Friday 28 March 2014

Mythological Couples: Hades and Persephone

Were his eyes playing tricks on him? What was Hades doing in his palace?

“Long time no see, dear brother.” Zeus greeted him. “What brings you here?”

“It’s been quite long, yes.” Hades agreed. “Listen, I’ve wanted to talk to you about something.”

“I am all ears then.” Zeus replied, his curiosity peaked. Whatever the matter, it must be quite important, if Hades was willing to leave his palace.

“I want to marry Persephone.” Hades responded straightforwardly.

He had forgotten his brother was not a man of many words.

“Persephone?” Zeus asked incredulously.

Hades nodded. “I’ve run into her a couple of weeks ago, and I have been unable to stop thinking about her ever since!”

Zeus couldn’t help but smile at his words.

“I don’t see how this is a laughing matter.” Hades responded indignantly.

“I am sorry.” Zeus said. “You’ve never mentioned anything remotely similar about anyone else before, that’s all.”

“Well?”

“I have no objections, but you’ll have to ask Demeter too.”

Hades made a face.

“Well, she’s her mother!” Zeus said defensively. “Besides, you could have just abducted Persephone and be done with it!”

Hades gave him an incredulous look, but before he had time to respond, Zeus had already sent for Demeter.

A few minutes later, Demeter showed up. Upon seeing Hades, she smiled. “What’s the occasion? We never see you these days!”

“I’ve been busy.”

Shaking her head disapprovingly, she turned to Zeus. “You’ve asked for me.”

“Yes, I have.”

“Well? I don’t have all day!”

“Hades just asked Persephone’s hand in marriage.”

She turned to Hades, her eyes blazing “Have you lost your mind? She’s young enough to be your daughter!”

“Demeter, please-” Hades pleaded.

“No!”

“Is that your final word?”

“I am never going to consent to this wedding, and that’s final!”

“Very well then.” Hades replied, trying to keep his anger under control. “It was nice seeing you both.”

Zeus and Demeter watched him leave; once alone Demeter turned to Zeus again.

“Did you really expect me to agree to this?”

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t.” Zeus replied, trying to reason with her. “She’d be Queen of the Underworld.”

“Exactly! Queen of the Underworld! She’d never see the face of earth again!”

Zeus shrugged. “Fine.”

“You didn’t agree on anything, did you?”

“I told Hades he had to ask you first.” Zeus replied diplomatically.

She gave him a pleased smile. “Good; did you need anything else?”

Zeus shook his head negatively.

He watched as Demeter turned her back to him and moved towards the door.

Unless he was terribly mistaken, they’d soon be hearing from Hades again.


In the meantime, Hades couldn’t stop thinking about what Zeus had told him. He had wanted to do things properly, but Demeter left him with no other choice.

He’d abduct Persephone and make her his wife.

Where to start looking for her though? Perhaps he could try that field where he’d lastly seen her.

But he had to pay a visit to his grandmother Gaia first; she was the only one who could help him in his plan.


I should be getting back.  Persephone thought, upon realizing that she could not either see or listen to her companions any more.

Turning to leave, her eyes caught sight of a white daffodil a few meters away; she’d never seen one this beautiful before. It would make a great addition to her flower crown.

The moment she cut the stem though, the earth shuddered; a cleft appeared and out came Hades on his chariot.

Before Persephone had time to react, he had pulled her onto his chariot, and together they disappeared to the depths of the earth, the cleft sealing behind them.


When he saw Demeter bursting through his doors, Zeus knew that Hades had followed his advice.

“What’s wrong?”

“Persephone is missing.”

“Missing? Are you certain?”

“She didn’t come home last night.”

“Are you sure she’s not meeting with anyone in secret?” Zeus teased.

“Watch your mouth!” Demeter responded angrily. “She’s not that kind of girl!”

“I was only joking.” Zeus said defensively. “We’ll find her; Hermes can assist you if you’d like.”

