| Ouranos | Caelus |
| “ | If you do this, Kronos, I will curse you! Someday your own children will destroy you and take your throne, just as you are doing to me! | ” |
–Ouranos to his son Kronos, in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods | ||
Ouranos is the Greek personification of heaven. He is one of the Protogenoi, or "firstborn", the first beings that emerged from the emptiness of Chaos. Ouranos is the Greek word for heaven, and its Roman counterpart is Caelus. The Greeks imagined the sky as a solid bronze dome. He was the husband of Gaea, and he was the father of the titans with her before being conquered by his son, Kronos and the other titans.
History
Ouranos and Gaea were the protogenoi of the sky and the earth respectively. They became consorts and brought forth their children: the Cyclopes, the Hekatonkheires, and the Titans.
Ouranos wasn't the fatherly type and didn't care for his children at all. In fact, he hated them. He hated all his children but especially those of his children that did not look normal such as the Hekatonkheireres and Elder Cyclopes. They were unsightly in his opinion and he wanted them gone but he couldn't kill them because they were immortal, just like he was.
So instead, Ouranos chained all six of them up with extremely durable black chains (forged from the darkness of the night sky) and subsequently hurled them into Tartarus. This caused Gaea great grief. She was also furious because they were her children, and Ouranos cared nothing for them. Having forged a scythe, she then gathered her remaining children, the Titans, requesting them to take it in order to get rid of Ouranos and free their brothers, the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires. The Titans were scared of their father as he hurled the Cyclops and Hekatonkheries easily to Tartarus and even though they detested him, they still were reluctant to murder their father. However, the youngest Titan wanted to show his bravery to the others as he wanted to show that being the smallest didn't mean he couldn't do the job. He was also angry that Gaea and Ouranos both didn't pay much attention to him so he was the youngest. So Kronos agreed to Gaea and his brothers Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios and Koios agreed to help him. However, his brother Oceanus and his sisters all refused to help and claimed they had more important things to do. As the betrayal hadn't occurred yet, Ouranos was oblivious to his wife's plans. Gaea lured Ouranos down to the earth so he would lose most of his power while Kronos and his brothers hid themselves. As soon as Ouranos came down, Kronos's Titan brothers pinned him to the floor while Kronos took the scythe Gaea made and castrated his father before cutting him to pieces. The ichor from him fell on the earth and the Furies, Nymphs, Satyrs, and Meliai were all born from it. Kronos then threw Ouranos' remains into the sea as a gesture of disgrace to Oceanus, who had refused to help take down their father. From the spot where Ouranos' genatalia landed formed sea foam, from which Aphrodite later emerged. Ouranos then cursed Kronos, stating that his child would come to overthrow him, just as he had done to him. Kronos at first didn't think much about this though he later became scared of the curse causing him to swallow all his children except Zeus. Nothing was mentioned about Ouranos afterwards, since his form was spread so thin that was never able to form a consciousness again.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Lightning Thief
Poseidon mentioned Ouranos to his son, Percy Jackson, while discussing his father Kronos.
The Titan's Curse
Ouranos does not formally appear but he is mentioned by the General. It is said that a Titan must hold up the Sky because Ouranos is gone and the Sky still longs to embrace the Earth. Atlas, a Titan, is assigned this torment as a punishment of the First Olympian War for helping the titans.
The Battle of the Labyrinth
Ouranos and Gaea are mentioned by Annabeth and a naiad.
Gaea, his wife
The Heroes of Olympus
The Lost Hero
Coach Hedge mentioned him when he was telling the story of Gaea and how she convinced Kronos to take a scythe and kill Ouranos. When he said that, Piper McLean looked at the sky, as if seeing if it had eyes and a mouth, possibly wondering of Ouranos, her grandfather.
The House of Hades
Ouranos was mentioned when Bob and Koios talked about holding him down while Kronos cut him into little pieces.
The Blood of Olympus
While searching for a way to defeat Gaea, Jason Grace asks Kymopoleia for advice and she reminds him of Ouranos' defeat, which proves that a primordial god can be defeated though not killed. Taking inspiration from the Titans' defeat of Ouranos, Leo Valdez comes up with a plan that Apollo confirms could work but would kill any mortal nearby. After the rise of Gaea, Leo, Festus, Jason and Piper McLean carry Gaea high into the sky. They cut her off from the source of her power as the Titans did to Ouranos. This was the weakness Kymopoleia earlier hinted at. Gaea's essence ends up scattered by Leo and Octavian and its later stated that like the sky after Ouranos' defeat, the Earth continues to exist without Gaea and continue on as normal.
Personality
As shown in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Ouranos was a self-absorbed, pompous, cruel being. He also had a ferocious temper, and due to his surpassing power, none of the other Protogenoi dared challenge him. Despite having feelings for Gaea, neither Pontos, nor Tartarus acted on their feelings due to Ouranos' marriage with her. In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, it is stated that his son Kronos had inherited his infamous cruelty and bad temper from Ouranos.
