of Piper and Leo begins to follow them, only for Jason to ask him to stay as he begins talking to his sister. He learns about how he was separated from his sister and about Jason's mother, making him feel bad for Jason.

When Piper is fully healed, the group begins to travel to Aeolus' palace, but on the way up Leo asks why a wind spirit would need a bridge, to which Thalia says it is an anchor so that it doesn't fly away. Leo gets an idea from this about what Hera said about Jason being a bridge, and a bridge must connect to something. His mind begins to race so fast that his fire powers heat his body and the bridge begins to crack. Jason manages to get Leo to the palace, but Thalia is left behind and says she will meet Jason at the wolf house.

After returning the venti and finding the location of Piper's father, Aeolus gives Leo a drawing he had made when he was only a small child and tells him that it is the key to his success. Soon after, he turns on the heroes after a voice tells him to, someone that is above the gods. Mellie, the wind nymph, helps them in their escape and when he wakes up, they are in a diner in San Francisco and Leo has a set of new clothes (thanks to Aphrodite, who had visited Piper in her dream). Piper tells them they are fighting Gaea and they should be careful from now on and avoid walking on land. They take a cab to Mount Diablo and begin to climb to the top, but Leo's feet begin to sink into the ground as Gaea is starting to wake up.

As they get closer, Leo makes a small wind-up toy but isn't sure what it does, as he wasn't paying attention when he made it. When they reach the summit, Enceladus is waiting for them and summons a group of Earthborn to attack them. Leo tosses his toy into one of the construction vehicles and hops into another one, using the machine to destroy several of the monsters while Jason is fighting the giant. Soon, the vehicle is destroyed, but his windup toy activates the other piece of equipment and it begins destroying more monsters until it too is deactivated. One Earthborn was left, but Leo had no more tricks or weapons. He lit himself on fire (he called this the blaze of glory) and charged, only for a dagger to chop the monster in half thanks to Piper.

Jason (with a lightning bolt from his father for help) defeated Enceladus and saved Piper's dad, flying back to the airport where Piper charmspeaks a pilot. Once they land and everyone is safe, they receive an Iris Message from Thalia that she found Hera at the Wolf House, so they borrow the chopper with Leo as the pilot. He can fly the chopper well enough thanks to his mechanical instincts, but sleet began to hammer the helicopter and they crash into the middle of a battlefield. They all retreat to the Wolf House, but Khione arrives and freezes all the Hunters, allowing the wolves and Earthborn to walk into the front door. She tells them that she was the one whispering into the ears of the gods and watching them for Enceladus. She was also the one that froze Festus' wiring and plans on killing Jason and Piper so that the Roman campers will find their bodies and think that the Greeks have sided with the Giants. She offers Leo a place at her side because he is interesting, but he laughs her off and starts fighting her with his fire. The heat of his attacks begins to melt the ice and snow and many of the monsters run away in fear, including Khione herself as she turns to snow and disappears.

Leo then gets to work freeing Hera with an electric saw which he connected to a Ventus named Tempest which was under Jason's command while Piper tries to charmspeak Gaea back to sleep to make the cage easier to break. While they do this, Jason is fighting off the newly awaken Porphyrion. Once the main support of the cage is broken, Hera broke free causing any monsters left in the house to run away or be dissolved by her true form. Porphyrion managed to get away, not wanting to fight when not at his full strength and Hera returns the demigods to camp. The trip causes Leo to throw up in one of the offering fires to the gods. After telling everyone about their trip, Leo shows Piper, Jason, Chiron, and his cabin members the entrance to Bunker 9 and his fire powers. After searching the bunker, they find weapon ideas and designs, including a large warship that matches the picture of the flying boat that Leo had drawn when he was a child. His cabin members elect him as Cabin Leader and make plans to make the Argo II and fly to Greece. He later attends the War Council as the leader of his cabin and wonders why Jason picked Annabeth to sail with them. Jason then explains that if he is here at Camp Half-Blood, Percy must be at the Roman camp, called Camp Jupiter and that the Roman campers aren't as nice.

