Perseus

**Perseus**, also known as **son of Zeus** and the **Kraken Slayer** in Argos, is a main character and the protagonist of *Clash of the Titans* and its sequel, *Wrath of the Titans*. Perseus was the only known demigod son of Zeus and the mortal, Danae and was driven to kill Hades after the death of his family. However, in the end, he married Io, and became the father of Helius

## History

### *Clash of the Titans*

Perseus first appears in the film, Clash of the Titans.

Io, an immortal woman, guided Perseus and his mother to the mortal man, Spyros , who was out finished and brought out the coffin that had both Perseus and his deceased mother. Spyros gave Perseus' mother a proper burial and kept her child, naming him Perseus. He was later adopted by Marmara. At approximately eight years old, Perseus' parents concieved a biological child of their own. However, boy Perseus admitted to his father that he doubted that Spyros and Marmara would love him less when the new baby arrived and says that he is no one's son. However, Spyros promises that both he and Marmara will always be his parents and Perseus will be their son.

Twelve years later, Perseus and his entire family go fishing on their boat. However, they get no fish sneered into their net. Spyros says that one day someone will make a stand to the gods' tyranny. The following night, Perseus awakens to the thunderous night. Spyros comes out and remembers that a storm is what brought him to Perseus in the first place. Even though is father has no answers to who he is, Perseus tells Spyros that he has everything he could ever want right there. The following day, Perseus' family are killed by Hades, but Perseus is the only one to survive the incident. The young man is left to grieve for the parents and younger sister he lost, and is shortly found by Argos soldiers

While visiting the Argos Palace, Perseus meets Princess Andromeda for the first time. Their celebration is suddenly ruined with the arrival of Hades after Cassiopeia foolishly compares her daughter's beauty more beautiful than Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Perseus attempts to attack Hades, but Io refrains Perseus from doing so and promises that he will one day get his chance to avenge his family. The lord of the Underworld swears he will unleash the Kraken in ten days unless they sacrifice Andromeda for their queen's insolence and reveals Zeus has Perseus' birth father.

Perseus refuses to help save Argos, feeling lost without the family who were killed by Hades. Imprisoned in the Argive dungeons, the jailer, Draco reveals to Perseus someone is there to visit him. Perseus recognizes her as the woman from before, Io, appearing to tell him how he was born. Perseus asks who she is, and Io reveals her name and that she is cursed with agelessness. Perseus asked if he really was the son of Zeus and Io confirms it is true and begins to tell him the story of how he was born: revealing that he was born between the union of Zeus and Danae in the guise of Danae's husband, Acrisius. Perseus also learns his mother and he were thrown into the sea but when he was found, his mother was already dead. After learning the true circumstances of his birth from Io, Perseus, still angry at his family's murder, doesn't care how or why he was born and inquires how to get to Hades. Io reveals that if he kills the Kraken, then he'll be able to strike a deathly blow against Hades. This prompts Perseus to accept the King's offer to save Argos if it means he'll get to Hades.

The quest does not start off well for Perseus, as he is constantly teased at by most of his companions and learns fighting skills from Draco.

During this time, Zeus gifts Perseus with a sword of magic and pegasus but Perseus refuses each of them, perferring to do it as a man than a demigod.

## Personality and appearance

Perseus was brave, honorable, fatherly, protective, and
sometimes, hot-tempered. As a child, Perseus was quite adventurous, wanting to
travel the world more. However, as he grew older, Perseus came to enjoy the
peaceful fisherman life with his parents and sister. However, since he was an
adopted child, Perseus wanted to know who his birth family was.

Because he was a simple fisherman, most of his initial
companions believed Perseus was incompetent. However, Perseus was quite
intelligent, and in fact, became a skilled leader over the remaining company
after the attack of the Scorpions. The men of this small band willingly followed
him, even going literally following him into the realm of Hades, all knowing
that they might die on this adventure like the witches foretold them.

Perseus was devoted to his family and loved them very much.

Though his age is never disclosed. However, he appears to be
around eighteen to nineteen years old in the *Clash of the Titans* and thirty in *Wrath of the Titans*. Perseus mostly wore poor clothing at first,
wearing only greyish-green tunic with a belt. However, during his journey,
Perseus gained breast armor and wore sandals as well as leg armor. During *Wrath of the Titans*, Perseus' short
brown hair later grew out to become curls.

