| “ | Being me is such a curse. | ” |
| ― Aphrodite, Episode 32 |
Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty, the former lover of Ares, wife of Hephaestus, and mother of Eros, Storge, Agape, Ludus, Mania, Philautia, Philia, and Pragma.
Appearance
Aphrodite is a goddess with lavender hair, skin, and eyes. She has a faint beauty mark under her left eye. Her hair is long and straight, and she often wears it loose or in a long ponytail.
Aphrodite wears a wide variety of fashionable, modern outfits, mostly in white or pastel colors.
Her mortal outfit is a deep red Greek robe with a heart on each shoulder, accentuated by a hairpiece of black ivy.
Personality
Aphrodite is often vain, and as a result, vindictive. Any perceived slights in regard to her beauty, or possible competitors, causes her to take action against them, despite them not personally offending her. She was first seen acting this way towards Persephone, after Hades claimed she was more beautiful than Aphrodite. In response, she had Eros get Persephone drunk and hide her in Hades' car for him to find. It is later revealed by Eros that he helped her because of her dirt on him: namely that he hid the mortal Psyche on Olympus. Aphrodite was angry that the mortals were lauding Psyche as the most beautiful of them all and sent Eros to make her fall in love with the ugliest creature he could find. Despite this vengeful, harsh aspect of her personality, Aphrodite is shown to care for her children, especially Eros. She is willing to sacrifice her dignity for Eros' sake and shows intense worry when she hears that he is hurt. She is also willing to keep Psyche on Olympus, and even appears to befriend her. When she meets Persephone again, she appears to scold her for having no backbone in regard to Hades, but later warns Persephone not to tell anyone she was nice to her. Eros indicates that there was a time Aphrodite was more optimistic and kindhearted than she is now and is rather disappointed in the spiteful person she has grown into over the years.
Relationships
Romantic
Ares
Ares comforting Aphrodite after she tells him about Zeus.
Ares was Aphrodite's longtime boyfriend and fathered two of her sons; Eros and Storge. It is unknown if he is the father of her other children as well. Due to Zeus forcing Ares to go into the Mortal Realm for long periods of time, the two were frequently separated. Aphrodite cared deeply for Ares, searching for him in the Mortal Realm for fear of his safety. Although the two loved each other deeply and had a family, they were not exclusive and openly slept with multiple partners. Ares would frequently flirt with Persephone despite his relationship with Aphrodite.
There appeared to be an unspoken rule for Aphrodite never to sleep with Ares' father, Zeus. She shows deep regret over having to seduce Zeus for Eros' sake, and immediately tells Ares when he returns to Olympus. This causes him to fly into a rage, however, he appears to place the blame entirely on Zeus, sparing Aphrodite his wrath completely.
In Episode 116, the two began living together again with their son Eros, having resumed their relationship. Despite having an open relationship, Aphrodite showed great anger and jealousy during the numerous times Ares appeared interested in Persephone. This would eventually lead to Aphrodite overhearing Ares petitioning his mother, the goddess of marriage, for permission to marry Persephone. After Ares' feeble excuses when being confronted, Aphrodite decided to leave him, and the two have now broken up. Although Aphrodite has appeared to have moved on, Ares is torn about the break up and has not taken it well.
Children
Eros
Eros doing Aphrodite's makeup.
Eros is Aphrodite's son, who she loves deeply and gets along with well. Aphrodite cares for him enough to be willing to take the fall for Eros' mistakes; she seduced Zeus to stop him from punishing Eros after he killed several mortals in an act of wrath. After discovering that this was because he tried to hide a mortal (Psyche) on Olympus and was left heartbroken, she is disappointed and uses this as leverage for Eros to do what she asks.
Eros is irritated and disappointed when Aphrodite asks him to get Persephone drunk and hide her in Hades' car after a perceived slight on her beauty. This is the second time, the first being Aphrodite asking Eros to punish Psyche, that Eros finds himself unwilling to go through with what his mother asks. Despite this, the two still seem to have a strong relationship, and Aphrodite is willing to hide Psyche on Olympus for Eros (although she plans to "test" Eros' love for Psyche by disguising her as a nymph.)
Friends
Psyche
Aphrodite using her powers to disguise Psyche as a nymph.
