Persephone

* Athena Pallas, Ares, Hebe, Hephaestus, Artemis Khryselakatos Iokheira, Apollon Agana Belea, (Paternal Half-siblings)
* Melinoë, Zagreus, Makaria (Children)

## Professional Status

### Affiliation(s)

* Ascim
* Hell (The Underworld)

### Occupation(s)

* Goddess of Spring
* Queen of the Underworld

**Persephone** **(Περσεφόνη)**, born **Kore**, is the Goddess of Spring and queen of the Underworld.

## Personality

According to herself, Persephone is a very ordinary person, to the point that she feels a bit insecure about it. She does have one distinguishing feature, however, and that is her unusual optimism, always seeing things for what they could be. Persephone is very kind, supportive and forgiving, though sometimes slightly naïve. She is friendly, polite and a lot more down-to-earth than the other gods. She is also a bit jumpy at times and quite easily pushed around by some other characters. However, even though she is sometimes a bit of a pushover, she is also capable of being a very determined and charismatic speaker.

Persephone is a firm believer in hope, having a positive attitude about the future, no matter how bad the situation is in the present. She is also a pacifist, as she believes that killing and violence isn't the answer. While she dislikes despair, believing it to be a corrupting and negative emotion which cannot benefit the world, she is very forgiving towards those who fall into despair.

She loves animals, baking, nature and is extremely friendly and outgoing. Despite her inexperience with much of the world, Persephone demonstrates intelligence by showing a great deal of academic prowess and proficiency in different activities, including chess and competitive swimming.

Despite her innocent aura, there is a particularly darker side to Persephone's personality. She is capable of expressing rightful hatred towards someone who has done her wrong. The most notable example of Persephone's capability for wrath is also the reason why her name became "Persephone," meaning "Bringer of Death". Upon witnessing her nymph companions' deaths at the hands of a group of disrespectful mortals, Persephone attempted to ask them to stop. She was pushed and mocked by them, the mortals doubting her abilities as a deity and calling her a "minor goddess". The sorrow and trauma unleashed the "feeling", causing her to lose consciousness and murder the mortals. This caused an emotional instability in Persephone, stemming from a panic attack and resulting in physical changes.

However, Persephone appears to greatly regret this event. She seeks out Hades to ask him if mortals can be brought back from the dead, citing that they have family that misses them. She shows greater empathy for their plight than the majority of the other Gods, as Hades explains that mortals are "a dime a dozen." Persephone even sneaks on the shores of Acheron to give the waiting shades enough money to cross the river into the Underworld.

## Background

Persephone was born to Zeus and harvest-goddess, Demeter, and became the queen of the Underworld. Zeus, however, did not care for Persephone, and left them both. Demeter would then raise Persephone alone.

Born Kore, the young goddess spent most of her life on Earth, with the company of her mother and the nymphs that worked for her. When she was first born, Demeter saw fit to have her receive blessings from the other goddesses. She received a blessing of intelligence from Athena, a blessing of generosity and creativity from Hestia, and a double blessing of beauty from both Aphrodite and Hera. Unknown to Demeter, Kore was also blessed with wrath by Eris.

As a child, Kore created two flower nymphs, Krokos and Withy, in a special garden dedicated to flower nymph restoration. Becoming her "first friends," the two nymphs later began to act as Kore's handmaidens. The three became very close, however, Demeter was overprotective to the point that she would only allow Persephone to leave home with them accompanying her. Due to this, Kore often felt frustrated by them following her around.

Persephone explains that she was created to be the Goddess of Spring, and initially loved her role and the tasks that came with it. However, Persephone explains that she was also born with a "feeling," represented by sinister silver eyes in shadow. After mastering her mother's version of spring, Persephone explains that she peaked, her powers began to let her down, and the "feeling" became harder and harder to ignore. Unknown to both her and her mother, this "feeling" was actually Eris' blessing of wrath surfacing.

Persephone also recalls that her mother would frequently begin to hide her away as she honed her powers, out of what Persephone believed to be fear. Kore rebelled and created her own version of spring without Demeter's permission. Her unauthorized rendition got her in trouble, and in an attempt to control and distract her, Demeter pushed Kore to begin a number of lessons and hobbies. Kore quickly became frustrated over her overprotective mother, leading to a desire to live on her own and become more than what she saw as a "stupid village girl".

When Kore decided to go to leave home, she wanted to go to Ascim. Demeter took this opportunity to have Kore earn an entry through The Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood, intending to later have her join. Kore and Demeter met with the current members, where Demeter pushed her desire to have Persephone commute to Ascim. Artemis realized Kore's hesitance with the situation, and offered to have Kore live with her on Ascim. After arguing with Demeter, the two left, but not before Kore showed her appreciation by adorning Artemis with a flower crown.

Kore reluctantly began to come to terms with commuting to Ascim, although she was clearly displeased. After an intense argument with Demeter, Kore went to be alone and was quickly accompanied by her nymph handmaidens. As she was about to angrily tell them to go away, she witnessed their sudden deaths. Shaken and filled with grief, Kore quickly found the mortals who had killed her friends; the group was plucking sacred flowers from the garden despite a treaty to stay away from it. Although initially it was believed Persephone took vengeance on the mortals, carving a path of destruction through their settlement with glee, in truth Persephone lost control of her powers. The "feeling" took over after the mortals ignored her pleas to stop and began to taunt her, causing her to decapitate one of them. Realizing what she had just done, Kore was consumed with horror at her actions and uncontrollably grew to Titan-level size. She began to destroy her surroundings, unable to control her powers or evacuate the mortals. This event would cause her name to be changed from "Kore" (The Maiden) to "Persephone" (Bringer of Death). Demeter performed damage control, keeping the incident under wraps by buying Hermes' silence. Realizing she could not control her daughter, Demeter reluctantly allowed Persephone to move to Ascim to live with Artemis, although Artemis was unaware why she had changed her mind so suddenly.

