#hebe king

[bluupxels]

idk no one seems too happy about that

[azenzeph]

2024 request strem done!!! Thank yall so much for request an d be in g pa ti en t

[shanastoryteller]

Pride prompts: something for Greek gods? Any new installments for gods and monsters??

Happy Pride!

❤️🧡💛💚💙💙💜

Hera is proud of her daughter.

It's not what she wanted for her, exactly, but in many ways it is. She'd wanted her daughter to grow up safely by her side, as Hephaestus could not. She'd wanted her daughter to grow into a domain of her own choosing, as Ares could not.

She had wanted Hebe to have a life of comfort and ease, forgetting, in her want, that neither comfort nor ease were something either of her parents had ever fought for.

Hera had given up much in her quest for power. It had netted her exactly what she'd sought and she does not regret it. Not often. But perhaps it was foolish of her to think that a child born of the king and queen of the gods would prioritize comfort.

Eris, goddess of chaos, sacrifices nothing of herself for her power. She claims her domain on her own terms, with the blood of people who don't know what their sacrifice is building, and Hera smiles.

[clockys-soul]

New design for the Old man!

Now snowreapers have antlers and since this dude is like half Snowreaper he gets big antlers!

Some Lore:

Northwind is the oldest surviving wyvern, and the largest Duratus wyvern ever recorded. He was first spotted by the Duratus family when he was already an adult wyvern, and they were fascinated by his status as a wild Hybrid. He was not aggressive and his size protected him from many predators, allowing him to live a solitary life. The Duratus family watched him out of fascination and named him "the Mountain King."

Hebe Duratus, who later became Northwind's rider, went missing during a hunting trip with her father, who was riding his wyvern. Northwind approached Hebe and showed no aggression, allowing her to ride him for the first time on her eighth birthday. He served as her companion and guardian during the war, helping with rescue and defense missions.

But tragedy struck when Odin Fulgur killed Hebe in a panic. Northwind was inconsolable, nudging and chittering at Hebe's body, but she would not move. Ever since that day, he spent his time simply sleeping and lounging in the mountain range near the Duratus castle, with visitors coming to talk to him and even the townsfolk coming to talk to him. He is now known as "The old King of the Mountains," appreciated for his age and gentle nature.

[mydarlingdearestdead]

"Come with me," Apollo's voice was earnest, void of its usual melodic tone, "Drink from Hebe's cup and join me."

"As a... God?" Hyacinth breathed the ultimate word, clasping a hand to his racing heart, "Immortal... Forever alive."

Apollo inclined his head, grasping Hyacinth's waist with sun-warmed hands, pulling him into his bare chest as an intoxicating warmth engulfed the two.

"My king," A vain whisper against sun-toned, freckled skin, "My love... The council's envy."

"Forever." Hyacinth vocalised the unsaid word, exhausted by it's weight on his chest.

"Forever." Apollo confirmed, "An eternity in each other's company." Sweet as the pluck of his lyre, the melody returned.

Hyacinth felt his lips stretch around a weary smile.

As a child, he had heard stories of Apollo. Every youth did; Cautionary tales.

Golden lessons such as the ever-utilised Do Not Steal Sacred Cattle From Gods Unless You Have A Distinct Talent For Creating Musical Instruments and, Hyacinth's personal favourite, Never Run From A God, Should He Pursue You, Unless, Of Course, You Yearn To Spew Sap In Your Old Age.

Though, in moments such as this, Hyacinth could hardly entertain a notion of heeding a single learned moral.

Truthfully, he was contented where he lay, swaddled in not just warmth, but eternal light.

Masterlist

[superkooku]

Seeing @sarafangirlart 's post about Kaos made me notice a new trend :

It's slightly better than dumb drunk but still removes the best elements about him: the frenzy, the madness, the terror, the liberation. Also, Dionysus participated in three mythological wars (Gigantomachy), two that he led himself (against Perseus and against India).

Dionysus, as the liberator and against inhibiting structures and figures of authority, immediately enters in conflict with every mortal king he meets (Pentheus, Lycurgus, Proteus, Labdacus, Perseus...) and always DISRUPTS the peace when he comes to their city.

He's not like "Hello my friends, can you worship me please 🥺 ?" His punishments are wild, seriously, some Eldritch horror stuff.

Also his great grandfather is literally ARES, I'm not even joking.

He's literally one of the worst candidates 😂.

Also, in Hades II, it's used as an excuse to remove him from the plot, which made me super upset (maybe the worst decision in the game. Right besides wrecking OdyPen).

For the peaceful god/goddess, choose Hestia, Eirene, Hypnos, Hebe, Asclepius idk, some chill deities that don't like to be involved in fights or exclusively helped people or stayed in the corner doing their own thing. Not the god who has crazy beast women as priestesses.

