Persephone

"Husband, we talked about this. You can't go around incinerating every hero. Besides, he's brave. I like that."

- Persephone

Persephone (Περσεφoνε in Ancient Greek)  is the minor Greek goddess of springtime, flowers, and young life. She is also the queen of the Underworld. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and Zeus and the wife of Hades. Her Roman counterpart is Proserpina. Persephone is portrayed by Rosario Dawson in The Lightning Thief (film).

History
Unlike Zeus' other children, Persephone has no position at Olympus. Persephone used to live far away from the other deities, a goddess within Nature herself before the days of planting seeds and nurturing plants. When Persephone reached marriageable age, the gods Hermes, Ares, Apollo, and Hephaestus had all wooed her, but Demeter rejected all their gifts and hid her daughter away from the company of the Olympian deities. Thus, Persephone lived a peaceful life before she became the goddess of the Underworld, which did not occur until Hades abducted her and brought her to the Underworld by his infamous kidnapping of her.

Persephone's uncle, Hades, was lonely and wanted a wife. He spied Persephone in the fields one day and entranced by her purity and beauty, fell in love with her at first sight. Persephone was innocently picking flowers with some nymphs in a field in Enna when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth. Life came to a standstill as the devastated Demeter, goddess of harvest, searched everywhere for her lost daughter. Hecate, Goddess of magic, then told Demeter she had heard Persephone scream that she was being kidnapped. Demeter then stopped caring for the Earth, and the land didn't flourish and people began to starve and die.

In some stories it is said that Eros, the god of love shot a golden arrow into Hades' heart while he was riding in his black chariot when Hades rode across the field and saw Persephone, thus he fell in love with her. Most versions agree Hades first obtained the permission of Zeus to kidnap her.

Hades was determined to make Persephone love him, and tried in many ways. She hated him at first for snatching her away from her mother, but soon she came to revel in Demeter's absence as she had never been allowed away from her mother before. Hades very much wanted Persephone's love and, at first, tried to buy it with many gifts. But then he took to spending all of his day with his new wife, working to make her happy. Hecate, the Goddess of Magic, came down to the Underworld and befriended Persephone, and Hades was pleased, because Persephone was not depressed or unhappy when her friend was around.

Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds, which forced her to return to the underworld for a season each year. In another version she ate the pomegranate off of a tree not knowing the results, but a servant (or sometimes a gardener) of Hades testified against her forcing her to return.

When Demeter and her daughter were united, the Earth flourished with vegetation and color, but for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the Underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm: and that is how the seasons came from. In Spring and Summer, Persephone and her mother are together. In Fall and Winter, Persephone goes back with Hades. This is the myth to explain the weather changes in Fall and Winter compared with Spring and Summer.

The Demigod Files
In The Sword of Hades, Percy, Thalia, and Nico were sent to the underworld, Persephone appeared above them and told them that the newly created sword (forged from one of Hades' keys) was stolen. She gave them a flower (yellow carnation), which would point them in the direction of the thief, and stated that its petals will fall, and when all has fallen, then the thief would have escaped. Later when they had recovered the sword, Percy realized that the sword was ordered to be made by Persephone against Hades' intent.

The Last Olympian
When Percy was tricked by Nico to Hades' palace, while Hades was debating what to do with Percy, Persephone appeared bickering with her mother, Demeter. She asked Hades if he could not kill Percy, because it's a shame to kill a hero, they were so brave. Hades decided to lock Percy up, Persephone appeared for a moment to argue but then let it go and continued arguing with her mother and disappeared. She later appeared with Hades and Demeter on a chariot riding as reinforcements against Kronos outside the Empire State Building. She turned the dracanae's spears into sunflowers.

Appearance
In The Sword of Hades she was described as a tall, beautiful, young woman with pale skin, flowing, and curled black hair, and wearing a white dress, which, in fact, is actually a colorful dress, though the colors have been washed out. Although she was beautiful during the winter, it seemed like she would be more so during Spring. Her eyes were said to be multicolored, but also washed out, as if the Underworld had sapped her life force. In The Last Olympian, Persephone's eyes were warm chocolate brown, and thought to be more "welcoming" than they were in The Sword of Hades. She was also said to have more lustrous, black hair.

Proserpina
Persephone can change her appearance into her Roman counterpart of Proserpina. As Proserpina, she becomes more disciplined, warlike, and militaristic. The Greeks believed Persephone's return from the Underworld signified the rebirth of crops whereas the Romans thought that Proserpina preserved their seeds during the winter.

Abilities
Although Persephone is only a minor goddess, she exhibits many powers in the series.
 * She can turn anything (even living people) into flowers. She used this ability in the Battle of Manhattan by turning the dracanae's spears into sunflowers and also turned Nico into a dandelion.
 * She is probably very good at growing things or has magical growing powers.
 * Since she is the wife of Hades, it's possible that she has limited geokinesis, since in The Demigod Files, she splits open the ground beneath Percy, Thalia, and Nico to get them into the Underworld.
 * She can also create Travel Roses, which she gave the three demigods listed above so they could return to the world above. In the film, she has something similar, although instead of flowers they are pearls that take you to the place you visualize when you crush them.
 * As wife of Hades and Queen of the Underworld she may have the limited ability to manipulate the dead to do her bidding.

