Rhea
Queen of the Titans, mother of the Olympians
Rhea was a Titaness, the wife of Cronos and the mother of the first six Olympian gods. When her husband devoured their children one by one, she hid her sixth child away and gave Cronos a stone in his place, setting in motion the war that would end the reign of the Titans.
Rhea was a Titaness, a daughter of Ouranos and Gaia and one of the twelve Titans. She became the wife of her brother Cronos and the mother of the first six Olympians, among them Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. When Cronos devoured their children to escape a prophecy, it was Rhea who preserved the line of the gods by hiding her youngest son away.
Queen of the Titans#
The Titans were sired by the union of Ouranos and Gaia and born upon the Island of Creation, the home of the Sisters of Fate. Fearing the power of the Fates over the threads of life and death, the Titans abandoned the island to rule the mortal world, beginning the Golden Age of mankind. In time Cronos overthrew and slew his father Ouranos, and Rhea wed him and ruled at his side as Queen of the Titans. She came to despise her husband's cruelty and his paranoia.
The hidden child#
Cronos had been warned by prophecy that he would one day be overthrown by his own children. He first tried to bribe the Sisters of Fate into changing his destiny by granting them the Steeds of Time, but the Fates heeded only their own counsel and the gift availed him nothing. So as Rhea bore his children, Cronos swallowed each one whole, imprisoning them within his belly. Five children were taken from her in this way, and Rhea could not bear another loss. When her sixth child was born she summoned an eagle to carry the infant far beyond Cronos's watchful gaze, and in the child's place she wrapped a stone in cloth and gave it to her husband, who swallowed it whole, never knowing he had been deceived.
The Great War and Zeus's punishment#
Rhea did not take part in the Titanomachy, the great war between the Titans and the Olympians, and in this she was joined by Themis and Mnemosyne. When the hidden child, now grown and called Zeus, came of age, he freed his brothers and sisters from within Cronos. Declaring themselves the Olympians, they made war upon the Titans, and Rhea, together with Helios, allied herself with Zeus and his new pantheon.
Her loyalty did not last. Rhea came to disapprove of Zeus, who cared only for control and power over mortals, and of the cruelty he showed the defeated Titans, stripping them of their roles and denying them their rights. For refusing to support her son's thirst for vengeance, Rhea was imprisoned in Tartarus alongside the very Titans she had once opposed.
Later history#
When Gaia recounted to Kratos the history of the gods, she told the story of Cronos and Rhea, and how Rhea had sent the infant Zeus to safety upon an eagle's wings before tricking Cronos with the stone. Through her children, Rhea was grandmother to a great many of the Olympian gods and to the demigods born of them.
When Kratos at last traveled back to the time of the Great War and freed the Titans from their banishment to carry them forward into the Second Titanomachy, Rhea was nowhere among them and took no part in that final war upon Olympus.
Frequently asked questions
- Who was Rhea in God of War?
- Rhea was a Titaness, a daughter of Ouranos and Gaia and one of the twelve Titans. She married her brother Cronos and bore him the first six Olympian gods. After Cronos began devouring their children, she saved her last child, Zeus, by hiding him away and tricking Cronos into swallowing a stone in his place.
- How did Rhea save Zeus?
- When her sixth child was born, Rhea could not bear another loss, having already had five children taken from her. She called upon an eagle to carry the infant far from Cronos, and in the baby's place she wrapped a stone in cloth and offered it to her husband, who swallowed it whole believing it to be his son.
- Why was Rhea imprisoned in Tartarus?
- Rhea allied with Zeus against the Titans, but she later turned against him as well. She disapproved of her son's hunger for power and of his cruel treatment of the Titans, whom he stripped of their roles and rights. For refusing to support his vengeance, Zeus had her imprisoned in Tartarus.
- Why was Rhea not a giant like the other Titans?
- Unlike most Titans, who were ancient giants, Rhea was shown at the size of a mortal woman, and no explanation was given for the difference. She did not take part in the Titanomachy, and she was absent from the Second Titanomachy when Kratos freed the Titans from their banishment.
