Karen Orlando

"Darn, your momma's found out what you've done. Not even the gods can help you now."-Karen Orlando Karen Orlando is a Greek demigod daughter of Ares and Julia Orland. She is the counselor of Ares' Cabin.

Before Birth
Julia Orlando, a South Carolina native, was a soldier in the American Army. She was going through initiation when she met Ares. After she got through initiation, they fell in love. One night, Karen appeared in Julia's tent. Finding Ares gone, Julia decides to raise her demigod daughter.

Childhood
Karen took the last name of her mortal parent. She grew up unaware of her godly heritage at first.

A year later, Ares came back in his Roman aspect, and her brother Grayson Orland was born. Karen loved her brother, and it was unfortunate that Julia had to go overseas.

Growing up, Karen was always stronger than other children. She would constantly pick a fight with other kids and beat them senseless. Her mother ignored this, knowing where these traits come from.

Being demigods, Karen and Gray attracted monsters. She would fight them sometimes when Billie was away, but the Mist was manipulated every time to cause her to forget. Their life was all about survival from the monsters of Tartarus. A few years before the big attack, Karen was in Gleeson Hedge's soccer team. Coach Hedge was a satyr protector.

When Karen was ten, a big attack happened. The house exploded, and she was separated from Gray. She assumed her brother was killed, when in reality he was picked up by Lupa the she-wolf. Coach Hedge reveals his identity as her satyr protector and her status as a demigod. Karen kills her first monster without manipulation of the Mist afterward and was brought to Camp Half Blood, where Ares claimed her immediately. She was one of the few females in Ares's Cabin. The boys tried to bully her, but she beat them all up. She hasn't been seriously messed with since.

Thalia's Pine Tree
Five days later, this event occurred. Karen has missed most of the event, since she has been sparring with her half brother. She heard of the news and left her half brother and fought a few of the monsters. She witnessed Thalia Grace being turned into the Pine Tree that now guards Camp Half Blood. She had barely known Thalia, bit she admired her for her bravery and loyalty and even named her spear after her: Atromitos Thalia (Dauntless Thalia).

Life at Camp
As mentioned above, Ares claimed Karen almost immediately. She excelled in all her combat classes. Once, she, Maxwell Dean, and Aiden Koler were given a quest from Apollo. He was interested in a flower nymph who was being chased by a mortal. Despite not being a big flashy quest, it was still a quest, and Karen duelled Clarisse La Rue, her half sister, for the position of the counselor, and won.

Personality
Karen is a brave, bold, confident, and courageous girl with amazing strength. She is a fearless person, or at least she had immense control over her fear. She is rebellious and eager to prove her strength. She is always at battle ready. She is described as edgy by newcomers. She refuses to let anyone push her around, whether that be her half sister Clarisse or her half brothers or the titan lord Kronos.

However, Karen is notably nicer than other Ares's children. She was shown to be accepting of Tyson, a son of Poseidon and a Cyclops. She still is a warrior like her other half siblings and her father. When angry, she has her father's sneer. She can be very violent when she needs to be. Like other children of Ares, she likes gory television shows and movies. Her favorite is Attack on Titan, which she reveals the Ares Cabin watches every night.

Fatal Flaw
Karen's deepest flaw is her fearlessness. She is stubborn and doesn't back down from anything. She ignores the limits and fights even if she has no chance of winning. She also usually doesn't think things through.

Fears
Despite not technically having a fear, Karen mentions that she finds the dark creepy and makes her on edge. This makes sense, considering she lives in a world where she is constantly hunted by dangerous monsters.

Appearance
Karen is a battle rugged girl. She has emerald green eyes and bright red hair that starts out at her shoulders but grows to her lower back. She had a natural tanned complexion. Karen wears an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt with dark skinny jeans and black combat boots. While on a quest or in combat games, she wears a bronze chestplate, a black leather jacket, a studded choker, and black fingerless gloves. She wears a bronze chain bracelet, the sealed form of her shield, and her spear, Atromitos, which seal itself in the form of a bronze hairpin.

In the Lightning Thief, she had a lithe frame, but she got more muscular as the series progressed. Her hair used to be at her jaw, making it impossible to really do anything with it. When it reaches her shoulders, she tied it back into a low ponytail. As it got longer, she could tie her hair in a high ponytail or braid.