Ouranos was a terrible father, and he did not care for his children at all. He ignored the Titans, and hurled the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires into Tartarus merely for how they looked. He was a terrible husband too, barely spending time with Gaea and taking cruel pleasure in throwing both sets of their triplets into Tartarus. However, it is possible that Ouranos loves or desires her somewhat, although it is unclear where he is or what he is doing, as stated in the The Titan's Curse by Atlas, who said, "The Sky still yearns to embrace the Earth."
Appearance
In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Ouranos is described as looking tall and muscular, with long dark hair. He only wore a loincloth, and his skin changed color - sometimes blue with cloudy patterns (during the day), and sometimes dark with glimmering stars (during the night).
Abilities
The King of the Protogenoi and the embodiment of the Sky, Ouranos was one of the most powerful entities in the series, rivaled by Gaea and Tartarus. Infinitely powerful in his domain, he was only defeated when lured down to earth. Even then, he was only defeated by the combined efforts of five of his sons and his wife, Gaea.
- Massive Strength: Ouranos easily overpowered the Elder Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones, chaining them up and hurling them into Tartarus (albeit, they were newborns at the time but it was still a feat that took the three most powerful titans to manage later on). Furthermore, it took four of his Titan sons, who were among the most powerful Titans to ever exist, to pin him down and that was when he was greatly weakened, and even then, he put up a fierce fight.
- Creation of Sentient Life Forms: In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Ouranos' blood was shown to have so much power that many sentient life forms (possibly including the Furies), sprang from it over the millennia. His sliced and mangled remains also created Aphrodite, an Olympian Goddess
- Atmokinesis: As protogenos of the Sky, he has absolute control and divine authority over the weather.
- Aerokinesis: As protogenos of the Sky, he has absolute control and divine authority over the air.
- Sky-Umbrakinesis: As seen in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Ouranos could use the darkness of the night sky to generate extremely durable black chains, with which he bound his Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheire children before flinging them into Tartarus.
- Supreme Power: Ouranos has extreme levels of power far superior to that of any of the Olympians, Giants, and Titans, seeing as he is the first High God and was able to easily chain up and throw many of his powerful children into Tartarus single-handedly (a feat that required Kronos, Atlas, and Hyperion working together to later replicate). His power is rivaled by only Gaea and Tartarus.
- Tongue of the Old Times fluency: According to Tyson in The Battle of the Labyrinth, this is the ancient language that Gaea spoke to the Titans, Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires before the birth of the Olympian gods. Ouranos and Gaea must have communicated in this language as well.
Trivia
- Ouranos' first and only appearance was in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods.
- The 7th planet from the sun, Uranus, is named after him.
- In some myths, Ouranos was born as a son of Gaea before he became her consort.
- It is mentioned that Gaea cannot be defeated and can only be kept asleep; however, it is unknown why Ouranos actually died when Kronos cut him to pieces. However, since Atlas said that "the sky still longs to embrace the earth", Ouranos may still be alive in some form.
- Kronos, like Ouranos, was cut to pieces with the scythe but his essence continued existing, albeit imprisoned within Tartarus. This could mean that Ouranos himself is still alive in some form of consciousness, existing without a physical body.
- It has also been speculated by some scholars of Greek mythology that after Kronos castrated him, he fled away back to his domain in fear of the scythe. It could be that Gaea had crafted the scythe specifically to harm Ouranos.
- It's also possible that Ouranos faded when his youngest grandchild Zeus became Lord of the Sky.
- Ouranos may have been scattered like Kronos and Gaea ultimately were. It was shown with the defeat of Gaea that even the primordial gods could be beaten in this way and mention was made of Gaea now being like Ouranos suggesting he too was scattered.
- Ouranos is the father of Kronos, who is father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, making Ouranos the great-grandfather of Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, Jason Grace, Hazel Levesque, Bianca and Nico di Angelo.
- The periodic element Uranium is named after him.
- Aphrodite emerged from the sea foam which formed where the pieces of Ouranos' genatalia were thrown into the sea by Kronos, therefore technically making him her father and the grandfather of the members of the Aphrodite Cabin.
- Ouranophobia (also known as Uranophobia) is the fear of heaven, which is named after Ouranos.
- The Romans simply Latinized his name as "Uranus", with which they call him most of the time. However, they do have a non-Greek Latin name for Uranus, and it is "Caelus".
- The French word Ciel which means "Sky" is derived from his Latin name, Caelus.
- The Seven got inspiration from Ouranos' defeat in order to defeat his wife Gaea.
- His Egyptian equivalent is Nut.
- His Mayan equivalent is Alom.
