#lore Olympus Leto

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

Does Rachel have something against moms?

[mythsandheather]

I GUESS we can focus Persephone and her complete non-issue of a focus on purity culture and finding herself. I GUESS we can focus on Hera’s racist ass realising she likes girls. I GUESS we can have them go into their ugly ass giant forms and everyone has a #girlboss moment where they kinda kick Apollo a whole bunch. I GUESS we can focus on the bad things that happened to Queen Purse and Queen Haemorrhoid that are not based in actual myth in any way. It’s fine, I suppose. I mean it’s really fucking not but whatever it’s fine.

But if I said a far more interesting story would be watching Leto, turned into a typical, evil, scheming, bland, coddling mother, and how she became that way? What if we did the impossible for LO by tackling actually both feminine struggles and Greek mythology instead of tiptoeing around them?

Leto, the titaness, goddess of motherhood, and described as quiet, polite, modest, shy, gentle and warm yet fiercely protective of her children and those she watches over.

Leto who is seduced and then abandoned by Zeus who offers her no meaningful protection as Hera’s rage turns the entire world against her and attacks anyone who dares help her.

Leto who is cursed by Hera to not be able to give birth on land or sea and has to run all over the country side, rejected by everyone and chased by the angry queen of the gods.

Leto who laboured for TWO WEEKS because Hera kept Elythia, the goddess of childbirth, distracted so she couldn’t go to aid Leto.

Leto who, upon her return to Olympus, is supposedly now under Zeus’s protection but is still harassed and threatened by Hera.

In actual myth, Leto never retaliates against Hera (except for this one line where she absolutely GAGS Hera by essentially telling her to stop fronting like she’s better than everyone because when Zeus cheats on her again, she’ll be back to a crying mess) and continues her role as a protector of mothers and children.

The version we see in LO is, obviously, nothing like her. It’s interesting and very easy to think that her mistreatment by the royalty of Olympus would have destabilised and jaded her. Conveniently though, for the supposed feminist retelling, no voice is given to Leto.

So what if I said that watching Leto as she was before, watching her then be seduced, used and abandoned by Zeus and then not protected by him as Hera rains down nothing but abuse and terror on her, turning her into the person she is now…what if I said that that would be a much better story? What then, hm?

[sydnieminty]

Leto ☀️ Goddess of Motherhood

🌑 Info

- Reserved and modest, she is quiet and graceful

- Always wearing a veil. Underneath, her skin glows faintly

- she is a titaness in a world where the new generation of gods have taken over

- Zeus seduces her which results in her pregnancy with Artemis and Apollo

- She was already a social pariah, but this only made matters worse because no one would risk being seen with her, since they would be risking the wrath of Hera

I haven't made my Hera design yet but one of my goals is to make Leto and Hera more distinct than "Leto is Hera but with black eyes"

At first I wasn't going to keep Leto's black and white color palette but I read "Like her sister Asteria she may also have been a goddess of the night, or alternatively of the light of day." So I thought black and white is actually quite fitting

There's a lot of overlap in Hera and Leto's duties that make things awkward. Marriage and motherhood are very hand and hand. And I think the possibility of Leto being associated with night or stars while Hera is goddess of the sky and stars of heaven is also an interesting overlap

[galadrielaaa]

Hera: yo mama.

[kores-pomegranate]

*snicker*

[kotamagic]

Lore Olympus this week is whole lot of OOOOHHHH FFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!!!

No sooner has Apollo taken over than he starts cleaning out the dissenters, starting with Eros and Psyche. You know, like a real-world dictator!

Medical gods so corrupt? Why does the American Healthcare system come to mind? Oh yeah.... insurance.

Thank you, Eros, for pointing out the blatant repeat of history.

Oh, and just in case E&P won't be silenced...

...Apollo's got his Mom as his backup with his bullshit.

What pisses me off more is that Leto actually believes her son's bullshit. Like, I get that Zeus & Hera both shafted her when she was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis, but I'd like to believe that SOMETHING had to come off as odd to her about her son. However, given that I don't think she knows Apollo SA'd Persephone, there might be a lot more that Leto doesn't know (and should) about her son's deeds.

