#and i will never get over Aphrodite's and Hera's parts

[wildwinterlunas]

More on Epic!Ares cause "The Lovers" section of God Games will not get out of my head. The thing I don't think fans are recognizing is that Ares's last line "pathetic and weak like his son" is very deliberately meant to provoke Athena, it's meant to test why she's doing this.

Consider how Telemachus went into the fight with Antinous, he didn't have a plan, only a goal, and he stood his ground, no cunning techniques only fists. Which is something Ares would agree with doing, not only that but remember what Antinous and the suitors want to do to Penelope, why Telemachus was fighting in the first place. Ares is a god known to be a defender of women, one of his biggest myths is about him killing a son of Poseidon because he assaulted his daughter. Considering that he likely wouldn't call Telemachus weak unless it was to get to Athena.

Which it did and that show of love and protectiveness over Telemachus is what convinced both Ares and Aphrodite to let Odysseus go. They are not ruled by logic and objectivity, which is what prepared her for Hera and Zeus, with Hera, Odysseus never cheating isn't a logical argument but it's what would work on Hera. With Zeus it was more important, Athena showing emotion and showing that vulnerability gave her the ability to sacrifice her pride. At the end of the song she begs Zeus to let Odysseus go, not longer being the "selfish, prideful and vain" Goddess that she was when her and Odysseus parted ways.

[bones4thecats]

❥· His My Treasure, Hephaestus × F! S/O

Character(s): Hephaestus (⚒️), Ares (⚔️) A/N: This was a piece I've wanted to write for such a long time. I had to make an outline of the story so I could fill in the bits and pieces to fit in with it. I hope you guys like this little love-piece for my favorite Greek deity; Hephaestus! (P.S.: This is by-far the longest part, consisting of 2,618 words and 14912 characters.). ╰┈⊳ " Being Ares' Ex and current spouse of Hephaestus. "

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━☽【❖】☾━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

⚒️⚔️ Relationships on Mt. Olympus are rocky to say the least. And there is no relationship more rocky than the one between parent and child; Hera, Zeus, and Hephaestus.

⚒️⚔️ Hephaestus, the second-born to both Hera and Zeus, was said to be disfigured shortly after birth. Zeus' violence, erupting at the audacity his son proposed by defending Hera from him, overtook him. He had gripped his son's leg; one hand on his ankle and another on his calf, and threw him off of the mountain and towards the mortal-land below.

⚒️⚔️ On the way down, the future God of the Forge would end up damaging his body. The first to break was his leg, bending backwards in a way that it shouldn't have been possible. Next was his wrist, then shoulder, and finally his hip. Due to the fractures in his body, he gained issues when functioning; his leg was to be replaced by a prosthetic made by his own hands later on, his wrist would pop anytime moved, his shoulder the same, while his hip was wrapped in a brace, gifted by his younger brother, Apollo.

⚒️⚔️ While Hephaestus landed on the island of Lemnos and was raised by his foster moms, the Oceanid Eurynome and the Nereid Thetis, the issue of marriage arose on Olympus. Aphrodite, the Goddess of Lust, was wanted by many Gods; both old and young.

⚒️⚔️ Because of the tension rising, Zeus was annoyed once again. He sat on his throne as he heard screaming. Standing up, he burst into the nearby room. There, soaring above all, was a golden throne. Inside of it was the Queen of the Gods, Hera herself. She yelled and damned her second son for his insolence while others laughed at the predicament.

⚒️⚔️ "You damned child! Let me out of this at once!" She screamed.

⚒️⚔️ "...Nah."

⚒️⚔️ Zeus sighed and rolled his eyes, walking up to the side of his son; the same side he had damaged from tossing him from Mt. Olympus years prior. "Son, what can I do to... assist in her release?" He asked.

⚒️⚔️ Hephaestus shrugged, asking what he had to give. Zeus offered many things, ranging from his own set of mountains to rule over and have to himself to even the replacement of his damaged limbs. "No," Hephaestus replied. "I'm used to using this now. Don't wanna mix up my senses."

⚒️⚔️ Zeus groaned, his long hair swaying as he looked around rapidly. It took him a mere few minutes before he caught the sight of three of his other sons arguing; Ares holding both Apollo and Dionysus in headlocks as they yelled. He knew what it was all about; Aphrodite.

⚒️⚔️ "I've got it!" He said, snapping his fingers as he looked into his son's stoic eyes. "How about I gift you something you'd never be able to get on your own; a wife! Specifically Aphrodite!"

⚒️⚔️ Hephaestus looked behind his father, catching sight of the Goddess of Beauty, and shrugged his shoulders. "Sure." He agreed. At the single-worded answer, the throne that glued Hera inside fell to the floor, sending the Goddess to the floor as well, but this time free from the chair's seating area.

⚒️⚔️ "Excellent. The wedding shall be held in four days time." Zeus cheered, patting Hephaestus' back as he groaned and looked away. "Good luck, son."

-

⚒️⚔️ It's been hundreds of years since the union on the two opposite deities. A mere fraction of that time belonged to the union of the God of War, Ares, and the Goddess of Womanhood, Music, and Healing, Y/N.

⚒️⚔️ Known for her kindness and gentle voice, she were beloved by many, especially the Queen of the Gods. She was the one who introduced her to her eldest son, and was also the one who had arranged for their marriage to the black-haired deity.

⚒️⚔️ And it was Hera who accidentally set the course for the day the polite, shy Goddess, would snap.

⚒️⚔️ Hephaestus was busy working away in his forge on Olympus, ignoring all around him. His mind was all focused on the weapons he was making for his half-sister, Athena. He needed to get the carvings in just right before putting the blade together with the handle.

⚒️⚔️ Because of the isolation that Hephaestus had neglected to see anything wrong going on his wife, not noticing how much more relaxed she seemed when he'd get home from the workshop to rest. Mainly because he was forced to by his dear youngest sister, Hebe.

⚒️⚔️ "You must get some rest." She'd say, a calming smile on her face as she would lightly pull his hand from his tools to bring him out of the sweltering room. Alongside her in these events was her husband, Heracles, who silently assisted his wife to bring the God of the Forge to his home for rest.

⚒️⚔️ When he was brought home the week prior, Hebe and Heracles were sent to handle some other political affairs with Hades, whom needed assistance with Pirithous and Theseus down in the Underworld. "They were being to noisy with their beliefs in wives again," he wrote. In the meanwhile, Hephaestus focused on his work, ignoring all attempts to push him out of the shop.

⚒️⚔️ Light covered the shop heavier than normal, alerting Hephaestus. He looked upwards and saw that a Titan God, specifically Helios, was standing behind him with a sly smile on his face.

⚒️⚔️ The second-born of Hera cocked an eyebrow and brushed his eye-guard away from his face and asked the deity what he needed. "Oh, I just found out something that is quite... interesting to say the least."

⚒️⚔️ "Spit it out. I don't have all day to listen to meaningless rumors." Hephaestus replied, laying his hammer and tongs to the side.

⚒️⚔️ "You are married to Aphrodite, correct?"

⚒️⚔️ "Yes."

⚒️⚔️ "Well, as the brother to Ares and husband to Aphrodite, you may take this terribly. Oh well! 'Honesty is the key', as Selene would say."

⚒️⚔️ "Again, spit it out."

⚒️⚔️ Helios laughed, floating in the air as he continued his words. "I witnessed a particular Goddess of Procreation and God of War accompanying one another in the bedroom, doing what only the married folks should."

⚒️⚔️ "...What?"

⚒️⚔️ "They were having intercourse. Quite vocally, might I add."

⚒️⚔️ Hephaestus' emotions froze, his blue eyes that came from his father were widened. After a moments time nothing moved, Helios cocked an eyebrows and waved his light-skin hands in front of his face.

⚒️⚔️ "You good-"

⚒️⚔️ "Get out."

⚒️⚔️ Fists were balled, and Helios caught sight of them. Instead of trying to calm the God down, he smiled and swiftly left, light following behind him like a cloak as he returned to his sky-high kingdom. Meanwhile, Hephaestus' mind began to wander. He grabbed a piece of paper and began to write down everything that came to his head; and a single plan hung high above the rest of the quick, anger-filled writings.

⚒️⚔️ Pushing his forge to the brink of breaking, he created a long, thin chain. It was invisible to the naked eyes unless someone were looking for it, and he smirked as he made sure it was unbreakable. From striking it with blades, hammers, and throwing it inside of the flames to melt.

⚒️⚔️ Step One: Make a trap. Check.

⚒️⚔️ Step Two: Catch the lovers in the act.

