Hecate (2024)

Hecateis theGreek goddess of magic,the Mist, crossroads, necromancy, the night and the moon. She is a Titaness of the third generation, daughter of Asteria and Perses, and serves the goddess Persephone as her attendant and minister. Her Roman counterpart is Trivia.

History

Early life

Hecate is a third-generation Titaness born to Perses and Asteria, daughter of Koios and Phoebe. She is often accompanied by a black Labrador retriever and a polecat,who used to be mortal women before she turned them into her familiars.

First Titan War

Hecate decided to side with the Olympiansduring the First Titanomachy, which allowed her to retain her duties after the Titanswere defeated.

Abduction of Persephone

When Persephone was abducted by Hades, Hecate was in a nearby cave and overheard the former's screams. She immediately rushed to help, but upon arrival, Persephone was already taken to the Underworld. Hecate sensed that someone was abducted, but couldn't identify who it was or the kidnapper, as her magic was weak during the day. Unsure of what to do next, she decided to go back into her cave and wait until nightfall to gather more information through her spells. However, both Zeus and Hades were covering up the abduction with stronger magic, preventing Hecate from learning more about it.

After ten days of searching, Hecate found Demeter calling for Persephone in the area around her cave. She immediately pieced together what had happened and met with Demeter, sharing her belief that Persephone had been abducted by a powerful god, which made Demeter even more distraught. Feeling sympathetic, Hecate offered to help by using her torches to light the goddess' journey through the night. During the day, Hecate returned to her cave to rest, promising to help Demeter again after nightfall.

Eventually, Persephone was reunited with her mother. As a reward for helping Demeter during her search, Hecate was given a place in the Underworld as an attendant to Persephone, which made her more than happy as the darkness of the Underworld made it a better place for working magic than a drafty cave.

First Giant War

During the First Giant War, Hecate was opposed by the giant Clytius. She defeated the giant by setting him alight with her torches.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Sea of Monsters

Hecateis mentioned to be the mother of Circe.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

Dionysus mentions that she has gone over to Kronos' side, tired of not receiving enough respect as a minor goddess.She sends two of her empousai (Kelli and Tammi) to attack Percy Jackson.

The Last Olympian

It is mentioned that Hecate uses her magic to help Morpheus cast a huge sleeping spell overNew York City, causing all of themortals in Manhattan or near the area to fall asleep.She later sends magical lights towards Olympus, which are quickly repelled by the wards of Olympus and Aeolus' wind minions.

At the end of the book, Hecate's Cabin at Camp Half-Blood is under construction, along with those of many other minor gods. Her cabin is made of magical stones that, if dropped, would either explode or turn everyone within a half-mile radius into a tree.

The Heroes of Olympus

The Lost Hero

Hecate is mentioned as being the mother of Lou Ellen Blackstone, the head counselor of the Hecate Cabin.

The Demigod Diaries

Son of Magic

Hecate makes her first appearance and tells her most powerful son,Alabaster C. Torrington,that she was forced to rejoin the Olympians to keep them from killing her rebel children, as she already lost more children in the Second Titan War than any other god.

However, when her daughterLamiacomesto kill Alabaster, Hecate steps in and saves them from each other's magic. She decides to restore Alabaster's companion, Dr. Howard Claymore, in Mistform, so that he may watch over her son while he is in exile.

The House of Hades

Hecate made Hazel Levesque choose her path in the three gates in the Mist. It is revealed that she helped Marie find the spell that resulted in Hazel'sbirth. Hecate promised to obscure the progress of the Seven but said that Hazel needed to learn to manipulate the Mist. At the climax, Hecate fights by Hazel's side against the GiantClytius. Together, they defeat the bane of magic.

The Blood of Olympus

During the Seven Heroes of Olympus' final battle with the giants in Athens, Hecate fought alongside Hazel.After the battle, Nike tried to put a golden laurel wreath on Hecate's head but she swats it away.

The Trials of Apollo

The Tyrant's Tomb

Apollo recalls that when the Romans renamed Artemis, Diana, she began to back Hecate.

Appearance

According to Rick Riordan's website, "Hecate is usually dressed in dark robes, holding twin torches (all the better to see you and burn you with, my dear). She is accompanied by a she-dog and a polecat.In later times, Hecate was pictured as a woman with three heads, or three entirely different forms for the morning, noon, and night."

In The Demigod Diaries, Hecate had green eyes andblack hair that barely came down to her shoulders, like her son Alabaster. Her face was like a Greek statue — pale, beautiful, and ageless. She was surrounded by green light. Hecate dressedin white robes with ornate silver designs, like runes or alchemy symbols.

