#ouhfgghhfhghhh supergiant games I am constantly impressed by how much attention to detail you give to everything

[spineless-lobster]

EEEEEEEE Okay so if you’re like me and closely examining every single thing on each of the arcana cards, you’ve probably wondered who all these kiddos are that chiron’s got with him

I’m sure most of us have gathered that the one getting head pats is achilles, considering he’s got curly blond hair, wearing green and holding a spear. But who are the others? And whose baby is that???

Well wonder no more! Hopefully! If I’m right! Because a quick look at a short list of chiron’s apprentices on wikipedia has provided me answers! (This ended up being incredibly long-winded I apologize in advance)

Let’s start at the bottom from left to right. On the far left we a boy draped in blue and holding a staff, a bronze snake wrapped around it. If you know anything about the origin of medical symbols you’ll know that this is asclepius and his famous rod (ha) that, at some point in history, got mistaken for hermes’ caduceus. Thus that’s why it’s the caduceus and not the rod of asclepius we see on hospitals and stuff. But I digress!

Asclepius is the god of medicine and the son of apollo, who was trained in the art of medicine by chiron. So it makes sense why he’s here!

In the middle we have a boy clad in red and wearing golden laurels. I believe that this could be jason of argonaut fame. Long story short, jason’s uncle pelias overthrew his half-brother aeson (jason’s father) and killed all his descendants. Alcimede, jason’s mother, saved her newborn son by having the nursemaids cry over him as if her were stillborn. She then managed to sneak away and give jason to chiron, who raised and trained him. Eventually jason does who whole golden fleece thing and becomes the king of iolcus, though he and medea were quickly exiled afterwards.

On the far right we see a boy clearing purple with deer antlers on his head. If you’re a big artemis fan like me you’ll recognize this guy pretty easily. This is actaeon, a theban hero trained by chiron who’s most famous for earning the wrath of artemis. While out hunting one day he came across the goddess and her nymphs bathing, instead of minding his damn business he decides to peep on her. Rightfully enraged, artemis curses him and forbade him from speaking another word, lest he be transformed. Upon hearing his hunting party he calls out (in some versions he tries whistling for his dogs) and he transforms into a stag. His hunting party finds him, and, seeing a stag in his place, his own dogs tear him a part and kill him.

FINALLY, we have the newborn baby chiron is holding. Now, chiron does have a few children of his own, so it’s possible it could be any one of them. But I think instead it’s a lad named medus, or polyxenus, or medeus it really depends. He’s the son of jason and medea, and like his father, he was also trained by chiron. But honestly that baby could be anyone lmao

Oh god I yapped on for more than I should have WHOOPS 😭 I hope you all enjoyed this quick mythology lesson lol