| “ | We newbies are right here. | ” |
–Yan replying to Will in The Tower of Nero. | ||
Yan is a Greek demigod child of Apollo from Hong Kong.
History[]
Yan was born in Hong Kong to Apollo and an unknown mortal parent. They were presumably raised by their mortal parent, and was brought to Camp Half-Blood by an unknown satyr as soon as they were old enough.
The Trials of Apollo[]
The Tower of Nero[]
Yan first appeared after coming back from a hike with their siblings Kayla, Austin, Gracie, and Jerry. After an awkward introduction to their father Apollo, they went to breakfast.
After the Assault on Nero’s Tower, Yan and the rest of Cabin Seven aid in healing the wounded on both sides.
Abilities[]
Apollo, their father
General Abilities[]
- ADHD: Like most demigods, they likely possess inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that they use to analyze the fighting style of their opponent.
- Dyslexia: As a Greek demigod, it can be assumed that they have dyslexia, their brain being hardwired for Ancient Greek.
Demigod Abilities[]
- Vitakinesis: It is assumed that they can heal others via singing a hymn to their father.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Apollo: It is assumed Yan has an awkward relationship with their father, Apollo.
Etymology[]
- Yan is a Chinese name. It is a gender-neutral name for the most part, but it may carry feminine or masculine associations depending on the Chinese character. The name has different meanings depending on the Chinese character it transliterates, across different Chinese languages and dialects. Examples of these are listed below with their Chinese characters added for reference; traditional Chinese characters are used below as they are considered the default in Hong Kong:
- In Cantonese (the dominant and co-official language of Hong Kong), it can mean "kindness" (恩), "joy" (欣), "dawn" (昕), "abundance, flourishing; or one of the historical capitals of the Shang dynasty" (殷), "sitting-mat" (茵), "altruism; empathy; an ancient Chinese virtue" (仁), or other words with similar pronunciations.
- In Mandarin, it can mean "beauty" (嫣), "rock; cliff" (岩), "beauty; goodness" (妍), "language; speech; dialogue" (言), "to overflow or to spread out" (衍), "fine jade" (琰), "perform; act" (演), "bright in colour" (豔/艷), "swallow, a type of bird" (燕), "elegant and learned" (彥), or other words with similar pronunciations.
- On an unrelated note, Yan can also be a form or variant of the name John in various (non-English) European languages, and thus can mean "God is gracious". However, since Yan is canonically stated to be from Hong Kong, it is comparatively less likely for Yan to be named with this in mind.
Trivia[]
- Yan's canonical gender and pronouns are not specified at all during their canonical appearances. Their name also does not give much indication to their gender, as 'Yan' is a gender-neutral name (though some readings of the name are more masculine/feminine, no readings are provided in the original English canon). As a result, the Riordan Wiki will default to addressing Yan with they/them pronouns and gender-neutral terminology until their gender identity and/or pronouns are explicitly stated in canon.
- Yan is the only canon Asian character who is known to be born and raised in Asia.