#spartoi

Ok so I've been working on a little project since I'm currently obsessing over Soul Eater again. I have always liked Ohkubo's fashion and seeing all the official art where they're all in more casual and stylish clothes is always so cool. I really wish he would come out with a fashion art book or something of the like. I know there are two SE art books but one where he focuses on the outfits in his earlier style would give me so much life.

Anyways, I started looking for all the official work and recreating some of my favorite designs he's made. All minus one obviously. I really tried to make the Death Scythe patch look more like his style but I don't think I nailed it. I still really like how it looks though! I know SE isn't really popular anymore but it would be so cool if they came out with some "Death" merch. Lord Death put his face on literally everything and he's so real for that.

When the Greek hero Kadmos (Cadmus in Latin) arrived in Boeotia to find Europa, he attempted to slaughter a cow to make an offering for the goddess Athena, and ordered his soldiers to bring water.

Unbeknownst to the soldiers, the well was guarded by a horrible dragon, supposedly a son of war-like Ares himself. The monstrous creature killed most of his men until Kadmos arrived. Being quite the warrior himself, he managed to slay it. Then Athena gave him the advice to pull the teeth from the dragon's corpse and plant them in the fertile soil as if they were plants. Not one to question the will of the gods, Kadmos obliged and sowed half of the teeth like a farmer sows grain.

Human-like creatures grew from them and emerged from the soil fully armed. They were called Sparti or Spartoi, meaning 'sown' or 'sown ones'. They are also sometimes referred to as ‘earthborn’ or ‘the earthborn men’. Kadmos picked up some rocks and flung them at the strange creatures before them, confusing the Spartoi, who assumed that their siblings had turned on them. In a fit of rage, the creatures pounced on each other until all but five were slain. These survivors were named Pelorus, Hyperenor, Chthonius, Udaeus and Echion.

Whether these soldiers were fully human is debatable (the magic of the gods doesn't have to follow the rules of biology, after all) but they did eventually marry human women. Modern artists often give them a more fantastical design to underline their monstrous origin, often making them tooth-like creatures or magically animated skeletons. In older illustrations, the Spartoi are usually depicted as human soldiers.

The war god Ares was not pleased at the killing of what technically amounted to his grandchildren. He enslaved Kadmos as punishment, but set him free after eight years.

The other half of the dragon's teeth, however, were kept and eventually ended up in the possession of the wicked king Aeetes, ruler of the Colchians. When Jason of the Argonauts landed there, he was challenged by the king to yoke the two fire-breathing bulls of Hephaestos, and to sow the remaining dragon teeth. When Jason did so, a new batch of armed Spartoi emerged, just like in the past, armed with spears, shields and helmets. And like their siblings, these creatures had a violent nature and lusted for battle.

Repeating the actions of his predecessor, Jason hid from the Spartoi and pelted them with rocks. Once again, the creatures began to slaughter one another until only a few remained, at which point Jason emerged from his hiding place and killed the survivors without mercy, even those who didn’t have enough time to fully come out of the soil. Soon, every earthborn soldier was left dead, their blood flowing back into the ground that had birthed them.

Sources:

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, book 3, chapter 4, which you can read here.

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, book 1, chapter 9, which you can read here.

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, book 3, lines 396-422, lines 1163-1190, lines 1340-1407.

(Image source 1: Darko Kreculj on Artstation, illustration for Project Icelus)

Chrysaor was a boar monster and he married the beautiful nymph Calliroe.

Echion was a Spartoi, born from dragon’s teeth (so probably didn’t look like a normal dude) yet he married the princess Agave daughter of Cadmus.

Erichthonius was a snake man and the king of Athens (therefore the ancestor of Athenian nobility) and he married the nymph Praxithea.

Cecrops I was also a snake man and king of Athens and married Aglaurus.

And of course, Medusa was Poseidon’s lover.

In at least one source Hecate (who’s sometimes depicted as monstrous) was the mother of Scylla by Apollo

Edit: oh and Heracles with the Scythian snake woman! I can’t believe I forgot about them!

