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outoftimewriting · 4 years

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Imagine (based on the incomplete fanfic Son of the Underworld) (Son of Hades! Percy AU) (5/5) or (5/10)

Hey so, this is the last part of PJO - I follow into HOO, so before you read this, check on the masterpost - and read the warnings before proceeding :)) Good reading!

Annabeth comes to him, at the end of his fifteenth birthday party, and shows her Daedalus laptop. There's a document open in it, and it's labeled Achilles' Curse.

Percy doesn't read it - he hates reading, in any way or form or language - but she does, out loud.

"I'll think about it"

They have a year. Most of them, even those who aren't year-rounders, are going back to camp, to draw battle plans and stock on the armory.

He feels kinda selfish - for a whole five seconds before he remembers he'll probably die next summer, so he just shrugs it off - Percy deserves this year.

They all leave to go back to camp. Nico seems conflicted over something - but Perseus doesn't question it, there's enough bad blood between them.

Paola is really cool - and Sally really loves her. It's kind of bizarre at first, to see his Mom dating his teacher - and of a subject he hates - but Paola is calm and well-tempered and she laughs at his stupid ass jokes.

He visits Persephone afterward - and it really feels like he has three moms to fulfill his lack of a father - well, he is absolutely grateful for the women in his life.

Percy isn't truly in good terms with his father. The man doesn't really seem to care much for him as a person - he is much more of a trophy son.

Perseus loathes being a trophy son, but at least he has someone to help with his powers - not something a lot of half-bloods can claim.

So he goes back to school with Rachel, and they pretend everything is normal. He tells her about his quests - all three of them. He thinks she understands him better now.

He opens up to her. Tells her about Annabeth - the adrenaline-fueled kiss - and Rachel stops talking with him for a week.

She apologizes when she comes back. She needed to figure some things up - firstly, the redhead tells him she is probably asexual - and maybe aromantic too, but she is not certain because the internet wasn't really clear about that.

Then Rachel confesses that she is not jealous of him in a romantic way - she is envious of his friendship with Annabeth. Percy is her first genuine friend that really appreciates her.

This is the first grudge Perseus lets go for real before it even takes place - Rachel didn't leave him because of teenage drama, she ignored him out of confusion. Everyone is allowed space - he knows this better than anyone.

They don't kiss anymore. Not because Rachel doesn't like it - no, she is all for it - but because Percy is starting to think kisses should mean something - he is saving them.

They kiss once - when Rachel father calls for the first time this year - not to ask about her, but to tell Rachel he found this amazing all-girls school. To Percy, kisses mean comfort.

They cuddle a lot, though. These past few years of fear have made Percy very touch-starved.

It's sophomore year - and Percy is in five AP classes: Macroeconomics&Microeconomics, Statistics, Calculus AB, Physics 1, and Comparative Government and Politics.

He is planning on taking both AP Computer Science classes, Psychology, Physics 2, and Calculus BC next year; leaving only Electricity&Magnetism, Mechanics, Chemistry, and World History for his senior year.

If he lives, he is working on a tight schedule here. He doesn't know what he wants yet - and if he is in constant danger, it's already pretty lucky he can do high school - but probably something with Math.

Rachel says fourteen AP courses are ambitious - that he'll burn out. But math comes to him easily enough - it's in his blood.

She is also overworking: She is taking AP Environmental Studies, Art History, Drawing, 2-D Art and Design, and English Literature and Composition.

They complete each other. Rachel is planning on taking as many Art, History, and English courses as she can - he is taking as many Physics, Math, and Science as he can handle.

(She is also going to take on Japanese studies for some reason - probably for her GPA, but Perseus just teases her that she is getting too invested in anime)

Perseus doesn't care about languages anymore - the only languages that matter to him are C++ and JavaScript now.

They study together, they take naps together, they climb to the roof together, they flee school to visit Sally together - he is the Pinky to her Brain, the Scooby to her Shaggy, the Lois Lane to her Superman, the Robin to her Batman.

They look like troublemakers - They are honor roll students, but she is always with ripped pants dirty with paint, and he is always full of flowers everywhere, even in his muddy converses - a cliche to kill all cliches.

They're both nerds - he is the classic one, all polo shirts now, the first chair for every number-related class - and she is the artsy one - there's a brush behind her ear and her hair is so messy that half the time it covers her face.

Paola gifts him a pair of cheap frames without lenses once - saying it adds to the aesthetic - he totally uses them.

Persephone just makes him flower-crowns, and giggles when he matches them with his polo shirts.

When winter comes, he goes back to his hoodies and sweaters and gloves - to find out he doesn't miss them a lot.

Rachel introduces him to polaroids - and they look eerily pretty in the winter, her hair looking like blood spilling over the snow - and he loves it.

If he survives - he can feel Rachel slapping him - when he survives, his college credits will be remarkable. The idea of doing SATs makes him want to cry - reading always does - but he'll get somewhere good - he knows it. Perhaps Stanford. Or NYU. Or the dream of his life, MIT.

He is living his life to the fullest - he starts reading comic books, he gets really (really) into Tony Stark once Iron Man 1 comes out (even if he has to kill at least three monsters just to go to the movies), he plants trees and Rachel starts teaching him how to play her ukulele - but half his mind is still on the upcoming war.

Christmas vacation comes - and he goes to visit Camp Half-Blood, before heading back to his mom. It's quite memorable, if only by the fact that Nico Di Angelo freaking betrays him.

He tells Percy to come to the Winter Solstice with him. Most of the campers are not going - the war effort is in an all-time high - but Percy has never gone before. Hades will be there - it'll be great!

Perseus should absolutely be less surprised with the outcome - seeing that Nico is inviting him in Cabin 1, post-dinner, and they don't even stop to talk to Chiron about it.

But Percy goes. Because Percy wants to make amends.

There's no time to really talk to anyone. They travel in Blackjack for the Empire State Building - and it's fine.

They go up to Olympus, Nico shows him everything in the god's land, the temples are a work of art, if not kind of old, and the meeting is kind of okay, even if the gods are squabbling children.

Then the gods leave, and Perseus thinks they're leaving too.

"My father needs a word with you"

Perseus feels the betrayal claw on him. There are no shadows in the white hall, there's no way for him to escape. Nico looks apologetic - Percy wants to clock him in the face.

"He promised to tell me more about my mother" Nico pleads "He will tell me more about where I've come from. Please, Percy."

Nico is cute. He is, for a soon-to-be fourteen-year-old. But his pretty face and exquisite white eyes don't make him any less of a freaking liar. All his handsome male straight friends betray him - it's a worrying pattern now.

He muses for a second that they also all have a crush on Annabeth - gods, the blonde attract the worst types.

It's double-crossing - Percy ends up in an all-white cell that burns his retinas without any weapons because Zeus wants praise in the middle of this freaking war - doesn't matter if a hundred demigods die, if he only has the glory.

Nico ends up with barely any information - Zeus didn't promise anything. The god of the skies is a lying-ass motherfucker - literally.

And Zeus justifies it - He says Perseus is a criminal because he awakened Typhon. So Hephaestus issues a quest so he can save a hundred demigods, he destroys a powerful titan weapon of doom, and he is the villain? Sure, Jan.

Perseus writes this grudge in his heart - that's where trust will take you. To a cell. Betrayed by a "friend". Again.

He flinches when Nico comes into his cell, pins him to the wall and promptly begins to try and strangle him. He wants to melt in the boy's shadow - to go and never give him a chance to explain - but he looks so guilty Percy waits for his repentance.

The son of Zeus saves him, but Perseus is still pissed off. The god of thunder has threatened to kill him off at least two times now, what is to say he wouldn't have killed off Percy for the sake of glory?

He half hopes Zeus had killed him off. The war is close, too close - Nico wouldn't be the Prophecy's child. There would be no child. Olympus would fall - and Percy would have seen it all from his very comfortable couch in Elysium.

He wants Kronos gone - but he kind of wants Olympus to fall with the Titan.

Nico flies him down to the Earth - the elevator is monitored. Zeus has left, like many others - not to bother with the war effort against his main enemy, but to go to the human world mess with people.

Some gods are doing something - He has heard from Annabeth that Artemis is leading the widest hunt ever, with her brother by her side; Hermes (with Hephaestus help) is delivering Celestial Bronze, other metals, old schematics and a whole lot of fuel to Camp Half-Blood every few weeks; Poseidon is fighting his own war, in the ocean; Dionysus is at Camp - and this time, he is really helpful with the battle formations; Demeter is on the Underworld - Chiron seems to think his father is preparing for war, but Percy sorely doubts it.

Percy is taking some people with him to Sally's Christmas dinner. Just Annabeth, Clarisse, Rachel, Connor, Travis, and Charles - people who don't have a present family to celebrate it with.

Grover is coordinating the dryads up in San Francisco with his second cousin, Gleeson Hedge - they are the first to fall if anything goes wrong in Mt. Othrys.

"I think you should stay." He tells Nico.

"You don't trust me anymore." It's not actually a question.

Percy doesn't trust the boy. Not at all - it's the third time he does something shady to achieve his ends based on emotional turmoil. But he is a good person - it's just his father's cursed temper and his grief.

"It's not that. You're needed for the war effort."

Both of them know it's a lie. Percy doesn't care - he deserves to be bitter a little longer.

Percy goes back home. Christmas is amazing - even if Rachel asks him where Nico is because he is talking about making amends with the boy for a while now.

He goes visit Persephone - but she is occupied, so he wanders through the Underworld after Bianca di Angelo - someone he, for some reason, never been able to reach. It's a pointless endeavor by now.

He finds her. Or else, he finds a shadow of her - she is blocked from his view. Bianca doesn't talk to him - they weren't close - but she guides him to a girl.

Her name is Hazel Levesque.

She seems lost - like most ghosts - but something in Percy calls for her. It's the color of her skin and the sparkle in her golden eyes - Hazel remembers him of himself.

He promises to visit more - even though he doesn't think she'll remember it - and leaves to go back to the surface - he will finish the sophomore year.

And Percy does. After a very distressing break, he is doing his best. His grades drop a little in English because he can barely focus - half his mind is on the war and Nico's betrayal and Hazel Levesque's golden eyes.

Miraculously, his GPA doesn't fall - he still is taking a ridiculous amount of AP classes, and barely has time to breathe - dark circles grow under his eyes, and he looks like a mess - but now he is a Junior.

That's why, as soon as the year ends, Rachel takes him on a road trip with Connor. They go all the way to Boston, then Portland, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Syracuse, Baltimore, and Filadelfia, before going back to NY.

They are stopped five times by the police - because Percy is black, and it's Rachel driving the Camaro, because she has a learner's permit and Connor is, somehow, an approved license holder.

They are on a pier, enjoying the view of the beach. They did the last week alone because Connor wanted to go check on one of his cousins - at least, that's what he said, with an over-exaggerated wink that both Percy and Rachel ignored for the sake of their sanity.

She tells him about Clarion Ladies Academy - but that her father is at least mildly happy with her GPA this year, even if he disapproves of her Art focused AP classes. Percy thinks Mr. Dare would love him, with his APs on Economics and Politics, if only he was rich. And white.

This time, when Charles Beckendorf arrives in a Pegasus to tell him it's time, Rachel doesn't kiss him - she justs hugs him and makes him promise to call her.

Perseus doesn't go to the Andromeda Ship - he is needed in Camp. He is useless on the water - but they do need him to improve battle strategy.

Charles Beckendorf is dead. Thalia is the one to tell them - she was in her father's palace helping with a monster under her Lady's orders - he went on the mission alone.

Percy talks briefly with Beckendorf's ghost - is his worst developed power, and he can barely hold the "seance" for more than a few minutes. He does it with only Nico di Angelo for witness - the others are the way to close to the situation.

There's a spy passing information to Luke.

They look at him. Doesn't matter how much he does, he is always the first suspect - he is a son of Hades. He was friends with a lot of people on the other side. He was gone for a year and a half, who knows where.

Perseus wants to say that he has helped to save their asses four times now - that without him in the Labyrinth, they would all be dead right now - and that Charles was basically his older brother.

Then he points out he wasn't even here - he had no idea of any plans of anything - and he told him about the spy, so he is not the freaking spy, go point fingers at each other instead of him.

