#flower queen of hell (Persephone)

[ladamedemartel]

✢ I like your characters. It is my unflinching belief that Aurora de Martel is the Sun.

She is

[aphroditelovesu]

Yandere Persephone love letters! Heart me out!

🌸🦋🌸

Dear mine,

Today, as the flowers woke up to greet the dawn, my heart was filled with a sweet melody that only you are capable of playing. In every petal, I see the reflection of your smile, and in every gentle breeze, I feel your gentle touch. Like the goddess of flowers and spring, my world comes alive with your presence.

On the days when I walk through the fields of daffodils and jasmines, it is your voice that echoes softly in my ears, like a heavenly song that lulls my soul. Every step I take is a step towards you, my beloved because it is at your side that I find the fullness of my being.

From the moment I laid my eyes on you, my dear, my heart was consumed by a fiery flame that burns eternally for you. As the Queen of the Underworld, my love for you is as deep as the darkest and most infinite abysses. My every thought is dominated by your presence, every sigh that escapes my lips is an invocation to have you by my side. My dear, I feel compelled to protect you, to guard you from any evil that dares to approach.

I am the goddess of spring, but for you, I would be able to make eternal winter fall upon the world, just so that we can be together forever, in a kingdom where only the two of us reign.

May our souls be intertwined like the branches of an ancient tree, growing together in harmony and eternal devotion. For, my beloved, in you I have found not only a companion, but an echo of my own essence, a radiant light amidst the darkness of the universe. Nothing and no one will ever take you away from me, my love. If anyone dares try to steal you from me, they will meet only the fury of hell.

With all my eternal love and devotion,

Persephone.

[silverbirching]

SO WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT HADES 2, RIGHT

At least we had all better be, while I'm waving this broken bottle around.

Look guys I'm a Classical mythology wonk. And I don't mean like, "hey I read the Percy Jackson books, they were neat", I mean when I close my eyes before I sleep I pray to every god who might conceivably be listening that Linear A gets deciphered in my lifetime. I mean I've got a giant metal print of Circe Invidiosa by John Waterhouse in my bedroom. I mean that if you make the mistake of mentioning Hadestown in my presence you have unwittingly activated the trap card of "Sam talks about his string-and-sandwich board conspiracy theory about how Persephone was a terrifying eldritch queen of the dead and the entire greek world was scared shitless of her, so maybe knock it off with all these tender waifs in flower crowns, artists of the last two thousand years for two solid hours."

(The Percy Jackson books are extremely neat, btw)

So cut to 2020, the year of shit, and here comes a game from one of my favorite studios of all time, about one of my favorite subjects of all time, and it's gorgeous and deep and full of stupid gay drama and the art melts my eyeballs and the voice acting (true to Supergiant tradition) is basically indistinguishable from foreplay. So I played it. I played the absolute balls off of it.

AND THEY'RE MAKING A SEQUEL, HOLY SHIT

so the Thing about Chthonic deities is the underworld really creeped the Ancient Greeks out, so there's not a lot of writing about them that has survived to the present day, since if they were worshipped it was usually by mystery cults or more in an avoidant "please please please don't notice me I've been a good boy please" kind of way.

Hence why our favorite bisexual softboi dreamboat Zagreus doesn't really feature much in the mythology, except he was probably an offshoot of Dionysus and usually got synchronized with him, Hades himself, or Mycenaen Poseidon. They make a joke about this in Hades, btw (they make a fucking JOKE SONG about in in Hades).

BUT DID YOU KNOW ZAGREUS HAD A SISTER!?

Her name is Melinoë, and she's also cited from very limited sources, but I want to show y'all the brilliant Apostolos Athansssakis' translation of one of the view sources we have, the Hymn to Melinoë:

I call upon Melinoë, saffron-cloaked nymph of the earth, whom revered Persephone bore by the mouth of the Kokytos river upon the sacred bed of Kronian Zeus. In the guise of Plouton Zeus tricked Persephone and through wiley plots bedded her; a two-bodied specter sprang forth from Persephone's fury. This specter drives mortals to madness with her airy apparitions as she appears in weird shapes and strange forms, now plain to the eye, now shadowy, now shining in the darkness— all this in unnerving attacks in the gloom of night. O goddess, O queen of those below, I beseech you to banish the soul's frenzy to the ends of the earth, show to the initiates a kindly and holy face.