The Son of Neptune

While Percy is dreaming, he sees Leo working on the Argo II when one of the engines explodes. He claims that it could take two or three days to fix and that the deadline to have the ship completed was today. When Percy, Frank, and Hazel are watching Polybotes from afar Ma Gasket, the Cyclops from The Lost Hero yells, "The camp, yes. Vengeance! The orange and purple ones destroy my home. Now Ma Gasket will destroy theirs! Do you hear me, Leo? Jason? Piper? I come to annihilate you!"

Later, when visiting Hazel Levesque's house in Alaska, Percy sees a picture of Sammy Valdez and thinks he had seen him somewhere before, but can't remember where. Hazel says he would be much older and Percy must just be imagining things. Percy then remembers his dream figuring out that Leo resembles Sammy almost identically.

Upon returning to Camp Jupiter and the defeat of Polybotes, Leo appears on a video scroll that was sent to Percy through Ella. He told them that he would appreciate it if the Roman demigods didn't shoot them out of the sky when they come to rescue Percy and start their quest. While watching the video, Hazel mistook him for Sammy Valdez and Percy remembers the picture of Sammy when looking at Leo.

The Demigod Diaries

Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford

When Leo accidentally polishes Buford with Windex instead of Lemon Pledge with extra moisturizing formula, Buford runs off with two syncopations essential to building the engine for the Argo II. Leo, in a panic, asks for Jason and Piper's help to retrieve them. He explains the situation of how in about an hour, dangerous chemicals will mix in the engine blowing up the forest portion of Camp Half-Blood without the syncopations. With everyone caught up, the three friends journey into the forest in search of Buford. They then encounter Maenads on their journey and Leo feigns to be the Greek god, Dionysus, to please the Maenads. Suspicious, the Maenads figure out the truth and chase Leo and his friends until Leo comes up with an idea. Leo sends Jason to go find Buford, while he and Piper run towards Bunker 9. Once they reach Bunker 9, Leo distracts the Maenads with a party while he sets up a trap to ensnare them. Leo finally sets off the trap which drops a net (based on the original net which Hephaestus used to catch Ares and Aphrodite together) on the Maenads. Jason just in time arrives with Buford and Leo fixes the syncopator in the engine of the Argo II, thus narrowly preventing a massive explosion at Camp Half-Blood. Later Chiron and Argus arrive and decide to deport the Maenads away.

The Mark of Athena

The House of Hades

The Blood of Olympus

Between the Series

Several days after the deaths of Gaea and Leo, a parchment scroll with a holographic message, sent from the resurrected Leo, came fluttering into Camp Half-Blood on the wind. Leo recorded the message while flying on Festus' back, and in it, he reveals that he has managed to get resurrected and find Calypso, and apologizes for leaving his friends and fellow campers in such a manner. However, the message is not of perfect quality, so the latter portions of it are filled with static. He ends the message by stating that he loves them all, and cheerfully asking for tacos to be cooked for his arrival. The scroll is later kept by Nico di Angelo, who takes to looking at it every time he begins to get angry at Leo.

Leo later mentions that during his long journey back to Camp Half-Blood with Festus and Calypso, he had flown through the Sea of Monsters (encountering Polyphemus along the way), and had an embarrassing experience in Albania (with Nico hastily shutting Leo up before the latter can get into the details).

The Trials of Apollo

The Hidden Oracle

Six months after Gaea's 'death', Leo, Calypso, and Festus finally return to Camp Half-Blood after the camp is almost destroyed by the Colossus Neronis. The campers take numbers from Nico di Angelo, so they could both welcome Leo back and punch him for making them worry so much after Gaea's defeat, as well as a few campers he never met and Chiron (with Nico himself being the last one to do so). After some discussion, Leo and Calypso decide to go on the quest with the former god Apollo. He was given extreme love and anger and was keen on finding Jason and Piper.

