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Bookmeerkat

February 03, 2023 at 10:30 PM UTC


I enjoyed the nod to the pomegranates, and I realized last night that Kitty used the name Hades without making it obvious. Mr. Shade – shade and hades are anagrams! Thanks for putting the hint in the monthly email, Kitty!

Tingting

February 04, 2023 at 02:46 AM UTC


I didn’t realise!! That’s quite the smart anagram, Kitty! Well done for figuring it out by the way Bookmeerkat!

Bookworm

February 03, 2023 at 03:52 PM UTC


Not so fun fact- Demeter(Persephone’s mother) was actually Zeus’ older sister as well as wife! And Hades was also Zeus’s older brother, so Persephone was his… neice. Hades(and Heapheastus) was always my favorite Greek God as well, he was a lot less of a playboy compared to the others. Some of the things the others did were frankly DISGUSTING!
Therefore, Don’t read Greek myths about Gods, unless you want to be severely traumatized

Eisley

February 03, 2023 at 10:18 PM UTC


OR Percy Jackson!

AD

February 02, 2023 at 05:38 AM UTC


This was a fun tidbit! I liked how Noctus offered Chloe to draw onto his powers (sorry if I am spoiling), which I guess harks to the healthy part of the myth. I loved both the books! I wish you would write about dragon shifters in the future.
Also would love to see even more (hopefully like King’s Captive) Ama and Noctus moments in the final book in the series!

Amanda

January 26, 2023 at 11:33 AM UTC


Some of my brothers were very into Greek myths when I was growing up. I had a hard time finding anything to like in the very messed up gods and their manipulating ways. The story of Hades and Persephone is one of the few that I actually like. Kitty, your summary was perfect! I have love how you portray the story through Chloe and Noctus. I really like that Noctus is polite and genuine in his care for those in his stewardship. He is a great leader figure. I think Hades would be proud. 😉

Miss E

January 25, 2023 at 03:20 AM UTC


Yay!! This is one of my favorite parts of the post-release time!!

I have heard a variation of the story where Persephone actually wandered down to the underworld without the influence of Zeus or Hades. 🤷‍♀️ I can’t remember where I saw that, so who knows if that’s actually a version of the myth!! 😂 Also, an important distinction to make is that Hades is actually the god of the dead, not death itself. (That’s Thanatos)

The wait is gonna be difficult, BUT I pulled in a friend so we will suffer together.

Eisley

January 24, 2023 at 11:34 PM UTC


Wow kitty!! I have been looking forward to this ever since you released the kings captive and this fulfilled every single one of my hopes, thank you so much! Really the only reason I know anything about Greek mythology is because I read Percy Jackson forwards and backwards. And this is a much better portrayal of their relationship! We love you so much and you’re doing GREAT

R

January 24, 2023 at 10:24 PM UTC


Nice summary!

I love this myth, but not as much as my husband. He loves winter and attributes it to Persephone and Hades since Demeter only brings it about while Persephone is in the underworld. He loves winter so much that when we had a daughter, he was adamant that we name her Persephone. ♥️ It suits her well too. 🥰

I have really enjoyed this new series in particular for the parallels to Persephone & Hades. Though, I also love Magiford. I could happily read about all these characters indefinitely. I hope there are more stories to come in Magiford! It certainly seems like there is more brewing. 🤞

Kaylee

January 24, 2023 at 09:39 PM UTC


This is one of my favorite myths of allllll time!!!! <3

Abby

January 24, 2023 at 09:24 PM UTC


Wow! A lot to learn!

I had to read “The Greek Gods” in 7th grade, a sort of handbook to the pantheon with the different stories summarized. Excellent description of Zeus – totally creeptastic guy! But my version of Hades & Persephone didn’t mention love between them, that in fact one of Hades servants tricks Persephone to eat the seeds, that she was miserable and Zeus decreed that she’d have to stay if any food had “passed her lips.” (Mythology- they make even eating sound like poetry). I like your version MUCH better.

I was wondering how you’d make an abduction something we’re not up in arms about – making Chloe a cat was perfect! It’s the most normal thing to give a stray a home, especially for a doting pet parent 😉 I was intrigued that her collar has “pomegranate seed-shaped gems.” But yeah, still totally wondering how you’re going to bring about a happy ending, really hope it doesn’t involve her having to spend months with some people she loves & ignoring the others, only to swap. People who have to live dual lives because their families/friends can’t get along don’t ever seem truly happy.

So can’t wait for King’s Queen! Patience is not my middle name (or first – sorry, Pat!). Looking forward to it! 😁❤

Hades and Persephone, the Original Myth

King’s Shadow is out! The extra story–which I had the most fun EVER writing–is also out. Sooo the only thing left to do is to wait impatiently for King’s Queen, right? No! We’re a community! We’re going to wait in misery together, and I’m going to attempt to entertain you during the wait! So I thought I’d begin with my infamous practice of sarcastic summarization, and sarcastically retell the myth I loosely based Gates of Myth and Power on, Hades and Persephone!


Important: I love to use sarcasm and modern humor in my summaries–I poke fun of the stuff I love. I’m more interested in entertaining you all and giving you a base idea of the original myth than aiming for 100% accuracy.