And Apollo doesn't stop at just Eros & Psyche. He signed the note as Hebe intentionally to get her out of the way without having to jail her. Ugh!

While Apollo is cleaning out the palace, Persephone is having a serious crisis --- Everything is turning to winter.

From some of her thoughts, snow and winter were a legend of the past, but that it hasn't happened in who knows how long. I wonder if autumn was just an extra long season until Persephone ate the pomegranate.

Needless to say, Demeter is furious that her daughter's very purpose is just flat-out gone. Naturally, she blames Hades, and for once, she's probably not wrong.

[IN B4 YES, PERSEPHONE ATE THE POMEGRANATE OF HER OWN FREE WILL.]

Could we blame Apollo's machinations for this? Possibly. It could be something related to the prophesy, but I don't think this is the case. In terms of Rachel's method of storytelling, there could be a deeper connection to the prophesy of Apollo's takeover.

I think Persephone causing winter instead of spring here was more a part of what she gave up when she ate the pomegranate. If my theory of there being an extra-long autumn is the case, then the pomegranate deal meant that winter happened instead. Persephone had to spend a whole half of the year in the Underworld instead of just 3/4 of it. That would likely put things more in line with not only the real world, but with the original myth as well.

I was going to put this bit in my own words, but Rachel just came right out and said it, so I don't have to.

I know that I and other LO fans have made guesses and speculations that turned out to be incorrect before. It happens. I know I've guessed wrong before. I think in this instance, Rachel didn't want an incorrect assumption to be made right out of the gate and nipped it in the bud immediately.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my LO post!

[ramblesanddragons]

Lore Olympus ended, and I didn't even know it. I just caught up. In the end, the main problem with the story was the pacing. It went so slow, then hit hyperspeed. I liked the closure of the characters who suffered through abuse and how women helped heal other women and so forth. Plus, Persephone and Dementer healed their relationship, which good for them. Boy, that would be nice...

It's been so interesting watching the pop culture mind shift on Hades and Persephone since the comic came out. For a long while, people thought it was so romantic and framed it as Hades and Persephone run away lovers or that he was saving her from a controlling mother or he let her be her real self. Lately, I've been seeing people leaning towards Demeter's "side" and that Hades is awful.

In the original text Zeus is clearly blamed for all of it except the pomegranate thing. That was all Hades but the rest was Zeus. Persephone was probably Dread Queen a LONG time before all the spring stuff happened.

I enjoy the Persophone living her best "nice but weird girl" life away from her mom take on the story for personal reasons, and I'll keep enjoying those, but those other takes are valid too. There's no way to know the "true" myth of any story (see Hephaestus making stuff to protect baby Zeus in one myth for the most amusing example. Unless the guy built a time machine to go help his dad, which sounds like a fun story, actually.)

This is a long way of saying I enjoyed LO. It didn't deserve all the crazy hate it got. Do with the myths what you want there is no canon just also don't claim your story is the "original" version of it. If the gods have an issue with it, they'll let you know.

[aj-thegreatest]

Love the redesign you did with artemis and apollo, the monochrome coloring pops out quite well

Thank you so much! I’m glad it pops out, was a little worried the blacks/whites would blend together values wise. It really makes them stand out from the rest of the cast!

[jennrypan]

Oh GOD

Was the fast pass absolutely something

I--

I'm laughing it's so..it got soo much worse

[dresspheres]

66 Icons | Leto | Lore Olympus

66 Icons for Leto from Lore Olympus.

Please like or reblog this post if you plan on using them

Credit me if you edit them! Otherwise, credit’s very much appreciated.

Download Here

[genericpuff]

cough

That is not true of Leto

Dear RS, where did you get that idea of Leto being a monster mother from anyways.

[sydnieminty]

☀️ Apollo ☀️

His wrathful/true form takes on an appearance similar to Leto

Info ☀️

- Since Leto is their mother, Hera is particularly resentful of Artemis and Apollo. Hera is not happy about any of Zeus's affairs obviously but this one was particularly angering because it was with an immortal (and titaness) instead of a mortal.