-

⚒️⚔️ Laying the chain's end down in the curtain, Hephaestus chuckled. He had finally gotten it all done. Each step to get to his goal done; successful. Now, all he had to do was step out and wait for his net of unbreakable chains to catch the affair-actors in the act.

⚒️⚔️ "Aphrodite!" He called, catching the attention of the self-interesting Goddess. "I'm going to Lemnos for a business trip; delivering creations and all. I'll be back in around a week."

⚒️⚔️ She nodded and said goodbye, still staring at herself in her mirror, adjusting her fluffy burnt umber hair. And Hephaestus left, going around the corner instead of heading to his chariot led by donkeys. He kept his ears open as he heard bushes rustle and a masculine voice mix with a feminine's.

⚒️⚔️ Before he even realized it, he heard the screams of both Ares and Aphrodite.

⚒️⚔️ Walking back inside his home, his wrist popped as he closed the door. His eyes looked up at the two deities wrapped up in the chains, anger on their expressions as they yelled at Hephaestus to let them go; much like how Hera did all those years ago.

⚒️⚔️ "What a predicament you both are in." He said, a smirk teasing his face as he called for Hermes to come to his home. Hermes did listen and cackled as he called the rest of the Olympian deities to see the lovers caught in the unbreakable chains made by Hephaestus himself.

⚒️⚔️ It was as some deities left that Poseidon finally spoke about what it would take to free his nephew and niece-in-law. Hephaestus scoffed, arms crossed as he rolled his eyes and spoke with anger tinting his voice. "I signed up for a loyal wife; one that would not have an affair, nonetheless with my own brother!"

⚒️⚔️ "I understand that part of you, nephew. I truly do. But, you must have some price to get the two out of the net."

⚒️⚔️ "I do; a refund."

⚒️⚔️ "A... refund?"

⚒️⚔️ "I want the marriage over, without any fault being put on my side. I want this to be something behind me. Father owes this to me."

⚒️⚔️ "This wasn't exactly your father's fault, more so your brother's. How about Ares pays while your father just eradicates the marriage?"

⚒️⚔️ Hephaestus scoffed once again, staring into his uncle's eyes as he bitterly disagreed. After all, what if Ares didn't end up paying him his dues?

⚒️⚔️ "If Ares doesn't pay, I will; straight from my pockets."

⚒️⚔️ "Fine."

-

⚒️⚔️ On the opposite side of Olympus, a woman cried in the arms of a brunette Goddess named Hestia. Two more females were beside her, one being the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis, and the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena. Their eyes were filled with sympathy as the woman sobbed, face buried in the chest of the eldest Goddess.

⚒️⚔️ She hushed the younger female, patting her head a she asked what had happened to prompt such a sadness.

⚒️⚔️ "It was Ares..." She spoke. "He and Aphrodite... they're having an affair. I caught them in my own bed!"

⚒️⚔️ "What?!" Artemis yelled, eyes glowing a blinding white as her shoulder was grasped by her eldest sibling. Athena growled under her breath, scolding her brother before she sighed and relaxed her expression.

⚒️⚔️ "Do you know where he is now?" She asked. She nodded and pulled away from the motherly hold of her aunt-in-law, wiping her tears and she stood and spoke, telling the three Goddesses her husband was last seen by her heading towards Hephaestus and Aphrodite's residence.

⚒️⚔️ "Understood." Athena replied, looking at her aunt and telling her and her in-law to stay there for now, for her and her half-sister shall handle their half-brother. Hestia nodded, but the Goddess of Healing disagreed, saying she would help handle it. After all, he was her husband.

⚒️⚔️ "Fine." Artemis replied, "Just, stay next to us."

-

⚒️⚔️ "Ares." Athena said, hand gripping her spear tightly as she glared at her brother from behind. He stood, unwrapping the loosened chains from his arm and glared at his younger brothers with anger before turning around. Then he saw her standing there.

⚒️⚔️ His wife, the woman he called his, whom he took pride in being with, so much so that he had a child with; his son. Named after the pride he felt in his family, Aristotle, meaning "best purpose", was the perfect blend of the partners. Now, he saw his wife there, heartbroken, and anger flashing in her usually soft eyes.

⚒️⚔️ "How could you?" Athena continued.

⚒️⚔️ "W-what are you talking about?" He tried to avoid, feigning obliviousness, much to the upset of the remaining deities.

⚒️⚔️ "You know what she's talking about, wussy!" Artemis yelled.

⚒️⚔️ Y/N raised her hand, silencing all around her. Stepping up to her husband, her eyebrows furrowed and her teeth gritted. She then lifted her arm, opened her palm, and...

SMACK!

⚒️⚔️ Ares' head slammed to the opposite side as where his wife's hand came from. His eyes were wide as she began to tear up again, "I want a divorce."

⚒️⚔️ "W-what...?"

⚒️⚔️ "This. Is. Over. Goodbye, Ares."

⚒️⚔️ "But what about Aristotle?!" He yelled his question, glaring at his wife angrily.

⚒️⚔️ "He stays with me. I don't want a douche like you influencing my boy."

⚒️⚔️ Poseidon's eyes were wide, he had never expected one of his favorite deities to be so brutal with her words. While he knew she was strong, he had never seen it with his own eyes before this.

⚒️⚔️ "Good day, Ares."

-

⚒️⚔️ Sitting beside Hera, her eyes were filled with pity, much like her two step-daughters and sister. She couldn't help but feel guilty. She had pushed his in-law and Ares into the marriage, and she was the Goddess of the unions! How could she have not noticed the obvious issues between not only her and Ares, but Aphrodite and Hephaestus.

⚒️⚔️ "Again, I apologize for the forced event, Y/N." She said.

⚒️⚔️ "It's alright, Lady Hera. It wasn't your fault, it was more Ares and Aphrodite than anything."

⚒️⚔️ Hera breathed out a laugh and smiled, she then reached to her right, grabbing her paper with a letter from her second-born son. On the papers, it stated how close you two have grown; talking about the shared journeys away from your ex-lovers inspired the Queen to take one more risk.

⚒️⚔️ "Do you believe you can marry another?"

⚒️⚔️ "I'm not sure."

⚒️⚔️ "Well, if you were to marry another; who would it be?" She asked, lifting her glass to her small kylix filled with nectar to her lips.

⚒️⚔️ The Goddess of Womanhood flushed as she thought. "While I do enjoy the company of Hermes and Apollo, I wouldn't marry them. And when examining the other Gods, there is only one that I can even comprehend marrying..."

⚒️⚔️ "Hephaestus?"

⚒️⚔️ "...yes."

⚒️⚔️ Hera smiled, chuckling at the flustered face of her now-ex-daughter-in-law and planned future-daughter-in-law. She grasped the letter and her idea could finally come back into motion; marrying the two deities who unknowingly allied their emotions to one another's.

-

⚒️⚔️ Children's laughs echoed in the halls of Mt. Olympus; each coming from four children playing with one another. Two boys and two girls happily messed with the gifts their father had made for them just the day prior.

⚒️⚔️ "I see they like their gifts." A female voice said, her arms wrapping around her husband's arm.

⚒️⚔️ "Yes, I'm very happy they do. I worried they would dislike them. Sibling's influence and all."

⚒️⚔️ The woman giggled, lightly pulling her husband's head down to hers, allowing a kiss to occur. Their lips moved against one another's gently, love spiraling through their minds as the man wrapped his arms around her midsection while the woman's hands wrapped around her lover's head.

⚒️⚔️ "Ew!" Children's voices squealed, eyes staring at their parents while the eldest; the only half-sibling, smiled and chuckled alongside his own wife at their actions.

⚒️⚔️ The couple pulled away, laughing as they heard their children's reactions.

⚒️⚔️ "I love you, Hephaestus."

⚒️⚔️ "I love you too, my treasure."

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🎐 Copyright © 2025 by Bones4thecats on Tumblr. All Right Reserved. 🎐

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Greek mythology has evolved over the course of hundreds of years, and with all those… retellings now, it’s gotten me thinking about just how many people have been spreading false details of myths through word of mouth to the point of becoming the most common interpretation, when if you were to look back in history, a great number of them were only recently made up, barely a a few centuries prior. Example of this is King Midas and his turning his daughter into a gold statue. I remember this part having been included all throughout my childhood, only to find out it was never part of the original myth but a recent addition in a book from 1852. (suddenly, the daughter being aptly named “Marigold” makes a lot more sense.) My ask is: which commonly told misconception of this type regarding any Greek myth is most infuriating to you and why?

oh my god misinformation can be INFURIATING smh

Let's start off with the Apollo misinformation.

"He raped Persephone/is a serial rapist!"