Demeter nodded. “Let me know if he finds her.”


Hades paused at Persephone’s door. She had not left her room since the morning of her arrival, nor had she stopped crying.

He had not expected she’d be happy about it, but her tears broke his heart.

He opened the door and peeked inside. She was curled into a ball on her bed, crying her eyes out.

Hades let out a sigh; he should not have listened to Zeus. Too late for that now.

He stepped inside and moved closer to her bed, but she didn’t seem to acknowledge his presence.

Cautiously, he took a seat next to her and ran a hand through her hair; she jumped at his touch.

“I am sorry.” He said quietly. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

She sighed, and crawled out of his reach.

“Please don’t cry.” He begged. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

His words only served to make her cry harder.

“I was desperate; I had asked your mother for your hand in marriage but she had refused. I am in love with you, what else was I supposed to do?”

When she didn’t respond, he stood and moved to the door.

He paused, contemplating something. “Just one more thing;” he added. “You don’t have to be afraid. You may be my wife now, but I won’t force you into anything.”

Persephone’s eyes widened in shock. Wiping her eyes, she sat up and turned to face him.

“But why?”

“Because I love you of course.” He replied. “If you are feeling better later on, come join me for dinner.”

Persephone nodded and Hades gave her a small smile in return.

Once alone, she stood and took a good look around her room.

This place was dreary. At least Hades wasn't as bad as she had originally thought.


“Did you know about this?”

“Pardon?”

“Hades has her; did you know?”

“Demeter, will you calm down? Who told you?

“Helios did; he abducted her while she was collecting flowers!”

“If you had accepted his offer, none of it would have happened!”

Demeter’s eyes were blazing.

“I am warning you; I want her back. Otherwise you’ll be facing the consequences.”


“Why aren’t you eating?”

“I am not feeling very hungry.” Persephone lied.

Hades nodded; he was well aware of her lie too.

It was common knowledge among both humans and gods; unless you wanted to stay, you did not eat or drink anything in the Underworld.

“And I miss my mother too.” Persephone added. “She must be beyond herself with worry.”

“I am sorry.” Hades said. “Now, tell me, how do you like it here so far?”

“It’s dreary.” Persephone replied, making him smile.

“That’s what I thought too, when I first came here. But it isn’t; not all of it at least. I’ll show you tomorrow.”

She nodded and fell silent, studying him.

Surely he was not as young as her other suitors, but still, he was very handsome. And he wasn’t as stern as he looked at first glance.

She felt heat rising to her cheeks. Her mother would never forgive such thoughts.

Her intense gaze and blazing cheeks caught his attention.

“What?” He asked curiously.

“There are a few droplets of nectar on your beard; here, let me.” She said, and reached to wipe them away.

He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips again.

“Thank you.”


When Hades saw Hermes at his door that morning, he knew that meant trouble.

Not long afterwards, he found himself standing before Zeus.

“Hermes said you were asking for me.”

Zeus nodded.

“What’s the matter?”

“Demeter wants Persephone back.”

Hades sighed.

“Listen to me; no crops are growing on earth, all because of Demeter. People are dying, 
Hades. ”

Hades lowered his head. “I will bring her back tomorrow morning then.”

“Hades-”

“Save it.” Hades replied, cutting him off.


Persephone frowned. She had never seen Hades so troubled before.

She moved next to him and took his hand.

“What’s the matter?”

He looked down at their hands and smiled.

“Zeus sent for me today; your mother has put a halt on every crop’s growth. She wants you back.”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

“What did you say?”

“That I’d bring you back to Olympus tomorrow morning; I can’t let people starve Persephone;  that would be selfish.” He elaborated.

“But Hades-”

“I thought you wanted to go back.”

“Come to my room tonight.” She replied, effectively changing the subject.

“Are you certain?” He asked searching her face.

“Of course I am; you are my husband.”


“Ready to go?” Hades asked ruefully.

