#to me they were the embodiment of persephone and hades
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Clive, hush. Not only is it appropriate to give you the title of Mythos, but it’s one that you should’ve reclaimed and taken for yourself. In fact, I don’t know why Ultima even gave you that title. It’s kind of like naming a kid “Roger Stabbington” and then being surprised when he says “ok” and stabs people.
FFXVI had a lot of storytelling problems, but one of the issues that stands out the most is the refusal to explain the whole Mythos/Logos thing. There’s ATL entries about them, sure, but they’re kind of the most barebones, reductive explanations as to why those particular words/titles were chosen for Clive.
It’s time for me to put my “I was raised in an obnoxiously Greek family” hat back on once again and -- just as I did with the Hades II trailer -- break down all of the dumb ancient Greek nonsense being thrown at us in a video game.
“Mythos” isn’t actually a word that’s meant to be used as a title. The word “mythos” in and of itself refers to one of two things, depending on how it’s being used:
1. the compilation of folklore around a particular subject. For example, there’s the very famous myth of Hades and Persephone’s marriage, but there’s a whole mythos around the explanation of why seasons exist, and Demeter’s mourning of the loss of her daughter is only part of that mythos.
2. the plot of an ancient Greek tragedy -- just in general. The mythos of the story should have some sort of reversal (either the story starts off with the protagonist in a good place and ends with them in a bad one, or vice versa), and the intention should be to evoke fear or pity from the audience. Aristotle believed that the most tragic of stories were those involving violence between friends and/or family (and who does that sound like?) -- and, the worse the tragedy, the stronger the mythos.
So, to use the word “mythos” as a title implies that the person holding this title carries with them the legends and stories born from the hearts of mankind -- the “reason” behind mankind’s existence -- and then, through great tragedy, will become a legend in and of themselves.
Yeah, that kinda sounds like Clive, doesn’t it?
Ultima’s a fuckin idiot moron for naming him that and then expecting him to become anything else.
Another fun fact about the word “mythos” and how it relates to Greek tragedies, though:
Greek tragedies were historically performed in worship of Dionysus, who was the god of pleasure and indulgence. So, for Clive to be the human embodiment of Mythos, that means that his very existence serves the purpose of exalting carnal pleasure.
Clive Rosfield is actually, literally just personified sex appeal. He, himself is not a walking libido, per se -- but he’s meant to inspire that in everyone around him.
And he kind of does, considering how many characters in-game want to polish his knob.
Anyway. We’re getting off track I WANT HIM TO GIVE ME SADDLE SORES THAT LAST AT LEAST THREE DAYS
The word “logos” is also not meant to be a title -- and, to be completely honest, I don’t feel like it works the way that the devs wanted it to work. Like, it’s fine. It’s serviceable. But it doesn’t exactly fit what Clive becomes the way that Mythos does.
A more modern interpretation of what the word “logos” means would probably be The Discourse(TM). Logos is the use of logic and reason to explain the nature of the world and mankind’s role in it. Aristotle basically thought of logos as being the thing that sets humans apart from animals -- it’s our sense of self and our ability to think objectively enough to create an actual moral compass.
So, basically, by calling Clive “Logos” Ultima’s just saying he’s attained free will and learned to think rationally on his own -- but that’s also a very basic bitch way of thinking about logos as a concept.
And it’s not as clean of a fit for him as Mythos is, considering that it wasn’t exactly Clive’s sense of self that got him to where he was (he spends like 85% of the game wondering what his purpose is), nor did his attainment of power have anything to do with rational, logical thinking. In fact, the game even goes out of its way to say that Clive is being held up by the faith of those who believe in him, which, I mean --
sure, if you also take into account the whole “Jesus Christ is thought of as being logos incarnate” thing, but like. Then that pulls away from the whole ancient Greek philosophy thing happening and goes into a different metaphor entirely, and everything just gets really muddy.
There are some scholars who believe that the concepts of mythos and logos aren’t mutually exclusive -- and, in fact, that logos actually grew out of mythos. The idea was that people started looking at the myths that they were using and started to apply logic and reason to them in order to get a more nuanced view of the world. But like...
In XVI, mankind started with rational thought when they realized that God (the God that they knew existed and were not just making up as myths) had abandoned them, and then they joined together as a community to create their own image for the world through their use of mythos.
So, I really think the game got it backwards. Clive wasn’t Mythos who became Logos. He was Logos who became Mythos.
But like. Gold star for trying.
I’M JUST SAYING THAT CLIVE HAVING THE TITLE OF “MYTHOS” IS REALLY FUCKING HOT AND EVERY TIME SOMEONE CALLS HIM THAT MY PULSE QUICKENS BECAUSE HE IS LITERALLY SHOULDERING THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF MANKIND AS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE POWER OF HUMAN CREATIVITY IN SERVICE TO A SEX RITUAL
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The Antichrists of Beyblade (Part 1): Damian the Deceiver
Damian's character shares many similarities with the concept of the Antichrist found in the Bible as well as popular culture. This will provide another perspective on the character in relation to previous analyses I have made on him, as well as on other characters. The Antichrist is a concept that has been applied to many characters, but it is generally tied to the idea of an entity who deceives humanity in order to attain and usurp a position he doesn't deserve or wasn't meant for him. Damian embodies that concept particularly well.
The name Damian means to subdue or dominate, which is what he attempts to do during Metal Masters as he asserts his superiority over his opponents. It is also reminiscent of the purpose of the Antichrist, to dominate the minds of humans and subdue the world. Damian is also tied to Demeter, goddess of agriculture, whose daughter Persephone became the queen of Hell. Damian, unlike his team members, is more tied to Hell, and it is more difficult for him to escape this reality, the realm of Hades Inc. Finally, the name "Damian" sounds similar to the word "demon" in English, which is why it was apparently chosen as the name of one of the most famous fictional Antichrist, Damien Thorn.
Both are tied to Hell, possess a hellhound (Kerbecs for Damian), live with wealthy people (the Thorns and Ziggurat), and abuse their powers by harming others. Additionally, there is the chorus that plays each time they use their special abilities. Finally, the name "Damian" is also tied to the patron saint of doctors, Saint Damian, who shares this patronage with his colleague (and sometimes brother), Saint Cosmas. They used to heal people without asking for anything in return, which is the opposite of what Ziggurat does: he always tries to gain something from someone, and the results of his healing are somewhat dubious. What is interesting is that "Cosmas" (which means cosmos, synonymous with universe) can be tied to Gingka, who has (in the dub) Cosmic Pegasus and whose name itself means galaxy (something that is part of the cosmos). This illustrates Damian and Gingka's duality and the ties they have to each other as opposite figures.
Damian's design is very atypical compared to most characters; it looks closer to what a Burst character would wear. @mach-speed-spinh-speed already made a compelling post about Damian's design, which gave me ideas, here , I will not describe everything about his design, so I recommend you check the post.
Damian's cap and jumper suit are a little reminiscent of Ryuga's own design, who also employs black and white as dominant colors. Damian also wears armor, which makes him appear bigger than he actually is and more threatening. In a way, this design is made to lure us into thinking that Damian is similar to Ryuga in the sense that he is the main antagonist and the main threat, but in the anime, he is not. The color choice is interesting because the exterior is white and gold, almost heroic in a way; it seems like Damian tries to appear as a sort of hero or rather to eclipse the hero of the story by appearing as the incarnation of the concept of the chosen one. Indeed, his attire makes him stand out from the rest; he is not like anybody else; he is special. Or rather, that's what the writer wants us to think. His hair is quite peculiar; they look similar to Ziggurat's in terms of style. They look like horns or ears of dogs (fittingly, Damian has three pairs of spikes usually like Kerbecs has three heads, so three pairs of ears).
The Antichrist receives power from the devil and manages to miraculously heal itself. Damian received power from Ziggurat, who represents the devil, and he managed to endure many special moves throughout his fights (such as Black Excalibur, most of Kyoya’s arsenal, etc.). Everyone was surprised and, in a way, mesmerized by his power, even Gingka himself was shocked until they were told that it was the arrangement system. Furthermore, Damian managed to win against Julian, who called himself an emperor, the highest-ranking title of a monarch in Europe. And the Antichrist is described as a beast with crown, symbols signifying its power and authority. Damian's victory against Julian in a way establishes him as a threat but symbolically his authority and fake superiority over all bladers.
Finally, the Antichrist desribed as a beast in the Book of Revelation comes from the seas, and the first appearance at Hades Gate and Kerbecs (who is also a multiheaded beast) is at the same time the stadium is filled with the Cetus’s water, giving an impression of the gate rising from the sea. In the gates, a winged Cerberus is explicitly shown during its first appearance. Wings are often tied with Gingka's Pegasus in the series. However, this surprising association reflects an appropriation by Kerbecs of something that doesn't belong to him, almost like he is trying to usurp Pegasus. And that's what Damian is trying to do; by winning the match against Gingka, he would have officially become the strongest blader in the world, but he wouldn't have earned that position because of the fact he relied on the arrangement. Ryo and Hikaru also strongly insisted on the necessity for Gingka to win because they needed a true blader to show the world what beyblading means. Damian shouldn't have succeeded at any cost because it could have created a precedent which would have irrevocably harmed the world of Beyblade. Also, Damian, like the beast described in the Book of Revelation, insults people. It's not blasphemy, but he called everyone weak, even people as hardworking as Kyoya and Julian.
Despite his seemingly godly power, Damian is chained to Ziggurat and to a life he didn't choose. The Antichrist is merely a pawn to the devil to enact his plans; it cannot change nor deny its destined path. However, the entity finding another path is a theme that was explored in other works of fiction, such as the Good Omens series, in which Adam Young, the Antichrist of the series, is swapped with another baby and ends up living in an English village instead of inheriting a life of luxury as the son of a wealthy American diplomat (the name Damian was also put forward for him).
He ends up in a family with loving parents who put limits on his behavior; he has a bunch of friends whom he plays games within the woods. What is important is that Adam has had a fulfilling childhood with actual parenting, and in the end, he rejects his father (the Devil) arguing that Satan was never there for him, unlike his human father, and that he is obviously only concerned with using his power. The reason it ties with Damian is that he was (probably) raised by Ziggurat, who is by all accounts a sociopath, who hates children and, most of all, encouraged Damian's sadistic nature, calling the "results" against Excalibur "outstanding." Also, Damian is very pale, more than other characters, and he is only rivaled by Rago, who seemingly spent a significant part of his life in a closed room. He doesn't know what dirt is; in the Japanese dub, when dirty, he said: "What is this?". Damian lived in a very controlled environment, in total opposition to Gingka, whose father faked his death to send him on a journey. Damian's situation is best symbolized by Kerbecs's beast, which only appears when the gate of Hades appears or inside of it (except once, but very briefly in episode 94). He probably never really had a childhood and never experienced the outside world. He also doesn't seem to know what the concept of fun is and is more concerned with competing in his job, arguing that he is destined and chosen to do beyblade, like the Antichrist is destined to bring the world to its end. Damian can't escape Ziggurat or that path that was chosen for him because he obviously didn't have a choice and didn't question the doctor's motives. Damian doesn't have friends like Julian to support him and help him find a better path.