First of all, no he did not. LO, toss yourself into an eternal blaze and incinerate.

and secondly- he's not a serial rapist. There's only two accounts of rape, specifically Dryope and Creusa, but that depends on interpretation and the source so if you want to discard it, you can. No one can tell you you can't.

"UwU Apollo's love life is terrible!"

do i even need to say anything?

"Athena hates women!"

hell to the fuck no. the evidence people use for this is the Medusa Myth: Ovid's Version, and CONVIENTLY IGNORE THE ONES WHERE SHE HELPS WOMEN ESCAPE BEING RAPED!! AND THAT OVID IS THE ONLY ONE WHO DOES THIS!!

Even with the ones where she punishes the victim, the older versions do not have that! She made Nicymene her eternal owl companion, for heaven's sake!

"Hermes/Dionysus/Hephaestus is the only unproblematic god! UwU"

uh... *waves Leuconoe/Choine/Philonis around* no matter which version you go with, Hermes/Mercury does rape her...

...and in the Dionysica Dionysus rapes like two women...

...and Hephaestus tried to rape Athena... (oh wow, would you look at that...it's like Athena would have *gasp* sympathy for assault survivors...)

...See the double standards? :/ Ignores Roman/late Greek literature when it's convenient, and then exaggerates it to suit their own needs.

"Demeter is a terrible mom!"

GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NO ONE DISRESPECTS THE QUEEN

"Hades only kidnapped Persephone because Zeus told him too!"

Hades is his own man and wasn't being held at gunpoint to abduct her. He did so on his own merits. From a literal perspective, what was stopping him from just. you know. talking to her. kidnapping was not necessary.

(yes, yes, i know about the symbolic perspective, hence my use of 'literal'.)

"But Hades and Persephone are the only ones who don't cheat!!"

uh, nope. Hi Adonis, Minthe, how're you doing?

"But Adonis was more of a son to Persephone!!"

uh, NO. Even the ancients saw them as a couple!!

"Artemis is a girlboss who hates her brother!"

*kicks open door* OUT!

"Orion's the only man Artemis ever loved!"

how dare you disrespect my boy in this way Apollo was the first man she ever loved and no one will be able to replace him how dare you-

-and how dare you disrespect Hippolytus in this way he did not die in the name of all aroace people to be disrespected like this smh

"Zeus's only quality is how he fucks around!"

look, I've joked about this before but I know that's not all there is too him and that it has a symbolic representation.

Sure would be nice if people focused on that more :)

also anything that villainizes Aphrodite or Hera. god forbid women do anything.

"Clytemnestra is a girlboss who did no wrong!"

OH MY GOD THE DOUBLE STANDARDS.

funny how people fawn over Cassandra one moment and then COMPLETELY FORGET HER EXISTENCE to becry the woman who murdered her!

AND ALSO GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HATE APOLLO FOR CURSING HER WHEN THEIR STORY IS LITERAL ABOUT A WOMAN'S AUTONOMY BEING RESPECTED!!

AND GUESS WHAT!! APOLLO AVENGES HER DEATH!!

anything that is "UwU Achilles!" omg i am sick of it.

that bitch had everything coming. he deserved everything he got. Tenes, Troilus, and Hemithea did NOT deserve what he did to them! APOLLO AND PARIS HAD EVERY RIGHT TO TAKE HIM DOWN!

i'm probably forgetting some but here's the one that popped into my head :)

[sarnai4]

Charity

[I have The Looney Tunes Show to blame for this idea. What if the Greek gods had to do one of those fundraising/charity events where they get auctioned off on dates? ]

Apollo (posing regally): I was born for this. I'm bound to have the highest bids.

Zeus (unhappily): I'm sure I'll be up there too.

Hermes (laughing): Sure, Dad. I guess someone might have granddaddy issues and bid.

Poseidon (flicking his hair): I think the real competition will be between me and Apollo. I've already been with over half the individuals here.

Hades (uncomfortably fidgeting): I really don't know why I was invited.

Dionysus (taking a sip of wine): Try drinking something. I'll loosen you right up.

Ares (grumbling): This is stupid.

Apollo (still posing regally, but in a new way): The only foolish part is why the rest of you are here.

Hermes (failing to pose regally): I get to go on a date and don't even have to pay! Why wouldn't I be here?

Dionysus: I hope the drink menu is nice.

Hades: I hope I can leave soon.

Zeus (mumbling): Maybe if I destroy the other spotlights, they'll only see me.

Ares: Did you realize you said that out loud?

Zeus:...

(Below the stage)

Hera (growling): Zeus wasn't even supposed to be up there. He said he'd be busy all day.

Demeter: In fairness, that's probably still true.

Hera (glares at her)

Artemis (violently shaking somebody): You better vote for Pol, but you also better not actually go on that date!

Athena (bored): Was I only asked to attend so that I could supervise?

Aphrodite (rubbing her palms together): Yes, because we'll have to beat them away with a stick to get them off my Ares. (Calling up) As soon as he takes off his helmet!

Ares: No!

Aphrodite (tossing a rose at him): Take it off!

Ares (dodging): Never!

(Aphrodite jumps up and grabs it, then runs off. Ares chases after her.)

Athena (sighing heavily): If this ever happens again, I will not be participating.

[superscrub323]

A Little Elaboration on why a certain Animatic does the Lovers section of God Games the best

Alright if you've been following me you should know that one of my favorite tertiary characters in Epic the Musical is Ares and it's primarily because there's no reason for any version of the God of War to go harder on a verse than the God of Music yet Earle Gresham Jr. did so anyway and most of us, including those who write Warrior Penelope AU fanfics, thank him for it.

It's also a challenge for animators because while Apollo's and Hephaestus's verses and scenes are fairly straight forward, the primary challenge with Hera and Aphrodite is which glammed the fuck outfits they're going to be wearing, and Zeus needs to be depicted with all the pomp and grandiose we'd expect after hearing him proclaim his greatness and power in 'Thunder Bringer'; pretty every animatic artist universally agrees that Ares and Athena have to fight and flyte* at the same time and while all of them usually do a good job depicting the basic gist on how said fight usually goes, Ares temporarily having an edge over Athena, Athena emotionally rallying after Ares insults Telemachus, and Athena beating and/or intimidating Ares and Aphrodite into releasing him.**

But there is one animatic that does the Lovers section of God Games the best in fact it's the only part they've done and while I desperately hope they do the rest of the song they did the Lovers section so good it...sticks with me in ways that never leave my brain cavity and that's @sixofclovers's version of that part of a scene which...oh geez were do I start?

First off, one thing to notice is that while the character designs are simple but no less striking, it gives a chance to do things different from how animatics go, for example it opens with Athena having a lyre string and a hammer and giving it to her owl which is explained in the description stating that Athena in this version has to collect tokens from all the participants in Zeus's game, which in this case is Apollo's lyre string, Hephaestus's forge hammer, Aphrodite's pearl ear ring, (most likely) a peacock feather from Hera, and the golden ichor from Ares, which is already an interesting idea on it's own but that last one is pretty interesting in ways I'll get to later.

Then it cuts to Aphrodite and, unusually, she doesn't look seductive, flirty, or playful, she looks pissed at Athena and in tears while surrounded by a purple aura that is rapidly growing and when it comes in contact with Athena it compels her to cry and share her grief. Which also as a bonus forces Athena to be put on her back foot especially since as she weakly defends Odysseus with 'he was busy fighting' she has to wipe away her tears as Aphrodite sings 'more like busy spiting, the cyclops' she takes off her ear piercing and holds it to her eye in a striking visual way that references said Cyclops and begins to crush it in away that lets Athena know she finds her argument uncompelling until Athena in tears has to beg for Aphrodite to 'please reconsider this' while shapeshifting out of her armor symbolically making herself vulnerable before Aphrodite which causes her to loosen her grip on her pearl ear ring until...

'Really Athena? These old tricks?'

BAM

'Ares!'

And then Ares charges in and back hands her to the floor while Athena desperately barely gets time to magically summon her armor and shield to shield herself as Ares steps on her while Athena, and by proxy we the audience, get a good look at Ares and we see that he's crying along with Aphrodite and Athena which means that not only is Ares unaffected by Aphrodite's forced empathy making him cry, he shares it and is empowered by it. But as Ares gets to singing he kicks Athena away to give her a chance to get on her feet so Athena can prepare to get her grisly token Ares's of approval.

Another thing to note is that while the other 4 gods have personal objects they can give away as tokens, Ares's token is his ichor. Ares explicitly wants to clash spears with Athena and the only way he'll agree to release Odysseus is if she can draw ichor, not beat, just get a single cut of his blood which in turn paints a version of Ares that is confident in his ability to fight Athena under Aphrodite's forced empathy wave.

