Characters / The Wicked + The Divine

WARNING: Due to the nature of this comic, this page contains unmarked spoilers through Issue #33. Read at your own risk!

The Current (2014) Pantheon

As a Whole

Minerva, Sakhmet, Baal, Ananke, Woden, and Amaterasu

• Ascended Fanboy: Quite a few of the gods were Pantheon fans before their ascension, like Amaterasu, Inanna, Luci, Dionysus, and most notably Laura and Cass (though Cass was more of a hater). This is likely to be a factor in why they were chosen.
  • Woden is a variation of this, as he studied the Pantheon intently for years, even before the Recurrence.
• Badass Finger Snap: This is how they display their powers. They sometimes chant 1-2-3-4 to go with it.
• Blessed with Suck/Cursed with Awesome: Being a god (having powers and the ability to do whatever/whoever you want at the cost of death in two years) is seen as one of the two by the Pantheon. Some, like Baphomet and Minerva, worry about death, while some, like Sakhmet, enjoy their godhood.
• Cast Full of Gay: More than half of them are non-heterosexual.
• Deadpan Snarker: A Kieron Gillen trademark. Most of them always have comebacks in this World of Snark.
• Deity of Human Origin: They are all humans chosen to be gods.
• Doomed by Canon: After their ascension, they only have two years to live.
• Dysfunction Junction: They are problematic people doing problematic things.
• Facial Markings: Many of them have these of various individual designs. They disappear when an individual renounces their godhood, suggesting the markings are more than just make up.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: They all went from unremarkable young people to superpowered gods.
• A God Am I: The Pantheon, as part as the Deity of Human Origin theme. Special mention to Amaterasu and Baal, the former of whom starts a cult and the latter of whom says he knew he was a god before the ascension.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Every one of them wanted to be a God, and just so happened had the power to incarnate one. The climax of the series is them confronting this shared desire and renouncing their godhood.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Are visually (and somewhat personality-wise) based on famous musicians. See the main page for more details.
• Orphan's Ordeal: Amaterasu, Baphomet, Baal, Persephone, and Minerva all have at lost at least one parent, and that greatly affected their lives and actions. Even Sakhmet, who is unrepentantly halfway a Self-Made Orphan. There's no sign of her mother at all.
• Really Gets Around: Not all of them, but many of them have multiple partners and generally promiscuous lifestyles.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Every one who kills someone — Luci, Persephone, Ananke, Sakhmet, Minerva and Baal— is still likeable.
• Whole Costume Reference: See No Celebrities Were Harmed.

Persephone/Laura Wilson

Persephone/Laura Wilson

"Make your own decisions, make your own mistakes."

^{Click here to see her pre-Recurrence.}

Greek goddess of vegetation and queen of the underworld. Her icon is the skull that symbolises dead gods. Her identity before the Recurrence was Laura Wilson, a fan of the Pantheon who became entangled in their shenanigans.