My guess would be is that Supergiant will not have her be the child of Zeus under false pretenses (there's sources that indicate Zagreus is also a child of Zeus) but still. Dope. Rad as hell. Zag's baby sister is a twin-bodied goddess of nightmares and I am excited a normal amount.

Also Apollo is gonna be in this one, you guys.

Look at this magnificent pain-in-the-ass. I can already tell you he's going to be 10,000% annoying, and I am completely here for it.

[princess-lilura]

No longer limiting myself to soft feminine energy or a dark powerful femme. If Persephone can be the goddess of flowers and queen of hell, then so can I 💋

[princessxlilac]

pomegranate

a poem inspired by my scorpio moon & rising:

vultures access the rape of sabine

hell has found its brand new queen

mother demeter wails in the streets,

“something precious has been taken from me!”

i am persephone

goddess of the spring and what’s buried deep underneath it

yes i ate the pomegranate

i was searching for something pure and romantic

i know now that my ignorance was taken for granted

it’s crimson seeds were not sweet,

they were bitter and poisonous

id fallen for someone soulless

when i stooped to a new low

you dragged me down into the basement

so i begged the gods in heaven for acknowledgment

red rubies look dirty on white snow

brandished to me a silver blade that whispers

seething hot words so dark and sinister

it tells me “he should wilt like my roses do in the winter!”

yet i try to remain my kindest through all the ice storms and violence

my tired heart grew violets

fertilized by the pain of my love’s departure

i know that i can flower regardless of your nurture.

[artisthedgehog]

Hades and Persephone are such a mood they're literally king and queen of hell and still one of them has a dog whose name literally means SPOT and the other one is the goddess of FLOWERS and SPRING and if that's not couple goals idk what is

[babygirl-isbad]

I believe in,

"If Persephone could be the the goddesss of flowers while being the queen of hell at the same time, so can you."

[the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf]

Criminal Minds characters as Greek Gods: Pt 1

“Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.” ― Herodotus, The Histories

Jj - Aphrodite - Goddess of Love and Beauty

Aphrodite was the Ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is said her appearance was so enchanting to cause substantial conflict among gods and men alike. Aphrodite was honoured as a protector of those who travelled by sea and, less surprisingly, courtesans and prostitutes.

“They wanted you to believe that love is weak, that you cannot curse and kiss with the same mouth. They wanted you to believe that the root of love is romance, soft and wide-eyed...Regardless o whether you desire it, love is what sits at the core of the world."

Emily Prentiss - Athena - Goddess of wisdom and warfare

Athena in Greek mythology was the city protectress and the goddess of war, handicraft and practical reason. As a goddess of war she could never be dominated by any other gods of Olympus. The goddess was not to be trifled with and her sense of justice was such that acts of impiety were swiftly avenged.

“There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it.”

Penelope Garcia - Persephone - Goddess of Spring and Death

The sweet daughter, goddess of harvest and fertility, of goddess Demeter and Zeus, who was kidnapped by Hades and later became the Queen of the Underworld. It is her return to Olympus every six months which causes the flowers to bloom and the harvest to flourish.

"Lost in Hell,—Persephone, Take her head upon your knee; Say to her, “My dear, my dear, It is not so dreadful here."

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Weiss: Gentle reminder that Persephone is the goddess of flowers and the queen of hell.

[ineffablebardwrites]

Good Omens Fic Masterlist

Aziraphale/Crowley (Ineffable Husbands)

The Ties That Bind

Not too long after time began, Aziraphale learned how to braid hair.

Not too long after that, Crowley's hair became his favorite thing to braid.

Little Talks

Crowley wakes in the middle of the night to the feeling of being watched.

A brief investigation leads him to the kitchen where God is waiting for him.