Said confidence is further backed up as while Athena is still on the back foot despite having her shield and spear already drawn, Ares doesn't even have his spear drawn yet and Athena is still on her back foot, and when Ares does draw his spear he draws it so fast it extinguishes 6 torches behind him which symbolizes the 6 men Odysseus sacrifices to Scylla as he calls out Odysseus unwillingness to even try to fight Scylla (didn't even try to kill her.)

And as Ares continues fighting Athena while he laments his cowardness, he beats her pretty evenly before throwing her to the ground while calling Telemachus pathetic and weak. Which in turn gives Athena a chance to channel the rage she feels at Ares for insulting her friend and to emotionally rally past Aphrodite's empathy wave but what is usual is that even when Athena is using her owl as a distraction to get Ares to turn his back for a surprise attack, she still can't get a clean cut on his neck...so instead she points to Aphrodite as she tells him 'And tell your lover that a broken heart can mend' and charges at her to force Ares to intercept Athena and catch the spear head.

And despite having the pointy end of a spear firmly in his hand it's still not enough to get him to draw blood and while Ares could probably kick Athena away and continue fighting, Aphrodite, who has been watching them fight, smiles in approval of Athena's willingness to protect her friends and Ares's protective nature (another thing that rarely gets shown) and hugs Ares from behind as if to tell him 'it's okay baby, you can let him go' and Ares grips the spear tighter and willingly draws his ichor thanks to Athena's urging to give Odysseus a chance to prove he isn't a coward and Aphrodite's approval of his release. Which is further demonstrated when Ares looks at Aphrodite who gives a smile not and they both say 'ugh...release them' as Ares gives Athena's owl Aphrodite's pearl earring covered in his blood so Athena can move on.

It's an amazing animatic that lets all 3 characters be more than how they're usually depicted in these animatic, Aphrodite doesn't get to be the sultry seductress, she gets to be aggrieved at Odysseus for letting his mom die, Athena gets a chance to show her ability to experience empathy and how dirty she can be in a fight, and Ares...gets to unironically (at least with Aphrodite helping him) be the martially superior God of War in a straight up fight and show emotions beyond rage and demonstrate his protective nature, and as an added bonus it's one of the few animatics where Athena does beat or intimidate Ares and Aphrodite into surrendering, they both give up of their own will which is...wow!

I hope the guys at Epic do that scene in a way that's something similar because...I can't get over how breathtaking it is and I once again shout out at sixcloveranimations for doing a fantastic job and doing it debatably the best.

*scold or in this case quarrel

**Special shout out to Neal the Illustrator, @anniflamma, and @gigizetz for having some of the best full animatics for God Games.

[englandsgirl18181234]

My brain is being mean today, so would any of y'all be interested in an AU where I make Zeus even worse than usual?

I have this vision in my head of where when Athena is born, Zeus, upon remembering the prophecy about how she'll be be better and smarter than him and Metis combined, basically decides to make her into his own personal weapon so she'll never try to overthrow him.

He does this in secret so that his brothers and the rest of the council won't realize what he's doing and try to turn her against him. It ends up turning into a sleeper agent/winter soldier kind of situation, with Athena basically blacking out when he gives her certain orders.

Pallas's death is one of those orders.

More, including Apollo and Athena angst, under the cut!

And up until God Games it works really well for him, but when she defies him over Odysseus he reacts the way he does in most of my fics and gives her brain damage.

From there, because I love me some angst, he brings Apollo into the same kind of training, basically wanting him as his own personal healer and a way to get his weapon back to full health more quickly.

But pulling in Apollo turns out to be a massive mistake on Zeus's part, not that he realizes it at first, because Apollo is kind to Athena in a way that no one else on Olympus has ever been. He talks to her, heals her, treats her as her own person and not an extension of Zeus.

Athena latches onto him hard, the two of them becoming extremely close and protective of each other.

Zeus actually makes things worse for himself on that front by further isolating the two, basically setting them up in public to be seen as his favorite children and turning the rest of their siblings against them.

Eventually, several millennia later, Zeus gets so out of hand that even Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia(though not Hera) agree that he needs to be brought down. So they call a meeting with the rest of the Olympian Council to decide what to do.

Apollo and Athena are in attendance, but they're both extremely worried about what Zeus will do to them if these efforts to overthrow him fail and he finds out they were part of it.

Aphrodite ends up using her charmspeak on Athena at some point* and Apollo freaks the fuck out upon seeing Aphrodite make Athena 'Go Gray' as they call it.

*Not sure why yet.

Apollo shoves Aphrodite away from Athena and it breaks the charmspeak, waking Athena from her trance.

Athena then also freaks the fuck out, asking Apollo what she had done in a total panic because holes in her memory never mean anything good for anyone.

Apollo calms her down, tells her what happened in detail, then flashes them both out.

Chaos descends.

Apollo pops back in 10 minutes later to threaten Aphrodite into never doing that to Athena again.

And that's all I have so far, but I'm working on more

[sarafangirlart]

Where did the thing about Hephaestus asking for Aphrodite if he freed Hera come from? I've seen it a lot but haven't found any references to og sources

It’s a modern theory based on the François Vase:

“Dionysos leads Hephaistos to the assembled deities on Olympos.

Zeus and Hera seated on thrones are waiting for Hephaistos. Behind them Athena, Ares, Artemis, Poseidon (?) and Hermes. Ares sits dejectedly on a block, his head bowed, his spear pointed down on the ground indicating the failure of his previous attempt to bring Hephaistos back. Athena stands looking at him and pointing with her hands in opposite directions as if to say, you failed while the barbarians succeeded.”

It makes sense to think that maybe Aphrodite was involved in the story in some shape or form, but to say that she was straight up made into a prize by Zeus is such a weird conclusion, for all we know the artists might have added her in there to fill up the empty space or added her there as a sort of foreshadowing of their future marriage. Maybe she was promised to Hephaestus but I don’t buy it bc why does every reference to this story mention the fact that Dionysus convinced Hephaestus to come to Olympus not mention Aphrodite at all? That’s a pretty key part of the story to just omit.

Then there is Ares, I sometimes read ppl claim that Aphrodite sent Ares to get Hephaestus hoping that he’d win (a claim that was so repeated I thought it was legitimate) and that’s way he’s ashamed and on his knees but there is no evidence for that either, it’s way more likely that he feels ashamed bc he failed his mother and queen, Athena bullying him over it probably didn’t help either lol tho I have to wonder why Athena supposedly didn’t try to bring Hephaestus herself, or if she did try and then failed herself, maybe this is a variant where Hephaestus attempts to assault while she was trying to talk to him so she leaves through no fault of her own.

And bc scholars are allowed to make baseless theories, I’ll make my own little headcanon, I think Athena tried to reason with Hephaestus and was about to break through to him until Ares busted in all violent and shit that Hephaestus had to shoo him away with fire and he shut himself in again lol and Athena never stopped berating Ares over it on the way home.

[sunsets12]

hi, i love your work! i saw your fic recs for other percy x hunger games crossovers and i was wondering if you had any other pjo fic recs, crossovers or otherwise..? i just really appreciate your taste!! tysm

I've lowkey been waiting for this ask. I read a lot of fanfiction and am very excited to share some of my favorites.

This got long, so I added a read-more

Half-Blood of the Eldest Gods by wearethewitches:

A Mamma Mia! AU, where Sally got busy back in the era of her son's conception. aka, the how (they're gods), who (the gods) and why (heartbreak) Percy Jackson has three fathers.

The Prince of Changing Tides by dcninja:

“I just don’t understand why the Greeks treat him as such a big deal,” Marcel said “Or even the gods. Lady Juno and Lord Mars clearly backed him, and I don’t understand why. He certainly doesn’t look like much.” “Why don’t you just ask around?” she asked him. “Heroes have stories and people are always eager to tell them. I’m sure any of the Greeks could tell you more about him.” “It’s not a bad idea,” Jordan added. “It would be nice knowing exactly why he was part of the prophesied Seven. I know the Venus girl had sorcery and the Vulcan boy obviously had power over fire. But why Jackson? Just because they took a boat?” Despite raising him on a shield, Romans don't know much about Percy Jackson, or even the Greeks in general. As the Legion attempts to recover from the wars, they find out there is far more to the Son of Neptune then they originally thought, and learn quite a few things about themselves along the way.

What, Like it's Hard? by anxious_tofu:

Poseidon mechanically observed Percy as a purple cape was thrown over his shoulders. His son. His wild, reckless son, had defeated a giant alone without any active help from a god when the last to do so had needed three demigods and Zeus’ direct intervention. He couldn’t be more proud if he tried. ----- AKA the gods are bored cooped up on Olympus and have nothing better to do than watch Percy Jackson during the Son of Neptune.

