The Burning Maze

Like all the demigods in Riordan’s universe, Meg possesses a magical object that transforms into a weapon and that always returns to her. For example, Percy has a pen that turns into a sword, and in The Lost Hero, Jason had a coin that can turn into either a double-edged sword or a lance. Meg’s magical item consists of two rings that can transform into scimitars—symbols of Meg’s divine mother, the harvest goddess Demeter.

Just after Meg uses her scimitars to destroy a pandos, Apollo wryly notes that “children of Demeter are all about planting flowers. […] Feeding the world and nurturing life,” and “[t]hey also excel at planting scimitars in the chests of their enemies” (251). Meg’s rings therefore symbolize the double-edged power of Demeter’s gifts. As a goddess of grain and agriculture, she nurtures humanity, but these same gifts have a sinister double meaning, for just as Demeter can give life, she can also destroy it. Demeter has the power to make plants grow, but if she were ever to lose herself in grief and rage—as when Hades abducts her daughter, Persephone—then nothing grows, and humanity perishes.