#(the same way Zeus birthed Athena)

[kattythingz]

Believe it / I'm in love and I mean it / Her name's Penelope and I need her to be mine

And the epic brainrot continues... This time thanks to yet another TOO DAMN ADORABLE animatic that I just had to redraw edling to, with the wonderful collaboration of @sirchenchen!!! She did Ling's design (that I had to crop WAY too much of... Full version under the cut) and I did Ed + the bg. Chen also does other art on her account so y'all better check her out 🔪🔪

Au details nobody asked for under the cut~

Ling has been the youngest king of Xing for some years now, and his council is nagging him to find a bride now that he's turned a very mature sixteen. There are many things Ling can and has fought his council on—but they won't budge on this specific matter. Thus, Ling resigns himself to opening his hand for neighboring nations.

Xerxes is one of the many nations to hear of this opening, so King Hohenheim drags his own children to the event in hopes of cementing an alliance with Xing. Al goes along with his father's will, ever the polite boy, but Ed is far from happy.

Right off the bat, there's a bit of a misunderstanding, as Xerxes arrives in their fanciest whites for the occasion... unknowing that white is Xing's mourning color. Ed is the only one to refuse to dress up like the rest, so he compromises with a fancier cut of his favored red-and-black instead.

This creates a laughable confusion as people assume Xerxes suffered a great loss. Only the First Prince seems unbothered, dressed boldly in colors not of supposed mourning.

Ling, bored out of his mind already, is naturally piqued by this rebellion, and he's compelled to talk to the First Prince—Edward—before the rest of the suitors.

("Wait. Are you saying you're only talking to me right now because you thought I was an insensitive jackass spitting on someone's grave?!")

("That does seem to be the case, yes!")

... Ling doesn't think he made the best first impression.

Edward's brother is much less of a riot, though perfectly pleasant. All the suitors are. They just... don't interest Ling. Not as much as Edward had just in that single conversation. Edward doesn't even participate in the bridal events, skipping every time in favor of hitting the town, chatting up the locals and learning their crafts. Or just finding the largest olive tree in the palace gardens and settling down to study in its shade.

Ling is in love.

Desperate now to right his wrong with Edward, Ling beseeches Athena help him court the boy of his dreams.

It's then that Athena so kindly reveals that Edward is one of the rare few scholars personally blessed by her. Xerxes has always been close to Athena, worshipping her moreso than the other gods, but Edward and Alphonse's minds are especially sharp, she tells Ling with an almost smile gracing her lips.

(He was almost made her champion; she's watched him long enough consider it. Upon further observation, however, he proved a little too soft-hearted.)

She supposes this wouldn't be such an awful union to see through. One of her brightest scholars, wedded to her chosen champion? The results oughta be fascinating, at least.

No amount of godly advice could save Ling from fumbling those first few wooing attempts, of course. But Ling is nothing if not dedicated to a good cause. And Edward might just be the best cause there is.

He's absolutely not subtle as he, too, begins sneaking away from the bridal events to seek out Ed and "run into" him several times a day. The locals have watched their young king grow since he was but a sunspot of a child. And that look right there in his eyes is positively moonstruck.

(Or perhaps... sunstruck is more appropriate to say?)

They wish their king the best of luck. Judging by Edward's impressive scowl at the mere sight of him... he has quite the challenge ahead of himself.

[carebooks]

to all those new comers to the Percy Jackson world and being off on shipping Percabeth because Poseidon and Athena are uncle and niece, it’s stated in the books (specifically The Lost Hero) that gods don’t have DNA the way humans do.

and if that still doesn’t convince you or you may think it’s not a real or valuable explanation, let’s recall other ways that births happen in both greek myths and the Riordanverse:

- Zeus birthed Athena from his brain

- Athena’s demigod children are born the same way. out of her mind. so Annabeth is already way off from the usual goddess birth route

- Zeus also birthed Dionysus from his thigh

- Hephaestus was born from Hera and Zeus, but in a lot of versions its actually Hera who just had him by herself. she got pregnant and it happened. they’re gods. (then chucked him down a mountain) again, they’re gods.

- Hebe, goddess of youth, was born from Hera and a piece lettuce she ate

- in the Trials of Apollo, we learn that Kayla Knowles, daughter of Apollo, has a human father, Darren. meaning she has two fathers: Darren and Apollo. no mother involved in her creation whatsoever.

- Zeus has impregnated quite a large number of people during his time and in various different forms. one of the weirdest ones by far was when he came to a queen in the form of a swan, embraced her as that swan and nine months later she gave birth to two eggs. they hatched and inside was Helen of Sparta (as in Helen of Troy), Clytemnestra, Castur and Pollox.

- Poseidon and Medusa had a child and that child was born from Perseus cutting off Medusa’s head. that child was Pegasus. (yes, that Pegasus) (also some other dude was born too)

- Aphrodite was born out of sea foam made from the severed genitals of Ouranos that fell to the oceans

have i convinced you already? are we done here?

[cynthiav06]

I have been living with this headcanon/brainrot about Athena (both from Epic the Musical and pjo) for a long while and a warning for the faint of heart, you know what read it anyway cause it haunts me , so everyone else has to be haunted by it too, cause I am petty like that.

Most people might be aware of the myth that Athena sprung from Zeus's head fully formed and in battle armor, but a few might not know the preceding myth, so here's a quick recap:

Zeus married the titaness Metis, who was the titaness of wise counsel, wisdom, and planning. She was also Athena's mother. Metis was his advisor, both an indispensable aid and threat to him, given her power and cunning. But it's no Greek mythology without a son overthrowing the father archetype haunting the narrative. There was a similar prophecy about Metis's second child being so powerful that he would overthrow Zeus. Mind you Metis was pregnant with Athena when the following events transpire:

Zeus being Zeus, paranoid and power hungry, the King of the Gods and the God of "Justice" manipulates Metis into playing a shape-shifting game and when Metis turned into a fly , he swallowed her whole. [I know Greek patriarchs have a thing for eating their children or spouses pregnant with said children. Runs in the family, apparently]

Mind you in Greek myths, swallowed children, or in this case, swallowed wife pregnant with said child stay alive for a good amount of time even inside someone else's organs. So Metis gives birth to Athena inside Zeus's head and raises her there. She teaches her warfare and strategy until Metis herself eventually dies, i.e., her essence fades. Knowing what she must do to not meet the same fate, Athena hammers on Zeus's skull from the inside to escape. Everyone knows the rest of the myth.

But imagine Athena's first lesson being that the man she calls her father is the one who killed her mother and almost killed Athena herself by swallowing Metis so she must do everything in her power to survive and avoid that fate by staying on his good side. To try and fit in this twisted family of immortals, half of who hate her existence and half who are indifferent to him. So she does exactly that.

Think of Athena asking to be a Virgin Goddess from learning of what comes of marriage with gods.