When they start yelling, he stops them - this is not the time, he was just angry at their accusations. They have to burn Charles shroud. Silena is inconsolable - Percy is not very far from it, but he is not a public crier. The last time he cried in public, Luke was dead on a cliff.

Percy speeds up the line for Elysium to Beckendorf - his brother deserves it.

They read the prophecy together - Perseus already read it last summer, he doesn't even care anymore. They look at him anxiously - no one has forgotten that he abhors most of the gods.

Clarisse and Michael Yew fight, but Lee Fletcher - with a mechanical arm built by Beckendorf himself, still re-learning how to shoot arrows and forever incapable of playing the guitar again (but the keyboard is not ruled out yet) - stops them: They can share the chariot. The war is more important - is not the time for petty fights.

Chiron shows them Typhon - and Perseus has a sliver of hope that they can destroy Kronos and be free of the gods at the same time - It's a horrible hope, because he loves Persephone and some of them are even okay sometimes, but he really wants Zeus to go to Tartarus for at least a century, so Perseus doesn't meet him again in this life.

But he also wants the gods to win, because there's a lot of dead people - innocents, people who have nothing to do with this war.

He dreams of Rachel. Rachel is painting Luke - and Percy wakes up crying, for the boy the gods took away.

Annabeth takes him aside and reminds him of Achilles' Curse. He is off to May Castellan's house - the last place Luke has been - for it's his best and only chance, its what Annie thinks. And she is scarcely wrong.

Perseus hates the gods. They wrecked a family - and for what? May Castellan - forever waiting for a son that will never come back, haunted by visions of his future, plates of burned cookies everywhere.

Perseus doesn't pity her - he rages against the gods, who brought madness upon this woman and then left her to it. Where was Apollo, the god of health? Dionysus, who is supposed to control mental health? Artemis, whose job is to protect women?

Hestia is kind - but she is still a goddess. She could've prevented this - but she hides in her hearth and abstains - and that's enabling. Hestia enables the other gods to do as they please, even when she is the oldest. She says they ignore her - oh well, she ignores them right back! He has no time for the laments of another all-powerful being.

So he goes to his mother and asks for her blessing. Then, just to be sure, he asks Persephone's too.

He thinks about his anchor - where does he want it to be in his body. He doesn't want somewhere in his back - where he can't see it - or in his gut - where anyone can stick a sword. He settles for the bottom of his back - where he can at least touch it and it's well protected by armor - and dives.

Perseus hates water - and he has an uncanny fear of drowning. He feels pain - everywhere, horrible pain.

His vision now doesn't have Annabeth's face - the blonde is his link to the demigod world, Persephone is his link to the Underworld and his mom is his link to childhood - but the person who grounds him is Rachel.

He is stronger. He feel his powers at his fingertips - Perseus feels the Underworld as a whole, and it's overwhelming.

Green flames explode from his hands. Flowers made of shadows curve around his ankles - he has been training since he was 12, but now his body can sustain all of his power. This is all his.

He goes meet with his father - Perseus manipulates him. He tells Hades he'll be the hero, but the god himself can be praised for more than being his father. That he should join the battle against Typhon - That's his chance of proving himself. Also, there's less paperwork for him if there are fewer dead people.

His father is amused with his blatant bribing, but he thinks about it, Percy can tell. In a way or another, he excuses himself and goes back to the surface where he is needed.

Persephone stalls him. She asks him to stay, just for this night. He can go back in the morning - he sleeps, and dreams of Rachel again, drawing in the sand. In greek.

He is scared for her - she is having demigod dreams, but she is mortal. Something is wrong.

Typhon is getting worse - and Kronos draws closer to NYC. It's time - he calls for Blackjack and leaves - Mrs. O'Leary, who has become more or less of a mother to his own hellhound, follows. Persephone promises to convince Hades.

They have about sixty campers able to fight heading for the Empire State Building, and five healers. The ones too young to lift a sword or string a bow stayed back at Camp with Argus - fifteen children between 5 and 9 years old.

Percy knows he looks different - he looks just like his father. He has gained a godly aura - he has no scars anymore, no imperfections. Perseus looms over all of them - he went from 5'7'' to 6'2'' - it's a weird view, from up there. It's still strange when they look at him with a mix of fear and admiration.

Perseus Jackson is officially their leader. He hates Olympus - but he will give his life to defend every single one of his demigods.

The vision Hestia shows him just makes him want to tear this throne room with his bare hands - Luke was a kid. He was a kid - and the gods corrupted him. Thalia was a kid - and the gods took her life, twice. Annabeth is still a kid - they all are - and she is here planning battle strategies.

Annabeth missed an extra year of formal education - while Percy is a Junior, Annabeth barely qualifies for a Freshman - because the gods took this from her too.

Percy rages. The ground of Olympus trembles beneath him - he wants to kill something.

Then Hermes appears - like this whole war is not his fault in the first place, the literal bastard - just to relay a message from Athena that gives them a plan that Annabeth was already putting into works and tells Percy to stay away from Annabeth.

Like she cares. Like Athena has ever, ever, done anything for Annabeth.

Perseus can't punch Athena, so he punches the messager (also, because he freaking guilt trips both of them about Luke). He has nothing to lose - he is going to die by the end of the day anyway, and they need him too much.

He has punched a god before - Ares, in a desert in the middle of Los Angeles - but this time, it's satisfactory. He feels good after it.

Hermes seems strangely resigned - He feels guilty about Luke too, but Perseus doesn't think it's enough. It'll never be enough, not while the gods leave their children to rot in a cabin of rejects and May Castellan bakes cookies for a son that will never come back.

Hermes leaves, ashamed. It's only fair, Perseus thinks. They all should be ashamed.

They see the city asleep - the prophecy is in the works.

Perseus executes their strategy - every cabin is covering a tunnel, with the exception of Dionysus, because Pollux is with the Demeter kids, and the Hecate kids stay behind to use spells to overlook the city. Lincoln Tunnel is getting covered by Ares - who, this time around, is actively participating.

The undetermined who didn't desert are with Hermes - and the minor god's children are divided by specialty - most Hypnos and Morpheus children follow him directly, but the two sons of Iris go with the Apollo Cabin.

Annabeth executes Plan 23, automatons, mounting on Mrs. O'Leary (who has strict orders to take Annabeth anywhere she wants without stopping to play around) - she doesn't need his help with this, and Percy has a tunnel to defend.

That left the rivers uncovered - until Thalia appears, with magical sand money, and made the rivers cooperate.

The hunters join the Aphrodite kids - who are half a dozen children between 11 and 19 - the oldest being Silena Beauregard, who uses a crossbow that looks exactly like her immortal half-brother's one.

His bridge is completely covered on skeletons - but no monster comes, even if he hears explosions. He leaves an English Lieutenant from the Battle of Yorktown in command of the bridge - with Tyene, the oldest daughter of Morpheus, to be in alert and don't let Clovis sleep through the battle. Because he did it before - and while it is funny, it can't happen right now.

Perseus mounts Blackjack - and go see where the noise is coming from. It's the Williamsburg Bridge - where are most of Apollo's Cabin.

They fight - and Percy almost cries when he sees Luke, who is not Luke anymore. Luke, who is a puppet controlled by Kronos.

Perseus kills the Minotaur and the weight of his stone spikes collapse the bridge - and Michael Yew dies. This time around, the bridge falls silently into shadows, and he doesn't bother about searching for the corpse - he saw the boy falling, and his screams will haunt all of them, forever.

This time around, Annabeth is not there to protect him - Ethan also doesn't try to kill him. The Son of Nemesis doesn't leave Kronos side for a second - but there's regret in his eyes.

After the bloodlust is gone, Perseus collapses - Will has to bride carry him back. Overuse of his powers - he summoned skeletons and produced shadows, melted enemy swords (with the bonus of incapacitating them without killing), and sprouted stone spikes everywhere - there's even a vine or ten that he used to hold his friends from falling.

Perseus doesn't sleep quickly enough to not hear the yell of anguish that comes from Lee Fletcher - the pain of losing a brother and not being able to fight beside him.

But he does sleep - and he dreams. He dreams of Hades killing Maria Di Angelo, not Hera, like Zeus told Nico. He dreams of Zeus cursing the Oracle - and he seethes, because he also sees what happened to May Castellan.

He keeps getting angrier and angrier at the gods - it's building inside of him. But his friends are still here, still fragile. He can't let them suffer more.

Perseus wakes up, checks on everyone - most everyone is either injured and/or exhausted, but he checks on every camper. He knows all of their names, their ages, their cabins. - and promises to sit up to talk with Thalia and Nico - war makes him prone to peace - and promptly goes back to sleep.

He dreams of Rachel. He wants to scream for her not to come: but she'll anyway.

Perseus dreams of a boy. He is his age - maybe a little younger. His hair is blonde and his skin is whiter - but Percy glances at his eyes, and there are waves in them.

There's a girl by his side - she is familiar to Percy, somehow. They're climbing a mountain.

The dream ends and Percy can't make heads or tails of it. He asks Thalia if she has a brother, but she says that she doesn't, looking wistful.

Prometheus is tempting - but he knows there's no Luke anymore, there's only Kronos. And the gods are horrible, vile and immature - but they never killed any of Percy's friends. Some of them died for the gods - but never by their hands, so for now, Perseus would toe the line.

He does want to punch Hermes again. He takes the Pythos - if everything goes wrong, he will not hesitate in going down for the sake of his friends - but there have been six deaths, and it's enough.

"Was it worth it?" He asks Ethan.

"Alabaster is alive" And it's all the answer Percy needs.

He dreams of Ethan and Alabaster. Alabaster is alive, yes, but he is missing half a leg - courtesy of Clarisse herself. Luke - Kronos - is indifferent, and Ethan curses the daughter of Ares - "The sword that took from us will take from you"

He contains Hyperion with his shadows. Then he helps Grover (who was half asleep, because of Morpheus) to make the Titan into a tree. It's a pomegranate tree - then he sets hellish fire to it and sacrifices it to Hades and Persephone.

A pig is in the sky - this time around, Annabeth and her frightening army of automatons kill it with Nico's help.

Perseus laughs - because Annabeth has about two hundred automatons under her command, Martin Luther King and Alexander Hamilton leading the charge with a giant bull being ridden by the Mad Hatter behind them.

It's weird to see historic figures Percy admires - like Jane Bolin, Sylvia Mendez, or Abraham Lincoln - fighting alongside people he downright despises - Thomas Jefferson and the goatfucker, herpes-ridden, Colombus. His Comparative Government teacher would have a field day.

Annabeth and Nico's pair up is amazing - They fight alongside like they have been doing it all life.

Nico is a force of nature, flying and commanding the winds to do his bidding - His eyes shine in the midst of the stormy clouds. His specialty is weather manipulation - he hasn't had much success with direct energy or electric discharges.

Annabeth has her mother's tenacity for war - and her clever mind for strategies. It's clear in her eyes - she is racking the weaker points of the Clazmonian Sow in her mind and destroying it. The automatons hold the pig in place - and she makes bacon of it.

Hercules couldn't do it. Nico and Annabeth can, because they have the power and the mind.

Perseus is still fighting off monsters - but they're too widespread, so they retreat to the doors of the Empire State Building.

Percy does a mental tally: of sixty-two campers, six are confirmed dead, twenty are injured and nine are out of commission on exhaustion. There should be 27 orange shirts here - but there's only twenty.

Percy wonders if the seven missing are injured, or dead, or under a pile of rubble somewhere with no one to help them. Is there someone being slowly eaten by monsters? Is there someone alone and injured and abandoned? He doesn't know.

He prays that those seven deserted them - at least that means they probably are alive and well.

Perseus looks at Phoebe's grief-stricken face, and he knows it's not probable - she had almost three dozen hunters with her, and now there's barely fifteen still fighting, Thalia nowhere to be seen.

They prepare for their last standing - Percy keeps conjuring skeletons, but they're no match for the sheer strength of the hyperborean giants. Nico is shoulder to shoulder with the Stoll brothers against a group of telkhines - Clarisse is bringing down a whole giant by herself.

After the Party Ponies save them - Chiron leads the charge against his own father, and Perseus is so proud of his mentor he can't even put in words how much - he goes to sleep. Fighting gets him tired quickly, and they'll come back.