Sources
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Related entries
Cronos
Cronos was the Titan of Time and Harvest, last and mightiest of the Titans born to Gaia and Ouranos. He overthrew his own father, was overthrown by his son Zeus, and was condemned to bear Pandora's Temple before dying at the hands of Kratos.
Gaia
Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother of the Olympians. She raised the infant Zeus, mourned the fall of her children, and bound her fate to Kratos in a war of vengeance that ended with both betrayed.
Hades
Hades was the Olympian God of the Dead and ruler of the Underworld, the eldest son of Cronos and brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He kept the balance of life and death over the Greek world until Kratos turned his own Claws against him and tore out his soul, loosing chaos upon the realm of the dead.
Helios
Helios was the God of the Sun and Guardian of Oaths, second only to the greatest Olympians in might. Once saved by Kratos from the Titan Atlas, he later fell to the same Spartan, who tore off his head and used it as a lantern through Olympus.
Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne was the Titaness of Memory and Remembrance, a daughter of Gaia and Ouranos who defected to the Olympians in the Great War. She became the lover of Zeus and bore him the nine Muses, but for opposing his cruelty she was at last cast down into Tartarus.
Olympians
The Olympians were the third and final generation of gods to rule over Greece, led by Zeus after they overthrew the Titans in the Titanomachy. First the allies of Kratos and then his enemies, they were slain almost to the last across his years of vengeance, their fall bringing ruin upon all of Greece.
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Adrasteia: the griffin who raised Zeus
Adrasteia was a nymph in the service of Gaia who, with her sisters, hid and raised the infant Zeus beyond the reach of Cronos. For shielding the child she was cursed into the shape of a griffin and imprisoned within Mount Taygetos, until Kratos and Deimos set her free.
Cronos
Cronos was the Titan of Time and Harvest, last and mightiest of the Titans born to Gaia and Ouranos. He overthrew his own father, was overthrown by his son Zeus, and was condemned to bear Pandora's Temple before dying at the hands of Kratos.
Gaia
Gaia was the Primordial Goddess of the Earth, mother of the Titans and grandmother of the Olympians. She raised the infant Zeus, mourned the fall of her children, and bound her fate to Kratos in a war of vengeance that ended with both betrayed.
Greek Gods
The Greek Gods were the pantheon that ruled over Greece across three generations, the Primordials, the Titans, and the Olympians. Once the masters of mortals, monsters, and the natural world, they were brought to near extinction by Kratos in his war of vengeance against Olympus.
Hades
Hades was the Olympian God of the Dead and ruler of the Underworld, the eldest son of Cronos and brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He kept the balance of life and death over the Greek world until Kratos turned his own Claws against him and tore out his soul, loosing chaos upon the realm of the dead.
Hestia
Hestia was the Olympian Goddess of the Hearth, Fire, and Family, the firstborn child of Cronos and Rhea. A virgin goddess who tended the royal hearth of Olympus, she did not appear during the fall of Greece, but voiced her contempt for the destruction Kratos and his Spartan armies brought upon the worshipers of the gods.
Poseidon
Poseidon was the Olympian God of the Seas and the brother of Zeus and Hades, his power second only to the King of Olympus. He helped subdue the Titans in the Great War and stood among the defenders of Olympus, until Kratos gouged out his eyes and broke his neck, drowning Greece beneath his death.
The Cycle of Patricide
The Cycle of Patricide was the repeating doom by which the son of a deity rose to slay his father, only to fear the same fate from his own children. It bound the Greek pantheon from Ouranos to Zeus, and its shadow fell again upon the Norse gods.
Titanomachy
The Titanomachy, also called the Great War, was the long war between the Titans led by Cronos and the Olympians led by Zeus for mastery of Greece and all mortals. It ended in victory for the gods and the imprisonment of the Titans.
Titans
The Titans were the second generation of Greek deities, born to Gaia and Ouranos on the Island of Creation. They ruled the cosmos through the Golden Age until Zeus and the Olympians cast them down into Tartarus, and ages later they rose one final time at the side of Kratos.
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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