In the novels Leo is the demigod son of the god, Hephaestus, and Esperanza Valdez. He grew up in Houston with Tia Callida as his baby-sitter, whom he later discovers to be Hera. The book The Lost Hero explains how Hera tried to 'train' Leo many times whilst babysitting him, such as when she lets Leo play with knives.
When Leo was eight he encountered a sleeping woman dressed in earthen robes, who he will later learn to be Gaea. She locked his mother inside the machine shop while Leo was in another room. After Gaea approaches him, she tricks Leo into setting the building on fire in an attempt to save his mother, so that he will remember this when Hera asks him to face her. However, this just imparts a fierce desire for revenge in him. Leo's relatives would not take him in after his mother's death and he was sent to several foster homes which he always ran away from.
It is also revealed in the Mark of Athena that he is the great-grandson of Hazel's past friend, Sammy Valdez. Leo also has the unique power of giving rise to fire. He is the only living son of Hephaestus to be able to generate fire after several centuries. Leo is the best friend of Piper Mclean and Jason Grace.
In the novel Leo is described as looking like a "Latino Santa's elf," with curly black hair, dark "wild" brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful face, and a mischievous smile. His hands are described as having "long, nimble fingers." He is of normal height, with a slim build, often called "scrawny." He also appears to look exactly like Sammy Valdez, Hazel Levesque's past boyfriend, as he is Sammy's great grandson.
The novel describes Valdez as appearing to be impatient, often seen fiddling with mechanical bits and pieces when he is nervous or bored, quickly constructing various objects and disassembling them just as fast. Leo is normally seen as a cheerful person, who enjoys playing pranks on others and flirting with girls. Despite his normally happy appearance, Leo is emotionally scarred by the loss of his mother, whose death he inadvertently caused. According to Annabeth Chase, Leo uses humour and jokes as a defensive point to forget his grief and pain of the past and to handle situations. It is said in the Mark of Athena that Leo gets carsick easily. Leo is also a very humorous person. When he found out that Jason lost his memories, he told Jason that he will use the jokes all over again.
As the son of Hephaestus, the god of fire, mechanics and blacksmiths, Leo has a gift for repairing and building almost anything. Other than Charles Beckendorf, who first appeared in the Percy Jackson series, he is the only camper at Camp Half-Blood who is able to control Festus, a life-size bronze dragon. He is able to control any kind of mechanical device without previous knowledge of the subject, such as flying a helicopter just by touching it. Leo is also the only living son of Hephaestus who is able to control and manipulate fire. When Leo exhibits extreme feelings, his body temperature rises. This almost caused him to fall off a mountain when he melted the bridge to Aeolus' palace in the Lost Hero. Also, he is disliked by Frank Zhang because his fire-wielding abilities are a danger to the piece of firewood that sustains Frank's life.
n the novels, Leo has a special tool belt, which appears to be quite ordinary. Whenever needed, Leo has the power to pull out any average tool that comes to his mind. His tool belt is limited to everyday tools, as the belt is incapable of producing magic items. Also, the belt cannot produce any extremely large items. A lack of concentration can cause the belt to produce weak tools- such as breath mints. The larger the item, the longer the belt's resting time is. He can also stick items in which he obtained from elsewhere into the belt for storage and retrieve them later (e.g., his Wii controller, which is part of his complicated controls for the Argo II).
When Leo was eight he encountered a sleeping woman dressed in earthen robes, who he will later learn to be Gaea. She locked his mother inside the machine shop while Leo was in another room. After Gaea approaches him, she tricks Leo into setting the building on fire in an attempt to save his mother, so that he will remember this when Hera asks him to face her. However, this just imparts a fierce desire for revenge in him. Leo's relatives would not take him in after his mother's death and he was sent to several foster homes which he always ran away from.
It is also revealed in the Mark of Athena that he is the great-grandson of Hazel's past friend, Sammy Valdez. Leo also has the unique power of giving rise to fire. He is the only living son of Hephaestus to be able to generate fire after several centuries. Leo is the best friend of Piper Mclean and Jason Grace.
In the novel Leo is described as looking like a "Latino Santa's elf," with curly black hair, dark "wild" brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful face, and a mischievous smile. His hands are described as having "long, nimble fingers." He is of normal height, with a slim build, often called "scrawny." He also appears to look exactly like Sammy Valdez, Hazel Levesque's past boyfriend, as he is Sammy's great grandson.
The novel describes Valdez as appearing to be impatient, often seen fiddling with mechanical bits and pieces when he is nervous or bored, quickly constructing various objects and disassembling them just as fast. Leo is normally seen as a cheerful person, who enjoys playing pranks on others and flirting with girls. Despite his normally happy appearance, Leo is emotionally scarred by the loss of his mother, whose death he inadvertently caused. According to Annabeth Chase, Leo uses humour and jokes as a defensive point to forget his grief and pain of the past and to handle situations. It is said in the Mark of Athena that Leo gets carsick easily. Leo is also a very humorous person. When he found out that Jason lost his memories, he told Jason that he will use the jokes all over again.
As the son of Hephaestus, the god of fire, mechanics and blacksmiths, Leo has a gift for repairing and building almost anything. Other than Charles Beckendorf, who first appeared in the Percy Jackson series, he is the only camper at Camp Half-Blood who is able to control Festus, a life-size bronze dragon. He is able to control any kind of mechanical device without previous knowledge of the subject, such as flying a helicopter just by touching it. Leo is also the only living son of Hephaestus who is able to control and manipulate fire. When Leo exhibits extreme feelings, his body temperature rises. This almost caused him to fall off a mountain when he melted the bridge to Aeolus' palace in the Lost Hero. Also, he is disliked by Frank Zhang because his fire-wielding abilities are a danger to the piece of firewood that sustains Frank's life.
n the novels, Leo has a special tool belt, which appears to be quite ordinary. Whenever needed, Leo has the power to pull out any average tool that comes to his mind. His tool belt is limited to everyday tools, as the belt is incapable of producing magic items. Also, the belt cannot produce any extremely large items. A lack of concentration can cause the belt to produce weak tools- such as breath mints. The larger the item, the longer the belt's resting time is. He can also stick items in which he obtained from elsewhere into the belt for storage and retrieve them later (e.g., his Wii controller, which is part of his complicated controls for the Argo II).