#anti lo persephone

[moony-2001]

The real-world impact of Lore Olympus

i.e. do your research Rachel

Trigger warning: racism, fetishization, appropriation, mentions of SA

Long post ahead

A while ago, someone told me that Lore Olympus was just a silly little comic written out of boredom. That it was made to be "funny". They told me that "[I] can't hope [for] an extremely [well-written] story when it was just made with the intention to make something goofy" and that if Rachel actually wanted to make something serious like I had, she would write a book and not a comic.

At the time of this exchange, it was past 1 a.m. and I was exhausted. I did not want to argue with this person and it simply wasn't worth my time or energy in the moment.

But looking back at that (mostly one-sided) interaction, I can't help but think that there is so much wrong with that point of view. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion about Lore Olympus, whether good or bad. But Lore Olympus isn't just some silly little nothing comic about nothing important. It is a comic that actively appropriates and erases Greek Culture. It is a comic that has no respect for the actual stories that have been passed down over thousands of years whether by word of mouth or written text. It is a comic that perpetuates a false narrative and harmful stereotypes about characters or certain groups of people. So, no, it's not just a silly little comic.

Incorrect information

Here’s an example of what I mean:

When I was doing research for my post about the 10 year time skip, I looked up Leuce to reconfirm the little information I knew about her. Wanna guess the first thing that popped up about her?

A Lore Olympus Wiki article.

Okay. How about Minthe? Hundreds of pictures of her from Lore Olympus and a LO Wiki article as one of the top 3 results. Both character are horribly represented in LO and unfortunately there isn’t really any documented stories or records that can refute how LO paints them. Because of this, other characters in Greek Mythology like Leuce and Minthe, whose stories have little to no documentation, stand to suffer the most harm from deliberate misrepresentation on Rachel’s part.

Of course well-known and better documented figures in Greek mythology face slander as well. What about Thetis or Leto? How about Apollo? All of their portrayals in LO are HORRIBLE. I have seen people online absolutely drag them to filth not because they're upset about how the character is portrayed compared to their mythological counterpart, but because they have no knowledge of how they are actually portrayed outside of LO. They just assume that's how the characters are. Similarly, people who have either very little or no prior knowledge of Greek Mythology and Culture would look at the comic and go "Yep, sounds legit. It must be true." and go about thinking that what is portrayed in LO is accurate to what was transcribed thousands of years ago.

Creative interpretations and racism/fetishization within LO

Don’t get me wrong. Creative interpretations and artistic liberties can be great. When they’re done tastefully. I personally think if done correctly, a Greek myth spun in a modern way has the potential be very good. But that's not what we were given.

Characters like Minthe, Leuce, and Thetis (all nymphs btw) are portrayed as trashy tramps who put out and are used as a foil sabotage Persephone and/or her relationship with Hades. Compare that to Greek Mythology where in the Iliad, Thetis is very well-respected by the gods, particularly Hera. Unfortunately, other similar characters like satrys (and basically any character that isn’t a god) are usually portrayed as a low-class POC that can be easily exploited, manipulated, or used as a temporary villain/lover/pawn to “get back” at Persephone, our white-coded protagonist who can do no wrong.

Additionally, there is a clear race/class bias against characters like nymphs in LO. We see many cases scattered throughout the comic of gods like Hera or Aphrodite referring to nymphs as "trash" or "low class" or the idea that nymphs do not belong with gods being heavily implied if not outright said. I cannot tell you how often I've seen Minthe be called some variant of "cheap" by the readers of LO. Even Persephone (who created the flower nymphs) treats them with such disrespect. She frequently calls them some variant of "stupid" or "simple" like saying how they're not the sharpest crayons in the box even though she's the one WHO MADE THEM. However, it's so odd not really to note that nymphs like Echo, Amphitrite, or Psyche (who was previously disguised as a nymph) are not discriminated against. This is because they are liked or trusted by the gods they are around and ergo are often portrayed as the "good ones", which is a disgusting mindset to have.

We also see the fetishization of nymphs in the comic that is disturbingly similar to the fetishization of women who are Black, Asian, or Latina. It is a known fact that Hades has a flower nymph fetish. Not only is this implied in the comic, but Rachel stated it outright in an old Patreon post. Nymphs are also generally treated as sex-symbols, disposable, and as a lesser-than. Zeus frequently displays this behavior by abandoning nymphs he knocked up in the mortal realm.

For example, when Persephone finds out Apollo is dating Daphne, she isn't upset he's dating her friend. She's upset he's dating a flower nymph, beings that are generally considered to be "rare", "dumb", and objects of sexual desire. Ew.

