Helios (2024)

Helios is the Titan and personification of the sun.

Appearance[]

He glows bright as just-forged bronze; his light comes from everywhere at once. His skin is yellow, his eyes are described as lambent, and his hair is bronze. His flesh is hot as a brazier.

He smells like a searing blaze of a just-fed fire^{ch. 2}.

His cloak is purple and his great crown shines with golden rays^{ch. 6}.

Personality[]

He flatters himself that all women were eager to lie with him.

Helios is very selfish and narcissistic with no true care for anyone but himself. By Circe’s own words, he cannot imagine a world without him in it. She later describes him as a harp with only one string that plays a single tune (for himself).

He is a cruel god and described by Circe as having a foul temper and endless wrath. According to Hermes, he is the best when it comes too making mortals miserable to extort worship out of them.

He cares little to nothing for his children (even if he dies occasionally treat the ones most useful to him) seeing them mainly as tools to increase his own status and secure alliances. Hence why he favored Aeetes (who was intelligent and provided good advice at meetings) despite his dishonesty and Pasiphae (who he was able to marry off to a son of Zeus and secure an alliance) despite her disloyalty over Circe (who was the most obedient and adored him) due to him not being able to marry her off and her “homeliness” by his standards. He can even become abusive if angered, as shown by the fear his daughters had when Helios was angered over seeing a tiny scab on his sacred ox. Or when he burnt Circe when she annoyed him for saying he was wrong about something. By Pasiphae’s own words, he would tie her to her husbands bed if it helped his alliance and did nothing to keep Circe from being raped after she was banished to her island. He later threatens to kill Circe to keep her from revealing information that could cause a war with Zeus, only not because of his uncertainty of her powers.

Relationships[]

Oceanos: He and his cousin Oceanos were often at each other throats, but they were both Titans and preferred each other's company rather than the new gods on Olympus who had not witnessed the making of the world. He has given Oceanos many golden-eyed grandchildren.

Perse: Helios falls for Perse's tricks every time. When he saw her, he wanted to lie with her. She said that he would marry her or get nothing. She told him that he may have whatever girls he wanted in the field, but forbade him from bringing them home, because she wanted to be the only one to hold sway in their house. He agreed, and gave her a necklace that he made himself, strung with beads of the rarest amber. He gave her additional strands for each of their children. She treasured these necklaces immensely. The gods forbade her from having more children with him once they found out what the four of their children were.

Pasiphaë: She and Perses were born so closely together that he used to call them twins, though they were not. He prophesied that she would marry an eternal son of Zeus.

Perses: He and Pasiphaë were born so closely together that he used to call them twins, though they were not. When giving him his blessing, Helios said that "every son reflects upon his mother." Perse was pleased with this and named him after herself.

Palace[]

His palace neighbors Oceanos' and is buried in the earth's rock. Its dark, silent halls are made of polished obsidian. He likes the obsidian because of the way it reflected his light and how the slick surfaces catch fire as he passes. The doors are made of myrrh-wood.

There are no grubs or worms in the smooth earth floor. Nothing lives in those halls save the gods and goddesses.

He likes to sit in a great silver chair.

He walls are always faintly damp from the presence of so many water gods^ch.6.

Sacred Herd of Cows[]

It's a great honor to be shown the herd. These 50 pure-white heifers were the envy of all the gods. He passed over their island, Thrinakia, on his daily path over the earth. Two of his daughters, Lampetia and Phaethousa, served as caretakers. The girls gild the horns of the cows. He was displeased to see a small scab on the cow that they call "Pretty" and told them that they must fix it by the next day.

It is said that Helios turns into a bull and sires new calves, cooking the ones that are old. That is why everyone thinks that they are immortal.

Chariot[]

The golden chariot's sides are jeweled and it has silver-tipped reins that jingle.

Titanomachy[]

Helios and Oceanos sided with the gods against Kronos. They were the only two Titans to come out unscathed. The other gods expected Zeus to load the pair with new powers and appointments, but Zeus feared their strength, which matched his own, and did not. Helios simply returned to his halls beneath the earth, far from Zeus.

His brothers come to him sometimes, telling him that he should overthrow Zeus before Zeus makes a move against them. They believe that the Titans should rule once more. He would always calm them saying that Zeus does well enough, but Circe always heard the unspoken "for now."

Wedding of Minos and Pasiphaë[]

Pasiphaë wasn't pleased to hear that she was being married to a mortal, but Helios didn't leave her room to argue.

He was the most popular person at the party. All the immortals pressed around him at the wedding to congratulate him on the alliance; Zeus was unlikely to move against them for as long as the marriage held.

Trivia[]

• He doesn't mind having daughters because men and gods paid dearly for the chance to breed from their blood. His treasury was said to rival that of Zeus'. (ch. 1). However, Circe was the only child he was unable to marry off due to her appearance and voice being in pleasing by god standards. He blames Circes appearance and attitude in Perse since “all the others before her were perfect”.
• Though Circe thought he held some love for her when she was a child, the truth is he always considered her the worst of his children and merely pitied her. He had no qualms over burning her after she irritated him and lost any “pity” he once had for her after her powers were revealed.
• Circe says of him, "My father has never been able to imagine the world without himself in it."
• When he arrives home, the ground ripples.
• He drinks wine and plays draughts. No one is allowed to play with him.
• Some of the lesser gods can scarcely bear to look at him, but Circe can because she's his daughter.
• He says that if a mortal saw him in his fullest glory, the mortal would be burned to ash in a second.
• When the calculations of astronomers are thrown into despair because Helios lingers, they hauled in front of the kings they serve and are killed. Helios thinks that they deserve this, because Helios the Sun was bound to no will but his own, and none might say what he would do.