Rhea

Siblings: The Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires, and the Titans

**Rhea** is the daughter of Gaea and Uranus, the Titaness of motherhood, the wife of Cronus, and the mother of the Dodekatheon.

## Overview

Rhea is known as the Great Mother and is often associated with Gaea, her mother. While she is the mother of the first and most powerful generation of the Dodekatheon, she is not one of its members.

## Appearance

Rhea was described to be the most beautiful Titaness of all, with dark curly hair that swept her shoulders, eyes as green as meadows, and a smile that was brighter than the Sun. Her beauty and charm were such that her brother Cronus fell hopelessly in love with her and married her despite knowing of the curse that Uranus had placed on him.

## Personality

It is unknown what is her true personality, cause there is no one other than her children and siblings know of her true nature. According to both her children and good siblings, she is viewed by many as a loving and an ideal mother and sister, she is also a benevolent titan, just, faithful, loving, sympathetic, and compassionate, that all of her siblings, even her somewhat cruel husband Cronus, reveres and acknowledge her loving, mature, and patient natures.

She is viewed by many who knows her as an ideal mother, even towards her brothers and sisters. So much that Gaea, her mother, put her in a high regard and respect. She is also more mature, understanding, patient, calm, compassionate, and benevolent than any Dodekatheon goddess, more so than Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Aphrodite, and even Athena. She also among the Dodekatheon goddess to possess no vindictive nature, as she is only seen her loving and impartial natures.

As depicted in the story, she loves her children very much, so much that she can no longer endure of the lost of her children in the hands of her cruel husband, that she choose to betray her brother/husband Cronus, by tricking him that the rock she place is the baby Zeus, and siding with her children and some of the Titans that were spared by Zeus, against Cronus.

## Powers and Abilities

**Animal Companionship:** Rhea can form a sacred and powerful union between herself and animal companions, and they both tend to protect and care for one another and assist each other in multiple situations.

**Divine Lord:** Rhea is an alpha divine being; the most powerful member of the godheads.

**Feline Manipulation:** Rhea can control various cats. They control them to do their bidding like, help them during situations, use them against foes, use them to see locations and get information about a particular place, use them for battle, use them for spying on others.

**Mother Goddess Physiology:** As the mother goddess, a goddess entity who represents, or is the personification of, nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction; or, who embodies the bounty of the Earth.

**Serenity Inducement:** Rhea is able to induce powerful feelings of tranquillity in others, allowing one to keep others calm and peaceful.

## History

### Birth of the Dodekatheon

Cronus and Rhea had two children together: Hestia and Hades. Although he planned on being a good and loving father, all that changed when his mother told him that his children are destined to overthrow him. While he tried to sleep through it, he couldn't take it anymore and succumbed into his fear that he would be overthrown like his father. Getting up, he went to his sleeping children and swallowed them, much to his wife's horror. Rhea came up with many plans to free her children, but she feared that would harm them in the process.

Cronus and Rhea had 3 more kids: Demeter, Hera, and Poseidon. And Cronus, in his paranoia, swallowed all of them as well. When Rhea became pregnant with Zeus, her sixth child, she decided to save him as she couldn't bear to lose another child. With the help of her parents, she devised a plan to keep Zeus safe.

Rhea gave birth to Zeus on Crete and left him in the care of the nymphs that live there. Then, she gave Cronus a stole wrapped in swaddling clothes for him to swallow. Cronus, believing that the stone was his newborn son, swallowed it.

### Zeus rescues his siblings

Because of Rhea’s act of defiance, Zeus was able to free his siblings and bring about the downfall of the Titans. He devised a plan to make Cronus disgorge his siblings. He tricked his father and the other Titans into having a drinking contest. When everyone agreed, he prepared goblets of nectar for them and mixed emetic into his father's nectar.

As usual, Cronus emerged victorious in the contest, but Zeus' emetic power proved overwhelming. In a sudden and forceful reversal, Zeus disgorged the contents of his stomach, starting with the boulder, then Hera, Poseidon, and finally Demeter. Regrettably, his two eldest siblings remained trapped within Cronus. Determined to free them, Zeus seized one of the Titans' weapons and sliced open Cronus' stomach, allowing Hades and Hestia to escape.

Nonetheless, a Titan wasn't about to let this escape go unchallenged. It was Atlas, the Titans' army general, who had abstained from the drinking contest. Fueled by rage, he grabbed his weapon and launched an assault on the six gods. Thankfully, Hades, who had received training from Death and Azrael, and Hestia, who had been schooled by Life, swiftly intervened. Together, they harnessed their formidable powers to subdue Atlas, buying precious time for themselves and their siblings to make their getaway.

In the aftermath of freeing his brothers and sisters, Zeus released the Gigantes, the Hecatoncheires, and the Cyclopes. To show their gratitude to Zeus for freeing them, they pledged to help him. Along with his siblings, the Gigantes, the Hecatoncheires, and the Cyclopes, he overthrew the Titans. After the Titanomachy, Rhea went to live on Mount Olympus with her children.

## Quotes

*"I don't care what I must do or who I must kill. As long as my baby boy can survive and grow into his birthright, I will gladly kill them all." - Rhea.*

## Trivia

* She would lead the Dodekatheon to becoming the main gods of the Greek people.
* Her Roman name Ops translates into "riches, goods, abundance, gifts, munificence, plenty".