Even on the Lore Olympus website (loreolympians.com) nymphs are regarded as "beautiful", "desirable", and "very exotic". And when they're not described in a sexual manner they're say it with me now regarded as "low class" or "workers" for some kind of god/goddess.

Final thoughts

So not only is the characterization of characters like Minthe or Thetis harmful to Greek culture and the stories that are so ingrained in their society, but it is also perpetuating harmful stereotypes about people of color and women who are confident in their sexuality.

Of course, the characters within Greek Mythology had their own issues. Zeus was a serial rapist, many of the goddesses deemed to be "feminist" by today's standards were actually horribly misogynistic looking at you Athena. But 1. that's just how things were back then (but that does not make it right) and 2. all of the good, the bad, and the ugly is still there in Greek Mythology. They're not denying how fucked up it is, but they're also not changing their history to better fit their own narrative or the narrative of the modern world. It exists, it happened, but now it is studied and called out by historians.

Rachel, on the other hand, is doing exactly that. She is actively changing the Greek's cultural history to better fit her fic's narrative. She is constantly sweeping things under the rug or going "No this is how it ACTUALLY happened". Lore Olympus is marketed as a "feminist retelling" yet somehow, it takes allllll the ugly parts from Greek Mythology (rape, incest, problematic age gaps, dubious consent, etc.), mixes it with a majority of the issues we have in the modern world (white feminism, rape-apologists/rape culture, grooming, fetishization of certain minority groups, etc.) and then amplifies the concoction to 20. Lore Olympus cannot be a "progressive, feminist, retelling" and also have characters that are morally apprehensive/come straight from the ancient myths. It does not work. In fact, IMO it makes all the problems from both eras worse.

News flash: actual cultures that are still thriving today are not your toys. They are not "made up". They matter. Do better.

#anti lore olympus #lore olympus #anti lo persephone #anti lo #lore olympus criticism #lore olympus critical #lo critic #lo critical #unpopular lo #unpopular lore olympus #appropriation #greek mythology #if anyone who is actually Greek wants to comment on this or share their thoughts please feel free #I'm not Greek but I have a deep love for mythology/Greek culture so this is just my take on things

[persiesposts]

Something I love about Lore Rekindled..

So by now everyone knows about the lovely @genericpuff and their LO rewrite (if you don't you have to check it out!!!) and I've been re-reading it alongside LO just for the sake of comparative analysis and I noticed something within the first few eps that was so amazing.

Persephone noticed and approached Hades first in Rekindled.

It seems like such a small change at first but looking at it in comparison to the original it's a HUGE shift and immediately sets the tone for who Persephone is as a character in Rekindled vs LO.

In LO based on first impressions of Persephone we see a young woman who is hopelessly out of place and severely in the "damsel mindset." The first time Hades ever sees her is when she's in distress after being knocked over. We see her through his POV and don't see the situation through her eyes at all.

In Rekindled the focus is on Persephone and her POV, she sees Hades at the bar and through her we see this immediate connection (though not instantly a positive one, i.e. "he's terrifying"). It leaves the audience immediately interested by what she means by "terrifying". Despite that initial impression she chooses to still approach him which shows remarkable agency and boldness on her part in comparison to her OG counterpart.

She also approaches with a decent amount of social awkwardness, she's more forward than most who were raised on Olympus, handily securing her "small fish in a big pond" characterization without making her seem like a ditz. It makes her showing up in his car later (another change there that I could write a whole other post on) less weird and creepy since they've at least had a conversation before that moment.

TLDR: I love Lore Rekindled and the shifts that were made to make these characters feel more realistic and less flat.

#anti lore olympus #lore rekindled #anti lo persephone #lo critical #lore olympus critical

[genocidalfruitcake]

lore olympus but it’s good

aka my au

#lore olympus #lore olympus critical #anti lo art #anti lo persephone #lo persephone #lo minthe #minthe #persephone #lore olympus persephone #lore olympus minthe #rewrite #lo redesign #lo rewrite #persephone fanart #lore olympus fanart #minthe fanart #my art #digital art #procreate

[aj-thegreatest]

Guys I’m so sorry if this seems hashed together

But PomengranMints has hit 150(ish) hits on AO3! Thank you so much for enjoying the story!

To celebrate, here’s some outfits for Persephone and Minthe if they met at Zeus’ Panathenaia! And if Persephone had a choice in what she could wear. It would’ve been super fun and very gay if they did!

I’ll be posting the next chapter tomorrow (Nov 9th), so please be on the look out for it! And if you want to check out the previous chapters, here they are!