[cheerleaderman]

🎃Can you find the Pumpkin King?🎃

Event Summary

It’s that time of year again in Twst, hearing about what happened last time with endless Halloween ghosts invited NRC to their kingdom to participate in their grand activities.

Their biggest event is to a scavenger hunt to find the Pumpkin King.Everyone has been split up into groups and will start at the castle where the king is supposed to be.Travel around the kingdom solving puzzles, gathering clues and having fun but be warned there are many tricks along the way, you may even see some fake Pumpkin Kings.

Most of the kingdom will be playing along acting worried for their king, providing clues and secrets. Talking to the right person may get you some treasures. Of course having you making you do something for them to gain information.

This year Yuya has been appointed the Pumpkin King. The thing is no one knows what Yuya will look like and their face will be covered. Yuya can also play tricks on teams with what the ghost has given them. Who knows they might just slip under your noses.Once actually found and the group completes the final mission Yuya will lead them to the treasure and the Halloween party can finally start now that the king has returned.

(More under cut)

Rules and dress code.

As this is a Halloween event everyone must be dressed up in costumes. People can choose what costumes they want just No pumpkin themed costumes like a pumpkin witch with the exception of Grim and make sure to keep it appropriate.

No NSFW

Anyone can participate! Ocs and Canon characters by making cards, writing fic, voice lines,Fan art etc.

Make sure to tag me and use the hashtag #Findpumpkinking

This event will last until November 5th when I will spin a wheel and announce what team found the Pumpkin King.

I’ll spin with the teams that have participants and I will make some kind of drawing for the wining team but what kind will be based on my mood at that time

Pumpkin King

Yuya Florence | Yuya’s Second card [will try to do voice lines for participants on this one]

Teams

Group Jack-o-lantern

Rook, Deuce, Jade , Leona, Ortho ,

Sylvie ( @sherryclover), Hopper O’Latock( @amatsuchan-eiliniel)

Group Skeleton

Jamil, Lilia, Kalim, Vil, Trey

Flori Mohn-Prinz ( @bunniehunn), Reese Kingbit ( @kickasscentral), Yumi Yozakura( @marinahavik), Flurin Prinz( @amatsuchan-eiliniel)

Group Grim Reaper

Sliver, Azul, Epel, Idia by me

Hopper ( @theolivetree123) , Galen Donnelley ( @the-trinket-witch), Swallow Reynard ( @offorestsongs)

Group Witches

Cater, Malleus by @gl00myb3arz , Ace ( @mirioho), Grim , Sebek ,

Sophie ( @gl00myb3arz), Kalmia von viradin ( @skriblee-ksk), Hebe Göttel( @honibumii), Reyu Carrera ( @mirioho) Rebecca ( @0honeybones0)

Group Vampire

Riddle, Ruggie , Floyd, Jack

,Joseph Akaba( @readsrandomstuff67), Yumi Hitsuji( @twisted-wonderland-memories)

Group Werewolf (staff member only)

Sam, Crewel, Trein, Vargas , Crowley

Zayn Weatherwax( @twstinginthewind)

Background

(It’s from nightmare before Christmas)

Will you be able to find the Pumpkin king?

[lunarphoria]

☽☾ Ganymeda - Gladdening Princess ☽☾

Heyy everyone !! Here's a little drawing I made in honor of Lady Hebe <3 I'm sorry that it's on the more simple side ( I couldn't really figure out what to do for the background and kind of panicked a bit ) , but I still hope you enjoy it anyway!!

Here are some things I'd like to mention about the way I depict her :

I believe her to resemble her father more in appearance, but having her mother's " cow-like " eyes , so I tried to make them look big with thick lashes. The little horns are something every child of King Zeus & Queen Hera ( excluding Lord Ares & probably Lord Hephaistos too ? ) shares . I gave her a belt with a Herakles's Knot on it , a symbol of love & marriage which would be ceremonially untied by the groom . Her pitcher features an excerpt from an ancient vase depicting gods of Olympos attending a wedding ( though I found out my colorful rendering really clashes with ancient vases so you can't really see it anymore :') ) . I gave her attire the drooped shoulder since a lot of classical paintings of Lady Hebe ( or her Roman equivalent Lady Juventas) feature it as well , and I think it's fitting for a goddess of youth. The bluish , transparent fabric under the sleeves is kind of supposed to look like water. The chains around her arms may look a little strange at first, but freed prisoners would dedicate their broken chains to her in one of her sanctuaries, and I think it nicely undermines her role as a goddess of forgiveness and mercy as well <33

( divider made by @ / firefly-graphics ) <3

[hermesmoly]

Kinda crazy how more involved Zeus is with Hebe than he is with Eileithyia. Hebe has her father give her two talking doves, was the one who pushed to have her marry Heracles, one of his favorite sons (when Hera wanted Hebe to be married to Dionysus), and not to mention his old job as a cupbearer when Kronos was still king.