Things Unseen

Aziraphale honestly didn't think his time in Hell had affected him that much.

He was wrong.

Flash Flood

Aziraphale Fell on a Sunday afternoon.

The rain started shortly after.

Wait For Me (I Will)

After his Fall from Heaven, Crowley wants nothing more than to return to Aziraphale's side.

Their reunion doesn't go quite the way he'd imagined.

The Principles of Protection

Aziraphale reveals what it really means to be a Principality.

Crowley ends up witnessing it firsthand.

Out of Time

Crowley knew that falling in love with a vampire would have consequences.

He didn't think bleeding out in an alley would be one of them.

A Song of Selkies

All Aziraphale wanted was to go home.

Crowley doesn't understand why he can't.

Things My Heart Used to Know

Aziraphale always felt like Crowley reminded him of someone.

He's just not sure who that someone is.

Journey to the Past

Anthony Crowley is searching for the lost heir to the throne of Eden, Prince Aziraphale.

Enter Ezra, a young man with no memory of who he is or where he comes from, but bears a strong resemblance to the missing prince.

Spring Flowers, Autumn Leaves

Aziraphale, Lord of the Underworld, was used to waiting for Crowley to come home.

However, he wasn't used to Crowley being late.

--

A Hades/Persephone AU

Make A Wish

In the aftermath of Aziraphale's choice, Crowley finds comfort in a star shower and the hope brought on by a human's tall tale.

If You Hadn't Found Me (I Would Have Found You)

Aziraphale Fell, renowned cellist and musical prodigy, yearns for more than the hand he's been dealt.

Anthony Crowley, lead singer for the band The Fallen, is trying to find a new sound.

The two meet under unusual circumstances and somehow manage to find everything they'd been looking for.

Trials of the Serpent King Trilogy

The Fallen Prince

Ezra Fell had read The Trials of the Serpent King numerous times throughout his lifetime. He could quote nearly every line by heart and owned multiple versions of the entire series, including a recently obtained first edition of The Fallen Prince.

Upon opening the cover, Ezra finds himself within the pages of the book and traveling alongside Anthony J. Crowley, the exiled king of Eden, while he marches the path towards the redemption of his throne.

The Road to Eden

In the aftermath of The Fallen Prince, Ezra Fell continues his journey alongside Anthony Crowley as they make their way towards the Kingdom of Eden.

But the journey back is filled with perils and with a traitor lurking in their midst, Ezra's task of keeping Crowley alive has suddenly become a lot more difficult than before.

Salvation of the King

Following the events of The Road to Eden, Anthony Crowley and his company find themselves reeling from an unexpected betrayal, but continue to push toward their goal of reclaiming the throne which is now well within their reach.

However, their journey, while being so close to ending, is still far from over and Ezra Fell will find himself not only fighting for Crowley, but also fighting to remain in the world he now calls home.

Ineffable Wives

To Noise Making (Sing)

There had been a time when Aziraphale had loved singing.

Crowley isn't sure why she ever stopped.

Heart of Ice

The legend of the Snow Queen told a sorrowful tale of a woman whose heart turned to ice upon the loss of her beloved.

The Snow Queen herself has little memory of this person.

Antonia Crowley is intent on helping her remember.

Rhythm of the Night

Aziraphale and Crowley explore the evolution of fashion at the Moulin Rouge.

or

Aziraphale dresses up and Crowley loses her mind.

Ineffable Spouses

Through the Centuries

In order to assist Aziraphale with an assignment, Crowley suggests they pretend to be married.

When the end draws closer, Aziraphale is surprised to find she doesn't want it to end.

Love Is A Song (That Never Ends)

Upon their Creation, every angel was given half of a song.

The other half was given to their soulmate.

--

In which Aziraphale and Crowley are soulmates connected by a single song and how they slowly come back together following the Fall.

A Quiet Place

Once upon a time, a silent angel and an outspoken demon met on a wall.

Over time, they manage to find some common ground.