Saudade by TheProfoundSilence:

Percy Jackson is dead. Has been for centuries now. Unfortunately for everyone, Poseidon does not cope well with it and decides to make this everyone’s problem.

to be struck by your electric love by scarlet_sam:

Percy sighed heavily and looked at the sky. “You owe me a hot chocolate and a coffee.” “Perseus Jackson,” the voice drawled out, “normally, I’d mind the Greek name but it does suit you, little destroyer, rolls right off the tongue.” “I didn’t exactly expect a godly intervention when I yelled at the sky.” Jupiter's smile widened at Percy’s sarcasm, eyes twinkling in a way that made him look far too pleased with himself. “I try. Though if you consider a hot chocolate ‘godly intervention’, I must say our greek counterparts haven’t been treating you well.” Or, Hera/Juno decides that she might as well keep her husband engaged in one particular person rather than her recieving multiple surprises and points him in the direction none other than Percy Jackson, who, as she'd heard from Aphrodite, had been on quite the dry spell. Jupiter is instantly smitten. Percy was just in it for the free expensive hot chocolate.

I know, it's a ship I never thought I would've liked, but this fic does it well

Sally Jackson, Daughter of Voldemort, Mother of Percy by Black_Victor_Cachat (Crossover):

Voldemort learns that he has a child who survived the First Blood War, and even if she is a Squib, he can make use of her blood. However he is unaware of his grandchild. More importantly, people will get a sharp reminder just what exactly ‘the Mother of Percy Jackson’ means. Based on the ‘Percy is Voldemort’s grandson’ stories. Post-Trials of Apollo.

Annabeth and the Nine Step Career Plan by feeling_the_aster_9145 (Crossover):

Annabeth Chase does not accept limitations. Everyone knows that. If she wants something, no matter how impossible, she will find a way to make it happen. Though, perhaps she will allow Bruce Wayne and his ridiculous paranoia-induced company restrictions a small portion of the credit. Actually… now that she thinks about it, the man may have had a point in his worries. Wayne Technologies does not accept college interns. Annabeth always has a plan B.

[cupcake-hearts]

So I'm watching 'Class of the Titans' and I have some opinions, mainly about the gods.

Keep in mind I've only watched up to episode 18 of the first season.

Hermes - goofball. Love him. Like most on this list I wasn't sure about his design, but I have to get over the fact this isn't 'Blood of Zeus' (they can't all be sexy.) also him being Odie's mentor is so cute. Especially if you listen to 'epic' the musical.

Hera- honestly, I like how she's in charge. I still don't know where Zeus went but I really don't miss him. Very mature, very mothering, very different from ancient Greece Hera. I think she is supposed to be Jay's mentor, but nobody said it specifically.

Athena - 'badass in the arena', and best den mother. Not sure about her running around barefoot but they definitely leaned more into her warrior fighting side than the wisdom side.

Artemis - HAS KIDS!? what part of virgin goddess did they not understand? Atlanta being her descendant just throws me off. I love her but they should have made an Amazon her ancestor (more thoughts on that for another post). At this point I haven't seen enough of her to say yeah or neigh. Definitely don't hate her and she seems fun.

Herakles- like Artemis, not much to go on. He seems cool. I do head cannon that Harry's grandma is also a descendant from Herakles. How else do you explain this 80 something year old bad ass riding a giant eagle in battle?

Ares- considering his representation in modern media it could have been a lot worse. In the show he's still this gruff and sometimes rude warrior type, but never even close to evil or bad. I think he's supposed to be Archie's mentor. Weird choice considering the gods I listed above all have some close connection to the kids' ancestors. Closest connection would be the Trojan War, during which Achilles kills one of Ares's daughters.😬

Persephone - wasn't thrilled with her first appearance but I actually like her, demon tantrums and all. From what I remember, Theresa doesn't know much about Greek mythology, but she knows that Persephone spends time in both the underworld and living world, meaning that they must have talked about their personal lives to each other. I find that adorable.

Aphrodite - my queen! Just shallow enough to be vain but not uncaring or unkind. Much like the others, I'm sad we don't get to see more of her. Her relationship with Neil seems to be the closest and I have a feeling they knew each other long before Kronos broke out of Tartarus.

[shipcestuous]

Kaos

There's a show on Netflix called Kaos about the Greek Gods that from what I can see didn't get very much attention.

It was cancelled by Netflix, so there won't be a second season, however, for anyone interested in the series, I would say the first season is still worth watching. There are some completed arcs, even if the main story is still revving up.

A darkly-comedic and contemporary reimagining of Greek mythology that explores themes of gender politics, power, and life in the underworld. Zeus has a wrinkle. He's worried it might mean the end of the world and it might. Because on earth, six humans unaware of their importance or their connection to one another learn that they are component parts of an ancient prophecy. Will they discover the truth about the gods and what they're doing to humans? And if they do, will they be able to stop them?

It's definitely a "reimagining" of Greek Mythology and not just a modern retelling of myths.

The gods we see are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Persephone, Prometheus, and Dionysus, along with some other figures from Greek Mythology like the Fates and Ariadne.

Zeus makes phone calls to Ares, Aphrodite, and Apollo, if I remember right, establishing them all as his children. (Possibly also Athena?) Unfortunately, they don't appear. But Ares/Aphrodite is one of my favorite Greek Gods ships, so I'm thrilled they were siblings in this. Hera mentions a son, which is probably Hephaestus, and unfortunately the series ends with her going to see him. It would have been great to see him and the others in season 2.

Zeus and Hera: Hera is introduced as Zeus' wife and his sister. This series is in many ways about Zeus freaking out and becoming the worst version of himself, with his downfall hanging over everything, so all of this brings him into conflict with Hera. However, they generally seemed happily married. They both have lovers, which they talk to each other about, but they also have sex with each other, including once onscreen. Though Hera doesn't mind him having other lovers, if any woman bears him a child, she turns them into a bee.

Hades and Persephone: Hades and Persephone are depicted as being happily married and Persephone specifically says that she loves him. They're pretty cute. Hades is established as Zeus' brother, but Persephone's parentage is never discussed, except for one reference to "Mom". Demeter is never mentioned by name at any point and there's no mention of a Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and Hades having a sister. It seems pretty clear that Persephone is not Zeus' daughter in this. Hera calls a gathering of the family (but it's only the characters on the show) and Persephone argues that she's not part of the family. However, she discusses the mythology around her, saying it was a story that Hera told, and though she corrects several things she never corrects her parents from the myths. So ???

Hera and Poseidon: This was actually the best one. Hera is allowed to have lovers but for whatever reason she is definitely not allowed to have Poseidon as a lover and she is terrified that Zeus is going to find out about their torrid affair. She doesn't seem to have any intention of leaving Zeus, even though that's what Poseidon wants, but that's not because she loves Zeus more. Poseidon is in love with Hera and says that he always has been. They have sex onscreen several times. The fact that Poseidon and Hera are siblings is never actually mentioned, but it's certainly implied by Hera being Zeus' sister and Poseidon being his brother. Unless we're supposed to believe he's half siblings with each of them by different parents. But at one point Poseidon says he doesn't f--k family, or something to that effect, which I think was supposed to be a joke.

SPOILERS: Interestingly, in the mythology of this series, Zeus and his siblings were originally human. Zeus was the first god and he became a god after having been born a human and living for however many years. So the incest between Zeus and Hera and Hera and Poseidon is occurring in what was a originally just a human family

[chrysanthemumgames]

Me (finding out that “Persephonysus” and Hades share a common relative): …..okay.

Me (Immediately thinking about the culprit before I read further to confirm it): OF COURSE WE SHARE A COMMON RELATIVE!

But I ultimately gave the Zeus a pass, since it’s most likely he didn’t know about it before the forced marriage and he doesn’t seem like my enemy (at least not in my gameplay), though it always amuses me how he gets so angry, even when my joke at his expense is so trivial (and yes, I’ve tried multiple options). He also has a mega huge ego with all his “We” talk, but the Olympic throne situation and my throne situation in the Underworld—I’m not gonna lie, it made me swoon at first—but then after three more play throughs, I felt so bad for Hera that I made a few changes, and I was surprised at how much I love having Hera as a close friend (from her letter to the entire garden scene which was chefs kiss). I always thought FOA demo Hera was a bit cold and didn’t think too much about her—or Zeus—until I decided to merge two deities into one to form my personality/attributes and until the throne situation wouldn’t leave my head. I feel like a traitor for switching up on Hestia and Aphrodite, lol, but I genuinely love Hera’s bond on the friend route the most out of all the options (though I still haven’t tried the enemy Artemis route). I kind of felt bad initially, knowing the myth about how Hera treats Zeus’s children out of wedlock, but Friend!Hermes handled it way better than I thought he would, if confused, maybe a touch sad, but mostly supportive. True bestie material.