The Dark Prophecy

Warning Camp Jupiter

Leo makes it to Camp Jupiter twenty-four hours in advance and warns them about the attack. After the legion takes numbers to punch and hug the son of Hephaestus, they use his semi-advanced warning to prepare for the attack. He and Festus burn the undead forces of Tarquin and help the legion gain a narrow victory.

The Burning Maze

He and Festus arrive at an airfield in Santa Monica but is distraught over Jason’s death, wishing he could have seen Jason one last time. He then discusses what happened during the attack on Camp Jupiter. He says the Twelfth Legion Fulminata managed to ward off the attack, however, there were many casualties (minus Frank, Reyna, and Hazel) and the camp is in ruins. Leo insists on taking Piper McLean to Oklahoma on his way back to Indiana.

The Tyrant's Tomb

Frank Zhang mentions how Leo's warning gave them a slight advantage over the attack, and that, just like Camp Half-Blood, the legion took numbers to stand in line and punch him.

The Tower of Nero

After becoming a god again, Apollo visits the Waystation where Leo has just returned from a day of doing community service teaching homeless kids at a shelter shop skills. Leo compares the kids to himself, stating that they've never had much and he can at least show them that somebody cares. Leo is also pleased that some of them are excellent mechanics. Apollo questions if Leo wouldn't need a shop or tools, but Leo explains that he has Festus who makes a great mobile shop. Also, while most of the kids only see the bronze dragon as a truck due to the Mist, some of them are capable of seeing his true form. Passing by, Jo comments that Leo is doing good and he has a lot of potential.

Apollo asks about Calypso, causing a flurry of emotions to pass over his face, causing Apollo to realize that Leo is more lovesick than ever and that things are still complicated with Calypso. Leo states that Calypso is enjoying going to high school and is currently working as a counselor at a mortal band camp for the summer. Apollo notices that Leo is clearly worried, clearly missing her and possibly having nightmares about all the hot clarinet player counselors that Calypso might be hanging out with. With a forced smile, Leo states that its all good and that they'll make it work, suggesting that a little time apart to think might be good for them. Passing by, Reyna tells Apollo that she'd had to have a heart-to-heart with Leo and teach him about respecting women more. Reyna states that Leo grew up without a mom and as such, never learned these things, but he now has two foster moms and a big sister who isn't afraid to smack him if he gets out of line. Seeing how glum he still is, Reyna reassures Leo that Calypso will come around because Leo is a doofus sometimes, but he has a heart of Imperial gold.

Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes

While narrating the adventures of Theseus in this book, time after Leo's return in The Hidden Oracle. Hence, Leo is therefore most likely attending the monthly Argo II reunion party that Percy is worried about being late to. Percy also said that since in Pallene, the people couldn't stand the name Leo, Leo would probably go over there and introduce himself fifty times a day just to see how people would react.

Appearance

In The Lost Hero, Leo is described by Jason to look like a "Latino Santa's elf," with curly black hair, dark brown eyes, a cheerful, elf-like face, normally with a mischievous and impish smile, and a diminutive stature with a slim and relatively scrawny build. He is said to be very short, implied to be between Piper and Hazel in stature. Leo's most notable trait is that he has a look in his eyes that makes him look not only like a troublemaker, but also like he has taken much more caffeine than the normal limit; this could be linked to his ADHD, although he is described as being seriously ADHD even by demigod standards, according to Annabeth. Although not being considered quite as conventionally handsome as Jason and Percy have been described, Leo has been called 'cute in a scrawny way' by nymphs in the Mark of Athena and the Maenads from Demigod Diaries, indicating that Leo is quite good-looking despite not finding himself attractive. His upbeat attitude and humor also contribute to his charisma.