Compare that to Eileithyia who. Has nothing except for her role as Goddess of Childbirth despite her helping dad out with Apollo and Artemis

[audreyscribes]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[alneedssleep]

Headcannons about Apollo pt.1 

PSA: This is mythology Apollo stuff but most of this applies to Percy Jackson Apollo as well. 

Apollo loves no sibling more than Artemis, but he is closer to Athena. They bonded over being the favourite siblings, gods of knowledge/wisdom and the fact Athena was somewhat in charge of teaching/raising him when he first came to Olympus. 

Apollo is the only other god besides Zeus to have the epithet ‘Moiragetes’ meaning ‘Leader of the Fates’. There are also only two moments of fate being averted in the entire mythos – once when Zeus swallows Metis and then again when Apollo tricks/convinces the Fates to extend Admetus’s lifespan. I imagine this means they are both capable of altering fate, it is just usually not worth the trouble. 

Adding on to the previous hc, I also imagine Apollo has pure white eyes. As in, no pupils or irises. This is a trait I imagine the Fates share as well. Zeus would as well if he had gift of prophecy, but he doesn’t. 

Apollo has the epithet ‘Lycegenes’ meaning ‘born of wolf’ or ‘born of Lycia’. Both work since his mother spent some time in a form of a wolf while pregnant in some versions and she is also a prominent goddess in Lycia. Lycia is in modern day Turkey, so I imagine Leto, Apollo and Artemis have some Turkish features. Specifically, they all have an aquiline nose (though you also see that in Greece), darker skin and (in the PJ universe aka the modern day) all three occasionally wear head scarfs. Not hijabs obviously since those are religious, but sheer fabric with a bunch of different designs relating to their sacred symbols wrapped around their head and hair. 

Apollo was less of an older brother and more of a parent to Hermes, Dionysus and even Hebe when they were young. It was only once they were much older that Apollo started treating than more like siblings but will occasionally fall back into old habits. 

Hera and Apollo have a better relationship than expected. They, along with Athena, mostly bonded over their shared woes of dealing with Zeus (who is not as bad as PJ Zeus but is still, you know, a king. And kings are rarely great.) 

Apollo is the most all-knowing of the non-primordial gods. He has the domains of truth, prophecy and knowledge and, once he gains the sun in roman times, can also see anything that happens during the day. This makes him stupidly well informed. Even his cousin Hecate, Aunt Asteria, Grandmother Phoebe and Grandfather Koios are not as well informed since they only have the domain of prophecy and, even then, only have a specific kind while Apollo, seemingly, has access to every kind of prophecy. 

Apollo (and Artemis) are Gods of Youth and, in Apollo’s case, he even has an epithet explicitly denoting him as an eternal child: ‘Acersecomes’ meaning one with unshorn hair. Boys in ancient Greece grew out their hair and generally cut and dedicated their hair to Apollo after reaching adulthood. As a result, Apollo not only has long curly golden hair, but is also unable to age any older than 15 since 16 was the age of adulthood back then. I imagine this would be the same for Artemis as well. (If we are including the PJ universe here, then they would be able to age up to 17). 

[bluupxels]

Proud Parents

[cursecuelebre]

Queen Hera’s About Blog

Just a little cheat sheet of Queen Hera/Iuno’s worship from Greco-Roman paganism

Attributes

Women and Womenhood

Families

Children

Protector of Cities (Argos, Rome, Greek state etc)

Marriage and Virginity

Stars and the Full Moon

Goddess of the heavens

Childbirth

Protector of Young Men or adolescent boys

Goddess of Young girls

Love

Flowers

Widows and Wives

Guardian to all women and Saviour to Women

Fertility

Animals

Cow

Peacock

Cuckoo (Zeus seduced her in the form of a Cuckoo)

Lions

Crane

Hawk

Herbs/Fruit

Pomegranates

Lotuses

Flowers

Apples

Cucumbers

Lemons

Limes

Figs

Lilies

Symbols

Libation bowl

Lotus Sceptre

Chariot

Crown

Family

Spouse: Zeus king of the the Gods his Roman equivalent is Jupiter

Divine children: Ares (war), Hebe (Youth), Hephaestus (Smith God, birthed on her own in some stories), Eileithyia (childbirth) Eris (discord). Mars (In Roman myth Juno went to the goddess Flora to give her a flower to make her pregnant without a male help because it was after Jupiter’s own birth of Minerva from his head. Flora granted her the flower and became pregnant birthing Mars the god of war and vegetation in Roman mythology.