He dreams of Dionysus. Perseus is not fond of any god who is not Persephone, but Dionysus is mostly okay sometimes. He seems to care about his children.

Perseus couldn't care less about the Western Civilization - but he'll care for Pollux. It's one of his demigods, after all, and Underworld people are possessive of theirs (i.e. Hades and Persephone).

He dreams of Thalia, in her father's palace, begging Poseidon to leave the underwater war and help with the invasion - His wife is none too happy with the presence of his immortal bastard daughter.

He wakes up to Rachel's helicopter falling - how is Rachel even awake, is a mistery.

The improbable pair Nico and Annabeth strike again: The girl knows how to fly helicopters, and the boy can fly himself. They save the redhead and the pilot - everything is fine.

"You're not the hero"

"Why did you risk yourself to tell me something I already know?"

Rachel doesn't explain - she can't. But she has a vision that says that he is not the hero. The hero of what? Perseus has no idea. But there's no way any of his cousins is dying for this stupid prophecy.

Suddenly, there's a drakon there. Rachel has another prophecy - Perseus fears she will walk the path that led May Castellan to destruction - that only a child of Ares will be able to kill it.

Bad news: All children of Ares are otherwise out of battle.

Clarisse is resting after a nasty concussion - and her brothers and Apollo's children are fighting yet again because Lee Fletcher is in no condition to stop them and Michael Yew is dead. Ares' side refuses to fight without the chariot - which Cabin 7 has hidden somewhere.

The best they can do is fend the drakon off until a miracle occurs. And it does: Clarisse, in full armor, manages to lead her brothers into battle.

Clarisse is dead. Something shatters inside of Perseus - and he leaves the drakon for the Ares' children to solve - he can't kill it anyway - and starts to vaporize the army behind it.

He is so caught up in bloodlust, that he almost misses Clarisse slaying a dragon. Clarisse, who has no armor. Clarisse, who is alive.

Ethan's curse rang true - Clarisse's weapon took something from her.

Silena is a traitor. She is also dead - which makes her a martyr, and probably going to reunite with her boyfriend in Elysium.

He remembers how easy is to fall for Luke's charm - he was - is - still in love with the guy. Percy thought the son of Hermes could do no wrong - and he wonders how much of his rage against the gods sprout from his influence.

Something evil inside of Perseus's mind tells him she deserved it. It tells Perseus that better her than Clarisse - but he shuts it down, and concentrates on his shining red friends.

He hates Ares. But he might just have an okay side if he can produce such a magnificent daughter.

Silena is the Patroclus to Clarisse's Achilles, and the Drakon is Hector - and the daughter of Ares is sure to parade its dead body.

It's the first time they feel like they are winning. It doesn't last - but as he hugs Clarisse tightly, he thinks he might cry of relief.

Clarisse looks tough - but she is a wonderful human being. She loves Silena with her whole heart - even more than she loves Chris, her best friend. Silena might've been in love with Charles - but she and Clarisse? They are soulmates.

The damned Pythos is following Perseus - and he is done with it. He knows where hope will survive best. Rachel wants him to give it to Hestia - but he owns the fire goddess nothing.

She has never interfered, not once, to help the dozens of demigods with no family that is abandoned in Cabin 11, and he won't forgive her for it.

He sacrifices hope to Persephone because that's what spring is. Spring is the hope of a new life. Maybe, Perseus thinks, it'll convince his father to come.

They go down to make their final stand against the forces of Kronos. There's not a lot of them - but they're not getting through those doors.

Well, his father doesn't come. But Poseidon does, with his whole army, Tyson and Thalia behind him, and the scales seem to turn.

And then Kronos cuts the barrier. Perseus can see his Mom (why is his Mom here with a handgun?!) and Poseidon fighting against the monsters under the eyes of extremely confused mortals.

Some are trying to break the barrier - but it's futile. Kronos has corraled them like sheep for the slaughter.

It's just him, Grover, Annabeth and Nico, fighting against Kronos vanguard - which is big, but not as strong as they are.

Kronos passes him without resistance - Ethan follows, but there's anger in his eyes - not for Percy, but for the monster he is leashed to. Alabaster is not there.

As soon as Kronos powers stop working on them, the four follow the titan - and some things never change, no matter the universe.

This time, it's Nico who falls because of Hera - it's her curse over all of her husband's bastards.

Ethan takes one look at Perseus, and they don't even need to fight. They have been friends for longer than they have been enemies - and they both loathe the gods, but Kronos is as much of an all-powerful controller being as any of the Olympians.

They battle against Kronos - Perseus has only his ax against his scyther - a true Underworld fight.

Ethan dies. And Perseus bloodlust consumes him - it clouds his eyes and he can only keep fighting.

"If... if we've had cabins... and they had thrones"

It's true, and more than ever, Perseus wishes Kronos wasn't such a bastard. He wouldn't bother killing the gods - but the titan is a way worse option.

"LUKE, PLEASE" It's Annabeth. He doesn't have her faith - she didn't saw his transformation. But he tries anyway because he loves Luke just as much as he hates Kronos.

"Luke, remember our summer" But his words are caught up in his throat when the titan throws him against the wall.

But the amalgamation of his friend and an all-powerful being looks confused, so props for his genius best friend.

Kronos shows them a rainbow message of Typhon - and that's where Perseus it's pretty sure he starts liking his father.

Because the Lord of the Dead opens up the earth and gets out in a black chariot guided by skeletal horses like a king. By his right side, is Persephone, in armor battle as a queen should be. By his left, is Demeter, who looks every single bit like the matron she is supposed to be.

Behind him, a hundred thousand dead roars. Charon is mounting Cerberus - and literal hell is unleashed upon the Father of Monsters.

The gods strike down Typhon, sending him back to be locked away - this time, in the depths of Tartarus instead of Mount Etna.

Kronos gets mad. Utterly, undoubtedly mad. He talks about burning Luke's body. Then he hurts Annabeth and breaks two promises in one fell swoop.

"Luke.... remember family" It's what Annabeth utters, but Perseus, already certain of their own demise, is crying now.

"That summer Luke, you promised to never hurt her again. You remember it? YOU PROMISED LUKE!!"

Annabeth's promise was already broken - he had hurt her, all those years ago, in Mt. Othrys. But the promise he made to Percy - that he would never hurt her again - is new and broken, in the river Styx no less.

Luke regains his own body, for a minute, and Perseus runs to him like a man in a desert with no water.

"Please, please tell me there's a way to undo this, Luke, please, please"

"There isn't one, Percy" And it's the first time he hears Luke call him Percy, Percy and not Perseus, in his own voice, in two years. Percy cries.

"We... we don't have much time, hellebore. Give me Annabeth's dagger. Before he... before he takes back"

Luke calls him hellebore and it makes him start crying all over again. He gives him the dagger - and Luke kills himself, taking Kronos out with him.

Luke doesn't need to ask if Percy has ever loved him - Percy kept loving Luke, one-sided as it was, even when Kronos was there.

He still crying over Luke's body when the gods arrive. Luke is dead. Ethan is dead. Silena is dead. Michael Yew is dead. Charles is dead.

He lost three of his best friends in two days. Ethan is dead. Luke is dead. Luke is dead.

Perseus can't stop crying. They take Luke's body away - but he can't stop. Annabeth explains what happened to the gods - most of it, anyway. Apollo says he is in shock - his father says he is a hero.

Perseus doesn't feel like a hero. Was this all worth it? Was it worth it the pain and the death and the suffering?

Persephone touches him - and he has no tears to cry anymore. She can't hug him here, but she'll do so later.

He stares at the walls, listening to his friends being awarded - compensated by their siblings and friends' deaths - with a blank stare. Perseus wants his mom.

They call for him. He raised his head but doesn't bother getting up. He just saved their asses - for the fifth time in a roll. He deserves to grieve.

They offer him immortality. A place between the gods.

He laughs. Zeus looks murderous, but he can't stop laughing.

"My apologies, but I have to refuse," he says. But in his mind, he is thinking about how could they even think he might want to sit between them and be an all-powerful being, be another god ignoring his children and messing with mortal lives while thousands die for him.

"Promise me, on the river Styx, that you'll give me the wish that I want."

They promise him, that if it's within their capabilities, they shall grant him his wish.

"I wish for every child at the age of twelve to be claimed. I wish for cabins in Camp Half-Blood, for every single minor god, and my own father. I wish for Calypso to be free, and to the demigods from the opposite side of this war to be given amnesty. It's not their fault. It's not any of our faults."

"You dare to-" Zeus begins, but Percy is really tired of Zeus.

"We fought your war, we won your battles. We, the unclaimed and rejected stowaways of Cabin 11. We, the children of minor and Underworld gods. We deserve respect. Just like my father deserves a throne, just like the minor gods deserve justice."

"Don't you fear us?" Athena asks, something weird shining in her eyes.

"I thought I would be dead today. At least if I die now, I'm dying for something I believe in."

It stays unsaid that he doesn't believe in them. The other demigods look at him worried - but he is not afraid of the gods.

They grant his wish. Some of them aren't happy with it, but they have to do it. He meets Calypso at the front gates of Olympus - and her smile can brighten the pits of Tartarus. He sees Alabaster talking with Lou Ellen - they are both crying.

He thinks it's the end - it's not. Thalia tells him Rachel left for Camp in her Pegasus - and his father has lift the curse, the Prophecy is gone, but he fears for his best friend.

Perseus is too tired for shadow travel - he does it anyway. He flickers, but anyway, he is too late.

It works. Rachel - his best friend - is the new Oracle. Someone jokes they can't be together anymore and Rachel lifts an eyebrow.

"We never were. Didn't you see the last few hours?" Well, he did out himself. Mostly - they might say it's just friendship, and he will hate the way they twist it. Luke wasn't a villain, and Perseus isn't a pure hero with a heart of gold.

Perseus is healing from lost love - and Annabeth is too. His crush on her was only a crush, he thinks - She is his best friend first and foremost. They cry together at the bonfire that burns away the shrouds of 43 demigods - from both sides - and 16 hunters of Artemis. Their souls all rest in Elysium now.

Alabaster comes back to Camp and helps his siblings to build the new Cabin for Hecate, full of spelled blocks and magic chimneys. Clovis and Tyene have their hands full with their own cabins - it doesn't help they keep getting sidetracked with naps.

Somehow, Nico, Thalia, and his bond over helping construct Cabin 13 - They are both way too invested in the goth vibe, mostly because Cabin 1 looks like a temple, and Cabin 3 looks like a beach cabin. And both of them are so over it.

Perseus doesn't want a goth cabin - he is fighting against the aesthetic for years - but sometimes, there are no arguments. His Cabin is made of black marble, and there are skulls everywhere, with torches shining with green fire. Outside, at least. Inside, it looks like Persephone's garden, with input from the queen herself. It's ready just shy of the end of summer vacation.

Rachel tells the next Great Prophecy. Perseus isn't such a positive person to think it won't affect him - he hopes at least it'll wait until he is done with High School.

That night, he dreams of the blonde boy again - it's his first night without nightmares since the battle. He has a scar in his lip, and his green eyes pierce Percy's soul. Perseus wonders if they'll ever meet, wonders if this boy is one of the Seven of the Prophecy.

But alas, Perseus lets it go. The summer is over - he is sixteen, somehow. He is alive and going to go back to his mortal life and his junior year, and grief. Not everything is fine - but eventually, it will be.

It's not the end. Not yet.

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teratron · 2 years

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Wonder Woman Reviews: Historia: The Amazons #1

By Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), Phil Jimenez (artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer), Hi-Fi (colorist), Romulo Fajardo Jr (colorist), and Arif Prianto (colorist).

---

So this was pretty rad.

This book was announced back when Black Label was first launched in the pre-BatDick days of 2018, along with a slew of other titles including another Wonder Woman-related one by Greg Rucka titled Diana's Daughter. That one by Rucka sadly never got past the pitch stage and he had to shelve it but I wasn't too broken up about as even though Rucka's my favorite WW writer, this premise interested me more and I was interested to see a new high-profile writer take a crack at Diana's world (even if Diana won't be in that much!).

