Mnemosyne
Titaness of Memory, Mother of the Muses
Mnemosyne is the Titaness of Memory, a daughter of Gaia and Ouranos and, in Greek myth, the mother of the nine Muses by Zeus. In the novelization of God of War II she is one of the Titans banished to Tartarus, watching beside the River Lethe as Gaia saves the fallen Kratos.
Mnemosyne is the Titaness of Memory and Remembrance, a daughter of Gaia and Ouranos. In Greek myth she is the mother of the nine Muses by Zeus. In the God of War saga her main appearance is in the novelization of God of War II, where she is one of the Titans banished to Tartarus after their defeat by the Olympians. (Theogony; God of War II (novelization))
Birth and the rise of the Olympians#
Mnemosyne was born of Gaia and Ouranos, one of the elder Titans, and her sister Themis was another of their daughters. The novelization of God of War II counts her among the six Titan daughters of the pair and calls her the Titan of Memory and Recollection. (Theogony; God of War II (novelization))
When Zeus and his siblings rose against Cronos, the Titans lost the Great War and were banished to Tartarus. The novelization puts Mnemosyne among them. (God of War II (novelization))
Mother of the Muses, and Tartarus#
In Greek myth Zeus lay with Mnemosyne for nine nights, and she bore him the nine Muses, goddesses of song and the arts, with Calliope named as the foremost of them. Kratos's daughter Calliope shares that Muse's name. (Theogony; God of War: Chains of Olympus)
In the novelization, Mnemosyne is one of the Titans who watch Kratos in a vision when Gaia saves him and offers him an alliance. The River Lethe, the water of forgetting, runs beside her, and the weary Spartan longs for the oblivion she could give him, until Gaia tells him that death is an escape only cowards accept. (God of War II (novelization))
Frequently asked questions
- Who was Mnemosyne in God of War?
- Mnemosyne is a Titaness, a daughter of Gaia and Ouranos and the embodiment of Memory. Her main appearance in the saga is in the novelization of God of War II, where she is one of the Titans banished to Tartarus after the Great War.
- Who were the parents and children of Mnemosyne?
- She was born of Gaia and Ouranos, and her sister Themis was another of their Titan daughters. In Greek myth she bore Zeus the nine Muses, goddesses of song and the arts, after he lay with her for nine nights.
- Did Mnemosyne fight in the Great War?
- The sources don't say what part she played in the fighting. The novelization of God of War II only tells us that she was banished to Tartarus with the other Titans once they had lost.
- Where is Mnemosyne in God of War II?
- In the novelization she is one of the Titans who watch Kratos in a vision when Gaia saves him. The River Lethe flows beside her, and the weary Spartan longs for the forgetting she could give him.
Sources
- GameGod of War: Chains of Olympus, Ready at Dawn, 2008
- BookTheogony, Hesiod, around 700 BC
- BookGod of War II (novelization), Robert E. Vardeman, Del Rey, 2013
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Cronos: the Titan who ate his children
Warned that his own children would depose him, Cronos swallowed each at birth. Rhea hid Zeus, Zeus deposed him anyway, and Kratos finished him.
Gaia: Mother Earth, betrayed by Kratos
Gaia bore the Titans, hid the infant Zeus from Cronos, and allied with Kratos against Olympus. He ran the Blade of Olympus through her heart.
Olympians: the gods Kratos killed off
Zeus led the third generation of Greek gods to victory over the Titans. Kratos then destroyed almost every one of them, and Greece fell with them.
Ouranos: the sky god Cronos castrated
The first ruler of creation fathered the Titans on Gaia and banished his monstrous children. His son Cronos castrated him and took the throne.
Titans: the elder gods Zeus cast down
Born to Gaia and Ouranos, the Titans ruled the Golden Age under Cronos until Zeus buried them in Tartarus. Kratos later raised them one last time.
Zeus
Zeus was the King of Olympus and ruler of the Greek Pantheon, the youngest son of Cronos who freed his siblings, ended the Great War, and claimed the heavens. Father of Kratos, he became the great antagonist of the Greek age and fell at last to the very son he had tried to destroy.
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