Persephone

Persephone
Nickname	Kore (By Demeter, Hades and Daphne) Sweetness and Little Goddess (by Hades) Persie (by Artemis and Apollo) Princess (by Thanatos) Kore-Cob (by Demeter, Hestia) Little Dove (by Hera)
Age	19 (at debut) 20 (as of episode 107)
Specialty	Goddess of Spring
Residence	The Mortal Realm (formerly), Olympus (currently)
Occupation	College student Intern Underworld CORP "Goddess of eternal maidenhood" Queen of the Underworld (Future)
Biographical Information
Relationship	Hermes (friend) Hecate (friend) Hades (friend/love interest) Artemis (best friend, housemate) Eros (best friend) Daphne (acquaintance/friend)
Family	Demeter (Mother)
Physical Description
Race	Goddess
Colors	Pink, White, and Red When Mad

“

Do you really think I'm powerful?

”

― Persephone to Hades, Episode 56

Persephone is the Goddess of Spring, the only daughter of Demeter, and the heiress to the Barley Mother fortune. She is the female protagonist of Lore Olympus. Raised in the Mortal Realm, she comes to Olympus to study Biochemistry Theory at college. She is currently a candidate for membership among The Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood. Being the daughter of Demeter, she is a descendant of the 6 Traitors Dynasty.

Appearance

Persephone is a petite and curvy young woman with pink skin, pink eyes, and dark pink hair. She has been described as extremely beautiful, even rivaling Aphrodite in various circumstances. Her hair, which dissolves into flower petals when cut, is connected to her emotional state -- growing abnormally fast in moments of extreme stress or excitement. She can control the length of her hair when calm, but prefers to keep her hair cut short into a pixie cut or rolled into space buns. When sufficiently angry, the sclera of her eyes turns blood red.

A halo of flowers will often appear on her head when she is feeling certain emotions, such as love or happiness. When angry, this usually becomes a crown of red thorns. It appears that different species of flower represent different emotions.

Her wardrobe consists largely of white, pastel, or light colors.

Personality

Persephone is a sweet and innocent young adult, learning how to live on her own on Olympus. At the start of the story, she hadn't experienced much of Olympus itself due to her over-protective mother Demeter. Due to her naivety, she is often prone to trouble because other Gods and Goddess take advantage of her. Persephone at times can lack confidence in herself, not knowing if the path her mother has chosen for her is the right one.

She loves animals, baking, nature, and is extremely friendly and outgoing. She can be best described as an optimist, always seeing things for what they could be. Despite her inexperience with much of the world, Persephone demonstrates intelligence by showing a great deal of academic prowess and proficiency in different activities, including chess and competitive swimming.

Despite her innocent aura, there is a particularly darker side to Persephone's personality. She is capable of expressing rightful hatred towards someone who has done her wrong, such as Apollo, whom she utterly loathes for forcing himself on her. In addition, when grabbed by a disguised Hera posing as a journalist, she briefly lost her temper and tightly grabbed her back in anger (on the account of being repeatedly grabbed by Apollo, Thanatos and a shade in Tartarus respectively in the span of one day.) Ares claims that next to Hera, Persephone is the "angriest of the gods." Another example is that upon realizing that she was deceived by Ares, she was so outraged at being taken advantage of that she called on her mother. Demeter proceeded to beat the war god with a pitchfork, with Persephone grinning with devious glee. The most notable example of Persephone's capability for wrath is the reason why her name has become "Persephone," meaning "Bringer of Death." Upon witnessing her nymph companion's deaths at the hands of a group of ignorant mortals, Persephone seeks them out for retribution. Refusing to listen to explanations, she precedes to decapitate the first mortal and continues to forge a vengeful path of destruction through their settlement.

Persephone appears to greatly regret this event, however. She seeks out Hades to ask him if mortals can be brought back from the dead, citing that they have family that miss them. She shows greater empathy for their plight than the majority of the other Gods, as Hades explains that mortals are "a dime a dozen." Persephone even sneaks on the shores of Acheron to give the waiting shades enough money to cross the river into the Underworld. When Hades later admonishes her for this, she argues with him about his cruel system.

Background

Persephone was created solely by her mother 19 years before the start of the story. Demeter saw Zeus as a morally corrupt ruler and decided it would be best to raise her daughter in the Mortal Realm, away from Olympus.

Born Kore, the young goddess spent much of her life in the Mortal Realm, with the company of her mother and flower nymphs. Demeter was overprotective to the point that she would only allow Persephone to leave home with the nymphs living among them accompanying her. Persephone often felt frustrated by her overprotective mother, and wanted to live on her own and become more than what she saw as a "stupid village girl".

