Tartarus Quotes

GETTING KILLED BY TARTARUS didn't seem like much of an honor.
As Annabeth stared up at his dark whirlpool face, she decided she'd rather die in some less memorable way - maybe falling down the stairs, or going peacefully in her sleep at age eighty, after a nice quiet life with Percy. Yes, that sounded good. ~ Rick Riordan

Now ... well, after what happened in Tartarus, it seemed like Percy had graduated to a totally different level of butt-kickery. ~ Rick Riordan

Life has moments that feel as if the sun has blackened to tar and the entire world turned to ice. It feels as if Hades and his vile demons have risen from the depths of Tartarus solely for the purpose of banding to personally torture you, and that their genuine intent of mental, emotional, and spiritual anguish is tearing you to shreds. Your heart weighs as heavily as leaden legs which you would drag yourself forward with if not for the quicksand that pulls you down inch by inch, paralyzing your will and threatening oblivion. And all the while fire and brimstone pour from the sky, pelting only you.
Truly, that is what it feels like. But that feeling is a trial that won't last forever. Never give up. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

Percy grunted. Believe me, some days I regret the choice. Oh, you want to turn down our offer? Okay, fine! ZAP! Lose your memory! Go to Tartarus! ~ Rick Riordan

Surfing? he asked. She laughed, and the sound sent a shock wave through the water. The wailing faded to background noise. Annabeth wondered if anyone had ever laughed in Tartarus before - just a pure, simple laugh of pleasure. She doubted it. ~ Rick Riordan

I wanted a guy like Orpheus. Orpheus has gone through Tartarus to rescue his wife - that was love. Hades probably didn't even know the meaning of the word love. ~ Kaitlin Bevis

Mammon finally sees me as I step out from behind his floating map of the universe. The room is empty except for us. Mammon's dead officers have all winked out of existence and are on their way to Tartarus, the Hell below Hell. I ~ Richard Kadrey

Percy looked at Coach Hedge and Frank. "A trap?"
"Probably," Frank said.
"She's not mortal," Hedge said, sniffing the air. "Probably some kind of goat-eating, demigod-destroying fiend from Tartarus."
"No doubt," Percy agreed.
"Awesome." Hedge grinned. "Let's go. ~ Rick Riordan

Surely, somewhere in the back of Bulfinch, in a part Lillian had not gotten to, there is an obscure (abstruse, arcane, shadowy, and even hidden) version of Proserpine in he Underworld in which a tired Jewish Ceres schleps through the outskirts of Tartarus, an ugly village of tired whores who must double as laundresses and barbers, a couple of saloons, a nearly empty five-and-dime, and people too poor to pull up stakes. In this version, Ceres looks all over town for her Proserpine, who crossed the River Cyane in a pretty sailboat with Pluto, having had the good sense to come to an understanding with the king early on. Pluto and Proserpine picnic in a charming park, twinkling lights overhead and handsome wide benches like the ones in Central Park. When Ceres comes, tripping a little on her hem as she walks through the soft grass, muttering and trying to yank Proserpine to her feet so they can start the long trip home to Enna and daylight (which has lost much of its luster, now that Proserpine is queen of all she surveys), the girl does not jump up at the sight of her mother, but takes her time handing out the sandwiches and pours cups of sweetened tea for the three of them. She lays a nicely ironed napkin in her lap and another in the lap of her new husband, the king. Proserpine does not eat the pomegranate seeds by mistake, or in a moment of desperate hunger, or fright, or misunderstanding. She takes the pomegranate slice out of her husband's dark and glittering hand and pulls ~ Amy Bloom

So what if they were in Tartarus? So what if they stood a slim chance of surviving? He was so glad that they were together, he had the ridiculous urge to smile. ~ Rick Riordan

