Hera

Hera is the goddess of women and marriage. Her husband is Zeus and she is the Queen of the Gods, due to that marriage. She is the eldest daughter of Rhea and Kronos, and was also swallowed by her father with all of her other siblings except Zeus.

History
Hera spent the first part of her life in her father's stomach. Zeus saved her from this exsistance, and after the war with the Titans ended, she married him and became the Queen of the gods. After accepting Zeus, Gaia gave Hera an orchard with golden apples of immortality as a wedding gift. Hera employed the Hesperides, daughters of Atlas, to guard it, but not trusting them, also employed a one hundred headed dragon named Ladon. This orchard was later named The Garden of the Hesperides.

Over time, Zeus was very unfaithful to her, and had many children by mortal women. This understandably frustrated Hera to no end, and she devoted most of her time with keeping Zeus in sight, and making the lives of the children he had misrable.

Hera was insanely jealous of Zeus's other ladies and gets angry (especially in the story of Hermes) at Zeus's other children who aren't hers. This comes out most evidently in Hercules, whom Hera tried to kill repetitively, and who later ended up as her son-in-law by her daughter Hebe.

Hera gave birth to Hephaestus, and when she saw his unsightly appearance, she threw him from Olympus, crippling him forever. This act of cruelty haunted Hephaestus for life, and was a factor in his bitterness with life, his wife Aphrodite being another.

Hera is noted to blame this on her husband Zeus. Later in life, Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which, when she sat on, did not allow her to leave. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go, but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite as his wife.

She caused Semele's death (Dionysus' mother) and cursed Leto, the mother of the twins Apollo and Artemis. Hera also caused Hercules to become temporarily insane, and in his madness he killed his wife and children.

Hera claimed the golden apple that her daughter Eris threw, with the words 'for the fairest' written on it. She lost to Aphrodite, because of the bribe she had offered him. Hera then engaged along with Athena in revenge against Paris for regecting them.

The series
Percy even forgot for a while that she was a child of Kronos as well when they meet in the labyrinth. She voted in the winter solstice that Percy should live and also "helped" him in The Battle of the Labyrinth, to quote; 'I let your arrow fly straight.'.

However, Annabeth accused Hera of only wanting a "perfect family", after Hephaestus told her that Hera threw him down Mount Olympus and made up the story of Zeus throwing Hephaestus off the mountain. She also doesn't think much of her brother Hades and his family and calls Nico things like "reject". Hera responded with rage and said that Annabeth "will be sorry" for accusing her. She proceeds to curse Annabeth with her sacred animals causing cows to bother her all year.

Hera claims that her jealous behavior is all in the past now and she and Zeus have received 'marriage counciling' though it hasn't completely solved the problem as when Percy mention Thalia, Hera looks angered and with a sneer asks what about 'her'.

Though she hasn't sired any demigod children, she has a cabin at the Camp which Grover says is out of respect and the fact that she is the Goddess of marriage and the affairs are left to Zeus.

Appearance
Hera has long chocolate brown hair woven into a braid with gold ribbons, and wears a simple white dress that ripples like water when she moves. She is very beautiful, and looks like a mother, according to Percy.

Personality
Hera seems the mothering-type, which is induced by being the goddess of women, marriage, and children, but is seen to be very jealous. She also likes only 'perfect' children. She didn't care anything to Hephaestus because he wasn't her idea of the kind of son she wanted. She also despises the children of her husband that he has with other women, with a good reason, but takes it too far, by trying to destroy their lives instead of keeping her husband in order.

Powers
It is unknown what kind of supernatural powers Hera possesses. She apparently controls land, and countries, as she could offer Paris all of Europe and Asia if he picked her as the 'fairest'. She also controls marriages, and might have the ability to curse marriages if she is crossed. She is the goddess of motherhood, and might be able to affect fertility.

Family
She had few children with Zeus and had Hephaestus, but threw him from Mount Olympus.


 * 1) Ares
 * 2) Hebe
 * 3) Hephaestus
 * 4) Eris

Film
In the upcoming film, The Lightning Thief, Hera will be played by Erica Cerra.