What’s the first thing you think of when it comes to Demeter? Is it her role as Goddess of Harvest? Could it be that she has a daughter with Zeus named Persephone? That’s what we’re here to talk about. Percy Jackson has sprung up a lot over the last few months with the most recent trailer for the upcoming television series, the release of two books, The Sun and the Star and The Chalice of the Gods and the announcement of a new book, The Wrath of the Triple Goddess, a lot is going on.
That’s why we’re starting our Percy Jackson coverage nice and early. We’ve already covered several characters, so please check out our Percy Jackson category for more character posts. Please remember that this post is told how Percy would tell the story rather than what happened in mythology.
Who Is Persephone?
The goddess of Springtime and Flowers, Persephone is a daughter of Zeus, born due to a fling he had with Demeter, the goddess of the Harvest. The fling occurred after Zeus’ marriage to Themis ended.
Persephone and her mother are seen to be very close, and at one time, the young goddess had her own power over the Earth.
Eventually, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the Underworld, because he was lonely and wanted to have a wife. The kidnapping of her daughter sent Demeter into a panic. Hecate, the goddess of magic, told her that she had heard Persephone yelling for help. One of Hades’ servants tricked the goddess into eating half a dozen pomegranate seeds.
Zeus had to step in and tell Hades to return Persephone to Demeter. However, due to a rule where anyone who eats or drinks in the Underworld has to remain, a deal was struck where Persephone would spend six months of the year with her mother (Summer and Spring) and six months with her husband (Autumn and Winter).
Role In The Percy Jackson Books
Persephone plays a minor role in the original Percy Jackson books. She is mentioned in the Lightning Thief and Titans Curse and has a little appearance in The Last Olympian. She is somewhat indifferent to her stepson, Nico, whom Hades’ fathered before the pact with Zeus and Poseidon was put into place.
Who Plays Persephone?
Rosario Dawson plays Persephone in the film adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, where the character is seen to hate being married to Hades, hence Luke (Jake Abel)’s line early in the film, “Needless to say she hates it there. It’s hot. He’s a weirdo.” She also created the single-user pearls that Percy, Annabeth and Sally use to escape the Underworld, which is not a thing in the book. Persephone goes to date Grover. She does not appear in the Sea of Monsters movie.