In The House of Hades, Hecate was described as "beautiful, but deathly pale" with black eyes. Her blond hair was set in an Ancient Greek style high-set ponytail. Her dark, sleeveless gown seemed to ripple as if the cloth was ink spilling off and wore sandals. She carriedtwo old-fashioned reed torches.

The different descriptions in the novels can be explained that as, a goddess, Hecate can change her appearance at will. Furthermore, Hecate is considered to be the triple-faced goddess, having three separate appearances and personalities.

Personality

Hecate is a lover of solitude and expects people to make their own choices. According to Clytius, she sends acolytes to do her bidding, take all the riskand offers vague promises of magic.

Despite her many years of faithful service, Hecate resents the Olympians for being treated as a minor goddess,which leadsher to supportKronos in the Second Titan War. Since her children have been given their place at Camp Half-Blood, she has given up her grudge against Olympus but becomes protective and worrisome of her children, many of whom were lost, captured, or embittered in the war.

Hermes describes her as insufferable, but this was siding with Kronos during the Second Titan War so it could have been nerves or resentment fueling his statement.

Trivia (Goddess)

Hecate can change into her Roman counterpart of Trivia. As Trivia, she becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. While Greeks envisioned her as a powerful and mysterious being, for the Romans she was the "Queen of Ghosts" because of her role of guarding the borders between the human world and the realm of the dead.

Despite this, Hecate claimed that she had no Romanaspect, that she was always Hecate. However, this could be because she is not affected by the Greek/Roman split.The goddess Trivia is sometimes viewed as a separate deity, patron of travelers, and crossroads.

Abilities

Hecate possesses the standard powers of a Titaness and goddess.

• Mystiokinesis: As the Titaness of Magic, Hecate has divine authority and absolute control over magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. Her magic is weak in the daytime and strongest at night. Her presence makes the area she is in engulfed by magic.
  • Empousai Creation: By combining dark magic, animal, bronze, and ghost, Hecate can create the Empousai, bloodsucking, winged monsters.
  • Prophecy:Shecan see multiple futures that could happen and predict prophecies.
  • Chronokinesis:Using time spells, she can control and manipulate time.
  • Hypnokinesis:Using sleep spells, she can manipulate sleep and dreams.
  • Pyrokinesis:Using fire spells, she can control and manipulate fire.
• Mist Control:As the Titaness of the Mist, Hecate has divine authority and absolute control over the Mist. A swirling column of pure white Mist surrounds her when she is present. She can teleport people, summon Mistforms, and create illusions.
• Umbrakinesis:Hecate can control and manipulate darkness and shadows, though to a lesser extent than Hades andNyx.
  • Night Empowerment: Hecate is stronger at night or in dark places.
  • Shadow Travel: Hecate can use shadows as a way of swift transportation over vast distances.
• Necromancy:As the Goddess of Necromancy, Hecate can control and manipulate the dead.
• Titanic Divine Form:As a Titaness, Hecate can incinerate any being lesser than a god/Titan only by being present.
• Titanic Energy:Like all Titans, Hecate can blast things hundreds of yards away from herself with a yell or a wave of the hand.
• Masking: She was able to mask the Seven as they journeyed through the mountains, as she held sway there, and even masked them from Gaea.

Attributes

• Her attributes are twin torches, key, rope, dagger, andthree crossroads.
• Her sacred animals are dogs, polecats, and frogs.

Family

Immortal Children

Demigod Children

Legacies

Etymology

Her name means "will" but at the same time, but her name's spelling and pronunciation mean"operates from afar", "removes" or "drives of", "the far-reaching one" or "the far-darter".

Trivia

• Nyx states in The House of Hadesthat Hecate is her daughter, however, this is likely just Nyx exaggerating, since in the same book Hecate herself claims to be a Titaness, daughter of Perses and Asteria.
• In mythology, Hecate represents the dark side of the moon (or the Harvest Moon).
• In mythology, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades gave her power in all three major realms (the sky, sea, and the Underworld).
• In some myths, Hecate was a virgin goddess who has children using parthenogenesis,in a way similar to Athena's.
• Hecate appears as a character in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth.
• "Trivia" refers to obscure knowledge that Hecate/Trivia presided over.
• Trivia is Latin for three roads. This term is also used to refer to Diana (Artemis) who in Roman mythology became a goddess of crossroads.
• According to Roman mythology, her Roman counterpart, Trivia, used to kidnap young maidens, whom she later changed into nymphs.
• Her Egyptian equivalent is Isis.
• Her Norse equivalents are Odin, Freya, and Gullveig.

References