Persephone

 

In Greek mythology, Persephone is the daughter of Zeus (God of the sky and basically the ruler and king of all Olympians) and Demeter, the goddess of Harvest. Persephone is the queen of the underworld, though not of her own free will. That was more left to Hades to decide. Homer described Persephone as “the formidable, venerable majestic queen of the underworld, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead.” Persephone was abducted by Hades (the god and king of the underworld and one of the big three).

In the myth of Persephone’s abduction, Persephone used to live far away from the other gods and goddesses. The Greek gods, Hermes and Apollo, had tried to “woo” Persephone as her suitores; but her mother, Demeter, refused to accept any of their gifts and hid Persephone, restricting any contact with the Olympians. The myth said that Zeus gave permission to Hades, who was in love with the beautiful Persephone, to simply take her because Demeter was most likely not going to allow her daughter to go down to Hades. Once Demeter found out that her daughter was gone, she searched all over earth for her. In most versions, she forbids the earth to produce and crops and simply neglects the earth. Zeus was finally convinced by starving people and other gods and he forced Hades to give back Persephone. Persephone was released by Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, but she had eaten food in the underworld that Hades had given her. She was obliged to spend her winters in the Underworld and the rest of the year in Olympus.

I’ve only first-hand seen one example I can think of where there was a difference in the story of her “obligations”. In Percy Jackson: Lightening Thief, Persephone seems to spend all of her time there. She would have to be in the Underworld year round and she would only spend 1 month, give or take, in Olympus. She also kept orbs around for her suitors to find. They would visit her in the Underworld to participate in some type of affair and would then use these orbs to escape the Underworld as “living” beings never go in and never escape. My questions are, did she spend her time in the Underworld or in Olympus? Was Persephone unfaithful and did she have many suitors (Although, who could blame her, right?)? I believe that many of these stories from the movie could have been manipulated to create a more in depth character relationship between the characters. As far as I can tell, Persephone seems to be a girl who tends to be forced into submission under the control of others and simply cannot catch a break.