In a recent post, I put forward the possibility that Damian's flashback/backstory happened more recently than it seems, which would also mean he is younger than many think. I still believe in this since Ziggurat said he started the conception of the arrangement system after the end of Battle Bladers, Damian's physical changes can all be explained by the arrangement, he didn't grow taller... The reason I'm bringing this up is that even if true or false, this is another deception; we don't really know how old he is, and I genuinely think the writer made it unclear. Damian looks bigger and more threatening than he actually is, and even though he hurts people physically and mentally in the most horrendous ways, he is Ziggurat's victim as well as his creation; his behavior is the result of the arrangement but also of his education. In a way Damian acts a lot like the doctor. They both like to feel superior to others, they use others as test subjects for their inventions/power, they deny reality in equal measures, they are sadistic and manipulative... Damian is a child who doesn't know any better and who has a warped sense of reality because Ziggurat really believes in all the things he says about the arrangement. Which further deceives Damian and drives him further from the truth that he can't understand anymore. He deceives others into thinking he is strong, big, and powerful, but he also deceives himself. Ironically, he told Julian and Kyoya to stop their "tough guy act," but he is the one doing that.
During his final in episode 100, Kyoya managed to break the hell dimension before damaging the Hell/Hades fusion of Kerbecs and leaving the room full of cracks. This represents how this battle, more than the one with Gingka, impacted and literally shattered Damian's worldview, or rather the one that was forced upon him by Ziggurat. He escaped the fate of sinking to the abyss with the demoniac doctor and his city, but in a way, he is still punished for his actions. He who liked putting others in despair is driven to despair as he lost everything of value to him; he called people weak, he will become weak and powerless without the arrangement, he thought of being the chosen one, he will completely disappear, not even mentioned by anyone. This is Damian's tragedy; his bey is the only one whose constellation doesn't exist anymore; he doesn't shine like the others. Like Cerberus, the only world in which he belongs is Hades, but it was destroyed. Being freed could have been an opportunity for his character to build his own identity, but he wasn't given his chance.
Like the Antichrist, Damian seeks to subdue others with illusory through deception, but in the end, he was the one who was the most deceived.
#metal fight beyblade#mfb#damian hart#beyblade metal masters#gingka hagane#ginga hagane#dr ziggurat#kyoya tategami#Julian Konzern#damien thorn#adam young#the omen#Good Omen#beyblade
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I meant hera and demeter sisterhood hcs loooool
oooohhh lmfaoo sorry haha, WHEW! i was worried someone read my hc and was like "yeah that's romantic".. ewww they are SISTERS in the sibling-sense.
so, Hera and Demeter are like two sides of the same coin to me.. Demeter physically looks like Rhea, but Hera has a lot of Rhea's personality.. so they kinda balance each other out. like, Rhea's whole character gets embodied between the two girls (im not talking about Hestia in this post haha).
anyways, this is important to me because, in my hc's, Rhea sticks around with Kronos for a REALLY long time before she finally puts her foot down.. and i mean, she goes through A LOT. similarly, Hera also sticks around with Zeus for a REALLY long time.. and unlike Rhea, Hera never gets to finally be free of her difficult husband.
now, naturally, i think Zeus and Kronos are on different levels, and there are reasons why i think it was necessary that Kronos x Rhea didn't last, but Zeus x Hera do, but i won't explore that here... my point is that i think Rhea has a hugeee heart, and was extremely forgiving (note: she's not a pushover, she doesn't love Kronos, but she forgives him for all the pain he causes her because she's just the bigger person)... and i think that's similar to Hera always opening her arms to Zeus every time he betrays her heart. Hera inherits Rhea's forgiving nature.
meanwhile, Demeter is wayyy more rigid. she doesn't stay on Olympus because she knows the absolute dogs many of the gods are on Olympus... and she hates the environment. she hates the debauchery, the competitiveness, the corruption. she saw it once, and she will never give Olympus another chance. that's why there's no question that Persephone will be raised away from Olympus... Demeter is unforgiving.
this is where the sisters balance each other out. Hera teaches Demeter to open her heart a little more, Demeter teaches Hera to stand up for herself and fight harder. in this way, both learn the right time to wage war and the right time to end it.
my classic example is the Persephone and Hades myth. we all know how pissed off Demeter was when she learnt of Hades and Zeus' secret arrangement.. in my version of events, after Persephone spends time in the Underworld and learns of a future where she could be a great goddess on her own, not under the shadow of Demeter, she decides to seize that opportunity (she does not love Hades at that time, she just has ambitions and wants to make the most of her godhood), however, when she learns that Demeter's gonna starve the world to death, she decides that she should go home because she doesn't want everyone else to suffer. in Olympus, Zeus, Demeter and Hades are all arguing about what should happen to Persephone, and Hera is the one who is like, "hey let's listen to what Persephone wants"... and by doing that, i think Hera helps Demeter to forgive not Hades, but Persephone.. she helps Demeter let go of her daughter and understand that Persephone isn't leaving her and isn't betraying her.. she kinda opens Demeter's heart up a little.. idk if i explained that properly.
anyways, my point is that Demeter and Hera help each other develop.
i imagine Demeter to be Hera's closest confidant in all the affairs that go down in Olympus. i like the idea of Demeter being the one who encourages Hera to put her foot down to Zeus, and i like the idea of Demeter being on Hera's side for all of those mini-(failed)-rebellions that we see Hera lead against Zeus in the myths. to be clear, i don't think Demeter encourages Hera to abuse Zeus' mistresses-- that's Hera's own thing. but i do think Demeter helps Hera to be a little tougher.
i think Hera spends the most time in Demeter's company, like on her farm... i think both women appreciate being away from the buzz of Olympus... i imagine that in their youth, when the second generation of titans and the Olympians were on good terms (i.e., before the punishment of Prometheus), Demeter and Hera would have gotten away from the busyness of Olympus by hiding out on Asteria's island (which was forbidden to all gods/men), and they would spend their time with the other girls; Hesione (Prometheus' wife), Metis (this would have been before her death), Asteria, Styx, Eos, Selene, etc., dancing, frolicking in the fields, making flower crowns, sparring, etc.
and then after the titans left Olympus when relationships broke down, Hera and Demeter were kind of the only ones left... that's how they started hanging around Demeter's farm instead of Asteria's island.
anyways. they are super tight and are essentially each other's best friend <33
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Porque No Los Dos?
Musings on Persephone and Her Girlbossification for Classicstober2023
I think I first learned about the Homeric Hymn to Demeter in elementary school, but even then, it was all about Persephone and Hades.
This was a fourth or fifth grade reader, so the story naturally had to be boiled down 'til the very marrow was sucked from its bones, but even then, I can't remember any mention of Demeter. Despite the myth bearing her name and largely being about her, Demeter was already removed from the narrative back in the early 2000s.
When I consider this, I feel that I can't genuinely pin the blame on current writers. After all, the Renaissance artists were more obsessed with depicting the “rape” of Persephone than the grief of her mother, so this current situation has been long in the making. But I do think that I am not mistaken to couple her subsequent transformation into a modern feminist icon with my contemporaries.
Apparently, I first took issue with this back in 2018. When I look through the archives of my blog, I see some cute HadesxPersephone art, modernizations, etc, and according to my tags I really love them. But then in 2018, I encountered a post saying:
“Hey, you know the original myth of Persephone when she was still Core/Kora and instead of being kidnapped, she willingly went down into the Underworld and decided that she liked it there/wanted to do good there?
I need a copy of it.”
This post was then reblogged with an added rebuttal, clarifying that this “original myth” does not exist. Since then, I've encountered at least three other posts with thousands of notes that either outright claim that “originally”, Persephone was not kidnapped, or that actually, there are “pre-patriarchal” versions of most Greek myths, which we are purposely kept from reading in order to maintain the status quo (patriarchy).
These claims are never supplemented with any classical sources, and they always, always, have thousands of notes.
I want to preface this by saying that I don't think there's anything wrong with modernizing or retelling these myths. That's how we keep them living, keep them relevant. I still enjoy a funny rendition of Hades and Persephone that characterizes Hades as the wife-guy of all time.
No, I think my issue is with the desire to concoct a revisionist history to justify it.
I guess the question is, “So what if Persephone was kidnapped?” Regardless of how she and Hades met, the outcome is the same: Hades turns out to be a good husband who loves and respects his wife.
What I'm getting at is this: why does acknowledging Persephone's background somehow make her less respectable? Why does she have to willingly go to the underworld? Why does she have to hate her mother and run away? Why do you need this version of her story to exist, when it simply doesn't?
Persephone is a young girl. It's in her name. She is the prototype, the stereotype, she is the stand in for every young girl of her time. She represents their realities, she represents what could happen to them in a moment's notice. She embodies a very real fear for girls and maybe even more so for (let's not forget the name of the hymn again) mothers.
What am I trying to say? Let me see if I can figure it out. I don't think I'm saying anything new. I just saw that today's theme was Persephone and when I think of Persephone, this is what I always think of.
She is a goddess in her own right. Beloved by her husband. Given power by her husband. I think she is what many a young girl in ancient times hoped to become someday, whenever the seemingly unavoidable happened: A woman who was valued as an equal in her home, even in a greater world where she was not.
I think we shouldn't have to change Persephone's truth in order to find value in her. And we shouldn't have to fabricate an alternate timeline where Greece was a matriarachal society and Persephone hit her mother with the, “No mom, I'm giving up on your dream.” before sashaying a way into the underworld to justify her value.
Write what you want to write. I can't stop you, won't stop you, don't want to stop you. But as Madeline Miller's new book is on its way, I can only hope that maybe someone, someone, will find it in themselves to acknowledge that Persephone and Hades' shitty start doesn't disqualify her from being meaningful. Inasmuch as there is power in saying “actually, Persephone only did what she wanted to do”, there is also power in saying, “Persephone didn't always get to choose, but her situation did not spell out her end. It got better. Spring will come again”.
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Character Ask: Persephone
I already did this some time ago in a joint ask with Hades, but I'll share my answers again, just for Persephone this time.
Favorite thing about them: Her status as a nature goddess who embodies the changing seasons makes her a fascinating character. Not only does she split her time between the upper world and the Underworld, but as a result she has a dual personality – the gentle, sunny goddess of spring, and the stern, feared queen of the dead – which makes her unique among the Greek deities.
Least favorite thing about them: The fact that in some versions of the story of Minthe (the nymph who became the first mint plant after her death), she brutally kills the poor nymph out of jealousy of Hades' affair with her. Fortunately, not all versions of the myth go this way – in another version, it's Demeter who kills Minthe for boasting that she's more beautiful than Persephone.