Ineffable Bureaucracy (Gabriel/Beelzebub)

It's Quiet Uptown

Gabriel hadn't always been this way.

In fact, he used to be very different.

Then again, after the Fall, no one was really the same.

---

Prequel to Things My Heart Used to Know

[antiquepearlss]

Hi my name is Persephone Pink Scoliosis Flower Sue and I have long highlighter pink hair (that’s how I got my name) with curly and straight strands that reaches my mid-back or floor or ears. And rosy pink eyes like limpid pedals and a lot of people tell me I look like Rachel Smythes wish fulfillment (AN: if u don’t know who she is get da hell out of here!). I’m not related to Hades but I wish I was because he’s a major fucking hottie. I’m a fertility goddess but Hades or my mother does most of my work. I have pink skin. I’m also queen of the underworld, and I go to Olympus.

[genericpuff]

Okay I need someone to know there is an equally bad Hades x Persephone story (it might've been self published? But I'm not sure. I read it years ago as a gift from a friend).

But the basic premise of the story is very similar to a touch of darkness and lore Olympus. The names are changed slightly - Persephone is now Persy or something and hades is Hayden.

Persephone works at an accounting firm or something as a new hire and guess who the new business partner is that her company is trying to strike a deal with? Hades who's Uber rich and handsome. Only difference is for some reason Persephone has the power to make people tell her their deepest secrets so like for example when she was a kid people would confess creepy things to her - like her middle school teacher blatantly admitting to being a pedophile and she does nothing about it. (Granted it's like what would she do even magic powers aren't admissible in court but still). And there's a love triangle with some random human guy? Who is immune to her powers through sheer will power (and masturbation. Yes this is a plot point).

At some point Persephone travels Hayden's domain (which is somewhere in Asia like Shanghai for some reason and not Greece). I gave up at that point. There was lots of creepy things going on in the story a la "young new girl Persephone is constantly almost assaulted at every turn due to her irresistible beauty and people's need to tell her their secrets").

Worst book I've ever read. It's so bad I cannot for the life of me remember the title but it fashioned itself as a modern retelling of Hades and Persephone.

Could it have been The Cursed God? That's what I pulled up from a google search at least LMAO

Here's the summary:

"Hades is coming for me. But that doesn't mean he can have me . . . He says he knows me. Who I am. What I am. I'm pretty sure my boss Hayden is on some sort of weird power trip. He's sexy as hell, but has an arrogance that spells danger. I'm only serving drinks in his seedy strip club until I can afford my own flower shop. I just have to avoid the inexplicable pull between us in the meantime. Then he claims I'm Persephone and he's Hades, the God of the Underworld. He says I was taken from him and now he's here to awaken my spirit so he can take me back to the underworld. That his position in the underworld depends on it. Either he's crazy . . . or I'm a mythical goddess. A queen of the underworld. His Queen."

There was another one I found called Descent. And its summary is equally crazy:

"He was my savior once. Twice. Now he’s become my tormentor.

Hayden Montgomery was my best friend’s big brother. The last time I saw him was that Halloween night. The night he found me in the ruin of the chapel. The night he carried me home through a storm that was the omen warning us all of what would come.

That was five years ago. Now, he’s back. But he’s not the same man he was.

Once upon a time, I’d fantasized about our happily-ever-after. Once upon a time, I think I loved him.

But that was before he stood in the wreckage that is now my life and offered me the solution to my problems. And the cost? My body and my soul.

There’s something dark between Hayden and me. It binds us for better or for worse. Mostly worse. Like the moth to the flame, we can’t seem to resist the draw.

I just don’t know which of us is the moth and which the flame, but either way, we’re both going to get burned."

That last bit about the moth and flame is just- it's so delightfully Twilight "the lion fell in love with the lamb" vibes.