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• A God I Am Not: Eventually comes to realize that she doesn't really want or need to be a god anymore — comparing godhood to addiction — and voluntarily gives it up. She no longer registers as Persephone or any other god when Cass and Beth look for her, though for a reason unknown to her, she still retains limited fire and performance powers. Issue #43 reveals that she always had this gift. The "godhood" was just a fatal cheat mode to supercharge what she already had, so she was right to call it an addiction.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Though she's a big fan of Amaterasu, one of the nicer gods, she's also a huge fan of Baal and Luci, who make no efforts to hide when they do bad things.
• Appropriated Appellation: "The Destroyer", which she tells her fans she wants to be known as. Traditionally, Persephone was not a god you named aloud if you could avoid it.
• Anti-Hero: Embraces her role as "The Destroyer," given that she kills Ananke, votes against preparing for the Great Darkness, compromises Baphomet and the Morrigan's relationship, and harbors Sakhmet after her mass murder.
• Ascended Fangirl: Literally. Laura was a huge fan of the gods before she actually met them and began learning more about them. Subverted, though, in that she's finding out that it's not all it's cracked up to be. As of Issue #5, however, Luci may have made her a part of the Pantheon. And as of Issue #11, she is revealed to be the 13th god, Persephone.
• Arch-Enemy: Ananke calls her "The Destroyer" and she's set up in opposition to the elder goddess.
• Back from the Dead: As suited to her name, she's alive and she's pissed, especially at Ananke. It later turns out she never died; Baphomet and Inanna saved her.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: She thinks this happened. Laura desperately wanted to be a god, repeatedly saying that she'd give anything to ascend. She then ascended... and her family got killed immediately afterwards. Persephone thinks that she caused their deaths by wishing so much, and has been torturing herself over it ever since.
• Brought Down to Normal: Before deciding on her abortion (though unrelated to that procedure), she gives up her godhood, including most of her powers. She tells the rest of the Pantheon if they stop Ananke, they will lose their powers as well. This is the only way to break the cycle of Ananke’s Recurrence, denouncing the stories of godhood Ananke tells them.
• Character Catchphrase: "Nuh-uh" and "Uh-uh". A sign of her and Cass' friendship is when Cass starts doing it.
• Celeb Crush: She has one on Baal, even after meeting him and learning that he's a bit of a Jerkass.
• The Chessmaster: Issue #18. She stages a massive concert and gets people talking about her, knowing it will lead Ananke, Woden and the Valkyries away from Valhalla while Baphomet goes in to free the Morrigan. And when it's realized she's a distraction, she quickly goes to Valhalla to bail out the others.
• Decoy Protagonist: Subverted. She is 'killed' in issue #11, but it turns out she survived, just as Persephone. Persephone resumes the lead of the main character.
• Destroyer Deity: A god called the Destroyer In-Universe by both herself and her fans (see Appropriated Appellation).
• Exotic Eye Designs: When using her powers, her eyes turn black with skull-shaped white pupils, fitting for a goddess of the dead.
• Facial Markings: Gains a red triangle over her right eye after ascending to godhood. Foreshadowed by the face-paint she wore to Amaterasu's concert in the first issue. It goes away when she renounces her godhood.
• Foreshadowing: Issue #11's cover reflects the two decapitations inside. It turns out she never lost her head... but there was death enough to go around in that issue anyway.
• Gaining the Will to Kill: She murders Ananke after thinking of her dead sister, and is more than prepared to kill Woden, though Urðr stops her.
• Genre Savvy: Her stage début. Instead of announcing herself as a new god, she simply goes onstage and uses her powers, trusting the internet and fandom of the Pantheon to pick up her performance quickly, transmitting her survival in such a way as to catch Woden and Ananke flat-footed.
• Green Thumb/Power Glows: Has the ability to summon massive glowing crystalline vines, strong enough to even pierce the walls of Valhalla, to Woden's shock.
• Happily Married: Ends up marrying Cassandra and spending many happy years together before the latter's death.
• Heroic BSoD: After Luci's death. Then when Baphomet saves her life, she spends several weeks lying on the ground, completely frozen in despair at having become a god, nearly been killed by Ananke, seen Ananke kill Inanna, and then finding out that Ananke murdered her entire family.
• Important Haircut: She shaves all of her hair off after getting an abortion and renouncing her godhood.
• I Just Want to Be Special: In the first issue she comments that she wants to be a part of the Pantheon, not just a viewer. By the time Lucifer offers to give her a portion of her power, however, she's starting to become jaded with it all.
• In the Back: Ananke seemingly kills her from behind in #11, though she is pushed out of the way before she is hurt.
• Meaningful Name: Persephone means 'she who destroys', her nickname is 'The Destroyer', and she more than lives up to it.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: After Urðr awakens, she bursts into tears because "everything's gone wrong". Possibly linked to her being an undiscovered god.
• Mythology Gag: Shows up at Valhalla eating a pomegranate.
  • In the Underground, all she ate was pomegranate salad.
• Oh, Crap!: When she realizes she may have Luci's powers.
• Playing with Fire: Is able to do the Finger-Snap Lighter thing once before her ascension, but isn't able to do it again until she ascends.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: Before her ascension, Laura's lower half of her hair is dip-dyed green, dip dye being an increasingly common hairstyle amongst young women in the UK. However, she winds up cutting it off later. After becoming Persephone, her hair is a mix of blue and turquoise.
• Really Gets Around: Slept with Baphomet in the Underground, then started dating Baal, moved it to an open relationship and repeatedly slept with Sakhmet, and has kissed Amaterasu.
• Rebel Leader: Had shades when effectively in charge of the faction of herself, Minerva, Baphomet, and Morrigan against Ananke.
• Replacement Goldfish: For Baal after Inanna's murder. Minerva outright says that Baal's only sleeping with her because she was close to Inanna. She eventually leaves him over this and hooks up with Sakhmet while hiding her.
• The Scottish Trope: Historically, Persephone was a goddess you did not name aloud; one of the alternative names used for her was 'The Destroyer'. The Pantheon version has her fans adopt that name, and Ananke rarely calls her anything else.
• Shadow Walker: Similar to the Morrigan and Baphomet, can “drop” into the Underground. Though her ability to do so manifests with her signature crystal vines pulling her and anyone with her into the Underground.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Is (seemingly) killed by Ananke as soon as she becomes Persephone, before she finds out the truth behind who framed Luci.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: After her return, she's very abrasive and angry, and seems to be suffering from depression. It especially comes to a head in Issue #26, when he casts the tiebreaker vote for anarchy, saying that she doesn't believe that the gods are there for any reason, so they should be free to do whatever they want. She then leaves Baal, telling him that she's not Inanna, she'll only ever hurt him, and so she's leaving him before she takes him down with her.
  • It's revealed in Issue #33 when she tells Urðr that she holds herself responsible for her family's death, since she had previously wished to trade everything she had for a chance to join the Pantheon.
• Tearful Smile: She's so happy to consciously use her powers for the first time that she weeps Tears of Joy.
• That Man Is Dead: By implication; when people express surprise over her survival, she informs them that it's Persephone who is alive.
• Touched by Vorlons: Luci gives Laura her powers. (Or did she?) Then Ananke makes her a goddess.
• Vine Tentacles: Summons a vine in each hand to act as laser whips to deflect Woden's and the Valkyries' weapons.
• Walking Spoiler: That she exists is a massive spoiler, revealing there can be thirteen gods, and it only gets bigger from there. After all, she is the series' protagonist until her head is blown off, and then she's revealed to be alive - and then she takes on Ananke directly and kills her.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: In a way. Was seemingly killed almost immediately after her ascension, although we've known Laura for the entire story. Spectacularly averted in Issue #18, with #20 revealing Inanna and Baphomet saved her.
• Wild Card: She is unlike all the other gods, being able to affect Cassandra/Urðr, who was otherwise immune to the gods' powers. She also projected her powers through Owly, which Woden said should have been impossible. Instead of harming it, her powers actually enrich the Great Darkness monster, and nobody knows why.
• Worth It: Her thoughts about trading a shortened lifespan for godhood. Also her (seemingly) last ones until she's revealed alive.