Persephone shook her head negatively.

“I don’t want to go back.”

Immediately, Hades took her in his arms, allowing her to cry into his chest.

“We can’t let any more people die.” Hades said, and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’ll go get the chariot.”


The moment she passed the threshold to Zeus’s palace, Persephone found herself engulfed into her mother’s arms.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No mother.” Persephone replied impatiently.

“Don’t worry love, you’ll never have to go back there.”

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind; Demeter pulled back and gave Persephone a searching look. “You didn’t eat anything, did you?”

Persephone nodded. Immediately, Demeter let go of her and turned to Hades. “You forced her?”

“Of course I didn’t!” Hades roared. “I didn’t even know she had eaten anything!”

“Silence!” Zeus ordered. “Persephone, will you please tell us what happened?”

“This morning, I ate a few seeds of pomegranate.”

Hades’s jaw dropped. Had she really done that?

“But why?” Demeter interjected. “That way, you’ll always have to go back.”

Persephone lowered her eyes to the ground. “I want to go back; Mum, I love him.”

Demeter was too shocked to respond.

“Well then, you realise that Persephone will be spending some time with Hades as well.”

“No!”

“Demeter, you’ve heard her; she wants to.”

“If he hadn’t abducted her in the first place-”

“You can’t change the past!” Zeus said. “So, Persephone will be spending six months with  Demeter and six months with Hades. How does that sound?”

“Excellent!” Hades responded enthusiastically, while Demeter made a face.

“And you, child?”

Persephone gave him a smile and nodded.

“It’s settled then.” 

“Let’s go home.” Demeter said.

“I want to say goodbye to my husband first.” Persephone responded.

Demeter pursed her lips in disapproval, but nodded.

Hades pulled her aside, hoping for some privacy.

“You should have told me.” He said quietly.

“You wouldn’t let me.” She replied.

He smiled.

“This is goodbye then.”

She nodded, willing herself not to cry.

He leaned in, and pressed a chaste kiss to her mouth.

“It’s not forever.” He said playfully, making her laugh out loud.

“I love you.” She said.

Hades smiled. “I’ll see you in six months then.”


She could see him pacing outside his palace.

Was he as nervous as she felt?

He stopped pacing and looked up; their eyes met and almost immediately a wide smile formed on his face.

She couldn’t wait a minute longer; she picked up her pace and literally flew into his arms.

Hades lifted her off the ground, hugging her tightly.

Gently, he lowered her back to her feet, and pulled slightly back in order to be able to look at her properly.

“You’re here.” He said.

Persephone nodded, and playfully tugged at his beard, wordlessly inviting him for a kiss.

Laughing, he closed the distance between them, capturing her mouth with his.

Much too soon for his liking though, Persephone broke the kiss and put some distance between them.

“What’s wrong?”

“Act serious.” She said. “You have a reputation to uphold.”

With a smile, Hades wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led them inside.

“Hades?”

“Yes?”

“How would you feel for a change in decoration?”

“What do you have in mind?”

Sooo, directly from Eirini's imagination, Hades and Persephone! :-)

Thursday 27 March 2014

Introducing 'Mythological Couples'

Greetings!

Last week we’ve wrapped the Olympians up, so it’s time to move onto the next stage of this project.

As we’ve already mentioned back in January, once we were done with the Olympians, we were planning to talk about some of our favourite mythological couples.

So that’s what we’ll be doing, but with a twist too; we won’t be just talking about the couple and the myth that comes with it, but, each week, we will be doing a story based on that myth too.

Of course we are completely out of our minds for thinking we’ll be able to pull this off (because clearly, when you are already working on a million projects with someone, why not add another thing to that list? :-p ), but we’ll try our best to do so.

Soooo this week, to kick things off properly, we’ll be talking about Persephone and Hades.

Hades fell in love with Persephone; he asked for her hand in marriage. Her father, Zeus, agreed, but her mother, Demeter, refused, so he abducted her.