Epithets/Titles

Hera Pais - Girl

Hera Nympheuiomenē - Betrothed bride

Hera Teleia - Adult Women

Hera Khēra - Widow

Hera Aphrodite - of Aphrodite

Hera Gamēlia - Of marriage

Hera Autorôtē - unbulled (virginal)

Hera Zugla - yoked (married)

Hera Hēnioknē - Of the Chariot

Hera Antheia - Of the Flowers

Hera Argôia - Of the Ship Argos

Hera Hyperkheiria - Whose hand is above

Hērion - Temple of Hera

Hēraia - Festival of Hera

Daidala- Festival of Hera

Roman Epithets/ Titles

- Juno Sospita - Armed Warrior (as savior of women and the state as well as protector of young men and adolescents boys).

- Juno Moneta - “The Warner” but it also can relate to mint or money and currency.

[genericpuff]

The Extended Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Finale Premiere (Pt 2)

Alrighty, I promised a part two back in the first part of this analysis, but found myself busy with Rekindled and my day job, so I'm finally sitting down and finishing this up. If you haven't read that first part yet, please go check it out!

CAUTION: THERE BE FASTPASS SPOILERS AHEAD!

We left off with Hebe and Apollo roleplaying that one scene from The Lion King, albeit with a lot less sense or nuance. Literally all the "drama" so far feels purely manufactured for cheap plot progression and tension and it hardly feels authentic. But now we gotta talk about the second half of this episode, where we finally address the cliffhanger that the FP midseason finale episode left off on - Persephone causing winter.

And what better way to kick it off than with a completely off-base Persephone monologue?

Now, what's shown here is actually a flashback to the job interview scene from S1, when Persephone asked to see the snow in the Underworld. But it's written as if Persephone has some intimate relationship with snow as a whole, as if she's experienced more than this one time which... she hasn't. There was nothing "romantic" really about that scene following the job interview, she literally just wanted to go out and see something she hadn't seen before.

But that calls into question - why does Persephone constantly act like she has an intimate relationship with snow when it doesn't occur in the Mortal Realm? She even says in the honeymoon episode that it's hot all the time in the Mortal Realm, and the temperature only drops every now and then during rainy days... and she somehow makes this about Hades when it literally has nothing to do with him lmao Persephone monologues are some of the worst /r/im14andthisisdeep moments in the series because she's constantly using word salad to describe feelings we never saw or scenes that never happened.

And this scene is no different. She says that snow is something that's interwoven with her most 'treasured moments' but all the visuals have to show for is that one scene from S1 that, again, didn't even come across as a 'treasured moment', it was just her seeing the snow for the first time, there was nothing 'romantic' about it in a vacuum. All the moments from the series you could call ACTUALLY TREASURED milestones of Hades and Persephone's relationship - and Persephone's supposed "love" for the Underworld - are scenes where snow was completely absent (ex. the scene of Persephone and Hades talking about Sicily in Zeus and Hera's garden, Persephone and Hades spending the night in the cabin during the trial arc, etc.)

But then, to make it even more confusing, she goes on to describe her losing her powers and causing winter a "betrayal". As if the concept of winter owes her anything. As if Erebus owes her anything.

The allusion to Erebus itself in the visuals implies that she feels "betrayed" over this happening, as if it wasn't made ABUNDANTLY CLEAR TO HER that she would have to sacrifice something. She's gone SO LONG without knowing or caring about what she could have possibly given up, that by the time it finally revealed itself, she's acting all shocked Pikachu because there's finally something she can't just have. Everything that could make her seem imperfect has been washed away, from her SA trauma to those pesky green hands. Now we finally ARE seeing her affected by her own choices and she's basically waxing poetic about how sad it is that her actions have consequences.

That said, she does seem to have a moment of self-awareness here... but I can't be confident it will actually amount to anything seeing as how all the past attempts at 'growth' have been overshadowed by her vanity and ego.

This line is really confusing / weird in the way that it's written but I think she's trying to say that the source of the cold is from her, she can't pin it on any sort of 'big bad' like she could with Apollo and Kronos. It's just her.

And again, this could be a moment of realization for her that her actions are her own regardless of whatever she wants to pin it on-

But she rejects it instead. She's still not capable of acknowledging that her choices affect others, that her actions have consequences, that she's finally paying the price for something she knew had a cost.

If this were any other comic, I would accept her rejection of this, I would have confidence in knowing she may recognize it eventually. But this is LO and we're three seasons in, she's technically already gotten her happily ever after in the form of becoming Queen and married to her 'true love', so all of this feels like a very last-minute attempt to paint Persephone as this "struggling" character. But she's not "struggling", she's just finally experiencing karma catching up to her and as expected for a person like Persephone, she's already cracking under the pressure of realization that she can't have everything she wants.

Again, in any other comic, this would feel satisfying or endearing to see her fall on her own sword, but to me it just feels frustrating in the context of LO because we've spent five years seeing her get everything she wants with barely any real struggle that wasn't manufactured - with all of it painted as a GOOD THING - while still getting away with treating the people around her like shit.