I didn’t think too much during the FOA demo, but since I have done multiple playthrough on Hades’ route, over the past two months, I originally thought Hades’s epic ‘arrival’ in the beginning was just to annoy Zeus…actually that might still be true, but from how I seem to always get immensely, yet thankfully momentarily on Zeus’s nerves no matter what I say (due to my people skills—for the “Nysus” part to my Persephonysus), I noticed that Hades might have done that also as a way to protect me via distraction. Even when we were strangers…Swoon 😂

I also love how we have more scenes with the core 6, but also with Makaria and Kerberos (even Daeira and Empusa). On my next playthrough, I’ll finally work with the fates (after doing every other job) and I’ll finally meet Hypnos—for the first time ever. Safe to say, I started playing the demo back in September 2023, but the finished product is way more than I expected, and I love how little changes can drastically change the gameplay and how all of the branching keeps the story cohesive enough, that even through my multiple gameplays over the last two months, I am still finding new options and dialogues, and I know I’ll find even more when I force myself to get off of Hades’ route to play the others. So far I did the initially scared of Hades route, boldly flirting with hades route, shyly flirting with Hades route, a mix of boldly and shyly flirting with Hades route, Platonic friends who stay married route (lol), etc. but the thing is…I never get bored of it and I still find different ways to play on Hades’s route. The only thing I think I can’t do is the (one-sided) enemies to lovers route with Hades, since I’ll doubt he’d be mean to me and it’ll crush my heart to read his responses to me being mean to him.

I'm delighted you enjoy the game, anon, truly.

I'm a little confused though; I'm not sure what common relative you're talking about. Of course, in the myths there are several relatives in common between almost everyone, but I have broken up the family tree quite extensively here.

If you're talking about Harmonia, Iasion (and thus the PC) are only related to her through her mother, and Hades is only related to her through her father, so I guess in some sense she's a common relative, but there isn't anything untoward about the Hades/PC match because of it, if that was the concern.

[katerinaaqu]

What is the marriage between Peleus and Thetis like? I read some sources online that Thetis was reluctant to marry him because he was managed to subdue her and she did leave him later???

That is a very good question. It depends on the source. But there is a certain obscurity to the affair between them. For instance to the Herculaneum Papyri, on Hesiod's Catalog of Women references, Thetis was said to be promised or engaged to Zeus as his wife but Hera in her jealousy makes her stand down and make her promise she would marry a mortal instead. In the same series fragments we see that Thetis is kinda presented to Peleus as his promised bride so we talk of an arrangement here. Stasinus also seems to agree and he claims to quote the lost part of Epic Cycle called Cypria, in which he claims is mentioned how Thetis had to stand down from her engagement to Zeus out of fear of Hera's jealousy. Apollodorous even speaks on how Zeus and Poseidon were rivals upon who would get Thetis as his wife.

Pindar seems to speak on the wrestling between them a bit and thatis confirmed in art as well given how often we see Peleus trying to overpower Thetis in some sort of a wrestling match. Apollodorous is more descriptive for he says that Zeus wanted really to marry Thetis off to a mortal and therefore centaur Chiron advises Peleus to grab her hand and hold it the whole time while she transforms till she reverts to her real form, thus making her succumb to marry him.

Melanippides seems to be touching on Pindar's mention on how Thetis's child would be stronger than the immortals and claims that Thetis was already pregnant to Achilles by Zeus instead of Peleus and had to hasten in marriage to cover that fact. This seems a bit far fetched given how Achilles was pretty much mortal and haven't seen that many sources that do comment on that version. The Prophecy of a "more powerful son than Zeus" is touched by Aeschylus though

Quintus Smyrneus seems to make Thetis adress Zeus speaking on her resentment on Peleus, feeling ashamed to be married to a mortal (maybe that is why in the Iliad she tells Zeus that she is the "least honored among gods"). Nonnus even speaks in his Dionysiaca how Thetis didn't want to marry at all but was given to marriage anyways.

Yes in the Iliad Thetis resides in the sea and not in Pthia. It seems like Homer is insinuating that she has left Peleus at that point. It seems this is also in the Argonautica how Peleus is horrified thinking that she was trying to burn Achilles while she was trying to make him immortal over the flame and thus she was furious and fled and never came back By some accounts their separation is simply yet another separation between a god and a human; no god remained close to their mortal lovers forever (see for example Aphrodite, Zeus etc all at some point leave their mortal lovers) to show the passage of time or the differences between gods and mortals.

I hope this helps

[amazingmsme]

Do you have head canons for how the different gods laugh?

(Besides Hermes lmao, his bird laugh is as iconic as it is well known💀)

Love your blog!

ABSOLUTELY! Decided to throw in everyone from god games as well as Hades, so this got a lil longer than expected lol. I always love doing these, & the gods are such fun characters that I’m dying to see more of! & of course I bully my faves

& Hermes is so iconic, I love his shrill cackle, that man loves a good laugh & never really holds back!

We also kinda got a canon laugh from Calypso when she giggles right after saying goddesses can’t die. I think she has a very light & airy laugh, almost like the twinkling of a bell. Very cute & feminine

Likewise, we heard a bit of what Aeolus sounds like, but that’s more of a snide, condescending laugh that she likes to use when toying with someone. Her more genuine laugh is higher pitched & more of a giggle

For everyone else, I’m going off of pure vibes

I think Athena tries not to laugh because she has a badass image to maintain, & tbh most of the other gods aren’t that funny, or at least they don’t appeal to her sense of humor. She likes more clever & dry witty comedy, which is probably why Ody’s jokes work well on her. He likes to use a lot of fun word play & his timing & physical comedy is just perfect, & catches her off guard enough to draw out a real laugh. She laughs with her full chest, it’s loud & is honestly such a bright, happy sound, probably because it’s so rare to hear. Much to her chagrin, she snorts when she laughs hard enough. When she’s trying to mask her laugh it gets quicker & higher pitched, & she usually tries to muffle it behind her hand

Apollo’s laugh is pretty similar to Hermes, but it’s a bit deeper & not as erratic & sounds like he has more control over his voice. Idk it probably sounds so pretty & smooth, almost like his laugh alone is a song & more than a few gods accuse him of faking it because it just sounds a lil too “perfect.” If you really get him going tho it does tend to take on a more unhinged & frantic pitch, & it gets real hard to tell the difference between the 2

I just know Hephaestus has a really deep & rich laugh, but he doesn’t laugh often. He’s pretty serious & he doesn’t always get every joke tossed his way, but when he does, it’s this really deep, amused chuckle that slowly gets louder the longer he laughs

Aphrodite has the prettiest laugh, it’s not as high pitched as you’d expect from her & almost has a purr to it, but that could just be her infectious, bubbly giggles

So uh, I love Ares way more than I was expecting to from his part in gg & I’m gonna simp for a sec cause I can. But Ares actually loves to have a good time & let loose! His version of that may look a lil more bloody, but he still enjoys a good time! He can still laugh & tell jokes! So I think he wouldn’t bother holding back & just belts out this deep belly laugh that can make you jump if you’re not expecting it. Funnily enough, I think he also would snort a lot when laughing, so maybe it’s a war god thing lmaoooo. He’s also prone to laugh when he’s sparring or in the middle of a fight, & that’s more of a different sound. He gets this crazed look in his eye & his laugh raises an octave & gets a lil faster until it’s this really menacing, crazed cackling that is just as scary as it is endearing

Hera doesn’t laugh as much as she used to, but when she does, it’s this sly sounding, amused chuckle. Even when she’s being sincere, it lowkey sounds like she’s making fun of you. If something actually gets her going, she’ll throw her head back & her laugh actually sounds authentic, but it still has a more smooth, controlled tone much like Apollo

Now for the big 3

Hades doesn’t laugh much, obvi, but when he does, it’s this really low rumbling from deep within his chest, & you don’t really think he’s laughing until you see his shoulders shaking & notice the smile beneath his beard. But it something’s legit funny, he’ll let out this hearty laugh & lean back & will either hug his stomach or slap a knee

Oh Poseidon, you’re gonna fucking hate me for this. But he usually has this calm, really snide snicker/chuckle he does when he’s mocking someone which is like all the time. It’s such a smug sound you just want to slap the shit outta him because it’s so obvious he’s laughing at YOU! But his real laugh has a rich tenor to it, & is way louder than he’d like. & if something really gets him laughing, it starts to get higher pitched before it starts to morph into more of a bubbly, gurgling sound until it sounds like he’s laughing underwater

