Aphrodite

"Beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself -— avoid trying to be something you're not. For a goddess, that's especially hard. We can change so easily."

- Aphrodite

Aphrodite (Αφροδίτη in Ancient Greek) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Her Roman counterpart is Venus. Aphrodite is portrayed by Serinda Swan in The Lightning Thief (film).

History
After Kronos severed Ouranos' body, his genitals created sea foam, from which Aphrodite was born. She later joined the Olympians after Zeus assumed power. Due to her immense beauty, Zeus was frightened that she would be the cause of violence between the other gods. Thus he married her off to Hephaestus, the dour, humorless god of smithing. Unhappy with her arranged marriage, Aphrodite began an affair with the violent but passionate Ares. She also had relationships with various mortals and other gods, resulting in many children.

The Trojan War
Aphrodite contributed greatly to the cause of the Trojan War, which lasted ten years and caused the violent downfall of the city of Troy. She bribed Paris, prince of Troy, with the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen), in return for him declaring her the fairest of the goddesses; a title she vied for with Hera and Athena.

Aphrodite supported Troy in the war, and intervened many times on behalf of Paris and her favorite son Aeneas, who was also of Trojan royalty. She also sparked the conflict by causing the already married Helen to fall in love with Paris. Despite the fact that their affair caused the end of Troy, Aphrodite seems to view them as a tragic and sympathetic couple.

Adonis
Aphrodite was Adonis' lover and a surrogate mother to him. A mortal named Myrrha gave birth to a baby boy named Adonis. Aphrodite happened to be by the Myrrh tree and, seeing him, took pity on the infant. She places Adonis in a box, and takes him down to Hades so that Persephone can care for him. Adonis grew into a strikingly handsome young man, and Aphrodite eventually returns for him. Persephone, however, loathes to give him up, and wishes Adonis would stay with her in the Underworld. The two goddesses begin such a quarrel that Zeus is forced to intercede. He decrees that Adonis will spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third of the year with Persephone, and a third of the year with whomever he wishes. Adonis, of course, chooses Aphrodite.

Adonis begins his year on the earth with Aphrodite. One of his greatest passions is hunting, and although Aphrodite is not naturally a hunter, she takes up the sport just so she can be with Adonis. They spend every waking hour with one another, and Aphrodite is enraptured with him. However, her anxiety begins to grow over her neglected duties, and she is forced to leave him for a short time. Before she leaves, she gives Adonis one warning: do not attack an animal who shows no fear. Adonis agrees to her advice, but, secretly doubting her skills as a huntress, quickly forgets her warning.

Not long after Aphrodite leaves, Adonis comes across an enormous wild boar, much larger than any he has ever seen. It is suggested that the boar is the god Ares, one of Aphrodite's lovers made jealous through her constant doting on Adonis. Although boars are dangerous and will charge a hunter if provoked, Adonis disregards Aphrodite's warning and pursues the giant creature. Soon, however, Adonis is the one being pursued; he is no match for the giant boar. In the attack, Adonis is castrated by the boar, and dies from a loss of blood. Aphrodite rushes back to his side, but she is too late to save him and can only mourn over his body.

On his death, Adonis goes back to the Underworld, and Persephone is delighted to see him again. Eventually, Aphrodite realizes that he is there, and rushes back to retrieve him. Again, she and Persephone bicker over who is allowed to keep Adonis until Zeus intervenes. This time, he says that Adonis must spend six months with Aphrodite and six months with Persephone, the way it should have been in the first place.

The Lightning Thief
Aphrodite is mentioned in The Lightning Thief, as constantly cheating on her husband with Ares (and mortals judging from all her children). Hephaestus constantly makes traps to try and embarrass her in front of the other gods, one of which Percy and Annabeth get trapped in while recovering Ares' shield. Percy finds Aphrodite's scarf, which Annabeth snatches away from him before he can get intoxicated by the perfume.

