Perseus

> "My mother had a kid with a god. He's dead now, so there's no reason for me to try and get to know him. Hell, she didn't."
>
> - Conri Tlanta about his half brother

## Perseus

### Aliases

* Perseo
* Perseusz
* Persée

### Relatives

* Zeus  (Father)
* Danae  (Mother)
* Conri  (Half-Brother)
* Eli  (Nephew)

## Physical description

### Height

* 6'2"  (Feet)
* 1.87  (Meters)

### Eye color

* Brown

**Perseus** (Greek: **Περσεύς**) was a famous hero in Greek mythology. He was the son of Zeus and Danae Tlanta, making him a Demigod, and a Genetic Werewolf and is known best for having slain the creature Medusa. He is also the grandfather/half-brother of Heracles, and the half brother of Conri Tlanta, his mother's first child.

## In Mythology

### Birth

The King of Argos, Acrisius, visited the oracle of Delphi, in the hopes of having a male heir. However, upon arrival, he was shocked about what  the oracle said. He will be killed by his grandson. Acrisius promptly had his only daughter, Danae, imprisoned in a tower. However, Zeus, seeing Danae and stirred by her beauty, disguised himself as a shaft of golden sunlight and impregnated her. Acrisius, on finding out the news, contemplated his next move. For, if he were to murder his daughter, he would be cursed by the gods, particularly Zeus. He then decided to have her locked up in a chest and thrown into the sea. Danae prayed to Zeus to save her and her son. Zeus guided the chest onto the beach of the island of Seriphos, where she was found by a fisherman named Dictys. Dictys was the brother of Polydectes, King of the island. However, he preferred a much humbler and simpler life than his brother. Polydectes saw Danae and decided to marry her. However, Perseus, who grew into a strong, young man, opposed him.

### The Quest for Medusa's Head

The next day, Polydectes held a feast. All his male subjects were ordered to bring a gift to the feast. Because Perseus was poor, he didn't have anything to give at the feast. Polydectes exiled him and ordered him to return only upon killing the only mortal Gorgon, Medusa, and bring back her head as a gift. He expected Perseus to die on this quest so he could live with his new wife in peace.

As soon as Perseus was out of sight of any mortals, two gods appeared: Hermes and Athena. Hermes gave Perseus a sword to slay the Gorgons with, and Athena presented him with a highly-polished shield - he was told to use this as a mirror, because if he looked directly at any of the Gorgons, he would be turned to stone. She also told him to go west and find the Gorgon's sisters, the Graeae - they were the only ones who knew where the Gorgons were.
The Graeae (literally "gray ones") were three sister born as old ladies and shared a single eye and tooth amongst themselves. Perseus took the eye from them and threatened to pop it between his fingers if they didn't tell them where the Gorgons lived. They told him it was a swampy island with hardly any light, but just enough to see.
Before Perseus traveled to the island of the Gorgons, he first went to the land of Hyperborea where he received three special items: a magic wallet (to place Medusa's severed head in once she's vanquished), a pair of winged sandals (to travel back to his home), and an invisible cap (to hide himself from her immortal sisters, Euryale and Sthenno ).

Perseus landed on the island to find the three Gorgons laying on the ground sleeping (courtesy of Hypnos). Using the shield as a mirror, Perseus approached the sleeping Gorgons. When he was close enough, he brought the sword down upon Medusa's head, severing it from the body and having it roll and wake the other Gorgons. From her blood sprang the winged horse, Pegasus, and his human brother Chrysaor. He stuffed her head in his pouch, but the remaining Gorgons woke and flew at Perseus. He hid himself from them using the cap of darkness and then, using his winged sandals, he flew back home. It is said that when Perseus flew across the desert in Egypt, Medusa's blood leaked from the purse and touched the sand and created the poisonous snakes that live there today.

