Macaria

* Hades (Father)
* Persephone (Mother)

**Macaria** is the Goddess of the Blessed Death from Greco-Roman mythology. She was originally a daughter of Heracles, but after her death, she was adopted by Hades and Persephone and became a divine spirit.

## Overview

### The Goddess

A goddess **Macaria** (μακαρία) is named in the Suda. This according to the Suda, this Macaria is the daughter of Hades (no mother is mentioned).

She seems to have embodied a blessed death; the Suda connects her name to the figure of speech "be gone to blessedness," instead of misery or damnation, which may be euphemistic, in the way that the dead are referred to as "the blessed ones." The phrase was proverbial for those whose courage endangered them.

### Daughter of Heracles

In the Heracleidae of Euripides, Macaria is a daughter of Heracles. Even after Heracles' death, King Eurystheus pursues his lifelong vendetta against the hero by hunting down his children. Macaria flees with her siblings and her father's old friend Iolaus to Athens, where they are received by Demophon, the king.

Arriving at the gates of Athens with his army, Eurystheus gives Demophon an ultimatum, threatening war upon Athens unless Demophon surrenders Heracles's children. When Demophon refuses and begins to prepare for war, an oracle informs him that Athens will be victorious only if a noble maiden is sacrificed to Persephone.

Upon hearing this, Macaria sees that her only choice is immediate death on the altar or eventual death at the hands of Eurystheus. Since in neither case will she be granted a normal, happy life, she offers herself as the victim to save the welcoming city and its inhabitants, declining a lottery that would put other girls at risk.

The Athenians honored her with lavish funeral rites, and the myth has an aetiological aspect: the spring where she died was named the Macarian in her honor.

## Appearance

Macaria is a fair-skinned girl, with droopy purple-colored eyes and wavy hair falling down to her waist, which she often styled into an intricate braid. She only wears black clothes, from dresses to veils to capes dragging behind her back, and her fingernails are also painted black.

## Personality

Macaria is a natural loner who seems to detest any kind of unnecessary social interactions. She has an aloof, mysterious, and quiet aura, which creates an image of a cold and stoic goddess who rarely shows any emotion, whose monotone voice displays a feeling of superiority.

While polite and well-mannered, she is blunt and isn't afraid to confront people head-on, asking people of sensitive questions most people wouldn't ask because of politeness. She doesn't care about assumptions and rumors around her, because she knows she has people who cherish her for who she is.

Only in private does she reveal her true nature, which is the opposite of what many believe her to be. She is incredibly lazy and prefers to slack off instead of doing her divine duties, which led to her being made the ruler of the Isles of the Blessed by Hades due to the little amount of duties it entails. She is also stated to be a pacifist, who prefers peaceful negotiations than combat, but would not hesitate to fight if needed.

## History

Macaria was born the youngest child of Heracles and his mortal wife Deïanira, and was greatly adored by everyone around her since she was a child. When her father died and her mother killed herself out of guilt, she and her family were forced to escape from Eurystheus and sought refuge from Demophon, king of Athens and son of Theseus.

When Eurystheus' armies arrived, a prophecy was told about how the war would only end in Athens' favor if a noble maiden was sacrificed to Persephone. Hesitated to sacrifice his own people, Demophon had no choice but to hand the Heraclids to the enemy.

However, before he could do so, Macaria volunted to be sacrificed, much to her family's objections, and her throat was slit on the altar of Zeus' temple. Furious by her sister's forced sacrifice, her brothers ignored the Athenians' protests and charged head-first into the battle, following after them were their father's allies, one of which was Iolaus, Heracles' nephew through Iphicles.

The war was short-lived, completely in the Heraclids' favor, with their new stepmother Hebe restoring the youth of aging soldiers and the goddess Athena blessing their side with divine strength. Eurystheus was captured and personally killed by Alcmene, and his soul was bound to the boundary of Athens to serve as its tutelary spirit for eternity, never to be released. To honor Macaria's sacrifice, Demophon held lavish funeral rites for her and the spring when she died became known as the Macarian spring, or the "blessed spring", where young women would burn sacrifices for her and ask her for blessings from the Underworld.

In the Realm of Hades, however, Hades and Persephone - Touched by her bravery and her devotion toward her family - decided to transform her into a Divine Spirit, making her the goddess who governed the blessed death, and grant her guardianship of the Isles of the Blessed, where only the greatest and most heroric shades who have achieved Elysium thrice are allowed to dwell.

## Equipment

**Death Scythe**: While not exactly a combative person, Macaria also wields a death scythe as her main weapon of choice in case of combat. Her scythe is taller than her by at least a head-and-a-half, with an ebony handle wrapped in violet ribbons and a curved blade made of Stygian Iron, engraved upon are images of people celebrating the Macarian spring.

## Trivia

* The tale of Macaria's death was recorded in the form of the play, "Heracleidae" by Euripides.
* Macaria and Heracles haven't talked or interacted even once since her death/apotheosis.
	+ It's implied that he doesn't even know that she's, technically, alive as a chthonic goddess.
* Due to her secluded nature, Macaria's only mythological mention is in the Suda.
* Macaria is considered the female and more merciful version of Thanatos.
* While her domain originally included only those who died for a ritualistic/religious cause, i.e. volunteer human sacrifices and martyrs, Macaria is also tasked with dealing with the shades of those who died a glorious, bountiful, or honorable death on the battlefield due to their belief that their death serves "a great and noble cause".
	+ Because of this, she is very close to the valkyries and their bosses (Odin, Vidarr, and Freya) and is considered an unofficial-ambassador to the Norse Pantheon, much to her annoyance due to the additional workload.