The Titan's Curse
She expressed her interest in Percy's love life, saying that his desire to save Annabeth was very cute. She also said that she wasn't going to make Percy's love life easy.She is also seen at the Winter Solstice voting with Demeter for Apollo to continue his haiku. She also votes for Percy to not get disintegrated.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
When Percy lands on the island of Ogygia, he meets Calypso and thinks that she is prettier than Aphrodite, but wouldn't say it out loud for fear of being zapped by her. Also, when Hephaestus comes to the island to ask Percy if he wants to leave and to beware of love due to the lack of loyalty from his wife. Percy also assumes Aphrodite landed him on Ogygia to make his love life interesting because she "likes him." Later, he learns that it was Hera who sent him there.

The Last Olympian
When Annabeth is chosen to be the official architect of Olympus, Aphrodite goes along with what Apollo said and agrees there should be many statues of her as well.

The Lost Hero
She makes an appearance in her daughter Piper's dream and talks to her. After the talk, Leo, Jason, Gleeson Hedge, and Piper all have new clothes and a bag with supplies.

In that appearance she tells Piper of her true enemy, Gaia. She also reveals why she considers herself to be the most powerful goddess as well as the oldest, being created out of Ouranos. She believes she is the most powerful due to the fact that love can bring the gods to their knees.

She also tells Piper that she truly loved Tristan McLean and understood him well enough not to reveal her real nature.

Aphrodite reveals a more caring nature, appearing to care for her children far more than the other Gods, (excluding Poseidon, and possibly Hades, Hermes, and Artemis with her Hunters) and treating people she loves in a kinder way, she seems to understand humans more than the other Gods and it is likely that without Aphrodite they would not have been able to complete the quest.

Appearance
Aphrodite is often perceived as the most beautiful goddess on Olympus, despite the reoccurring idea that many of the other goddesses are immensely beautiful as well. Unlike other gods, Aphrodite's physical appearance is difficult to discern, as it constantly changes slightly to align herself with the onlooker's perception of beauty.

Upon first looking at her, many people see her as resembling those that they are in love with or feel affection for. For example, Percy first saw Annabeth when he looked upon Aphrodite, and after her a TV actress he had a crush on in fifth grade. Her beauty is so overwhelmingly powerful, Percy's jaw dropped when he saw her, he forgot his name, and even how to speak in complete sentences. This is believed to be the usual reaction to Aphrodite's looks, which she seems to enjoy.

To Piper, she appeared with "shoulder-length hair, a graceful neck, perfect features, and an amazing figure tucked into jeans and a snowy white top." Aphrodite's appearance changed constantly. "She couldn't decide the color of her eyes, or the exact color of her hair. She became more and more beautiful, as if her image was aligning itself to Piper's thoughts- getting as close to Piper's idea of beauty."

Interestingly, in The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy said he thought Calypso was more beautiful than Aphrodite since Calypso didn't try so hard to be beautiful, as Aphrodite did. In contrast, when Piper meets Aphrodite, she described her as being 'beauiful without effort.' It may be that Aphrodite appears more effortlessly beautiful to one of her own children or that she appears in the form that they see as being beautiful (in Piper's case, being beautiful without much effort).

Venus
Aphrodite can change her appearance and turn into her Roman counterpart of Venus. As Venus, she becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. She likely has more children at Camp Jupiter near San Francisco because Ma Gasket referred to Piper as "Venus spawn." The Greeks envisioned Aphrodite as a beautiful and seductive being. In Rome, Venus was revered as the divine ancestor of their people.

Personality
Aphrodite is on occasion temperamental and vain as well as crafty, flirtatious, and seductive. Despite these qualities, Aphrodite is both very loving and passionate, having a sincere faith in love that is absolute and true. She is very benevolent, gentle, and loving to those she favors and/or loves (such as Percy) and deeply loves and cares for her children as well as their fathers, and she is known to care enough for her kids to warn them of the threats they must face later in life. She has much insight into mortals' emotions, and knew that Piper's father would only truly recover if she gave him the potion to forget the supernatural world. She also left him without telling him the truth, so that he would only remember her as a mortal woman whom he lost forever, rather than a very much alive but unattainable goddess.