Now, the continuation of Athena's myth is that she goes to Atlantis to train with the sea nymphs. There she makes her first ever friend and someone she comes to dearly love, Pallas. Greek myths being allergic to happy endings, one day when Pallas and Athena are sparring as they do a bit more seriously this time; Zeus being a nosy bastard decides to spy in just when Pallas is about to land a finishing blow on Athena. Thinking she might kill his daughter, he kills Pallas by blasting her with his lightning. Athena, being heartbroken , Zeus gave her Aegis as an apology. The continuation of this is that Athena adopts the namesake Pallas Athena and even carves a statue in likeness of her friend called Palladium and then more.

But think of Athena heartbroken and bitter as the Goddess of Wisdom learns her second lesson, then she must abandon all personal relations and sentiment before her father ends it for her in one way or another. For Pallas was the first true relation in her life after her mother.

Keep in mind that Pallas is Poseidon's granddaughter through his firstborn son and heir Triton. This is the point that sparks eternal enmity between Athena and Poseidon, and all those who come after will suffer in the wake of this tragedy.

So Athena chooses to remain alone and without a friend to avoid such a situation. Imagine Athena being hurt, especially brutally, when Odysseus says: "Since you claim you are so much wiser, why's your life spent all alone? You're alone!"

Because that's exactly it. Athena is wise. She knows the consequence of endearing herself to someone again so she stays alone to avoid such a thing and yet coming from someone who is so close to being her first friend in a long time, hurt and enraged she leaves.

Now, when finally Athena comes to terms with her friendship with Odysseus she finds yet again that her father Zeus struck him and his crew in a similar fashion to Pallas , yet again ripping her only friend away from her .

He is not dead yet, and Athena isn't about to let that happen. This time, she fights against Zeus, risks her life and position of being the favorite, and her survival method all because she can't bear to see Odysseus die.

Think of the agonizing fate of Athena, repeatedly being traumatized by her father yet having to do his bidding and stay on his good side to survive and live not for herself for she lives in misery but for the people who suffered for died for their association with her. In her eyes, she must suffer tenfold for letting this happen thrice, for all eternity under the man who so wretchedly ruined her life.

[aliciavance4228]

Was Athena a Feminist or a Female Misogynist?

Athena is perhaps the one most famous goddesses from Greek Mythology, and was for a very long time considered a good role model for women and a feminist due to the fact that she's a smart woman who can fight in battles. However, there are also a lot of people who claim that she is in fact a female misogynist and consider her to be the original "pick-me girl" or "I'm not like the other girls" girl. And the fact that she's seen besides male heroes most of the time or the myths of Medusa and Arachne doesn’t make this situation any better.

And the very first problem in this equation is that people are using a lot of modern terms (and a modern mentality in general) in order to label a figure that was firstly mentioned thousands of years ago. So there's a LOT to unpack here.

The first mentions of Athena come from mycenaean mythology. Back then the place that later became Athens surpringly had a matriarchal view on society, which would explain why Athena as a female figures isn't depicted in a traditionally feminine way. But years have passed, and things have changed a lot both socially and culturally. Athens, despite of being one of the most developed cities from Ancient Greece, had a very patriarchal view on society, to the point where even the other cities considered it to over exaggerate. In order to understand just how misogynistic athenians were, they believed not only that the woman is a disfigured version of the man, but that men could find a way to reproduce themselves without the help of women and that the female is nothing but a vessel when it comes to reproduction.

The thing is that, while a lot of things changed in the Athens in time, the goddess that was the patron of that city remained the same. So the question that naturally comes is: If women are inferior to men, then why is our patron deity a goddess? And so, the only play which specifically depicts Athena as a female misogynist appeared: Eumenides. This play was obviously written by a male Athenian, and its pure intention is to answer to that question. In the Eumenides, Athena says this thing:

It is my duty to give the final judgment and I shall cast my vote for Orestes. [735] For there was no mother who gave me birth; and in all things, except for marriage, whole-heartedly I am for the male and entirely on the father’s side. Therefore, I will not award greater honor to the death of a woman who killed her husband, the master of the house. [740] Orestes wins, even if the vote comes out equal.

As you can observe from this quote, the dialogue is ment to confirm the ancient athenian perspective about reproduction, as well as their views on women in general. Despite the fact that Metis was supposed to be Athena's mother since she was pregnant with her when Zeus ate her, in this play she is completely erased and Athena has one single parent figure: Zeus.

In other words, Athena was clearly a product of the society that worpshipped her; a society that believed that traits such as high intellect or strenght cannot be attributed to women. It is up to you guys to decide wheter the Eumenides is canon to the rest of Greek Mythology or not.

However, aside from this particular play, Athena shows no ill-will towards women purely for their gender. She had a very close relationship with Pallas to the point where she even takes her name after she killed her by accident (Thank you, Zeus!), and acted as the big sis towards Artemis and Persephone, as it is suggested in Homeric Hymns to Demeter.

Furthermore, if you ever read the Iliad then you would observe that her interactions with mortal women are very different compared to those with Medusa or Arachne from Roman Mythology.

In the Iliad, Athena gifts Penelope in handicrafts, wiles, and storytelling, making Penelope an anti-Arachne due to the fact that she isn't punished by the goddess for her talents, but rather blessed for them.

Athena has endowed her above other women with knowledge of fair handiwork and an understanding heart, and wiles, such as we have never yet heard that any even of the women of old knew, of those who long ago were fair-tressed Achaean women— [120] Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene of the fair crown—of whom not one was like Penelope in shrewd device…

At the same time, we have the story of Cassandra and how Athena avenged her. Cassandra was brutally raped by Ajax the Lesser in her temple. She asked Athena for revenge, telling her what happened to her. Athena was absolutely livid, sent a storm to wreck the Achaeans' boats when they failed to kill Ajax, then destroyed his ship near the Whirling Rocks and left him to die, or lifted him in the sky during a storm and impaled him with her father's thunderbolt. At this point, Cassandra is an anti-Medusa, because she was avenged instead of being punished for being raped. Furthermore, in the original greek myths Athena herself was about to be raped by Hephaestus at some point. She was very aware of the fact that there's a difference between a woman who had sex on her own will and one that didn’t consent to it, so it makes no sense why she wouldn't help a rape victim.

Medusa and Arachne were later additions by Ovid, and their stories were anti-Authority Propaganda.

So instead of quickly coming to any sort of conclusion and deciding wheter or not Athena was a Feminist or a Misogynist, perhaps people should understand the fact that the situation was way more complicated as she was nothing more than a character that was depicted both according to the societal and personal views ancient greeks had on women (which were more or less different depending on the century and the poet), and that the answer is way more complicated than we think.

[reiniesainyo]

IN BETWEEN. charlie bushnell x reader – 01

01 | SPARKS FLY previous | next | masterfile

SYNPOSIS. when a girl's co-star is good to her and now she wants it more than everything in between. (smau)

A/N. this chapter is more like world building (it's where i explain what the fuck i'm doing with the YN okay)

The "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series at Disney+ has added an unexpected pick to its growing cast.

