Persephone (New Earth)

Persephone, lovely daughter of Demeter, goddess of the crops, was enjoying her beloved flowers. But King Pluto bore swiftly down upon the radiant maiden--and while Persephone's friends watched helplessly, Kign Pluto struck the earth with a mighty blow of his fork and disappeared into dread Hades! The Greek Myths contain much truth, if they are interpreted properly--

— Aphrodite ^src

Persephone or Kore is the Goddess of Springtime. She is also the Queen of the Dead as is married to her uncle Hades, Lord of the Underworld. She is the daughter of Zeus and the Harvest Goddess, Demeter.

History

Over the years writers have come up with various ways of interpreting the myths including Persephone for the DCU, thus her background and personality remain mysterious and shifting as is fitting of a goddess of both life and death whose very name is taboo.

Earth-Two

According to legend Persephone was the daughter of a goddess who was abducted by the god of the underworld King Pluto. Aphrodite does not say whether Persephone's mythological parentage is true, but does make it clear that Pluto is not god of the underworld, but an extraterrestrial figure who comes to abduct humans every now and again over the centuries, preferring pretty young women.^[1]

Pluto used her, and his other earth captives, by separating their minds and emotions into "color bodies" to use for power and once they are used up turning their now mindless physical bodies into his slaves. He turned those "color bodies" he found most beautiful into longer lasting decorative light emanating statues by destroying their physical bodies. It is unclear which was her fate but Persephone is not seen among the women Wonder Woman rescues from Pluto when she frees all of the remaining abductees.^[1]

Earth-One

Persephone is the dreaded goddess of the underworld, and all but her subjects and beloved husband dare not call her by name. When her husband is lead to attack Olympus and Paradise Island Persephone is able to get him to change his mind and turn back to the underworld due to his love of her.

New Earth

Persephone is the loving wife of Hades and queen of the underworld. She turns out to be a bit naive and too trusting of those that remind her of those she loves during the War of the Gods during which she unknowingly led enemies to her loved ones.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Necromancy: Persephone can control the shades of Hades.

Notes

This character is an adaptation of Persephone, a character in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.

Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.

Persephone (New Earth)

Contents