When she knows she's going to be in a big battle, she wears full celestial bronze armor. She has extra knives strapped to her armor. She keeps her shield and spear activated. She keep her hair in a tight high ponytail and her boar shaped helmet has a bright red plume. She looks like the "deadliest Ancient Greek warrioress in town".

General Abilities

 * ADHD: Karen's supernatural alertness gives her faster reflexes for battle that keep her alive.
 * Dyslexia: Karen's brain is "hard-wired" for Ancient Greek rather than the modern mortal languages.
 * Fighting Skills: As the daughter of Ares, Karen's is a natural born fighter. When she was younger she'd pick fights with all the boys, and she defeated them. She could knock out Clarisse La Rue out in a single punch.

Demigod Abilities

 * Physically Enhanced: Karen is much stronger than mortals, shown when she could defeat multiple mortal boys. She is proficient in battling with weapons and her body. Karen is shown to be faster than mortals in combat. She has very quick reflexes that are already enhanced by her ADHD. Karen is also more agile than average. She can do flips and rolls in combat, as well as dodge and attack with ease. She is very light on her feet. Karen's body can take much more than a regular mortal's.
 * Telumkinesis: Karen has some control over weapons, such as when she telepathically controlled a medley of swords and turned the arrows from Apollo's cabin into rubber. She can also curse weapons not to work right in specific moments.
 * Odikinesis: Karen can control feelings of war, such as hate and rage, but on a much smaller scale than her father. This was the first one of her powers to manifest, since she caused mortals to start fighting with each other.
 * Invulnerability (formerly): During the battle against the Titans, Karen, along with Clarisse, received the blessing of Ares which made her invincible for a short time.
 * Necromancy (limited): As a child of Ares, Karen can bring back warriors from the losing side of wars.
 * War Machine Sensing: Karen can sense a war machine, and she can assess its attributes and purpose, even if she can't see it.

Weapons and Magical Items

 * Atromitos Thalia: Karen's spear. Atromitos Thalia is a celestial bronze spear that shrinks down to a bronze hairpin. It is an electric spear and can produce red sparks.