This project sat in development hell for some three-to-four years for a variety of reasons (Covid being among them, obviously) but probably the biggest reason is Phil Jimenez taking his time on the art here. Having followed his art updates this and read through this a few times now, I can definitely say it was worth the wait.

For those unfamiliar, this series looks to tell the complete history of the Amazons prior to Steve Trevor's crash landing on Themyscira. Our first issue here sees us begin on Mt. Olympus with Hera and the other Olympian Goddesses (Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, and Hecate) coming before their male counterparts and bringing them to task over the treatment of women in Ancient Greece.

Those familiar with their Wonder Woman will notice the first 2/3rds of this issue bears a lot of similarities to the first issue of his defining run back in the late-80s. There are however some key differences here that DeConnick brings that differentiate it from it's predecessor. The first being a rousing condemnation of the way women were treated by the Ancient Greeks and, by extension as their supreme beings, the male Gods themselves. The tone here (perhaps unsurprisingly) being far more fiery and condemnatory than in Perez's run, along with removing the motivation for the Goddesses to ensure Olympus' survival in case worship of them fell out of favor.

The other key difference being the inclusion of Hera into the backstory of the Amazons.

Despite being the Greek Goddess of Women, and the "Great Hera!" catchphrase, Hera for most of Wonder Woman's history was a footnote at best. Even when Perez expanded Wonder Woman's patrons to include other goddesses besides Athena and Aphrodite, Hera was noticeably not one of them. Brian Azzarello, of all people, was the first writer to actually give her some prominence and usage in his run back in 2011.

It's clear here, DeConnick intends to correct on that as she's pretty much the main character of this issue and (along with her wardrobe that Jimenez gives her) steals and is the center of every scene she's in. The ending also making it clear Hera's machinations will continue on into the next issue at least.

This however brings me to the stuff that actually has me interested, that being the origin of Hippolyta. Much as I liked the scenes on Olympus, the more down-to-Earth scenes with Hippolyta and this new take on her origin/backstory (unlike anything we've seen when we are even shown stuff about her history) are what really have my attention in where this series will go. Her story here in this issue plays off well with the scenes on Olympus where the Goddesses castigate their male counterparts for the treatment of women in the ancient world, Hippolyta's scenes actually depicting one such cruelty that drives it home for us, the reader.

Phil Jimenez was already my top Wonder Woman artist and this one issue alone has pretty much solidified he's never getting dethroned. Whereas much of DeConnick's dialogue/scripting was concise and to-the-point, he contrasts her well with some of the most gorgeous and detail comic art I've seen in ages. I'd be remiss not to mention the good work colorists on this book, Hi-Fi, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Arif Prianto, all did in making many of these scenes look as good as they do. In particular one page with Hippolyta that involves a lot of running. I almost exclusively buy single issues digitally but I would absolutely say go out and get a physical copy of this.

It's still probably the hype talking, but this genuinely does feel like one of the most ambitious Wonder Woman-adjacent stories in probably ever (maybe Morrison's Earth One series for a recent comparison). I've read just about all of Wonder Woman's various origins DC's offered up over the years. but I've never been more interested to see where this goes.

#wonderwoman #dccomics #wonder woman historia #spoilers #reviews

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hermeticimp · 4 years

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My Thoughts on The Gods - Part 5

Welcome to Part 5 with our dear Greek god of madness, fertility, religious ecstasy, wine, and theatre - Dionysus!

Loved the 60s through 80s in the States. The devil may care and intense energy during these periods refreshed him after another series of violent, turbulent wars

Just as passionate about rioting and standing up for what you believe in as Ares. He understands better than anyone the power of a group, no matter who they are. (Just think about all the things the Maenads were able to do when they worked together!...However violent they were XD).

Just as into music as his brother Apollo. He loves the way you can just lose control when the music gets into you. It’s a level of ecstasy that few things can compare to.

Clubbing every night? Hell yeah! Any time is party time!

Hangs around frat parties and the like, happily keeping the booze overflowing and the energy up. However, that doesn’t mean he’s careless. He keeps an eye out for everyone, making sure they don’t drink too much, overdose, or harm anyone. He has no problem arranging rides for people to get home safely, which some of the other gods like Apollo, Hermes, Hestia, and Demeter assist with (the latter two helping provide shelter for those who are too incapacitated to leave and taking care of them). Apollo and Dionysus also utilize some tricks that help ease hangovers in the morning

Throws parties randomly when he feels things are getting a little too stale. What fun is being bored?

Can be seen in the quiet faith of a devotee, follower, spiritualist, or religious person

He is the experience of suddenly sensing and feeling the beauty and love of the gods

Visits mental institutions as a means of comforting those within, giving them a quiet peace of mind for a time

Advocates for mental health much like Hel and Apollo. Passionate about reform and destigmatizing having mental disorders

Loves the idea of mental health days. Just because it’s not as easy to see as a physical condition doesn’t mean that someone isn’t being effected

Enjoys going to open mics and poetry recitals with Apollo and The Muses. Applauds and gives compliments, along with constructive criticism, for each person

Loves slam poetry

Enjoys a mix of thought out lyrics and straight party songs with music

Looks out for children with Apollo, Artemis, Hebe, Hermes, Hera, Hestia, and Zeus. He watches over those who are unfortunately dealing with abusive households

Happy to step in when he sees others being bullied or disrespected. Nothing sets him off quicker than treating others inhumanely

Enjoys attending wine festivals and tastings

He is the burn of alcohol down your throat

Watches fondly over those having their first drink, giving advice on how to avoid overwhelming one’s self and getting sick

Big supporter of programs like Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous. As fun as drinking and (safe, legal) drug use can be, it’s equally important to recognize and respect the intense consequences they can have. He admires the strength of those in recovery

Watches over those working at rehab and methadone clinics. It’s not an easy job, especially when those who need help leave and fall into old patterns. He helps to ease the burden of those checked in and those who work there

He is the dedicated energy of writing a psychological thesis

Celebrates the diversity in sexuality and gender identity that exists today. Considering his own fluid identity, it brings joy to see others able to do the same

Enjoys watching people explore different identities to see what fits them. Nothing wrong with learning, experimenting, and growing with labels over time

He is the kind doctor who gently explains all of one’s options at a fertility clinic

Keeps an eye out for women who are going through late pregnancies and fertility treatments. Understands the toll and fears that come with these situations and helps to allay them

He is the whisper of a secret between close friends late at night

He is the impish smile of a stranger in a club

Can be found in the bright neons and city sounds during a late night drive

Advocates for the protection of endangered animals along with Demeter, Gaia, and his son Pan

Enjoys farming and survival simulators like Stardew Valley and Minecraft

Thinks games like Kind Words are brilliant! The idea of people coming together to comfort each other anonymously is heartwarming

Spends plenty of time hanging out with his brothers Hermes and Apollo. It’s never a dull moment with these three

Carves out time to explore nature with Demeter, Hera, Hestia, Persephone, Gaia, and Pan

He is the sound of dissonant voices coming together in harmony

Is the quiet contemplation of meditation that leads to sudden insights

The song The Other Side by Bruno Mars feat. Cee-lo Green and B.o.B. comes to mind when thinking about him, Apollo, and Hermes. The three often sing the song together

He is the friend who stays up to comfort and talk down a friend in crisis

Enjoys drama shows due to how over the top they can be

Brings flowers to those performing in their first stage shows, congratulating them on a job well done

He is the feeling of stage fright that morphs into confidence as one practices and leans their parts

ADORES film festivals. Seeing the vast variety, from short films, to documentaries, to full length indie films and the work put into them inspires him

Much like Aphrodite, he reps a variety of pride flags whenever he attends a pride parade

Is the gentle, comforting voice that affirms someone overwhelmed with their dysphoria

Supports more access to mental facilities to the underprivileged, inmates, and those on the streets

Supports sex workers and keeps an eye out for them along with Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, and Eros

Attends a variety of productions, from elementary performances to Broadway. Enjoys each and every one of them regardless of how inaccurate or perfect they are

Enjoys playing Devil’s Advocate in Ethics classes

Gets into healthy debates with Apollo and Athena on a variety of subjects

Can be called on when dealing with introspection (along with Apollo… for the umpteenth time XD), especially with shadow work

Likes grapes, grape juice, wine, alcohol, chocolates, big cat imagery, dolphin imagery, devotional dance and song, art, acting, hymns, plays, movies, music, skulls, and ivy

Has connections with death via Zagreus and the Orphic Mysteries

#dionysus #dionysus devotee #hellenism #modern gods #devotional acts #connecting with the gods #deity work #deity worship #my post #my writing #livsmythfam #witch of color #thoughts on the gods #poc witch

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system-threat-detected · 4 years

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So I’m running a D&D game set in the Horizon universe, so I think about a lot of unnecessary worldbuilding stuff, like main exports/imports of tribes, what resources they might have available to them based on in-game evidence, and other stuff. It got me thinking about their clothes. Specifically the stranglehold the Oseram seem to have on linen.

I don’t actually know a lot about clothes, cloth, or armor, so take that as you will. It’s something that vaguely interests me, but most of my knowledge comes from quick google searches, or that one time I went down a cloth-based rabbit hole on Wikipedia, so please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about stuff.

Out of all of the tribes that we see in-game, the Oseram are the only ones who use (what I’m assuming to be) linen in their armor. While this can be chalked up to design language - trying to get us to read someone as Oseram at a glance just by looking at them - I’m going to read more into it.

Flax, the plant that linen is made from, grows well in Idaho/The Claim, and enriches the soil with nitrogen, blooms early, and is easily replaced by native plants, making it ideal for terraforming that part of the US. It would make sense for DEMETER to put it there, meaning the Oseram would be the ones who produced and sold the linen found everywhere else in game.

[ID: three Oseram mercenaries, dressed in leathers, metal, and cloth. end description.]

Your average Oseram citizen also wears this cloth, though most of them seem to be wearing forge-worthy leathers (which could pass as armor anyways) based on my exploration of Pitchcliff and Free Heap.

Another demographic who wears this non-leather cloth are common Carja citizens, as well as the poor/displaced people of Sunfall. More wealthy citizens and outlanders wear silk, and the nobles wear almost exclusively silk(Charles why did you think putting silkworms in the middle of Utah was a good idea? They are not native animals. Charles the silkworms that produce usable amounts of silk have been so domesticated they can’t even survive in the wild anymore. Charles silkworms can ONLY eat Mulberry tree leaves, which, thinking about it, I may actually have found in The Jewel. Charles pls.), but that’s a topic for another post.

[ID: Five Carja citizens from the Horizon Zero Dawn art book. Two are labeled “Craftspeople Woman” and “Craftspeople Man”, who appear to be wearing mostly linen and some silk. One is labeled “Artisan”, and is wearing some linen, a lot of silk, and some decorative machine parts. The last two are labeled “Villager Man” and “Villager Woman”, and are wearing all linen, no silk. End description.]

It makes sense that the Carja have access to this linen, as they canonically have good trading relations with the Oseram.

It’s also worth pointing out that black/purple dye is time consuming and extremely difficult to do. The shadow Carja/Eclipse made it part of their Whole Aesthetic, which I find hilarious(but looking deeper into the implications, horrified). They’re canonically starving all the time and they still find the time to dye black clothes.

[ID: A turnaround of an Eclipse thug, whose outfit is mainly tattered, deep black cloth, with some dark red, bullets, and a white mask. End description.]

Black dye can come from chestnut trees, so there is, in fact, an in-game basis for this, as I found chestnut trees in The Jewel while looking for avocado trees, but I’m even more incredulous they figured out how to make purple. The most likely sources, since they obviously don’t have access to that super exclusive Mediterranean shellfish, are Rocky Mountain Irises, Blackberries, Elderberries, or Daylilies, none of which I have seen in game, but can grow in the Utah area.

We can interact with exactly one Utaru in the whole game, but the concept art for them appears to be mostly woven/dried plant leaves or leather, and some machine parts.

[ID: The front and back views of two Utaru. They both are wearing outfits with strips of dried plants or leather woven together in alternating black and yellow patterns, a mysterious mint green cloth, red feathers, a little bit of black fur, and a dried grass cape. Both are wearing hats made of woven plant/leather, machine parts, and what appears to be wood. End description.]

Looking at Rea, the Utaru we interact with in-game, the mysterious mint green is toned back to a more natural green, and it actually looks more like leather than fabric.