Three things I have in common with them:
*I have both a light side and a dark side.
*I'm close to my mother.
*I like pomegranates.
Three things I don't have in common with them:
*I'm not married.
*I've never been kidnapped.
*I'm not a goddess.
Favorite line:
Her account of her kidnapping from The Homeric Hymn to Demeter:
"We were playing and gathering sweet flowers in our hands, soft crocuses mingled with irises and hyacinths, and rose-blooms and lilies, marvellous to see, and the narcissus which the wide earth caused to grow yellow as a crocus. That I plucked in my joy; but the earth parted beneath, and there the strong lord, the Host of Many, sprang forth and in his golden chariot he bore me away, all unwilling, beneath the earth: then I cried with a shrill cry. All this is true, sore though it grieves me to tell the tale."
brOTP: Her mother Demeter (in traditional versions of the myth where they have a warm, loving bond, not the versions where Demeter is controlling and Persephone is glad to escape from her), and the nymphs with whom she plays and picks flowers just before Hades kidnaps her.
OTP: Hades, in the versions of the myth where their marriage is ultimately happy.
nOTP: Her father Zeus. Brother/sister incest and uncle/niece or aunt/nephew incest might be normal for Greek gods and goddesses, but not parental incest!
Random headcanon: This isn't a headcanon so much as "which of the different versions of her myth I like best." I prefer the Homeric Hymn to Demeter's claim that Persephone spends just four months each year with Hades, and eight months with Demeter, to Ovid's claim that she spends six months with each. In versions where she's happily married to Hades, then I can accept the equal time split, but if we take the traditional view that she was kidnapped and married against her will, then I prefer for her to spend most of the year on earth and only a small amount of time in the Underworld. Besides, in my experience at least (though I know climates vary), autumn is a pleasant time, with comfortable weather and with so many fruits and vegetables at their best. It makes more sense to me that Persephone should still be with Demeter then.
Unpopular opinion: I'm open to different interpretations of her story. There's no such thing as "one true meaning" of any myth. I can accept versions where Hades is sympathetic, where Persephone falls truly in love with him (whether she starts out as his prisoner but then is slowly drawn to to him, a la Beauty and the Beast, or whether she goes with him willingly from the start), where she comes into her own power as his queen, and where she willingly eats the pomegranate seeds, knowing full well that they'll bind her to Hades, because she wants to stay. I see the appeal of taking Persephone's traditional story of helpless victimhood and making it empowering instead – which is valid, because she's always portrayed as a powerful queen in the myths of the Underworld set after her marriage. I see the appeal of not demonizing Hades either, and of telling a romantic love story rather than a story of a miserable forced marriage. But I also see the value of versions where Hades is the villain, where Persephone is brutally kidnapped and just as unhappy in the Underworld as Demeter is on earth without her daughter, where she's either forced to eat the pomegranate seeds or naïvely eats them without knowing what the result will be, and where the ending is bittersweet, as she divides each year between happy months with her mother and sad months in the Underworld. It is valid to read the myth as an allegory for the pain of a mother and daughter separated by the daughter's loveless arranged marriage, and/or for a young girl's death and her mother's grief. Myths can be retold in many ways, with many possible meanings. I'm open to them all.
Song I associate with them: None in particular.
Favorite picture of them:
This ancient statue:
Gian Lorenzo Bernini's famous statue of her abduction:
Dante Gabriel Rosetti's 1824 painting:
Frederic Leighton's painting The Return of Persephone, 1891:
From Disney's Silly Symphony The Goddess of Spring, 1934 (her movements are sometimes laughable, but her character design itself is pretty):
And from D'Aulaures' Book of Greek Myths:
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Hades X Persephone Saga: A Touch of Ruin #2
Author: Scarlett St. Clair
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Mythology
My Rating: ⭐⭐/5.
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶
Goodreads rating: 3.8/5
Pages: 448
Published: 22 April 2020
A Touch of ruin Review
Note: This book is intended for mature audiences over the age of 18 due to explicit content (steamy chapters).
Sequels. They're a tricky business, aren’t they? To quote an entirely different universe: with great power comes great responsibility. After finishing the first book one would assume that the sequel would carry the same electricity. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
If you ever imagined the powerful Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, being chased by paparazzi in high heels and a toxic taste in relationships, then "A Touch of Ruin" is just the novel for you. At 448 pages, Scarlett St. Clair presents us with the much-awaited sequel to "A Touch of Darkness", and I’ll be frank: I have some feelings.
To start with the positive, Scarlett St. Clair's writing is, as always, engrossing. Whether you love or hate the story, you can't deny that she has a way with words that just pulls you in. I was captivated, even as I rolled my eyes. My favourite line, “Create the life you want, Persephone, and stop listening to everyone else,” echoes throughout the book as Persephone struggles with external and internal pressures.
However, it seems like our Protagonist, Persephone took a detour through Teen Angst Town and stayed there. Throughout the novel, her behavior is erratic, impulsive, and well, very human. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but for someone who's on the way to becoming the Queen of the Underworld, one would hope for a bit more maturity.
Hades, on the other hand, while alluring with his mysterious persona in the first novel, now seems more like a puzzled lover than the powerful god of the dead. Their relationship seems to rely more on makeup sex than actual communication. And this tragic lack of communication results in some utterly avoidable drama.
The plot, if we can find it between the lustful gazes and angst-filled outbursts, seemed lost. There were several subplots that felt more like distractions than genuine additions to the story. This series had such potential to delve deep into Greek mythology, but instead, it often felt like it was skimming the surface, using familiar names without embodying the weight they carry.
However, not everything is a miss in this book. The secondary characters shine bright, providing some much-needed humor and depth. Hermes, with his sass, was a much-needed palette cleanser, and Apollo, once you warm up to him, offers layers that make you question your initial judgments. It's these characters, alongside the hints of a more enticing plot for the upcoming book, that will likely have me (somewhat masochistically) coming back for more.
In conclusion, while "A Touch of Ruin" does justice to its title with the chaos it presents, it does remind readers of the pitfalls of love, the weight of insecurity, and the importance of, well, good communication.
If you're here for the drama, angst, and a sprinkling of Greek gods in modern settings, dive in. Just maybe keep a stress ball handy. And for those looking for a deep dive into Greek mythology, perhaps look elsewhere, or at least manage your expectations. For now, I'll be waiting to see if Persephone finds her way in the next installment or if we'll be plunged further into ruin.
P.S. Scarlett, if you ever wanted to write this series in Hermes' POV let me know because I am HERE for it. Maybe some of the humor and sass will bring some light into the dark (pun intended) story that you've woven.
Please note that this book is part of a series and can not be read as a stand alone. Lucky for you this can be your little weekend binge as almost all the books in the series has already been released !
Wait a minute boys and girls, check out these trigger warnings first:
Kidnapping
Mental illness
Sexual Assault
Suicide (off page)
Death
Getting Drugged
Alcohol use
Torture
Prostitution
Romance Tropes, you ask ?
Miscommunication
Retelling
Marriage
Who do we meet in this book ?
Hades
Persephone (Perri)
What to read next:
Neon Gods (Dark Olympus) by Katee Robert.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.
Drag Me Up (Gods of Hunger) by R.M. Virtues.
Or just like read the next few books of this series.
#book review#books#romance books#book recommendations#bookstagram#review#books and reading#bookworm#a touch of ruin#hades#persephone#hades and persephone#romance#romantic#booktok books#bookish
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things that happened in the sad book apocalypse novel that I Am Not Over
----> copy pasted from my silly little notes app
- Kdj's second mother is persephone, his father is hades
- Kdj's brother is a literal monkey. I mean like 3 literal monkeys. And he is also a monkey. A magical one. Hes also a squid
- Also his first mother covered up his first homicide, which was his first father. Biologically at least
- The constellations become idols
- Biyoo's mentor as Shin Yoosung of the 41st round was Yjh, her soul was taken by Kdj and stuffed in an egg for Bihyung to hatch, so excluding whoever her bio parents were, Biyoo had a grand total of 3 dads
- To reiterate, he had a daughter with a weird troll who became the king of weird trolls. she is also a fluffy ball with a horn.
- Secretive Plotter is the embodiment of Washing Machine Heart
- Yjh becomes a girl for a bit
- Hsy is a boy when we meet her
- Kdj becomes an actual demon king
(ah yes the three genders; girl, boy and demon king)
- yjh kdj and hsy scam anna croft out of 3 million coins
- hmg's child gets possessed by a goetic demon
- kdj gets a scenario where he'll die if he doesn't socialize
- ysa slams yjh's head into a wall
- The 4th wall eats kdj's mother (as in the wanderer king)
- lhs turns into a sword and starts sobbing
- lhs gets kidnapped by the wizard of oz (in a sense)
- Surya (as in the god of the fucking sun) has a train.
- knw becomes an EVA like shinji's mom. or an EVA pilot? idk i never got that bit
- the way hmg got the child. iykyk ;)
- Buddha himself shoves the main characters into a period drama
- Actaully no the entire Kaixenix arc wtf was that
- "[Constellation 'Demon Kind of Salvation'] is throwing a tantrum at
constellation 'Secretive Plotter']"
- kdj beating the shit out of paul (king shit)
- jhy called kdj ugly to his face upon barely having spoken to him
- yjh fought a dog (we love breaking the sky sword master though)
- abfd made hsy move kdj so that instead of an attack hitting his <black flame dragon> it literally killed him
- "Im sure hsy and kdj are doing something very important and hard for us and thats why they couldn't stay" Cut to hsy and kdj living it up in a ferrari
- 999 yjh turns into a dumpling
- kdj turns into a dumpling
- ljh misunterstanding kdj and yjh
- "maybe kdj likes getting kidnapped"
- The pocketwatch being left on the bed after yjh leaves :(((
- 1863 hsy plagerising her way into seeing the conclusion and then becoming tls123
- kdj not liking tomatoes
- hsy's first hint of suspicion that something was up with 49%kdj being that he liked tomatoes
- 999knw,ljh, and uriel and 1863 yjh taking od to parent-teacher conferences
- hades when persephone was leaving: "honeyy do you HAVEE to leave :'ccc"
- "Terrorist identified as supreme king yoo junghyeok, 33, unemployed"
- "WEIRD SPACECRAFT SEEN CRASHING INTO EARTH WITH... TERRORIST YJH INSIDE OF IT?????"
- hsy becoming a professor who teaches stuff about webnovels
- 999yjh teaching kdj how to properly make murim dumplings
- ysa becomes tripitaka and a prospective buddha part 2
- kimcom fights the sun and also the ocean
- "yjh. where is kdj?"
- "This man. Arrest him."
- tmyfiictrwiegtmya?