It’s no surprise that the thunder bringer himself has a downright booming laugh that can shake the heavens themselves if he really lets himself go, but much like his bitch of a brother, he only really does that if he’s laughing at someone. Otherwise, it’s still really deep & loud, it just doesn’t have as much bass to it. If you listen for it, you can hear claps of thunder when he lets out unbridled belly laughs, & when he’s just chuckling you can hear a buzzing static sound like lightning

[royal-wren]

Welcome! My name's Dorian, and my blog is 18+ only. I'm primarily a pre-Hellenic to Mycenaean/Minoan polytheist, but loosely include the Archaic era in my worship, and I'm a Sumerian and Irish polytheist. I am a devotee of Hermes, Peitho, and the Kharites. I worship Athene, Rheia (Mater Theia), Hera, Leto, Maia, the Pleiades & Hyades, Okeanos, Tethys, the Okeanids, the Nereids, the Nymphai as a whole, Hemera, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hekate, Hestia, Demeter, Diwia, Dionysos, Persephone, Poseidon, the Horai, Selene, Hāwélios (sun goddess, possibly Helen), Eos, the Erinyes, Mnemosyne, Themis, Gaia, An Callieach, Grian, Mebd Lethderg, Ereshkigal, and Inanna. I honor Zeus, Apollon, Hephaistos, Ares, the Mousai, and many more gods across the pantheons I worship. Penthesileia, the Dioskouroi, the Amazons (as a whole), and Perseus are a part of the heroes I honor.

My worship is complicated, as I rely on archaeology, and as close to a yes as I can get from scholars studying the eras the gods in my life exist in, with sources backing it. Separating (Minoan/Mycenaean/pre-Hellenic) gods into realms and limits of what they do or rule over isn't a part of my praxis, even more so than what is found in Hellenic polytheism. My worship mainly revolves around nature, writing, space/stars, and knowledge as the most important fixtures. Hermes is the Lord of the Dead and Death, Demeter & Persephone are also Rulers of the Underworld, as well as Poseidon, Hekate, Maia, and Dionysos are heavily involved in the underworld, where the answer is yes to who's what. Hera, Poseidon, and Rheia are leaders in their (original) pantheons. Athene, Hermes, and Hestia are all primary home gods, while Athene leans more heavily into defending/protection than being war-centric. Aphrodite is Cyprus' mother goddess (for me), and Artemis is not a maiden goddess in my worship. Finally, caves and trees are very important in my practice.

All my writing related to worship can be found here: devotional masterpost.

Finally, I am a godspouse to Hermes and godpartner to Artemis and Aphrodite, as well as potentially a fourth that’ll never be mentioned here due to both of our wishes. All I ask is that this last part is respected as I’m an adult and it’s not hurting anyone, if I wanted your criticism and distaste for it, I will ask at a later date for just that.

Links:

Old tag / New tag for my other religious posts Worshipping Maia Introduction to Worshipping Hemera My experience with the Kharites (and resources on them) Worshipping the Mousai (resources) Worshipping the Nereids (resources) Want to worship Peitho? Here you go: one, two, three Lists: Knowledge, Winds/Storms, Flower, Curses/Magic, Day & Night, Pride Celebration Gods Epithets of Leto Epithets of Hermes, Hermes Epithets Continuation Epithets of Athene Epithets of the Pleiades (and by extension, the Hyades) Epithets of Rheia Epithets of Hestia I find Hermes ___ I find Artemis ___ My Hermes playlist My Peitho playlist My Aphrodite playlist

[purplecherryuwu]

Let me ramble about Adam x Hades x Belle

Okay so it obviously started with just Adam and Hades at MK

They were dorm-mates and at first they hated each other but you know- enemies to lovers stuff

Sadly Adam was friends with Gaston at the time and he does not like his best friend dating another guy because it's so emasculating

A backstory I have for Adam is that he was raised by the castle staff without parents as we don't hear anything about his parents in the canon BATB (although tbf Descendants doesn't gaf about continuity but I'm somewhat trying), and as the prince and only heir to the throne he wasn't allowed outside much

Then he met Gaston by chance one day when he was ten and they became best friends, he was his only friend until he started attending Merlin academy

So with the risk of losing his, in his eyes only real friend Adam breaks things off with Hades which leads to a big fight between the two and they don't interact at all after that

So not long after this Adam's curse comes into play and we all know what happens there BUT- in my AU the setup is a bit different

So first off in my AU the enchantress who cursed Adam was really Aphrodite in disguise, why did she do it?

Orders from Zeus when he heard how Adam had broken his brother's heart, because he cares about his brother? Not really, but it was in his eyes a valid excuse to play a cruel trick on the prince

Now the plan was originally to just turn Adam into a mindless beast for all eternity because gods usually aren't for second chances (unless it's Hera with Zeus's cheatings... for ZEUS the mortals never get second chances even when it's almost NEVER their fault)

When Hades hears about this however he's horrified, yes he's angry and hurt but he never wanted THIS

So he uses his own powers to soften the curse into what we know in BATB (yes it doesn't match with the continuity but when has Descendants ever cared about continuity?)

After this Hades decides he is done watching his family treat the mortals like their little toys they can make and break however they want and this is what leads him to plan the takeover off Olympus

We all know the story of Hercules and BATB so yeah-

NOW skip to the end of D3

Hades and Adam get to talk with each other and (I am resisting the urge of my vision of them singing "For good" from Wicked-) it ends with them being somewhat friends but Hades does not want to bring up anything about their old relationship since Adam is married and he crashed and burned with Maleficent

HOWEVER- Adam cannot stop thinking about him, back when he was young and Gaston convinced him to break up with Hades he used the argument that Adam didn't know what real love was and real love couldn't be between two men

But now that he's been with Belle for so long and knows what true love feels like he knows what Hades and he had- it was real.

He felt like he feels with Belle but... maybe just a bit different

He tells Belle all about this because she's his wife and she's always been the smart one in their relationship

Belle is very amused but slightly concerned about her husband's history but- this is Mal's father who saved Audrey's life

So she agrees for the three of them to sit down and have a more- deeper talk about their relationship

Long story short it ends in a throupple because if Adam and Hades are a thing post D3 Belle will ALWAYS be a part of that relationship and now I shall dump some headcanons on you

Ben fucking fainted when they told him and Mal wanted to bash her father's head in

Adam becomes a flustered mess whenever Hades scoops him up because he's not used to that kind of affection since Belle's not strong enough to carry him

Belle and Hades can both calm Adam down whenever his temper acts up in different ways, Belle talks him down- Hades matches his temper

The three of them read together all the time with Hades- mainly just telling the other two stories of all the shit his siblings have been causing over the years

Cuddle time is the best for all three of them, though Hades would never admit it

[skulkiee]

HI

So this is part three of the resistance au :D

Posidon lies on the beach for a while after the mortal has left, (though can Odysseus really be called a mortal after what he has done? He deserves a place among the Gods with the crimes he's commited.) getting his breath back. It doesn't take long for him to attempt (and fail) to sit up and gain some dignity before some God or another comes and finds him here.

"Bad day, huh?" Too late.

Posidon groans at the sound of Hermes' voice, the younger God is clearly trying not to laugh.

"Go away." He snarls.

Hermes looks down at Posidon upside down, a smirk on his face, "Sorry, no can do! You look like a trip to Apollo's infirmary would do you some good though."

Posidon has made some enemies in his time. He knows who not to anger, who to be mildly respectful towards, who he can tease and joke about, and who is not worth more than a disdainful glance.

He has always placed Zeus with his thunderbolt and Aphrodite with her powers that work even on gods at the top, Hera and Athena coming close second.

Posidon has always placed Hermes at the bottom, with Dionysus, as the youngest two Olympians. Of course, he knew Hermes was intelligent, and he was wary of the title 'God of Lies', but he has always thought of him as someone to summon and send away with a message, and maybe laugh at the younger God struggling to fly away from his underwater palaces with wet wings.

•

Ok. Posidon saw the room they were keeping Athena in, it was much nicer than his, and there always seemed to be a visitor for her. Posidon himself has only seen a reluctant Apollo and a gloating Zeus in the past few days he has been stuck in the infirmary.

Then comes the day when Apollo is checking his bandages, and Hermes pokes his head in.

"Sunny! Owl-Eyes said you were in here!"

Apollo sighs, and turns to the door. Posidon watches the pair closely. He is very aware of the changes happening on mount Olympus.

"Well, Athena would be right. How is she, by the way?"

"Aphrodite is showering her with love, i would say that i'd go up against father if it meant I would get this attention, but really, i value my wings too much for that." Hermes laughs, the wings in question twitching in amusement.