[ID: A waist-up in-game rendering of Rea, an Utaru woman. The rendered textures make everything previously assumed to be cloth or plant fiber, besides her grass cape, look like leathers that have been tanned differently. End description.]

It’s possible the Utaru have access to cotton, but there simply isn’t enough in-game information to confirm or deny that.

The Banuk and Nora tribes overwhelmingly use leather and hide, along with assorted machine parts (like metal or cables) in their wardrobe. It makes sense for them to be dressed this way, as where they live is colder than the Sundom or Plainsong. I have, however, noticed there are strips of cloth used in their outfits.

[ID: Four generic Banuk warriors, wearing leathers dyed their traditional light greens, blues, yellows, and reds. Their heavy, warm outfits also include furs which range from, and sometimes gradient from, blacks to whites. There are strips of what appears to be vibrant blue cloth wrapped around their limbs, as well as attached to their weapons. End description.]

The blue cloth the Banuk use to tie their boots up/their arm wraps on and on their spears is obviously a reference to the Blue Light, and is the only cloth in their outfits. The rest is warm leathers or furs. Their territory, Ban-Ur, is mostly covered in glaciers, so it makes sense they’d opt for overall warmer clothes.

While we know from Bergrund that the Banuk don’t like trading for ‘necessities’, it is possible that the easily-dyed blue cloth is one of the things they will trade for, as it holds religious symbolism for them.

And the Nora:

[ID: Concept art of four generic Nora Braves, all wearing outfits comprised of natural leathers, white machine metal, and blue machine cables. End description.]

[ID: Aloy wearing the Nora Silent Hunter Heavy armor. The armor is mostly made of natural leathers, but there is a green and blue net woven of some unknown material. End description.]

The green/blue net/rope stuff we see in Nora outfits is most likely woven from natural fibers taken from dogbane, nettle, or milkweed.

Aloy’s scarf looks like it’s made of silk,

[ID: An in-game image of Aloy. She is wearing the armor Teb made for her, and is standing in the dappled shadow of a tree. Her blue scarf is shining like silk. End description.]

But there’s a possible explanation: It’s the same one she had as a kid, that Rost wrapped her in as a baby. He was a well-traveled man, maybe he found it while he was on his vengeance quest, and kept it because it reminded him of his wife/daughter or something. (She’s wearing her baby blanket around her neck)

This, however...

[ID: An in-game rendering of Olara, a Nora woman who is wearing an outfit made of natural leathers, dark blue netting, a dark blue cloth sash, leather belts, and what appears to be a knit wool shoulder cowl. End description.]

Ma’am where did you get that wool. There are no sheep here. The Banuk have all the goats, and they don’t even use them for that. There are no Angora rabbits here. No alpaca. And yet. There you are. With your knit wool(?) shoulder cowl. Someone please help me out here. What could that be made out of.

And then there are the Tenakth. The game doesn’t specifically state where they are from, but since only Carja texts seem to mention them, and the Banuk/Oseram/Nora lore we are provided doesn’t mention them at all, I’m assuming they’re south of the Sundom, kind of around Arizona/New Mexico area. So like. Hot. Dry. Sunny. I’d argue that what little we have seen of their designs supports this.

[ID: Concept art of members of the Tenakth clan, shown from two different angles, one male, one female. Both are, wearing classic Tenakth blue and red body paint with thin white lines. Both are wearing light armor around their neck and forearms, and the woman is wearing a red chest wrap that appears to be made of cloth. They are both wearing skirts made of woven plant fiber, green, yellow, and red dyed leather, and red leg wraps. End description.]

The body paint we see could easily double as natural sunblock, since they clearly don’t have the light, airy Carja silks to keep the sun off their backs. But I’m getting distracted again.

[ID: An in-game rendering of Ullia, a Tenakth woman. The texture pattern on her clothes suggest the red material around her chest, arms, and legs, is in fact, cloth, while the strips of material around her waist and upper thighs are leather. She is also wearing shin-guards that appear to be made of dried bamboo. End description.]

BAMBOO???? What does it MEAN?? (After a quick google search, I learned that bamboo does, in fact, grow in the Americas. A quick google search informed me it is native to a lot of South America, Central America, and the Southeastern United States. Why or how it got to the Southwestern States is beyond me, but it’s making me think the Tenakth territory (The Clan-Lands) is a lot wetter than I originally thought. Or they stole it from whoever boarders the eastern part of their territory.) But again, I’m getting off topic. Back to cloth.

The Tenakth are known for raiding, and taking what they believe to rightfully belong to the strong, so even though they’re nowhere near The Claim, it’s likely they have stolen a linen from the Carja, but not enough to be able to consistently make a whole outfit out of it. They seem to just use it where it would be the most useful, like for attaching the bamboo/machine metal to themselves as armor. This lines up with having a scarcity of a certain material, so I’m pretty satisfied with this explanation.

This concludes my long and unnecessary analysis of Horizon world clothing styles. I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I did figuring it out!

BONUS:

[ID: A still from the Horizon: Forbidden West trailer, showing two members of the unnamed clan that lives in what was once the Yosemite area. They are both wearing outfits made of leathers, scavanged machine parts, natural rope/string bindings, and carved wood. End description.]

Whoever these guys are, they don’t look like they have cloth, but they’re likely capable of growing flax, if I’m right about where they’re from.

And the other one:

[ID: A still from the Horizon: Forbidden West trailer, showing a person standing in a field of red vines, holding a withered carrot in their hand. They are wearing a yellow and green outfit, which appears to be made mostly of woven leaves and leather. End description.]

These people who appeared in the HFW trailer, who I’m no longer convinced are Utaru, don’t look like they have cloth either, but we don’t really get a good look at their outfits in the one scene they appear in the trailer.

#thinking more about the silkworms in utah it's possible charles put them there cos he couldn't get them to china before it collapsed #I just made myself sad thinking about that #possibly planned on being reintroduced later #hzd meta #horizon meta #hzd #horizon zero dawn #cloth #linen #armor #oseram #nora #carja #banuk #tenakth #utaru #meta #analysis

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stormcloudrising · 4 years

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The Secret Song of Florian and Jonquil Part 7-Section 2: Sansa Stark, Daughter of Coincidences and Honey Bees

June 7, 2020

Right up front, I should explain that this chapter is labeled section 2 because it’s the second chunk of Part 7. This particular chapter turned out to be overly long and so I had to split it into two. I advise you to go back and first read part one HERE or else you will miss the proper flow and important clues in support of the theory.

In the first section of part 7, we started looking at the symbolic role honey and bees plays in Sansa’s arc. I showed how in metaphorically connecting her to Persephone, George is also linking her to the ancient tale of Ellyn Ever Sweet who possibly might have been the ancient Nissa Nissa

I ended the section by showing how Sansa’s role as the symbolic Persephone of the story positions her as the Queen of Winter in the North and how and why Jon is set up as her Hades/Pluto counterpart. Now let’s jump right back in as we look a bit more at Persephone’s abduction and some interesting details that further ties her to Sansa Stark.

Hades and Persephone by IrenHorrors/Deviant Art/Creative Commons

As the location of Persephone's abduction is called a vale, one would expect it to be a mountainous region as that is generally the location for this type of landscape. And that is of course the case.

In Greek mythology, the mountainous district of Nysa (Greek: Νῦσα), variously associated with Ethiopia, Libya, Tribalia, India or Arabia by Greek mythographers, was the traditional place where the rain nymphs, the Hyades, raised the infant god Dionysus, the "Zeus of Nysa.”

Wikipedia

Coincidentally, the flower used to lure Demeter’s daughter into Hades’ hands was none other than the *Narcissus-Jonquilla,* which I’ve proposed is the mysterious magical blue flower that represents the daughters of Winterfell. It also happens to be the name of a mysterious ancient figure closely identified with Sansa Stark.

Here is Dany’s vision of the Blue Winter Rose from her visions in the House of the Undying followed by a few stanzas of the very long Hymn to Demeter. Does the description of the narcissus-jonquilla not read a lot like how George describes the blue winter roses…particularly how its sweet fragrance fills the air?

A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness...

A Clash of Kings, Daenerys IV

5 She [Persephone] was having a good time, along with the daughters of Okeanos, who wear their waistbands slung low. She was picking flowers: roses, crocus, and beautiful violets. Up and down the soft meadow. Iris blossoms too she picked, and hyacinth. And the narcissus, which was grown as a lure for the flower-faced girl by Gaia [Earth]. All according to the plans of Zeus. She [Gaia] was doing a favor for the one who receives many guests [Hādēs].

10 It [the narcissus] was a wondrous thing in its splendor. To look at it gives a sense of holy awe to the immortal gods as well as mortal humans. It has a hundred heads growing from the root up. Its sweet fragrance spread over the wide skies up above. And the earth below smiled back in all its radiance. So too the churning mass of the salty sea.

15 She [Persephone] was filled with a sense of wonder, and she reached out with both hands to take hold of the pretty plaything.2 And the earth, full of roads leading every which way, opened up under her. It happened on the Plain of Nysa. There it was that the Lord who receives many guests made his lunge. He was riding on a chariot drawn by immortal horses. The son of Kronos. The one known by many names. He seized her against her will, put her on his golden chariot,

20 And drove away as she wept. She cried with a piercing voice, calling upon her father [Zeus], the son of Kronos, the highest and the best. But not one of the immortal ones, or of human mortals, heard her voice. Not even the olive trees which bear their splendid harvest.

Homeric Hymns, To Demeter ll. 5–20

Also, note how the 20th stanza reads a lot like this passage from when Sansa dreams of the symbolic Others.

That night Sansa dreamed of the riot again. The mob surged around her, shrieking, a maddened beast with a thousand faces.

Everywhere she turned she saw faces twisted into monstrous inhuman masks. She wept and told them she had never done them hurt, yet they dragged her from her horse all the same. "No," she cried, "no, please, don't, don't," but no one paid her any heed. She shouted for Ser Dontos, for her brothers, for her dead father and her dead wolf, for gallant Ser Loras who had given her a red rose once, but none of them came. She called for the heroes from the songs, for Florian and Ser Ryam Redwyne and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, but no one heard. Women swarmed over her like weasels, pinching her legs and kicking her in the belly, and someone hit her in the face and she felt her teeth shatter. Then she saw the bright glimmer of steel. The knife plunged into her belly and tore and tore and tore, until there was nothing left of her down there but shiny wet ribbons.

A Clash of Kings - Sansa IV

In antiquity, the narcissus-jonquilla was considered sacred to Hades and Persephone and believed to grow along the River Styx. Another interesting detail about the flower is that many biblical scholars also consider it to be the famous *Rose of Sharon* referenced in “A Song of Solomon.” The jonquil flower being considered a rose—another one of those coincidences I’ve been talking about.

The name "rose of Sharon" first appears in Hebrew in the Tanakh. In the Shir Hashirim ('Song of Songs' or 'Song of Solomon') 2:1, the speaker (the beloved) says "I am the rose of Sharon, a rose of the valley". The Hebrew phrase חבצלת השרון (ḥăḇatzeleṯ hasharon) was translated by the editors of the King James version of the Bible as "rose of Sharon"; however, previous translations had rendered it simply as "the flower of the field" (Septuagint "ἐγὼ ἄνθος τοῦ πεδίου", Vulgate "ego flos campi",Wiclif "a flower of the field"). Contrariwise, the Hebrew word ḥăḇatzeleṯ occurs two times in the scriptures: in the Song, and in Isaiah 35:1, which reads, "the desert shall bloom like the rose." The word is translated "rose" in the King James version, but is rendered variously as "lily" (Septuagint "κρίνον", Vulgate "lilium", Wiclif "lily"), "jonquil" (Jerusalem Bible) and "crocus" (RSV); Narcissus ("rose", Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature)

Wikipedia

It seems quite likely that Martin named the main character in Sansa’s favorite stories after the flower Persephone was picking when she was abducted. This makes thematic sense as he has so strongly associated Sansa with the real-world mythical Persephone. It also seems not quite a coincidence that he calls the flower a rose in his story when it was called by the same name in one of the most famous and oldest poems in the world that just happens to be centered around a renewal myth.

