Olympnomachi: Of Macaria, daughter of Hades and her Time in Erebus & Asgard

Yes the saga will continue

This incident was not the last dark legacy that was to loom over the second children of Hades and Persephone, as Freyja and Hecate made at about this time a prophecy that was to haunt Olympos for many millennia. It was to have disastrous effects upon all, of the west, as they predicted that the ‘King of Olympos by ancestral rights, shall have an heir who shalt surpass him in all things.’ This frightened Zeus who was to be reminded with these words reported to him by his ancient friend Hecate, of how his father and grandfather were deposed. Anxious that he should retain his power, he avoided all maids that were prophesized to be destined to give birth to sons ‘mightier than their husbands or lovers’, so that the likes of Thetis were avoided by him. This fear meant that his sons and daughters were never to reach the greatness of Oðin and Amun-Re’s sons and daughters, or those of Amaterasu, as those rulers did not fear their kin.

In the year after Melinoë’s death at the hands of Zeus there came, the fulfillment of the prophecy lain down by the goddesses Freyja and Hecate. It happened that Persephone was also close to the dark-goddess, and full of grief for her lost daughter she forbade her spouse to ever utter her name again. When the goddess at last gave birth, she did so in the mortal realm, in the mountains of Diktaea on the isle of Adrastos or Kretia as it was known in ancient times. Hidden, with her aunt Hestia for a nurse-maid, along with Hecate, she gave birth to twins.

The eldest of the two was a daughter, and she was black of hair, so much so that it was dark as night, where her flesh was as pale as moonlight. Her resemblance to him amazed even her father, who was present in the form of his avatar. Pleased he took her up at once, in his arms and gave her the name Macaria or ‘Blessed Death’ in the Dorian tongue. It has been said that something of her elder sister’s terrible nature, was breathed into her somehow, that she carried for some time, the evil of the first daughter of Hades. Not that Hades cared for such talk, for where his first child had been as a stranger to him and his wife, these children were to be the ‘twin jewels’ of his kingdom, such was the love he bore for them. As to the boy, he was whiter of flesh and hair than a corpse, with one eye golden where the other was dark. Many feared at first that he might be the one, to have evil in his soul, yet by the time he was four in godly years, none feared this as he was the most generous, the most pure and perfect child who was ever born!

The cries of the boy were a wonder to all who heard it, so masculine was it. Where Macaria’s were weak, her chest barely moving panicked her mother turned to her nurse-maids. Eyes full of tears she begged them, to save her child less she die stillborn. For all could see, just how weak the child was, how she was likely to die in a matter of moments.

Hades attempted to comfort her, if clumsily to no avail for he was as troubled as she, with Hestia adding her own voice to his, to no avail. Moved by her sorrows, and being the wisest and mightiest of the goddesses of the west, Hecate admitted if reluctantly there was a way to save Macaria. Unable to imagine life without her, Persephone begged once more, with her friend admitting that the only way, lay to bind their own life to Macaria’s.

As a tri-fold goddess, their fates and dooms would be interwoven together, with there being a mother, crone and child, but also a lover, warrior and witch. Under these auspices they might ensure that Macaria, would live, her strand of fate lengthened for a time. “Lo! Be warned O daughter of Zeus, should one of the three of us, lay wounded we all shalt share the wound. As to death, well we all shalt in time share our fates together, unless we become one.”

Half mad with fear, for her beloved child and determined to never lose another, Persephone swore her oath. Bound to her word, she induced Hecate to cast the ritual, which was done with the babe regaining her strength swiftly.

What Hecate had not said, was that any curses or prophecies pertaining to the child, were now to include them also. Not that Persephone had much care, for such things in that moment; her child was whole. It was all that mattered.

Orcus was the boy dubbed, by his father who had his children taken down to Erebus, lest the same fate, as Melinoë befall them. As fearful and protective as Demeter once was, he raised them for a time in the utmost secrecy. He had reason to fear, as it soon entered into the wicked heart of Loki, to steal away one of them. Keen as he was to sow chaos, he found the peace that followed Melinoë’s death dull, with the trickster now wondering what if he were to take the daughter or son of the Lord of Erebus from him.

