The Rest:
As you all know, I play upon several myths and I like to go over those myths and how I adapted or changed them in my books. I’ll start with Titanomachy.
Titanomachy: The Ten-Year War
The main question I asked myself as I prepared for Malice was—what would lead to another Titanomachy? We all know that the gods go through this cycle—the Primordials were overthrown by the Titans, the Titans overthrown by the Olympians.
If you read about Titanomachy, especially Zeus’s role, you see how charismatic he is which is very off-putting because you don’t really want him to be so charming, but he understood what it would take to overpower the Titans, and he promised those who would support him and the Olympians that they would be rewarded by being able to keep their status and power—Hecate and Helios were two Titans who joined him. It is said, specifically, too, that Zeus held Hecate in high regard—which is why she is the only person who can really put him in his place. This is why I decided she would be able to castrate him. I chose castration for Zeus’s punishment from Hecate because Cronus also castrated his father, Uranus (with the scythe that is used to kill Adonis).
I also felt that Demeter’s snowstorm would create an environment of unrest that would contribute to another Titanomachy. In myth, when Persephone is taken by Hades to the Underworld, the Goddess of Harvest actually just neglects the world, and it is plunged into a drought. I felt like while a drought would be bad, technology could combat that easier than it could combat a snowstorm. I think I felt this way because I live in Oklahoma and we suffer during snowstorms because we don’t have the infrastructure to handle them. I felt that Demeter, as the Goddess of Harvest, obviously has control over weather, so why not have her bring a raging winter storm upon New Athens? It would then set the stage for unrest among the mortals, who were already encouraged by Triad.
Speaking of Demeter. When Persephone goes missing in myth, she actually wanders the world aimlessly in a bit of a depression. She goes to Celeus disguised as an old woman called Doso (hence her name choice in Malice). While there, she begins to take care of the King’s two children, although she is caught trying to make one of the children immortal by placing him in the fire and outs herself as a goddess. She gets really mad about this and forces the king and his people to build a temple in her honor.
I struggled with how the gods were going to react to Demeter’s rampage, but I tried to stay close to how I felt the myth unfolded—which was that the gods let this go for a long time, until they were faced with the extinction of the human race, and as a result, no worshippers. At first, Zeus tried to use words to calm the goddess. He also sent other gods to attempt to convince her to come back to Olympus, but she refused. As a last resort, Zeus then sent Hermes to retrieve Persephone from the Underworld. I played upon Zeus’s same lazy decision making within my book. Zeus might need worshippers, but he’s not afraid of losing his power, so he does not act fast.
More on Demeter
The rape of Demeter is something I touched upon in this book. Poseidon actually rapes Demeter while she is searching for Persephone, but I felt that if this had happened before Persephone were born, it would give Demeter a reason to retract from the world and want to protect her daughter from the three.
Hermes & Pan
I just wanted to make a quick note that I did reference Pan, the God of the Wild, as Hermes’ son, which, as parentage goes in all mythology, may or may not have been his actual father. Still, I’d like to take moment to say that of the Greek Gods, Pan is the only one known to die. His death is not detailed—in fact, no one knows how he died. It was basically just a game of telephone that eventually reached the masses. The idea is, however, that with the birth of Christ, Pan had to die.
Don’t ask me. I just read the myths.
Apollo & Ajax & Hector
I do not know what made me ship Apollo with Ajax, but I did know that Ajax and Hector duel in mythology during the Trojan war so I thought that would be an interesting dynamic. In myth, Hector is also favored by Apollo because Apollo is in support of the Trojans, while Ajax fights for the Greeks.
I also decided that Ajax, describe as colossal and strong, should be deaf because I wanted to show that deafness does not mean incapable. That being said, I didn’t want Ajax to have any kind of ‘super-hero-like’ powers other than what he was given in myth—his strength, his size, and his reflexes. I didn’t think his deafness should change that he had trained like the hearing warriors around him.
Aphrodite & Harmonia
In myth, Harmonia is said to be the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite—OR Zeus and Electra. Since I don’t ship Ares and Aphrodite, I went with the second option and made her Aphrodite’s sister. Harmonia was also married off to Cadmus, who, I believe she really loved because when he was turned into a serpent, she kind went insane and was also tuned into a serpent—I don’t know that I will touch on this particular myth in any of my books, but I thought it important to mention here.
In my retelling, I really felt like Harmonia was pansexual. I also felt like, while Sybil had never considered falling in love with a woman before, when she met Harmonia, she just couldn’t help herself and it’s really, really cute.
The Palace of Knossos & The Minotaur
First, here is a great article about the history of the Palace of Knossos and why it was originally through to be the “labyrinth”: https://www.livescience.com/27955-knossos-palace-of-the-minoans.html. I’m adding this here because it was originally thought that the labyrinth was just a maze-like palace built by Daedalus. I brought in the story of the Minotaur because we also have Theseus, who, as we know, was sent to kill the Minotaur. He succeeded with the help of Ariadne, who gave him a reel of string to help him escape the labyrinth once he defeated the monster.
Theseus and Helen
Maybe some of you are surprised by Helen’s trajectory, so I’ll explain here. There is a myth where Theseus and Pirithous abduct daughters of Zeus. Theseus chooses Helen of Troy, while, as we know, Pirithous chooses Persephone. The other famous myth is the one where Paris falls in love with Helen and he takes her from Sparta to Troy beginning a war.
Depending on readings and interpretations of the myth, I just felt like Helen might be someone who looks for the best way to the top. After all, she is a Spartan woman. She is strong and capable and intelligent. She knows how to use her beauty as a tool and her mind as a weapon. Given my impression of her, you can understand her trajectory in Malice.
The Monsters
There are a lot of monsters mentioned in this book aside from the Minotaur: the hydra, Lamia, Ceto, and Arachne. I just wanted to take a moment to give a short overview of each.
The hydra resided in Lerna Lake, which you will recognize as one of the entrances to the Underworld. I chose to have this monster in the Underworld because it’s very venomous—additionally, the monster was eventually killed by Heracles as part of his labors.