During The House of Hades, Hazel noted Leo's curly hair had gotten longer and shaggier, and his face got leaner, so he looked less like an imp and more like 'one of those willowy elves in fairy tales". His eyes also constantly drifted, as if he was trying to spot something over the horizon.

In The Trials of Apollo, Leo is described by Apollo to be diminutive and unimposing. In The Dark Prophecy, Leo wears a pair of Georgina's overalls during her absence, so they are probably around the same size.

Personality

“ You’re a doofus sometimes, Valdez, but you’ve got a heart of Imperial gold. ”

–Reyna to Leo in The Tower of Nero

Leo is mischievous, flirty, upbeat, resourceful, eccentric, and impulsive, and loves to tell jokes constantly, even if they aren't particularly funny. He prides himself on being the 'class clown' and pulling pranks on those around him. Leo is genuinely very intelligent and honest and cares about his friends and found family. Being bullied growing up taught him to adapt and entertain even under pressure, as making his enemies or peers laugh prevented them from attacking him. He is also shown to be incredibly brave and selfless, willing to sacrifice himself to save his friends and stop Gaea. He is said to be sensitive about his size and occasionally makes self-deprecating jokes about it. Even with his mischievous personality, Leo is also a leader, as he is the counselor of the Hephaestus cabin and a commander on the Argo II.

Despite his easygoing attitude, Leo is emotionally scarred from the death of his mother as he blamed himself for most of his life for causing her death. He hid a hurt and angry demeanor with humor until realizing that his mother's death was not his fault. Leo's serious side exhibits when he is angered by someone, when those he loves are threatened, or when the situation calls for it. He is also frequently seen building small machines and gadgets, and is very skilled and serious about his work, having built a large portion of the Argo II on his own. He is able to funnel his nervous energy into mechanical solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems. Leo has a tendency to view even the most emotionally-charged situations objectively, which Calypso disapproves of. This causes conflict between the two. He also feels that his whole life has been nonstop danger and running, which is reflected in his abundance of nervous energy and need to always fidget and keep his hands moving.

He is known to fall in love with any beautiful girl as long as she is completely out of his league, such as in the case of Khione and Thalia. For example, when Thalia, Jason, and Leo were in the cave alone, Leo asked Thalia if her no-dating policy was seasonal, but she ignored him. Khione, being a snow goddess, hated Leo, as she could sense the fire within him. She took his compliments (Leo once called her hot) as insults. He regularly describes himself as bad at talking to girls and more nervous when he is around them. Being "bad with organic lifeforms" may come from his father, Hephaestus, who once described himself as such.

Near the end of The Lost Hero, he starts to let go of the pain of his mother's death and learns that his pyrokinesis is a gift and tool, not a curse. He also decides to stop running from his past and he starts opening up to his friends more. As of The House of Hades, after visiting Calypso for the first time, Leo became more steady and yet heartbroken, but he still made jokes, albeit less frequently. Facing heartbreak from this experience seemed to age him somewhat, often seeming sad and far off, thinking of Calypso and his promise to her. Leo's maturation after meeting Calypso is quite typical of someone who experiences heartbreak after a lifetime of feeling like an outcast.

Fatal Flaw

While Leo's fatal flaw has not been revealed, he shows feelings of inferiority - being unwanted or not trusted, the one no one wanted. He also can say the wrong things at the wrong time, as shown in The Dark Prophecy when he is held captured by one of Commodus' men, a Germanus named Albatrix.

Relationships

Love Interests

Friends

Family

Etymology

Leonidas is derived from the name Leon, similar in meaning to his nickname Leo. The suffix, "-idas", was likely intended to make this a Greek patronymic name. If so, Leonidas means "son of Leon".

Leo is a given name of Latin origin meaning "lion".

Valdez is a Spanish surname derived from Valdés, a municipality in Spain's Asturias province in the northern part of the country.

