#pjo jupiter

War wasn’t pretty.  War wasn’t one of those beautiful things for all Athena wove tapestries depicting it, for all that Apollo wrote songs designed to wrench at the innermost parts of the listener.  War was brutal and ugly.  War was Ares’ and there was no reason to overcomplicate it, to dress it up with pretty words and pretty pictures.  War was the looming threat of death and destruction and the lengths anyone would go to so it wasn’t them.  War was screaming and crying and pushing past limits until only one side was left standing, wrecked and ruined in their victory.

War was simple, and that was how Ares liked it.

Ares didn’t like complicated.  Not because he couldn’t keep up – Mars could keep up just fine, could strategise just as well as Athena, and he was welcome to it – but because he didn’t see the point.  It was one of the reasons he didn’t care about the politics of Olympus.  Once upon a time, they’d been simple enough, but then the pantheon had formed properly, twelve Olympians on twelve thrones, and Ares was never not going to be one of them, not when war reverberated through everything, simmering beneath the surface waiting to be unleashed, waiting for an opportunity to dominate.

Being one of them didn’t mean he cared about the politics.  He was brash, he was violent, and he thrived on it.  Being Zeus’ son, being Hera’s son, didn’t give him any special privileges but he didn’t want them, anyway.

Special was complicated, opened up the door for falls from grace, and Ares had been quite close enough to that without inviting it in.  Olympus was every god for themselves, the same way war was, and Ares wasn’t going to bring the wrath of Zeus down on his head.

That didn’t stop him watching, though.  Didn’t stop Mars watching as the younger god some might call his brother, as though the fact they shared a parent mattered – it didn’t matter, not to Ares and not to Mars, brother was not a title for familial bonds – stumbled through his camp.

Jupiter might have laid claim to the name, but Mars was the god that mattered when it came to Rome.  Rome knew war, loved and worshipped war, and New Rome didn’t forget its roots.

The Greeks had Apollo.  The Romans had Mars.

Right then, the Greeks had no-one, and the Romans had both, but Apollo was mortal, Lester with the lack of combat skill Apollo boasted, so he didn’t exactly count.

He counted only because of what he could do, who he could call, and Mars watched.

It was his camp.  He should be called, but he knew he wouldn’t.  Not with Jupiter breathing down his neck, lightning crackling in his grasp waiting to be unleashed.  Apollo wouldn’t anger the older god, even though Jupiter wouldn’t fight the way the Romans needed, would let Mars’ mortal soldiers lay down their lives to prove a point.

War was brutal, senseless violence, but it rewarded the strong, the brave, the most desperate, and so did Mars.  New Rome was strong, brave, and desperate.  Mars would reward them.

Apollo considered him.

It was brief, a flicker that Mars wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t already been watching, but the mortal god’s eyes flickered over to his temple, his statue, the same way a warrior’s eyes flickered to their possibilities, cataloguing what they could do, what they could use to win.

He didn’t choose him, but Mars hadn’t expected to be chosen, anyway.  There were too many of those Olympian politics at play for that, and he and Apollo both knew that Jupiter would never forgive the slight of being passed over for Mars.

Diana was a ballsy call, and Jupiter hated it, which meant Mars loved it.  There was no-one Apollo could, should call above him in Jupiter’s eyes.  His twin sister, though?  Not even Jupiter could lash out at that and still seem fair and just.

War was neither, and Mars didn’t care to be, either, but Mars wasn’t Jupiter.  He didn’t want to be.

Diana answered, desperate to see her twin, and the swathe she and her army cut through Tarquin and the Triumvirate’s forces to get to Apollo was the same cruel and brutal display that Mars loved so much about war.

He wasn’t one to sit by and do nothing when other people got to have all the fun, though.  Maybe Apollo hadn’t called upon him and summoned him to fight in this war, but the Ancient Laws hadn’t stopped Ares or Mars from joining in whichever wars he pleased, and Jupiter wouldn’t stop him, either.  He didn’t need Apollo and his prayer to call him to fight, and, well.  New Rome was his.

Showing up in person was a sure fire way to get the wrath of Jupiter descending on his head, so Mars fell back on his usual tricks when showing up in person was a bad idea.  A boost in skill here, a weapon slipping there…  Sowing carnage on the battlefield in favour of whichever side, or particular warrior, had earned his favour that time, was a trick he was an old hand at.

Diana took all the credit for it, of course, and Ares would’ve grunted and complained about his achievements being attributed to another, but Mars was a little more shrewd, more calculating.  Let Diana take the credit, let Diana take Jupiter’s heat for responding to the call and shifting the tides of battle.  It kept Mars off of Jupiter’s radar, away from the wrath he wasn’t interested in triggering, and it wasn’t like his Romans were stupid.  This wasn’t their first rodeo.  This wasn’t Mars’ first rodeo.

GREEK & ROMAN

Let's kick it off with these two!

"But aren't they the same-?"