Coincidences again abound when you look at the area where the famous biblical flower is said to have grown. Here is the description of the landscape of Sharon Israel in ancient times.

The Plain of, the area where the coastal plain widens south of the slopes of Mt. Carmel, extending about thirty miles south to the Yarkon River north of Joppa. It varies from about eight to twelve miles in width. In Israelite times, the dunes supported an impenetrable oak forest. Pastureland would have been on the fringe of the forest (1Chr 27:29). The rose of Sharon is kind of a crocus growing as a “lily among brambles” (Song 2:1-2). Thus the biblical picture of Sharon is a forbidding jungle of oaks and swampy marshes rather than a fertile or productive plain.

Harper Collins Bible Dictionary

Is it just me or does the description of ancient Sharon remind you a lot of the description of the marshy landscape of the River Styx that led to Greek Underworld where Hades absconded with Persephone? It also matches the description of the Vale of Nysa…a mountainous region that was the land of the rain nymphs.

Martin named the ancient female character at the center of one of the great mysteries of his story, Nissa Nissa and there are many different meanings to the word. We’ve seen that it was the name of the Vale from where Persephone was kidnapped. In Hebrew it means, “wonders.” In the Indian language it is a form of the name Nisha, which means “night.” In Scandinavian countries it’s the name for a friendly elf or fairy (COTF like short person), and in Greek, it means beginning (first greenseer). Every single one of these meanings fit with the clues George has dropped about Nissa Nissa.

The fascinating thing about the name Nissa as I’ve noted, is that like many words where the second letter is an “i,” a “y” is sometimes substituted in its place. And so, another way to spell Nissa is Nyssa. And it is in analyzing the second spelling that I discovered another one of those coincidences.

Nyssa also refers to a Greek water nymph, which of course with Sansa’s matriarchal line descending from House Tully with their fish symbolism is a point of interest. However, what I think is more significant is that Nyssa is also a genus of deciduous trees within the family Cornaceae. Nyssa trees are highly tolerant of wet soil and tend to grow along the borders of rivers, swamps and ponds (those coincidences are really running rampant).

Named after the Greek water nymph, there are many different varieties of the genus— Nyssa sylvatica, Nyssa aquatica, Nyssa biflora to name a few. Most interesting of all about the species of tree is that they produce a very expensive form of honey. Here is a description of Nyssa ogeche from Wikipedia.

Tupelos of the species Nyssa ogeche are valued as honey plants in the southeastern United States, particularly in the Gulf Coast region. They produce a very light, mild-tasting honey. In Florida, beekeepers keep beehives along the river swamps on platforms or floats during tupelo bloom to produce certified tupelo honey, which commands a high price on the market because of its flavor. Monofloral honey made from the nectar Nyssa ogeche has such a high ratio of fructose to glucose that it does not crystallize.

The Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle is the center for tupelo honey. The honey is produced wherever tupelo trees (three species) bloom in southeastern USA, but the purest and most expensive version (which is certified by pollen analysis) is produced in this valley. In a good harvest year, the tupelo honey crop produced by a group of specialized Florida beekeepers has a value approaching $1,000,000.

Wikipedia

WOW, another coincidence! Nyssa is also the name of a honey making tree. And not just any honey making tree but one that grows and thrives in marshlands and swamps that look a lot like the Vale of Nysa from where Hades kidnapped Persephone as well as the River Styx, which leads to Hades, Persephone’s winter home.

Oh, and if you are looking for another coincidence, do you remember those pomegranate seeds that Hades got Persephone to eat? Well, look at how they are described in the Hymn to Demeter (410th Stanza).

- then I sprang up for joy, but he, stealthily,

- put into my hand the berry of the pomegranate, that honey-sweet food,

- and he compelled me by biē to eat of it.

Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies

George is certainly pushing the concept of honey as the food of the gods and that it should be associated with Sansa Stark.

By the way, the theory that Nissa Nissa was the first greenseer is not mine. I first heard of it from Lucifer Means Lightbringer on YouTube and while not positive, I think that he is the originator. However, while I agree with his theory, his reasoning is different from mine as neither he nor anyone else…at least not that I’m aware have associated Nissa Nissa with Ellyn Ever Sweet.

As I’ve theorized at the end of the previous chapter of this series, I believe that Jonquil in addition to being the original blue Winter Rose and the female progenitor of House Stark, was also the corpse queen. Was she also Nissa Nissa? That possibility is certainly in play.

However, it’s also possible that she was Nissa Nissa’s daughter or possibly even a sister. Whether she was Nissa Nissa or a female relative, I think she turned dark(e) at some point. Keep in mind that dark does not have to mean evil. It can simply mean vengeful…a philosophy that I would not be shocked to see Sansa take up.

Those of you who have read some of my previous essays are probably saying to yourself, “the legend of Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa is an eastern one while the stories about Ellyn Ever Sweet and Symeon Star Eyes have Westerosi origins.” “Also, you said in the previous essays that the Bloodstone Emperor and the Amethyst Empress were Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa. Now you’re saying there are a different couple. Which is it?”

“You also suggested that Azor Ahai was a dragon Lord? Dragons are from the East, not Westeros.”

I will answer the last question first. Yes, I did agree with the theory proposed by others in the fandom that Azor Ahai was a dragon lord and I still believe it’s will quite likely turn out to have been the case. As I’ve discussed HERE and HERE, George has dropped some serious hints that there were dragon lords in Westeros…including in the Vale region in the ancient past. In fact, the Winged Knight aka the King of the Bees was quite likely a dragon lord.

The Arryn House legend states that the Winged Knight rode a giant falcon and controlled eagles and killed a griffin to claim the Vale. Some maesters theorize that the giant falcon in question was a dragon seen from afar. Then we get this in one of the Tyrion TWOW preview chapters and we see that dragons do indeed look like giant birds of prey when viewed from a distance.

Three hundred yards from where he stood rose the Wicked Sister, her long arm swinging up with a clutch of corpses—chunk-THUMP—and there they flew, naked and swollen, pale dead birds tumbling boneless through the air. The siege camps shimmered in a gaudy haze of rose and gold, but the famous stepped pyramids of Meereen hulked black against the glare. Something was moving atop one of them, he saw. A dragon, but which one? At this distance, it could as easily have been an eagle. A very big eagle.

The Winds of Winter, Tyrion I

George also compares dragons to eagles and hawks in the Princess and the Queen.

History calls the struggle between King Aegon II and his sister Rhaenyra the Dance of the Dragons, but only at Tumbleton did the dragons ever truly dance. Tessarion and Seasmoke were young dragons, nimbler in the air than their older brothers had been. Time and time again they rushed one another, only to have one or the other veer away at the last instant. Soaring like eagles, stooping like hawks, they circled, snapping and roaring, spitting fire, but never closing.

The Princess and the Queen

In regard to the contradiction of three different couples being Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, well they were really not three couples. Rather, it’s a case of comparative mythology and a major society changing calamity, which impacted such a large portion of the known world that legends and tales were told in all parts of Planetos about the events and the participants. Each location shaped their own tales and legends about the proceedings and people involved but ultimately, it was the same story and cast of characters.

From the Great Empire of the Dawn, we get the legend of the Bloodstone Emperor, the Amethyst Empress and the tale of the blood usurpation; from Asshai, we get the story of Azor Ahai killing his wife Nissa Nissa; and from Westeros, we get the myth of Ellyn Ever-Sweet who married the King of the Bees. All three are about the same individuals and event. It’s just been distilled and reinterpreted though the eyes of different cultures. The three myths also clue us the reader in on different parts of the story.

The legend of the Bloodstone Emperor and the Amethyst Empress tells us that the ancient couple were siblings and he usurped her throne though some type of blood betrayal. Through the tale Salladhor Saan tells Davos about Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, George is informing us that they were husband and wife and that the blood betrayal and usurpation involved her sacrificial killing at his hands. And finally, the myths about Ellyn Ever Sweet and the Winged Knight tells us that she was a Child of the Forest and he was a dragon lord. Three different couples whose story are ultimately one.

However, there are actually 4 ancient “couples” whose story is at the center of the great mystery that involves the Others. Three I’ve mentioned above and the fourth as you might expect, I proposed was Florian and Jonquil. The latter are jointly mentioned in the text more than any other ancient pairing, whose names and association are only mentioned once or twice. The names of Florian and Jonquil appear on numerous occasions and each time is centered on Sansa Stark.

Does this mean that Sansa is the modern day Nissa Nissa? Well, as I’ve argued, I think that she is a greenseer and so that possibility certainly exist. However, it is not definitely the case. She also might be the modern-day version of the ancient daughter of Nissa Nissa. While in previous essays, I’ve argued that Sansa was the modern day Nissa Nissa, upon further analysis, I’ve changed my mind and now I am more incline to think that she represents her daughter.

There are a few reasons why I think that she represents the daughter and not the mother. First and most importantly is because Sansa is without a doubt, the modern-day Jonquil, whom I’ve argued was the first Blue Winter Rose of House Stark. Secondly, I also believe that Jon has been set up to be the modern-day Florian. If this turns out to be the case and I strongly think it will, then Sansa cannot be the Nissa Nissa character because Jon is not the true Azor Ahai.

Why do I say that Jon is not Azor Ahai? Well, for obvious reason, I think that Dany more fits the described prophecy about AA. Also, while Melisandre presents Azor Ahai as a hero, clues suggest that he was not. There is the little thing that has to do with him killing his wife. However, what convinces me that Sansa and Jon are not Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa is that all textural clues point to the story of AA and NN being one about the usurpation of the rights of the woman with the man stealing her throne.

The Bloodstone Emperor killed the Amethyst Empress in what is known as the blood betrayal. Nissa Nissa, who clues suggest was the first greenseer was killed by her husband Azor Ahai, most likely in a quest for power. Finally, the King of the Bees usurped the right of Ellyn Ever Sweet, the queen bee.

So far, what we’ve learned about Florian and Jonquil suggests that their tale was a love story. It’s possible that we find out later that it turned dark but nothing in the text has so far suggested that Florian killed Jonquil in a quest to usurp her claim as was the case with the other ancient couples. And Jon has made it abundantly clear that he does not want to usurp Sansa’s right to Winterfell.

If usurpation is not in play between the two, then they are probably not the modern day Nissa Nissa and Azor Ahai. Of course, we don’t know what will happen when Jon finds out that Robb made him his heir. On the other hand, as Bran is still alive, it would be his rights that Jon would potentially be usurping because even though Sansa is the eldest, the right of inheritance first goes through the male line. Nonetheless, I expect Bran to give up his claim to the North.

Another reason to suggest that they are not Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa is because Jon is the Hades stand-in as the symbolic Lord of the Northern underworld. His death and eventual return reinforce this point. And while Hades/Pluto abducts Persephone, he does not kill her.

The tale of the Lord and Lady of the Underworld and Jon and Sansa being their stand-ins is also one of the reasons I’ve proposed that they will reunite in the Vale. Hades has to steal his Lady away to the underworld as the earth opens up in the textural stand-in for Vale of Nysa.

When Hades drove his chariot through the underworld, it must have sounded and felt like the earth was shaking. And when the ground opened up and his chariot burst forth, it must have looked and felt like an earthquake. It might even possibly have been described as like “giants waking from the earth.” What are earthquakes if not the earth opening up and what is a god if not a giant among men.

A warhorn, a bloody great warhorn.

"Yes," Mance said. "The Horn of Winter, that Joramun once blew to wake giants from the earth."

A Storm of Swords - Jon X

There are strong hints that waking giants is suggestive of earthquakes. And as I touched upon HERE, there are even stronger hints that there will be some type of disaster in the Vale resulting in an avalanche and the collapse of the Giant Lance.

Do I think it means actual giants or a Hades like character will arise from underground? Of course not! What I’m proposing is that symbolically when the earth opens…caused by meteors hitting Planetos, resulting in several earthquakes and the giant lance collapsing in the Vale, the true symbolic Hades will descend from the northern underworld to claim his bride.

My theory is that Jonquil was the daughter of Nissa Nissa who may have then gone on a quest to avenge the killing of her mother and somehow ended up becoming the corpse queen and creating the Others. Now of course, in terms of her motive, this is pure speculation on my part as there is not sufficient evidence to determine the reason for the creation of the Others.

