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      CommentAuthorJabrosky
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     

    This morning I revisited an old Greek-themed project of mine that I had abandoned. It was originally a story about a war with a number of different major characters, but now I feel like taking some of the characters from the old project and rewriting it into a quest story centered around one character. Here’s a very rough summary of my new plot:

    Euphemios is a young Greek man who is the son of the underworld god Hades and a mortal woman, and he has inherited from his father not only the strength of a demigod but also a fiery temper that, early in the story, triggers a violent outburst which gets people killed. At this point, Hades reveals himself to his son and offers the young man a quest that will ultimately lead to his redemption. Unfortunately, Hades’s wife Persephone discovers her husband’s infidelity and wrathfully throws monsters and other obstacles in Euphemios’s way.

    Could this be made into a good story?

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      CommentAuthorJabrosky
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     

    I had a discussion about this on another message board, and someone suggested that, because of the success of the Percy Jackson novels, I should avoid the Greeks and use another pantheon. However, the only other culture I can think of which had gods impregnating mortal women would be the Hebrews, with their story about Yahweh impregnating Mary to produce Jesus, but using Hebrew instead of Greek mythology might be controversial. Are there any other major cultures whose gods frequently slept with mortal women?

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      CommentAuthorElanor
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     

    Euphemios is a young Greek man who is the son of the underworld god Hades and a mortal woman, and he has inherited from his father not only the strength of a demigod but also a fiery temper that, early in the story, triggers a violent outburst which gets people killed. At this point, Hades reveals himself to his son and offers the young man a quest that will ultimately lead to his redemption. Unfortunately, Hades’s wife Persephone discovers her husband’s infidelity and wrathfully throws monsters and other obstacles in Euphemios’s way.

    I have to say, replace Euphemios with Herakles, Hades with Zeus, and Persephone with Hera and it’s more or less exactly the same story as Herakles, right down to the whole rage thing and also the jealous wife thing and, well, the quest thing. I’d say that given the current outline, it’s far too well-known of a tale to be good, if by good you mean somewhat original.

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      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011 edited
     

    You could always throw in some angst about him coming to grips with being the son of Hades, to complete the circle.

    Also, you really need to read some of the Aztec and Inca stories is you think the Greeks are the only ones whose gods impregnate women. The Aztec population was something like 50% demigods. :P

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      CommentAuthorJabrosky
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     

    I have to say, replace Euphemios with Herakles, Hades with Zeus, and Persephone with Hera and it’s more or less exactly the same story as Herakles, right down to the whole rage thing and also the jealous wife thing and, well, the quest thing. I’d say that given the current outline, it’s far too well-known of a tale to be good, if by good you mean somewhat original.

    Fair enough. I guess I’ll have to tweak it some more.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2011
     

    Also, Hades was one of the few Gods who didn’t impregnate mortal women, it’d be a shame to spoil his reputation. He was one of the less jackass of the gods, too.

  1.  

    Also, you really need to read some of the Aztec and Inca stories is you think the Greeks are the only ones whose gods impregnate women. The Aztec population was something like 50% demigods. :P

    Yeah, and some of the Norse gods did the nasty with dwarves and giants.;-)

    I’d say that given the current outline, it’s far too well-known of a tale to be good, if by good you mean somewhat original.

    I have to agree there.

    Also, Hades was one of the few Gods who didn’t impregnate mortal women, it’d be a shame to spoil his reputation. He was one of the less jackass of the gods, too.

    Yeah – this.^
    Also, Persephone was a rather nice goddess too – not at all a bitch like Hera. She and Hades were more or less happily married. It’s because of modern misinterpretations that people think Hades = Satan. Just because he was the god of the underworld and happened to like darkness and stuff doesn’t mean he was a jerk. Same with Persephone.

  2.  

    She and Hades were more or less happily married

    You know, after he kidnapped her and trapped her in the underworld. Hades wasn’t all sunshine and daisies either.

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      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeMar 13th 2011
     

    Interesting, I thought Persephone was kidnapped from a field without her consent, and tricked into eating a pomegranite in the underworld so that when Zeus commanded Hades to return her (because Demeter was preventing anything from growing and causing a famine among the mortal people), she could only return for three quarters or every year.

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeMar 13th 2011
     

    There are different versions of that story. In some, she was kidnapped unwillingly. In others, she went along with Hades because she wanted to escape from her overprotective mother.

  3.  

    Hades wasn’t all sunshine and daisies either.

    Of course not. But he was a good guy at heart – he even brought a few dead mortals back to life when they asked him to.

    There are different versions of that story. In some, she was kidnapped unwillingly. In others, she went along with Hades because she wanted to escape from her overprotective mother.

    Basically this, yeah.
    See, he only had kids with her – no one else. He didn’t have male lovers behind her back either, where both his brothers screwed around like rabbits on coke.