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Procrustes/Crusty
Cerberus is the three-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld. Percy recognizes Cerberus as a Rottweiler, but he’s significantly larger than a normal dog—he’s big enough to sit on spirits crossing into the Underworld and crush them. Though Cerberus looks terrifying and aggressive, Annabeth’s attempts to play with him reveal that Cerberus is lonely and enjoys playing fetch with red rubber balls.
Cerberus Quotes in The Lightning Thief
The The Lightning Thief quotes below are all either spoken by Cerberus or refer to Cerberus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18 Quotes
I thought maybe Annabeth and I both had the right idea. Even here in the Underworld, everybody—even monsters—needed a little attention once in a while.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Cerberus Character Timeline in The Lightning Thief
The timeline below shows where the character Cerberus appears in The Lightning Thief. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 18
...follow the spirits to the entrance, which looks like busy airport security. Percy can hear Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gate, howling—but Percy can’t see him. The dead line...
(full context)
Percy catches sight of Cerberus. The dog is mostly invisible, twice the size of an elephant, and has three heads....
(full context)