After some convincing, as well as an unseen incident that led to her name being changed from "Kore" (The Maiden) to "Persephone" (Bringer of Death), she was allowed to move to Olympus to live with Artemis.

While attending a party with Artemis, Aphrodite overhears Hades commenting on Persephone's beauty and is infuriated. Aphrodite decides to pull a prank on Hades and orders Eros to distract Artemis and get Persephone drunk. The gods put the unconscious Persephone into Hades' car, unbeknownst to Hades, and she later wakes up in Hades' mansion. After wandering Hades’ mansion Persephone encounters one of Hades’ dogs: Cerberus. While initially hostile toward her presence in the mansion, Persephone is able to tame the gatekeeper of the Underworld after playfully petting Cerberus much to the surprise and envy of Hades who arrived just before he could intervene to protect her.

Relationships

Hades

Spoilers Hades and Persephone first met in the Mortal Realm, although Hades does not remember this meeting. After drunkenly traveling there in order to visit Hecate, who was visiting at the time, Hades is left unattended in a room on Demeter's property. Persephone sneaks in through a window to see him, taking the form of a butterfly. Persephone is surprised that Hades is not as scary as she thought, and in response, Hades ends up frightening Persephone badly enough that she returns to her normal form and lands on him with only dissolved butterflies covering her. The two then have an exchange, during which Persephone desperately inquires as to whether Hades can return mortals from the dead. Hades responds that he cannot, and Persephone continues to plead with him before ultimately fleeing when she hears Demeter coming, to Hades' disappointment. Hades ends up inquiring about her, but Demeter is protective over Persephone and denies any knowledge. When Hades is insistent at what he saw, and wonders out loud if she is available to be courted, Demeter suddenly encourages him to drink more, presumably in order to cause Hades to blackout and not remember the encounter.End Spoilers

Hades and Persephone officially meet after the Panathenaea held at Zeus and Hera's. Upon seeing Persephone in the crowd, Hades is smitten, and asks Zeus who she is and why he has never seen her before. After Zeus explains that Demeter raised Persephone in the Mortal Realm, Hades remarks to his brothers that Persephone's beauty puts Aphrodite's to shame. The brothers encourage Hades to go talk to her, which he attempts to do. Unbeknownst to Hades, however, a jealous Aphrodite overheard his comment and has plotted to have her son Eros intoxicate Persephone and put her in Hades's car. When Hades arrives home, he discovers Persephone in his backseat. He carefully brings her inside his home and settles her in his guest room. When Persephone wakes up the next morning, the two talk and quickly form a connection. Persephone surprises him by showing no fear of him, asking bold questions, and teasing him. From then on, the pair have a very close, flirtatious relationship.

Persephone is usually shy around him, but can also be very bold and flirtatious. She has also frequently turned to him for comfort when worried or frightened, best seen when she talks on the phone with him after her assault. However, she feels guilty about this, because as far as she knows, he is still in a relationship with the nymph Minthe. She doesn't like her feelings of jealousy for Minthe, and as a result has attempted to put boundaries in place with Hades. She admits to Eros that she plans on shoving her feelings for Hades deep down inside her and letting them "wither over time," and that she has existed in a fantasy for too long, believing Hades does not actually like her after his relationship with Minthe becomes official. She also explains that Hades was the first person she felt truly respected her without any obligation to do so, but that this no longer matters. Persephone also feels conflicted about her candidacy for the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood. Her feelings for Hades help her determine that she does not want to be a virgin for all eternity, and she is determined to find a way out.

At the end of Episode 75, a still image produced by the Fates shows Persephone as Queen of the Underworld, revealing that the two will eventually get married.

When Persephone later learns of Minthe and Hades' breakup, she feels intense guilt.

In Episode 110, Hades finally admits to Persephone that he wants her, and the two share a kiss. Persephone, flustered and excited, transforms into butterflies and disperses. Frustrated with herself, she later explains to Hades that she did enjoy their kiss, but simply got excited over it.

Apollo

Apollo is the twin brother of Persephone's roommate Artemis. When he first meets her, he immediately begins to hit on her. When he learns that she spent the night in the Underworld with Hades, he makes it a point to belittle her and her new friendship with the King of the Underworld due to slight jealousy. Persephone feels uneasy around him, and is often intimidated by his overbearing personality.

