This is an in-series timeline of Rick Riordan's books in the in-universe chronological order in which they are set. Some books and short stories are set around or at roughly the same time.
- Note: This is a timeline for the stories written by Rick Riordan himself, and thus do not include books and short stories under Rick Riordan Presents, as they are set in a different universe from his works. If something not by him is said to be canon by Rick, such as Son of Magic, it can be added.
- Main series titles are in bold while companion stories are in italic.
Timeline
- My Life as a Child Outlaw
- The Demigod Diaries: Diary of Luke Castellan
- The Lightning Thief
- The Wild Zone
- The Sea of Monsters
- The Titan's Curse
- The Demigod Files: Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot
- The Battle of the Labyrinth
- The Demigod Files: Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades
- The Demigod Files: Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon
- The Last Olympian
- Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo
- The Demigod Diaries: The Staff of Hermes
- Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
- The Lost Hero
- The Demigod Diaries: Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford
- The Demigod Diaries: Son of Magic
- The Red Pyramid
- The Throne of Fire
- The Son of Neptune
- The Mark of Athena
- The House of Hades
- The Blood of Olympus
- The Serpent's Shadow
- Demigods & Magicians: The Son of Sobek
- Demigods & Magicians: The Staff of Serapis
- Demigods & Magicians: The Crown of Ptolemy
- The Chalice of the Gods
- Wrath of the Triple Goddess
- Wrath of the Triple Goddess Sequel
- Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes
- The Sword of Summer/The Hidden Oracle
- Camp Half-Blood Confidential
- Brooklyn House Magician's Manual
- Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio's Journal
- Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds
- The Dark Prophecy/The Hammer of Thor
- The Burning Maze
- The Tyrant's Tomb
- The Ship of the Dead/The Tower of Nero
- The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure
- The Court of the Dead: A Nico di Angelo Adventure
- 9 from the Nine Worlds
- Un Natale Mezzosangue
Floating v.s. Fixed Timeline Controversy
There has been persistent controversy regarding the dates of the timeline in-universe. Rick Riordan has explicitly declared that his timeline is a floating timeline with some vague sense of "now" and that all books should be perceived as such. However, this de jure timeline conflicts with many plot points and character backstories that suggest a more grounded date to the series, as well as many references to pop culture in the stories. The Important Dates page uses the a de facto timeline for the books spanning 2006-2011. This is due to the following pieces of evidence in the original Pentology:
- Chiron says that the Pact of the Big Three is approximately 60 years before and after World War II.
- The last President Bianca can name before the current one is Franklin D. Roosevelt. This is declared by Zoe to be approximately 70 years ago. Since his presidency was from 1933-1945, this gives a range of 2003-2015 for the stories taken strictly and 1998-2019 if extended to numbers that round up or down to 70.
- This further implies that Bianca doesn't know who Harry S. Truman is, meaning her knowledge of the world ends in 1945.
- The Titan's Curse notes that December 21st is a Friday. Due to the fixed nature of the Gregorian Calendar, only certain years can fit this description at around 70 years after FDR's presidency: 2001, 2007, 2012, and 2018.
- There is a shirt for Artemis's 2002 Hunting Tour of various national parks, putting 2001 solidly in the past.
- The Last Olympian explicitly says Nico and Bianca were born before World War II and that Maria di Angelo's father was a diplomat in Washington, D.C. Due to him being a diplomat from Italy, this implies Italy still had relations with the U.S. and were not at war, pointing a year before 1941 or after 1944.
- The eruptions of Mt. St. Helens were a core plot point of The Battle of the Labyrinth. This took place a year after The Titan's Curse. The only real-life periods of volcanic activity was 2004-2008 around 70 years after WWII.
These pieces of evidence from the original pentology date The Titan's Curse as taking place in December 2007. Since The Sea of Monsters took place in summer the same year, this places The Lightning Thief a year earlier in Summer 2006.
However, other core plot points contradict this storyline:
- In The Ship of the Dead, a core point of conflict is Samirah's observation of Ramadan near and around Midsummer. This would imply a Ramadan observed in June as the lunar Muslim Calendar causes the date of Ramadan to be 11-13 days earlier each passing year.