And when I say she rejects this concept of having humility, I don't just mean through her monologuing, but also through her actions.

If I were to critique LO the same way I would an actual functional series, I would say that this should be the point of realization, the point where we see her crumble under the weight of her not being perfect, not being able to "fix" everything. It all stems back to her entitlement as a bratty main character, someone who can't fathom not being the main character or the "hero".

Because she's not the hero. Demeter is - or at least, she tries to be.

Again, it's hard to know if this is intentional or if this is yet another attempt to present Demeter as an "overbearing mom", but Persephone here looks and sounds like she's been reduced back to the state of a child crying for her mother in the face of her own failures. Despite now technically being a mother herself (through literal babynapping sigh) Persephone is still not a mature adult. Aging her up 10 years and giving her a husband and baby will not make her an actual functional independent adult who's capable of taking care of themselves or making the right decisions... unlike Demeter who is still, ultimately, more skilled than Persephone. She is an actual experienced and mature adult who's capable of rationalizing and decision making, and knowing when it's time to put aside your ego, walk away and let someone else who's far more qualified take care of things.

What Demeter has is something that one can only gain through true hardship, failing, learning from one's own mistakes, and experience, all of which Persephone does not have because she transitioned from a cage of her own imagination where hard work and responsibility was a virtue, into a gilded cage where true hard work can be passed onto someone else whose efforts she could take credit for while sitting on a throne and buying anything and everything she could ever want.

Despite everything Persephone and the narrative claims to have 'earned', she's still a child. The adults have to take over.

And like a child, she doesn't let them.

This is not an 'anime moment'. This is not a moment of redemption. This is immaturity and irresponsibility in its most visible form for Persephone - refusing to let go of her ego and shortcomings to "prove herself", even if it means making things worse.

And Hades enables it.

I want to make it clear there is a massive difference between not being controlling over someone, and actually enabling them.

This is not some small hill to die on. Persephone is literally causing winter, which could very well kill the Mortals. As we've seen in that prior Hebe scene from the first part of this essay, the snow is showing up in Olympus. This isn't something that's happening in the isolation of this single scene, this is happening everywhere and instead of taking the L, Persephone is trying to make things 'better' by simply 'trying harder' which is just not the solution here, Demeter knows this, but Hades is playing the "girlboss" version of a "good husband" by not even bothering to try and convince her to do otherwise. Hades above everyone else should be the one stepping in because he'd likely be the only one she'd actually listen to, but he's refusing to because he has to be the "good husband" who doesn't control the actions of his wife.

So he flat out enables her instead by not even bothering to try and reason with her, to help her see that what she's doing is not helping. Not even so much as a "Persephone, I know you want to help but it's clear something is wrong and if Demeter can figure out what to do to fix this, we should let her", just him saying to Demeter who wants to stop her that he can't stop her from trying... ignoring the fact that he should at least try.

And that's the difference between being controlling and being an enabler. He's not keeping her from doing something that benefits her and doesn't harm him or others. He's not micromanaging her decisions or trying to tell her she's not capable. Now, don't get me wrong, there are definitely things that make Hades a walking red flag especially when it comes to him being a groomer, but when it comes to directly controlling Persephone, most of the time she's doing things of her own accord convinced that it's "the right thing" (which is still just a side effect of the obvious grooming because I really doubt S1 Persephone would have done this shit lmao).

Here, he's not stepping in to even try to reason with her because "well I'd be a bad husband if I stepped in", completely ignoring the fact that it makes him a terrible person, period, to not at least try to calmly reason with his wife and explain to her that her 'help' is not going to help here. Just like when he rewarded her with sex for abusing a nymph in her own home, he's completely complacent to Persephone's actions and doesn't step in to try and help because, according to Wattpad and TikTok, a "good husband" is someone who looks the other way while his life partner does whatever she wants regardless of the consequences to herself and others. "Happy wife, happy life, who cares if the wife wants to be an actual piece of shit to people if it makes her happy".

And thus she makes things worse in her pursuit of "happiness", while Hades stands idly by, watching it all unfold as if he's just an innocent bystander who can absolve himself of any responsibility in this situation. As if she didn't become this way because she ate the pomegranate to be with him and a part of his world.

Now, there's one other sort-of-blatant smoking gun that I want to talk about that I haven't really seen anyone else mention since this episode went up. Granted, this might be me reading far too much into it, but hey, that's what this blog is for and I think it's something that absolutely needs to be mentioned.

Persephone goes on about how her powers aren't just gone, they've been replaced, all she can create is decay, and more specifically-

Now... think of the context of LO's narrative, what it's told us both literally and through subtext, intentional or not.

What does this sound like?

Hades lost his ability to produce children when he ate the pomegranate. He can no longer "create life".