He still wore a white undershirt and a blue tunic over it
and had a white cape on and wore armor and war sandals easier for walking

## Abilities

Perseus, as the demigod son of Zeus, presumably had magical abilities, and briefly used electrokinesis with Zeus' help and banishing Hades back into the underworld. Zeus also believed that Perseus was more powerful and
stronger than a god, possibly due to the human part of him. It is proven true when he can
break his father's bonds by merely using his uncle, Poseidon's trident and easily defeated his grandfather, Kronos.

Living life as a fisherman most of his life, Perseus was excellent at catching fish and knew how to mend nets. He later learned to use a sword when Draco taught him how to fight. His skills had improved since However, Perseus also had excellent leadership skills and willingly led any man who was under his guide and protection.

## Family

* **Zeus** (father)
* **Danaë** (mother)
* **Acrisius**(stepfather)
* **Hera**(stepmother)
* **Marmara** (adoptive mother)
* **Spyros** (adoptive father)
* **Io** (wife)
* **Helius**(son)
* **Tekla** (adoptive sister)
* **Aphrodite** (half-sister-in-law)
* **Apollo** (paternal half-brother)
* **Ares** (paternal half-brother)
* **Artemis** (paternal half-sister)
* **Athena** (paternal half-sister)
* **Hephaestus** (paternal half-brother)
* **Hermes**(paternal half-brother)
* **Kronos** (paternal grandfather)
* **Rhea** (paternal grandmother)
* **Ouranus** (paternal great-grandfather)
* **Gaea** (paternal great-grandmother)
* **Poseidon** (paternal uncle)
* **Agenor** (paternal cousin)
* **Hades** (paternal uncle)
* **Demeter** (paternal aunt)
* **Hestia** (paternal aunt)
* **Inachus** (father-in-law)

## Concept and Creation

In the original draft of Clash of the Titans, Perseus' character was slightly different.
In the original script, it involves Perseus being kidnapped from his original home and being promised to Princess Andromeda to prevent a war be raged upon the people. However, he later fell in love with an earth goddess who was forgotten. This was later changed to Perseus falling in love with Io instead and Tiamat became Hades.

## Trivia

* Sam Worthington portrayed adult Perseus in *Clash of the Titans* and its sequel, *Wrath of the Titans*. In the prologue, Otto Farrant portrayed a young Perseus, but was uncredited for his role.
* Perseus is the only known individual to ever ride Pegasus.
* This version of Perseus sometimes deviates from the original myth.
	+ Perseus' mother is Danae, but she was the queen of Argos and Acrisius' wife rather than his daughter.
	+ Defeated the sea monster Ceto, not the Kraken
	+ He marries Io instead of Andromeda
	+ Has one son as opposed to many sons and two daughters.
	+ In the film, Perseus retrieves Medusa's head to petrify the kraken, while in the myths, Perseus retrieved Medusa's head to appease the king of Seriphos without bringing a gift.
* Perseus is the fourth to use Hades' pitchfork, Poseidon's trident and Zeus' thunderbolt to form the Spear of Triam. His father and uncles previously used it to defeat their father, Kronos.
* He also differentiates from his 1981 counterpart.
	+ Was raised by his mother and told of his origin, but in the 2010 remake, Perseus was raised by the fisherman, Spyros and his wife, Marmara.
	+ Perseus has a younger sister.
	+ Additionally, his companion was Bubo in the original film, but was only cut to a cameo.
	+ Falls in love with Andromeda in the 1981 version rather than the 2010 version.
* Perseus is the only known demigod, along with his cousin, Agenor.
* He shares several aspects of Greek heroes. He rode Pegasus, something Bellerophon did in mythology. Like Theseus, he victoriously killed the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.
* On an unrelated note, *Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief* and *Clash of the Titans* were released the same year. Ironically, the main characters were both named Perseus and had Hades as the main antagonist, and he was also the uncle of both heroes.
* Perseus still regards his adoptive father as his father and his adoptive mother as his mother and Tekla as his sister. He later regards Zeus as his father in *Wrath of the Titans*
* According to Sam Worthington, Perseus was originally going to have long hair, and would later cut it short on his journey. However, it was eventually cut from the film.
* Despite claiming to never ever accept anything the gods gave him, Perseus ironically uses the gold coin Zeus gave them a payment for the ferryman, Chiron and accepts Pegasus, and the lightning sword at the very end.
* Perseus and Andromeda were originally going to end up together, but he ends up with Io instead.
	+ However, Andromeda and Perseus do end up together in *Wrath of the Titans*.

## Appearances

* *Clash of the Titans*
* *Clash of the Titans*(video game)
* *Wrath of the Titans*