Vampires Against Werewolves

 

Why do vampires and werewolves seem to hate each other so much? Every piece of cinematography and literature that contains a wolf and a vampire, they seem to be mortal (Or not so mortal in the vampire’s case) enemies. I have a few theories on the reasoning.

        Reason one, weaknesses. There are many scenarios where the only weakness of a vampire is a werewolf and vice-versa. In Twilight, the werewolves were the only cause of death for the vampires, and even then, the bodies had to be burned afterwards. On The Vampire Diaries, a wolf bite kills a vampire. A reason for their hatred could be the lethality of the other which would make sense.

        Reason two, opposites. Vampires and werewolves, to me, seem to be exact opposites. Obviously, werewolves are canines. Vampires have always reminded me of cat like creatures. They are graceful, stealthy, they hiss, and have fangs. The relationship reminds me of the cliché relationship of a cat and a dog.

        Reason three, it spawned from mythology. A very simple explanation would be that, somewhere along the line long ago in history, a fable was created with a vampire and werewolf hating each other and it spawned into a centuries long, cross-species vendetta.

Mermaids: Ariel or Monsters?

 

        What is your first thought of mermaids? Personally, my first thought is of Ariel; the beautiful red-head who wanted nothing more than to be on land where she could walk on her own two legs and be with her gorgeous prince. We would all like to believe that is what a mermaid would be like, we want to believe them to be quite beautiful. Let us take a trip to the disturbing world of reality and logic.

        What is a mermaid? A mermaid ( Or merman when speaking of a male ) is a half fish, half human who lives in the sea… We picture them as beautiful creatures that sing songs and play with all of the little sea creatures. What happens to your hands when you are in the bath too long? Your hands get pruney. Things in the water too long begin to deteriorate. These creatures spend decades in the water! They would be disgusting! There is no possible way they could have skin! Not to mention that they could be more similar to Pirates of the Carribean and be cannibalistic monsters who eat humans!

        I am not exactly sure about all of you, but I would prefer to avoid reality and logic and just believe in the pretty mermaids that float around the bottom of the ocean with their best friend fish and a bossy crab. It is a frightening thought though, right?

Ares: God of War

 

Psychotic: adjective

 

 

1.       Psychiatry. Characterized by or afflicted with psychosis.

Synonyms: (in nontechnical usage) insane, psychopathic, lunatic, mentally ill; mad, disturbed, deranged, demented, non compos mentis.

(loosely) mentally unstable.

 

4. Intensely upset, anxious, or angry; crazy:

Synonyms: crazed, furious, enraged, wrathful, irate, incensed, infuriated; livid, pissed off.

 

Yes, that about sums up Ares, God of War. He is known for being extremely destructive, chaotic, aggressive and, well, really just a jerk to most. Ares is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. As Ares is the god of War, he is typically known to represent the physical, violent, brutal, and untamed parts of war. Basically, he is the chaotic and devastating side of war. He is the exact opposite of his sister, though very similar in their divine field. Athena is the Goddess of war, but she resides over the military strategy and the intellectual, well calculated portion of war. They seem to be two alter egos of one.

 

The Greeks were surprisingly quite ambivalent toward Ares, though he was the symbol of the crude and violent portions of war. Ares was described as "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering.” As you can imagine, Ares tends to be in competition with his sister. For example, during the Trojan War, Ares was on the losing side of the war while Athena, is said to have hailed victorious once she sided with the Greeks.

 

        Ares was not exactly a major component in Greek mythology. In the legends and tales of the gods, he wasn’t an active character in many stories so he was somewhat limited. Though, when he was included, he was usually being defeated or humiliated.

 

Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him:
'Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar.
To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos.
Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.
…
And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since
you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you.
But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous
long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky."

Illiad/Odyssey

The above poem was written by Homer, one of the greatest Greek epic poets. It is supposed to show Zeus’ recurring disappointment in his son. This specific poem is Zeus’ reaction to Ares when he returns wounded and complaining from the battlefield at Troy.