His only attempt was an aborted affair wherein he attempted, to lead the children away from the kingdom of their father, when he had gone to investigate an attempt to break Kronos free from Tartarus. With Persephone in Midgard, and their father absent the twins took to racing through their king’s realm. Espying them, Loki approached them and convinced them to run, as close to the entrance as possible.

Orcus hesitated, never one to disobey Hades but Macaria wild as her mother, and ever keen to convince all of her good health. She was very near caught up in Loki’s trap, when she burst thither into the mortal realm near where the entrance to the underworld was to be found.

Proud of his accomplishment, when he caught her by the arm, Cerberus bellowed and leapt hither to protect her, only to be beaten back, since Loki was fiercer than the beast. No fool, the thrice-headed dog howled to his master, who understood at once that, his children were in danger. Full of dark wrath, he raced back on his great black chariot, pulled by even blacker horses his advance so frightful that the trickster released Macaria at once. For he had underestimated the eldest son of Rheia, and could not understand how his trick, had been defeated so utterly.

Angry with his daughter also, Hades sought the counsel of his sister Hestia, and that of Hecate. And it was then that, the witch-goddess worked her worst act of trickery, one that even she came to in time, regret. She persuaded the two to split the twins, for all knew that they were mightiest together, and that were they to evade, the sight of Zeus, they would have to be split from one another. It was decided that Hestia was to foster Macaria, as punishment for her folly.

This stung the lass, who pleaded for her father’s forgiveness; he however though this time of a far more gentle mien than at the prior separation, remained nonetheless firm. His Queen being the one, who goaded and reminded him upon her return, of the sorrows surrounding Melinoë, with this separation in her view, necessary. Especially, if it was but for a short period and to evade any further attention, from Olympos and most of all, Loki, with this being the promise made to their daughter.

For her own part, she never forgot this separation either, though she swiftly took to her aunt, who sought to pass on to her all her collected wisdom. She also passed to her, as she had Persephone, once upon a time, the secrets of her ‘secret fire’, which was so keenly sought after by Hecate and Zeus. What was more was that she taught her to spin, to care for the animals of the land, and to utilise her great mana. Though, the daughter of Hades hardly took to the light, favouring the dark of night, and shadows to sunlight.

Her time with her aunt, lasted but a short time, as one of the Nymphs, Thanámi to be exact, in the service of Hestia (there were four; Thoryvódis (noisy-river), Thanámi (death-river), Liviera (Olive-river) and Beatrea (joy-bringer)) sold them to Zeus. Hitherto disinterested in the daughter, he was however convinced of her value, by Hecate who reminded him of Melinoë. And of the fact that, part of her own self lived on in his granddaughter, and that the lass thus bore a great resemblance to her own self.

This inspired a great desire, in the King of the gods who had her sent for, by Hestia who withdrew deeper into the woods of Mitéria (mother-woods), in the lands that one day destined to become known as Korax. Angered by this refusal, he went down in all his majesty, to demand the girl.

Frightened, Hestia attempted to dissuade him and even attempted to send Macaria away. This was for naught, as she this time tapped some sort of darker power of hers. Her might was, even as a godling formidable, so that what followed was the death of her Nymphs, and her aunt though she had not intended, with her explosion of magic to slay them. The house of the girl was burnt to the ground, with the child blaming Zeus. Warned by Hermes that, Oðin had seen the destruction, and intended to investigate, he departed back for Olympos, leaving the girl in the burnt remains of her home.

She was found there, not by Oðin himself, however but his adoptive son Tyr. A fierce and proud warrior, he took pity upon the daughter of Hades, against all wishes of his father and mother, he took her thence to Asgard. Where he was to raise her, train her in arms and make her mighty, as though she were his own.

Alarmed by this, the Olympians sent Hermes, to demand her head for the death of Hestia, to which Tyr spat upon him, and drew his blade. “What man, is he, thy father to tremble before a mere lass? And he thinks me, so cowardly as to give her unto him, when it was he who brought death to his sister’s house? Not for all the arms in Asgard, or the wealth in the lands of the Nṯr (Neteru) would I give her over, I say!”

Infuriated by this, Hermes pleaded with Oðin who ordered him from the grand hall, and commanded him to convey to Zeus that Macaria was already dead. He hereon had his son, rename her and pronounced her no longer Macaria, daughter of Hades but Astrild, daughter of Tyr. Quite why, the king of the Æsir decreed this, none may ever divine, yet mayhap he along with his son Meili schemed once more, to dethrone Zeus through her.