AFTER THEIR FALL INTO TARTARUS, jumping three hundred feet to the Mansion of Night should have felt quick. Instead, Annabeth's heart seemed to slow down. Between the beats she had ample time to write her own obituary. Annabeth Chase, died age 17. BA-BOOM. (Assuming her birthday, July 12, had passed while she was in Tartarus; but honestly, she had no idea.) BA-BOOM. Died of massive injuries while leaping like an idiot into the abyss of Chaos and splattering on the entry hall floor of Nyx's mansion. BA-BOOM. Survived by her father, stepmother, and two stepbrothers who barely knew her. BA-BOOM. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Camp Half-Blood, assuming Gaea hasn't already destroyed it. Her feet hit solid floor. Pain shot up her legs, but she stumbled forward and broke into a run, hauling Percy after her. ~ Rick Riordan

If Bartleby is a new Messiah, he comes not, like Jesus, to redeem what was, but to save what was not. The Tartarus into which Bartleby, the new savior, descends is the deepest level of the Palace of Destinies, that whose sight Leibniz cannot tolerate, the world in which nothing is compossible with anything else, where "nothing exists rather than something. ~ Giorgio Agamben

Nico: I love you.

Percy: What?

Nico: Did you say something Jason?

Jason: What?

Nico: You just said you love Percy?

Jason: Wait, what? No, I didn't, wait,

Percy: Dude. What the Tartarus?

Jason: No, Nico's the one who loves you.

Nico: *Pushes Jason off the Argo ll*

Percy: Did he just-

Nico: No proof.

Percy: But he just-

Nico: No witnesses.

Percy: But he just said-

Jason: *Flying* Did you just push me off the ship??? ~ Google

Yeah, well," Nico said, "not giving people a second thought ... that can be dangerous." "Dude, I'm trying to say thank you." Nico laughed without humor. "I'm trying to say you don't need to. Now I need to finish this, if you could give me some space?" "Yeah. Yeah, okay." Percy stepped back while Nico took up the slack on his ropes. He slipped them over his shoulders as if the Athena Parthenos were a giant backpack. Percy couldn't help feeling a little hurt, being told to take a hike. Then again, Nico had been through a lot. The guy had survived in Tartarus on his own. Percy understood firsthand just how much strength that must have taken. Annabeth walked up the hill to join them. She took Percy's hand, which made him feel better. "Good luck," she told Nico. ~ Rick Riordan

You guys are so ... dark. Even if I used flash, I'm not sure it would come out."
"Y-yeah," Percy managed. "You guys aren't photogenic. ~ Rick Riordan

The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA - RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS - IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS - EXT. 954 ~ Rick Riordan

The Greeks were more preoccupied with, where these ousted gods resided. That is: The fallen son's of God could go where humans were, but humans could not go where they were. According to Greek mythology, Tartarus was an imposed condition for bad gods
not bad humans. (page 10) ~ Michael Ben Zehabe

Dude." Jason gave Percy a bear hug.
"Back from Tartarus!" Leo whooped. "That's my peeps! ~ Rick Riordan

Yeah, you bet Romani.' Percy bared his forearm and showed them the brand he'd got at Camp Jupiter- the SPQR mark, with the trident of Neptune. 'You mix Greek and Roman, and you know what you get? You get BAM!'
He stomped his foot, and the empousai scrambled back. One fell off the boulder where she'd been perched. ~ Rick Riordan

Under the volcano! It was not for nothing the ancients had placed Tartarus under Mt. Aetna, nor within it, the monster Typhoeus, with his hundred heads and - relatively - fearful eyes and voices. ~ Malcolm Lowry

Nico had proven himself in other ways. He'd kept the camps' secrets for the best of reasons, because he feared a war. He had plunged into Tartarus alone, voluntarily, to find the Doors of Death. He'd been captured and imprisoned by giants. He had led the crew of the Argo II into the House of Hades ... and now he had accepted yet another terrible quest: raking himself to haul the Athene Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood. ~ Rick Riordan

Apollo stepped toward Athena. "Let's break down this idea step-by-step. How would we be able to use Perses? The last time I checked, he was in Tartarus."
"He is still there." Athena tipped her chin up. "And as you know, he is not dead. He is only entombed."
"And how do you think we're going to release him?" Apollo demanded, brows slashed. "Zeus would never agree to this."
"I am Zeus' favorite child." Her smile beamed. Apollo's blue eyes rolled. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