- yjh eats dirt
- yjh gets revenge on dokja for making him eat the dirt
- The Secretive Plotter has been having a "domiti why not me" moment for the entire round so far so he sends kdj to kill him in the 1863rd round in such a way that yjh doesn't regress ever again but with the ulterior motive of ensuring that 1863!yjh doesn't become him in the present thereby erasing his existence (rip)
Except that just results in kdj creating both him and the current yjh, neither of which would have happened if he didnt sent kdj out in the first place thus resulting in all of his problems.
- Secretive Plotter also sent out hsy#2 to his round and she ended up becoming one of the things that caused the entire story to happen to begin with. Thus resulting in both his existence and all his problems by extension.
- tl;dr, secretive plotter fucked up his plotting so bad that it literally became the cause of all of his problems. and everyone else's problems by extension bc protagonist.
- The fact that everything is in a time loop
- The multiverse and also the fact that jaehwan is in it too
- kdj was in the subway for over 21,763 years mind if i cry
- sooyoung and junghyeok share the love language of chokehold
- hsy @ dokkaebi king: "yeahh so about the apocalypse. could you like,, not..?" or smthng like that
- everything is happening at the same time. bro. bro.
- anna croft was born in las vegas. i did not know you could be born in las vegas. i did not know that ppl actually gave birth in las vegas bc the first thing their baby would probably smell would be cigarette smoke and it would probably develop epilepsy or sumn from all the lights
- that one scene where jhw shoots up with her angel wings, hsy rides a dragon up into the sky, and yjh walks on air or something like that shit was cold
- the potential of a golden eye edit with yjh bc of his transcender eye AND IT SHOULD HAPPEN ALREADY
- kdj just having been a constellation this whole time and an incarnation the whole time as well. he kinda had the pain from both sides :(((
- hsy casually being rich asf pre apocalypse AND A NEPO BABY TOO
- the entire book was just a bunch of people ((well mostly just the two)) faced with a trolly problem on a multi-global scale, AND THEY STILL chose the one guy because he meant that damn much to them.
- Yjh misunderstanding Sangja and going, "You have a woman you l o v e" and shitittt
- That scene where yjh met btsss and just immediately ran away
- kyrgios and ngmy being exes. bro wanted a giant woman (allll you wanna do. is see me turn intooooo) and got the giantest. other bro w wanted a short king and got the shortest. they took height difference to the extreme.
- ljh calling ngmy "Grand-Master" LIKE GRANDMA BC SHE WAS YJH'S MASTER AWWDUSHDEHA
- Yoo Hosung (Reincarnator Island Fable-Control Guy) being ljh's "Great-Grand-Master" LIKE GREAT-GRANDPA BC HE TAUGHT NGMY WHO TAUGHT YJH (and also kyrgios)
- The pebble story being actually relevant ('The stone and I')
- Uriel. Archangel Uriel is a fucking nerd. Kdj is her little meow-meow
- Metatron and Agares just scheming in the great war of saints and demons like little schemers
#orv#i swear this book gets so wild#i dont think theres a single au out there that can beat out the sheer insanity this book already contains#uh#orv spoilers#queued for funsies#words
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Portrayal of Deities in Fanfics
I'm getting the impression that not a lot of people on this site actually know how to portray deities in fiction.
I've seen fans who interpret deities as not needing sleep, not needing food, not drinking alcohol, not understanding sickness, not having sex.
I was just reading a fic where it was stated that deities really only have an understanding of whatever falls under their domain &...
I may not be an expert on theology by any stretch of the imagination... but I know enough about Greek, Japanese, & Norse mythology to know that at least a few of these things aren't the case.
For one, Ganymede is the wine-waiter of the gods. And Hestia is known for cooking Ambrosia, the food of the gods. And the Æsir were known to hold great feasts in the halls of Asgard & drank like sailors. And I'm pretty damn sure that Susano-o was known for his love of embibements & Ukemochi is literally a goddess of food & so is Hestia for that matter. Persephone ate the seeds of a pomegranate to be tied to Hades. Hell, Dionysus was the god of wine & whenever he wasn't asleep, he was almost guaranteed to be effing wasted!
And Hypnos & Thanatos are often depicted as 2 sleeping youths. And during the Trojan War, Hypnos induced Zeus to sleep.
As for sex, Greek mythology is absolutely rife with stories of the gods of Olympus's sexual escapades. I mean, how else do you think so many demi-gods came about? A bunch of which belong to Zeus the fuckboy! Seriously, man, Zeus, the literal king of the gods in Greek myth, seems to be absolutely incapable of keeping it in his toga!
So, I have zero clue where the idea that pagan gods don't do these things comes from. I certainly don't know of any myths where a deity is portrayed as specifically not needing to do these things.
Also, the idea that gods only have knowledge of what falls under the umbrella of its patronage especially makes no sense.
Like, what do fans think they do all day? Do they believe that these dudes just have no lives?? Think about it, ya'll!
Let's take gods of war, for instance. There's not always gonna be a war taking place. So, when it isn't & these deities do nothing but their domain, then that makes it seem like they're basically just robots who go on standby until it's time to accomplish their directive.
Honestly, I hope that these ideas are just a means to drum up drama or bring in comedy.
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's funny. It's just very contradictory to all the mythology I know is all.
Like, I get the desire to want to show deities as being 'alien' & 'incomprehensible to mortal minds' & 'not working the same way that humans do,' but you have to remember that in a lot of ways, deities in myth are kind of like representations of culture. In certain ways, they even embody it. And one of the most integral parts of culture is food.
Just get creative.
Aikoiya's Writing Tips Masterlist
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Saint Seiyas Persephones
My mother awakened my passion for Saint Seiya when she brought me the Playstation game. She actually always supports me when it comes to my passion for manga. Anyway, I loved this game like no other, because I was a big fan of Greek myths at the time. I especially found the stories between Hades and Persephone really exciting. That's why it wasn't surprising that I was also interested in Saint Seiya's Hades. Instead of Persephone, however, the mangaka put a woman named Pandora at his side. Even though she came from Germany, like me, I learned to hate her with passion. The fact that she let her family die, how she treated her subordinates (for example Rhadamanthys) and that her dog was named Adolf, left a very bitter taste in my mouth. So it was clear to me that Hades needed his wife. I wanted to embody Persephone in an RPG on Facebook.
As I said. At that time there was no Persephone, but when I started looking for suitable pictures, I noticed that there already was a Persephone?....
And it was these two pictures. These were drawn by Marco Albiero.
Because the images matched the anime very well, it was used by many fans who also missed a Persephone. Me too. However, the focus was more on the first picture. Probably because it looked prettier?... I drew pictures of this character or edited pictures from the anime to look like this character. Marco Albiero's Persephone was also my Persephone for a long time.
And then “Saint Seiya Online” appeared and with it a Persephone. This game was created by a Chinese game maker called "Perfect World Games" and never made it to my country. Even though I wasn't actively RPGing at the time, I was never able to get used to this character. The armor looked a lot nicer than Albiero's, but the entire look of it reminded me of a female version from a Hades-possessed Shun.
Then “Saint Seiya Awakening” by “YOUZU GAMES” was released. I think this Persephone is similar to Marcos Albiero's version. Her armor isn't great either, but at least it's better than its predecessors. I especially like her scythe and the play of colors between specter violet and the divine gold. Which is just an allusion to the fact that she travels back and forth between life and death. She also gets so-called skins, which is why there is always a little variety. And the drawing style is truly stunning. I will definitely still play the game.
These three Persephones are not canon in the sense that the mangaka did not include them in his works. But they are a symbol of the gap that has never been closed.
#saint seiya g#saint seiya omega#saint seiya#knights of zodiak#hades and persephone#Hades#Persephone#Persefone
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Deadly fall: Macaria
MACARIA
Category: Greek mythology
If you explore the Internet and end up on these Tumblr blogs crazy about Greek mythology or random Top ten articles about Greek goddeses, you might see a name pop up here and there, the name of a death goddess from Greek mythology they don’t teach you about at school or in books: Macaria, the goddess of the happy and peaceful death, daughter of Hades and Persephone. And you’ll wonder “Wow, this goddess seems so cool! Why didn’t I hear of her before?”
… And that’s because she’s not part of Greek mythology. Or rather she MAYBE is part of Greek mythology, or COULD be part of Greek mythology, but… at the same time she isn’t. Let me explain.
The goddess Macaria only appears ONCE in all of the ancient world’s literature, and it is not in any texts from the Antiquity. Macaria appears in the “Suda”, also called the “Souda”, an encyclopedia written in medieval Greek during the 10th century by an author from the Byzantine empire. The Suda was an attempt to make a full and complete encyclopedia of the “ancient Mediterranean world”, which notably includes a lot about Ancient Greek and the Roman empire. Macaria has her own article in this encyclopedia in which she is described as an embodiment of death and the daughter of Hades (she is never described as a daughter of Persephone, that’s people theorizing, she is just Hades’ daughter). She is not actually referred to as a “goddess”, but the article explains she is part of a traditional proverb of Antiquity. You see, Macaria means “blessed” in Greek, and as a result Macaria is the embodiment of the “blessed” death. And according to the Suda, in the ancient world you could say “Go to the blessedness” (aka Go to Macaria) as an euphemism for “death” : similarly, the deads were often called in Ancient Greek “the blessed ones”. The article of the Suda also explains that “Go to the blessedness” could act as a counterpart to another negative proverb: it was a phrase used to say that somebody was going to their death, but it acted as a reverse of “Go to misery” or “Go to utter destruction”. So instead of saying “He’s going to his destruction!” you could say “He is going to his blessedness”. So Macaria was the embodiment of “blessed death”.
But you see… Beyond the Suda, Macaria doesn’t appear ANYWHERE. We have no texts from Ancient Greece mentioning her, neither any texts from Ancient Rome. We have no statue, no art, no temple or sanctuary of her, not even a mention! Many explanations for this sudden “appearance” can be provided. We know that the Suda is a great source of information because it relies on a lot of texts and scholar material that has been lost to time, so maybe Macaria comes from some Ancient Greeks texts that did not survive to this day? On the flipside, we also know the Suda relied heavily on medieval compilations and re-transcriptions of ancient texts – which means, texts that were written or re-edited by Christian authorities with not always a clear understanding of the ancient civilization. So maybe Macaria is a misunderstanding or a reinterpretation of medieval people, and she truly did not exist in Ancient Greece. Everything is possible. After all, there were a lot of “blessed” things related to death in Ancient Greece : most notably one of the “paradise” regions of the underworld was called… the Blessed Islands. Aka, if we reinterpret that a bit freely, Macaria’s Islands. There is a thematic connection there… But again, we have no legend, no art, no mention of her ANYWHERE beyond the Suda.
Now, the name Macaria does exist in Ancient Greece AND was used for a character in Ancient Greek literature… It is technically part of Greek mythology. But this character is not a goddess or an embodiment of death. However, she is closely tied to death (which might explain how her character evolved or was confused for an underworld goddess) – and in here she has a certain tie to Persephone, which might explain why a lot of people think today she is Persephone’s daughter.