        It’s quite clear that Ares had a poor relationship with his father, and maybe, that poor relationship played a role in Ares’ aggressive and cruel personality. While Ares was the “disappointment” and looked down upon by Zeus, his sister Athena was intellectual and always reigned victorious, and her father’s favorite.

        While Ares is disregarded in Greek mythology, he was an entirely different story in Spartan mythology. He was as a resilient, strong, and intelligent soldier whose skills were unrivaled. People actually offered him human sacrifices.

Though, he is often romantically associated with Aphrodite, he was not with her as she was married. He had many consorts and children, much like all other Gods.

Consorts	Children
1. Aphrodite	1. Phobos
	2. Deimos
	3. Harmonia
	4. Adrestia (or Adrasteia (nymph) or Adrasteia (goddess))
	5. Eros (part of the Erotes)
	6. Anteros (part of the Erotes)
	7. Himeros (part of the Erotes)
	8. Pothos (part of the Erotes)
2. Aerope	1. Aeropus
3. Aglauros	1. Alcippe
4. Althaea	1. Meleager (possibly)
5. Anchiroe	1. Sithon (possibly)
6. Astyoche, daughter of Actor	1. Ascalaphus
	2. Ialmenus
7. Atalanta	1. Parthenopaeus (possibly)
8. Caldene, daughter of Pisidus	1. Solymus (possibly)
9. Calliope (Muse)	1.Mygdon
	2. Edonus (possibly)
	3. Biston (possibly)
	4. Odomantus (possibly)
10. Callirrhoe, daughter of Nestus	1. Biston (possibly)
	2. Odomantus (possibly)
	3. Edonus (possibly)
11. Critobule	1. Pangaeus[39]
12. Cyrene[40]	1. Diomedes of Thrace
	2. Crestone[41]
13. Demonice	1. Euenus
	2. Thestius
	3. Molus
	4. Pylus
14. Dormothea	1. Stymphelus[42]
15. Dotis / Chryse	1. Phlegyas
16. Eos
17. Erinys of Telphusa (unnamed)	1. Dragon of Thebes (slain by Cadmus)
18. Harmonia	1. The Amazons
19. Leodoce (?)[43]
20. Otrera	1. Hippolyta
	2. Antiope
	3. Melanippe
	4. Penthesilea
21. Parnassa / Aegina	1. Sinope (possibly)[44]
22. Phylonome	1. Lycastus
	2. Parrhasius
23. Protogeneia	1. Oxylus
24. Pyrene / Pelopia	1. Cycnus
25. Sete, sister of Rhesus	1. Bithys, eponym of the Bithyae, a Thracian tribe[45]
26. Sterope (Pleiad) / Harpinna, daughter of Asopus / Eurythoe the Danaid	1. Oenomaus
27. Persephone (wooed her unsuccessfully)
28. Tanagra, daughter of Asopus
29. Tereine, daughter of Strymon	1. Thrassa (mother of Polyphonte)
30. Theogone	1. Tmolus[46]
31. Triteia	1. Melanippus
32. mothers unknown	1. Alcon of Thrace[47]
	2. Chalyps, eponym of the Chalybes[48]
	3. Cheimarrhoos, possible father of Triptolemus by Polyhymnia[49]
	4. Dryas
	5. Hyperbius
	6. Lycus of Libya[50]
	7. Nisos (possibly)
	8. Portheus (Porthaon)
	9. Tereus

I personally do not believe Ares seems as bad as he has been perceived to be. He honestly sounds much like a rebellious and neglected teen; many siblings, often overshadowed by his sister, unable to be with the girl he wants. Ares reminds me of a troubled teen from a young adult book.

Hermes: The Messenger God

 

Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek Mythology and he is the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia. (His siblings being; Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hebe, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Perseus, Minos, the Muses, and the Graces). He is second youngest of the Olympian gods. He is the little baby Olympian!