For his own part, he took heed of the situation and consulted with his daughter and son, Athene and Ares, who both counselled war. Far wiser than they, he preferred to adapt to Oðin’s methods, by turning now to cunning, housing Loki in his house in defiance of the Æsir. This in despite how they wished him punished, for his sins against Balðr, Hodr and Nanna, in time he would have reason to regret this choice.

In time, Astrild grew into a young woman, one who was armed with one of her foster father’s blades, and who the year before her rite of womanhood amongst, the Ásynjor. Swore an oath of sisterhood, with Tyr’s daughter Zisa the cleverest, of their generation of gods, the dark-goddess thus tied her fate, to her friend. The only oath, she was destined to fulfill after that, was that which she swore in private to slay the King of Olympos.

It came about that, in the year of her rise to full Ásynjor-status that, Freyja resisted the appointing of Astrild to their ranks, claiming that. “Though she hast great fire within her, having the might and greatness of ten gods, and being far more man than any woman may ever be. She is however possessed, of profound evil. I fear that, she is possessed in some way, by Melinoë’s madness also.”

Still, Oðin wished to have her be an Æsir, possibly to make her a Valkyrie, as Brynhildr had been. Though, she possessed the correct aptitude, none could describe Astrild’s appearance, as remotely appealing. Between this, and her innate loathing for all men, borne from her hostility to Zeus as well as Meili’s great multitude of pranks upon her, as she grew up. For he had taken to spilling water upon her head, the one time she attempted to wear a dress, or stealing away her swords, when she besought arms and armour. Along with countless other misdeeds that, greatly amused his brothers and father, and even his mother at times. The daughter of Hades though, had her father’s ill-nature towards such jests, and took to them poorly.

Still though, she upon her rite of womanhood struck Meili so harshly he flew across the tables, unto his father, who laughed so hard that, many stared in marvel. It was then, as he laughed drunkenly, the Allfather declared, to the dismay of all, most especially his wife and his good-daughter, Tyr’s wife Hulda. “Mayhap, she wishes to be a man, hereon I say; she shalt yet be made a lady, and it will be to Meili Voyage-Lord to do so.”

The promise to wed Astrild to Meili, greatly pleased Tyr though none others shared his pleasure at the news, for he had as of late come to regret, teaching her arms. Lo! He foretold, as all who lay eyes upon her that though mighty, she was destined as a warrior, never to find joy.

Neither of the young couple wished to wed, however it was Oðin’s wish, and none could deny the old One-Eye. Not when he bent, his mind to it. Thus, just as she was brought to adulthood, she was made into a bride, while her oath-sister Zisa remained untouched.

This union began with much acrimony betwixt the two, for Meili had in truth no great love for her; she was repulsive to look upon, and hardly of a proper feminine disposition. Wherefore she found him, unfaithful and effeminate preferring trickery and oratory, to actual feats of arms, with the princess of Erebus, ere long infatuated by the likes of Dvalin. Who far from appealing himself, was nonetheless a great forger of arms and armour, with his jewels also so lovely that, even her dark heart was moved, notably when she beheld the Brísingamen’s sister jewel; the Stjárgamen. His prized jewel, presented before the gods upon completion, it struck such awe amongst all assembled that, all were moved to tears.

All the Ásynjor competed to claim it, with Astrild most of all, being greedy for it but as she was goddess of nothing, she was forbidden it. Dvalin though, initially held the condition that only his bride may claim it, and when none others stepped hither to wed him, he turned away. When he beheld, her countenance though, he refused her the gem, which angered her. She was however, forbidden to hold it or to slay him. He was however, for his insult commanded, to make her any other item she may desire, with none surprised when she requested, after some thought armour and weapons.

The armour he crafted for her was a cuirass that was made of unbreakable aurichalchum, with it named Prōtegōpura (purple-protector). So great was her joy that, old Dvalin was at last moved to request her hand, for he appreciated her passion for his work, however Oðin had other schemes in mind for her. Doubtless, when he heard of how it was Meili Oðin intended to wed her to, he was bitterly disappointed. For in her, he had found a friend.