I mean, Meg the stallion cosplaying kid was INSANE— she’s SO INSANE for that— and it ATE DOWN??

and also, soul eater is SO popular on tiktok?? there’s so many trends that specifically involve those cheesy fucking eclectic poses that okubo would draw the teams in, you know what I’m talking about right— (Maka giving back shots to soul) and ppl copying them and having fun and it honestly makes me so happy

like ppl still LOVE this serious, it makes me so happy and it astonishes me so much to see some soul eater cosplay video getting upwards of 50k+ likes bc WHAT. clearly back in 2015 we weren’t reaching our full potential 👁️👄👁️

and get this, soma is still popular but what I’ve observed is that platonic soul mates soma is I think THE MAJORITY ship where I’ve looking? That’s insane from the pov of someone having grown up on here 2013-2019, before things rly started slowing down. Absolutely insane. Soma foothold was so strong. Anons were sent. Antis were made. Families were torn apart (jokes jokes,,, but what if 👀)

"There grew out the self-delivered crop of giants:/// rose on the ground half-finished and lifted a soil-grown shield; another shook a nodding plume before him and showed not yet his chest; while still creeping up slowly from his mother's flanks he showed fight against fearless Cadmos, clad in armour he was born in. O what a great miracle! Eileithyia armed him whom the mother had not yet spawned! And there was one who cast his brother-spear, fumbling and half-visible; one who lightly drew the whole body into the light, but left his toes unfinished sticking in the ground."

what I think is wild about this is the descriptions of the Spartoi, cuz imagine this version where they integrated into Thebes as giants, like Thebes now has a couple of dragon-tooth sewn giant guardians.

cadmus is now the dad of 5 giant dragon dudes

Going on after Perseus, let's imagine how Supergiant would adapt this important hero in Greek myth!

Cadmus (Title: "Hero of Thebes") is most famous for having slain the Ismenian Dragon, so his playstyle would be based around this myth. He would have 4 moves in his first phase as a final boss in Elysium:

Lance Spin: Much like Theseus, Cadmus will slash his spear around his sprite whenever the player is near, dealing damage. In Metamorphoses, Cadmus uses a lance to nail the Ismenian Dragon to an oak tree.

Javelin Throw: Cadmus will launch a blockable javelin at Zagreus whenever he is distant, dealing a small amount of damage. This again references the Metamorphoses, as well as vase paintings.

Boulder Hurl: Cadmus will throw a heavy and unblockable stone at the player's direction, casuing a small shockwave and dealing a huge amount of damage if not dodged. This references how Cadmus throws a stone to fight the Ismenian Dragon in literary and visual sources.

Tooth Sowing: His most unique ability; Cadmus will sow teeth of the Ismenian Dragon and Spartoi will spring from the arena's ground, who will act as his minions against the player. The Spartoi will have the same moveset and design as the Exalted enemies fought across Elysium, but stronger. The player must deal damage to Cadmus to stop him from continuously sowing dragon teeth.

Cadmus has a shield that blocks attacks at his front. Unlike Perseus' shield, it does not reflect projectiles at the player. Like Theseus, he will request the help of a random Olympian through Olympian Aid.

Once 75% of Cadmus' health has been depleted, he will enter his second phase. After burrowing underground (to avoid animating the transformation :P) he himself turns into a large serpent, in a reference to his and Harmonia's fate before going to Elysium. In this draconic state, Cadmus will gain access to new wildly different moves:

Lunge: Cadmus will bite at the player's direction.

Tail Hit: Cadmus will slam the ground with his tail to create a small shockwave.

Burrow Trail: Like the Dracon enemies in Asphodel, Cadmus will occasionally burrow underground, during which he is invulnerable to damage. He will dig at the player's direction, who will receive unblockable damage from the resulting trail.

Teeth Sowing: Cadmus will spit his own teeth into the ground this time, sowing multiple Spartoi at once, rather than one at a time.

The draconic Cadmus is larger than the Dracon enemies in Asphodel, but smaller than the Hydra to fit in the arena. Once Cadmus is defeated, the sown Spartoi enemies will dissolve as well.

In terms of story, Cadmus will sympathize with Zagreus' struggle to see his mother, having gone on a quest to search his sister Europa himself.

Extreme Measures: I was thinking about adding Cadmus' wife Harmonia to make for a duo boss, but I imagined it would be too much work to create a new character solely for this. So Cadmus will wear bronze armor like Theseus in both human and dragon form, and the tooth sowing will also summon different enemies from Elysium instead of only Spartoi.