Friends

 * Percy Jackson: Karen was one of the first demigods Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon, met at Camp Half Blood. She was nice to him at first, unlike her half siblings, until he humiliated her sisters. She then targeted him during Capture the Flag and nearly killed him. During the Lightning Thief, she always gave him death threats or punches. But they developed a strong friendship over the adventures they've had together.
 * May Taylor: Karen and May Taylor, a daughter of Aphrodite, are best friends. They met at a sword fighting exercise where May beat Karen, who was holding back due to the fact that May was a daughter of Aphrodite. Both became good friends after this and Karen admires May's toughness. May can usually keep Karen from killing Percy or other people during arguments.
 * Annabeth Chase: Karen and Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena, along with Luke Castellan, have been at Camp Half Blood longer than anyone. Over the many years they have known each other, the two demigod girls have forged a strong friendship. Karen and Annabeth are an unstoppable team, as Annabeth is brains and Karen is brawn. Karen is also shown to have a low opinion about Annabeth's people skills.
 * Grover Underwood: Karen has known Grover for as long as she has known Annabeth. However, Grover does state that he gets nervous around Karen, especially if she is in a bad mood.
 * Maxwell Dean: Maxwell Dean, the son of Dionysus, is one of Karen's friends. He, along with May, is good at keeping Karen from killing people. Aria mentions him to be a good person to have as backup. Maxwell and Karen have been good friends for years, along with Klein Hatfield.
 * Klein Hatfield: Karen usually acts annoyed by Klein Hatfield, the son of Hermes, but they are actually good friends. Along with Maxwell Dean, Klein is one of Karen's close friends.
 * Aidan Koler: Aidan is another one of Karen's friends, and one of the few Aphrodite kids who aren't shallow and afraid of looking bad. Karen mentions him to be cute in a nerdy, scruffy way. He is still a good fighter and even better at blending in, due to his natural ability to change his features at will.
 * Thalia Grace: At first Karen barely knew Thalia, but she admired her bravery of sacrificing her life to save three, and named her spear Atromitos Thalia in her memory. After the Golden Fleece resurrected Thalia, the two became good friends. Karen admires Thalia's fighting and rebellious spirit.
 * Rachel Elizabeth Dare: Not much interaction is shown between Karen and Rachel, the mortal host of the Oracle of Delphi, but they appear to be on good terms.
 * Malak Makarov: Malak is one of Karen's best friends. Aboard the Argo II, the two were commonly seen together. Karen and Malak fought side by side in the battle. Malak thinks Karen is a cool person, and nicer than most Ares kids. They are good friends and often fight together.
 * Piper McClean: Karen notices that Piper isnt like other daughters of Aphrodite and reminds her of Silena Beauregard, a daughter of Aphrodite who was a traitor during the battle against the Titans but died a hero. Despite this, Karen and Piper are on good terms. Karen helped Piper learn how to fight better.
 * Leo Valdez: Karen and Leo are on good terms, despite not having many interactions. Leo says Karen is one of their best fighters, and Karen thinks Leo is hilarious, but annoying at times. She admits that he can get annoying and insensitive, but understands that his humor comes from the pain he experienced as a child.
 * Jason Grace: Karen and Jason have not had many interactions. Ultimately they respect each other, because Jason is a son of Jupiter and Karen is among the best of the warriors. Karen likes teasing Jason about how "unromantic" he is.
 * Frank Zhang: Karen is kind to Frank, her "Roman half brother". She believes he is a good fighter and is alot like her, as they are both nicer than mist Mars or Ares's children. She supports him as a praetor.
 * Hazel Levesque: Karen and Hazel are on mostly good terms, but Karen appears to dislike Hazel's habit of fanning herself when shy and embarrassed.
 * Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano: Both had a complicated relation to each other at first, as Reyna resented Karen, Annabeth, and Percy for unleashing Blackbeard and his pirates. Ultimately, Karen and Reyna grew to become close friends, despite their differences.
 * Luke Castellan: During his time at camp, Karen and Luke were friends until his betrayal. Karen was the only one of the demigods involved with Thalia's tree who fought Luke seriously. He regains her respect as he dies after he stabs himself to kill Kronos.
 * Nico di Angelo: At first, Karen thought of Nico as an annoying little brother and made her think of Gray. Later, when he sobers up, they develop a better friendship, though she still dislikes his depressing atmosphere.

Family

 * Mortal Family: Karen loves her mortal family and visits them as often as she can. Her mother, Julia, is a Southern military lieutenant who can see through the Mist. After giving birth to Karen from Ares and Gray from Mars, she married Alex Craig, a history professor studying Greek culture. He is a kind step father, who coincidentally can see through the Mist. Kyle and Kendall Craig are mortal twins of Alex and Julia who can also see through the Mist.
 * Clarisse la Rue: Karen and Clarisse are good friends. Both like sparring together and have completed a quest together. Karen gets annoyed by Clarisse's "orientation" of new campers by dunking their head into the toilet. She has stopped her from committing suicide after the war with Kronos because of Silena Beauregard's death.
 * Lance Silver: Karen and her half brother Lance have been good friends since Sam brought Lance to Camp Half Blood. Both think they make a good fighting team. They are the nicer Ares kids.
 * Phobos and Deimos: Karen hates her immortal half brothers, Phobos and Deimos, who bully her and Clarisse because they are female. She wishes that one good punch to their faces will shut them up.

Trivia

 * Karen's birthday is April 18, which makes her an Aries.
 * Karen wishes that she had darker hair, like her mother. Aphrodite appears to Karen with red hair similar to hers, only darker.
 * Karen is skilled with a sword, spear, dagger, and bow. She is also not above hitting opponents with her shield.
 * Karen loves chewing spearmint or bubblegum.
 * Karen likes listening to rock and heavy metal music.
 * Karen is one of the few people who secretly carries a cellphone. She uses it only in emergencies.
 * Karen plays Dungeons and Dragons with her friends in her free time.
 * Karen is one of the few of the Twelve not to have lived in California at any point in her life.
 * Karen, like most of her friends, likes cheeseburgers. She also likes dark chocolate.
 * Karen and Hazel are the only one of the Twelve who don't have the same gender as their godly parent.
 * Karen is one of the few demigods who have their driver's license.