The new live-action series is based on the hugely successful novels from author Rick Riordan of the same title. We will be seeing YN LN join the series as Rina Velasco, one of the supporting characters of the show.

LN's Rina Velasco is referred to as "the offspring of The Muses, goddesses of the sciences and the arts." Unlike most other demigods, she is born out of the artistic and scientific output of the muses. When the moral ingenuity of humans meets the divine musings of The Muses. Her character is described as a unique allrounder who becomes a mentor figure to our main cast as they embark on their journey.

This will be LN's first on-screen role of her career. LN's experience mostly lies in Broadway, she is known for playing Kim in the Miss Saigon revival on Broadway. LN was nominated for a Tony in 2022 for the same role. She is repped by Salonga/Chien Entertainment and B817 Agency.

Riordan posted on the Meta app, Threads, about this update to the casting saying: "YN was one of the actors we didn't expect to see a tape of but when we saw it, we couldn't help but fall in love with her. She embodies the spirit of Rina so well and is such a kind spirit, we can't wait for you to fall in love with her too! Welcome to the cast, YN!"

The live-action show is based on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson book series. It tells the fantastical tale of the titular 12-year-old modern demigod (Scobell), who's just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover (Simhadri) and Annabeth (Jeffries), Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.

Production on the show is now underway in Vancouver. Riordan and Jon Steinberg are writing the pilot with James Bobin directing. Steinberg and his producing partner Dan Shotz are overseeing the series and serve as executive producers alongside Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson, and Gotham Group's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D.J. Goldberg. 20th Television is the studio. Salke was formerly the president of Touchstone Television and originally put the show into development.

liked by percyseries, iamcharliebushnell, and 37,789 others thelnarchive the child of the muses @percyseries

percyseries OUR MUSE!

user1 this is literally perfect casting who cried i did ↳ user2 she's so rina coded! thank the gods for the casting directors

iamcharliebushnell only muse in my life ↳ thlnarchive only traveler in my life ↳ user3 the way filming hasn't started and they're already like this ↳ user4 their chemistry is chemistry-ing

user5 roman empire. she is my roman empire.

dior.n.goodjohn i LOVE LOVE LOVE women ↳ thelnarchive HELP i love you

user6 this is so fcking random but i NEED her in a taylor swift music video

A/N i truly hope you guys can forgive the horrible editing in the pictures. the article portion is based on (and has some parts that are directly pulled from) this article from variety ! here's some succint information about rina velasco, the PJO character YN LN plays (and is my childhood OC!) - rina velasco, filipino, 18 years old (year younger than luke) - she's an offspring of the muses, not directly a child or daughter, though she may be referred as such - by her being an offspring of the muses, i mean that she was born in the same way athena's children are born. - but in rina's case she's more like a weird conglomeration of each muse. her birth is a rare event, but her mothers are honored as minor goddesses so she stayed in the apollo cabin (connection to music) - rina operates as a guidance figure for the main trio, especially annabeth - she's also luke's love interest, there's a lot of tragicness and doomed romance stuff with those two - and for the sake of everyone, we pretend like the weird i love you from the books didn't happen !

[audreyscribes]

Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: 👑HERA: QUEEN OF THE GODS, GODDESS OF MARRIAGE, WOMEN, MARTIAL HARMONY, AND THE PROTECTOR OF WOMEN DURING CHILDBIRTH 💒

Author's Note: Hi everyone, so some of you have been expecting this. I wasn't lying that I hadn't give it some thought but I didn't write this earlier since I wasn't sure how I could make it work. It might not be what you guys expected but here it is. This is going to be a stretch and please suspend your expectations for this. This is for the anons who asked if I could do Hera. I tried. This is what I came up with. Thanks for reading, liking, and reblogging! I really appreciate it! [PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS MASTERLIST]

*Warning: Immense wall of text below [Keep Reading]

I can only see this happening, given that Hera is very loyal to Zeus, and how a demigod child of Hera is born. 

You’re a child of Zeus when the King of the Gods became mortal (SOMEHOW) temporarily and Hera supported him like the loyal wife she is. 

You’re either born like how Athena births her children, where Hera thought about (a) mortal man, or like Hebe (in some mythological records) where she was born from Hera eating a piece of lettuce, from Hera by herself, but was somehow born half-mortal, instead of immortal. 

You were crafted out of clay by Hera? Maybe???

You were born when Hera had become mortal herself (SOMEHOW????), born with Zeus’s help *COUGH*. 

Regardless, your existence or any other demigod child of Hera is unheard of. Like it was not even a thought of possibility. 

No one is sure how to proceed or wrap their minds around your existence. I don’t think you’re told how you were born, but even if you were told, you’re sworn by the River of Styx not to tell anyone except outside a few very selective approved individuals. This is because out of the listed reasons above, only one doesn’t insinuate anything relating to the King or Queen of Gods being mortal; which would reveal a weakness to the two monarchs of the Gods and the harmony of peace among the gods, or indicate Hera of cheating which would break the foundation of marriage and the law behind it. This unfortunately creates a lot of gossip behind your back about your godly mother and you’re the physical representation of it. Something Hestia herself tells you about, in a disapproving way to your godly parent.  

There are immediate renovations to the Hera cabin, mostly because it is not livable at all. You’re temporarily put in the Big House until things are done to the Hera cabin. Annabeth has been given an official ‘pardon’ by Hera because of this, so there’s that? At least.

Annabeth isn’t sure how to interact with you, given Hera’s clear distaste to her, and how you’re her daughter, but at the same time you’re also innocent. 

Percy is also a bit conflicted given Hera was the one who gave him the amnesia and the whole camp Half-blood and Jupiter thing, but he goes about it a bit easier because he knows all about bearing their godly parents misdeeds and grudges and all that. 

On the other hand, you’re living with the knowledge that by technicality, a lot of people could’ve been married under the Ancient Greek laws. For example, Percy and Annabeth could be or would’ve been married when you heard that they were playing hacky sack with an apple and if Percy threw the apple at Annabeth, and she caught it, it would’ve technically counted as “accepting a marriage proposal”, and they were married-

Your mother’s domain is technically powerful and important but at the same time, it’s not very useful to you; considering there’s a lack of married individuals among the campers and the only one who is married is Mr. D, but you don’t dare to. But it’s not like you can do anything anyway since he is a god and you’re just a demigod…that and he’s been avoiding you.

Mr. D just avoids you and you’re not sure until someone tells you that Hera tricked his mother, Semele, into making Zeus reveal his true form to her to prove he was Zeus, evaporating her. 

If Camp Half-blood has the aura of uncertainty, then Camp Jupiter is the opposite. The treatment towards you is the opposite where they treat you with reverence but because Juno is so revered, being her child makes you feel isolated.

The cabins that are at odds with you are the Aphrodite, Zeus, Athena cabins, while the cabins that are more cordial with you are the Hebe, and surprisingly the Ares and Hephaestus cabins. 

At least there are a bunch of beautiful white lilies at Hera’s cabin, making the cabin more of a place to live than a renovated temple. The lilies are there because it is said they were born from her. 