However, I do think that Jonquil was the corpse queen to Florian’s Nights King and together, they created the Others. I will be discussing them as the potential NK and CQ in the next chapter as we explore their connection to the COTF.

While I don’t think that Jonquil was Nissa Nissa, there is one way that I can potentially see this being the case and that is if like Varamyr, NN body jumped in the moment of her death. Varymir was a powerful skin changer and I’ve always felt that the reason he did not succeed in hijacking Thistle’s body is because she was a woman. I think that he would have had better luck if she had been male.

There is an admonition against skin changing a person for a reason. It must have been previously done to horrible consequences. Nissa Nissa having a second life in Jonquil could certainly have been the first such occurrence…especially if she was on a quest of revenge.

Another coincidence that connects Sansa to Nissa Nissa are the several songs that echo the story of the ancient couple. Of particular note is Off to Gulltown. It is not known whether this is the title of the song or just the first line. In fact, we know pretty much nothing about the song except that it is old and that it is only mentioned twice in the text.

Dunk remembers Ser Arlan singing it while he rode to the tourney at Ashford Meadow.

Well, one morrow had brought rains that soaked them to the bones, and the one after had brought wet gusty winds, and the next a chill. By the fourth day the old man was too weak to ride. And now he was gone. Only a few days past, he had been singing as they rode, the old song about going to Gulltown to see a fair maid, but instead of Gulltown he'd sung of Ashford. Off to Ashford to see the fair maid, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, Dunk thought miserably as he dug.

The Hedge Knight

Tom of Sevenstreams is also singing the song when he encounters Arya, Hot Pie and Gendry. Per westeros.org, these are the known lyrics to the song.

Off to Gulltown to see the fair maid, heigh-ho, heigh-ho.

I’ll steal a sweet kiss with the point of my blade, heigh-ho, heigh-ho.

I’ll make her my love and we’ll rest in the shade, heigh-ho, heigh-ho.

Here we have a very “old” song whose lyrics echo the Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa legend wherein a fair maid is potentially killed by her lover using a sword. George also associates swords and blades with the male penis on several occasions in the text, which gives the second line dual meanings. The three lines also hints at the possible death of both parties.

Curiously enough, we have another one of those coincidences because Sansa is the fair maid from Gulltown in the story or rather I should say, Alayne Stone is.

"Alayne . . . Stone, would it be?" When he nodded, she said, "But who is my mother?"

"Kella?"

"Please no," she said, mortified.

"I was teasing. Your mother was a gentlewoman of Braavos, daughter of a merchant prince. We met in Gulltown when I had charge of the port. She died giving you birth, and entrusted you to the Faith. I have some devotional books you can look over. Learn to quote from them. Nothing discourages unwanted questions as much as a flow of pious bleating. In any case, at your flowering you decided you did not wish to be a septa and wrote to me. That was the first I knew of your existence." He fingered his beard. "Do you think you can remember all that?"

"I hope. It will be like playing a game, won't it?”

A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI

Sansa’s temporary name change that she uses to hide her identity while in the Vale brings us full circle to Ellyn Ever Sweet as we wind this chapter down.

Alayne is another way of spelling of Elayne or Elayna (French), which is also spelled as Elaine (Celtic origin) or Elena (Spanish). There are several other spelling variations of the name from other parts of the world. However, if you research the etymology, you will discover that all these variant spellings of the name are ultimately derived from the Ancient Greek name Helene.

From Old French Elaine, a variant of Elene, cognate to Helen, ultimately from Ancient Greek Ἑλένη (Helénē). A Celtic origin has also been suggested since the name appears in Arthurian legend. Doublet of Helen.–Wikitionary

Another possible origin of Helene is Selene, the Greek Goddess of the moon. Either origin symbolically ties into Sansa’s story arc as Alayne Stone because as she is currently betrothed to the future Lord of the Vale, who rules the famous Mountains of the Moon, one can argue that she is metaphorically, a moon goddess. However, her symbolic ties to the mountains is not the important thing I want to point out about her name.

As Alayne is derived from Helene, one can immediately see another variant of the name would be Helen, made famous by the story of the Helen of Troy, the queen of Sparta who was kidnapped by Paris, the Prince of Troy. A variant of Helen is of course Ellen, which is spelt in a number of different ways including Elena, Eleni and surprise, surprise, Ellyn as in Ellyn Ever Sweet. Do you think George might want us to associate Sansa with the ancient character?

The Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse - Public Domain

Let’s now recap to see if I have this all straight as there are a lot of coincidences to remember. Martin names the character at the center of one of the great mysteries of the book Nissa Nissa. The name can also be spelled Nysa or Nyssa and Persephone, the real-world Greek goddess who is strongly associated with Sansa Stark was kidnapped from the Vale of Nysa. But that’s not all! George also drops a major clue in TWOIAF that the Westerosi version of Nissa Nissa was the honey and bee loving Ellyn Ever Sweet and that she quite likely married the King of the Bees aka the famous Winged Knight of the Vale.

And again, that is not all because it turns out that the flower used by Hades to lure Persephone into his trap was the sweet-smelling narcissus-jonquilla aka the jonquil flower, which just happens to have been the famous *Rose* of Sharon from The Song of Solomon. This same jonquil flower is the namesake of an ancient in-world figure that’s closely tied to Sansa Stark and was quite likely the female progenitor of House Stark and also quite possibly the famous corpse queen.

There are even more coincidences because there is also a real-world genus of honey making trees with the family name of *Nyssa*, which grow in swampy marshlands very similar to the River Styx and the Vale of Nysa from where Persephone was kidnapped. The ancient location where the “Rose of Sharon” grew was also a similar landscape of bogs and swamps.

What did I forget? Oh yes…Persephone is called the honeyed one and the priestess of the cult dedicated to her and her mother were called Melissas, which meant bees. Alyssa and Lysa are also shortened versions of Melissa and were the names of two female rulers of the Vale of Arryn, one of who we know was killed by her husband and her kingdom usurped.

Finally, the name Alayne Stone currently being used by Sansa Stark to hide her identity is a variant of Ellyn as in Ellyn Ever Sweet, the ancient honey loving beekeeper who was quite possibly the ancient Nissa Nissa and a COTF. Oh, and the pomegranate seeds used by Hades to tie Persephone to the underworld are described as “that honey sweet food,” in the Hymn to Demeter.

So many coincidences that tie Sansa to magical in-world and real-world mythological characters—and I know that I’ve forgotten some. Yet we are to believe that Sansa will not be connected to the magical storyline.

Now, no doubt some will argue that George’s use of honey is just symbolism and Sansa is just fulfilling the role of an archetype. I would say that yes, it is about symbolism and Sansa like practically every character plays the part of an archetype at one time or another…sometimes even different ones in the same scene.

However, there is symbolism and then there is SYMBOLISM. And George seems to have gone out of his way to specifically connect Sansa to myths about gods, bees, and honey as the food of the gods in a way he hasn’t any other character. And then there is the simple fact that while the Long Night may have occurred all over Planetos, the focal point was in Westeros and the ancient Starks were at the center of events. George has also admitted that the Stark kids are the center of current story as well.

Someone once said to me that nothing important happened in the Vale in ancient times. I tend to disagree but here’s the thing, even if that were the case, it doesn’t really matter because George has set things up so that important events will occur there, in the current storyline.

As I’ve said on many occasions, Martin uses the legends of the past to inform upon the modern story just as he uses the current characters to provide answers on ancient mysteries. Therefore, can it be mere coincidence that he gave Sansa a pseudonym that is a variant of Ellyn? As the clues that I’ve outlined suggest that Ellyn was both a COTF and a greenseer…possibly even the first of her kind; and is at the center of the great mystery of the book, I tend to doubt.

Also, if and when meteors descend on Planetos as Lucifer Means Lightbringer has proposed—a theory that I endorse, textural clues suggests at least one major piece will fall in the Vale. And so, thousands of years from now, the geographic area that comprise the Vale and the Mountains of the Moon just might be described like current dark landscape of Asshai and the Mountains of the Morn.

Instead of all of the phenomenons I’ve listed being coincidences, I would say that it’s more of case of convergence, and strongly indicates that major events…including those of a magical nature will coalesce around Alayne Stone aka Sansa Stark as she sits in the Vale of Arryn.

In the next chapter, we dig into the idea that Florian and Jonquil were the Nights King and corpse queen and explore their suggested connection to the Children of the Forest.

NEW DISCOVERY

One of the things I’ve discovered in taking so long to complete my Florian and Jonquil essay series is that I’m constantly discovering new things when doing research. This just happened tonight and so I’m re-blogging this chapter again to make mention of the new finds, which strongly support my thesis that Sansa will have a large part to play in the ending magical storyline.

The finds tie into this chapter’s discussion of George’s thematic use of honey in the story, how it heavily ties into Sansa’s arc by connecting her to ancient magical figures…especially Nissa Nissa, the corpse queen, and Ellyn Ever Sweet.

If you have not read the two parts of this chapter, you should read them first as what I’m writing here will have more meaning if you do. For those who have previously read the last two sections, it’s to do with why George named his ancient character Nissa Nissa, and why he might have given Sansa the moniker little bird.

Many in the fandom, including myself have argued that Nissa Nissa was a greenseer and more importantly either a COTF or human/COTF hybrid. As the Children were the ones who originally had access to the trees, I suspect that she was not a hybrid, but a pure COTF. Corpse queen, I think might have been a hybrid, but that discussion is for a future chapter.

I think that Nissa Nissa might possibly have been the first greenseer. I’ve also previously proposed that only women had access to the weirwoods, and so if Nissa Nissa was not the first greenseer, she was likely a direct descendant of the line. That’s why the idea of the weirwood having a hive like mind at its core seems to be baked into the lore. Hive minds is a theme that George has played with in many of his past writings and so him doing the same with ASOIAF as he continues to explore ideas makes sense.

In the previous chapter, I explained how George was likely influenced by several different sources when it came to giving the name Nissa Nissa to the ancient figure that’s part of the central mystery of the book. These included the Greek water nymphs, one of who was with Persephone when she was kidnapped, as well as the fact that Hades stole his queen, who is also called the honeyed one from the Vale of Nysa.

Honey is very important to my thesis, as in ancient times, it like nectar was considered the food of the gods, and George uses it in the same symbolic manner in his story. This brings me to one of the other important reasons I theorized George named his character Nissa Nissa, and that is the very weirwood like, real world Nyssa Sylvatica honey making tree. I am not going to go into much detail about the tree again as you can read all about it below.

However, it’s in doing some further research on this tree that I discovered some additional information that I suspect might have been pivotal in George’s going with the name Nissa Nissa.

It has to do with the full name of the tree. We’ve discussed what Nyssa means, but you will be very surprised when I tell you the meaning of Sylvatica. Put simply, it means “of the woods,” or “of the forests.” So basically, Nissa Nissa was a wood nymph, which pretty much confirms that she was a child of the forest.

Sylvatica is also the name of an asteroid belt, which may support the idea that moon meteors have something to do with the Long Night event. As interesting as these two finds were, there are not the most exciting thing I discovered.

What would you think if I told you that Sylvatica is also the scientific names for various species of birds…more specifically, little birds. These include the Zoonavena sylvatica, a spinetail; the Turnix sylvaticus, a buttonquail, and the Prinia sylvatica, a warbler, among others.

Speaking of warblers, guess what’s another name for them. You probably guessed it, but I’ll tell you. Songbird.

By T. R. Shankar Raman - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62126758

"Think I'm so drunk that I'd believe that?" He let go his grip on her arm, swaying slightly as he stood, stripes of light and darkness falling across his terrible burnt face. "You look almost a woman . . . face, teats, and you're taller too, almost . . . ah, you're still a stupid little bird, aren't you? Singing all the songs they taught you . . . sing me a song, why don't you? Go on. Sing to me. Some song about knights and fair maids. You like knights, don't you?"

A Clash of Kings, Sansa II

So basically, Nissa Nissa was a wood nymph who’s also a little bird. Funnily enough, there is even a blue forget me not flower called the Myosotis Sylvatica ‘Early Blue Bird.’ Talk about coincidences. And yet we are to believe that Sansa won’t be connected to the magical story line or play a major role in final events. 😊

Read Part 1 of Chapter 7 HERE.

