Awesome / Lore Olympus

• Persephone wakes up in a strange home, not realizing she’s in the underworld, when all of a sudden, Cerberus himself appears before her and is about to devour her. Rather than run away in fear, she stands her ground long enough for Hades to try to calm him down. But Kore tells him that she’s got this and almost immediately tames the ginormous guard dog of the underworld and cuddles him so much, Cerberus turns into a regular sized dog and becomes devoted to the young spring goddess.
• Eros saving Psyche from her wedding to a cruel man AND from her abusive family. That and telling off her mother.
• Eros again when he arrives to help Persephone during her confrontation with Apollo. He makes his presence known by shooting an arrow through the window and almost hitting Apollo in the face. The look on his face clearly tells he means business.
• Hebe calling out to her mother Hera for taking her anger with Zeus undeservedly onto Hades, forcing Hera to wonder if her 8 year daughter has more emotional intelligence than she does. THIS is what ultimately pushes her into driving Hades and Persephone together.
• After being stalked and more or less kidnapped by Apollo, where he wants to “practice” more on what he’s done to her a few nights ago, Persephone tells him off for all the damages he has done to her. When Apollo refuses to get the message, Kore demands to be let out of his car, with a little help from Cerberus, she manages to escape and scares Apollo away thanks to Cerberus.
• Hades Big Damn Heroes moment when he saves Persephone from getting trapped and tortured in Tartarus.
• After Hermes gets dragged out by Artemis from being in the same room with Persephone while she’s undressing, and reminds Kore of her “No Men Allowed Rule” in their home, only to get pointed that she always allows Apollo over because she’s her brother and fails to see what a creep he is despite Artemis’s rule from above.
• When Hera confides in Zeus that she thinks that Apollo may have raped Persephone, he immediately takes his side, not wanting to taint Apollo’s reputation over some “B-Grade Goddess”. Hera’s response? To spit at her husband, the King of the Olympus.
• Hecate stopping Minthe’s abuse on Hades and suspends her until further notice. That is all.
• When Hades drives Persephone home, Apollo is there waiting and tries to confront her on ignoring his calls, Hades then gets out of his car and tells him off for bothering Persephone. Then she tells him off saying that yes, Hades is right and she doesn’t want to see him. When Apollo refuses to leave, Hades calls in Poseidon on speed dial who then immediately drags Apollo away to go prowling for women against his will. When all is said and done, Kore then reveals she stole Apollo’s lyre and plans to destroy it, declaring war for what’s he’s done to her.
• Ares’ Big Entrance. Nuff’ said.
• In a flashback, we see Demeter stand up to Zeus and tell him off for cheating on Hera while refusing to hide his current Mistress. Though Zeus retaliated, Demeter still comes out of it with the belief they shouldn't have to take his shit. Persephone draws on this memory when she stands up to Apollo.
  Persephone: My mother wouldn't put up with this. And neither should I.
  • It's also worth noting that this is one of the earliest positive traits we see of Demeter, who before has been seen as a workaholic and control freak to Kore.
• A small one for Minthe in chapter 103: FINALLY recognizing Thetis for the False Friend she is.
  • Though it is ruined in the fact that she is still talking/conspiring with Thetis and Thanatos to bring down Persephone all because she's jealous that Hades has fallen in love with Persephone and doesn't want to be with Minthe anymore.
• When Thanatos starts probing for dirt on Persephone in the middle of their video game session, Hermes - mostly depicted as a happy-go-lucky goofball - abruptly turns serious enough to intimidate the god of death into silence. "Don't fuck with things you shouldn't be fucking with."
• After over 110 episodes of Ship Tease and Cannot Spit It Out moments between the titular couple, along with countless individuals opposing their budding relation, Hades admit his feelings towards Persephone and they FINALLY KISS!
• Crossed with Nightmare Fuel and Moral Event Horizon, the latter half of Episode 115 is a retroactive one for Kore and a succinct Shut Up, Hannibal! to Apollo. Besides blackmailing her, Apollo is under the impression Kore needs his power to be great. This episode puts a definitive end to that notion. Also, he puts his plan to marry her in notion when he visited Hera's office since he needs her approval to marry Persephone while knowing she wants nothing to do with him.
• Demeter telling Apollo to stay the fuck away from her daughter.
• Completing the Rule of Three, when Hera is disguised as Persephone so as to not alert Demeter to the fact her daughter's missing, and Apollo corners and threatens 'Persephone' once again, Hera takes great delight in burning his hand and revealing herself, having caught him in the act.