Argus is also your bodyguard for a reason. He was created by Hera for the sole purpose of being a guard and watchman, and considering you are the daughter of Hera, you fall under his duties. Not long after you were born, when you have grown out of the age protection Hera can protect you from, and Hebe when you’re past 8 years old, the monsters start coming into droves. There are monsters immediately trying to kill you, not just fueled because you’re a powerful demigod, but because of also Lamia, who she personally comes hunting for you. This is because Lamia, when she was a mortal queen and had the eye of Zeus, Hera was responsible for killing all of her children and became what she is now, and is also responsible for monsters hunting demigods to this day. Argus is only able to protect you only for so long so sharpen your skills and fight for your life. 

When you get claimed, the world goes absolutely silent. Everyone stares upon the claim mark floating above your head, a peacock, like its a crown above your head. The spread feathers of the peacock does certainly make it look like one. With a crown above your head and a field of white lilies sprouting beneath your feet like a white carpet, it almost makes you think you’re a child of royalty being announced.  But you don’t let yourself be that deluded much longer. They stare at the mark longer than you like to admit, some blinking and rubbing their eyes as if they are seeing an illusion. You already know who your godly parent is, so you know the claim is just a message to Camp Halfblood. 

That you are the demigod child of Hera. A being that has not been thought of to even possibly exist. An impossible existence. 

Yet here you are. And you knew how. And yet you couldn’t tell any of them because Hera made you swear to not reveal that information to anyone outside of a very selected few confidants. If they knew any of the truths, then it would break the balance of the gods and would bring chaos to them; threatening them and you. 

The claim begins to fade, disappearing into glittering lights and as it falls upon you, so do the campers’ eyes. Thousands and thousands of eyes stare at you, not for you, but what you are. 

Argus stands beside you, standing like a guard and his protective stance only adds to the confirmation.

Mr. D drops his can of diet coke and as it splatters across the floor, Chiron finally breaks out of his stupor. He kneels and bows before you, his limbs shaking a bit as he stutters as he announces. 

“The bloodline is determined. Hera, Queen of the Gods, Goddess of Marriage, Women, Martial harmony, and protector of women during Childbirth. Hail, [y/n] [l/n], child of the queen of the gods.”

There is silence before chaos erupts as everything is turned over their heads.

[faithtrickedhope]

do you think athena ever resents Zeus for robbing her of the chance of having had a "normal birth" and a mother like everyone else has? does athena ever imagine what being a child would have felt like? what holding her mom's hands and hiding behind her dress would have felt like? i wonder if hera is nice to athena because she knows athena never had a mother. she was born before Zeus and her got married, after all, so Hera has no real reason to hold grudges like she held against Apollo, Artemis and Dionysus (all born out of affairs and not out of a previous union). Hera and Athena are often in the same side, they supported the acheans against troy and seem to generally respect each other.

Am I thinking all this just because of that "Hey, baby" in Hera's level in God Games? YEAH ABSOLUTELY.

ohh you came to the right person because mother-daughter dynamics drive me wild actually

i think there’s something to be said about a girl raised by her father because her father had his will that she would not have a mother. a girl who was born adorned in armour because her mother crafted it for her. athena was born a warrior of the mind (quite literally), and though zeus may shaped her and taught her as she grew, a lot of who she is can be attested to her birth. to her mother. so i think, yes, although athena is loyal to zeus, although she is his favourite, pe4ect daughter - there is still going to be a part of her that grieve for the mother she didn’t get to have, an resents the father who bears the reason.

i do like the idea that hera has a maternal dynamic with athena, then, because i think it would be good for both of them. athena finally gaining a mother-like presence in her life, and hera making a conscious choice of treating her as a daughter, knowing that the decision is hers, the girl is hers, and this isn’t like the other children of zeus. i think the “hey baby” line is quite telling, i definitely interpreted it as a sort of maternal-inflection, mother greeting daughter (in a sense). also just the whole way that hera interacts with athena in god games is really interesting. specifically her lines:

Try harder

and:

You can do better than that

it’s almost like she wants athena to win. where all the other gods presents their own arguments against odysseus, hera is giving way for athena to presents hers for him. she’s actively encouraging her to persuade her; she knows what athena - goddess of wisdom - is capable of, and she’s waiting to be hit with the wit that she knows athena posses. she knows athena “can do better than that”, she wants her to. she’s by far the most relaxed and causal of the gods throughout the games, i think to her this is just for fun and she sort of just wants to play around with athena for a bit. i like the interpretation that they’re locked in a dance during their conversation, like hers is using this as an excuse to just have some fun. maybe just for her own sake, but also maybe to spend sone time with athena.

headcanon wise, i do like the idea that hera is the one to take athena away after zeus’ wrath, or at least is the first to go to her. like i said, she seems to see the games as a very casual thing and doesn’t show any real contempt towards athena like the other gods do. she probably didn’t expect things to ever actually get dangerous. and of course, she also has her own qualms with zeus, so seeing him do something so heinous to his own daughter - i feel like that would kick in some kind of material instinct within her. she’d want to keep athena safe.

i should preface this all with the fact that this is all based solely in the context of epic. i’m sure the gods and their dynamics are different within wider mythology, but looking solely at the musical, these are some of my takes

[dootznbootz]

There's something really fascinating about how Athena treats Diomedes so differently from how treats Penelope and Odysseus (even Telemachus but that's a lil different too)

Athena has basically known Diomedes since he was born (some even say that she had a say in naming him) because of Tydeus. I don't think it's far-fetched to say that in a way, she possibly "molded" him. And Diomedes is kind of known for being the "perfect warrior king". He's respectful of the gods and most of his comrades, an incredibly skilled soldier, and has already achieved so many things despite being one of the youngest kings in the war.

I sadly think that's why Athena treats him so differently than Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus.

She cares for him, but it's still "distant" in a way. Or almost in an "I molded you. You will react the way I would want you to therefore I will not be surprised."

When it seems like she's known her other favored mortals for less long, she didn't get to "mold" them. They surprise and bring something "new" for her. She sees her little tricksters' scheme and plot and watches with intrigue but watching the perfect warrior is a "Yes, perfect form. That's what I'd do."

I mean even how her favored mortals pray to her tells you a lot about the relationships they have.

For example, in the Iliad, Odysseus doesn't need to really give as much reverence to her to "earn her favor" during book 10's Night Raid.

Odysseus rejoiced, and prayed to Pallas Athene: ‘Hear me, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, you who are with me in all my adventures, protecting me wherever I go. Show me your love, Athene, now, more than ever, and grant we return to the ships having won renown, with some brave act that will grieve the Trojans greatly.’ And Diomedes of the loud war-cry followed him in prayer: ‘Hear me also, Atrytone, daughter of Zeus. Be with me as you were with my father Tydeus in Thebes, when he went there as ambassador for the bronze-greaved Achaeans, camped there by the Asopus. A friendly offer was what he made them, but on his way back he was forced to take deadly reprisal for their ambush, and you fair goddess, readily stood by him. Stand by me now, and watch over me, and in return I will offer a broad-browed yearling heifer, unused to the yoke. I will tip her horns with gold and sacrifice her to you.’