🌹🌿🌸

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo #anti lo persephone #minthephone #minthe X persephone #persephone X minthe #lo minthe #lo persephone #lore olympus redesign #my art #pomengranmints

[jennrypan]

It'd kind of weird how..Persephone has a closer relationship to Hera than her own mother like 🤨

Demeter literally gave you everything you could ever want, she just didn't want your dumbass running around with the Olympians FOR GOOD REASON?? (And low and behold as soon as she left the Mortal Realm everything went shitty and bad things immediately happened to her 😶)

Like..you wanted MALE god friends so bad?? Cuz ig Hermes wasn't enough?? All the nymphs, Athena, Hestia and Artemis weren't enough?? Fucking weird.

Like I'd get it if it was about hee wanting to go to school but she only did that for like one WEEK or less, before she pussied out and got distracted by Hades and all his riches.

Demeter should be disappointed that she put so much effort into Persephone only for her to become this ungrateful, spoiled, tantrum throwing, sugar baby. Like holy shit--

She was raised around nymphs but she takes every chance to terrorize them, but let a God actually insult her and she just grumbles and pouts and let's Hades deal with it. (Unless it's Zeus for some reason?? She has no issue getting bold with the literal king.)

Like her act of Wrath was because of her two nymph friends dying and yet..she clearly doesn't care about nymphs. Or anyone in the Mortal Realm for that matter.

(Also.. she doesn't seem to like Hermes or Artemis for that matter either, easily replacing them with Eros and Hades, despite Hermes being her first male friend and Artemis LETTING HER STAY IN HER HOUSE. Also..Eros got to ealk her down the isle.and not of her nymph friends were there except for Daphne?? What the hell.

#anti lore olympus #j.p speaks #i love hera but..Persephone seems to care more about her than her own damn mother. #lo critical #Persephone is a spoiled little child who cant take care of herself but acts like she can. #anti lo persephone #..I think i hate her actually 😶 #demeter deserves a daughter that doesnt hate her so much

[demeterswheat]

The demonization of Mother Demeter.

It’s L.O particularly. in early myths, it’s mainly from Demeter’s point of view. Her daughter was wrongfully taken away from her for marriage. So now in L.O it’s romance all of a sudden? It was never to be a love story, it’s about a grieving mother and the emotion of the changing seasons. Now she is a manipulative, grooming mother who didn't want her daughter to be happy.

Now before i start my rant.

Who is Demeter and what role does she play?

Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest, grain, and fertility. She is one of the Twelve Olympian gods that live on Mount Olympus. Because she was the goddess of the harvest, she was very important to the farmers and peasant people of Greece. Demeter was Gaia's granddaughter. In modern interpretations of Greek mythology, Demeter is seen as an aspect of Gaia that has been passed down through the generations, because of her connection to growth and harvest.

Like all Olympian gods, Demeter was immortal and very powerful. She had control over the harvest and the growing of grains. She could cause plants to grow (or not grow) and had control over the seasons. She also had some control over the weather and could make people hungry.

Her role in L.O.

In the comic, she is presented as an “obstacle”, making her the “villain” of the story because she doesn't support the idea of a 2000+ god with her 19-year-old daughter (now later 30) Persephone once says “She’s grieving over the life she though she would've wanted” the issue is that Demeter was created into a young woman not having a childhood none at all, and preparing for war. (A war that almost lasted for 11 years)

She had valid reasons to worry for her daughter, she hasn’t seen her daughter for 10 years and now when her mother asks for her to come home and says “no” with no explanation at all, and the everybody now hates her.

What makes it worse is that her daughter was mad that she made Hades black-out drunk to forget her (keep in mind she was presumably 16 when she was naked in front of him nothing with a fizzy glow barely covering her. Calling it a connection?

She has seen time after time goddess, nymph, and human women being rumped and dumped by zeus in her own realm. Let’s not forget her own “mother” was eaten by zeus (what people seem to forget) The very same can happen to Persephone, every fertility goddess has been eaten because of their power.

Then episode 230 happened and that was the final straw, Demeter is so mistreated by rs and the narrative and it’s really pathetic.

Who just wakes up and says “Hey! let’s make others hate Demeter even more”

Demeter was also a victim of her own story.

1. Zeus forced himself on demeter to produce peresephone

2. Hades (her own brother) stole her daughter because he was lonely

3. Posiden also forced himself (onto her) as horse while looking at her daughter, giving birth to other children.

In mostly every retelling she is often told as an obstacle for “true love” between a tween and her sugar daddy.

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical #anti lo persephone

[abyssalbest]

Me when the lore is rekindled

I’ve been thinking about @genericpuff ‘s Persephone a lot.

#art #fanart #my artwork #traditional art #artists on tumblr #artwork #lore rekindled #anti lo persephone #anti lore olympus #sand drawings (art tag)

[seasidesorbet]

Shitty persephone redesign/redraw?