- Apollo knows about how Hera tormented his mother during her pregnancy and is resentful of Hera in return.

- He's very busy, since he is the god of many, many things (prophecy, music, poetry, archery, healing, protection of the young. There's more than this btw)

- He is very much loved by mortals and he enjoys it. He often visits the many temples built for him, giving gifts and prophecies to his worshippers

☀️ Artemis and Apollo

- Like I said on Artemis's post, Apollo and Artemis are twins but they aren't similar in appearance (plus that's not how opposite-gender twins work anyways lol) There's very contrasting appearance between them along with pretty opposite personalities.

- They have a great relationship between each other and are both pretty competitive, especially when it comes to archery

- They're always trying to do things for Leto, who is ostracized for being the last titan not locked up in Tartarus or forced into servitude, along with being hated by Hera.

I probably might as well do a Leto post sometime since I've done Artemis and Apollo lol

[galadrielaaa]

This bitch is so shady

[moony-2001]

The real-world impact of Lore Olympus

i.e. do your research Rachel

Trigger warning: racism, fetishization, appropriation, mentions of SA

Long post ahead

A while ago, someone told me that Lore Olympus was just a silly little comic written out of boredom. That it was made to be "funny". They told me that "[I] can't hope [for] an extremely [well-written] story when it was just made with the intention to make something goofy" and that if Rachel actually wanted to make something serious like I had, she would write a book and not a comic.

At the time of this exchange, it was past 1 a.m. and I was exhausted. I did not want to argue with this person and it simply wasn't worth my time or energy in the moment.

But looking back at that (mostly one-sided) interaction, I can't help but think that there is so much wrong with that point of view. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion about Lore Olympus, whether good or bad. But Lore Olympus isn't just some silly little nothing comic about nothing important. It is a comic that actively appropriates and erases Greek Culture. It is a comic that has no respect for the actual stories that have been passed down over thousands of years whether by word of mouth or written text. It is a comic that perpetuates a false narrative and harmful stereotypes about characters or certain groups of people. So, no, it's not just a silly little comic.

Incorrect information

Here’s an example of what I mean:

When I was doing research for my post about the 10 year time skip, I looked up Leuce to reconfirm the little information I knew about her. Wanna guess the first thing that popped up about her?

A Lore Olympus Wiki article.

Okay. How about Minthe? Hundreds of pictures of her from Lore Olympus and a LO Wiki article as one of the top 3 results. Both character are horribly represented in LO and unfortunately there isn’t really any documented stories or records that can refute how LO paints them. Because of this, other characters in Greek Mythology like Leuce and Minthe, whose stories have little to no documentation, stand to suffer the most harm from deliberate misrepresentation on Rachel’s part.

Of course well-known and better documented figures in Greek mythology face slander as well. What about Thetis or Leto? How about Apollo? All of their portrayals in LO are HORRIBLE. I have seen people online absolutely drag them to filth not because they're upset about how the character is portrayed compared to their mythological counterpart, but because they have no knowledge of how they are actually portrayed outside of LO. They just assume that's how the characters are. Similarly, people who have either very little or no prior knowledge of Greek Mythology and Culture would look at the comic and go "Yep, sounds legit. It must be true." and go about thinking that what is portrayed in LO is accurate to what was transcribed thousands of years ago.

Creative interpretations and racism/fetishization within LO

Don’t get me wrong. Creative interpretations and artistic liberties can be great. When they’re done tastefully. I personally think if done correctly, a Greek myth spun in a modern way has the potential be very good. But that's not what we were given.

Characters like Minthe, Leuce, and Thetis (all nymphs btw) are portrayed as trashy tramps who put out and are used as a foil sabotage Persephone and/or her relationship with Hades. Compare that to Greek Mythology where in the Iliad, Thetis is very well-respected by the gods, particularly Hera. Unfortunately, other similar characters like satrys (and basically any character that isn’t a god) are usually portrayed as a low-class POC that can be easily exploited, manipulated, or used as a temporary villain/lover/pawn to “get back” at Persephone, our white-coded protagonist who can do no wrong.