Although she is known to "indulge", Aphrodite has a side of her that outlines a more down-to-earth, realistic personality. Shown when explaining to Piper about the power of love and having knowledge of Gaea's awakening.

Relationships
Aphrodite is offically married to Hephaestus, but her lover is Ares, as most know. Aphrodite has had many relationships with both gods and mortals alike; her favorite mortal, she claims, is Tristan McLean, Piper McLean's father.

Aphrodite loves and adores Percy and views him as a kind of a "soap-opera star". It is unknown what her intentions are toward him however, it is known that she is going to give him the perfect love life by "blessing" him with anguish and indecision, simply because she loves him. She is said to love all her children, demigod and immortal.

Children
Her demigod children at Camp Half-Blood are usually quite beautiful and generally non violent, with the exception of Piper McLean or Aeneas, the founder of Rome, among few others. Most of her children are seen to be girls. Her sons are said to be neat and, needless to say, irresistible.

It is revealed in The Titan's Curse, that when it comes to playing Capture the Flag against the Hunters, they are focused, and say that they "will show them love isn't worthless." This reflects the almost polar opposite state of Aphrodite and Artemis.

Although Hephaestus is her husband, the two of them have no record of ever having children together, the cause mainly being Aphrodite's legendary dislike of her husband's appearance and Hephaestus's disgust at her unfaithfulness.

Demigods
Some of her most famous children are:
 * Silena Beauregard (deceased)
 * Aeneas (with Anchinses)
 * Piper McLean (with Tristan McLean)
 * Drew
 * Lacy
 * Mitchell
 * Marilyn Monroe
 * Eight unnamed children (possibly more)

With Ares

 * Eros
 * Deimos
 * Phobos
 * Chimeros
 * Harmonia
 * Himeneus

With Hermes

 * Hermaphroditus

Claiming
Aphrodite's ways of claiming are very unique. Her children are usually given Aphrodite's Blessing.

It is a spell that makes the child beautiful no matter what they wear, or how they look. For example, when Piper McLean was claimed, her mother's blessing transformed her appearance into what seems to be Aphrodite's idea of beauty.

It is said to last for a few days at minimum.

Powers & Abilities
"I'd met Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, in person, and her powers had scared me worse than Ares."

- Percy Jackson in The Titan's Curse

As the goddess of love, Aphrodite has omnipotent control over love, lust, beauty, etc. Like all gods, she is immortal, and invulnerable to all but Celestial bronze, Stygian iron, Imperial Gold and godly forces. She can see at the microscopic level, allowing her to see even the smallest flaw in her appearence and correct it.

Her children are known to speak perfect French because it is the language of love, and her most powerful children have the ability to use Charmspeak, which allows them to persuade almost anyone to do what they want. Charmspeak, if used strongly enough and with enough emotion, can even bring someone back to life, as Piper had done in, The Lost Hero. It is likely Aphrodite also possesses an ability similar to Charmspeak, potentially on a much greater level.

As the embodiment of love, Aphrodite can arguably be considered one of the most powerful gods in existence, both Olympian and Titan alike. As she reminded Piper in The Lost Hero, Aphrodite is closer to creation than any other member of the Olympians, having sprung from the ocean after the defeat of Ouranos. This in a sense makes her his final child, and one of the oldest and most powerful forces in the universe.

She is also notable as the only Olympian who is not directly related to Zeus.

The Lightning Thief
Aphrodite is played by Serinda Swan.

Trivia

 * Although almost all legends say that Aphrodite is the last child of Ouranus, in Homer's Odyssey, she is the Daughter of Zeus and a water nymph, Dione.
 * The second planet from the Sun, Venus, was named after Aphrodite's Roman identity.
 * The word Aphrodisiac, is derived from her name.
 * Aphrodisias, a small city in Caria, was named after her.