The Gods speak much more loosely now. Since whatever 'Game' happened that ended in Athena getting attacked by Zeus.

"And why are you here?" Apollo asks Hermes slowly.

"Why do i need a reason?" Hermes complains, "Can't i just visit my favorite God for the thrill of it?"

"No." Apollo sighs again, he seems to sigh a lot, "Not with that expression on your face, Birdie."

'Birdie'. That's new, isn't it? Posidon is pretty sure Apollo is the only god to have given Hermes a nickname back.

"Okayyyy." Hermes starts, "Can't i just visit my dear, injured uncle without a reason?"

Posidon blinks, and then stares at the Messenger God, "Me?"

"No!" Hermes chirps, "I am here to see Hades!"

"Birdie." Apollo says flatly, "Why are you here?"

"I am actually here to talk to Posidon. You should be glad i stopped Arie from coming too." He turns to the Sea God, "He was much more violently angry than i am!"

"Okay." Apollo mutters, "Thank you for not letting Ares in. Don't kill him yourself, please, Birdie." And then he presses a kiss to Hermes' forehead, (Posidon watches the smaller God's wings puff up slightly, and wow, now that is definitely new.) and turns and walks out the room.

Hermes dances over to the bed and settles himself at the other end. As he said before, Posidon has never paid too much attention to him, and now he looks, he can see the dark intelligence in his eyes, and the sharpness of his smile.

"So, you and Apollo, huh?" Posidon makes an attempt at light conversation, "What does Artemis think of that?"

"Why do you care?" Hermes laughs, "And about Artemis, it's not her you should be worrying about. That's Zeus."

"Zeus is my little brother, he won't hurt me."

"Okay. Sure." Hermes smirks at him, "Keep telling yourself that, Salty."

Posidon learnt a long time ago not to react to the nicknames Hermes gives everyone.

"Why was Ares so angry?" He asks instead.

"Oh." Hermes says casually, "Ya know, the usual, Owl-Eyes almost dies to free a mortal and get him home, you attempt to kill the mortal she went up against Zeus for. Oh, and did i tell you that said mortal is my great grandson?"

Posidon blinks, "Odysseus?"

"Yup." That actually makes an awful lot of sense.

He thinks about the wind bag that Odysseus had, the raft that was more durable than it should have been, the shades that weren't in the underworld where they should have been. He wonders how many strings Hermes had to pull, how many favours to cash in, how many lies to tell, how many stories to spin and hearts to gain sympathy from to get Odysseus into a position where he could take down and humiliate Posidon, God of the Sea, son of Cronus, brother of Zeus.

He watches the laughter and the intelligence in those large, dark eyes cautiously.

"How did you do it?" Posidon is the one sighing now.

Hermes knows exactly what he means, "Well, Owl-Eyes asked for help, and father told me i could tell Ody he was allowed to leave the island, so many loopholes in that one statement, all the things he didn't tell me i couldn't do!" The younger God laughs brightly, "I went to get Hawk (Posidon doesn't know who he's referring to) for help, and we went to see Aeo' (he doesn't know them either), and they gave us the bag, and then guess what the three of us did!"

"I don't know." Posidon says dryly.

"Well we went to Amphitrite! Your own wife helped us, Salty. How do you feel about that?"

"Liar." Posidon snarls, "She wouldn't have."

"Yes. I am a liar, but i do not lie in this! Ask the queen. She agreed to let Amphie get a divorce!" Hermes grins, "Ah, nobody's told you that yet? That as soon as you're able to stand for the duration of the ceremony, you will no longer have a wife? Well, i am the Messenger God, i suppose."

Posidon just stares at his nephew for the longest time, "She wouldn't." He says again.

"She did!" Hermes smiles, "Anyways, she helped us catch your storm in the wind bag, and Circe, i believe i called her Hawk earlier, you know, Helios' witch daughter? His eldest witch child? Anyways, yes she is amazing, i love her, she's great-"

"I thought you loved Apollo now?" Posidon smirks.

Hermes pauses, clearly caught off guard, "Not like that! Ew! No! Circe's like my sister! Eww."

Posidon laughs, "Don't let Hera or Zeus hear you say that, they won't be happy you've found a new sister."

Hermes frowns, "Anyways!" He declares, "Circe is great, i call her Hawk, well, Hawk, she took Amphie up here to talk to Hera and father, it was really Hera's decision though, and me and Aeo', you know Aeolus, right? The Wind God. Gave Ody the wind bag before, but the first time it was their storm inside. Me and Aeo' went to go and find Persephone, because it happened to be the day she was going back to Hades, and she agreed to take us with her, of course i can get down there myself, but i can't take others like she can and we needed Aeo'."

"I knew that wasn't natural." Posidon mutters, glaring at the grinning God before him.

"Yeah well me and Aeo' and Flowers went down to Hades, and i told him what was going on, and persuaded him to help! He's still got a grudge against you for taking the seas and making him live down below and only get to see his wife occasionally you know. Aeo' stayed there, and i went to get Iris-"

"How many immortals wanted a mortal to beat me up?" Posidon snaps, "What is that now, you, and like six others?"

"I'm not done yet." Hermes says proudly, "And yeah, that's the people who play an active part in the story so far! So! I went to find Iris, Goldie, i like to call her, for her wings, yes? Anyways, she waited in the Underworld with uncle Hades and Flowers, because me and her can communicate in ways most Gods can't. I guess it's because we are both messengers! But yeah, she waited there, for me to give her the word that she would then translate to Hades, who at this point in time was rounding up the six hundred men that Ody lost, especially the two, ah what were their names? Eurylochus and Polites, I believe."

Posidon stares, "And you didn't plan this out?"

"Nope! I made it up as i was going!"

"Okay. You, you, Hermes, are officially a maniac."

"Thank you!" Hermes chirps brightly.

"It wasn't a compliment!"

"I don't care!" He shoots back, "So me and Aeo' went to the island, and that is where we split up. They went to go and sit on the cliff above Charybdis, make sure that Ody didn't die there, although i doubted he would. Had to make sure, ya know."

"And did Aeolus need to help him?"

"Nope!" Hermes laughs, "And then came Calypso, i just told her Zeus had said Odysseus could go home, and as a titan's daughter, she didn't wanna annoy Zeus, so she was easy to persuade. I did feel a bit bad when she started crying though." He pauses, thinking, "Actually no I didn't. Or I don't anymore. She's not very nice. And then i met Ody again! He was a real mess after almost ten years, let me tell you- mortals don't age nicely like we do. Anyways! Gave him the bag, showed him the way home, enchanted his raft so it wouldn't fail him, nothing Zeus said i wasn't allowed to do! Just the God of Travellers, doing his duty!"

"Uh huh." Posidon says sarcastically.

"Okay, Salty, listen, i knew Ody had gone kinda crazy, but i really did not mean for the thing with the trident to happen, that surprised me too! And the shades were completely doing as they wished, nobody was telling them what to do! I do think maybe Ares helped Ody though, that anger at you wasn't a mortal thing, that was divine."

"You guys really wanted me to pay, didn't you." Posidon snaps.

"No, not really." Hermes tips his head to one side like the bird he is, "But Owl-Eyes almost died, we thought she was dead, for this mortal, and what do you do? Try to kill him and his family."

"He blinded my son." Posidon hisses, but Hermes wouldn't understand that now, would he? He doesn't have any kids, "And what does Zeus think of that?"

"He hates me, but that's nothing new." Hermes says, "He respects Amphie more than you currently though, and I'd suggest you make your standing on Olympus clear soon."

"Why?" Posidon asks slowly, leaning forwards.

"Athena has started something, the Gods are rising up." Hermes pauses slightly, debating how much to tell Posidon, "Some aren't listening to father anymore, or looking to Hera to confirm his orders. Our family is falling apart, and the news is out. Everyone knows about the Game, about the new restlessness on Olympus, where we used to be a united front."

Hermes' lack of use of Athena's nickname, 'Owl-Eyes' worries Posidon slightly. His dark eyes meet Posidon's, a sharp smile flickers across his face, "A war is coming, and it's up to you who you stand with now."

"I'll stand with my siblings like i did an eternity ago." Posidon snarls.

"Father? Or the queen and Demeter and Hades?" He also notices how Hermes keeps reffering to Hera as 'the queen', and she is the queen, so that in itself isn't unusual, what's unusual is that he hasn't reffered to Zeus as 'the king' once.

"Zeus. Because i will be on the winning side." Posidon replies easily, "And i will laugh when you are thrown into Tartarus."

"Sure." Hermes says softly, "Sure."

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART and yeah i know its probably not accurate at all but thats not a me problem

Hehehe, opinions? :D

@corvisclouds hii