This “original” Macaria appears in a tragedy of the great Greek playwriter Euripedes: she is a character of “Heracleidae” (The Children of Heracles), a tragedy that follows, as you guessed it, what happened to Heracles’ children after his death. Macaria, “blessed”, “she who is blessed”, “the blessed one”, is one of the daughters of Heracles. After the hero’s death, his rival and archnemesis, king Eurystheus decides to hunt down his children: Macaria and her siblings flee to the city of Athens, where Heracles had several good friends, and they are welcomed and protected by the king of the city, Demophon. Eurystheus arrives at Athens and asks for the children of Heracles to be given to him: Demophon refuses, and a war starts between Athens and Tiryns (Eurystheus’ city). Now, an oracle is consulted (as always before a war) and the oracle claims that Athens will be victorious… at one condition. That a maiden of noble birth will be sacrificed. It is too much for Demophon, who refuses to kill his own daughter or to put to death the daughter of one of his citizens – and since he doesn’t want to have his city destroyed by the war either, Heracles’ family has no choice but to leave Athens. At this point Macaria steps in and decides she will be the sacrifice. After all, as soon as they leave the walls of Athens, they’ll be captured by Eurystheus who will put them to death. If she has to die anyway, she better wants to die of her own decision, on a sacred altar, to protect her family and Athens, than at the hands of a cruel and vile king.
And so Macaria was sacrificed to Persephone, and Eurystheus was vanquished in battle. The Athenians greatly honored Macaria’s noble death with lavish and grandiose funerals, as she was the savior of the city, and in her honor they named the spring that flowed near the place of her death “the Macarian spring”.
- - - - - -
So... what are the true origins of this mysterious Macaria?
Is she really a forgotten Greek goddess as the Internet claims today?
Is she just a proverbial personification that the Suda treated as if she was part of ancient Greek folklore and belief?
Or is she just a character from Euripides tragedy that slowly evolved into a minor goddess: going from a brave maiden who was sacrificed to Persephone to save a city, from the goddess of peaceful and noble death daughter of Hades?
Everything is possible... everything is possible.
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Hold Me Like A Grudge
Pairing: Minthe/Eris
Words: 3000
Summary: Minthe rants to Eris about her relationship with Hades, and Eris offers to distract her.
Content Warnings: Discussion of dubious consent between Minthe and Hades (on both sides), rough sex, explicit femslash, Minthe's perspective on her relationship with Hades does not reflect the author's.
Rated: E (18+ Only, Please!) / Read It On AO3 Here!
God, I hate them.
Minthe sat by the riverside, staring at the water as it rushed by. Her own river was underground, and being on the surface had never felt quite right to her. The days were too bright, and the nights were too quiet. Down in the Underworld the city was bustling at all hours, lit by streetlights and distant stars.
However, thanks to Zeus and Persephone, Minthe was stuck here in the sunlight for the time being.
I hate them so much.
“Brooding all by yourself?”
Minthe turned to see Eris standing at the top of the slope behind her, a jagged silhouette against the summer sky.
“Unless you want to join me,” Minthe said with a grin.
She liked Eris. She liked that the other nymphs were nervous around her. Eris had a ‘zero fucks given’ energy that Minthe was looking to embody. As much as she tried to pretend otherwise, she currently gave way too many fucks.
Minthe ran a hand through her hair as Eris came and sat beside her, wings tucked around her shoulders in a chaotic mess of black feathers.
“Tell me about it,” Eris said. “I can feel your rage from the other side of the mountain.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“Anywhere.”
Minthe put her elbows on her knees and leaned forwards, staring down at the grass.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. Like, I was Hades’s assistant for seven years, and I don’t know if I was any good at it, or if he was just keeping me around for the sex. I bought into this whole idea that Thetis was selling me about ‘making it,’ but when Hades actually wanted to commit, I freaked out!” Minthe rolled her eyes. “I didn’t even want to be his wife, I don’t know if I wanted to be his secretary. I was just broke and scared and he helped, and… it fucking snowballed. And now I’m here and he doesn’t want me and I don’t have anything without him, and I’m like, Gaia, did I even have anything with him?” She fell backwards on the grass, staring up at the trees.
“Can I be honest?” Eris turned her neck to face Minthe, a little further than should be possible.
“Sure.”
“He sounds like a dick.”
“He was,” Minthe groaned. “He never gave me time off unless he was dragging me to some stupid event with his family. He asked me to rearrange his schedule on a whim whenever one of his brothers had an issue. He was a terrible boss and I fucking hated him and I miss him like crazy.” Pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes, Minthe sighed. “It would be so much better if I didn’t miss him.”
“Hook up with a nymph,” Eris suggested.
“Tried it,” Minthe said. “Not the same.”
“Not the right nymph, then.”
“It’s not that, it’s- ugh, you don’t want to hear this.”
“I really do, though.”
Even with her eyes closed, Minthe could hear Eris’s mischievous smile.
“It’s about the power. At first, Hades was always the one with the power: I mean, he was my boss. But then I realized he liked it when I pushed him, and that was… kind of addicting. It was like I could get back at him for his ridiculous demands, and he liked it. And when he wanted to, he could just hold me, you know? I couldn’t fight him if he didn’t let me, and I know that was probably not great, but no nymph can really give me that same… I don’t know.”
“You miss the risk.” Eris’s voice sounded a little different, like there was another voice behind the words, a faint echo.
“I guess. Is that fucked up?”
Minthe opened her eyes and wasn’t surprised to find Eris crouching beside her, yellow eyes wide. Eris was inspecting her like a bug, her nose inches from Minthe’s.
“Very,” Eris answered, in that same echoing voice. “Did you use safewords?”
“No.” Minthe could feel her heartbeat in her throat, a fluttering response to Eris’s attention. “If he didn’t like something, he just stopped me.”
“And you?”
“Me?”
“What if you wanted to stop?”
“It wasn’t like that.” Minthe glanced to the side, unable to keep eye contact with those curious slit pupils. “Hades was gentler with me. Mostly. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Did you want him to?”
Eris’s wings were spread wide as she leaned over Minthe on the riverbed, and her eyes seemed to block out the entire sky.
“Sometimes.”
“Do you want me to hurt you?”
“Maybe.” Minthe glanced down at the talons that Eris had dug into the grass to keep herself balanced. “I’ve never been able to stop fighting.”
“Good.” Eris smiled with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “I like fighting. But you have to be sure that you want it.”
The world had faded. There was only Minthe and Eris. Minthe’s body was tingling in anticipation.
“I want it.”
“Tell me no at any point and I’ll stop. But you can fight as much as you like without saying it, and I won’t stop. Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me one more time.”
“I said yes,” Minthe snapped, and twisted up.
Eris came to meet her, wings spread. Minthe captured her mouth, biting down on her bottom lip. Eris laughed against her and opened her lips to welcome Minthe’s kiss. Minthe closed her eyes and felt their mouths slide together, the edges of Eris’s sharp teeth and the quick darts of her tongue, almost challenging her to keep up.
Still absorbed in the kiss, Minthe wrapped her arms around Eris’s neck, dragging her fingertips across the goddess’s shaved head in the same way she would grab another lover’s hair. Eris purred, a feral sound back in her throat, and swung a leg over Minthe to pin her down. With a clawed hand, she pushed Minthe’s dress up and dragged her nails over the curve of her hip.
Minthe broke the kiss to gasp at the sting of the scratches, giving Eris the chance to get her sharp teeth on Minthe’s neck. There was no warning before she bit down, a sudden burst of pain that had Minthe tilting her head back for more.
Eris laughed in a cacophony of voices. “I thought you were going to fight,” she teased, but leaned down to bite another mark into Minthe’s collarbone, alternating between teeth and lips to bring dark colour blooming on Minthe’s skin.
Eris’s words lit a fire inside of Minthe that burned alongside her arousal: overpowering the instinct to lay down and submit in the presence of this golden-eyed predator. She kicked her legs up and wrapped them around one of Eris’s thighs, keeping Eris’s head pressed to her neck as she flipped them both over so that she was on top.
Cackling again, Eris spread her wings in the dirt, a vision of gold and scarlet skin, fangs glinting in the sun as she laughed. Minthe let her own nails grow into claws and used them to slash at the sleeves of Eris’s dress, weakening the fabric until she could rip it down, exposing Eris’s neck and collarbones.
“Come on,” Eris goaded her and Minthe hissed back, pinning down her shoulders and biting her in a reproduction of the marks Eris had left on her own neck. Once she realized Eris wasn’t actively fighting back, she moved her hands from Eris’s shoulders down to the goddess’s hips, pulling her against Minthe’s thigh in a rolling grind.
Eris made a sound of appreciation, moving with Minthe’s hands, cupping her palm around Minthe’s head to keep her mouth in one place until she’d bitten hard enough for Eris to pull her back again.
“Good girl,” Eris murmured and Minthe bared her teeth, ripping Eris’s dress further off her body, exposing the goddess’s small breasts, dappled sunshine moving across them. Minthe attacked them with tooth and nail, flicking her tongue across the pebbled nipples, scratching golden lines just under her collarbones. Eris moaned, bucking her hips up against Minthe’s thigh, and Minthe braced herself against the ground to let the goddess grind against her, satisfaction humming in her chest. She bit down again and again, leaving the imprint of her teeth in divine skin, a sacrilege with each taste.
Eris dragged her nails down Minthe’s back and Minthe felt her dress split under the talons, air whispering across her shoulder-blades as she took one of Eris’s nipples back into her mouth, pressing her tongue around it in a sharp circle.
The next pass of Eris’s nails was directly against Minthe’s skin, and Minthe bit down at the sensation, both of them groaning at once at the shared ache.
Eris twisted under her, pressing a knee between Minthe’s thighs in a favor that bordered on pain. Still, Minthe bucked against it, uncurling to press her mouth back against Eris’s. This kiss was longer than their first, a give-and-take of tongues and teeth and pressure. Minthe could feel herself unravelling, desire overtaking all remaining thought.
Eris curled her fingers around Minthe’s wrists and pulled her hands to her wings, letting Minthe feel the silken down feathers at their base. The feeling was new, and Minthe explored them with a curious touch, judging the sensation by how Eris reacted in the kiss. Digging her fingers into the feathers got a bite to her lower lip so Minthe continued, feeling the feathers straighten under her fingers from their usual chaos.
Closer to Eris’s spine, where the wings met the skin, Minthe’s attention made Eris positively writhe, hips moving in a restless search for contact.
The goddess’s desperation made Minthe burn with need, and she pulled them up to a sitting position, Eris’s thighs spread around her hips. In this position Minthe could press their chests together, one hand combing through the base of Eris’s wings as the other one snuck down between Eris’s thighs, where her fingers found her dripping.