The same night that they meet, Apollo pressures and coerces Persephone into sleeping with him. Persephone, heavy with confusion and doubt over this perceived "freedom", is unable to stave off his advances. When Apollo finishes, he tells Persephone not to forget that she is "his girl," and walks out of the room, leaving Persephone confused and violated. As Persephone is slated to become a member of TGOEM, which requires a vow of celibacy, she is especially conflicted and does not at first realize Apollo has assaulted her.

Apollo continues to harass Persephone, seeming to believe they are in a relationship. He shows up unannounced to drive Persephone home from her classes and often comes to the house looking for her.

In Episode 97, Apollo claims he has feelings for Persephone. When Persephone is unable to make him realize she doesn't like him, she shows him his lyre, which she had stolen to break. Apollo is shocked and distressed that his lyre is now ruined. She tells him that his broken lyre represents a small fraction of her hate towards him.

After an intense argument/confrontation, Apollo claims Persephone doesn't have to love him to be his wife. He also believes Persephone is a fertility goddess and tells her she either knows that and is lying to herself or her mother is hiding it from her. Persephone is still scared of Apollo, but Eros and "Ampelus" arrive to drive Apollo away. He appears unfazed by the interruption and simply states "see you next Friday", mocking what Persephone stated earlier about Friday being the only time they could meet up. Although he wants to marry Persephone, it appears this is only to fuel his own ego: by marrying a descendant of the Six Traitors, he is further supporting his fame as an Olympian.

In Episode 113, Persephone is horrified to learn Apollo has begun dating Daphne. She warns him to stay away from her, but Apollo responds that he is simply doing what Persephone asked by making someone else "his Olympian." In response, Persephone tells him she will reveal to both Daphne and Artemis what Apollo did to her. Apollo then threatens her with the pictures that he took of her during her assault, claiming that he will expose her breaking her vow of celibacy if she tells anyone.

Hermes

The two have a brief history together, as Hermes' role as a messenger has him visiting the Mortal Realm frequently. After delivering letters to Persephone and her mother, the two became close friends. However, their friendship had to be kept a secret from Demeter, due to her over-protective nature. When Persephone and Hermes went skinny dipping, for example, Hermes had to hide underwater when Demeter came to check on Persephone. When Persephone comes to Olympus, the two are thrilled to see each other again and share a hug. Hermes is very kind to Persephone, and appears to genuinely care for her. For example, when Persephone slips with a knife when cooking, he appears worried and comes quickly to her aid. He also remembers her birthday and brings her a bouquet of balloons as a gift. It also appears that Hermes has a crush on the Goddess of Spring. He can get quite flustered when around her, best seen when he psyches himself up to ask her to come with him to work. He was also willing to fudge his records of collecting souls to protect Persephone from the repercussions of her act of wrath (although he is "encouraged" to do so by Demeter.) When asked by Artemis and later Thanatos about Persephone's name change, Hermes feigns ignorance.

Hera

Persephone admires Hera and the two have a friendly relationship.

After Hera figures out that something tragic has happened to Persephone, she becomes determined to help the young goddess. She is restricted in what she's allowed to do for Persephone thanks to Persephone's eternal maiden pledge, but she's doing her best. She is also very protective of Persephone. She was irate when she overheard Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon talking lewdly about Persephone while disguised as a Nymph in a club; shoving the picture of Apollo and Persephone (that Apollo took against her will) in Hades' face. She has come to regret this action after realizing that Hades respects Persephone as a person. After her husband suggests that she help get Hades and Persephone together, she is reluctant because of their age difference but changes her mind after catching Persephone talking to Hades' portrait.

Artemis

Artemis helped Persephone come to live in Olympus. She feels Demeter is overbearing, smothering, and possessive of Persephone. She stands up to Demeter and offers Persephone a room with her in the city. They rarely fight despite having somewhat clashing personalities. She is also very protective of Persephone. She has rules for the house that are seemingly broken and are just there for show. She also appears to love animals. She is unaware of what her twin, Apollo, has done to her best friend. She tries to encourage Persephone to get along with Apollo.

Eros

Eros is one of Persephone's good friends. and a bit of a brotherly figure to Persephone. He has been there for her when she was in times of emotional distraught and has been able to rely on him whenever upset. Persephone happily seeks consolation from him and has shown that she is rather comfortable around him. She also showed him what happened with Apollo, and currently he is the only person that knows what Apollo did to Persephone. He was the one to tell her it was rape.

