Read Online Demigods and Monsters by Rick Riordan - Free Book Online

very accurate description of some of Dionysus’ favorite methods for punishing those who’ve angered him. These include trapping the poor mortals with suddenly sprouting grape and ivy vines, turning them into animals, and driving them completely mad. The Greek stories of Dionysus often depict a frighteningly cruel, vengeful god, yet the images of him almost always show either a beautiful youth surrounded by grapevines or a handsome man with curling, black hair and a luxurious beard. In fact, this image is so consistent that Dionysus is remarkably easy to identify on the vases and urns that have survived from Ancient Greece. The classic Dionysus looks nothing like Riordan’s pudgy, bleary Mr. D. I think there may be a couple of reasons that Riordan’s version of Dionysus is so unattractive. The first goes back to the myths. Like his father Zeus, Dionysus was a master of disguise and often appeared to mortals in other forms. He was known to show up as a ram, a lion, or even a young girl; he was easy to underestimate. I also suspect his incarnation as Mr. D is a warning of sorts on Riordan’s part; no one meeting that unappealing little man could possibly imagine that drinking is a good idea.
    You might think that the god of joy and revels would at least guarantee a good time at camp. But no. Beyond his slovenly appearance, Mr. D’s also got an attitude problem. He’s snarky and sullen and contemptuous of both humans and half-bloods. Though he
obviously knows the campers’ true names, he makes a point of pretending he can’t remember them. One of the running jokes of the series is Mr. D referring to Percy as Peter Johnson. Chiron explains that Mr. D is unhappy because he “hates his job.” Zeus, it turns out, is the one who ordered Dionysus to run Camp Half-Blood, as a punishment for chasing an off-limits nymph. Not only is Dionysus essentially grounded on Earth for a hundred years, but he’s forbidden to drink his beloved wine. His mission is to keep the young heroes safe. And he’s not happy about any of it.
    On the surface, choosing Mr. D to run the camp is so ridiculous, it’s comic. It may even be Riordan’s sly acknowledgment of the fact that sometimes the adults who are put in charge of kids are the most inappropriate for the job. Nearly everyone has had teachers who range from inept to damaging to occasionally downright scary. Mr. D seems to be all of those rolled into one.
    Percy takes an instant dislike to the whiny camp director, and you can hardly blame him. Even though Mr. D is supposed to be keeping the half-gods safe, he doesn’t seem to care about any of them and he certainly doesn’t bother to help or train them. All of that boring detail he leaves to the centaur Chiron. In the third book, The Titan’s Curse , Mr. D even confesses that he doesn’t like heroes. He married Ariadne after the hero Theseus abandoned her, and he’s held a grudge against heroes ever since. He considers heroes selfish ingrates who use and betray others. To Percy (and yours truly), Mr. D’s description of the heroes sounds more like a description of most of the gods. What Riordan doesn’t tell us, though, is that Dionysus also had a bit of history with the original Perseus, the hero who defeated the Gorgons and Medusa. According to Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths , Perseus fought Dionysus when the wine god came to Argos, killing many of his followers. Dionysus retaliated by driving the women of Argos mad, to the point that they began to eat their own children. Perseus finally had the good sense to appease the god
by building him a great temple. So in addition to not liking heroes, Dionysus might simply dislike Percy because of his name.
    Moody and difficult as he is, Mr. D is the first god whom Percy confronts directly, and I can’t help thinking that’s significant. Mr. D defies expectations. He’s not beautiful or even likeable.