And now, Persephone is finding herself in a similar situation, unable to "create life" the way she knows how. I'd like to think this isn't literal, but it really feels like there's a metaphorical implication here that Persephone losing her ability to create life is meant to be taken literally, that she not only can't create flowers and plant life anymore, but she's lost her fertility entirely. You can go even further back in this when it was established Persephone didn't eat six seeds, but nine, which originally felt like a weirdly random choice, but now seems intentional. I know some people have theorized that it has to do with her possibly being pregnant, but I don't think that's the case, I think it's the opposite - that the 9 months was a metaphor for the 9 months of childbearing that Persephone can no longer do.

And if that's the case... LO truly is no longer a "feminist" piece of work. It barely was before, but if the point of all this winds up being an attempt by Rachel to give Persephone a "flaw" by taking away her ability to bear children... that'll be a punch to the gut.

That said, if it does go somewhere, maybe the point will be Persephone learning she doesn't need to be able to reproduce to have value as a woman. But considering LO's track record with these sorts of plotlines, I can't be confident in the slightest that's where it'll end up. What I can be confident in is that Persephone will likely not stay this way. Like her green hands, she'll likely get her powers back, maybe after the resolution that she's still a real woman deserving of love even if she can't reproduce. I can't possibly know at this point where it's going, all I do know is that LO hasn't done a great job at resolving these sorts of deeper narratives so this just feels like another dart on the wall of bad ideas. Because it's, again, all being framed through Persephone being the "perfect woman", without there being any actual subtext throughout the narrative to imply that this may be a flawed ideology to have, it's just what Persephone has to be and it's sold in the narrative as a positive.

There's one term to describe this with that's rather consistent throughout LO when you peel back the layers of both the comic and Rachel's past work - white feminism. Despite LO's attempts to be "feminist", it's still ultimately being written through a heteronormative male gaze, that women are only "valuable" so long as they're youthful, that any goals or dreams a woman may have should be dropped as soon as they fall in love with a rich and powerful man, and that "other women" who don't fit into that mould of being rich, white, and heterocis are not worthy of love, empathy, or understanding. It's hard to trust that LO will actually challenge these norms when it's been practically enforcing them for five years.

But ultimately, that's a very loaded topic and right now, we don't know where this is going... I'm just not so sure I want to see it after all the missteps the series has pulled over the past half a decade. Like the miracle of childbirth, it's gonna take a miracle for LO to actually stick this landing.

Now, I'm assuming you read this line of dialogue, and you understood it. Yes? You positive? Okay, great. Why am I asking you this question as if you're an infant who doesn't understand what being "passed out" means? Well, you'll see what I mean in a minute.

Now, again, like with the whole "I can't bring life to anything anymore" thought process I just went through, I can't know exactly what they're trying to do here, but Demeter is fully in the right. I want to make that abundantly clear that Demeter was right the whole time and it's pretty telling that even a lot of the people reading the comic in good faith are pointing this out in the discussion circles they can actually access.

Now, in case anyone hasn't noticed, it's clear that Demeter herself is drawing upon the fertility magic of Gaia or Rachel is just alluding to Gaia for some reason. At first I thought it was supposed to be her form of "wrath" until I remembered that (unfortunately) Eris was the only reason for Persephone's wrath, so this is clearly meant to be some allusion to Gaia. Considering the fertility powers were passed down purely through Gaia and Ouranos, this means Demeter is a descendant of Gaia, which... calls into question Rachel's attempts to "remove the incest" from LO, but that's for another topic.

Either way, Demeter is fully in the right here. Hades is a fucking idiot - a useless lump - for not only enabling the shitty actions of his shitty wife, but for not taking even any amount of accountability for the fact that Persephone found out about the pomegranate through him.

"But Puff, she had to eat the pomegranate to beat Kronos!" Did she? Or was that purely manufactured for Rachel's sake because she just had to have an MCU Evil-Robot-Jeff-Bridges villain despite the fact that this FANTASY ROMANCE series didn't need one? The fact that it was written purely to 'force' Persephone into doing something she already wanted to do was completely redundant, it wasn't a 'sacrifice' she made, it was made pretty clear in Episode 165 that she wanted to eat the pomegranate as soon as she found out about it and while that decision is certainly her own, that does not absolve Hades of responsibility for not questioning his future wife's fascination with it or realizing that he unlocked the inner Pandora's Box of Persephone's mind.

And so, Demeter holds him responsible. As she should.

Okay, you read that, right? But remember that line I asked you about before? We should all know Demeter doesn't mean this literally. We have brains and we should all have a minimum amount of media literacy to understand that Hades was telling the truth when he literally said Persephone was "passed out".

We finish the episode on this panel, which I swear to christ I couldn't tell you in all of my own divine wisdom of the arts what in the world is going on in this panel. I'm literally looking at salad.

Is it Demeter and Persephone? Just some dying plants? I have no fucking clue, your guess is as good as mine.