Ares

Ares met Persephone in the Mortal Realm, back when she was still called Kore. He fell from the sky and was impaled on a tree. Kore was alerted by the flower nymphs and went alone to help him. She saved him and, without realizing it, healed his wounds. He was enchanted by her and decided to seek her out, later finding her while she was enjoying her rare alone time. He managed to convince her he couldn’t read so that she would teach him and he could get closer to her. After a week of secretly meeting, they kissed. Right after that, Kore realized he had a planner in his bag, meaning he could read AND write and had taken advantage of her. After calling for her mother, the encounter ended with Demeter beating Ares with a pitchfork. Persephone initially seemed smug about this development, but it was this event that caused Demeter to restrict her alone time and Persephone later shows regret over alerting her mother.

When they meet again in the Underworld, Persephone is seen being easily annoyed by Ares' instigation, while Ares finds her moments of anger to be interesting. He reveals that he returned from the Mortal Realm because he could sense Persephone's great rage and declaration of war, and was eager to find out more.

Persephone later apologizes to Ares for allowing her mother to beat him with a pitchfork. Although Ares still has a keen interest in Persephone, she tells him she is only accepting friendship at the moment. Ares does not appear to be deterred by this, as he eavesdrops on Eros' phone call with Persephone and asks to speak with her.

Hestia

Hestia is proud that Persephone has chosen the path of a sacred virgin, although Persephone feels as if the choice is not quite her own, telling Hades she has been "groomed" to join Hestia's organization. Hestia is later disappointed when she finds out Persephone slept at Hades' house, believing that Persephone hasn't been taking her duties seriously. After being scolded by Hestia and having Hades' gift confiscated, Persephone remains tense around her. Persephone later determines she no longer wants to be a part of The Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood, although she struggles with guilt over the scholarship she has been given. She is unable to reveal her feelings about this to Hestia. For her part, it appears Hestia may feel guilt herself; she is shown with a guilty look on her face after seeing petals produced from Persephone's powers. This may indicate that Hestia is aware of Persephone's status as a fertility goddess, and she may feel wrong for having Persephone train as a sacred virgin.

At one point, Persephone uses Hestia's baklava recipe, which she slightly alters. She tells others not to let Hestia know about her alteration.

Daphne

It is revealed that Daphne was one of the flower nymphs that used to accompany Persephone in the Mortal Realm. When they meet again while on Olympus, Daphne is thrilled to see her again, and the two share a hug. Their happy reunion is interrupted by the return of Apollo, and Daphne appears embarrassed by the awkwardness that ensues. Persephone is worried about her when she realizes she is dating Apollo, and privately tells him to leave her alone. Despite comforting Apollo after his and Persephone's "breakup", she holds no ill will towards Persephone and instead seems to value her as an old friend. She appears to not know that Persephone and Apollo were never dating in the first place, and that Persephone is in fact a candidate for The Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood.

Powers and Abilities

• Persephone is the Goddess of Spring and is also implied to be a fertility Goddess. Mortals on the shores of Acheron assume she has the capability of blessing good health and fortune on other mortals.
• Like her mother, she has the ability to bring spring to the Mortal Realm. Persephone can conjure flowers, plants, and even full forests regardless of the location. She's capable of creating life in Tartarus, where nothing is meant to live.
• Persephone's hair can grow to great lengths depending on her emotional state. Once cut, the strands burst into petals. In times of stress or great emotion, a flower crown (or a crown of red thorns if angry) will materialize on her head. Occasionally, her body can grow leaves from her shoulders and hips. Her hair has been show to be prehensile.
• When feeling uncontrollable, strong emotions, she can cause mass blooming of flowering plants. Although it is unknown how far reaching this ability is, it appears to encompass a wide radius.
• She has the recently discovered capability of flight.
• She's capable of healing the wounds of Gods, and presumably mortals. Persephone is unaware of possessing this ability.
• Persephone is able to shape-shift, first seen when she took the form of a pink butterfly to spy on Hades. Persephone is also able to spontaneously produce butterflies, although it is unknown if they are alive or just light-based illusions.
• Persephone is proficient in wielding a scythe as a weapon.
• Persephone is capable of augmenting her height to Titan level size.

Gallery

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Persephone.

Trivia

• Unlike in the original myths, Persephone has no father. Instead, she was created solely by her mother and is therefore not related to Zeus or Hades.
• The Minthe and Persephone image is based off on the infamous Jayne Mansfield and Sophia Loren photo.
• It's hinted by Rachel (Twitter account) that in future episodes/chapters, Persephone will be wearing less white.
• Persephone's birthday is on the first day of spring.
• According to the LO QnA 2018, Persephone's favorite drink is fancy syrups and soda.