Apollo

**Apollo**, also known as **Apollon**, is the God of Archery, Light, and the Sun from Greco-Roman mythology. He is the twin brother of the Moon Goddess Artemis and is one of the Twelve Olympians who rule over the pantheon from Mount Olympus.

## Overview

**Apollo**, also known as **Apollon**, is one of the twelve Olympians in both Greek and Roman mythology. He was originally associated with arts, such as music and poetry, but was later transfigured into the god of the sun, overshadowing Helios.

He is the son of Zeus, the king of gods, and Leto, the Titanides of motherhood. He is also the twin brother of Artemis. After his birth, the jealous Hera sent the deadly serpent, Python, to assassinate his mother, but the infant Apollo, equipped with a bow and arrows lent by Hephaetsus, successfully killed the creature before it could cause any harm.

While reaching adulthood, Hermes gave him the first lyre (which he later gave to his son or ward, Orpheus, who "mastered" the lyre) in exchange for the caduceus, and Apollo became the master of musical instruments. Many mortals and even gods challenged him in a musical contest, but their skills were no match for his. While appearing in many tales, he had numerous lovers, females and males, many who often met tragic fates or had terrible lives. Among others are Daphne, Cassandra and Hyacinthus. Aside from arts, Apollo is also considered as the god of archery, prophecy and medicine, while at the same time, serves as the leader of the Muses.

## Appearance

Apollo appears as a tall and extremely handsome young man, with a sculpted muscular body. He has slightly messy golden hair and emerald-green eyes, which are identical to his sister's. His body is covered with white tattoos in the shape of the sun.

In his first appearance, he was wearing the typical male uniform of the male Olympians, consisting of a white blazer with gold embroidery, a short-sleeved white dress shirt and a blue tie. He also wore it with black-gray vest and black belt with a sun emblem as the belt buckles. His pants were gray-colored dress pants and he wore it with pristine white boots.

## Personality

Originally, Apollo could appear as arrogant, self-centered, and cocky, as is typical among the gods. However, as time passes, his personality progressively changes as he becomes more mature, empathetic, and kind, and starts to feel feelings such as guilt and sorrow over his past actions. Despite this, he still has a significantly big ego even in comparison to other Olympians.

He loves his "little" sister, even though they often clash, as he is the more laid-back, less serious twin. He has also proven to be very open-minded and even, in a way, affectionate person, especially to his children. According to him, despite being known as "Kourotrophos", his hands are pretty much tied when it comes to the safety of his own demigod children, as well as the other gods', much to his own guilt and embarrassment. In Chapter XXX, when his children publically went against Zeus' orders to defend his honor, he was simultaneously touched by their affection and ashamed of himself for not having done more for them.

Being the God of Poetry, he always appears to be obsessing over various kinds of poems, depending on where he visits, with his current favorite one being haikus after the last time he visited Japan in the aftermath of World War II. It is mentioned that after he visited Ireland, he became obsessed over limericks for a time.

He has a tendency to brag about his accomplishments and divine feats, to the point of embellishing them to make himself greater than he actually is. His victory over Python, in particular, is the one with the largest amount of "fixes" within them, as despite it was one of the most terrifying battles in his immortal life that he suffered from nightmares for centuries, he proudly told his friends, followers, and whoever free to hear about his tale that he vanquished the Dragon with a single arrow the instant he arrived at its cave.

Despite his sunny and optimistic demeanor, however, it might actually conceal deep sorrows. According to him, he has never truly moved on from the two greatest loves of his life - Daphne and Hyacinthus - and is haunted by their memories, to the extent where anything that could be associated with them will almost reduce him to tears if he sees it. He also acknowledged to himself that he secretly harbored a good deal of resentment toward his father, Zeus, and him killing the Elder Cyclopes who forged the Master Bolt hadn't been a rash decision, as he saw it was easier to hate and blame the weapons which his father frequently used to threaten him with, than to hate his father himself.

Like many other gods, he also has a dark, cruel side, as shown when he placed a terrible curse on his son, Halcyon Green, for trying to defy [Fate] to help another in need. It's also stated that one of the factors that fuels his dark side is his protectiveness of his mother, Leto. For example, after Niobe insulted Leto, he ruthlessly killed all seven of her sons while his sister killed the rest of her daughters, and later on, he personally asked Hades to eternally tortured Tityos after the giant tried to rape Leto under Hera's behest. He even went as far as to flay alive the satyr Marsyas after winning their music contest, though he later denied flaying him "alive", implying that while he can be quite cruel when angered, he isn't cruel enough to painfully kill others for such reasons.