 

Hermes is a god of transitions and boundaries. He is the messenger of the gods. He is also the god of trade, thieves, travelers, sports, athletes, and border crossings. He is a guide to the Underworld. He is said to be very quick and cunning. After all, how else is he expected to travel between worlds? He is one of the only people to go to the Underworld and come back alive (Or as alive as an immortal god could really be, I suppose…). Hermes was quite a troublemaker as a child and caused problems for many of his siblings. Hermes once stole his brother, Apollo's, cattle when he was born. Hermes had jumped out of his crib and hid Apollo’s cattle. Just when Apollo finally realized that his cattle was gone, Hermes had jumped back into his little crib and pretended to be an innocent little angel. Such a devious little boy. Apollo was obviously not buying his brother’s little act. Apollo took Hermes by the scruff of the neck and took him to his father, Zeus, in hopes of his little brother’s punishment. Apollo said he was unhappy with the way his brother was treating him and his belongings. Instead of Hermes being punished, as Apollo would have wanted and expected, Zeus actually just laughed it off and thought it was simply hilarious to Apollo’s disgruntled disbelief.

        I myself find Hermes to be an underrated god. He is mentioned in many movies and books of mythology; Percy Jackson: Lightening Thief, Hercules. He is briefly mentioned in these works, but they only describe him as the messenger god. Hermes is so much more than just a messenger. His maneuvering and transportation between the divine worlds is otherwise unheard of except for in his case and in specific scenarios, usually of a demigod or hero trying to prove his worth. I simply believe that Hermes should get more props than he is given.

Athena: Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy

 

The Greek Goddess, Athena, is said to be the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Minerva would be the Roman Goddess who would be a counterpart to Athena in comparison.

Athena can be seen in many ancient tales as a sort of “hero companion”. She was often seen accompanying heroes of different legends on their quests. It would make sense for her to accompany them considering she is the Goddess of wisdom. Heroes of Greek Mythology typically had something to prove. Who better to raise their chances of survival?

Though Athena appears before Zeus, she is most often known as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. “[47] The story of her birth comes in several versions. In the one most commonly cited, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, but he immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire,[48] even Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, after lying with Metis, Zeus “put her away inside his own belly”; he “swallowed her down all of a sudden”.[49] He was too late: Metis had already conceived.

 

Eventually Zeus experienced an enormous headache; Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus’ head with the double-headed Minoan axe, the labrys. Athena leaped from Zeus’ head, fully grown and armed, with a shout — “and pealed to the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear, and Mother Gaia…” (Pindar, Seventh Olympian Ode). Plato, in the Laws, attributes the cult of Athena to the culture of Crete, introduced, he thought, from Libya during the dawn of Greek culture. Classical myths thereafter note that Hera was so annoyed at Zeus for having produced a child that she conceived and bore Hephaestus by herself. “ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena )

        It is undetermined whether Athena is the sister or the daughter of Zeus.

       

Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology

Uranus Gaia Oceanus Hyperion Coeus Crius Iapetus Mnemosyne Cronus Rhea Tethys Theia Phoebe Themis Zeus Hera Hestia Demeter Hades Poseidon Ares Hephaestus Hebe Eileithyia Enyo Eris Metis Maia Leto Semele Aphrodite Athena Hermes Apollo Artemis Dionysus

 

Personally, I believe the interpretations of Athena vary drastically. She does not seem to have a very well specified personality. Personally, she is most often portrayed as sort of elite and… well… stuck up. I tend to think of her personality similar to that of Annabeth from Percy Jackson: Lightening Thief. Annabeth was not very well liked by some people because of her mildly aggressive and sort of overwhelming entitlement and skill. It was said that she behaved that was because she was Athena’s daughter. Granted, they could have manipulated her personality a little. The few moments they actually showed Athena in the movie, she was actually polite, yet very silent. Another factor that gives me a mild bias towards Athena’s personality is her constant bickering with Poseidon. Now, Poseidon is well known for his… temper. It is well known that Athena and Poseidon hate each other. No one would be able to withstand such an intense and deep rooted rivalry with someone like Poseidon without being strong-headed.

        Athena appears to be a strong-willed, dominant, assertive, leader type. She is a very powerful figure of Greek Mythology. She seems to be most related to the Big Three: Zeus, Posedon, Hades, in power. I believe that Athena is a strong figure and I honestly like her sort of.. combative personality.