Moirai

The Greek Fates

## Profile

### Aliases

Fates, Parcae, Moirae Sisters, Moerae, Seamstresses of Fate, Sisters of Fate, Greek Incarnations of Destiny, Sisters of Moros, Students of Ananke

### Affiliations

Children of Nyx, Hades, Moros (Superior), Ananke (Mentor)

## Other

### Allies

Other Siblings, Erinyes, Hades, Persephone, Dodekatheon

### Status

Alive

The **Moirai** are the white-robed incarnations and deities of fate & destiny, as well as the daughters of Nyx and Erebus. Before gaining their role as the Greek maintainers of Fate, they were the students of Ananke, the Primordial Goddess of inevitability, who even know holds authority over them.

## Overview

There are only three known sisters known as Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter) and Atropos (unturnable). They are the Greek Version of the Fates and so are counterparts of the Roman Parcae and the main Norns.

Clotho spun the thread of life from her Distaff onto her Spindle, Lachesis measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod, and Atropos was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; and when their time was come, she cut their life-thread with "her abhorred shears".

The Moirai controls the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal, including Gods from birth to death, and such, their powers are feared by the Gods. They are often known as agents of their older brother Moros, the god of doom.

They controlled the mother thread of lifestyle of every mortal from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction. Even the gods had to submit to them, although Zeus's relationship with them is a matter of debate: some sources say he is the only one who can command them, yet others suggest he was also bound to the Moirai.

Clotho carries a spindle or a roll (the book of fate) and she is the goddess who sees and watch over the past, Lachesis carry a staff with which she points to the horoscope on a globe and watch over both the present and future, and Atropos carries a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, a pair of scales, or a cutting instrument, and she is the one who sees the death of a sentient being. They were severe, inflexible and stern. The three were shown with staffs or scepters, the symbols of dominion, and sometimes even with crowns. At the birth of each man they appeared spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of life. The Moirai are known to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life.

## Description

At the birth of a man, the Moirai spun out the thread of his future life, followed his steps, and directed the consequences of his actions according to destiny. The Fates did not abruptly interfere in human affairs but availed themselves of intermediate causes, and determined the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom was allowed to exercise a certain influence upon them. As man's fate terminated at his death, the goddesses of fate become the goddesses of death.

While believed to have an autonomous authority, the Moirai in fact only truly answer to a couple of powerful beings, these being Khaos, Heimarmene, the Protogenoi (mainly Nyx, Erebus and Ananke), their older brother Moros and God himself, with them being under God's guidance whilst they act as associates of Life and Death themselves when it comes of bringing and ending of a human's life and being agents of Destiny (due to them having power over Fate, a lesser aspect of Destiny, being agents of destiny) who oversees their duties involving the way a sentient being is to act throughout its life. As children of the Protogenoi, especially their parents (Nyx and Erebus) and their superior (Ananke), they follow them by utmost loyalty. The final one they will serve is Moros, their older brother, who was the one who raised them when their parents were occupied with something else.

According to Atropos, the three of them are bound by the universal and divine laws, originally decreed by the Creator and the Protogenoi. If any of them either breaks the sacred law of life, death, and destiny, do something for their own selfish ends, or anything that will affects the lives of the sentient beings they've watch over, they will greatly punish by them for the sisters' breaking the universal and celestial laws on a worst level.

According to both Poseidon, Apollo, and Athena, they have once break the universal law by intervening and dictating the ruling state of the Olympus, during the first thousand years of their reign, by telling the bloodline curse of the mother of all the gods and titans Gaia and manipulating Zeus to cause fear, and they were banish for it, and if they were to threaten to intervene once again, they will be cursed further in a never ending sufferings and earning the hatred of the gods.

## Appearance

The Moirai were described as ugly old women, sometimes lame. Yet sometimes they can appear as extremely beautiful women, but that depends on who they are watching over. For it is said that a human who dies with goodness in his heart will see the Moirai before him as beautiful and kin-hearted, while those that die with sin will see them as hideous and merciless.

