Eden Hills

**Eliana "Eden" Elita Hills** is the eighteen-year-old reincarnation of Andromeda, Kallistrate, Aelia, and Galeria. She is the primary protagonist and narrator of *The Heroes of Old* series.

## Eden Hills

### Relatives

Mr and Mr Hills (adopted fathers)
 Adrianna (adopted sister)

### Weapons

Omirijoi (arrows)
 Teleutḗ and Átē (knives)
 Trepidatio (bow)
 Vastator (pilum/javelin)

## Appearances

### Appears in

The Gates of Tartarus
 The City of Atlantis

## History

Eden was born to unknown Chinese parents who died when she was a child, young enough to not remember them. As a result, she was adopted by Mr. and Mr. Hills. Though not much is explictly stated about Eden's past, some facts are referenced throughout the series.

It is implied that Eden was born on November 1st, given that the series begins some few minutes before midnight of her birthday, and she says her sister, **Adrianna**, was out "celebrating the last Halloween of her high school career.” However, the year is unknown.

Eden is shown to have a good relationship with her sister, Adrianna, who was also adopted by Mr. and Mr. Hills at some point in their youth—Eden fondly mentions family holidays and Adrianna has been shown to care deeply about her sister, having called her many times after Eden disappeared. Though the rest of the Hills have yet to make a physical appearance in the series, it is implied Eden has a very good relationship with them.

In terms of academic life, it is known that Eden was a member of her school Model UN club, she took seven AP courses at one point, and she is either taking, or already took, calculus. Considering she lives in San Francisco and is implied to have gone to a public school, it can be inferred that she most likely attends Lowell High School, as no other high school allows so many AP classes to be taken in a single year, though this has yet to be stated in the series. She also once said she cheated on her fifth-grade math test.

Though not much is known about where Eden lives, it is implied that she lives in the Sunset District—in *The City of Atlantis*, Emerson describes "a boulevard, with tall trees growing on either side," adding that there were "desert plants and grass next to each other on the median strip[,]" which seems to describe Sunset Boulevard. Given that Eden most likely attends Lowell High School, which is near the Sunset District, this is plausible.

## The Heroes of Old

### The Gates of Tartarus

She runs into Hayley and tries to get her to run away with her, but it is then that Hayley reveals she knows Ares and is even related to him, citing they have a common Father, and demands to know what he's doing. Ares, while retaliating, accidentally lets slip that Hayley's name is actually Athena. When Eden demands answers, Hayley admits that Ares is telling the truth—she is indeed the original Athena from the myths, the goddess of wisdom and cleverness. As a response, Eden flees, unsure of who she can trust anymore.
Upon reaching a park (which is, given all the facts above, is implied to be Golden Gate Park), she meets a jogger, and has a somewhat-pleasant conversation with him about what is happening. Though not unguiltily, he later reveals himself to be **Hermes**, and sympathizes with her, but he reaffirms what Ares and Athena had said, saying that she must go to Olympus by the will of the gods. Eden, tired of running, agrees, but demands that he prove himself to be a god. Hermes responds by summoning his caduceus, but this proves too much for Eden, who passes out.
She later wakes up in Olympus' hospital, and it is then she meets **Apollo**. He is much more patient than the other gods, and answers her questions to the best of his abilities, though he refuses to answer some, explaining that there were some he shouldn't answer and allow her to figure out herself. When Eden asks if she can leave, he agrees.
Afterward, Apollo guides her through **Olympus**, which Eden describes in great detail—the city is said to be somewhat like a modern city, though with several technological improvements, one of which being their glass, holographic phones, which is later seen again in **Atlantis**. Eden describes the city as "ageless," noting the fashion and the architecture specifically. She also compares it to Oxford Street in London. Given Eden's description, Olympus seems to be divided into neighborhoods, though there only seems to be a downtown and a residential area, so this is uncertain.
Apollo introduced Eden to **Artemis**, who Eden notes, like the rest of the gods, is much different from her Greek mythology-counterpart. Artemis takes a liking to Eden immediately and agrees to Apollo's request to take care of her, and after the Sun god leaves, she and Eden have a pleasant conversation while walking to **the temple**. It is then that Eden learns of the parallel realms of the mythological world and the way they all coexist with each other.

## Appearance

Eden is stated to be of Asian, specifically Chinese, descent, with brown hair and eyes.

## Relationships

### Love Interests

#### Apollo

Apollo is Eden's primary and only love interest throughout the series.

### Friends

* Athena
* Artemis

Athena is Eden's best friend since before the trilogy.

Not much is known about their friendship, other than that they met when Athena was pretending to be "Hayley Brooks" and the two attended high school together.