(Book 10, A.S. Kline)

Diomedes brings up his dad and offers a young heifer (granted that could just be how Diomedes is with every immortal) while Odysseus doesn't and is basically like "Yo, help me out like you always do!". Odysseus is much more casual and personal with Athena. And with Penelope, Athena takes the form of one of her sisters to comfort her!

While Athena also most likely has known Telemachus since he was a baby, she's still closer to him than Diomedes.

Imagine that. You're basically molded by a goddess since birth, listen to her and other immortals dutifully, basically become her perfect warrior, and yet you can't seem to reach that familiarity with her. The same warmth she has for her other favored mortals.

[anotheroceanid]

Two things, first, wouldn't it be a punch in the gut to Poseidon that his daughter, his sweet little girl he's happy to finally have back again and when this all ends she's coming back to Atlantis with him, could not drown in any type of water but died drowning in her best friend's blood?

Second, my theory is that in the first timeline Perse was born the way she seemed, an innocent little goddess who felt like she failed at birth bc the Athenians did not wholy accept her (bc she was both the fountain and the olive leaves). Her life goes as normal, she's a very minor goddess with not many worshipers and since she was born not knowing anything she did not claim demigods as a domain(there were barely any at the time after all), until Zeus smites her bc she did not agree with the deadbeat law and since she's very minor that was enough to make her fade until she's reborn to Sally Jackson

Then she dies again, drowning on the blood of her best friend who's the reincarnation of her daughter and goes back to the past but now with the memories of her time as a demigod but not her time as a goddess

In her best friend’s blood who was her daughter in a past life 😭😭😭 imagine him going after her body and finding them clinging to each other even though they're just corpses now. Athena screamed at him that nothing of it would've happened if he hadn't kept their daughter from her 😭😭😭

Yeah, in the first time I think she was what she seemed to be. But maybe she became the demigod’s goddess because she, herself, claimed herself to be only half of a goddess since her birth was due to rejection. So the things she does in that life, she does because she thinks that the best at the moment. While, later, Percy ends up doing the same thing, thinking she’d get to avoid the original outcome.

And I can definitely see Zeus and her starting to fight more and more as he realises the demigods are dangerous (when he decides that gods must keep distance). Even original Perse thought it was absurd, especially since it would seriously affect her own domains.

[literallyjusttoa]

I always found it funny that Apollo is said to be 4000 or so years old in ToA, bc while that is really old mortal wise, it seems actually really young all things considered? I mean, he’s tens of thousands of years younger than humans on earth are, and that’s not even mentioning that half of his family was born long before humans came into existence, so they’ve all got at least like 20,000 years of life over him. That’s almost 5 times his whole life.

My fav idea regarding this is that Apollo and Artemis are the first Olympians to be born after mortals were made by Prometheus. This is kind of maybe supported in myth? Athena and Hephaestus are both active in versions of the mortal creation myth, but none of their younger siblings are shown. I like this bc I think that the younger children of Zeus (Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Dionysus) are connected to humans in a way that the rest of the gods are not. It’s the difference between living your whole life with mortals around or having them only show up once you’ve already been around for centuries.

I also like the (probably unintentional) implication Rick made about Apollo and Greece. Doing the math, it seems like Apollo is born sometime in the 2590’s B.C.E, tho it’s hard to be certain with the riordanverse’s mess of a time period. Regardless, he was born around the same time we see major civilization pick up in the Cyclades. Some of our first art pieces from Ancient Greece actually come from this exact time period (there are figurines from Syros and Keros that date to 2700-2300 B.C.E. The one from Keros is even a male lyre player!) This implies that Artemis and Apollo’s birth coincided directly with the birth of Greece. Good for them!

This all also adds to my favorite theory that riordanverse Apollo is the world’s most specialist little boy that connects mortals and gods and is super powerful and also awesome and not like other girls and he could totally overthrow his father for funzies and the fates would applaud him for it.

[gingermintpepper]

Fate-Master I

I did say I would post more wips of my Zeus and Apollo writing so here's a bit from a series I've been writing concerning a young Apollo grappling with being the up and coming Moiragetes - Master of the Fates.

Do let me know if there's any interest for this sort of thing; I didn't originally intend to post this stuff anywhere, but I've just been so frustrated that I feel like it's necessary now 😂

Apollo marks time by etching notches into a clay tablet. He watches from the edge of the mountain’s summit, six of his crows perched three-by-three atop his shoulders and the seventh casting her gaze down onto the maidens all gathered to pick their flowers. He watches them laugh and joke and throw their petals all about, free and fragrant with an easy camaraderie spread thick between them all. He carves his first notch when Persephone lays eyes on the innocent narcissus; in his visions he could never make sense of time’s passing - he did not know how long she would remain swallowed, merely that it would be long enough for her to be missed, searched for, grieved and avenged.

 It will be worth it all in the end.  

Soon, all the world will delight in the birth of new Seasons, a new system of time to mark the stabilisation of this new era.  

He averts his eyes when the earth crumbles beneath Persephone’s feet. There is no way for him to deny it if he truly does bear witness to the act. Apollo cannot see the pitch-black rider on his earth-dark horses as he grabs the maiden. He cannot see those immortal steeds galloping down, down, infinitely down beneath the earth so their rider may delight in his prize. He does not know the sound of her screams as the ground eats her alive. Only the narcissus remains when he once more casts his gaze down, white and untouched. Innocent. Like Apollo. Neither of them have seen a single thing. 

(But oh, her screams are loud in his ear. Big, reedy yells, wet with phlegm. A fawn crying for her mother, the tittering of a sparrowling swallowed foot-first by the viper. They never seemed this loud in his dreams, like footnotes easily overlooked at the very bottom of the page. Apollo does not see her go, but he hears her. He hopes he is the only one who hears.) 

He calls for his darling crow to return to him, stepping light into the halls of Olympus. His day will continue on as normal but to visit his mother so he can request a particularly thick himation for the coming days. Lemnos clicks next to his ear and Apollo huffs, dismissing his crows in a scatter of bright white feathers and glittering metal. They will watch what he cannot. They will make sure the maiden remains buried deep beneath the earth. 

The subtle cold emanating from his father’s quarters curls about his calves - he did not realise he had already travelled the length of the halls. He does not knock before he enters; the women are all busy this time of day and shrewd Athena is still out dancing with his sister, it will just be Father in his room, bent over his table or pouring over one of his maps. 

“It is done.” 

And Father looks up from his writing, a knowing glint shining in wine-dark eyes. His face remains frightfully still, marble stiff and focused on Apollo with the full weight of his eagle sharp intent. “You did not see it?” 

Her scream is the same as the highest note on the aeolian scale. A wonderfully piercing ‘A’. It is similar to the sound that resonates in the sky’s centre, Apollo cannot stop hearing it in his ear. “I did not.” 