He arrived home during his mother's forced wedding. Polydectes, furious upon the hero's return, ordered him to present the head as a wedding gift. Perseus yelled, "Mother, cover your eyes!" He then pulled Medusa's head out of his pouch and turned everyone to stone. He then went to Athena's temple and gave the goddess the shield with Medusa's image etched on it, which she named the Aegis. Then he threw Medusa's head into the ocean where it drifted across the sea, creating coral on the way.

### Andromeda

On his way home from his quest, Perseus passed by the land of Aethiopia where he saw Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia (king and queen of Aethiopis), chained to a rock by the sea. He freed her and killed the sea monster that was about to eat Andromeda by showing the monster Medusa's severed head, instantly turning it to stone. After saving the king's daughter and Aethiopia from the sea monster's wrath, the king gave consent to Perseus to marry Andromeda.

The sea monster was Cetus, sent by Poseidon in revenge for Cassiopeia saying Andromeda was more beautiful than his wife, Amphitrite.

### Death of Acrisius

Perseus later returned to Greece, where he decided to compete in the Olympics, in Olympia. Also attending were many royals, in particular, King Acrisius. As Acrisius sat down in the stands, the discus event was beginning. Perseus, competing at the time, threw the discus with such force it flew into the stands and inadvertently killed Acrisius, thus fulfilling the oracle's prophecy. Perseus, in shame, traded his kingdom of Argos, for that of his cousin Megapenthes'. Thus Perseus, now King of Tiryns and Mycenae (which he founded), married Andromeda and had many children and grandchildren, who frequently intermarried with the descendants of Pelops.

## In Reality

When Danae was found by Zeus when she traveled back in time to create her own army. The god took her back to his realm, where they carried on a year long affair before Danae fell pregnant, and carried Perseus to term, before Zeus realized she was not aging, and began to get suspicious, but did not want to say anything until after the birth of their son. Danae had fallen for Zeus at this point, after nearly fifty years spent in the past, and nearly two hundred in the present of getting over the loss of her former mate, and while the god was in love with her too, his desire for the truth and power blinded him, and after Danae gave birth, Zeus confronted her about how she was not aging, and Danae responded by teleporting away to a young woman in Argos, and giving her the baby, leaving Perseus with her before going back to Zeus.

The god was enraged that Danae ran, and was about to kill her before she got away, hiding with Zeus' sister, Lynn on the boats while she used her time to make another time travel spell back to the present. She did not know if Zeus would come for her in the present, but when he did not immediately kill her upon her return, she assumed it was safe. She did miss Perseus for years, after she discovered his feats.

## Powers and Abilities

Since Perseus is a demigod, as well as a werewolf, he has a unique set of abilities.