According to a demigod, the Moirai appeared as ancient women with silver hair and bony arms. They wear cotton dresses and have their hair tied back in a white bandanna.

## Powers and Abilities

Being the ones responsible for manipulating the fate of every single being in the Greek Pantheon, the Moirai's status is above that of any Monster, Titan or Deity since it was stated that not even a god can defy fate. The Protogenoi are the only beings who can surpass them.

* **Control over Fate**: The Moirai can change and control the destinies of both mortals and immortals.
	+ **Prophecy**: As they can control and manipulate fate, the Moirai can see into the past, present and future. According to Artemis, the Moirai decree prophecies.
* **Prowess in Battle**: The Moirai are formidable in battle. They defeated the Gigantes Agrios and Thoon by clubbing them to death without a sweat. A unnamed deity described it as a very fearsome sight.

## History

### Birth and Duty

Nyx, the Protogenos of Night conceived the Moirai with her husband Erebus, the Protogenos of Mist and Darkness. Alongside their Norse counterparts, the Norns, they were charged by Ananke and Heimarmene to help weave the mother thread of lifestyle of every mortal from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction.

### Titanomachy

In the aftermath of the Titanomachy, the Moirai were the ones responsible for punishing Calypso, who sided with her father Atlas and the other Titans against the gods. Every few hundred years, the Moirai send Calypso someone that can never stay for long and will always be someone that she can't help falling in love with.

### Gigantomachy

In the Gigantomachy, the Moirai sided with the gods during the war against the Gigantes. They clubbed Thoon and Agrius to death, the two Gigantes created to oppose and replace them, to death with Bronze Clubs.

## Myths and Legends

In the Homeric poems Moira or Aisa are related to the limit and end of life, and Zeus appears as the guider of destiny. In the Theogony of Hesiod, the three Moirai are personified, daughters of Nyx and are acting over the gods. Later they are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. Their father is so afraid of them that he decided to divorce their mother in fear of conceiving more powerful children. In Plato's Republic the Three Fates are daughters of Ananke (necessity).

## Members

* Clotho - The youngest sister, Weaver of the Thread
* Lachesis - The middle sister, Measurer of the Thread
* Atropos - The oldest sister, Cutter of the Thread

## Quotes

* *"Don't even bother hiding it from them. It's no use. Trust me, I tried many times before."* - Hades.

* *"Perhaps the blasted Fates will favor me for once."* - Plutus.

* *"Despite their haggish appearance, the Moirai are surprisingly nimble. Trust me, you should have seen how those women went after the Gigantes during the Giant War, it was horrifying."* - Apollo.

## Gallery

*The Moirai as one being**The Moirai as old ladies**A bust of the Moirai*
## Trivia

* The Greek word "Moira" literally means "part or portion", and by extension one's portion in life or destiny.
* The concept of a universal principle of natural order and balance has been compared to similar concepts in other cultures such as the Vedic Ṛta, the Avestan Asha (Arta) and the Egyptian Maat.

## Image Sources

* (Guk-hwa-twine.jpg) seamstresses of fate by gukkhwa
* (The Moirai (Greek Mythology).jpg) The Moirai (Greek Mythology) by larvl
* (Moirai by yunaxd dd360s5-fullview.png) Moirai by YunaXD
* (Moirai by yunaxd degx5ve-fullview.jpg) Moirai by YunaXD
* (Sisters of fate by chrissabug detngby-fullview.jpg) Sisters of Fate by ChrissaBug
* (Fates by dasgnomo d6km0od-fullview.jpg) Fates by DasGnomo
* (MoiraeSistersWide.jpg) Moirae Sisters from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
* (Moirai - Three Fates.jpg) Three Fates by Jeneve Model
* (Fates.jpg) Fates from Percy Jackson
* (Had to Happen.jpg) The Fates statue from Hades