Immediately Demeter went looking for her. When she realised she wasn’t going to easily get Persephone back, she decided to put a stop to the Earth’s produce of crops, thus bringing famine down to people, in order to force Zeus to demand Persephone’s return.

Hades agreed to release Persephone, but she had already eaten a few pomegranate seeds, so she had to spend some time in the Underworld too.

Mythology focuses mostly on Demeter’s reaction when she found out Hades had abducted Persephone and what she did to get her back, so we felt there’s a lot of room for making a story out of it, a story that talks more about Hades and Persephone and their story.

So we went on and did just that! :-D

As you may have guessed already, our next entry will be that story, and we are very excited about it, so stay tuned for that! :-)

Monday 24 March 2014

Sunday posts on Mondays

Hello all!

It’s already Monday here, so technically we are late, but still! In some parts of the world it’s still Sunday, so I think we can get away with it! :-p

So, today we will be talking a bit about our banner.

In all honesty, I can’t believe we haven’t talked about it already.

It’s very romantic, no?

Of course it is; we are talking about one of the most romantic myths ever, it had to be!
But, when you pay close attention to it, there’s more to it.

It’s sweet and romantic and sugary and all those things that it’s supposed to be, but it’s also sensual and slightly humorous too. I think Eros’s hand on Psyche’s thigh proves my point, so I don’t think I need to elaborate any further.

When Eirini first showed me the banner, I was excited beyond words, because a) I love everything she draws, b) the banner was ready, so we could start this blog and c) I could see an entire year of research and endless conversations and lots of laughter materialize all in one (brilliant) piece.

And it fits perfectly our characters too!

See you on Wednesday! 

Thursday 20 March 2014

Last but not least

Hi all!

Time certainly flies, no? And guess what?

Today we’re wrapping up the Olympians, so we’d better be getting started!

Who’s left? Hermes and Hestia, so here goes!


Hermes was either depicted as an older, bearded man or a handsome young man, dressed as traveler. His winged sandals and winged hat, made him faster than any other traveler, divine or mortal. Clearly, we've had enough of older bearded men! :-p

Hermes is the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia; he’s very devoted to his father Zeus. For that, he’s been made Zeus’s personal herald, willing to travel to the world’s end to carry out his will. He very much enjoys travelling, so he doesn’t mind playing messenger for the other gods as well. He’s very clever, has a cunning personality and is very mischievous too. So it seems fitting that he’s the protector of travelers, herdsmen, thieves, orators, invention and trade.

He is also pretty fearless, traveling back and forth to the underworld, since he’s responsible for leading the dead to the Underworld.



Hestia was usually depicted as a modest, veiled woman, sitting on a plain wooden throne, but, clearly, Eirini has a completely different idea on the matter. :-p

Hestia was the eldest child of Cronus and Rhea. She was the goddess of the family and domesticity. In ancient times, the heart fire was considered a very important part of the domestic life; letting it go out was considered a disastrous omen. 

Hestia personified the fire burning in the hearth, that’s why she was considered such an important deity; she always received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household; and the best portion too!

She was gentle, kind and forgiving and never participated in any kind of dispute, that’s why she was well respected and loved by the rest of the Olympians.

Hestia never married, despite the fact that both Poseidon and Apollo wished to marry her. Like Artemis, she had asked Zeus for eternal virginity and he had granted her wish. Actually, Hestia, Athena and Artemis were the only ones immune to Aphrodite’s influence.


And...that's a wrap! See you on the weekend!

Sunday 16 March 2014

Character Sheets

Greetings!

Let me start this entry by saying that Sunday evenings make me melancholic; even though I am well past that age, I still get that “I don’t want to go to school tomorrow” feeling.  :-p

Now, onto the important stuff; I have been thinking a lot about today’s entry, because I realised there are so many things we have yet to talk about.