Trivia

He is currently the only known living son of Hephaestus who has been given the gift of Pyrokinesis. The previous one is Thomas Faynor known for having caused the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Because of his pointy ears and his friend Jason Grace calling his dad Vulcan instead of Hephaestus, Leo claims that he doesn't even like Star Trek, a reference to Spock, one of the main characters of Star Trek who is a Vulcan.

Leo's favorite color is red, as revealed during his time on Ogygia.

When Jason learns that Leo is a fire-user, he theorizes that Leo could fly just like he can by yelling "Flame on!", a reference to Human Torch of the Fantastic Four in Marvel Comics.

He is the only one of the seven to not have lived in California at any point in life.

The name Leo is one of the three zodiac signs which has fire as its element.

In Latin, Leo means "Lion".

In Teutonic, Leo means "Bold to his people".

Leo, Nico di Angelo, Frank Zhang, Nyssa Barrera, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, Chiara Benvenuti, Paolo Montes, and Hazel Levesque, are the only known demigods that can speak two or more languages (that has nothing to do with them being a half-blood), as he, Nyssa, Reyna, and Hylla can speak Spanish, Nico and Chiara can speak Italian, Paolo can speak Brazilian Portuguese, Hazel can speak Louisianan French, and Frank can speak Canadian French, along with "a little" Chinese.

Leo looks almost exactly like Sammy Valdez, Hazel's old boyfriend from the 1940s.

This is because Sammy is his great-grandfather, as stated in The Mark of Athena. Sammy jokes that Leo could be his stunt double.

While Leo is a son of Hephaestus, he shares many traits with the children of Hermes, including elvish ears, a mischievous smile, and a love for practical jokes.

It is said by Annabeth that even by demigod standards, Leo is seriously ADHD.

Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford is in his point of view.

Leo's is the only known case of a demigod who met and befriended another demigod before either knew they were demigods.

Leo once reprogrammed all the electronic billboards in Times Square to read "ALL DA LADIES LUV LEO!" (accidentally, of course)

It is stated in The Mark of Athena that Leo gets carsick.

Leo has a cousin named Raphael and an aunt named Rosa, both of whom Leo doesn't like very much.

In The Mark of Athena, Leo says "One basketball to rule them all". This is a pun on Lord Of The Rings, "One ring to rule them all".

The Lord Of The Rings was Rick Riordan's favorite book series when he was younger.

Leo's least favorite line in the prophecy is "To storm or fire the world must fall".

He and Hazel Levesque are the two people out of the Seven that have died and been resurrected.

Although Jason might also qualify as resurrected, as Jason's soul was charmspoken to return to his body by Piper McLean in The Lost Hero, though that was due to Death being chained up at the time, as revealed in The Son of Neptune.

Leo is the second known child of Hephaestus to die in an explosion. The first one was Charles Beckendorf.

Leo is the only male demigod of the Prophecy of Seven who wasn't praetor of the Twelfth Legion.

Leo is the only known demigod that had run away six times from foster homes.

Leo is the only person to find Ogygia twice.

Leo is the only character who appears in both the very first and the very last scenes of The Heroes of Olympus series.

In The Blood of Olympus, it is inferred that Leo had an abusive foster mother, Teresa.

It is surmised that Leo's full name is Leonidas, as Calypso once called him by it.

Leo, along with Percy, Meg, Nico, and Will, are the only known demigods to be mostly called by their shortened first names. Even more than Leo's real first name is not revealed until the sequel series to the series he was introduced in.

In The Lost Hero, Leo's motto is revealed to be "keep moving to escape the pain."

Leo is also a constellation in the sky.

In The Dark Prophecy and The Demigod Diaries, it is stated that he does not like being called short.

In The Demigod Diaries, he bites back "some choice words" when he meets the maenads, who comment on his height.

Out of the seven, Leo had the most lines in the prophecy that was about him, or partially about him.

Leo and Annabeth are the only two of the seven who have run away from home, though Jason was taken from his mother and sister when he was younger.

