Apollo

**Apollo**, sometimes known as **Phoebus Apollo**, is the god of the sun, light, knowledge, music, art, poetry, oracles, medicine, archery, truth, prophecy, plagues, disease, healing, reason, dance, songs, herds, and flocks. He is a primary protagonist in *The Gates of Tartarus* and a supporting character in *The City of Atlantis*.

## Apollo

### Relatives

Zeus (father)
Ares (paternal half-brother)
Athena (paternal half-sister)
Artemis (paternal half-sister)
Hermes (paternal half-brother)

### Occupation

God of the Sun, light, knowledge, music, art, poetry, oracles, medicine, archery, truth, prophecy, plagues, disease, healing, reason, dance, songs, herds, and flocks

## Appearances

### Appears in

The Gates of TartarusThe City of Atlantis

## History

### Early Life

Apollo was born to **Zeus** and **Leto** some nine-thousand years ago on the then-floating island of **Delos**. Leto had been tormented by a jealous **Hera**, who forbade all from allowing Leto to give birth on land. However, as Delos was a floating island, they were exempt from Hera’s decree, thus welcoming Leto to their island.

When he and his twin sister, **Artemis**, were given thrones on **Mount Olympus**, it is said they were so beautiful even Hera could not deny them their seat.

### Python

Four days after Apollo was born, he went to **Hephaestus** and asked for a powerful bow, which the blacksmith god readily agreed to. Armed with both his new bow and his formidable skill in archery, Apollo tracked down **Python**, who had chased his mother when she had been pregnant, and defeated him. Apollo admits in *The Gates of Tartarus* that the battle had left him with nightmares for centuries.

However, as Python had been a son of **Gaia**, and a powerful and important being of chaos, his slaying of of Python was considered a crime; however, Zeus decreed that Apollo had acted out of defense of his mother, and punished him by turning him mortal for nine years instead of casting him into the depths of the prisons of **Tartarus**.

### Divination

Born as the god of Prophecies and Divination, Apollo has always been able to see the future, and even requested of Zeus to make him the sole god of divination, much to **Athena's** dismay, who had been working on her own form of divination. However, he reveals in *The Gates of Tartarus* that this power wasn't entirely under his control, as he has to work with **the Fates** and sometimes, his own prophecies don't make much sense to even him.

Unable to speak directly to mortals as this would tip the balance of luck, Apollo chose to instead have his prophecies spoken through **Oracles**. These Oracles were regarded as the highest priestesses of Apollo and used to be young, mortal women, but when the gods retreated back to Olympus, the Oracles became nymphs. The last known Oracle is **Amara**.

## Appearance

Apollo is stated to look about nineteen years old, with blue-gold eyes and blonde hair.

## Relationships

### Family

* Artemis
* Zeus

## Abilities

* **Divine Intelligence:** As the god of knowledge, Apollo is one of the cleverest gods, rivalled only by Athena. it is stated that Apollo is always enthusiastic to learn, and that he has his own personal library. It is Apollo who comes up with most of the correct conclusions of hints and puzzles in Tartarus, as well as the correct answers to Nyx's puzzles. However, a drawback of his cleverness, which he admits, is that he believes he should always know the answer and easily becomes frustrated when he doesn't.
	+ **Language Fluency:** As the god of knowledge, Apollo is stated to have learned almost every language there is to learn, save the ones he physically couldn't, such as the language of the primordial deities, though he expressed an interest in learning it if it had been possible.
	+ **Master Tactician:** Though Apollo hasn't been shown to lead any battles or come up with a battle plan, he was the one to have come up with most of the split-decision plans down in Tartarus.
* **Divine Craftsmanship:** As the god of the arts, Apollo is extremely skilled at the arts, specifically music, though painting is mentioned as well.
	+ **Musical Talent:** As the god of music, Apollo is presumed to be able to play a wide range of instruments as well as sing extremely well. It has been shown that Apollo can channel his healing powers into his songs, as seen when he heals Eden's fever and Kallistrate's injuries with a song. It can be reasonably inferred that he has **Audiokinesis** as well, though this has yet to be shown in the series.

* **Battle Prowess:** Apollo is stated to be extremely good at combat, even without the usage of his divine abilities. in both archery and swordsmanship. In Tartarus, despite being severely weakened, he was able to defeat more powerful monsters in their own home court in seconds, much to the surprise of Eden, who joked that Apollo had been pretending to need her help in Tartarus to make her feel useful. When using his immortal gifts, however, Apollo's skill surpasses that of most of the gods; his speed, strength, and agility is greater than that of any god, even Hermes and Ares whom he had bested in the first Olympic games in footracing and boxing, respectively.
	+ **Archery:** As the god of archery, Apollo is a master with his bow, rivaled only by his sister, Artemis. Apollo uses a "burning" golden bow that he places in a pocket dimension whenever he uses. He doesn't use a quiver, and instead draws back the bowstring while summoning an arrow of pure light and heat. Eden describes the arrow as burning itself into existence.
	+ **Swordsmanship**: Apollo wields a golden sword as well as he wield's his bow, capable of rapidly switching between long and short-ranged battle if so needed. Though he usually stays with his bow as picking off enemies from afar is safer than engaging in close combat, Apollo is shown to be just as deadly with his sword, taking down monsters in Tartarus with hardly any effort despite being severely weakened and his enemies strengthened.
* **Enhanced Healing:** As a god, Apollo's healing is far better than that of a mortals, able to recover from any wound. As the god of healing, this factor may be dramatically increased. As an immortal, it is implied that he can heal from anything, though this is yet to be proven, as it is stated that gods can still die, though it is uncertain whether a god's death can be achieved through injuries alone.

* **Photokinesis:** As the god of light, Apollo has absolute authority over it, shown to be capable of generating blasts of pure energy as well as creating light sources to see. However, his power would be significantly weaker than that of **Aether**, the primordial deity of light.
	+ Interestingly, Apollo's photokinesis seems to be limited to manipulating divine light, the essence of immortals, as opposed to creatures of chaos. However, as Eden can mimic light despite using chaos magic, it may be that Apollo can mimic darkness using light, as darkness is simply the absence of light.