• Continuing with the theme of Fantastic Racism and gods' privilege , the pawn shop clerk in chapter 123 gets a minor one for standing up to Hades. She refuses his bribes for Persephone's info and stares him down when he makes a threat, only helping him when he makes it clear that he genuinely cares and isn't being creepy. Even then, she keeps it mostly vague to protect Persephone's privacy. Hades also gets one when he realizes how he sounds to the clerk and tones down the anger.
• In chapter 124 shows Hera's willingness to protect Persephone from Apollo when she realized that Apollo had assaulted Persephone and tried to threaten her when in fact it was Hera disguised as her. Then Hera telling Apollo she will not let him marry Persephone and ripping the marriage proposal in his face, even laughing at him for even bringing it up.
• Echo's first appearance, effectively telling Apollo to either make an appointment or get the fuck out of Hera's office. It's so impressive that Hera decides to keep her as her PA.
• Despite being a huge asshole. Apollo distracting Zeus and allowing his sister to leave unnoticed is this and Heartwarming.
• Hermes drops his usual friendly goofball attitude and rakes Thanatos and Minthe over the coals in episode 126, unloading a series of brutally accurate truth bombs on them and the absent Thetis. The terrified look on Thanatos' face as Hermes grips his collar is a delight to see, given the amount of trouble the trio have caused for Persephone.
• Minthe tries to take advantage of Persephone's shattered reputation in chapter 134 to seduce Hades into taking her back. Not only is Hades not moved in the slightest, when she gets mad and tries to gaslight him again, he rebuffs her thoroughly and throws her out.
  Minthe: This is ridiculous! She committed treason against you, and you're still up her ass!?
  Hades: Let me get this straight, first, Persephone's too perfect for me? But now she's too wrathful for me? Which is it? Maybe she's both? Wouldn't that be interesting? (politely gestures for Minthe to get out)
• Hera lays into Zeus in Chapter 136 and it is GLORIOUS.
  Hera: How can I possibly back you up?! How is anyone supposed to back you up? Demeter battled in the Titanomachy. She helped put you where you are and you issued a warrant for her arrest without warning. And you threatened her daughter with that barbaric punishment. OH! And you basically told your brother that there is no way the goddess of his choosing could truly value him. We’re really living up to the 6 Traitors Dynasty title.
• In chapter 137 Hera protecting Persephone and letting her know that she will destroy the photos that Apollo took of her after the rape so that it won't be used against her.
• After realizing that Apollo only sees her as a Replacement Goldfish for Persephone, Daphne decides she's had enough and nopes out in the middle of their date, leaving Apollo cluelessly waiting as she goes off with Thanatos for pretzels.
  Daphne: No dick is worth this.
• Daphne calling Thanatos out for insulting Persephone's, and by extension her own, upbringing in the Mortal Realm. She then points out that his great dislike of Persephone makes very little sense. Daphne agrees that Hades and Persephone's behavior isn't professional but notes that Thanatos didn't give a meaningful reason for why this matters since he never implied this actually impacts HIM.
• Persephone finally musters up the courage to tell Artemis how much she despises her brother Apollo and that his mere presence makes her miserable. Even though she still doesn't tell Artemis about Apollo's assault, it's still immensely satisfying to see Persephone vent her frustrations about having been forced to deal with him.
• While Apollo is imagining Persephone suffering in the Underworld in chapter 143... Aetna is destroying his blackmail of her.
  Aetna: "PERISH, YOU NASTY FILES!"
  • Somewhat related, but when Apollo confronts Hephaestus about all the blackmail being gone, you get this one line that shows all of what happened.
  Hephaestus: I saw what I saw.
• Chapter 149 and 150 give a moment of awesome, surprisingly, to Minthe. It details how she became Hades' lover: she was working at a club and Hades, Zeus and Poseidon showed up to party. Zeus took her working hat and shoved it on Hades' head for a laugh, causing Hades to vanish in embarrassment - still wearing the hat - and her employer refused to pay her because she 'failed to return company property'. So she ended up storming Hades' office and ranting her troubles to him, which impressed him with his bravery enough to hire her.
• After multiple chapters of Minthe's shitty abusive behavior, her continuing to be verbally abusive towards both Hades and Persephone, as well as being a Karma Houdini, Persephone finally snaps upon learning she reported her and Demeter to Zeus, lets out about her tricking her into going to Tartarus, and turns her into the titular plant.