Father smiles then, like sunlight peeking through the rough edges of the storm, “Good. That’s good.” He puts his hand to his face, scratches his chin as he hums contemplative. “How much time do we have before… well, before.” 

Demeter’s wailing will be a much darker sound, phrygian and guttural, discordant. Apollo’s had the score written for months now. He thinks he will hang Persephone’s cry next to it. Maybe he will incorporate their melodies into the song he will play at her return. Maybe it is cruel of him to already be thinking such things. “I know not. Time has never been the clearest to me, even in my most vivid of visions.” 

“It is no matter,” Father leans forward, digs a bolt of bright red fabric out of his drawer. “Here,” When he catches it, Apollo feels a denseness in the fibres he has never known. They’re slick yet springy, far coarser than sheep’s wool but unlike any goatskin or leather he has ever handled. “For the cloak you will ask of your mother.”   

He is slowly becoming accustomed to his thoughts not being his own, to his father living so closely in his head. The woven string connecting them still bleeds dye if either of them pull too hard on the connection, but in these quiet moments, it is a comfort. A lifeline. 

“Chimera skin, so it will not burn when you wear it for your work.” Would Father be this calm if it was Artemis swallowed by the earth? Would Apollo? That watery scream is a persistent ringing, she is still screaming far beneath where none but the rider can hear her. (Apollo hears her. Even now, he can hear the heavy breath of the dark stallions, the ripping winds that sting at her ears. Persephone is a friend, can he really leave her to this fate -?) “Phoebus.” 

Father’s broad palm is warm on his shoulder. It pulls him gently from his spiralling thoughts. The heat is unexpected; even now, Apollo can feel his toes going stiff from the room’s chill. 

“I am well,” he hears himself say, distant like the clanging stallion hooves which carry the rider’s prize deeper beneath the earth. Father does not let him go when he tries to escape. He does not tighten his hold either. His hand merely remains on Apollo’s slim shoulder, a point to anchor him here and not there. Apollo focuses on the faint hum of his father’s power, the gentle whistle of his cloud-hairs as they flow about his head, the muffled shuffling of his crows’ feathers as they settle in the gables to await his return. He no longer hears her. Not her, not the dread chariot. He cannot hear a single thing. “I am well.” 

[lonewolfel]

AU were Zeus gives Eurylochus the choice Odysseus's life or the lives of himself and the crew.

This idea entered my brain dis-morning and wouldn't leave my brain, so instead of all my other wip or homework I should be doing I decided to write this while I'm at work.

I might do more in this universe. Feel free to ask me about the Au.

Warnings: rapid decay of a character's health, character death (off screen)

Ithaca faded from Athena's senses. Instead she know was wrapped in her Quick Thought standing on an hour glass as time steadily clicked forward.

It's been ten years since Athena had seen Odysseus. She remembered him exactly as he was then. His rage was clear, their was a heaviness on his shoulders that had steadily increased ever since he went to war, and grief from the men he had lost. There was also a sadness and a look of betrayal as she lectured him about his stupid actions.

Athena now knew that she went about it all wrong. She should have told him that the cyclops is Poseidon's son and that if he is left alive he will send his father after them. Now it was too late for that, as for all Athena's powers she can't change the past. Now though she has a chance to help her friends and she is going to take it.

"Odysseus," Athena said.

She then jumped off the hour glass diving to the other side so she may be able to peer into his past.

Odysseus stood there on Aeolus's island. In his hands was a simple bag. He looked a little battered but not any worse for wear.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Aeolus giggled.

The scene shifted. Now Odysseus stood on the deck. Poseidon was before the ship elevated by a water spout. There was a gleam in his eyes that promised pain.

Odysseus looked exhausted, there were dark circles underneath his eyes. There was fear in his eyes and also horror. Clutched to his chest was the same bad that he had on Aeolus's island only now it was slightly deflated.

"Ruthlessness is mercy upon oursel-" Poseidon's words got cut off in a rush of wind that changed the scene.

Odysseus now stood in an elegant room battling the imprisoned daughter of Helios, Circe.

Circe's eyes glowed gold with her magic and divine birth. With her magic she created a chimera that stood in front of Circe.

The way that Odysseus looked sent shivers down Athena's spine. He still had the dark eye bags beneath his eyes and looked disheveled but he doesn't look actually tired. His vein's glowed white under the power of the Molly that he had eaten likely what was filling him with energy. Odysseus had his sword drawn pointed at Circe and behind him stood a large cyclops glowing white from the magic of the molly.

"One wrong move and you're done for, anything I-" Circe was cut off by the scene changing again.

This scene was slightly fuzzy around the edges. This was due to Odysseus being in Hades' domain and outside the sight of the Olympian gods. She could still make out Odysseus standing in front of a cloaked shade that seemed to be feeding off of blood.

Odysseus's eyes were bloodshot and still had dark circles underneath them.

"Song of past romance, I see the-" the shade started.

The scene changes were getting faster. Clearly these events were happening back to back.

Odysseus and his men stood on the deck of the ship clearly back to the realm of the living. They each had their weapons drawn. In the center of the deck laid a pile of five sirens. Each of them on the top part took the image of some of the crews wives or lovers including Penelope, the bottom half though was a tail revealing these women as monsters.

Odysseus's skin had taken on a sickly hue. His eyes still had bags and bloodshot. The men around him charged forward at the sirens.

"We won't take more suffering from you," Odysseus's crew said.

The scene changed this one was covered in shadows. Athena couldn't make out much details with Odysseus as the six torches were behind him. Though she could make out in the light that Odysseus was shaking slightly despite his grip on the rails of the ship and his complexion seemed to remain pale. She could see that Odysseus's blood shot eyes were focused on the water in front of them filled with pain and determination.

Then Scylla rose up from the water. Her heads attacking each of the men with the torches slowly snuffing out their lights.

"Drown in your sorrow and fears," Scylla sang.

The scene changed again. They were on the ship but a storm was over them with lightning frequently flashing. Her father hovered above the ship facing Odysseus's second in command Eurylochus.

Athena gasped at how awful Odysseus looked. It was clear that he had lost some weight likely due to malnourishment. His skin was still pale with his eyes still bloodshot with bags underneath him. On his side were hazardously tied bandages that were stained red and had puss from an ill treated wound. He was tied to the mast of the ship and that was clearly the only thing keeping Odysseus from crumbling to the ground.

"Eurylochus," Odysseus pleaded. His voice barely carried over the sound of the storm and the waves it was so weak.

"I have to save them, Ody," Eurylochus said.

He didn't look at his captain. He only kept his eyes on Zeus. He pointed over at Odysseus. Dread filled Athena at the action.

Resignation filled Odysseus's face. Her father gathered a yellow lightning bolt in his hands.

"Please, Eury, …"

Athena screamed. This shattered the hour glass causing sand and shards of glass to spray around her mind.

