Percy Jackson is lucky to have a friend in Leo Valdez, a character who is indirectly referenced in The Last Olympian in a new prophecy. He makes his first appearance in The Lost Hero. The son of a mortal mechanic, Esperanza Valdez and the god Hephaestus, Leo is a jokester who loves to tinker.
To make Leo’s family tree more out there, his paternal grandmother is the goddess Hera. She is responsible for Jason Grace and Percy Jackson losing their memories. Leo gets offended after Hephaestus claims him when Jason calls him “son of Vulcan,” proclaiming he doesn’t even like Star Trek. What he doesn’t realise at that time is that Vulcan is the Roman counterpart of Hephaestus.
Raised primarily in foster care, Leo didn’t allow his mother’s death, triggered by Gaea, to get him down. He has a magic toolbelt and the rare ability of pyrokinesis. This is a power a demigod child of Hephaestus has had in over a century. His aunt, Rosa Valdez, hates him, blaming him for the death of his mother. She then proceeded to turn the entire Valdez family against him. Also, when Leo met Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, he mistook her for his aunt, likely because she is the one person he wants revenge on.
Leo can also fix anything, and he has had four love interests: his girlfriend, Calypso; Jason Grace’s sister, Thalia Grace; and the snow goddess, Khione and Echo. Leo also has really bad timing as he walks in on Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase after they fell asleep talking in the stables on the Argo II.
Leo’s first name is Leonidas, the same name as the Greek war leader. Regarding other abilities, he is a great cook and immune to fire, so he survived the fire that killed his mother. He also bonds with his foster mother, Jo, over his love of tinkering. He even comes to call her “mom.”
Finally, upon Jason’s death at the hands of Caligula, Leo is distraught.