ETA 6/19/20 to fix a few typos, add a couple of references indicating that Hades was also known as Pluto, and the paragraph that suggests the future Vale landscape maybe like Asshai.

ETA 6/22/23 to add section at the end about new discovery.

#florian and jonquil #florian and jonquil meta #sansa stark #jon snow #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #jonsa #jon x sansa #house stark #persephone #hades #hades and persephone #my meta #scr meta

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

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Sorry about the stupid question, but wasn’t Ares kinda evil? He was in Percy Jackson at least, and that’s about all I know about Greek mythology

Hahaha, I mean, yeah he’s not exactly misunderstood, as far as most takes on him go. Supremely douchey, at the least. But then again, that kinda describes the vast majority of the Greek pantheon, both major and minor divinities alike….so I mean, he’s got plenty of company. Like I know in the PJ series, Poseidon is basically a pretty decent god comparatively speaking, but like….nah, he was definitely a major asshole in a majority of myths he showed up in. Demeter would definitely make your crops wither if you tried making a case for him being an okay guy, for instance.

But the take on Ares in that post you’re talking about still fits because in pretty much any myth I can think of, Ares is very much the type to be fully convinced he’s in the right at any given moment. He’s definitely the hero of his own story, and everyone else’s, as far as he’s concerned. So he would def object to being cast as evil.

It’s kinda like….so I mean, there’s definite reasons why Ancient Greek culture centered a great deal of focus on two different (and usually opposing) war gods, whereas most cultures usually only had one, or at least one prominent one and then any other war gods being more minor, satellite deities, kinda.

And yeah, Athena is almost always considered the ‘good’ or ‘civilized’ goddess of war - even though she definitely had a nasty streak at times herself - but it was usually more like….Athena was the goddess of wisdom, of strategy and tactics, the incarnation of war with PURPOSE and intent. Like, she embodied war in the sense of….a definite creation of human civilizations, wars that happen because human minds and motivations decide okay, we are going to war and here is why.

In contrast, it’s not really so much that Ares was considered evil, as that he was seen as more…brutish, unreasoning, impossible to sway with talk of peace or treaties or appeals to an enemy’s sense of mercy or such. Basically, he was Athena’s opposite in the sense that he embodied war as like…a force of nature, almost. Something primal, senseless, bloodthirsty, the kind of war that no one truly wins, whereas Athena’s domain was seen more as like…’noble war,’ or war waged for ideals, honor, stuff like that. A little known aspect of Ares is that he was also at times referred to as the god of storms as well as war. Not the heavens or skies in general, like Zeus or other sky gods, but storms specifically. The natural disaster kind, just powerful and overbearing and impossible to tame, just like, the wild fury of mindless nature that the best you can do when facing it is look for shelter and try and wait it out as best you can. Like, a storm isn’t technically evil, but that makes very little difference when the end result is the utter destruction of everything in its path, you know?

Its also interesting to consider the role cultural bias plays in even ancient mythologies. Like how we talk about how history is written by the victors, they decide what gets remembered and in what light…that’s kinda a key component of the Athena/Ares dichotomy too. Its not really a coincidence that Ares is the older of the two…both in terms of worship, like in the sense that he was around and having myths told about him long before Athena arose as a popular divinity in Hellenistic cultures…and in the sense of like, how even in the myths themselves, or at least the myths that lasted and make it through the millennia in the form we remember them and tell them today, Ares is literally the older of the two, in terms of age, with Athena being born long after him.

Like, we talk about the Greek pantheon as the gods of what we usually think of as ancient Greece, like…city-states like Athens and the like, the Greek civilization that built the Parthenon and practiced democratic ideas and were famed artisans and such…but the entire lifespan of THAT ‘ancient Greek civilization’ is still only a relatively small piece of the overall history of the region. The Greek gods as we know them today, were around in various forms for literally thousands of years before that…or at least some of them were. The older Greek gods, culturally speaking, are the ones who are more linked to primal, elemental forces of nature, embodiments of the natural world moreso than specific cultural ideas such as art, music, beauty, wisdom/strategic war, revelry, etc. And over time, as cultures of the region mingled and consolidated and grew into the broader, more widespread civilization we tend to label ‘ancient Greece’ in most of our minds….new gods got added to their myths and merged with the older, more elemental deities into one cohesive pantheon. And that’s why the gods of natural forces like lightning, the sea, the earth, sky, the sun, etc….they were the oldest gods in the Greek pantheon, age wise….the children of the Titans, along with those Titans who’d sided with them in the war against their parents, like Helios, etc. And its these gods’ children, for the most part, who embody the ideas born of human cultures and civilizations, and thus make up the younger generation of Olympians, like Aphrodite, Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes, etc. And of course, Athena.

Ares and Hephaestus exist in a kinda weird, in between state, like one foot in one ‘generation’ and the other foot in the younger one…because they’re examples of deities who were around for a long time in previous cultures in various forms….but kinda evolved along with the changing ideals and priorities and focal points of the various Hellenistic cultures that told their stories. Or not evolved precisely, that’s not the word I’m looking for, its got some less than accurate or great implications here, but…like essentially, in their oldest, earliest remembered ‘versions’, the gods we know now as Ares and Hephaestus were primarily associated with natural forces, just like Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, etc. Proto-Ares, for lack of a better description, was more a storm god than even a war god, initially, while Hephaestus was pretty definitively a god of fire. But for various reasons, their stories changed along with the cultures that told their stories, without ever actually replacing them with newer, younger, ‘gods of civilization,’ the way the older Greek gods replaced the Titans in the mythological cycle, and their children were destined to do the same to them.

So by the time the Greek pantheon had solidified into the Olympians as we think of them today…..Ares and Hephaestus were added into the Olympian pantheon as part of the second generation of gods, like Aphrodite and Athena and Apollo….but were distinctly the oldest of that generation, the first sons of Zeus and Hera, and thus why they’d been around so much longer than the younger gods, mythologically speaking. And in the process, they’d ‘shed’ most of their more primal, nature-related aspects, as the storm god and fire god, and become more associated with where those forces led humanity once harnessed. Ares thus became the idea of war, but early war, as the emerging Greek civilization saw it, and by extension him…’primitive’ war, senseless violence and brutality that the Greeks of the more modernized era of Olympian worship saw themselves as having outgrown…and thus requiring the birth of a newer, younger, ‘more civilized’ god of war, a war god for the modern age of a more enlightened Greek culture and civilization, in their eyes….hence, the rise of Athena in both the myths and Greek culture as a whole.

(Though technically, Athena’s actually one of the older deities of the region too, with roots tracing all the way back to the earliest Hellenistic civilizations, but she was ‘updated’ in much the same way as Ares & Hephaestus, but even moreso, to the extent that its much trickier tracing her all the way back to her earliest depictions).

All of which is why I’d say its not that the idea that Athena = good war goddess/Ares - bad evil war god is necessarily wrong, per se….its more that its not the most accurate way of describing their dichotomy, and their relationship with the ancient Greeks of this era. The surviving myths we have most definitely characterize Ares as nasty, ill-tempered, prone to jealousy and fits of rage, always eager for a fight and hard to talk down from one….but also, he tends to be characterized as pretty stupid, overall, like…his only advantages tend to come from sheer strength and brute force, his willingness to inflict relentless violence without stopping or showing mercy, etc. And this is the part where I said its like how history is written by the victors. These are the depictions of Ares that survived til today more or less intact, widely proliferated, etc….even though Ares has had a very very long history tracing back thousands of years before those stories first were told, and has been many different things to many different cultures in all that time.

But the disdain for him that’s clearly visible in pretty much every surviving myth….that’s more about how like….the ancient Greeks telling those particular stories, recording them, passing them down….this disdain was basically their way of saying they’d outgrown Ares and the kind of senseless war he embodied, and why they ascribed to Athena’s more ‘civilized’ type of warfare, one that valued culture, and strategy, and tactics, and the OUTCOME of war, rather than the ACT of war itself. Essentially a culturally meta way of saying Ares’ kind of war, and wars of a type he would champion….this generation of ancient Greeks wanted to convey that all that was beneath them, that they’d evolved as a culture past that kind of senseless brutality and at this point had very little use for Ares and everything he represented.

(For the record, I’m not necessarily agreeing with their self-assessment, lol, as uh, lots of the wars conducted by the ‘ancient Greek civilizations’ at even their height, could still very accurately be termed senseless, brutal and bloodthirsty. Its more just about how any civilization that prides itself on well, how civilized it is, generally tends to look at what came before them as more primitive and uncultured. Whether or not that’s as accurate as they’d like to believe. Kinda like how we, as a modern society, would generally term ourselves more civilized and cultured than those particular ancient Greek civilizations, but uh, that doesn’t actually mean we’ve got a leg to stand on about modern warfare being any less senseless, primitive and needlessly violent than any waged 5,000 years ago, y’know? Anyway, this is purely an eye of the beholder kinda thing, more just about the kinda lens the myth-tellers of that era were viewing their gods and their stories through. Allegedly. I mean who the fuck really knows, I wasn’t there.)

And just for the hell of it, by a similar token, it could probably be argued that the myths making a big deal about Hephaestus being so ugly and misshapen by Olympian standards…you could probably make a case for that having a lot to do with Hephaestus’ age, culturally speaking, and how he was associated as much with older ‘more primitive’ cultures as with the more modern age of Olympian worship. Just as Ares became less and less associated with storms and more tied to violent war, Hephaestus moved further and further away from his origin as a primal fire god, to a more specific, newly added niche as a god of invention, craftsmanship, a patron god to blacksmiths. There’s stuff that could be said about the correlation between fire as a potentially destructive force, an almost violent or ugly aspect of nature that only held ‘value’ to humanity once tamed and shaped into a controlled force that had something to offer human culture, in the form of how it could be used to forge weapons, craft new technologies, inspire innovation, etc. Like…the thing about Hephaestus the Olympian is he was a popular god, in the sense of having a big cultural impact, occupying a fairly large focal point in civilizations of the time. But he wasn’t necessarily a well LIKED god. Nobody was pouring out libations to him if they could help it, he was kinda…there, because he was useful and needed, while still being a deity and presence that wasn’t entirely comfortable to be around or in the presence of, sort of. Personally, I think that all links back to how he’s referred to as being hideous to look upon, someone the other Olympians didn’t necessarily want near the rest of them, even as they petitioned him to make them weapons….like, I think you can see here the vestiges of him as the embodiment of fire, even as he’s less associated with that in this time period, and his focus narrowed more specifically to what fire MAKES. Like, the general idea of him, culturally speaking, being that we need him, and we know it, but he and the primal forces at the root of his divinity are like….not something its a good idea to be entirely comfortable around? Kinda the awareness that no matter how far civilization had advanced by then, it was still understood that like….there was still something primal, primitive about fire, that was never going to be possible to fully tame, to make totally civilized. That it’s a force of nature that can be harnessed, but. Bah.

Okay so I’ve been writing all this while waiting in the doctor’s office because boredom plus I’m a slut for mythological analysis and theorizing, buuuuuut I have to go be like, a person with an actual to do list today so I can’t finish this right now but also I don’t know if I’ll get around to coming back to it and finishing it so I’m just posting it as is, for whatever interest it holds as is, because plus it’s not like…..this is the answer anon was likely looking for to a pretty simple question haha, I just like, get carried away when talking myth stuff.

Also standard disclaimer I have to put on all my myth posts apparently haha, I am not a scholar, fuck academia, all of this is just my own personal musings based on my own personal research just because, and no I will not cite sources because I literally do not have time, this is just me talking about shit that interests me and my take on it, I am not suggesting this is the right or only take or should be taught to impressionable school children, lol do not @ me about how I’m misleading the innocents of tumblr who trusted that I, random tumblr user, should be construed as the sole authority on this topic like. I have reasons for adding this disclaimer and they are the thirty thousand fucking obnoxious ‘fight me for being wrong about Loki’ notes the last time I thought waxing mythologic was a good idea, and I have no interest in a sequel to that. LOL. Disclaimer over. Find the post interesting and worth looking for more thoughts on similar or even contesting lines elsewhere, or like, don’t. Just don’t go looking for me as target practice because my nerd take was controversial, lol thank you and have a nice day.

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