Artemis

Artemis was the Olympian Goddess of the Hunt, mistress of the moon, the wilderness, and wild beasts. A daughter of Zeus and the elder twin of Apollo, she counted Athena among her sisters and Ares among her enemies. Though she withdrew from the affairs of Olympus more than most, she intervened decisively during the siege of Athens, and the legendary blade she once carried against the Titans passed into the hands of Kratos.

Birth and domains#

Artemis was born on the isle of Delos, where her mother Leto had found safe haven to bear her children. She came into the world first, and at once assisted Leto in delivering her twin Apollo, taking up from that moment the role of Goddess of Childbirth. Worshiped widely across Greece, she ruled the forests and the wild beasts within them, archery and the hunt, and held herself a protector of the young and the unmarried. A virgin goddess, she demanded chastity of her mortal companions and took no lovers, and those who pursued her or trespassed against her met grim ends.

In the war against the Giants who rose to overthrow the gods, Artemis fought to defend Olympus and personally cut down the Giant Gration. Among her many mortal champions the greatest was Atalanta, whom she had a she-bear raise as an infant and who later helped bring down the Calydonian Boar that Artemis had sent against the city of Calydon.

The siege of Athens#

When Ares marched on Athens, the city of his sister Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom could not openly meet his challenge, for the Word of Zeus forbade war between the gods of Olympus. Seeking aid for her cause and for her champion, the Ghost of Sparta, Athena came to Artemis in her private chambers on Olympus, which mirrored her domain of the wilderness on Earth.

The two daughters of Zeus found common ground in their shared disgust for Ares' armies of the dead and his monsters, which killed not to survive nor to honor the gods but for slaughter alone. The War God's legions ravaged the forested lands around Athens, the domain of Artemis and her creatures. With a promise that her woods would be left sacrosanct should the city survive, Artemis turned her beasts loose upon the invaders. Bears, elk, wolves, and eagles fell on the legions in swift ambushes, and even the mighty Cyclopes were undone by venomous vipers.

When Ares himself tore open the heavens and stepped down to berate his minions, Artemis revealed herself with her bow aimed at his face. The War God reminded her of their father's edict, and to make his point crushed her animals in his fist. In answer the Huntress lowered her bow, turned it on his army, and loosed a countless flight of arrows that shredded every monster and undead soldier across her domain. Ares conceded and swore a truce to leave her woodlands in peace, and the Athenian army, freed from threat through the forests, could concentrate on the assault at the Long Wall.

The Blade of Artemis#

When the Oracle of Athens revealed that Kratos would need to conquer Pandora's Temple and claim the power hidden within, Artemis chose to bestow upon the Spartan her own Blade, a weapon she had wielded in battle against the Titans during the Great War. Shining with a golden light, the goddess gave him the gift, and Kratos inclined his head in genuine respect as he accepted it.

Watching from Olympus, Zeus was startled to see a mortal bearing so powerful a weapon and demanded to know what trickery Athena had used to wring it from Artemis. Athena answered that she had done nothing, and believed her sister meant only to show her support, standing in solidarity against the cruelty and madness of Ares. The blade served Kratos through his quest, and he carried it still in the years that followed.

Withdrawal and fate#

After these deeds Artemis withdrew from the saga and was not seen again. Alone among the gods who aided or opposed Kratos in the fall of Athens, she did not later turn on him, and her ultimate fate through the destruction of the Greek world remains unknown.