Helenus of Troy

## Helenus

**Helenus**, also called **Scamandrius**, was the Prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and twin brother of Cassandra. He was one of the oracles of Phoebus Apollo in ancient times.

## Overview

In Greek mythology, **Helenus** was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was also called Scamandrios, and was a lover of Apollo.

## Appearance

Helenus appeared as a frail and sickly-looking man with wild and untamed hair covering most of his face and body. His eyes were pale-blue and were generally described as "broken glass". He wore an expensive-looking tunic with ceremonial robes on top and a wreath of laurel leaves crowned his head.

His voice was described to be soft and airy, as if he had never tried speaking before, and his Ancient Greek was said to be laced in a thick Anatolian accent.

## Personality

Helenus was shown to be an arrogant, cruel, and tyrannical man who possessed no shame. Even as an old man, he showed little thought or concern for what happened to others due to his self-centered nature, not fully considering the long-term consequences of his actions.

He was a callous man and prided himself as a conqueror, having exposed the secrets of Troy to the Achaeans out of cowardice. He also possessed a lecherous side to his personality as he had openly expressed his lust to his sister-in-law Andromache the moment Hector died, much to everyone's disgust, and had claimed her as his slave after he had sold out his city.

Despite this, he was still a sly and cunning man who knew how to spin the narrative for his benefits, as it was heavily implied that the gentle and wise reputation he had in the Iliad was through his manipulations.

He had strange feelings toward Cassandra, as while he often cursed her name and her legends, she was possibly the only person he truly cared about. After death, he didn't appear to have much regret in life, not even a sense of guilt about what he had done to Troy, but he did feel regret that he didn't do enough to save his sister's life.

## History

### Early Years

Scamandrius was born the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of Cassandra. As a young child, he was blessed with the gift of Divination Magic from Apollo and was sent to his temple to be raised as a kid, and his name was changed into Helenus by a Thracian Soothsayer.

When his younger brother was born, he predicted that if Alexander (Paris) brought home a Greek wife, the Achaeans would pursue, and overpower Troy and slay his parents and siblings.

### Trojan War

As he grew up, Helenus became a famed oracle and was widely known as the "greatest of augurs". When the Trojan War began, he served as one of the strategists and provided the Trojan armies with many predictions, outsmarting the plans Calchas had predicted.

He was the one who advised Hector to challenge any Achaean to a duel, which Ajex the Great accepted. He led the third battalion of the Trojan forces along with his brother Deiphobus. He was also part of the Trojan forces led by his brother Hector that beat the Achaeans back from the plains west of Troy and attacked their camp, though he was wounded by Menelaus and forced to retreat.

In the final years of the Trojan War, Helenus competed against his brothers for the hands of Helen and Andromache after the deaths of Paris and Hector, but when he failed and was mocked, he became disgruntled and retreated to Mount Ida, where he was captured by Odysseus. Fearing he might be hurt, or worse killed, he told Odysseus all about the secrets of the Trojan army and how to capture Troy: Stealing the Palladium, bringing the bones of Pelops to Troy, and persuaded Neoptolemus and Philoctetes to join the Achaeans in the war.

When Troy was invaded, Helenus was carried away by Odysseus as compensation for trading out Troy's secrets, though he took Andromache with him to make her his slave and concubine.

### Aftermath

After the fall of Troy, Helenus went with Neoptolemus to Epirus with Andromache, where Neoptolemus permitted him to found the city of Buthrotum. After Neoptolemus was killed by Orestes, his kingdom was partitioned, leading to Helenus acquiring the rule of Buthrotum as king. Years later, Andromache bore him a son, Cestrinus who later be associated with the mythical king Francus.

## Abilities

**Divination Magic**: Due to his training to be the High-Priest of Apollo, Helenus was adeptly trained in Divination Magic and was considered to be among the greatest seers in Ancient Greece, among legendary figures such as Calchas or Tiresias. During the Trojan War, he used his skills in Divination Magic to counter Calchas' owns, thus protecting the Trojans' battle plans from the Achaeans.

* **Clairvoyance**: Helenus was one of Apollo's oracles and possessed true precognition, thus allowing him to perceive events years, if not even centuries, in the future. While most of his powers had faded after death, his precognition was still fairly strong, as shown in his latest summoning by Nico di Angelo in 20XX.

**Indomitable Will**: Despite being a shade, Helenus had shown to possess an iron will that allowed him to resist summoning from chthonic gods and necromancers alike. Even when forcefully summoned, he could still disobey his invoker and refuse to answer questions until certain conditions that *he* made were met, thus showing the strength of his mind.

## Trivia

* He and Apollo were the two only people to know about the contents of the Book of Revelation from Cassandra before it was rediscovered by Christians under Nero's reign.
* In Greek mythology, he was said to be the lover of Apollo.
* In the Aeneid, he was said to prophesy Aeneas' founding of Rome.
* Some myths said that he, Cassandra, Hecuba, and Andromache were set free by the Achaeans and migrated to Chersonese where they settled with twelve hundred followers.