Anyways. Those are the two closest ones I could find that matched your description, but this has me learning that there are ... a LOT of 'modern' retellings of H x P that involve Persephone being an uwu babygirl and Hades being some wet rag abusive dickhead named Hayden. This is a sub-genre I didn't know existed and now I'm wishing I could just scrub my brain of it LOL

On the one hand, part of me now wants to believe that this issue goes deeper than Rachel, that Rachel is just yet another side effect of a bigger problem... but then I spot all the publication dates on these H x P "dark romance" books are from 2019 onwards. Obviously LO doesn't exist in a vacuum either, it's clear it took influences from works that existed before it, it's not the first "modern" retelling of Greek myth. But I can't help but feel a sense of dread that really makes me wonder just how much LO's existence has subsequently oversaturated the market with these "retellings" of a story that was originally a tragedy and meant to sympathize with the mothers whose daughters were forced into marriage, the same way 50 Shades and Twilight oversaturated the market with the "dark romance" genre itself, which is really just a dog whistle for abusive relationships at this point.

Don't really have anything else to say to close out this post. It's just depressing and I desperately want us all to hurry the fuck up and outgrow it instead of dressing up the same abusive "relationships" with a new coat of paint every 5-10 years.

[pinkacademe]

a reminder that persephone is the goddess of flowers and is also the queen of hell, so don’t ever think you have to fit into just one mold.

[dark-elf-writes]

Okay so Tokodeku totally fit the Persephone archetype for me. Izuku is spring coded and looks so cute and fluffy and innocent but is actually feral and will make dumbass decisions and is just fascinated by everything. And Fumi looks like the night and is so consumed by darkness but is honestly such a cutie pie and is just sooooo whipped for his sunshine partner.

Ancient history had always fascinated him.

Tales of heroes and monsters. Of tragedy and triumph. Of gods and their lives. They had always fascinated him in a way that more recent ideas and cultures never had.

(Stories where a boy with a bird head wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. Stories where even in tragedy there was a lesson. Stories where even the shadows didn’t have to be monsters. Was it ever really a surprise that he had fallen so desperately in love with them?)

His favorite myth was of a lonely king of the dead and his springtime queen.

To the uninitiated it was a tragedy, the evil lord of darkness who stole her away from her flowers and sunshine and tricked her into a trap to keep her at his side for half of the year. An eternal punishment doled our every six months for the rest of time. A tyrant and his stolen bride ruling over hell with an iron fist.

Others, though, had the truth of it. The truth that he had always felt deep in his chest.

The girl, a queen without Kingdom, with fire in her heart and flowers in her hair, had captivated the king, yes, but it had been her that asked to be taken. Demanded it even with her spring sweet smile and steel in her spine. A sword etched with flowers, beautiful and deadly. She had swept into the king’s life, his heart, and made a home for herself there, had eaten the fruits of Hell with a loving grin and eyes filled with promise. A queen to rule his kingdom. The true power in hell falling on sun-kissed skin and a laugh like the first spring breeze.

(Everyone forgot that spring also brought the storms. Viscous things that left blood and dust in their wake. Cherry blossom scented death carried out with equal amounts beauty and horror.)

Fumikage thought he understood that old king of shadows and dead. Thought he knew what it was like to be swept up by a beautiful storm of his own.

“Fumi!” Izuku laughed in the rain, soaked green curls plastered to their face as they turned back to smile at him and their once flowing green dress clinging to every dip and curve of them. Temptation. The wild joy of spring hiding the fury behind sweet smiles and pretty laughs. They held a hand out to him where he was lurking in the doorway where it was dry watching them dance, barefoot in the warm rain.

He didn’t even think before he was moving, black shirt and jeans getting soaked in an instant as he stepped into the downpour and took their hand. Feathers slicked down with the weight of the water and shirt already clinging to his chest as they pulled themself close to him with a giggle full of mischievous delight.

“Dance with me,” They commanded, eyes dancing with delight. The true ruler of his heart.

Fumikage pulled them close, wet skin and soaked fabric under his fingers as he moved his other arm to their waist. “It would be my pleasure.”

His springtime lover, beautiful and awe inspiring in equal parts, tipped their head back to the sky and laughed into the storm as the two of them began to dance.