Before moving to Ascim, Persephone spent the remainder of the year with her mother and Hecate, a goddess from the Underworld, who Persephone became friends with while the former studied poisonous plants on Earth.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Flight**: She has the capability of flight.
* **Healing**: She's capable of healing the wounds of Gods and presumably mortals.
* **Plant Transformation**: Though Persephone cannot yet control this ability, she has been shown to be able to "curse" beings by turning them into plants.
* **Spring Bringing**: Like her mother, she has the ability to bring spring to Earth. Persephone can conjure flowers, plants, and even full forests regardless of the location. She's capable of creating life in Tartarus, where nothing is meant to live.
* **Plant Manipulation**: When feeling uncontrollable, strong emotions, she can cause mass blooming of flowering plants. Although it is unknown how far-reaching this ability is, it appears to encompass a wide radius.
* **Shape Shifting**: Persephone is able to shape-shift, first seen when she took the form of a pink butterfly to spy on Hades. When over-excited, she can transform into a cloud of butterflies, which first occurs during her and Hades' first kiss, transporting her away from Hades temporarily.
* **Butterfly Production**: Persephone is able to spontaneously produce butterflies, although it is unknown if they are alive or just light-based illusions.
* **Bee Production**: Persephone can summon hordes of bees from her mouth.

## Relationships

### Family:

#### Demeter (Mother)

Demeter is Persephone's mother. As Demeter created Persephone solely by herself, she is very protective of her, to the point of being overbearing and controlling. Demeter often puts what she believes to be best for Persephone over what Persephone wants herself. This suffocating environment has manifested within Persephone in the form of a nightmare where Demeter trapped her in a greenhouse to keep her safe. Although their relationship is often strained, and Persephone enjoyed her new freedom, they are shown to still have a close and loving bond. Persephone respects her mother for her strong-willed attitude and often takes after her no-nonsense approach to conflict. She is also shown to miss her mother and wonders how she is doing on Earth.

### Extended Family:

#### Hera Teleia (Step-mother/Aunt)

Hera is Persephone's step-mother and her aunt. When Demeter first had Persephone and brought her to Hera, she was immediately taken by Persephone and gifted her with beauty as she hugged her. At some point, Demeter brought Persephone to a party Hera was hosting and, when Hera found Persephone, gifted her a crown to make her feel better. While it seems the two did not meet often after that, Persephone still deeply admires Hera while Hera remains rather protective of her.

#### Artemis Khryselakatos Iokheira (Half-sister)

Artemis is Persephone's former roommate, one of her friends, and her half-sister. It was Artemis who helped Persephone come to live in Ascim. Realizing that Persephone's mother, Demeter, was overbearing and smothering, she stood up to her and offered Persephone a room with her in the city so that she wouldn't have to commute. Despite their somewhat clashing personalities, the two appear to get along well. Although Artemis wants Persephone to experience freedom away from her mother and does so by having Persephone join her at the party. Although Artemis is allowing more freedom, she is also very protective of her and is often strict when reminding her of what she can and can't do as a TGOEM candidate, including having men in the house.

### Friends:

#### Krokos and Withy

Persephone created Krokos and Withy as a child and from then on, the three were always together. They shared a strong bond and although Persephone loved them like sisters, she wished to have time alone and would attempt to escape them to no avail. After a fight with Demeter, the two nymphs followed Persephone and out of anger, she yelled at the two to leave her alone. Seconds after, Persephone witness their deaths and brought down in tears before running off to discover mortals had uprooting their plants, to which flower nymphs' lives are connected to. Their deaths would lead Persephone to unintentionally commit an act of wrath and kill many mortals in anger and confusion.

Once in Ascim, Persephone would frequently bring up her home life on Earth and Krokos and Withy. When talking to Hades about her act of wrath, she talks about the nymphs and breaks down when she recalls that the last thing she told them was to leave her alone, showing deep regret for her words. When Demeter and Persephone are put on trial, Hades points out how their deaths were seemingly never public knowledge, which made it seem as though Persephone had committed her act of wrath without any cause. As Persephone remembered them, she was brought to tears and admitted she tried not to think of them as it caused her pain.

#### Hecate

A year prior to Persephone moving to Ascim, she met Hecate, who took time off of work to study poisonous plants on Earth and she stayed with her and her mother Demeter. Ever since, the two have sent letters to each other. In one letter, Persephone writes to Hecate and mentions that she misses her company very much and regrets that she had to cut her visit short. Hecate would keep this letter and later give it to Hades. Hecate was also aware of Persephone's act of wrath, keeping it a secret from everyone, including Hades.

## Trivia

* Persephone's birthday is on the first day of spring.
* While her birth name Kore means "Maiden," her new name Persephone means "Bringer of Death."
	+ In ancient Rome, she was called Proserpine. The name was most likely derived from the Latin word “proserpere”, which means “to spring up” or “to creep forth”.
	+ The name Persephoneia means “the voice of destruction, to destroy, murder, the maiden”.
* Persephone is a vegetarian.