* **Super Strength:** Werewolves possess supernatural strength that makes them far stronger than immortals, hunters, and humans, There have been several occasions to suggest that untriggered werewolves possess more strength than any average humans, which would indicate some form of enhanced strength even before the activation of their curse. However, werewolves in their human form are not as strong as a vampire and have even been shown to be far weaker on several occasions. When they are in their wolf form, their powers amplify to a degree that excels of the non-Original vampires, making them more powerful than non-Original vampires. In wolf form, a werewolf can overpower and kill any non-original vampire with ease, and are strong enough to overpower an Original vampire in small groups.
* **Super Speed:** Werewolves are much faster than humans and some other supernatural beings. They possess this ability both in and out of transformation, with an animalistic quickness.
* **Super Agility:** Werewolves possess superhuman agility. In both human and wolf form, they have demonstrated that they can move, jump very high, climb, flip, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion. They can also jump down from incredible heights with almost gravity-defying grace.
* **Super Durability:** Werewolves can take far more trauma than humans without nearly as much discomfort or injury, however, not as much as vampires. They can also exert themselves for longer periods without tiring.
* **Healing Factor:** Werewolves possess superhuman regenerative abilities, meaning that if they are physically injured, their bodies will heal rapidly. Like vampires, werewolves can heal from the most grievous of injuries, even in human form, albeit more slowly in comparison to vampires. However, unlike vampires, when a werewolf's neck is broken, they stay dead.
* **Super Senses:** Werewolves have extremely keen and heightened senses of smell, sight, taste, hearing, and touch that exceed their wolf counterparts and that of regular canines.
* **Lycanthrope Enhancement:** Werewolves are able to make their eyes glow when angry or threatened, but only for a short amount of time. When a werewolf is furious or forced to defend themselves, their anger increases all their power and abilities for a short period of time, which allows them to access some of the power of their wolf form to give them an edge.
* **Shapeshifting**/**Transformation Control:** During a full moon, they will unwillingly transform from their human form and into their wolf form. However, if a female werewolf is pregnant, they will not turn for nine months as the transformation would kill the baby.
* **Werewolf Bite:** A werewolf's venom is extremely lethal to non-original vampires. While an Original vampire cannot die from the venom, they are not wholly immune to the effects of the bite. For non-Original vampires, the venom acts as an poison of sorts that will enter the bloodstream and deliver the toxin throughout the body, producing discomfort and weakness, developing uncontrollable hunger that progresses to delusions, hallucinations, rabid rage, and dementia, culminating in death. Original vampires undergo the same effects, but do not die and will eventually fully recover.
* **Full Moon:** A werewolf's strength, speed, agility, and all their powers are enhanced to their peak during a full moon.
* **Immunity to Silver:** Werewolves are immune to magic bonded to silver. Weapons made of silver might wound them, but the wound still heals at supernatural rates and will not be fatal to them.

**Godly Powers:**

* **Divine Blood:** Gods possess divine blood, meaning magic cannot hold them. Specifically in regards to Ben, he was able to cross the threshold where the gods of his village lived as well as pass through Cleo's barrier spell unobstructed. Similarly, Hope was unable to use a locator spell to track Jen after she had stolen the sarcophagus. Jen also explains to Aurora and Lizzie that the forgetting spell when beings are absorbed into Malivore doesn't work on the gods.
	+ **God Magic**: Given their godhood, they possess what a number of people call, including the gods themselves, god magic. Ambiguous as it is, such potent magic renders a witch's witchcraft useless. Furthermore, when it is forged into Jen's smithing and metalwork, such objects seemingly become indestructible by mortal or supernatural means. Specifically with Ken, he can also cast, control, and remove curses, including those created by witches. However, his curses ended with his death.
* **Invincibility:** Gods possess a durability unlike any other and far exceeding supernatural beings. For example, Ben fought to keep his village safe and, given his birthright, was invincible in battle.
* **Super Strength:** Gods possess a strength unlike any other and far exceeding supernatural beings. For example, Ben was able to lift a set of barbell weights, approximately 100 lbs or so, with a single finger, whereas Jen was able to lift and throw the enchanted sarcophagus that Professor Vardemus mused was over 500 lbs. The throw also seemingly destroyed the sarcophagus, whereas it was unaffected by Hope’s magic.
* **Flight:** Gods possess the ability to defy the laws of gravity and propel themselves through the air unaided in extreme momentum. During her brief confrontation with Hope and Lizzie, Jen flew away to avoid fighting. Ken also flew through the air while carrying the shipping container that trapped Aurora.
* **Longevity or Immortality:** Gods have extended lifespans or perhaps a form of immortality. This is not explicitly known with various statements. Jen implies that her history is a "long story". Ben is cursed to heal and be attacked by monsters, though has lived for around 5,000 years. Collectively, Ben also tells Cleo that the gods have been sleeping for a long time. Lynn herself was cursed for all eternity to ferry the souls to Peace and had done this for over 10,000 years.
* **Temporal Manipulation:** Lizzie implies that the gods have "all kinds of powers", including the ability to wield and shape time. She assumes they could take her and Aurora back to certain points in time to change certain events. Though the validity of this claim is unknown, Jen claims that Chronos is the god of time, implying that the power is exclusively his.
* **Lightning Manipulation:** During their probability simulation of fighting the gods, Ben describes that Ken can pierce the sky with lightning and can call it down to strike his enemies. He can also use lightning as a means of transportation, as he rode the lightning to arrive at the Salvatore School and left with himself and Jen. During both of battles against Hope, Ken created lightning in the palm of his hand and struck Hope with it.
* **Resurrection:** After Lizzie implies that the gods have "all kinds of powers," Aurora believes the same sentiment that the family of gods would be capable of resurrecting her brother, Tristan. In *Into the Woods*, Ken specifically told Aurora that he could not return her brother and she assumed it was beyond his power. However, he clarified that he should have said "would not." After Lynn was cursed by her brother, she once broke Nature's rules and sent a few people back to life from Limbo, but she commented how she could only get away with doing so once as there was a cost. Whether or not gods have such an ability remains poorly elaborated upon.
* **Belief:** Jen explains that gods are only as powerful as people's belief in them, which had diminished over the years.