Athena collapsed onto her knees sobbing. She couldn't watch anymore certainly not with no ability to change anything. Seven years, he has been dead now and Athena knew nothing. She could have saved him so many times, but she didn't.

Now Odysseus has a watery grave and his family knows nothing of it. His son will have to fight tooth and nail to try and pry his birth right from his mother's suitors. Penelope will be forced to remarry.

Athena pushed down her grief and guilt. There was nothing she can do to fix this. She stood back up and repaired her realm. There were some shades of red that colored the background but she paid those no mind. She can't fix the past but she can bring at least one of his killers to justice.

"Odysseus, I swear to you that I will make Eurylochus of Same pay for his choice."

[thequeer07puss]

Hera as a goddess of legitimacy and a force of legitimisation

A lot of stories featuring Hera (not that many, to be honest, but the most famous ones) portray her as relentlessly attacking both gods and demigods sired by Zeus, which has partially inspired people to think of her as a “jealous wife” archetype, but most of these people ignore the main thing that Hera represents: legitimacy.

Hera as the goddess of marriage rules over legitimate unions, and as a result, may choose to pursue those who betray these kinds of unions in some kind of way. An example would be the speed with which she withdrew her sponsorship of the hero Jason why he broke his oath of love and loyalty to his wife Medea in favour of a crown which he was no longer eligible for.

Speaking of Jason, Hera was pretty much his only patron deity during his quest for the Golden Fleece, which was started as a way for him to claim his rightful place on his father’s throne, and this sponsorship started as soon as Jason’s quest started. No prayer was prayed, no offering was offered. Hera just showed up as soon as Jason’s quest for legitimacy started, and helped him as soon as he proved himself to her by carrying her (in the form of an old woman) across a river.

Also, Hera is a goddess who is known for testing the worth of both gods and heroes, especially when they are destined to enter Olympus (her home and domain), and especially when they were born out of an illegitimate union on either her or Zeus’s part. The torments endured by the various children of Zeus at her hand, and even her own (for the purposes of this essay I will take Dionysus, Apollo and Hephaestus)

Apollo

Apollo’s ordeal started even before he was born, as his mother Leto has been denied the right to give birth on any island attached to the land, and was relentlessly chased by a giant snake. Here Hera imposes herself and shows her might as the definitive and legitimate wife of Zeus (Leto was Zeus’s previous wife), and brands any child born from Leto as being under her in terms of status. When Apollo is born and slays the serpent Python, Hera is then forced to recognise that his trial is complete and that he has a claim to the Olympian seat.

Hephaestus and Dionysus

Hephaestus was conceived as a kind of revenge plot against Zeus for conceiving Athena on his own, from the sacred bed which he shares with Hera, but without her input or approval, which prompted the goddess to do the same in order to restore the balance of power within their marriage, and to show Zeus that if he could make a child on his own, then she could too.

However, when the infant Hephaestus was born, it was either Zeus or Hera herself that hurls him down from Olympus, however godly he may be, crippling him in the process and forcing him to EARN the right to re-enter Olympus (kind of like how Hercules in the Disney movie was debuffed so that he would earn his way back into Olympus), which he ultimately achieved by capturing Hera in a golden throne (literally trapping her with one of her most sacred attributes).

Dionysus’s trial begins where Hephaestus’s comes to an end. Having met Hera in his childhood and been rendered mad by her which led to him being rescued by Rhea (whom I assume here to be Rhea-Cybele, whose cult has some of the mad and wild attributes of Dionysus’s), he must have already taken notice of the tests given to him by the goddess, and was waiting for an opportunity to finally take a seat among the Olympians after having established a very respected and feared mystery cult among mortals, so when he heard that Hera was captured by an angry Hephaestus, he jumped on the occasion and coaxed him into following him back to Olympus, where both would finally get recognised as legitimate both in the eyes of the gods and of Hera.

Hera and the sons of Zeus

Hera’s tests mostly seem to affect her husband’s illegitimate Olympian sons, as can be evidenced by the lack of trial for goddesses such as Artemis or Athena. Why is that so?

Personally, I think it’s because sons in Ancient Greece were more valued in society: they could inherit their father’s property, they had claims to the throne and could be seen as heirs to it in case their father somehow resigned. So Hera branding these sons as reformed illegitimate sons could be a way for her to negate their claims to their father’s power and nerf their chances of growing too powerful at the expense of her legitimate children (Orphic Dionysus was literally said to be Zeus’s heir, and would have been had Hera not told the Titans to dismember and eat him), while checking if they are still fit to set foot on Olympus after that serious debuff.

But that’s just my thoughts, I don’t have any source or academic paper that confirms this.

A rule of thumb when analysing Greek myths is that they don’t exist in a vacuum and that as entertaining as they may seem, there is something more to them most of the time, and that is especially the case with a goddess who has a history as long, rich and complex as Hera. It’s really a shame that people only see her as a mean shrew when she has so much more stuff going on, but I guess that with pop culture this complexity has to be diluted and thus misinterpreted by people who don’t have the religious and cultural context of these stories.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and may Hera bless you.

[sydneyofalltrades]

each god has a symbol of power. it’s well known throughout greek mythos. yet in god games (MY interpretation), athena must collect a token from every god to show their compliance in odysseus’s release.

she already brandishes her own, the matching hourglass chain that turns into any weapon she needs at any time, the very same as the one she bestowed to odysseus when they became friends. he clung to his identical piece as he cried out for her help in ogygia.

yet she must collect the rest from the other gods. apollo, hephaestus, aphrodite, ares, hera, or zeus himself.

so she seeks the tokens to help free her fallen friend.

apollo’s lyre was easy enough. he truly knew odysseus would leave, being the god of prophecy, so him handing athena the small string instrument was hardly a problem.

hephaestus showed a bit more resistance. his argument was strong, yet athena’s smarts and assistance in his building ultimately won her his coveted bronze hammer.

aphrodite put up more of a fight. through her mirror, she declared odysseus should suffer the way his mother anticlea had, and athena, desperate to see him free, used her elusive “quick-thought” to beg the love goddess to change her mind.

but her brother, the ever so powerful ares, breaks through with his own version of the quick-thought, fighting his sister with the same sword she seeks.

only when athena beats ares in a duel and explains how odysseus’s nature will get the gore he seeks, and the love forged that aphrodite seethes over, they both hand the mirror and (now broken) sword as tokens.

mother of the gods, queen hera is next, and while athena has trouble meeting her pace on the dance floor, she does proclaim that the meetings with witches odysseus encountered were not in his consent, that his love for penelope was real and true. and to that, hera gifted the wisdom goddess her own wedding ring as her token, along with a peacock feather and a nod of encouragement

when the goddess brings the tokens to her father, the king of the gods is enraged. he demands that no one, not even one birthed of logic and skill, shall win the game of releasing the forlorn king.

and so he shots thousands of pinpricks of lightning through every vein in athena’s body.

and though she fights back and begs for her old friend’s freedom, she needn’t had to.

she had already procured her father’s token in the lightning he’d struck her with

[katerinaaqu]

Katya hi :D

Please tell us about whatever the shit that goes on between Hephaestus and Athena

Oh Hephaestus and Athena huh? That is an interesting couple of gods we do not see so much these days and yet they were really co-worshipped in antiquity! Let's buckle up then!