[presefone]

*takes a deep breath* ok so i want to talk about my personal criticism regarding the myth of persephone in common media etc because this has been told so many times across enternainement that i feel like some of its meaning has been lost through time. i'm a huge history enthusiast so this plays a role, definitely, and i'm not saying anything else besides what i'm writing here is wrong ; these are just my thoughts on it. basically, hades and persephone are not the protagonists of the story and they never were. it was always demeter. homer called it 'the hym of demeter' and praises her love for her daughter instead of anything else. there's truly no discussion about 'hades and persephone's love'. hell, persephone doesn't even have a line in the hym ; we don't hear her thoughts at all, which of course opens to a very welcomed interpretation but alas, let's move on. zeus' offers his daughter to marriage without hers or her mother's consent and awareness. his daughter, who he never helped raise and nor was involved in any way. his daughter who was never truly his daughter in anything but conception, but was above everything else demeter's creation, her most treasured companion, her gift and sole happiness in a world of mortals and olympians. a young 'maiden', stolen by death, never to be seen again. all gods knew of zeus' allowance and where persephone had been sent to but couldn't tell demeter, at all, by orders of their king. yet one god took pity of demeter's pain, hekate. demeter, who roamed the earth crying for her baby, who was taken too soon, without warning, to the darkest place in myth ; death. and demeter, who raged like the mother earth herself to get her child back, who cried and screamed in pure agony : all of this is the central theme of the hym, not hades, not even persephone herself. this is a clear story about ancient greek lives where fathers would send off their daughters to marriage without questioning their wives, and where daughters died too young in the process. i say this because normally what we have is a very ''cool but brooding hades'' who is ''misjudged by everyone'' and a ''sunshine and flowers persephone who is the only one who makes him smile'' and against that we need a clear antagonist, so common perception has a demanding, cruel, controlling demeter. this is not accurate at all. demeter is not the villain and again, neither is hades ! but he isn't the victim here too ! did persephone go willingly? only two myths tell that, so, it isn't the wildly accepted version. in most, she was kidnapped, taken, or lurred. and after that, we don't hear what happened because unfortunately her view does not matter, nor hades', nor their possible bloom of love. it is not really her story nor hades'. i personally fufill that gap that yes, she did come to love hades, hence the eating of the seeds and the marriage bond (and after all, hades was hit by eros' out of aphrodite's demmand to avoid kore from becoming yet another virgin goddess, so again, outside forces). her position as queen became more and more tempting as she is a goddess and any god wants power and glory, a maiden to be rival to hera, and stand up to her mother as equals, and not just a tool to her existence. my persephone longs for that power, for that duty, for that respect, and i take into accord the other myths she comes by as the dreadful, just, allurring queen. i also complete in my head that it was always her destiny from the beggining to be a god of underworld, since her name itself is leading to a destroyer and not just spring. but it all comes down to the meaning of the hym, of demeter, of her being 'kore', being a girl, a young girl, stolen and taken too soon. dead too soon. like the many greek women who were sold off to marriage never to be seen again ; dying in more ways than one.

[localplaguenurse]

Do you think there is/was a cult that worship the Regina Sanguine to an obsessive degree

Like yk how the overzealous religious cults go

Oh probably. I started to kinda explain everything about how wifey as a goddess worked last night to @crystalflygeo but I put like a Lot of thought into it so I can say yes they did absolutely have a cult or two worshipping them.

I'm supposed to be finishing dad fic but I'm counting this as a little brain break to just info dump. This gets long, I have been quietly insane with this knowledge for a while.

Also spoilers for As Gold as the Ginkgo Trees but that is a given.

I already touched on it in the fic but I'm gonna go more in depth here. Regina Sanguine, or the Blood Queen, is in reference to the fact they are a mortal being of flesh and blood compared to Rex Lapis, the Rock King, a being made of geo. It is also tangentially related to the fact that Morax is the Warrior God and deals out punishments to those who break contracts with him.

There are three aspects of worship in regards to wifey. One is their "role" as a loving fertility goddess. Another is their role as Mother of Arts. The last is them being an omen of vengeance and punishment.