  Persephone: Why are you running? Is it because you sent me on a wild goose chase to Tower 4!? Or is it because you needlessly berated a king? You sure like to talk. Perhaps it would be better if you didn't have a mouth.
  Minthe: I-I'm sorry.
  Persephone: Oh, it's too late for sorry.
• Persephone proceeding to completely No-Sell Leto's attempts to convince her to date Apollo in Chapter 158. She points out that Leto's son is a horrible man who threatened to trap her in a marriage akin to Zeus and Hera's and the only reason Persephone isn't making a VERY active attempt to get her out of Hades' house is because Artemis is her friend. The look on Leto's face when she realizes just how far down his throat Apollo stuck his foot must be seen to be believed.
• Pretty much every time that Persephone and Hades negate Poor Communication Kills in their relationship. There have been many times when readers would brace for shenanigans or drama to ensue, only for one or both of them to take the high road and talk about their issues. A fine example would be Leto telling Persephone that Hades and Hera had an affair. Persephone could have said nothing and simply stewed in her jealousy and impotently compared herself to the literal Queen of the Gods. Instead, she enrolls in therapy and makes sure to get the facts from Hades himself rather than someone who has an obvious agenda. Hades continues the awesomeness of emotional maturity by telling Persephone the truth instead, minor concession for Hera's privacy aside. They serve a stark contrast to the disaster that is Zeus and Hera's marriage.
• When Daphne sees Apollo's crimes after he's shot with an arrow of hate, and learns what he did to Persephone, she instantly runs from him and refuses to listen to his excuses, planning to tell everyone what he did. When she realises that he's likely going to kill her, she takes her fate into her hands and transforms into a tree on her own terms.
• After giving his testimony at the trial, Hermes exposes Thanatos as the one who ratted out Persephone in the first place. Thanatos very likely would have gotten away with it if he hadn't, since both Hades and Persephone only knew about Minthe's part in the whole affair. But now? Thanatos will actually have to deal with what he did.
  Hermes (to Thanatos): If I'm going down, you're coming down with me.
• The rest of the gods realizing that Persephone's case was not fully explained to them when it is revealed that the humans Persephone killed had trespassed onto sacred land, which violated a treaty they had with Demeter, and killed some of the flower nymphs living there. Even Ares calls out Zeus about how none of them were informed of those facts with Athena backing him up, saying that the mortal were out of line with how they treated Persephone.
  • During his argument, Hades points out that Eros had probably a half day extra of work at most to repopulate the land to balance out the lives taken by Persephone. Hades also gets another point when he brings up that Artemis and Apollo killed most of Queen Niobe's children, after she boasted about being a better mother than Artemis and Apollo's mother Leto, without filling the proper documents for an act of wrath and that they were even awarded medals for their actions.
• The contents of Persephone's ledger is revealed. Is it a plot to overthrow Hades? No, duh. Is it a plan to take over the Mortal Realm? Also no. It is something that literally only Persephone could have come up with. It's a proposal for Elysium. She's trying to make the Underworld less horrible for innocent people. It's clearly driven by her own guilt but it would address the problem of people being condemned to eternal suffering for pretty much no reason.
  • Hades promptly uses it as evidence that Zeus is being extreme for no reason and doesn't get why so many people, upon reading the ledger, are so willing to assume such horrifying things about her besides him being tangentially involved.
• A beautiful moment of self-hoisting Karma occurs in Chapter 182: Hades finds out about Apollo's attack on Persephone, all because Apollo accosted Hephaestus in an empty room and refused to leave him be, despite the blacksmith politely, if laconically, making it clear he wanted nothing to do with the sun god.
• Ares proves to be every bit of Hera's son when he confronts Zeus over why the sky god is not keen on letting Hades get together with Persephone: he's afraid of war.
  • This may need some elaboration: Zeus, for context, predicts Ares wants a physical or verbal swing at him, and simply tells him to Bring It. Ares, staying incredibly calm the entire conversation, happily delivers his theory about Persephone that did more damage to Zeus than any of his fire or rage magic ever could: first, he predicts Hades would win if they came to blows with Persephone on Hades' side, bluntly revealing Persephone is a fertility goddess. Once he's successfully cracked Zeus' mental aegis, so-to-speak, Ares DIGS with evidence of Persephone's power and the Cycle of Kings and their fertility goddess brides, including poking at Zeus' ancient Moral Event Horizon of eating Metis (which Zeus claims was the result of Metis annoying him rather than Cannibalism Superpower at work to defeat Kronos). Ares also admits he himself lost his chance to get Persephone just to mess with Zeus' paranoia, showing maturity in his actions. He then also points out Hades isn't interested in usurping his brother, but Zeus still feels the need to nip the Persephone problem in the bud before others find out. The reason for this: Ares points out Zeus' nonstop adultery may have created the god who WOULD gladly usurp Zeus. Zeus looks like he zapped himself as the God of War leaves him to stew.