Demeter


During her early life, Persephone only knew her father, her mother, and the nymphs that accompanied them. She grew up very close to her mother (she rarely saw her father Zeus) and her mother in turn became dependent upon her. When Hades kidnapped her, she did not want to stay with him, and wanted to be rescued, but over time, she fell in love with him and was relieved to be free from her mother's bossiness, nagging, and smothering for a time. She was tricked into eating the six pomegranate seeds, wanting to stay with her mother, but came to value the time away from her mother. Demeter's relationship with her daughter is slightly unhealthy, as Demeter is only happy when she is with her daughter, but they both love each other dearly, despite the problems between them. Persephone is known to be reluctant to follow her mother's will, though, as proven in The Last Olympian.

Hades
When Hades kidnapped her, she did not want to stay with him and wanted to be rescued. He was very kind, and he didn't ever nag, boss, or smother her. He very much wanted her love and tried to buy it with many gifts at first, but then took to spending all of his day with her, trying to make her happy. He tricked her into eating the pomegranate seeds forcing her to stay with him part of the year. At first she despised Hades, but in time she grew to respect him and value her position as Queen of the Dead. It gave her a chance to get away from her mother. Eventually she fell in love with him and looked forward to spending her time with him, even forgiving his infidelities, as he got lonely without her. In the film however, she appears to resent the time she spends with him and the Underworld, creating pearls that allow her visitors to escape the Underworld safely.

Hecate
During her time in the Underworld, Hecate is one of Persephone's few friends. Not much is known about their relationship, but it is assumed that the two are close, as Hecate stays in the Underworld often.

Nico di Angelo
Persephone's relationship with her step-son is strained. She apparentely turned Nico into a dandelion during a "family spat". Nico is not very fond of his step-mother either.

The Lightning Thief
Persephone YUiickB5IcI In the movie The Lightning Thief, Persephone is played by Rosario Dawson. Unlike the books where she first appeared in The Last Olympian (and The Demigod Files), she is one of the first of the gods Percy meets in the film. Her personality and relationship with Hades are the exact opposites of what they were in the book; Hades apparently keeps her prisoner in the Underworld. When Luke was talking about her, he says, "Needless to say, she hates it there. It's hot, he's a weirdo. So she has...secret 'visitors'." In a deleted scene where Hades describes to Percy the extent of his damnation, he claims: "I'm hungry but cannot taste, I'm tired but cannot sleep..." He then glances at his wife and says, "I'm in love but cannot...fulfill my desires." Although Persephone starts to show some form of emotion as he is talking, when he finishes she merely walks off and mutters, "Excuses." Hades tells her, "Heard that!" and yet Persephone merely says, "I know." She also seems to have feelings of infatuation toward Grover and claims that Hades is 'cruel and abusive'.

Although she only made one appearance, she was vital to the success of Percy's quest in two ways. Unlike in the book, where Percy received the magical pearls from Poseidon through a Nereid, in the film the pearls are owned by Persephone and there are apparently dozens of them around the world, with three currently in the U.S.. Although from a different source, their use is still virtually the same: you crush them under your feet and visualize where you want to be taken. Persephone mainly used them as a way for her 'secret visitors' to escape quickly and easily from the Underworld. The first pearl was located inside Aunty Em's Garden Emporium, which was actually Medusa's layer. Percy manages to behead her and claim the pearl, which somehow ended up on her bracelet. They also take her head with them to retrieve the second pearl, which they find on the crown of Athena's statue in the Parthenon in Nashville. Percy uses Luke's flying shoes to get it and then uses Medusa's head to petrify the Hydra that guards it disguised as the Parthenon's five janitors. The third and final pearl caused their biggest setback; it was held in a roulette wheel in the Lotus Casino in Las Vegas, which was actually the home of the Lotus-eaters. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are doped by the Lotus flowers and accidentally spend five days there (they thought it was just a few hours), but Poseidon breaks the trance on Percy through telepathy and the trio escape, taking the pearl with them.

The second time she helps them is more direct and takes place in the Underworld. She greets them at the front door to Hades's palace, constantly tries to seduce Grover, and is in the background when Hades is speaking with Percy. When the Master bolt is discovered the Percy's shield, Hades claims it as his own and Persephone summons multiple hellhounds to 'kill' Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Sally Jackson. She then kisses Hades to distract him, giving her the chance to snatch the bolt away from him and blast him with it. She calls off the hellhounds, and when asked why she did that' she explains that, when confined to the Underworld, the only thing she has to look forward to is her time in the world above with her mother and the other gods, and that if Hades overthrew them all and took control of Olympus, she would be completely alone with the man of her nightmares. She hands the bolt to Percy to take to Olympus and stop the war; however, since there are only three pearls and four quest members (Percy's mom was given permission to leave also), Grover decides to stay with Persephone, much to the goddess's delight. Percy promises to come back for him, and on Olympus he asks Zeus to bring him back, which Zeus agrees to. When Percy and Grover reunite back at camp, he recounts some of the things he and Persephone did together, how much of a great time they had, and about how she might really like him.

Trivia

 * Nico is holding a grudge against her, because they once had a "family spat" and she turned him into a dandelion, though she is trying to be nice to him.
 * Her appearance changes just like the seasons.
 * She finds her mother, Demeter, highly irritable.
 * She ordered the Sword of Hades to be made.
 * Proserpina is a main belt asteroid 95.1km in diameter, is named after her roman counterpart.
 * Kore is another title for Persephone, which happens to be a moon of Jupiter, meaning "The Maiden"
 * Persephone's name has an unknown meaning, some speculate that means "Destroyer of Light"
 * Unlike most gods she doesn't have a sacred animal, but she did have a number of plants and fruit as symbols (mint, corn, daffodil, pomegranate, white willow tree)