Demeter

"I warned you, daughter. This scoundrel Hades is no good. You could've married the god of doctors or the god of lawyers, but noooo. You had to eat the pomegranate."

- Demeter

Demeter, (Δήμητρα in Ancient Greek) is the major Olympian Greek Goddess of the Harvest, and Agriculture, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, the seasons, motherly love and the harvest. Demeter is the middle daughter of the Titans Rhea and Kronos. She is the younger sister of Hestia and Hades, and the elder sister of Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus. With her brother Zeus, she gave birth to Persephone, and was brokenhearted when she was kidnapped by Hades. Other mortal daughters of Demeter include Katie Gardner and Miranda Gardiner. Her Roman counterpart is Ceres. Ceres is where the word cereal came from, which explains why she insists that Percy and Nico (and other demigods) eat more cereal. Demeter is portrayed by Stefanie von Pfetten in The Lightning Thief Film.

History
Demeter was swallowed upon her birth by her father along with Hestia, Hades, Poseidon and Hera, they were later saved by Zeus to help defeat Kronos and the Titans. After the war, Zeus and Poseidon tried to marry her, but Demeter instead devoted herself to her duties as the goddess of the harvest. Though Zeus was married to Hera, Demeter had a relationship with him that resulted in a daughter, Persephone. Though the affair ended, Demeter was very happy as she had a beautiful daughter all to herself. Persephone grew up without want, always staying close to her mother and sharing some of her power over the earth.

Demeter is most notable for the abduction of Persephone by Hades. Demeter was devastated by her daughter's abduction and swore that she would keep the Earth barren until her brother agreed to return Persephone. Seeing no other choice, Zeus sent Hermes to fetch the young goddess but Persephone had since fallen in love with Hades and having eaten 6 seeds of a pomegranate, she was now bound to reside in the Underworld for six months of each year during which Demeter refuses to allow life to grow on the earth.

She also presided over the foremost of the Mystery Cults which promised its initiates the path to a blessed afterlife.

The Titan's Curse
She first appeared in The Titan's Curse at the winter solstice council meeting, having no known speaking role but one of the first few, along with Aphrodite, to vouch for Percy Jackson's safety.

The Last Olympian
She and Persephone make an appearance in The Last Olympian in the Underworld. As a guest in Hades's realm due to her daughter's presence, she nags Persephone about marrying her uncle, Hades, displaying a character similar to that of elderly mothers in modern Western pop culture, and meets Percy and Nico when they go down for the Styx, this time curiously displaying no particular affection for either. After Nico convinces Hades to reinforce Olympus at a desperate moment and help his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon and the other Olympian gods, against their Titan Father, Kronos, both Demeter and her first daughter joined with him, turning an entire army of giants into a wheat field while in battle and later joining the other gods on Olympus when they reward the heroes after the Battle of Manhattan has ended.

Appearance
Demeter has long, wavy black hair with large brown eyes. She wears a wheat yellow dress and has dried grass braided in her hair. According to Percy, she is an older and sterner version of Persephone.

Personality
Demeter is somewhat fussy and overprotective but seems to be absent-minded which goes far into explaining how Persephone could have been kidnapped. A stereotypical mother in-law, Demeter takes every opportunity to chastise and criticize Hades. Possessing a caring nature, Demeter insists upon advising healthy eating and hard work as every mother would.

Ceres
Demeter can change into her Roman counterpart of Ceres. As Ceres, she becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. She might have children or descendants at Camp Jupiter near San Francisco.

Abilities

 * She presumably has the standard powers of a goddess
 * Demeter is chlorokinetic, she can control, create, and manipulate plants and crops
 * She can transform things into plants. She can turn multiple things at once as shown in The Battle of Manhattan when she transformed many Dracaenae into barley.

The Lightning Thief
Demeter briefly appears among the Olympian council when Percy presents the Master Bolt to Zeus.

Trivia

 * After Hestia stepped down from the Olympian Council, Demeter is the oldest Olympian who has a throne in Olympus.
 * Stefanie von Pfetten played Persephone in her movie, Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists, and in The Lightning Thief as Demeter, so it means she played both the roles of Mother and Daughter in different movies.
 * Out of her and her sisters (Hera and Hestia), she is the only one to have demigod children.
 * Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, is named after Demeter's Roman self.
 * Demeter is one of the twelve Olympians who doesn't make a major appearance in a book, aside from her minor role in The Last Olympian. Only two of her demigod children are mentioned in the series and, unlike most of the gods, she has never had a face-to-face meeting with Percy Jackson.
 * In The Last Olympian, Demeter kept on telling Persephone to eat more cereal. which is named after her Roman counterpart.
 * An element is named after her Roman form.
 * She appears to have choose her lovers for humorous reasons as both of her known children- Miranda Gardiner and Katie Gardner- ironically have names that sound like garden/gardener for she is goddess of nature and farming.
 * 1108 Demeter, a main belt asteroid 26 km in diameter, is named after her.
 * Ceres, her Roman Counterpart, is depicted on the Seal of New Jersey as a symbol of prosperity.

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