Claiming occurs when a deity acknowledges his/her demigod offspring, usually by sending a hologram of their symbol of power to appear over the particular child's head, but some claims are unique, such as @Piper McLean's when her makeup, hair, and clothes are changed to enhance her beauty.

Whenever gods have a child with a human, it was the god's choice to claim that child or not. This was a sign that the demigod child was a son or daughter of a certain god. At @Camp Half-Blood, being claimed is considered a great honor or a bad omen, as in @Jason Grace's case, and they use this knowledge to sort the demigod in question into the cabin of their godly parent.

Many unclaimed demigods or demigods born from a minor god felt neglected by their parents and by @Camp Half-Blood and turned away from the @Olympians, eventually leading to the Second Titan War. However, after the war was over, @Percy Jackson made the gods promise to claim their children by the time they turn thirteen and build cabins for all the minor gods, in accordance with the wishes of @Ethan Nakamura and @Luke Castellan. From then on, Claiming became a common occurrence at @Camp Half-Blood, with new campers normally being claimed at the campfire. Others have been known to claim their children as soon as they arrive at camp. Even after @Zeus closed @Olympus, at least some of the gods appear to have kept up this practice although it is unknown if they all did.

In the Norse realms, at @Hotel Valhalla, a being called a Vala would learn if new Einherjar are demigods by casting @Rune Stones into the air and whichever symbol facing up when the stones landed would be the symbol of the Einherji's godly parent. Though in some rare cases (such as @Magnus Chase's), Norns would cast the rune stones.

Types of Claiming

Poseidon's Claiming

When @Poseidon claims one of his demigod or Cyclops children, a glowing green trident hologram appears over their head.

Aphrodite's Claiming

When @Aphrodite claims her children they start glowing with a pink aura. After that they instantly look great (beautiful). The children of Aphrodite refer to this as Aphrodite's Blessing, which goes on for a while and can sometimes even go back when Aphrodite wills it to, but may fade after a while.

Hephaestus' Claiming

When @Hephaestus claims his demigod children, a red fiery hammer appears over their head.

Demeter's Claiming

When @Demeter claims her demigod children, a gold sickle with a few sheathes of wheat appears over their head.

Athena's Claiming

When @Athena claims her demigod children, an owl clutching a silver olive branch appears over their head.