For instance, what are you supposed to do once you have a good understanding of your characters?

Well, I have no idea about what other people do, or what you are supposed to do in general, but I can tell you how we went about things.

We rewrote parts of the story (naturally!) and then we decided it’d be a good idea to make character sheets for each and every one of the characters.

Knowing their personalities, the strengths and weaknesses, and being able to put it all down to paper is quite empowering, because it means you’ve reached a certain level of understanding and that you finally know what it is that you are trying to do.

So far we’ve finished two (back in October) and we are working on the rest; they are a bit overdue, mostly because we like jumping from one thing to another, but we haven't forgotten about them! :-p

Still, enjoy those two, and we’ll be back with the rest once they are done! 

Eros...

...and Psyche


Wednesday 12 March 2014

What is it that unites us?

Hi all!

Sooo, today, in order to make up for missing a post last Wednesday, we’ll be talking about two of the Olympian Gods, Ares and Hephaestus.

An odd couple you say? Hmmm, that’s one way to look at it. Despite their many differences, there’s something that connects them too.

But first things first; let’s talk a bit about who they were, no?

Half-brothers (Hera mothered them both), they couldn’t be any more different even if they tried.

Ares was the god of war; not the structured kind of war though, but the bloody and aggressive kind of war, the one that knows no boundaries. He was the only son of Zeus and Hera, but neither of his parents was very fond of him due to his aggressive, arrogant, and impulsive nature.

He was depicted as a handsome, mature bearded warrior, with extreme physical strength but that didn’t mean he was always victorious. More often than not actually, he was faced with defeat, which only served to wound his pride and enrage him further.

Really menacing, no? (more like spoilt rotten :-p )


Hephaestus was parthenogenetic; meaning he was conceived without male fertilization; myth said Hera conceived him in order to make Zeus jealous. He was the god of craftsmanship. He was talented, kind and generous; shame he was ugly and lame. 

Even his own mother, Hera, couldn’t stand the sight of him and she ejected him from Olympus. He fell into the ocean, and was raised by Thetis. He was always bitter towards Hera about that fact; at some point, he made a magical golden throne and sent it to her; when Hera sat on it, she was trapped and couldn’t stand up. The rest of the gods begged him to release her, but he refused to do so, claiming he had no mother. At long last, Dionysus got him drunk and convinced him to release her. Eventually, he forgave Hera, returned to Olympus and set up his workshop.

So serious and hard-working; sometimes Aphrodite claimed that, because Hephaestus spent too much time in his workshop, she felt lonely and had to seek out other men's company. :-p


So, what was that those two had in common?

They both loved the same woman, Aphrodite (yes, there was someone whom Ares loved more than war); Hephaestus was her husband and Ares was her lover.

When Aphrodite ascended to Olympus, all the gods started fighting over her. Zeus, afraid that the gods would go into war with one another, married her to Hephaestus.

He was elated of course (come on, she was Aphrodite!); Aphrodite agreed too (who would willingly go against Zeus’s will after all?), but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Hephaestus was far for charmingso it didn’t take long for her to start an affair with Ares.

Hephaestus spent long hours in his workshop, so it wasn’t easy for the two lovers to meet. But they were being reckless, and soon Hephaestus found out. He started planning his revenge; he spread out a chain-link net so fine that it was almost invisible on Aphrodite’s bed, and caught them in the act.

The other gods made fun of the two lovers for having been caught in such a compromising position, but in the end Poseidon persuaded him to free them.

Despite their humiliation, Aphrodite and Ares carried on their relationship while Hephaestus turned a blind eye to her unfaithfulness for fear of losing her. Their marriage didn't produce any offspring; still, both Hephaestus and Aphrodite had many children from their various affairs.

And since we are on the topic of offspring, there are many opinions on who Eros's father was; one of the most likely candidates was Ares. We can't be certain of course, but that would explain Eros's shamelessly good looks and why he enjoyed shooting arrows so much!