Psyche was considered the most beautiful mortal on earth, which Aphrodite perceived as a challenge to her own beauty. In response, Aphrodite gave Eros the task to make her fall in love with the ugliest creature he could find. However, upon seeing Psyche and seeing how she was suffering on earth, Eros fell in love with her and took her to Olympus to save her from his mother. After Eros abandoned Psyche when she broke his heart, Aphrodite went to the house Eros kept her in and eventually found her crying. After getting Psyche to summarize her story, Aphrodite decides to disguise her as a nymph and keep her on Olympus to see how much Eros really loves her.
While on Olympus, Psyche acts as her handmaiden and often follows her around. The two seem to get along and have developed a close friendship, despite Aphrodite's earlier animosity. Aphrodite has become aware of her going to the Mortal Realm to help Eros performing his duties and during the trip, Psyche mentions how close the two have gotten over time.
Others
Persephone
Aphrodite and her son Eros are responsible for her ending up in Hades' car after he said that Persephone's beauty put Aphrodite's to shame. Because of this, Persephone is wary of Aphrodite, and Aphrodite is still slightly annoyed by Persephone. Later on, Aphrodite berates Persephone for allowing Minthe to have Hades, claiming that "NYMPHS DO NOT TAKE GODS FROM US" and encouraged her to stop being passive in regard to him. She later warns Persephone not to tell anyone she was nice to her.
Hades
Aphrodite's actions towards him jump-start Persephone and Hades interacting for the first time. This was due to her being insulted by him claiming Persephone was more beautiful than her, despite not caring about Hades romantically. She claims it was simply "about respect." After Hades confronted her about the incident, she asked him if he showed the best of himself to Persephone, finding his attraction to her interesting. Hades found out she has been keeping a mortal on Olympus but chose to mind his own business.
Powers and Abilities
- Aphrodite has the ability to control the sexual desires of anyone that isn’t a virgin. She was banned from using this ability (along with her son, Eros) on Gods by Hera's decree.
- She can sense love-related feelings from others. This includes being able to sense if someone has lost their virginity, if someone has a crush, or if someone is in love. She also appears to be able to pinpoint the individual the affections are directed towards.
- She has powers of concealment, able to disguise Psyche as a nymph. When using this power, her eyes glow white. Hades is able to easily see through this disguise, so it appears to be cosmetic in nature (although Eros is unable to see it due to his rare nature as a god of love, as Hades points out.).
Gallery
Trivia
- According to Rachel's twitter account, if Aphrodite would have screen time the music playing in the background it would be 'Fantasy' by Mariah Carey.
- Her children have the name of ancient Greek words for love (Eros, Storge, Agape and Philia, only Xenia is not shown in the series) and types of love in the Color wheel theory of love (Primary: Eros, Ludus, Storge; Secondary: Mania, Agape, Pragma).
- According to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born from the severed genitals of Uranus that fell into the ocean after Kronos castrated Uranus. There are two possible events that happened Kronos castrated Uranus. The first says that Aphrodite was born completely adult because the severed genitals of Uranus having contact with the sea foam she was immediately generated. The second says that the severed genitals of Uranus fell on top of Thalassa's genitals and that caused her to become pregnant by Uranus since somehow she was pregnant by him and after nine months of gestation Thalassa gave birth to a female baby whom he called Aphrodite.
- According to Homer, Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Dione, but he was born after Zeus pregnant Dione and after the nine months of gestation birth to a female baby whom he called Aphrodite.
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References
| Characters in Lore Olympus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gods | Hades • Zeus • Poseidon • Eros • Hermes • Apollo • Ares • Thanatos • Astraeus | |||
| Goddesses | Persephone • Artemis • Aphrodite • Demeter • Hecate • Hestia • Athena • Amphitrite • Hebe | |||
| Nymphs | Minthe • Thetis • Daphne | |||
| Titans | Cronus • Rhea • Helios • Metis • Nyx • Styx | |||
| Mortals | Psyche • Semele • Odysseus | |||
| Pets | Cerberus • Cordon Bleu • Big John • Mushroom • J.P • Russell • Fudge • Retsina • Artemis' Wolf • Meli • Sweetpea | |||
| Other | Alecto • Tisiphone • Megaera • Clotho • Lachesis • Atropos • Agape • Philia • Ludus • Philautia • Pragma • Storge • Mania • Charon • Tori • Alex • Rental Lady • Bank Manager • Professor • Wing Girl • Fire Man | |||
| Unknown | Unknown Beings | |||