But we're not done. Because we have one more glaring issue to talk about with this episode, and it comes in the form of an author's note that was inserted at the end of the episode. It is truly, despite EVERYTHING we've talked about in both parts of this analysis, the dumbest, most airheaded and egregiously pretentious thing I've seen in this entire episode.

Rachel quite literally put in a fucking disclaimer telling her audience what Hades already told us point blank in the comic - "Don't worry, audience members, Persephone is not literally dead, it's a metaphor for her spring powers being dead!"

I literally can't even express to you how pretentious and shitty this is of her to do. I can't tell if it's legitimately her thinking her writing is "too smart" for even her older audience members to grasp, or if she just wants to dispel the theories that people would want to make about this, or if she completely misconstrued the criticism about her writing not being "clear enough" and thinks that THIS is what people meant. Pardon my tone because I've kept it together relatively well throughout this post, but this is some 2009-era Fanfiction.net level of author's note bullshit.

If she thinks her writing is "too smart" for her audience to grasp, I'm sorry Rachel, but you're just wrong and this is incredibly shitty of you. You think the 14 year olds in your community aren't also reading other webtoons that have deeper writing than LO? I read Death Note when I was fucking 14 and I knew exactly the point of what the story was getting at by the time it was over, despite all the other stories I read at that age that completely flew over my head. And you think LO is somehow more complicated than Death Note, baby's first introduction to the grey areas of morality and justice?

If she's trying to dispel the theories... that actually holds some merit because not only is Rachel notoriously bad at not letting her fandom just talk about their theories without her swooping in to "um actually" them (even if it means killing the fun of theorizing), but the official FP page on FB was closed to new submissions in the hours following this episode and it since hasn't posted any new content. Is it because people aren't posting? Absolutely not. The mods are quite literally holding these posts hostage through the submission and approval system. People are legitimately trying to submit only for the mods to block it entirely from going through. If this is Rachel's attempts at trying to "protect herself" from the criticism this episode has surely earned, then all she's really doing is punishing her own fans who want to talk about it. It doesn't matter anymore that the discussion groups are finally back from 3-4 months of being shut down over the hiatus, they're still not being allowed to operate. The best there is now is the Discord and it's undoubtedly just as heavy moderated as the FB groups.

And as for the third possibility, this also feels like an attempt at Rachel trying to make her writing "more clear" without actually putting in the work of writing a good story. She's undoubtedly seen the criticisms towards LO as a whole that it doesn't express itself clearly, that it constantly flip flops on character motivations and information that has been established, and that any monologuing that's done implies things or events that we've never seen unfold on screen (case in point, the Persephone monologue from the start of this episode) but she seems to have either misconstrued or ignored the point of that criticism entirely by solving it with a quick and shitty author's note at the end explaining her intentions with a scene that was already clearly laid out to us. Instead of putting in the work to write a concise story to explain the things that are a bit more under-developed, she's slapping in a spoonfed explanation for scenes that literally don't need explaining and that ultimately cheapens the scenes that are TRYING to have impact, bringing them down to the same level of mediocrity as the scenes that never had the impact they intended to have to begin with. "You've killed the Goddess of Spring" was plenty clear after Hades said she was passed out, Rachel. Taking the time to explain it in a note at the end is just sad and it really goes to show what you think of your audience, especially when it comes to how you treat your fans in regards to community accessibility in the official discussion groups.

"The haters" didn't set this comic onto the path that it's on or ruin the fanbase experience, Rachel - you did.

[thequeer07puss]

On Hera and Zeus’s marriage: a rant

I’ve seen a lot people get mad at Zeus because his application of marriage in mythology is a bit more flexible than what we’re used to, while misunderstanding the theological and cultural realities that surround it

The Native Hera and the Foreign Zeus

Long ago, before what is now known as the Greek pantheon was a thing, the Greeks worshipped the goddess now known as Hera, and she was their main goddess. Some time later, another group of people, recognisable as derived from Proto-Indo-European descent through their worship of a sky father (Zeus), either conquered or merged with the existing culture of the time.

These two groups, to avoid too violent of a clash while merging, made their patron deities spouses to make the transition more smooth for everyone, effectively breaking the Proto-Indo-European pattern of sky god-earth goddess duos, while still being present to a lesser extent in the form Demeter’s brief marriage with Zeus.

Divine marriage

Now, we all know Zeus in his myths was quite a womaniser, both because of his function as an All-Father, and as his function as the representation of Ancient Greek patriarchal society where men could have as many extramarital affairs and women could not. Note the fact that this was completely allowed and accepted in Ancient Greece, and that other male deities with known spouses still slept around without their wives getting angry (eg Poseidon and Dionysus).

Why is that so? One could simply dismiss this by saying that Hera is just “being jealous”, but the answer is deeper than the surface level.

