** most of this info comes from the Heroes of Olympus (HoO) spot articles. Here are my sources:
-www.heroesofolympus.com
-Book information (article da me that I revisited in the HoO spot)
-Magically delicious clues (article da Amphitrite -I call her Amph- in the HoO spot)
-Character information (by Amph, HoO spot)
-More character information (by Amph HoO spot)
-My head
1. Leo is a son of Hephaestus
2. Leo's mom tragically and mysteriously died when he was quite young, he lived in various Foster homes since
3. He lived in Houston, Texas, with his mom, and probably after her death
4. Leo's a funny guy, which kept him out of trouble living in the rough neighbourhoods
5. He has a cuore of gold
6. Leo has a secret abbility no demigod has had in hundreds of years, and it might get him in a lot of trouble
7. His magic item of choice is a toolbelt, from which he can make non-magical small, everyday onjects appear. How cool is that?
8. He grew up playing with tools and machines, he started at a young age!
9. He tried to run away from Wilderness a couple of times
10. He is Jason's BFF!!!
11. He likes hot chocolate
12. He is 15 o 16, older then an unclaimed demigod is supposed to be
Now for my theories...
2. I think his mother is a daughter of Hermes. If you've been to the HoO spot (Heroes of Olympus) before the pictures came out, some people were just SO sure Leo was a child of Hermes because of his elfish features. Of course when the picture of him wearing a toolbelt came out, everyone forgot Hermes, but what if he looks a lot like his mother, who would have elfish features herself if she was a daughter of Hermes? o it could just be a mortal-thing of course, but "mysterious" and "tragic" are two ways to describe demigod deaths if te aren't part of their world.
4. Hephaestus pulled a lot of pranks on Olympus. Most of them were to embarass Ares and Aphrodite, but they still count. The trap-them-in-a-golden-net-when-they-kiss, the spiders at Waterland, that time he rigegd Hera's trono to never let her go after she sat on it.
Then we have Leo actually admiting he says a lot of jokes, Leo rigging Hedge's bullhorn and knowing that Leo's funny from info.
Pranks=Funny=Leo!
6. Here's the interestign part. What the Hades is the abbility?
Well, I'm glad te asked...
a) For this I'll have to talk to te about the information about the dragon on the book's cover, Festus (taken from the Heroes of Olympus official site).
Festus:
Just your average, run-of-the-mill bronze mechanical dragon. Meet Festus, friend and chauffeur to the three young demigods.
What does it do?
Aside from fly, breathe fire, and hiss steam? He has built in sede, sedile warmers!
Noteworthy:
Festus' amazing fuoco power can be deadly to anyone but Leo, who is immune to the dragon's flames.
So maybe the special abbility has to do with Festus. Maybe he's one of those beasts that runs around in the forest and wakes up every 10 years o so, and can be controlled da a demigod. Maybe Leo is that demigod.
And here's the part that can get him in trouble: Jason says in the Sample chapters that Leo doesn't stay on one subject for long. Perhaps it requires 24/7 concentration no matter what to keep Festus in line, and maybe constant concentration is something Leo has trouble with.
b) Am I the only one who thinks the toolbelt is beyond awesome? Exactly, and it's probably made da Hephaestus himself, so why would Leo get it? He's awesome, but with all the older campers, there's probably another blacksmith that would be the item's first-choice owner.
Here's my idea: the toolbelt needs someone special to operate it so it can work. So it sits in the Hephaestus cabina waiting for that special someone. Whoever can control it gets it, and then when they die, it goes back to collecting dust in Hephaestus' cabina (no, they probably dust it regularly, o maybe it's magic-ness repels dust)
Maybe there is a curse on the toolbelt. Maybe whoever gets the toolbelt HAS to wear it o becomes dependant of it for some reason, but it's cursed, so that can in no way be good.
c) This one is out of the blue, and quite unlikely, but what if Leo's a prophecist? He speaks the future? In Greek mythology the 2 oracles that stand out the most are Delphi (been there, done that) and Dodoma. What if Delphi is uncapacitated for some reason, and the oracle of Dodoma needs to come in and but in? Maybe that oracle holds the secret to finding Percy! Maybe it speaks clearer so instead of saying "you shall go west and find the saviour of paradise" it says "go west, Percy's there"? Either way, Leo, for some reason, can host the oracle and voilà! But maybe he realises that if the oracle come sin it'll crush his soul and that will be his sacrifice D: (in both book sypnosises they mention that everyone is panicking because of a curse, so this one:
"AS OLD ENEMIES AWAKEN, CAMP HALF-BLOOD’S NEW ARRIVALS MUST PREPARE FOR WAR . . .
When Jason, Piper and Leo crash land at Camp Half-Blood, they have no idea what to expect. Apparently this is the only sicuro, cassetta di sicurezza place for children of the Greek Gods – despite the monsters roaming the woods and demigods practicing archery with flaming arrows and explosives.
But rumours of a terrible curse – and a missing hero – are flying around camp.
It seems Jason, Piper and Leo are the chosen ones to embark on a terrifying new quest, which they must complete da the Winter Solstice. In just four days time.
(this one had one about Piper and Jason too but this is the main part for this article)
Leo has a way with tools. His new cabina at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.
8. I'm not sure, but maybe Leo's mom was in the construction business? Maybe she was an artist o soemthing, that makes her own shtuff (yes I did write shtuff, get used to it), so [i]commerce[i] (part of Hermes' domain) and her son was a child of Hephaestus, so he got to play with her tools and all. (I'm sorry, I'm in a Halloween mood, but do te realise how awesome the pumpkins would've been at that house with all the tools and precision the two of 'em would have?)
And if she was a mortal, I think she was in the construction business. Seems logical for a builder and construction god to fall in Amore doesn't it?
9. This isn't such a great theory, but Leo tried to run away from Wilderness a couple of times, right? (right) But in one character description, it is detto that he dislikes foster homes A LOT. So either he was okay with living on the streets o he had somewhere to run away to. Maybe his mother told him if he was ever lookign for a home, he should go to New York? Maybe he believes his mom is still alive? (if she is, there's a 50/50 chance she's evil, it always happens :P)
10. This fact can be argued upon, seeing as if te believe Hedge and Jason, they never MET Leo, but Piper and him are just confused.
11. Guess what his nectar tastes like?
12. How does the claiming thing work? Does the demigod him/herself have to know o just camp? I think just camp. Why increase the scent if a demigod hasn't been located yet?
This also opens the possibility that the gods are slacking off. Did they kidnap Percy to avoid punishment? (I'm not saying Leo's old, old, old man is the baddie, I'm just saying maybe he ain't alone)
Ah, Leo. Whatever's the curse, wherever te got that toolbelt from, you're still a special boy.