#art #artists on tumblr #digital artists on tumblr #digital art #anti lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus redesign #lore olympus redraw #anti lo persephone

[kolluxapollonia]

Of all the webtoons, they had to pick the one with the shittiest, unorganized plotline…

#anti lore olympus #anti lo persephone #anti lo hades

[reallyhumongousgarden]

by your side

original panel here:

#anti lo #lo crit #lore olympus critical #anti lo art #anti lo demeter #anti lo persephone #unpopular lore olympus #my art lol

[moony-2001]

A star is born 🌟

I just had to redesign Hera’s fertility goddess form. In all ways possible, I wanted her to be opposite of Kronos, hence the total makeover.

I based her color palette off of a neutron star! Neutron stars are technically dead stars and she was “dead” there for a minute so I figured that would go hand in hand.

Hope you like my redesign (click for better resolution) ✨

#anti lore olympus #lo critical #anti lo persephone #lore olympus #unpopular lo #unpopular lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus critical #lore olympus criticism #lo critique #lore olympus redraw #lore olympus hate #loreolympiad #unpopularloreolympus #lore olympus art #lore olympus hera #lo hera #lo hate #lore olympus finale #lore olympus edit #lo art #my art #my artwork #illustration #art #lo redesign

[tea-dragonz]

I think I’ve figured out what makes me so uncomfortable about Asteria— she reminds me way too much of Lore Olympus Persephone and other similar “girlboss” type characters:

Has been described by other characters as a sweet, kind, and somewhat insecure person, though we don’t get to really see much of that for ourselves

So far has been weirdly out of pocket when it comes to interactions with other people— telling Keion to shut up when he was telling them about the situation on Olympus; brushing aside Mors’ feelings on it so that she could go back to spending time with Korina; not to mention what I said previously about Asteria giving a bunch of magic to Korina with barely any warning, causing her a lot of pain

The narrative so far has kinda just brushed all this aside (though flawless characters isn’t really KO's thing as we’ve seen with the main cast so I’m hoping this changes soon)

I will say that I don’t think she’s a bad as LO Persephone— yet. She’s only been in a few episodes so far, and I think the most recent one made me like her a bit more. While I thought the conversation between her and Mors would end up the same as any “overprotective parent threatens child’s partner” scene, I was pleasantly surprised. Both of them showed a more vulnerable side with their fears of wanting to keep Korina safe, and Asteria even admitted that Mors wasn’t as bad of a person as she initially assumed. I hope stuff like this continues, because I do want to like her.

#korina’s origin #asteria #lore olympus critical #anti lo persephone

[aj-thegreatest]

Before I forget, PomengranMints will update tomorrow around noon! Here’s a little concept sketch of Minthe and Persephone 🌹🌿🌸

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo #anti lo persephone #minthephone #persephone X minthe #minthe X persephone #pomengranmints #my art #I would’ve done a proper doodle but…I’m tired lol

[duxwriter]

And when she awakens from her wrath, to the world she screams, soaked in red

Inspired by the latest episodes of Lore Rekindled

#artwork #lore olympus edit #lore olympus critical #lo persephone #anti lore olympus #lore olympus persephone

[demeterswheat]

in the representation of myths is that she ruined the myth of Psyche and Eros. Psyche was a badass Greek hero. Her sisters were jealous of her beauty and she craved for someone to look past her pretty face. Her father was informed that she was destined to marry a beast even the gods fear. When she tried to take matters into her own hands and jump off a cliff, Eros caught her. They were extremely happy together, but her sisters convinced her that he was a monster.

She attempted to kill him and Eros left her. Devastated, she first exacted revenge on her sisters by telling them that they should jump off the cliff because Eros wanted them to be his wife. That did not happen and they both died. Then, she, a pregnant woman, travelled by foot to find Aphrodite and apologize. She readily faced consequences and completed tasks with the help of Demeter and Hera, because she had pleased and impressed them. She even went to the Underworld ad evaded Cerberus to complete a task.

And I cannot emphasize enough that she was also pregnant throughout the whole ordeal. Rachel's representation of this myth is lousy and makes Psyche look like a damsel in distress instead of an actual hero.

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical #anti lo persephone

[the-weekly-nark]

Minthe will forever be the original!

The last pic is by @anoldplace, who noticed that Persephone dresses like Minthe. Their post inspired me to look for more parallels and wow there’s a lot.

#lore olympus #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lore olympus criticism #lore olympus hades #lore olympus persephone #lore olympus minthe #minthe lore olympus #lo minthe #lo persephone #lo hades #lo critical #lo criticism #webtoon #rachel smythe #unpopular lore olympus