Percy had taken his girlfriend on some romantic walks before. This wasn't one of them. ~ Rick Riordan

The Death Mist is not for helping!" Akhlys shrieked. "It shrouds mortals in misery as their souls pass into the Underworld. It is the very breath of Tartarus, of death, of despair!"
"Awesome," Percy said. "Could we get two orders of that to go? ~ Rick Riordan

How many other old enemies were in this crowd? Percy began to realize that every battle he'd ever won had only been a temporary victory. No matter how strong or lucky he was, no matter how many monsters he destroyed, Percy would eventually fail. He was only one mortal. He would get too old, too weak, or too slow. He would die. And these monsters ... they lasted forever. They just kept coming back. Maybe it would take them months or years to re-form, maybe even centuries. But they would be reborn.
Seeing them assembled in Tartarus, Percy felt as hopeless as the spirits in the River Cocytus. So what if he was a hero? So what if he did something brave? Evil was always here, regenerating, bubbling under the surface. Percy was no more than a minor annoyance to these immortal beings. They just had to outwait him. Someday, Percy's sons or daughters might have to face them all over again. ~ Rick Riordan

Welcome to Tartarus, the griffin said. The first time I'd arrived in Tartarus, I'd expected them to have screechy, high-pitched bird voices, and when they spoke in their own language to one another, it did sound like birds chirping, with the occasional low growl. But when speaking in a human tongue, they copied the accent of the language and spoke in a much lower humanlike tone, which gave the slightly weird side effect of them all having British accents when they spoke English. ~ Steve McHugh

Then there was Nico di Angelo. Dang, that kid gave Leo the freaky-deakies. He sat back in his leather aviator jacket, his black T-shirt and jeans, that wicked silver skull ring on his finger, and the Stygian sword at his side. His tufts of black hair struck up in curls like baby bat wings. His eyes were sad and kind of empty, as if he'd stared into the depths of Tartarus - which he had. ~ Rick Riordan

Why do you not disintegrate? Tartarus mused. You are nothing. You are even weaker than Krios and Hyperion. "I am Bob," said Bob. Tartarus hissed. What is that? What is Bob? "I choose to be more than Iapetus," said the Titan. "You do not control me. I am not like my brothers. ~ Rick Riordan

He could get back to the world," Thalia supplied, "and bring the sword to Kronos." "Who would use it to raise his brothers from Tartarus," I guessed. "And we'd be in big trouble. ~ Rick Riordan

Could you please stop with the beating? (Kat)
He's being punished. Hello? This is Tartarus, remember the purpose of this part of the Underworld? We're not really warm and fluffy over here. (Hades) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Poor Nico di Angelo. The god's voice was tinged with disappointment. Do you know what you want, much less what I want? My beloved Psyche risked everything in the name of Love. It was the only way for her to atone for her lack of faith. And you- what have you risked in my name?
"I've been to Tartarus and back," Nico snarled. "You don't scare me."
I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest. ~ Rick Riordan

Io Omega, this is the Fawkes Faux Fox. We're leaving on a harvesting run. Not going far and won't be but a few minutes. Open Tartarus Gate, would you? ~ Richard Roberts

While I respect suicidal tendencies on most days, you'd do well to remember who you're addressing and, more to the point, what I can do to you. No one says you have to go back to Tartarus in one piece. (Acheron) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Hades has a nice corner of Tartarus waiting for you. (Dionysus)
Like that scares me. What's he going to do? Tear the flesh off my body? Break my bones? Better yet, why not hold me down and stomp on me until I bleed or make me shovel shit? Oh wait, been there, done that, and got the videotape. (Zarek) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Keep climbing,' he told himself.
'Cheeseburgers,' his stomach replied.
'Shut up,' he thought.
'With fries,' his stomach complained. ~ Rick Riordan