• Persephone calling out Zeus during his most recent inspection. Every year he finds something minor to fail Persephone and after ten years of having to put up with Zeus and his pettiness she snaps at him.
• The Season 2 finale has Persephone up against Kronos, an enormous Titan who can control time and taken most of the other Olympians hostage. She beats him.
• A softer but no less awesome moment in Episode 214: after being returned to her natural form, Minthe manages to turn her life around and becomes a teacher. She also peacefully but formally dissolves her friendship with Thetis, pointing out that they tend bring out the worst in each other. Not even Thetis’ insults break her stride as she walks away. The last panel of Minthe’s segment of the chapter is her content, smiling face.
• It is revealed that Aphrodite and Hephaestus got married during the timeskip. When Ares texts Aphrodite, it looks as if she is going to meet with her former lover and cheat on her husband as per traditional mythology. Turns out she is going to meet up with Psyche, who is now a goddess herself, for coffee instead.
• Persephone and Hestia in Episode 231. In the previous episode, Persephone had come up to see her mother with Hades disguised as a moth. Sensing Hades, Demeter trapped him under a glass dome and started to desperately get the status quo of her household back to how it was before the trial, going as far as to stage an intervention for Persephone. Before Persephone can be manipulated into taking her vows and becoming a part of the TGOEM, Hestia releases Hades, who then proposes to Persephone.
• Apollo continues being a self-pitying victim blamer who tells on himself in chapter 237. This time, he doesn't do it around someone with Hades and Hephaestus' grace and composure. When Apollo confirms that he not only raped Persephone but that it's perfectly normal to take pictures, HERMES straight up sucker-punches him. This on top of moving out so that he no longer has to deal with Apollo's toxicity.
• Persephone has a revelation in Episode 272. While she still needs to speak with Erebos to try and get more of the particulars, Persephone finally figures out what has happened to her powers. She keeps expecting her powers to still work like they did when she was just the Goddess of Spring. Which is the problem: she's NOT just the Goddess of Spring anymore, she also the Queen of the Underworld. Where things go when they die. But if nothing ever dies, how can there be room for new things to GROW? With this realization, she makes the grapevine that Dionysus dutifully brought to Tartarus bloom and fruit, revealing the return of her Spring powers.
  • Dionysus braves Tartarus to help his foster mother Persephone and (stepmother?) Hera. He does this while all of the remaining adults are, understandably, freaking out.
• It is finally confirmed in Episode 273 that Hera is the missing Fertility Goddess. Persephone, with Dionysus' help, reawakens her powers over life. This allows Hera to grown to Titan-size to take the fight directly to Kronos. And she is GLORIOUS. She looks like the night sky dotted with glowing, golden stars in the form of a Goddess.
  "I am a goddess. Made from starlight and the sweetest earth. Limitless and blessed with purpose. Did you forget? I was created to destroy you."
  • Recognizing he no longer has the advantage, Kronos tries to bribe Hera into joining his side. She laughs in his face and reminds him that he was a horrible King and that his main reason for continuing to torment her is pettiness. While THIS is happening, Hades is waging his own battle with Kronos, having gained closure and perspective from speaking with his future daughter Melinoe and a past version of his mother Rhea. Hera defeats Kronos with a meteor shower and Hades turns him into a jewel. Hades chooses to forgive Kronos. Not because he deserves it but he wants peace from the situation and to move on. After she defeats him, Hera makes it clear to Kronos that she doesn't forgive him and she doesn't care that Ouranos was a horrible father and a monstrous King because Kronos himself was STILL BOTH OF THOSE THINGS.
• Episode 277, better known as "The Humbling of Apollo." Thanks to his own machinations and Persephone' guile, Apollo is hit by a True Love arrow. He SIMULTANEOUSLY falls in love with her and becomes completely aware of everything he's put her through. Unable to deal with what he's feeling, he begs a quietly raging Persephone how to make it stop. Before leaving, she tells him to publicly confess what he's done to her to the approaching Oracle News crew (who he called in advance to announce his "engagement" to Persephone) and to stay away from her forever. Which he does, on camera, surrounded by Persephone's infuriated family and friends and in broken tears. May his reputation rest in pain.

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