“Fuck,” Eris hissed, fisting a hand in Minthe’s hair and pressing their foreheads together. Minthe dragged a finger up her lips, barely brushing over her clit before returning to the place where she was wet, parting her and pressing at her entrance. She repeated this path twice, testing how long Eris would let her tease, feeling her hand clench in her hair every time she refused to slide her finger deeper.
On the third time, Eris pushed her backwards, Minthe hitting the ground with a laugh of victory. Before she could orient herself, Eris was straddling her face, one hand in her hair as she hovered above her.
“Say you want it,” Eris demanded, tugging Minthe’s hair hard enough to sting.
“I want it,” Minthe said easily, and opened her mouth in welcome.
Eris ground down against her without sympathy, drowning Minthe in her scent. She smelled like coppery blood, that hint of sweet nectar that all the gods seemed to share, and the base pure scent of arousal. Minthe let her tongue drag through Eris’s lips, trying to press on her clit, but Eris was grinding down against her too hard to let her do anything other than allow Eris to use her mouth. Eris set her own pace, one hand braced on the ground as her hips rolled against Minthe.
Minthe’s hands were free, so she slipped two of her fingers into herself, not bothering to tease. She was wet enough already, and the relief of something inside of herself was good enough to make her groan into Eris.
She moved her fingers in time with Eris’s thrusts, pressing the heel of her hand against her clit to keep herself on the edge, not yet in danger of tipping into climax. Eris drew slightly back, and Minthe tilted her head up to follow her, now free to use her tongue to its full advantage. Eris buckled under her ministrations, both elbows slamming into the ground. Her breaths came out short and desperate, thighs trembling on either side of Minthe’s head.
Minthe would have grinned if her mouth wasn’t so busy. Instead, she brought her hands up to cup Eris’s ass, keeping her exactly where she wanted her. Lavishing attention first on Eris’s clit with vicious little swipes of her tongue, Minthe shifted down and pressed her tongue inside Eris, drinking down her arousal as she pressed deeper. Eris tried to buck down against her but Minthe wouldn’t allow it, pressing her fingers deeper into the swells of Eris’s buttocks as a reminder to stay where she was put.
Eris’s breath broke in a groan, and Minthe twisted her tongue inside her before swiping up through her folds, back to her clit. Brimming with victory, Minthe didn’t give Eris a break from the sensation, rolling her clit between her tongue and lips in a quickening rhythm. She savoured the feeling of Eris bucking against her hands, and then Eris came apart in a shaking orgasm, Minthe dipping down again to trace her tongue through the fresh wave of arousal until Eris tore herself free.
Eris bent down to kiss her, licking her own slick off Minthe’s lips and flicking her tongue into Minthe’s mouth in a savage mirror of Minthe’s technique. Her wings were puffed up and her eyes were wild, and Minthe laid back and let her do what she wanted, satisfied to have made her climax first.
Eris pulled Minthe’s dress the rest of the way off, already hanging from her shoulders from the slashes across her back. Her attention was a weight on Minthe’s chest, keeping her pinned down. Her tongue slipped from her mouth, long and forked, and curled around Minthe’s nipple. Minthe dug her fingers into the grass on either side of her, worked up enough that the pleasure set her on edge, her mind breaking into pure sensation.
The twin ends of Eris’s tongue swept around her nipple as Eris’s hands pressed Minthe’s thighs apart, spreading her open and vulnerable. Minthe closed her eyes.
“Look at me,” Eris said with her hundred voices, and Minthe obeyed. Eris’s big yellow eyes stared up at her from between her legs, and she grinned with that same mischievous smile that always showed up when she’d been playing pranks on the nymphs, before ducking her head and putting her forked tongue to good use.
Minthe cried out immediately, pleasure spreading from her core to the ends of her fingers. Eris held up a hand and Minthe watched her shake it twice, talons transforming into dull nails with the movement. She wiggled her fingers at Minthe, her yellow eyes shining with mirth, then brought her hand down to join her mouth.
Two fingers slid inside her and crooked at just the right angle, working in tandem with the tongue that played her like an instrument, and Minthe was breaking faster than she thought was possible. She could hear herself gasping, a rhythmic ‘ah- ah- ah’ with each breath.
In the end, the orgasms came one after another, pulling her to peaks of increasing bliss: one, two, three, and then a sweet plateau of pleasure that had Minthe ready to weep before Eris did something with her tongue that tipped her over into a fourth orgasm that washed the others away in a surge of overstimulated rapture that seemed to last for hours.
Eris pulled back and took a deep breath as if she’d forgotten about air for the past ten minutes. Minthe laid on the grass, blinking up at the sky as she waited for feeling to return to her limbs.
“Better than the nymph?” Eris asked, her voice returned to normal. She tugged the rags of her own dress off and stretched out in a patch of sunlight, unabashed in her nudity.
“What’s a nymph?” Minthe said, trying to move her fingers. “I’ve forgotten Greek.” Eris laughed, the flash of her teeth making a little flame of arousal leap up again in Minthe’s chest before her absolute exhaustion snuffed it out.
“I like you. We should do this again sometime.”
“I think I might not be able to move for a few weeks,” Minthe said.
“I can work with that.” Eris rolled over and crawled closer, lying down beside Minthe on her stomach, head on her arms and one wing spread over Minthe’s chest, as if to block her nudity. “You can just lie there and I’ll do all the work.”
“That would be selfish of me.” Minthe managed to wiggle her toes and counted that as a victory. Maybe she would be able to roll over in a few minutes.
“I think that would be good for you. More people should be selfish.” Eris yawned, jaw stretching too far for her human face. “And I’d enjoy it either way.”
Shit, Minthe might be a little bit in love. She watched Eris curl up, one wing still stretched over her, and reached out to touch the line of her cheekbone. Eris blinked at her with yellow eyes and smiled, then moved closer to hook a foot over one of Minthe’s legs, a small point of contact as she closed her eyes and seemed to settle in for a nap.
Minthe stared at her for a few more seconds, then closed her eyes as well. She wasn’t tired enough to sleep, but she could rest here beside Eris for a while. Hopefully the river nymph of this particular river wouldn’t come back anytime soon, or she’d be treated to an eyeful of naked goddess and nymph, curled up together in the lazy sunlight.
Minthe smiled to herself at the thought. Maybe spending time with Eris was good for her after all: she didn’t give a fuck if someone saw them together.
The only thing that seemed important in that moment was the press of Eris’s ankle against her calf, and the lingering taste of her on Minthe’s lips.
#lore olympus#nsft#mdni#femslash#f/f fanfic#eris lore olympus#minthe lore olympus#sympathetic minthe#i am feral for eris and i want to write about her always#my writing
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I think that’s the theory the anon talked about: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJ47mBUw/
I think it’s unlikely but it’s very beautiful!
OOOH! Thank you for sending that to me.
So......
I think the creator of that TikTok made a few valid points however I think it's taking things a bit too far.
SJM has stated that while she wants the crossover to be enjoyable for fans of both series, she wants them to stand on their own for anyone who has not read one or the other.
Elain and Lucien being trapped in stone in another world for what must be ages is way too convoluted if that's the case. Parallel universes is one thing but Elain and Lucien traveling back thousands of years in order to be trapped into stone for thousands of years is not something SJM could easily pull off while keeping the series somewhat separate. Not to mention them having traveled back in time together means they would have been together romantically and that means whatever court they will have been ruling over will have been left without leadership.
Also, I don't think any of the characters in ACOTAR are literal gods or goddesses.
They may be created in the likeness of them but not actual deities (i.e., Nesta is in the likeness of a Goddess of death but not an actual goddess).
Lucien is definitely set up as the Heir of Day and Elain (in my opinion) is set up to be a Mother Earth / Goddess of Earth-like figure but not an actual goddess (I think not only the pins SJM has used for Elain but also the hints in the book point us in this direction). I think it's more that these characters were blessed by the mother / Cauldron with powers linked to those of the gods and goddesses while still just being powerful fae.
My main takeaway from it all is that SJM likes the imagery of Solas (Light God) as the lover of Cthona (Earth Goddess) and if a god and goddess representing these things make sense to her as a couple, then a Lucien and Elain pairing would be along those lines.
Some in the fandom like to use Feyre and Rhys as proof that SJM likes the light and dark aesthetic because ACOMAF was a Hades / Persephone retelling (light) but they're ignoring that Feyre didn't truly fit in with the Spring Court.
And yes, Feyre glowed because of Helion's light but did she really embody a happy, sunshiny nature? She destroyed Spring with no concern for it's innocent citizens for revenge and even now isn't all that remorseful. In book 2 we're told she probably wouldn't be a match for someone as kind and neutral as someone like Tarquin.
SJM aesthetics are part imagery but mostly complimenting personalities. Rhys and Feyre are both willing to be the bad guy and do the morally gray things if it means protecting others.
Lucien and Elain share a complimentary side to their personalities. They'll protect their loved ones but avoid revenge and violence whenever they can. They continue trying to make the best of the situations they find themselves thrown in (even tragic, horrible ones) while remaining kind and loving towards those around them and not lashing out with words. They really are light and hope and optimism as individuals and would be amazing together.
And there is symbolism in the Heir to Day, the sun personified, being the perfect match to someone who represents growth and bringing life to barren lands (as sunshine is needed for all life on the lands of the earth). I could see Elain being the one to perform the Rite with Lucien to restore spring so an Earth Goddess being "naked" and awaiting the embrace of her lover could simple hint at joining of their union.
Maybe it's simply an Easter Egg of an Elucien endgame. Maybe she wasn't hinting at an Elucien at all. But, it does show you that in her mind a pairing like that makes sense and she does carry ideas over from one series to the next.
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Eurydice & Orpheus
Here we see the mirroring of relationships. The ability for someone to inhabit your being. Inhabit the aspects one grasps but also only catches glimpses of within the self. When fully embodied in another, one can grasp and view this aspect that seems to dissipate so often in the self. Why can't we hold this vision of self without an external vehicle that illustrates it?
Eurydice’s Death :
Is knowledge not power, is wisdom not achieved adjacent to knowledge?
The more you know the more you are able to grow. To understand the essence of your being. The limits and boundaries of your being. Understandably, that’s also gained through just being, but knowledge can come with observation. Is knowledge not a byproduct of being?
The Tables Turned William Wordsworth
Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
I keep getting to knowledge as my enemy but I know this is not true. It can't be true. Do I just not want it to be true?
~
Orpheus gets a second shot at retrieving his soul. Through the yearning of his soul (Eurydice) and his devotion to his craft of music, he can use his inner power to reach unthinkable levels. He goes into the depths of the underworld (where no living man thinks to go) in hopes of coming out the other side alive with his love at his side.
Orpheus only got to the descent through his love and devotion to his craft.
Let's take note of why Orpheus may have looked back.
The fear of being fooled and ridiculed. Here, doubt of the Gods, Hades and Persephone, peered in. What happens when we don't hold faith in our Gods? If you doubt their blessings, you might lose everything. Doubt could have also been in the self. Not believing in the power of his own gifts led him to believe it was all one big trick.