## Weaknesses

* **Wolfsbane:** When ingested, wolfsbane causes a werewolf to become severely weak and feverish. Also, If a werewolf's skin is exposed to wolfsbane, it will burn them.
* **Mortality:** In most situations, minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds, and broken bones will cause a werewolf pain and slow them down until they heal. However, they still share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural beings and can perish from extreme trauma (e.g. suffocation, extreme blood loss, a broken neck, decapitation, fire, heart extraction, etc.). They can also die from old age.
* **Magic:** Werewolves are susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical objects and dark objects. Multiple spells have been performed by witches against werewolves to cause several effects against them, such as slowing down or speeding up a werewolf's transformation during a full moon, telekinetically ripping a heart from a werewolf's chest, or cursing a pack of werewolves to be trapped in their wolf form at all times except for a few short hours during the full moon when they return to their human forms.

**Godly Weaknesses:**

* **Witchcraft:** Gods are assumed to be susceptible to some powers of witchcraft, albeit indirectly. This is specifically referencing mystical objects, as well as siphoning. Ben was given an enchanted bangle that muted the frequency of his divine blood, which prevented monsters from locating and attacking him. Jen, Ben, and Ken have also all been siphoned by Lizzie at varying degrees of susceptibility.
* **Vulnerability:** Despite their claims of invincibility, it seems that gods can be harmed. Specifically, and likely due to his curse, Ben can experience levels of trauma and excruciating pain that would be fatal to others, albeit he will fully heal and recover from apparent death. Jen was also momentarily harmed by Lizzie's siphoning ability; though she seemed otherwise unaffected, she decided to not to continue her confrontation with Hope and Lizzie. Moreover, Ben explained that only a god can kill another god. Similarly, god magic can kill a god, particularly when forged into a weapon.
	+ **God Magic**: Despite their godhood, god magic and specifically Ken, can cast, control, and remove curses. For example, he cursed his sister, Lynn, unable to return to their home, cursed Ben as well as altered his curse to make him mortal. He could also control the werewolf curse which was created through witchcraft to trigger all of the Salvatore werewolves' curses to activate and transform without a full moon. Ben also eluded to that Ken could remove Jed's curse entirely.
	+ **White Fire and Brimstone:** A mixture that the Spartans used to harm the gods, otherwise known in modern times as phosphorous and sulfur. When super-heated, it can be rigged to cause an immense explosion.
	+ **God Spear:** Smithed by Jen, it is a divine weapon forged with god magic and Red Oak ash in Ken's quest to kill the tribrid, Hope Mikealson. It renders witchcraft useless and can be used to kill other gods as it was forged with god magic.
* **Belief:** Gods run on belief and are only as powerful as people's belief in them, which has diminished over the years. This is both a great power and a diminishing weakness. With the birth of Malivore, a creature that could make the world forget that someone ever existed, Ken experienced fear. Jen described this as the ultimate death sentence for a god.

## Gallery

Statue of PerseusPerseus faceDanae handing Perseus off in ArgosDanae's pregnancyAfter Perseus' birth