Additionally, there is a clear race/class bias against characters like nymphs in LO. We see many cases scattered throughout the comic of gods like Hera or Aphrodite referring to nymphs as "trash" or "low class" or the idea that nymphs do not belong with gods being heavily implied if not outright said. I cannot tell you how often I've seen Minthe be called some variant of "cheap" by the readers of LO. Even Persephone (who created the flower nymphs) treats them with such disrespect. She frequently calls them some variant of "stupid" or "simple" like saying how they're not the sharpest crayons in the box even though she's the one WHO MADE THEM. However, it's so odd not really to note that nymphs like Echo, Amphitrite, or Psyche (who was previously disguised as a nymph) are not discriminated against. This is because they are liked or trusted by the gods they are around and ergo are often portrayed as the "good ones", which is a disgusting mindset to have.

We also see the fetishization of nymphs in the comic that is disturbingly similar to the fetishization of women who are Black, Asian, or Latina. It is a known fact that Hades has a flower nymph fetish. Not only is this implied in the comic, but Rachel stated it outright in an old Patreon post. Nymphs are also generally treated as sex-symbols, disposable, and as a lesser-than. Zeus frequently displays this behavior by abandoning nymphs he knocked up in the mortal realm.

For example, when Persephone finds out Apollo is dating Daphne, she isn't upset he's dating her friend. She's upset he's dating a flower nymph, beings that are generally considered to be "rare", "dumb", and objects of sexual desire. Ew.

Even on the Lore Olympus website (loreolympians.com) nymphs are regarded as "beautiful", "desirable", and "very exotic". And when they're not described in a sexual manner they're say it with me now regarded as "low class" or "workers" for some kind of god/goddess.

Final thoughts

So not only is the characterization of characters like Minthe or Thetis harmful to Greek culture and the stories that are so ingrained in their society, but it is also perpetuating harmful stereotypes about people of color and women who are confident in their sexuality.

Of course, the characters within Greek Mythology had their own issues. Zeus was a serial rapist, many of the goddesses deemed to be "feminist" by today's standards were actually horribly misogynistic looking at you Athena. But 1. that's just how things were back then (but that does not make it right) and 2. all of the good, the bad, and the ugly is still there in Greek Mythology. They're not denying how fucked up it is, but they're also not changing their history to better fit their own narrative or the narrative of the modern world. It exists, it happened, but now it is studied and called out by historians.

Rachel, on the other hand, is doing exactly that. She is actively changing the Greek's cultural history to better fit her fic's narrative. She is constantly sweeping things under the rug or going "No this is how it ACTUALLY happened". Lore Olympus is marketed as a "feminist retelling" yet somehow, it takes allllll the ugly parts from Greek Mythology (rape, incest, problematic age gaps, dubious consent, etc.), mixes it with a majority of the issues we have in the modern world (white feminism, rape-apologists/rape culture, grooming, fetishization of certain minority groups, etc.) and then amplifies the concoction to 20. Lore Olympus cannot be a "progressive, feminist, retelling" and also have characters that are morally apprehensive/come straight from the ancient myths. It does not work. In fact, IMO it makes all the problems from both eras worse.

News flash: actual cultures that are still thriving today are not your toys. They are not "made up". They matter. Do better.

[amiti-art]

HI! I’m here to ask honest opinion on….Lore Olympus. I’m sorry for putting my opinion here….but I hate it. I’m sorry, I try to see it in a good way….put it paints Apollo as a horrible person. And there are other things that I’d respectfully don’t like about it.However, I want to see your opinion. That is if you’re willing to share it. BTW, I fricking love your drawings., especially the ones about Apollo and his myths! Have a good day or night!

Hello!

I'm glad you like my art 🫶🏻

So, Lore Olympus.

This probably won't come as a surprise to most people, considering how much Apollo art I've made, but I hate Lore Olympus. And not only because of how poorly Apollo was portrayed there.