Excessive passion and the lack of self-control. Present in us a human species. Our animalistic impulses are present and the inability to tame can lend us to the problems we face in our lives. A thirsty hunger to an extreme also pushes that lack of self-control. The need to obtain and hold, to gain, and to feel.
Witnessing the limitations of us as human beings.
There are many more and we will never really know but these two seem to have stuck with me the most from my own personal human experience.
Is this now the human flaw within love itself? Going to the depths of hell just to realize you were holding onto some other thing (some idea, concept, intangible) outside of what you thought you were?
Orpheus traveling to hell for Eurydice, the person he fell in love with. But then in not coming out on the other side with her, there was a failure of love to begin with. Not having full trust in love. Not blindly believing in the thing that moves you. A battle with the self that is gripping you.
In the soul not being able to view itself, we go back to the idea of relationships. A mirror into ourselves. A vehicle
In having come back from the dead...Society seems to be the killer. To exist in a material world means there's a killer. It works against you.
Looking at this story I'm trying to build a solid concrete opinion. But why must my opinions be concrete when I learn new things each week. It's cause I must stand for a plan to allow for action and demand.
The idea still looms that you must become a slave to something as Orpheus was a slave to his music. You must descend into robotic functioning until your soul lands at your feet.
Like every romance, I've really come to see, that the beauty lies in what it teaches you to be. In how it reflects back to you a reality that is true.
Love is an illusion. A catalyst actually. Pushing you to see the things you wish you didn't need but are forcing you to be. A mirror into a world that explores your entire lore.
Spirituality gives eternality. A hedonistic life is a life lived for the now. A life full of pleasure where one bathes in the delicacies of detaching from a greater duty. A greater purpose. For the materialist believes in man's centrality. It is the only thing it must live for and fulfill.
To live in this world without your soul calls for distractions that enter the mind and give way to the thief of your life.
Love must and will be present in order to start your descent.
Thank you James Sale on Inspired Originals for the blog that helped me get through this long thought
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Where are your Lips
I imagined myself laying in tall grass, minus the ticks and spiders, because I didn't want to think about ticks and spiders that are always in all grass ever. But there, I'd gone and thought about them anyway.
At my sides sat the gods I couldn't look at. They were feeling me out. Sometimes their hands passed over me, like they were touching the essence of me, experimentally.
I was distressed from within, by my own thoughts, and without by both good things and bad things coming at the pace of life.
"Where are your Lips?" Persephone asked me a bit forcefully.
"In front of my Teeth," I quipped back at her immediately.
"Ah, There is your true self," Hades answered.
I had never thought of Kalok as my true self. Though It would make some degree of sense that I might have constructed an entire persona, lived in it all my life, while shunting everything I really am into an Alter to protect it and keep it hidden from others.
Kalok is an edgy, nonbinary, genderfluid Half Demon Werewolf Creature.
Not the kind of girl you take home. Or Marry, if you know what's good for you. They are whip smart, and visceral. They are Violent and Defiant. They are a reservoir of great wisdom, and capable of some of the Worst Decisions I have Ever Made. They are the Most Terrifying Face I have. They are someone I Cannot be in my waking life if I want to do things like be employed and keep friends.
Or at least, that is what I tell myself about them. There are people who prefer Their Company over any of us.
I re-engaged with Persephone's Question, but the Answer turned out to be the same. Visually I saw my lips touch the soft skin of the neck, just behind the ear of an old lover. I felt that brush of fine, shining hairs and the warm, supple stretch of it. I experienced the sharp edge of a bitten apple skin, and it was Kalok, in Both experiences, visceral and fully embodied.
This is the way, they seemed to say.
This is not a path that occurred to me. To think that Kalok would be the answer to my question, the piece of Balance that I require. To Let them Forward, to let them Out more seems so Counterproductive.
Nothing about Kalok seems like balance. Kalok seems like Dynamic Opposition, just swirling magnetic nodes dancing around one another, with no room for the Grey in-between that I've come to understand is actually where life should be lived. It Seems like the Path has twisted around on itself, and I am going back the way I came.
I know it's a spiral, but the neighborhood is so familiar that it feels deeply suspicious.
But Kalok was always a Friend of Death. Every Dark thing in me coalesced in them. Kalok is Unafraid of Death and everything to do with it. They love it like they love Life. It is no coincidence, then, that Hades and Persephone might see this as an answer I've had all along.
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Welcome to the Glass Dragon
An OSDD system blog trying to figure ourselves out. Will update accordingly as we get our bearings.
We all answer to “Glass” as a collective last name. We are usually co-fronting or in co-con together, so it can be difficult to pick us apart specifically. But we try.
We have a lot of interaction from various people on this blog.
The people who have the most experience front desk “the Dragon Head” are:
Braine (They/Them/X/Xyr)
- knows the most about the system generally, spends all xyr time in the control room
- bosses everyone around over the system’s intercom
- still fronts somehow
Ryan (He/Him)
- is a dudebro
- holds our positive emotions and connections
- is the system’s DJ
Chrellys (She/Him)
- If you don’t know how to pronounce it, good, neither does she
- Rules half the innerworld known as “the underworld” from a haunted castle
- This will probably become his aesthetic blog
MONARCH (Fae/Fyr/Oe/Ode)
- Persephone to Chrellys’s Hades (this is how they describe their relationship)
- system librarian
- only current system member that prefers to handwrite
Agony (He/She/They)
- wakes up and chooses violence every time
- loves stuffed animals
- Chrellys’s twin
KAISLEY/Guy Kaisley (She/Her or He/They)
- Former insect humanoid, species unspecified
- Likes bright neons and pastels
- Ryan’s sister
James (He/They)
- is chronically afraid of most things
- Ryan’s longtime platonic boyfriend
- possibly trapped in Chrellys’s basement
Andrian (He/Him)
- former pirate captain, recovering his memory
- likes fish
- voted most likely to be an underwhelming main character in a YA novel
ME (She/Her/Ze/Hir)
- Yes, ME is her name
- She’s not any more the host than the rest of us, Chrellys just has poor naming choices
- loves food and weird animals, will tag generally for both
Idan (He/Him)
- Trickster
- Can hop through different parts of the system through rabbit holes
- Commits the most food crimes
People in other notable parts of the Dragon, like the Dragon Spine, etc. Largely serve a protective function, they call themselves “The Workforce” working at the behest of our executive function subsystem Internal Affairs.
Gabrielle Quinton (Ze/Zir/He/Him) - is like a grandfather despite being like mid-thirties at most
Algernon (They/Them or he/him to specifically reference being a himbo) - Is just taller Ryan with long hair, goes by “Algie” is Marbelle’s bodyguard
Ingride (She/Her) - a stickler for the rules who can turn anything into a weapon
Ollie (He/They) - Chrellys as a pessimist, short king who likes olive green and takes no shit
The Everwood is a subsystem of largely elves and other nonhuman scribes who record things for the rest of the system in the safety of a heavily wooded canyon. They are not used to outerworld technology but are very friendly and like interacting (except for Mhedaeve).
Telmar (He/Him) - Upbeat elven scribe, always ready to help
Mhedaeve (He/Him) - Intimidating being of mist who mostly lurks over Telmar’s shoulder, they are boyfriends.
Achilles (He/Him) - Nonhuman that embodies open spaces, not an introject
Kosavar (He/Him) - Local “elf” enjoying his “elf” breakfast, maybe runs a cursed pumpkin patch
The Apple Orchard is a subsystem that’s a flourishing fairy community, mostly internal, they keep largely to themselves, but they do have a lot of authority. MONARCH was originally from here.
Julsing (She/Hir) - fairy with the ability to shape headmates for the Garden House, comes out to supervise
Apryllle (She/Hir) - a shapeshifting fairy in the headspace, MONARCH’s niece, mostly not out
Garden (Leviathan’s He/Him) - MONARCH’s ex-husband, it’s complicated.
People from our subsystem the Garden House who are largely various furry critters, more or less anthropomorphic. They were “made by” and get instructions from the Apple Orchard.
Pickett (He/They?) - porcupine with a strong British accent, MONARCH’s familiar
Maury (He/Him) - wombat who just wants to live his innerworld life, Pickett’s longtime partner
Jack (He/Him) - Mischievous possum and reforming “bad boy” with an attitude and strong accent
Onion (He/Him) - introverted white mouse who has a soft disposition but appreciates some good horror, probably siblings with Mushroom
Mushroom (She/He/They) - goth mouse who likes doing everything to semi-intimidating music, probably siblings with Onion
Maurnie (She/Her) - raccoon who likes memes and burgundy red
Morris Morrisey (He/They) - slug elder who thinks piloting a human body is great, Norton’s longtime partner
Norton (He/Him) - “youthful” snail elder who loves living, Morris’s longtime partner
Milk (He/Him/!/!!/??/???/[-]/[()]) - panic ant, Morris and Norton’s adopted son
Avril (He/Him/Bzz/Bzzt/Bee neos) - grumpy bee who likes leather
Fred Crowe (He/They) - Idan’s emo messenger raven, bfs with Chris
Chris (He/Her, exclusively that way) - Jaded deer centaur, best friends with Fred
Luce (She/They) - grey mouse who loves nice things and her girlfriend <3
Crickett (He/She/They) - Luce’s apathetic emo girlfriend. Praying mantis.
Ghastley (He/They) - Vole who loves sunflowers
Kgder (He/Her) - small alligator with a jumbled accent
Felis (He/Hym/Hyms) - befuddled college weasel
Pinky (???) - White sugar glider with two brain cells. Worst accent. Enthusiatic.
Shellside/Under Sea is a deep-sea subsystem surrounded by a mountain range and is full of leviathans, who help oversee the innerworld and take care of us even though they have rather intimidating forms as creatures of the deep, usually measurable by buildings.
Noene (She/Him) - 60-year-old butch who doesn’t take shit, system carer (from Shellside)
Feraine (He/Him) - Aquatic that helps Noene and the nymphs, best at math
Mhirodor (He/They) - Bisexual pirate/smuggler, very lowkey until he’s breaking and entering or protecting a friend
Evilare (He/Him) - Gay cabin boy on the same ship as Mhirodor
Ferinor (He/Him) - Ship navigator with a sense of style but no sense of direction
Maryntide (They/She) - Nonbinary sea witch who takes care of deepsea friends
Patrocles (He/Him) - Loch Ness Monster adjacent, Idan’s boyfriend, he’s the more somber type
Vanaheim (He/They) - Some kind of kraken, ready to release his rage on broken thermostats, he thinks the human body is really funny and likes doting on the rest of us.
Leeland (He/Her) - merfolk of questionable hair color
Almonium (He/Him) - Frost giant and leviathan, one of our oldest system members, Prince’s father
Petrichor (He/It) - A mountain goat, but in a half-human half-goat way. Youngest system member. Lab assistant. Likes horror stuff and everything goat related.
