My friend and I had some theories about who Sammy Valdez, the boy from Hazel's past is, and what his relationship to Leo is. There must be one, because they look EXACTLY THE SAME! We had a few theories:

1. Sammy Valdez is actually Hephaestus.
2. Sammy Valdez is actually Poseidon.
3. Sammy Valdez is Leo’s grandfather on his mother’s side.
4. Leo is Sammy Valdez reborn from Elysium.
5. Leo is Sammy Valdez brought back from the dead por Hera.

My theories are #3-5, my friend thought of #1-2.

Evidence

1. Sammy Valdez is actually Hephaestus.

Pros: We learn from Gaea that Sammy moved to Texas, and Leo was born in Texas. Sammy-Hephaestus could easily have met Leo’s mom there. It would also explain why Sammy looks exactly like Leo. Gods can change their form, so Hephaestus could look like anything he wanted to.

Cons: Hephaestus wouldn’t have known at the time what his future son would look like, so he wouldn’t have been able to look exactly like Leo. Also, Hephaestus isn’t described a funny and crazy like Sammy. As a god, it is unlikely he would settle down for years at a time.

2. Sammy Valdez is actually Poseidon.

Pros: Sammy loves cavalos and spends most of his time with them. Poseidon is the creator of horses.

Cons: We hear nothing about Sammy and water. Again, how can he be identical to Leo? This is a pretty far fetched theory.

3. Sammy Valdez is Leo’s grandfather on his mother’s side.

Pros: We could assume that Sammy is Leo’s grandfather because he has the same last name. Sammy would have been about 60 years old when Leo was born, so he was old enough to be a grandfather. It also explains the similarities in personalities and looks between him and Leo. It doesn’t matter that Sammy appears not to have demigod powers, because he isn’t a demigod!

Cons: He couldn’t really look exactly like Leo. He wouldn’t have all the same genes, because he doesn’t have any from his wife, whereas Leo’s mom passed her genes on to Leo.

4. Leo is Sammy Valdez reborn from Elysium.

Pros: It would completely make sense that Leo is pretty much Sammy, because he is reborn Sammy.

Cons: When people are reborn from Elysium, they probably wouldn’t look the same as they did in their first life. If they did, lots of people would meet reborn people, and that just doesn’t happen. Also, neither Hazel nor Gaea mentioned anything particularly heroic about Sammy. He would go to the Fields of Asphodel when he died, not Elysium.

5. Leo is Sammy Valdez brought back from the dead por Hera.

Pros: Hera, A.K.A. creepy babysitter Tía Callida, keeps saying that she is training Leo to be a hero. She was the one who organized the whole Greek and Roman switch, so maybe she brought Sammy back from the dead as Leo to be one of the Prophecy’s 7. Leo doesn’t remember being anybody but Leo, but then again, Hera is a fã of memory stealing. It would make it awkward if Leo knew he was back from the dead. When Hephaestus talks to Leo in his dream, he tells him to reuse things. He could have been giving Leo a hint that he was being “reused”.

Cons: If Sammy is the same as Leo, then how come Leo has demigod powers and Sammy doesn’t? Hera couldn’t have given them to him when he came back as Leo, because fogo powers only have to do with Hephaestus. Unless she somehow convinced him to give this rare power to a hand-picked mortal, that doesn’t make sense.

This is all that we thought of, but you probably have mais ideas. I’d amor to hear your very own theories, no matter how unlikely they may seem. Please leave comments! I am happy to discuss theories with you. Yeah HoO!

--ApolloGraecus