### Roman Form

Apollon can change into his Roman aspect of **Apollo** (sometimes called **Phoebus**). In this form, he becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike.

According to him, other than these aspects became more amplified, his Roman form isn't much different from his Greek form, as, in his own words, "perfection can't be improved."

## Weaknesses

### Harming, Trapping, & Banishing

* **Witchcraft**: As witchcraft is a form of magic wielded by witches to oppose those of heavenly nature, pagan gods such as Apollo are susceptible by witchery. There are many witchery spells and rituals that can be used to trap, weaken, and hurt him, with some rituals rumored to be capable of even killing immortals such as the pagan gods.
* **Celestial Weapons**: Weapons made out of sacred metals, such as Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, can be used against the majority of supernatural beings, including pagan gods such as Apollo.
* **Lack of Worship & Offerings**: As a pagan god, Apollo gains more power from the prayers, offerings, and sacrifices from mortal devotees, and is dependent on it to maintain his immense divinity. If he stops gaining offerings from his loyal followers, his powers may become immensely weakened. Due to his essence being tied to the Western Civilization, he can gain power from those associated and symbolized by his divine domains, or associated with him or the myths surrounding him.

### Killing

* **Divine Weapons**: The divine weapons of the gods, which are crafted from sacred metals and are imbued with their wielders' divinity, can be used to kill or injure fellow immortal gods like Apollo. However, due to his immense power, only a god’s Symbol of Power is capable of killing him.
* **Enochian Weapons**: Apollo can be killed using weapons made out of Enochian metals.
	+ **Longinus**: As the Longinus are Sacred Gears made out of Enochian metals of the highest-ranking, forged by Heavens' forges with the highest-quality Enochian technology and are imbued with fragments of the Biblical God's divinity, those with enough skills and experience can absolutely and permanently killed Apollo, to the point where he can never be reborn or resurrected again.
* **Faustian Weapons**: Apollo can be killed using weapons made out of Faustian metals.
* **Primordials' Weapons**: Weapons created and wielded by primordial entities can be used to permanently and absolutely obliterate every and any being in existence but other primordial entities, erasing their entire existence from the worlds so that they can never be reborn, or resurrected again without being saved by God's omnipotence.

## Trivia

* His attributes are the bow and arrow, the lyre, the laurel wreath, the sacrificial tripod, and the hyacinth flower.
	+ His sacred animal is the swan.
* Poseidon and Apollo are the only two major Olympians who have temporarily been stripped of their divinity and godly powers.
* According to him, Hermes once put talaria on him while he was sleeping in Athens, causing him to eventually wake up in an Argentinian beach.
* He likes to make haikus (Japanese poems) which probably mirrors the fact that Japan is referred as the 'Land of the rising sun' and Apollo is the sun god.
* He is the only Olympian to share his name with his Roman aspect. In reality the god had no Roman equivalent and was instead imported into the Roman pantheon, his Greek name Ἀπόλλων (*Apóllōn*) being Latinized as APOLLO (*Apollō*).
	+ According to him, this was his intention as he believes "Apollo" sounds much cooler than "Apollon".
	+ Due to this, he remains the "most Greek of all the gods".
* He gave Midas donkey ears after he declared Pan the winner in a music contest between the two gods.
* His epithet of "Phoebus" is a reference to his grandmother Phoebe, from whom he inherited his prophetic powers and the Oracle of Delphi.
* Sparta's most important festival, the Hyacinthia, was held in honor of Apollo.
	+ The Pythian Games, one of the four Panhellenic festivals, were held in honor of Apollo every four years at Delphi.
* Apollo's least favourite Roman Emperors are Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and Commodus.
	+ It was revealed that he was the one who killed Commodus, having strangled him in his bathtub, under the guise of the wrestler Narcissus.
* NASA's spaceflight program that landed the first human on the moon was called the "Apollo Program."
* Ironically he lies about being the elder twin (Artemis was born nine days before him) despite also being the god of truth. This may simply be him messing with his sister for fun (due to her favored form being a 12 year old and his that of a teenager).
* King Louis XIV of France was his son. Because of that, all the descendants of this king are legacies, including the Spanish Royal family.