- Based on references to Annabeth being in Boston in The Hidden Oracle and it being the January after the Gigantes War, it can be deduced from the timeline that Annabeth was in Boston in January 2011. However, based on a phone call with Annabeth declaring she was moving to New Rome, The Ship of the Dead takes place in summer that same year. In 2011, Ramadan was observed in August, creating a contradiction. Ramadan as depicted implies the year is 2014-2017, with the last being the year the book was released.
- COVID-19 is explicitly referenced in Un Natale Mezzosangue. This short story was later referenced in The Senior Year Adventures. Both together imply that Percy was graduating high school in or around the time of the pandemic, meaning he was 18 in or around the year 2020.
Riordan has never addressed how these plot points anchored to historical events affects continuity in the storylines and instead declares de jure that his stories are in a vague "now." As much of that article was written prior to the publication of later contradictory books, the earlier books will take precedence over the later ones for that timeline.
Trivia
- The events of Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon are hard to place in the timeline. Contradictory information points in either of two directions: during the summer of The Battle of the Labyrinth or the summer of The Last Olympian. Most of the evidence seems to indicate the latter.
- The events of the story are mentioned to take place by the end of June, two weeks after Percy Jackson's last quest. This means that Percy's latest quest must have ended at least two weeks before the end of June. If this is meant to be the same year as The Battle of the Labyrinth, then the Quest for Daedalus would have had to end by mid-June, which is unlikely since Percy's encounter with Geryon happened on June 13. Percy's latest quest could also be referring to one of the many quests he went on during the following summer, right before the events of The Last Olympian, to undermine Kronos' armies.
- During the story, Charles Beckendorf is said to have just turned eighteen and to be two years older than Percy, this means Percy must have been fifteen and about to turn sixteen.
- However, during The Last Olympian, it is implied several times that Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard dated for a whole year before their deaths, explaining that they had "started dating last summer" and that Silena made Charles' "last year the best of his life". This would mean the events of the story happened a full year before The Last Olympian, during late June after the Quest for Daedalus.
- It's also possible that they originally began dating in secret during the summer of the Battle of the Labyrinth, and it had come out by The Last Olympian
- Whatever the case, during the final chapter of The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy mentions that summer after the quest was strangely normal, which could rule out an encounter with the Bronze Dragon. He also mentions the 4th of July fireworks, but when referring to Annabeth Chase he claims they avoided each other, making it unlikely for them to have dated back then.
- Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford has some internal inconsistencies that made it hard to accurately place in the timeline. Primarily, the story is set at Christmas Eve which is three days after the winter solstice when The Lost Hero adventure finished, but the beginning of the book make it clear that they have been working on the Argo II for at least two months. Rick could have meant 'Now his entire project—two days of work—might literally blow up in his face.'
- Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo does not neatly fit anywhere in the timeline.
- Percy describes Annabeth as his girlfriend, so the story must take place after The Last Olympian. Percy recalls events in the story (hanging from a Times Square billboard in his boxers) in The Chalice of the Gods, so it must take place before then. In The Hidden Oracle, Percy says that he hasn't seen Apollo since the battle at the Acropolis in The Blood of Olympus.
- By process of elimination, the story must take place between The Last Olympian and when Percy is kidnapped by Hera at the start of Heroes of Olympus. However, there are two inconsistencies with this. One, Percy sustains injuries in his fight with the celedone, suggesting that he no longer has the Curse of Achilles. Second, Percy suggests that the story takes place sometime in the spring, but he went missing in December.
- Magnus Chase was said to have been homeless for two years before The Sword of Summer, placing the time of his mother's death between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian.
- The events of Un Natale Mezzosangue hard to place. In Wrath of the Triple Goddess, which takes place in late October, Percy mentions going Christmas shopping with Nico. However the son of Poseidon would have been missing by Christmas as Hera had exchanged camp leaders roughly a week ago and half before Christmas.