Leo is the first known demigod of Mexican descent, the second being Alex Fierro.

The recurring idea of being the seventh wheel associated with Leo may have something to do with his eventual sacrifice, as seven means 'ghost' in Chinese as stated by Frank's grandmother.

Leo is the only person to physically appear in all 5 books of The Heroes of Olympus as he was in a video in The Son of Neptune.

As revealed in The Demigod Diaries, when Leo is stressed, he sometimes slips into Spanish.

This is similar to Nico, as in The Tower of Nero, Will states that Nico slips into Italian when he's really upset.

He is the third character shown to wield fire in the books, preceded by Hephaestus and Hestia.

In The Demigod Diaries, Leo sings the theme to the tv series Psych while trying to fool Dionysus' followers. Coincidentally, Timothy Omundson, one of the main cast members of the TV series, would later come to play his father Hephaestus in the live-action tv series adaptation.

Gallery

The Heroes of Olympus Core Series: The Lost Hero | The Son of Neptune | The Mark of Athena | The House of Hades | The Blood of Olympus Main Characters: Jason Grace | Piper McLean | Leo Valdez | Percy Jackson | Frank Zhang | Hazel Levesque | Annabeth Chase | Iapetus/Bob | Reyna Ramírez-Arellano | Nico di Angelo | Gleeson Hedge Secondary Characters: Hylla Ramírez-Arellano | Dakota | Tyson | Ella | Octavian | Halcyon Green | Dr. Howard Claymore | Alabaster C. Torrington | Lamia Minor Characters: Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Grover Underwood | Thalia Grace | Clarisse La Rue | Fleecy | Mrs. O'Leary | Kinzie | Arion | Calypso | Lou Ellen Blackstone | Chiron | Will Solace | Tristan McLean | Don | Julia | Jacob | Michael Varus | Burly Black | Medea | Midas | Lityerses | Phineas | Otrera | Echo | Narcissus | Sciron | Pasiphaë | Lycaon Olympian Gods: Zeus | Hera | Poseidon | Hades | Ares | Demeter | Athena | Apollo | Artemis | Hephaestus | Aphrodite | Hermes | Dionysus Minor Gods: Achelous | Aeolus | Asclepius | Boreas | Eurus | Hecate | Iris | Hypnos | Keto | Khione | Kymopoleia | Mithras | Nemesis | Nike | Notus | Phorcys | Serapis | Thanatos | Triptolemus | Zephyros Roman Gods: Jupiter | Juno | Neptune | Pluto | Mars | Minerva | Ceres | Lupa | Bellona | Fortuna | Janus | Terminus | Vulcan | Mercury | Apollo (Roman) | Diana | Venus | Bacchus | Pomona | Aquilon | Hercules | Cupid | Auster | Favonius | Letus | Victoria Giants: Enceladus | Porphyrion | Alcyoneus | Polybotes | Ephialtes | Otis | Damasen | Clytius | Mimas | Orion | Hippolytos | Thoon | Periboia Undead: Gray | Zombie Primordial Gods: Gaea | Tartarus | Ourae | Nyx | Chaos | Ouranos | Akhlys | Hemera | Elpis | Spes Monsters and Magical Creatures: Cynocephali | Gorgon | Gryphon | Harpy | Basilisk | Lycanthrope | Gegeines | Cyclops | Katobleps | Unicorn | Giant Eagle | Ichthyocentaur | Satyr/Faun | Storm Spirit | Laistrygonian Giant | Lares | Mania Related Content: Rick Riordan | Haley Riordan | Percy Jackson and the Olympians | Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide | The Demigod Files | The Demigod Diaries | The Son of Sobek | The Singer of Apollo | The Staff of Serapis | Percy Jackson's Greek Gods | Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes | The Crown of Ptolemy | Demigods & Magicians | Demigods of Olympus | Percy Jackson Demigod Collection