THEME
Rick Rioardan claims that he never puts in themes on purpose but however he does put in Greek and Roman mythological stories containing basic themes. But in the Mark of Athena there seems to be a tremendous amount of themes. Certain themes run throughout the series, such as friendship, loyalty, and trust, and that people with diverse backgrounds need to learn to work together to defeat a common evil. But i believe that The Mark of Athena concentrates mainly on one theme: Believing in yourself so you can face your greatest fears and rise to meet extreme challenges. This book keeps revolving around this theme because every character is eventually left to make a choice that affects something in the book. One example is the incident where Annabeth is left alone to follow the Mark of Athena and avenge Arachne for Athena and return the Athena Parthenos . And face her greatest fear: spiders. But praying to Athena for help she trusted in herself and outsmarted Arachne, a giant half human and half spider creature.