Nope! The Roman pantheon started off as their own sets of gods - the thing is, they had very little myths written down so we don't know much about how they were characterized :(

Howmever. We do know that when they were synchronized with Greece's gods, you can see the little differences between them - for instance, the Roman gods were more Forces Of Nature than gods who went out and Did Stuff, like Greece's.

Jupiter for example! He didn't have the "fucks around" rep Zeus does! Jupiter from the Roman's perspective didn't go out and do much. He rooted on Aeneus, yes, but the myths of his children weren't quite as popular in Rome as they were in Greece (probably because they were. ya know. Greek heroes, and not Roman)

And Apollo. Oh, Apollo...the only major god who didn't have a Latin equivalent.

Rome loved you so much they adopted you and went "no. no. he was always here. no we aren't lying. see? he's in the Dii Consentes!" XD

Fun Fact: Apollo is basically multiple gods in a trench coat. Paion (Mycenean), Smitheus (Mycenean), Aplu (Etruscan), Apaulinus (Hittie), Grannus (Celtic), ect were all Apollo-equivalents who historians have concluded to be past incarnations of Apollo!

which is INTERESTING because...do those gods still exist in the RRverse? Are they connected to Apollo in some way? Are they little voices in his head? DO THEY HAVE DRINKS TOGETHER?

I have questions and I need answers.

Greek & Egyptian

Saving the Norse for last because we all wanna save Freypollo for last <3 the best for last lmao

RIGHT OFF THE BAT I'M GONNA SAY THAT ZEUS DOESN'T LIKE THE OTHER PANTHEONS! I BET HE DOESN'T!

Which sucks for him because Apollo has friends in Egypt XD

I do think Apollo and Horus would be friends! Not only are they both associated with the sun in some way, but they were actually identified with each other when Greece met Egypt!

Greece: Oh so you have a super-powerful son of the king of the gods associated with light? So do we! :D

Egypt: Oh my gosh we do! :D

You know the myth of Typhon? Apollo transformed into a hawk to escape, and you know who has a hawk head?

Horus. :D

also Horus took over the thrown from Osiris - sure, not in an overthrow way but still. he overthrew Set and claimed the throne

sounds like something we all want hmm...

Also, I headcanon that Helios and Ra go WAAAAYYYY back and Apollo only met Ra like. once. before Isis did her blackmailing and Ra disappeared.

SO WHEN RA CAME BACK, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN DURING HOO BTW, APOLLO HAS NO IDEA! HE'S ON DELOS AT THAT POINT! THEN HIS TRIALS!

So when he rolls up to the next sun god meeting he sees Ra and is like "wait what who are you- OH WAIT!"

And Ra's like; "WHO LET THIS CHILD BE PUT IN CHARGE OF THE SUN???"

Apollo: I'm over 4,000 years old-

Ra, pointing: BABY

(Headcanon that Ra & Amaterasu are like. the defacto sun god 'leaders' who keep the meetings rolling. Amaterasu was very tired when Ra disappeared and she had to wrangle these fiery gods together XD)

(Also Helios thought Horus was a lil' upstart XD)

Finally, I also saw someone else mention that Apollo could have learned some Egyptian magic and used it to create the border of CHB!

Headcanon Hecate snuck along with him and it's their little secret :3

Greek & Norse

HERE. WE. ARE.

LEMME GET MY MAP OUT

SO.

Green highlight is where Greece is. Blue is where Hyperborea is (see this post for details)

In that post, I came to the conclusion that Apollo Totally Definitely Has Met Norse Gods BECAUSE OF HIS WINTER VACATIONS!

AND IF YOU LOOK ACROSS THE BALTIC SEA-

STOCKHOLM.

AND WHERE DID APOLLO MEET THAT HOT GOD WITH A TALKING SWORD???

A TAVERN. IN. STOCKHOLM!

FREYPOLLO LIVES (<-knows very well it's basically already canon XD)

Fun fact: the people of Hyperborea were most likely the mythological avatars of the Norse people! :D

SO I CONCLUDE-

Apollo takes a trip across the Baltic Sea and flirts in the Stockholm tavern and that's how Freypollo happens <3

Other Pantheon Thoughts

Hindu: This thought came while I was creating my @underrated-lovers-of-apollo-poll - Apollo & Indra!

They shared an elephant ride that one time! Wouldn't it be fun if they also kissed? :3

also Indra is a storm god with thunder and lightning think of the angst-

Shinto: Amaterasu taught Apollo Japanese when he discovered the haiku for the first time - sadly, only Athena ever bothered to learn it to experience the haiku in its fullest. pushing my sibling agenda again haha

Because haikus always sound better in their native language <3

Hittie: This connects to the 'Apollo trenchcoat' thing earlier - if Apollo is like. the current form of Apaulinus, would the Hittie pantheon like. drop in from time to time like 'heyyyy we miss you <3'

Apollo: *trojan war flashbacks*

Apaulinus was heavily associated with Wilusa, whom historians have confirmed was Troy, and Apollo's first temple doesn't show up under AFTER the bronze age collapse and the war happened BEFORE that happened meaning HE WAS APAULINUS WHEN THE WAR HAPPENED MY HEART-