The fertility goddess is simple enough. Their lore stems around the idea of marriage and families, so naturally they are associated with those things as they become a more prominent figure. It's why I had ginkgo tree and silk flower imagery become important to weddings in the lore of the fic, because their actual dress looked and smelled like a silk flower, and they grew up in a monastery with ginkgo trees. (And thanks to a certain ginger, we also know that wifey was... really into practicing fertility *wink wink nudge nudge gets shot*)

The Mother of Arts, again pretty simple. When you have 2000 years to practice art, you're gonna get good at it eventually and perhaps have a hand in several art movements. Not just that, but they would give "blessings" to struggling artists (aka actually really handy advice and encouragement), so they are appreciated in that sense.

Now, the omen of vengeance and punishment, now that I have been waiting to be asked about.

Wifey has taken inspiration from two Greek myths; Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and more modern interpretations of Medusa. The Persephone parallel is more relevant to how they were worshipped, but their connection to their motherly figure and also being literally taken from their old home by their husband and brought elsewhere was slightly inspired by that. The Medusa comparison is the main one.

So first and foremost, I want to say this myth is not necessarily the actual story of Medusa. She and the other gorgons were already established characters before this particular story came about. However, this is the more largely known iteration of the story which is where I got the idea.

So if you know, Medusa was a worshipper of the goddess Athena, and had an eternal vow of chastity. During a visit to Athena's temple, she is assaulted by Poseidon, or is otherwise tricked by him, and as a result, she is cursed with her more snakelike appearance, and that anyone who looks at her will turn to stone. Depending on how you read into that myth, it can be interpreted as Athena unjustly punishing an abuse victim, or it can be seen as Athena trying to bless her in a way that would seem unsightly to other men, by altering her appearance and literally making anyone who so much as looks at her turn to stone.

Now obviously you can guess which scene was inspired by that specific myth. The Abbess has made wifey's life hell, and after physically assaulting them and attacking Wei Jin, she is first impaled and then turned to stone for it. This story of course spread throughout Liyue once wifey became more established, so much like how the Medusa head was used to ward off evil and is a common symbol for assault survivors, wifey is a symbol for abuse survivors as well. The reason they are specifically an omen and not an actual goddess is because they did not hurt the Abbess, but their husband certainly fucking did.

So onto the actual question of did they have cults-

I'm just gonna link this video here because 1. good channel, I love their trope talks series, and 2. this is where I got the main Persephone inspiration from. Also for some reason Tumblr won't let me put the actual video into this sooooooooo yeah. I'm not gonna make you watch a 20 minute video for like one reference so I'm just going to poorly summarize the relevant information: One of Persephone's believed names was Despoina, in reference to a mystery cult in Arcadia that worshipped her and her mother. It's largely accepted that they're the same goddess, but we don't have exact confirmation because mystery cults and Despoina's main thing was her real name was a secret unless you were actually initiated into her followings. The other thing about Persephone is she is a Cthonic goddess, and the thing about Cthonic gods? You did not want to get their attention and saying their name was a very good way to do that.

Now, did I have wifey's name become "forgotten" aside from the title of Regina Sanguine so I could avoid putting a (y/n) in the fic? Yes, but it also ties into the idea of them being worshipped as a terrifying omen of vengeance and punishment. If you say their name, you get their attention, and if you have their attention, you have Morax's attention as well, so you had best be on your best behaviour and showing your appreciation to his wife.

Being worshipped as a fertility goddess... yeah honestly you can take a wild guess how that turns out. As soon as you said cults I honestly flashed back to when I was playing one of my few rounds of Fear and Hunger and stumbled across the bunnymasks in the backyard. I'm just exploring and I come across a hidden corner with a bunch of people in bunny masks getting it on for their goddess Sylvian, who is also behind the "marriages" in the game.

So like, yeah. Wifey had a couple cults here and there, and was worshipped both as a symbol to abuse survivors, an artist, and a fertility and marriage goddess. They were predominantly worshipped as for the fertility part and so their specific cults were... very fertile.

Tldr: Yes.