Castor and Pollux

Castor and Pollux, known also as the Dioscuri and the Gemini Twins, were conjoined Spartan brothers who ruled the Temple of the Oracle at Delphi under the guise of its prophet. Castor was a mortal, the son of Tyndareus, while the smaller Pollux was a demigod son of Zeus and so a half-brother of Kratos, as well as of Hercules, Perseus, and Deimos. Serving the will of the Furies, they were the first foes Kratos overcame in his struggle to be rid of the torment that consumed him.

Two brothers in one body#

Castor and Pollux were born in Sparta, and though they shared a single body their natures were divided. Castor, the dominant twin, was a towering man and a mortal, the son of King Tyndareus. Pollux was the divine half, a son of Zeus, yet he took the form of a small and undeveloped figure with a single hand, fixed to Castor's stomach and hidden beneath his brother's tunic. Old age had overtaken them both, but they did not show it, for they used a stolen relic to turn back the years and appear young.

By the older legends of Greece the brothers had been worshipped as helpers of shipwrecked sailors and bringers of fair winds, sons of Leda counted among the Argonauts, and were said in time to have been raised into the constellation Gemini. The two who held the Oracle's temple, however, were cruel and proud, and bore little resemblance to those benevolent figures of old.

Usurpers of the Oracle#

The twins took the Temple of the Oracle at Delphi for their own and laid claim to the time-shifting powers housed within it, with Castor declaring himself its prophet. Their seizure of the temple served a darker purpose, for they acted on behalf of the Furies. When the true Oracle, the blind Aletheia, and the oath keeper Orkos sought to warn Zeus of the Furies' scheme, the twins helped take Aletheia's eyes and lock her away within her own temple, while Orkos was imprisoned apart from her.

Castor ruled the temple as a tyrant. He commanded his slaves to raise statues in his likeness and killed any who defied him, striking down even those who merely questioned him or voiced concern for their fellows. All the while he kept his conjoined brother concealed beneath his garments, and Pollux watched with curiosity the world that passed beyond his cover.

Power of the Amulet#

The source of the twins' strength was the Amulet of Uroborus, a relic that had belonged to the Oracle Aletheia before they stole it. Through the Amulet of Uroborus they could reverse their age, slow and manipulate time within a chosen space, levitate objects, take flight, and loose blasts of energy that decayed whatever they touched or restored ruined things to wholeness. Castor wielded a staff that divided into a sword and a club, and he could wrap himself in a barrier drawn from the Amulet's power. Pollux, though he could not bear a weapon, was a sorcerer in his own right, able to fly, levitate his brother's arms, manipulate time, and shield himself with the same decaying force. Of the two, Castor was the stronger.

Defeat at the hands of Kratos#

When Kratos journeyed to Delphi in search of the Oracle, hoping to free himself from the torment that haunted him, the Gemini Twins stood in his path. He pursued them through the temple as they fled, and in the end he brought Castor crashing down to his death. He then severed the smaller Pollux from his brother's body and crushed his skull beneath his boot, even as Pollux pleaded that he was innocent. Before he fell, Castor had warned that failure would bring torture upon them both, a sign of the dread the Furies held over their servants. With the twins slain, Kratos took the Amulet of Uroborus for his own and pressed on toward the imprisoned Oracle.