The marriage of Zeus and Hera is meant to be egalitarian, meaning that they occupy the same position and receive the same amount of honour in Olympian society, and Hera, as defender and mistress of Olympus, has to constantly check whether or not there is a breach of that egalitarian semi-open marriage or an attack on her honours as both queen of the gods and equal partner of Zeus.

Now, Hera is well-known for her fury against Zeus’s mistresses, and while this may seem funny/tragic to people, it’s not rlly ALL of them that had that treatment. The only ones of Zeus’s mistresses (that I know of) that received any kind of attack from Hera were Leto, Alcmene and Semele. (This ill reputation of Hera as a jealous wife might mostly be due to Heracles, but we’ll get back to him later)

Leto and Semele

Leto was one of Zeus’s previous wives before Hera came in power, and she conceived her children, Apollo and Artemis after Zeus and Hera got married (UPG). Semele was a mortal princess from a very important family line, who Zeus took a liking to and came down to often, even swearing to her on the river Styx to give her anything she wanted. This could tickle Hera the wrong way for 2 reasons: Leto, a previous queen, and Semele, a mortal, may have started to feel proud of Zeus’s special attention, and that their children (Apollo & Artemis, and Dionysus respectively) were destined to eventually enter her home due to them being very important. The first point could just be a reminder of Hera’s supremacy as Queen of Heaven, and sends a clear message: “Just because the King gives you special favours doesn’t mean you are above, or better than me”.

The trials that face Heracles, Apollon and Dionysus (ie madness followed by redemption, Python, and a period of madness respectively) could therefore be tests to prove their worth and proof that Zeus did not waste his time and energy making children unfit to integrate the Olympian family without some pushback. Zeus famously spent 3 days conceiving Heracles, whose famous fate at the hands of Hera could be seen as trials in her honour, as evidenced by his name which means “the glory of Hera”. When he ascends to Olympus, he even goes as far as marrying Hera’s daughter, Hebe.

Conclusion

Hera is not a jealous wife, and her marriage with Zeus is certainly not dysfunctional. They love each other deeply (see: the foundation myth of the Daidala festival) and their relationship is certainly not something to be questioned or made fun of. Honouring Hera properly means honouring Zeus, and vice-versa.

On that note, I wish you all a happy Theogamia.

[mythsandheather]

Inspired by @raedshadowlegends post on which characters would be pro or anti vax I did one on who I think is and is not for the gays. Shitty image quality, explanations as follows:

DOES NOT SUPPORT PRIDE/LGBTQ+

Persephone: Hades hates it so she does too. Also she’s attack all manner of marginalised people already in thinly veiled hate crimes, so this isn’t surprising for her.

Hades: uses slurs on a regular basis and named gay marriage in the underworld, micro-aggressions Morpheus all the time

Hera: same as Hades, just not as open about it. Trying to get gay marriage banned on Olympus. It’s not working.

Apollo: sometimes whispers slurs when he thinks no one will hear him and kick his ass

Kronos/Rhea: Hades inherited it from them

Daphne: friends with Persephone, toxic to Thanatos, you do the math.

Eros: gay coded but in a Shane Dawson way

Hecate: is a lesbian and trying to convince herself she’s not in case Hades fires her or Persephone turns her into a basket

DOES SUPPORT PRIDE/LGBTQ+

Hermes: cool with everyone. Remembers pronouns the best.

Amphitrite: her and Poseidon have a gay bar

Hypnos: queer and a supportive dad

Artemis: lesbian. Calls Apollo out on his shit. Hasn’t told Persephone for good reason.

Poseidon: him and amphitrite have a gay bar

Minthe: railed Demeter at a pride parade

Athena: goes to pride alone

Psyche: new to the concept of pride but loves it so far

Demeter: got railed by Minthe at a pride parade

Thanatos: does drag to cope

Morpheus: does her best to educate others

Ares: bi but hasn’t told Hera cuz she’ll disown him

Zeus: king of the gays. Gay marriage is legal because of him.

Eris: owns many many many queer sexy nightclubs

OTHER

Dionysus: only a baby now but will one day be a holy queer terror to his shitty adopted parents

Hephaestus: not bothered by what anyone does, will just say “hey, good for you”.

Leuce: doesn’t get the concept of pride but wants everyone to be happy equally

Thetis: wants everyone to be miserable equally

Chiron: doesn’t support pride as much as you’d think a mental health professional would, but she also says a lot of things you wouldn’t think a good mental health professional would say.

Aphrodite: in her own business but as the goddess of love, sees no reason to object to pride.

Hebe: wants to be just like her mom but also thinks she might be pan and nonbinary and isn’t sure what to do

Hestia: makes Athena go to pride alone bc she’s busy sucking up to H+P.

Should I do more graphs like this with my undeniably correct opinions?