Additionally, this is more than likely going to be the only Greek myth I ever retell. Some of the Greek myths make even the creepiest fairy tales–like Donkeyskin–look mild in comparison, and that’s not my jam. Hades and Persephone’s story is possibly the happiest myth with the healthiest relationship, which is saying something considering it all started with a kidnapping, which is why I wanted to retell it in the first place.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s begin my sarcastic–and hopefully funny–summery!

~~~

Our two main characters are Persephone–according to the Greek mythology, the goddess of spring and the daughter of Demeter, who was the goddess of harvest/cultivation AKA growing things–and Hades–King of the underworld, and god of death. (He sounds like a fun guy, right?)

Hades was a shockingly good king considering the antics most of the Greek gods and goddess got up to in their spare time. He was also a bit of a workaholic, so he didn’t leave the underworld a whole lot and thus was a bachelor–unlike his brother, Zeus, who I’d  consider enemy number one of women everywhere due to his creeptastic ways that I wouldn’t get into to save my life.


On one of his rare trips out of the underworld, Hades saw Persephone and instantly fell in love. Despite being a decent king, Hades apparently lacked common sense, because instead of trying to talk to Persephone, he decided to consult Creepy-Crawler-Bro, Zeus. Zeus–who was also Persephone’s father–was like “Nifty, you should abduct her! I’ve got some mad tips for you since I do a lot of kidnapping, lol.” (See? Public enemy # 1!)


There are a few variations of how our budding Father-of-the-Year and Good-King-Bad-At-Boundaries bros exactly captured Persephone, but the general consensus is that one way or another they split the ground open underneath her, and she fell into Hades’ kingdom where he trapped her and married her.


Some variations say the goddess Hecate heard the Persephone’s kidnapping, but didn’t see who took her, but the sun god Helios. Depending on the story, Hecate and Helios help Demeter figure out what happened, but that’s on Demeter’s side of the myth.


Most variations make it clear that initially Persephone was not happy about her kidnapped status, but she came to love her new hubby and actually enjoyed her life in the underworld–possibly because her mother was famously domineering and Hades had given Persephone power and called her his queen, which was a big deal in the mythos and didn’t happen that often. (So Hades’ romance skills are bad, and I’m still displeased about the kidnapping thing, but at least he was aiming for the end result to be a balanced relationship!)


Back on the ranch, Demeter–Persephone’s mother–lost it. Since she couldn’t find Persephone, she didn’t let anything grow, and actually went off on an adventure on her own, dressed as an old woman, but we’re not going to get into that since Hades and Persephone are our focus. Eventually, Demeter figured out where Persephone was–the exact method depends a lot on the variation, sometimes Helios tells her, sometimes Hecate guides Demeter to Helios who tells her, there’s a lot going on, but basically Demeter gets help and figures out where Persephone is.


Demeter demands Hades release Persephone, and her refusal to let things grow gets Zeus to actually do something useful for once, moving him to tell Hades that Persephone needs to be released.


Now, we don’t exactly know how Persephone felt about this–there is a really old written version of this legend and this specific part sustained some damage–but it’s relatively agreed upon that Persephone was not thrilled with this turn of events as she seemed to truly love Hades. Keeping that in mind, I’d like to think that she chooses to fall for Hades’ obvious ploy when he gets her to eat pomegranate seeds–which the Greeks considered to be the fruit of the dead, which would have been a flashing warning light to our intrepid heroine. There is some basis for this theory, as other Greek myths and stories note that Greek gods and goddess didn’t have to eat, so it’s not like she was hungry and wanted a snack.


The number of pomegranate seeds she eats changes drastically in each story. I looked all over the internet and I different sources said she ate three, four, six, or seven seeds. As you’re probably guessed, there isn’t a truly correct number due to all the variations of this story, although one website I used for research mentioned the different numbers are possibly because of different calendars/ways of recording seasons and months.

Regardless, she ate some fruit, which then tied Persephone to Hades so she had to return to the underworld for several months every year, aka, winter! (Again, the span of time she has to return to the underworld changes greatly per variation.)


Demeter wasn’t very happy about this, but there was no other choice, so Persephone split her time between serving as the goddess of spring and the queen of the underworld. Demeter got her for spring/summer, and Hades was rejoined with his wife for Fall/Winter while Hecate–the goddess who usually helps Demeter find Persephone–ends up serving as Persephone’s companion and goes to the underworld with Persephone every year.


Circling back, when Hades gives Persephone the seeds, and Persephone chooses to eat them, Hades gives Persephone a touching speech about how much he loves her, that he’ll give her all his wealth, and she’s his queen–it’s basically an adorable confession scene that is also threaded with Hades essentially giving Persephone power in his kingdom. This little confession is what sold me on this myth as a kid. There are fairy tale princes who could stand to learn a thing or two from Hades in terms of healthy relationship dynamics, despite his rocky start.


So, that’s the original source material I worked with! Eventually I’ll go over what I used from this source material, but until then, what did you spy from the original myth, Champions?


Hades and Persephone Myth

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