Throughout the series, Athena has shown to be a loyal and fierce friend, even going as far as convincing Tartarus to let her speak with Eden and arguing against her father to reopen Olympus. It is stated in *The City of Atlantis* that she was one of the loudest protestors against the decree that no gods should interfere in mortal affairs, and was one of the most vocal supporters of the heroes.

Athena was the one to have blessed Galeria, and subsequently Eden, with heightened cleverness, and was also the one to have retrained Eden in the art of hand-to-hand combat.

Eden meets Artemis the first time she goes to Olympus.

The two of them immediately click, Eden noting with surprise that Artemis isn't like her mythological, cold portrayal and is rather warm and outgoing. Though Artemis doesn't play a large role in the series, she, like Athena, had been stated to be one of the protesters against Zeus' decree and helped Apollo and Hermes sneak the pegasi out of Olympus due to her favorable relationship with her father.

Artemis was the one to have blessed Galeria, and subsequently Eden, with heightened senses, and was also the one to have retrained Eden in the art of archery.
### Family

* Mr and Mr Hills
* Adrianna Hills

Mr and Mr Hills are Eden's adoptive fathers.

Adrianna Hills is Eden's adoptive sister.

## Abilities

* **Chaos Magic:** As a member of the Galerii gens, Eden was born with the ability to manipulate chaos; however, as she is also the daughter of Herminia, these powers would've been considerably weaker compared to those before her had it not been for Hera's blessing to enhance these abilities.
	+ Because of Hera's blessing, Eden is the most powerful of the Galerii line when it comes to chaos magic; however, this is in terms of raw power alone.
	+ As a being of chaos, Eden grew stronger in Tartarus, as opposed to Apollo, who had grown weaker.
	+ While some of the gods had only given her mild powers over the tangible world, it has been shown that Eden can enhance any of the powers given to her by the gods when she uses it alongside her chaos magic to amplify her abilities, far surpassing in power what any of the gods had intended.
* **Enhanced Abilities**: Eden's enhanced abilities were the first to awaken when she was in Tartarus. It is stated she has enhanced speed, strength, cleverness, senses, creativity, and healing (from Hermes, Ares, Athena, Artemis, Dionysus, and Apollo, respectively).
* **Emotion Manipulation:** Aphrodite's gift to Eden, she has some control over the emotions; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.
	+ Apollo states that this is one of the most difficult skills to learn, and that even Aphrodite has trouble using it sometimes.
	+ Eden first uses it against the Atlanteans in *The City of Atlantis*, and is successful, though she admits she doesn't know what she was doing.
		- While using this power, she notes that it is more powerful than the power of forceful persuasion, but trickier to figure out how to use correctly.
* **Lighting and Wind Manipulation:** Zeus' gift to Eden, she has some control over the weather, though it is certainly inferior to that of Aden and Ella's; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.
* **Earth and Water Manipulation:** Poseidon's gift to Eden, she has some control over the physical world; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.
* **Plant Manipulation:** Demeter's gift to Eden, she has some control over living plants; however, when utilized with her chaos magic, she can enhanced this power.

## Etymology

**Eliana**, in Hebrew, literally translates to "my God has answered me." In Latin, it comes from from *Aeliana*, of the gens *Aelinii*, which means, "of the Sun," derived from the Greek *helios*, which means "Sun." **Eden**, in Hebrew, means "Place of Pleasure," or simply "Paradise."

**Elita**, in French, means "Elite." In Latin, it means "The Chosen One."

**Hills**, derived from the old English *hyll*, means "a person who lived on a hill." It is one of the most common surnames in both England and the United States.

## Trivia

* Eden is distantly related to three of the other five reincarnated heroes in *The City of Atlantis*.
	+ Ella, when she was Helen, was Penelope's cousin, who was Eden's sister-in-law when she was Andromeda.
	+ Paris' son, when he was Achilles, had married Hermione, Helen's daughter, therefore making Andromeda and Achilles related by law.
	+ Aden, who had been Perseus, was the ancestor of Olympias, Kallistrate's mother, about a millennium before she was born.
* Though Eden's birth year is unknown, it could be reasonably deduced she was born in either 2001 or 2002 as *The Gates of Tartarus* was published in 2020.
* As Eden's birthday is November 1st, she is a Scorpio, which is associated with the element Water and the planets Mars and Pluto.
	+ Interestingly, Mars is the Roman name of the Greek god Ares, who was the first god she met.
* It is stated that Eden is terrified of herself / her own powers sometimes, as she can't control them very well.
* Eden had admitted that while Athena blessed her with enhanced cleverness, she still wasn't wise, and was clever enough to know that.
* It is implied that Eden is the spirit to have escaped the Underworld that Nyx had mentioned.
* Eden doesn't think of herself as a reincarnated hero like the rest of the five in *The City of Atlantis*, but more a villain.