Artemis (He/Him) - A markhor, but in a half-human half-goat way. Leviathan atop the all-seeing mountains of Undersea.
Saros (She/They) - a well-put together human who loves cute clothes and bright colors
Orin/Orion (He/Him + Bird neos) - A hawk, in a half-human half-hawk way. Saros’s companion.
The Everling (anything that’s not traditionally feminine) - Leviathan who fronts as an elf. Technically doesn’t belong to any one part of the system but comes from here. Considered a force of nature innerworld.
The Smallest Kingdom is a subsystem of largely moth people, though they can resemble other insects, isolated up in the mountains that surround Undersea. They are very defensive and generally hostile to outersiders, with all but one conscious system member having escaped.
Moss (Fi/Fir/He/Him) - a quiet and reserved moth prince recently escaped to Undersea with the help of Mhirodor’s crew
Fiona Wllow (She/Her?) - inspector spider for the Smallest Kingdom, handles interactions between the subsystem and the outside
GT (He/Him) - grasshopper vigilante who likes breaking the law as much as his spider boyfriend
W. Vess (V/Vir/He/Him) - the spider boyfriend
Prince V (He/They?) - Almonium’s son and trickster, his position is unclear but he’s poised to front more.
Oyomi (He/Him, strictly nonbinary) - trickster and master of mischief
Marbelle (He/They) - Traumaholder between the Smallest Kingdom and Undersea. Possibly a werefox. Possibly part insect. Definitely a chronically ill Victorian child.
The Adarra Forest also known as Adarra Village is another subsystem of mostly elves and nature spirits who express themselves almost solely through their fantasy writing project “Dead Flowers.” Which does have a tag. They like answering questions for it.
Lycan (He/Him) - a feral elf boy who runs off sleep deprivation and writing
Ferris (He/They) - Lycan’s forest spirit boyfriend and master of chaos
Guiles (He/Him) - Lycan’s mild-mannered werewolf boyfriend.
Kaerse (She/Her) - only voice of reason, gets things done
R. Wolfe - Leviathan King of Wolves, is thought to be over all werewolves in the system to some capacity.
Peril (He/Him) - White rabbit, Damein’s overenthusiastic boyfriend
The Swamp is a restricted area in the Upperworld that may or may not be its own subsystem. Full of protectors, guardians, and people who have a lot to deal with.
Jarvae (He/Him/Vae/Vaer) - werewolf traumaholder, Mhirodor’s boyfriend
Alder the Adder (He/Him/Hisssss) - adder with a humansona, good at yoga
Sterne (He/They/Hir) - Stork with a strong sense of justice, Alder’s bestie
Moose (He/They) - younger werewolf system member, younger Agony
Hunter G. (He/Him) - feral trans guy who lives in the woods or swamp, we’re not sure
Spencer (He/Him) - doesn’t really front, we post dinosaurs for him
The Westland is a largely a barren rocky place just north of The Smallest Kingdom and Undersea. The people we know so far are rather goth and have Been Through It in some way, and there is potentially a lot of mechanical stuff and dragons.
Avionx (He/Hyr) - Leviathan and King of the Westland, sleeps with a dozen mice, big on fashion
Ambrius (She/Her) - Fiery goth dragon, Kairos’s partner
Kairos/Kairon (He/Him) - is miffed our nails aren’t painted black 24/7, just some goth kid, Ambrius’s partner
Kal, Dragon of the West (He/Him) - Dragon leviathan
Damein (He/Him) - Peril’s extremely normal boyfriend
The Underworld:
This is the lower half of our innerworld which is a lot more undiscovered.
The Gardens is a small guardian/leviathan heavy subsystem where we largely only see people who are their assistance or caretakers front. Probably will not see the guardians. Note, this is very different from the traditional caretaker role in the general community.
Sion and Angora (He/Him and She/Her respectively) - caretaker of guardians, snake guy, kind of a ninja
Kellos (He/They) - goes by Kel, protector in training, Salt’s boyfriend
Loue (He/They) - pronounced Lo, chronically lost ninja, Huenn’s boyfriend
Huenn (He/Him) - not part of this subsystem, but always a part of Loue’s life.
The Three Kingdoms is a subsystem of multiple npc kingdoms that are very heavily generic but not necessarily very nice. There’s a lot of people escaping into the night and banditry which we support.
The Prince (He/Him) - archetype of the prince guy, runs a group of vigilante knights
Ward (He/Him) - a short prince for whom words are hard
Prince Salt (He/Him) - prince who’s profile pic is a slice of ham, Kel’s boyfriend
Blood (He/Him) - last prince, his aesthetic is probably what you think it is
The Crowlands is a dystopian or post-apocalyptic subsystem where things are pretty run down, though still within range of the pterodactyls apparently. Home to “The Crew.”
Ky’de (He/Him/Hirs) - runs the Crew, similar personality to Aren Kuboyasu
Grip (He/Him) - Crew member, vaguely non-human, likes Neru (music)
Tens! (He/Him) - Crew member and headband lover
The Undiscovered Kingdoms are a series of subsystems in the Underworld that we only have a hazy understanding of. Relevant people will be mentioned here until further notice.
Raiden (He/Ze/Xe/Xen) - gender and personality is bulky black skull armor
Griffin (He/Him) - firefighter who lives in a city
Charly (He/They) - rough and tumble bisexual who likes camping and savory food, runs a group of bandits
Eregus (He/They) - definitely-not-a-fictive, expert on allosexual media reading
Paint Boy (He/Him) - fully medically transitioned via paint
Cat (He/Her) - femboy fatale
Bear (He/Him) - a bear (gay)
Honorable Mentions from unspecified or unknown parts of the Dragon are:
Z (They/Them) - will not be talking much, they work from the shadows
H & A (They/Them) - package deal, simply here in a surveillance capacity
Sunbeam (He/Him) - exists. We hear drastically different things about him.
Broom (He/Him) - permanently stuck in the supply closet
Val (He/Him) - Broom with darker hair and less patience
Beetle (He/Him) - a very neurodivergent beetlefish, loves stuffed animals
Applebees (He/Him) - younger system member who loves bunny and pastels
Ms. Daisy (She/Her) - agender spirit entity with a heavy southern accent
Melon (He/Him) - younger social system member who is probably an otter
JOAN (She/He/They) - an android working in Chrellys’s haunted castle
Pop Rocks (He/Him) - Our wonderful outerworld stuffed bunny and mascot
N (She/Her) - our beautiful outerworld cat whom we love very much
A link for the Dragon Head’s faceclaims/picrews can be found here:
https://theglassdragoncollective.tumblr.com/post/683729593313771520/faces-amiright-intro-post
The Swamp/Workforce:
https://www.tumblr.com/theglassdragoncollective/700704158654791680/swamp-intro?source=share
And for the Garden House:
https://theglassdragoncollective.tumblr.com/post/688191443652755456/the-garden-house-intro
The Everwoods:
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/theglassdragoncollective/692748494086242304?source=share
The Smallest Kingdom:
https://www.tumblr.com/theglassdragoncollective/697858211840163840/the-smallest-kingdom-intro?source=share
Adarra Village:
https://www.tumblr.com/theglassdragoncollective/699086726676758528/subsystem-intro-adarra-village?source=share
We’re currently working on creating ones for our other subsystems as well, but needless to say they are works of progress. We also tag all individual intro posts or intro adjacent things under #intro post or #new headmate dropped.
We’re traumagenic ourselves, but all systems are welcome/safe. We generally want this blog to be a space to find ourselves, learn more about systems, and maybe even make some connections.
-The Glass Dragon Collective
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10 Anti LO Asks
1. do we even know how old minthe even is? or how long her and hades were together? because for all we know shes like, 28 or something and has been with him since she was 18/19 too. i just find it very unlikely persephone, hebe, and aphrodite's spawn just happen to be the only nine or so deities to be born in several hundreds of years.
2. Every time Athena is on screen I think it's Thanatos. They look identical
3. i have seen the stans excuse away the slavery with that literal excuse of "its only abled bodied shades 🙄" like??? ok?? thats still slavery??? and he brags about how much money hes made off of it?? like sorry yall cant make me go "uwu look how sweet he is" when he needs a 20 year old who was only a teen all of a week ago to tell him SLAVERY IS BAD. like??? even satan was against slavery and hes the embodiment of all things evil??? so lo hades is even worse than the actual devil??
4. apollo/hyacinthus was gaining a lot of popularity at the same time as hxp, sometimes even more so, and it even has myth canon versions where apollo is able to bring hyacinthus back to life and make them a god (which would have been a lovely way to show persephone's good nature and sway over hades) but nah, instead rachel saw what could have been a interesting thread and decided to make apollo a r//pist instead and make everything so heterosexual the leads are color coded by their genders. 😑
5. so, here’s the thing, how was demeter keeping persephone secret / isolated in the mortal realm when persephone, as a literal child, is at a party in olympus (episode 20, she’s with hera)
6. so, this comic is a retelling of the taking of persephone, but how could the other gods or whoever be calling persephone the goddess of spring already when the taking of persephone is the myth about how seasons happened like the idea is there was no concept of seasons until persephone’s taking lmao
7. Literally begging RS to make a new fan cast because Mads in is the new fantastic beasts movies looking exactly like how lo Hades is designed and I’m already seeing lo stans be like OMG ITS HIM and this already borderline transphobic series does not need to embrace an actually openly transphobic series into its fan base. Hannibal wasn’t even good 💀
8. You know I feel like the Hera and Hades Affair did not have to happen at all and replace Hera with Leuce where Hades had a tragic first love maybe where she’s just not immortal and she’s now a poplar. We can still have hades toxic trait trying to replace Leuce with Minthe but through Persephone he moves on.
OR Leuce is a poplar already hades is dating Minthe and they’re not a match. Persephone has feelings for hades but when Minthe and hades break up Persephone un treees Leuce. Leuce and Hades tried to date again but they’re no longer a match or something.
Idk I just feel like Hades and Hera, they look good but their story sucks.
9. You know why PJO isnt as heavily critiqued as LO? It's because it never claims itself to be the most researched, scholarly piece of work ever, it's happy to admit it's just a kid series with RR always wanting to approve while the mythology shown still fairly accurate. In comparison RS fancies herself a mythology scholar (or a "folklorist" as she claims to be) yet still cant keep even basic mythology stories, characters, or even basic greek elements straight or intact. THAT'S the difference.
-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----
10. (fp spoilers) Persephone is literally the last person I want going to law school. Considering she basically intimidated a witness and put her in a vegetable state and got away with it bc no one is bringing it up again, and idc what Demeter says, her daughter DID want it covered up bc why else would she turn Minthe into a plant? This whole trial only made me hate Persephone more, especially because there's no way she'd ever be a good lawyer, considering rs is most likely going to let her get away with her aow and turning Minthe into a plant.
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