Lore Olympus Theory: A Fertility Goddess Prophecy? (and what it could mean)
See, I've been reading people taking Demeter's ramblings about what she thinks is the deal with Persephone being a fertility goddess at face value. And while that's understandable given the lack of solid info we have and I don't necessarily think she is completely wrong, the evidence she presents is a bit hazy? Also, she's drawn wearing a tinfoil hat, so I'd say Rachel was telling us to put that into question.
Sure, Zeus consuming Metis gave him power, but the rest of the goddesses in the cycle were just... the wives of the previous kings. Powerful wives, for sure, but is them being fertility goddesses all there was to it? "It" being the overthrowings, I mean. Again, I'm not saying there's nothing to Demeter's idea but I feel like she's working with a wide and hazy picture.
So I propose another theory: Zeus heard a prophecy that the next son born out of a fertility goddess would overthrow him. And I feel like Leto and Apollo don't know this and are working under the same assumption that Demeter has. But I have at least 3 reasons as to why that kind of prophecy might be the case:
- Hades and his infertility, the myth of Persephone, and Apollo as a menace: The amount of narrative focus on Hades' supposed infertility already perks up ears, because while not as popular as other gods Hades and Persephone are known to have children in some versions of the myths. But hey, since Zeus doesn't know that in this story, wouldn't it make sense if he ordered Persephone to be married to Hades like he did in the original myth under the assumption that they can't have children together? Especially if he finds out about Apollo's careless raping of Persephone. What if she had gotten pregnant out of that? Better to make sure she's paired up with the safest person possible who not only is infertile but also has strictly forbidden Apollo to even step into his realm! The consequences of Demeter's ire be damned! Of course, that's probably going to bite him right in the ass, because as we all should know by now...
- Zagreus: "Highest of The Gods". I think he is like 95% guaranteed to appear in the story for many reasons, but the 2 big ones are, as already said, the focus on Hades' infertility and the fact that the story will deal with the birth of Dionysus. There's more, but I think I'll elaborate on that on another post.
- Thetis: do you know/remember what Thetis' myth is? Zeus ditches her because she was destined to have a son greater than his father, which turned out to be Aquilles. And if I happen to be right about this then that just puts her role and focus as an antagonist under a new light, right?
That being said I don't think that my theory is flawless. For one I have no idea why would Leto and by extension Apollo supposedly think Persephone's power will go to him somehow. My patch on that is that there was some form of miscommunication when the whole Zeus, Hera, and Leto shebang happened, but I have no real evidence to support that. But all in all I think this would be the most interesting course for the story to take. Only Rachel knows how wrong I may be. I'll see if I can make part 2 of what I think the reasons and consequences of Zagreus appearing would be next week.
