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 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.

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.

Personality
Demeter is somewhat fussy, and nags on her daughter constantly about marrying Hades. She has a high opinion of farming and cereal, and is very absent-minded, which goes far into explaining how her daughter could have been kidnapped. When she is introduced in the Last Olympian, she seems to be a stereotypical mother in-law, criticizing her daughter's choice of a husband, saying she should have married the god of lawyers, or doctors. She is somewhat stern, and seems to have a low opinion of demigods, except for her own children. This is a contrast to the real Demeter as she is the most generous of the Olympians. She is also a very kind and motherly even to those who aren't her children. She is said to have great respect for her brothers. Demeter is known for her love for her daughter, and also loves her demigod children, though perhaps not quite as much.

Appearance
Demeter is said to look like her daughter, but older and sterner. She has her long wavy black hair braided with dried grass, and has large green eyes (which may be brown, as stated in The Last Olympian, because Persephone has brown eyes, and Percy said that they had the same eyes and hair), and wears a golden dress, the color of a wheat harvest. Percy Quoted: "If someone lit a match next to her she'd be in big trouble" It's assumed her favorite color is gold.

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

Abilities
Demeter is the goddess of the Harvest. She has chlorokinesis (the ability to manipulate and control plants). She has the ability to transform things into plants, and the ability to manipulate plants, and the and of distances. She is a very powerful goddess, and her daughter has similar powers, but are not as powerful as her mother, and when she is in the Underworld she fades like a flower underground. Demeter can transform many things at once (living and not), as she demonstrated in The Battle of Manhattan by turning a row of monsters into wheat. Presumably possesses the standard powers of a god/goddess.



Family

 * Children: Immortal – Persephone and Zagreus (with Zeus). Arion (with Poseidon).
 * Children: Demigod – Katie Gardner, Miranda Gardiner, and Eli Whitney.
 * Parents: Kronos and Rhea.
 * Siblings: Chiron, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades.

The Lightning Thief
Demeter is played by Stefanie von Pfetten.

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 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 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. This is probably because cereal is named after her Roman self, Ceres.
 * 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 Gardner 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.