I'm going to be honest with you: I never read much of it. I read maybe a few chapters some years ago because it was advertised as Greek mythology retelling, but I didn't continue because it was boring to me.

Much later, I saw a lot of posts pointing out all the things wrong with Lore Olympus, and boy oh boy, it's bad.

From what I've seen, it’s hardly a retelling; if the names of the characters were changed, nobody would realize this is supposed to be myth-inspired.

And look, I'm not saying you can't change anything when making a Greek mythology retelling, because it's simply impossible to keep everything the same as in the myths—especially when you want to create a story that covers many myths. The math isn't mathing when it comes to Greek mythology, because the myths changed over time, and different city-states had their own versions of the stories, so it's pretty impossible to make a cohesive timeline without changing something.

But from what I've seen, there isn't much Greek influence in this Greek mythology retelling. From the way the characters dress and speak to the food they eat, there is nothing Greek about this comic, it’s completely Americanized.

And I hate Americanization so much. I remember watching Netflix's "The Witcher" and being so disappointed because there was nothing Slavic about it. They kept Jaskier's original name from the books and called it a day. They turned it into another generic fantasy show.

I know that many Greek people feel the same way about Lore Olympus and other American adaptations of their myths. I love Percy Jackson, but the whole "gods moved to the USA because this is where Western civilization is" is just so icky to me. Greece still exists, hello??????

Back to Lore Olympus. For some reason it's fans think that the comic is a valid source for mythology, and they spread so much misinformation.

For the last time: Persephone was abducted in the myths. There is no version where she goes to the Underworld on her own.

Demeter is a heartbroken mother looking for her beloved daughter, not some evil helicopter parent standing between Persephone and her happiness. Justice for Apollo and Demeter.

Also, Persephone is sometimes drawn like a child and looks more like Hades' daughter than his wife. Why?????

And from what I've seen, Persephone is ridiculously powerful for some reason and fights Kronos or something???????

Also, apparently, Leto is portrayed as a manipulative mother????? Leto??? The Titan goddess of motherhood??? Why????

I don't understand why this comic got so popular, to be honest. Probably because of the artstyle.

[justmenoworries]

Lore Olympus Episode 280 (Finale) Spoilers

Final episode les gooooo!

As expected, the "fight" was underwhelming af. Gaia just yoinks Apollo out of Ouranos (lol) and that's it. And despite being dead - sorry "in HibERnaTioN" for like milennia Gaia somehow knows exactly what's up. Persie has to stay three months in the mortal realm because we gotta get the change of seasons in here somehow and after RS fucked up all the other ways it could have happened this extremely weak "you gotta" is all that's left.

The rest of the episode is time-skips because RS has learned absolutely nothing.

Persie gets crowned even though she was already queen, TGOEM disbands because RS hates women supporting women if it's not for the purpose of pushing them towards a man.

Oh yeah and Apollo is sentenced to community service.

You heard me.

Community service.

After admitting to sexually assaulting Persephone on live TV. After literally trying to murder the king of Olympus. After teaming up with Kronos 2.0 and almost causing the end of the world.

Community service.

I fucking hate it here I'm so glad this bullshit is over.

Hera gets to be sole ruler of Olympus after divorcing Zeus (how does that work???) and getting together with Echo (I wish I could feel anything for their relationship but RS was too busy slobbering over hxp to develop it).

Eros and Psyche were let out of Leto's basement off-screen and have a kid now because every couple in this comic has to be a standard nuclear family in some way.

We also skip over Dionysus growin up because otherwise RS would have to write Persie and Hades actually being parents to him. Melinoe happens because Persie's magical womb powers make Hades' infertility more of a minor obstacle (have I mentioned I hate it here) and then we also get Macaria because why tf not.

Whelp, that's all she wrote!

I won't lie even though I've grown to despise this comic and everything it stands for it's helped me find some really cool people and a fun community.

Even some people who've taken the premise and did so much more with it.

Sincerely, thanks to everyone whose essays and posts and comics created such a wonderful time when the actual comic failed to do so.

It's been fun. Take care!