For starters they are half-siblings that much many people know. There are different myths about Hephaestus. Apollodorous and Cicero have him as the legitimate son of Zeus and Hera while other writers such as Hesiod, Hyginus, Pausanias and the Homeric Hymns mostly want him to be a son of Hera that has no father and basically was born out of a virgin birth process. Ironically with this train of thought he has no biological father while Athena has no longer her biological mother given her birth. Also both gods being born out of both the members of the couple and the parallel is interesting.

Hephestus and Athena are also sharing the attribute of the protectors of the craftsmen. Hephaestus is generally seen as the protector of metalwork and Athena of other crafts but the two overlap a lot. In fact many temples have them co-worshipped with it. Another common thing they have is their elleged mighty strength. Despite the fact that he is limping, Hephestus is mighty in strength and Athena easily overpowered Ares in Homer to say a few.

Now as we know Hephaestus is a god that was either born crippled as we have from Homer or crippled by the fall he had from Olympus (either because of Hera or because of Zeus depending on the myth) while Athena is a goddess dressed in armor and choosing to remain a virgin and unmarried. Both cases seem to be "contrasting" some of the ideals of antiquity (the ideal of beauty and the ideal of women marrying and not fighting) and both are respected for their contributions which is interesting. Hephaestus being unattractive surely didn't stop him having his own affairs and according to some myths he was given Aphrodite, the most beautiful goddess, as a wife as a compensation (of course we know that this didn't really work out given that by most accounts following the myth Aphrodite was never faithful to this union either and she had a number of lovers with one of the most known being Ares)

In one of the myths Hephaestus tries to bed Athena and violate her. The reasons behind it vary according to writers. Pseudo-Apollodorous says that Hephestus was just abandoned by Aphrodite and so being angry and sad. Athena arrives to his warehouse to get some weapons made, where she gets attacked by him (in fact Apollodorous says that he had to chase her before finally catching up with her. The description is rather graphic and detailed to say the very least). Pseudo-Hyginus also mentions a similar story although that states that after Dionysus made Hephaestus drunk to coerse him release his mother Hera from the chair he had trapped her, Poseidon took advantage of the situation to get revenge on Athena so he urges Hephaestus when he would have one wish granted to ask Athena to marry him. He does and she defends herself and they struggle a bit (ερις eris= fight/strife) . In another work of his the same writer states that Hephaestus was just enflamed with passion for Athena and begged her to marry him but of course she refused and Hephaestus chases her. She hides herself to a sanctuary (believed her co-worshipping center with Hephaestus in Athens) and there Hephaestus follows her and tries to embrace her.

Either way Athena repells him and gathers his seed that has fallen onto her sandal in the process with a piece of wool (ἔριον) [or shakes her foot on the dirt to get it clean] and she throws it away. The piece of cotton proceeds to to fertilize Gaia (earth, χθών) who later gives birth to the mythical king Erichthonius (ἔριον+χθών - wool+earth/ground) who becomes the legendary first king of Athens. The infant is being depicted on various attic vases, with Gaea basically giving baby Erichthonius to the arms of Athena. The myth was basically to signify not only the protection of Athena against the city or the connection of the city with arts and agriculture but also signify the legend Atheneans believed into, that their nation was native indigenous of Attica as opposing to other greek tribes like Dorieans who came from the north (or Hyperborean lands). Since Erichthonius came directly from earth beginning the line of the Atheneans.

I hope this helps!

[ae-neon]

Nesta Archeron // Pallas Athene

Nesta Archeron as the Goddess Athena

While I'm not the biggest fan of warrior Nesta

I think Athena fits her in a perfect way as she's not the goddess of the physical art of war but of strategic warfare. In the same way, Nesta's first and greatest weapon was always her mind.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, warfare, handicraft and is a protector of the city of Athens. In acomaf and acowar Nesta is largely motivated to work with the IC in hopes of saving as many humans (and Fae) as is possible. She also calculates the amount of boats needed to evacuate the populace.

Athena took the name Pallas after her friend who died when Zeus interfered in their sparring match, which distracted Pallas and caused Athena to fatally harm her. In a way this parallels the death of Clare Beddor, Nesta's friend who died when her name was given in place of Feyre's.

Athena is a bearer of the aegis, a powerful item capable of mythical levels of magic. In the same way Nesta uses the Dread Trove.

In many accepted versions, Athena is a result of parthenogenesis and has no mother, having been birthed fully-grown from Zeus's forehead. This can be paralleled by the absence and namelessness of Mama Archeron. As well as Nesta's emergence from the Cauldron, not just surviving its attempts to kill her but taking from the primordial power pool of the world itself.

In other versions, however, Athena is the child of Metis; Zeus's first wife and advisor and the personification of wisdom and council. Zeus fearfully swallows the pregnant Metis after it is predicted she will bear a son who is wiser than his mother and more powerful than his father.

Nesta, in many respects, is exactly that. Even able to rebuild the family fortune in less than a year by investing the money Tamlin offers. Paired with the knowledge and skill needed to calculate the evacuation plans. She also defies a High Lords' glamour as a human, advises Feyre to follow her heart and return to Prythian, sways the tide in the meeting of the High Lords etc.

Athena is often represented by snakes (medicine) and owls (protection and victory) many soldiers would be comforted by the sight of an owl over the battlefield. While Nesta is referred to as a viper and tied very closely to the winged people of Illyria, even saving a squad from the blast of the Cauldron.

Athena is also often associated with olive trees. In popular culture, olive branches are symbolic of reconciliation which is a prevalent theme for Nesta, especially with Feyre.

But Nesta and Athena also contrast in many ways. Athena is always aligned with Patriarchy and men.

She is Zeus's favourite child and allowed to bear his most powerful weapons including the aegis and lightning bolts despite the prophecy of her birth because she is not seen as a threat because she is a woman.

But in contrast Nesta is the most openly hostile towards her father, rooting him at the centre of her fear, anger and frustration despite his disability and circumstances.

Nesta is also very defiant and dismissive of the male authority and male figures around her with far less leniency than others grant to "nice guys" like Lucien, Cassian and Rhysand.

Nesta aligns herself more often with women and traditionally feminine but not "submissive" or performative traits. Her modesty is a choice and a shield more than a performance set to attract male attention or respect. Even her participation in the Rite ultimately boils down to her choosing to protect her friends more than to achieve something which would gain her love and respect from Cassian and other Illyrian males.

SJM's inconsistency and poor handling aside

Athena is Zeus's favourite child and patron goddess of the city of Athens not despite the ancient Greeks misogyny, but because she conforms to male ideals.

Nesta on the other hand, takes the power of the Cauldron for and by herself, she is often described as a queen and offered great power and titles associated with powerful men but rejects these not out of love for another but out of personal principle.