The Norns

Urðr/Cassandra Igarashi

"It's all bullshit. Even if it is true."

^{Click here to see her pre-Recurrence.}

The Norse goddess of fate and seers, spinner of the threads of life. Last of the Pantheon to be awoken. Her identity before the Recurrence was Cassandra Igarashi, a blogger and outspoken critic of the Pantheon. Upon awakening, she declared her camera crew to be the other two Norns, Verðandi and Skuld, and elevated them to godhood as well. Her icon is a stylized depiction of Yggdrasil.

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• Agent Scully: Cass believes that the Recurrence and everything related to it is a hoax initially. Even when she does see demonstrations of their power and is actually ascended to the Pantheon itself, she still doubts that they are up to anything good. She is 100% correct, only not for the reasons she thinks.
• Aggressive Submissive: Cass is obviously the leader of the Norns, but plays the sub in bed.
• Ascended Fangirl: Actually the opposite — an Anti-Fan. She becomes a god just the same.
• Blessed with Suck: Like the rest of them, she's doomed to die in two years. When Laura goes to comfort her, she tells Urðr how happy she is for her, and Urðr asks if she's including the dying part.
• Butch Lesbian: Short hair, leather jacket, infinite reserves of snark and no tolerance for fools, and has two girlfriends.
• Cluster F-Bomb: She does this when Persephone drags Woden into the underground.
  Fucking fuckers fucking up all the fucking fucks!!!
  • She does it again when Persephone votes for Anarchy.
  Fucking Laura fucking Wilson fucking fucking fucking!
• Deadpan Snarker: The biggest.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the pain she went through, Cassandra lives many years with Laura as her wife. Even when she knows she's dying, she records one eulogy for her friends.
• Face Death with Dignity: Not the murder Ananke would have given her, but when she knows her life is running out, she records her own eulogy to give a final farewell to all the rest, accepting a mortal lifespan and choosing to face her end with acceptance.
• Facial Markings: She has two black lines on her face around her eyes.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Was one before her ascension forced her to acknowledge that yes, the Pantheon isn't just some kind of elaborate publicity stunt to cryptic ends. Now she leans more towards Naytheist.
• Foil: To Amaterasu. She believes nothing happens for any reason, while the sun goddess thinks everything happens for a reason.
  • Later to Persephone during the Imperial Phase. Urðr becomes interested in what's been going on behind the scenes this whole time and solving the mystery of the machine and what Ananke was up to]] while the other has given up on pretty much anything and just wants to do what they want until they finally die.
• The Gadfly: Less so because It Amused Me and and more to call out the others on their increasingly bad behavior, but she does like picking fights.
• Going for the Big Scoop: She knows it's not a good idea to delve too deeply into the Pantheon's inner workings, but...
  Cassandra: That's conspiracy! That's Watergate with superpowers! That's...fuck me, that's just about irresistible.
• Happily Married: Cassandra ends up marrying Laura and they live many happy years together until Cassandra dies peacefully.
• The Immune: In Issue #9, it is revealed that Cassandra doesn't feel the effects of any of the gods' performances, something Ananke describes as "rare and cursed".
• Intrepid Reporter: At the start of the series she had been digging into claims of previous Recurrences, as well as working towards disproving them. Once things kick into gear she focuses more on trying to prove Luci's innocence (if she even is innocent) as well as get the scoop on the rest of the Pantheon.
• Ironic Name: Cassandra from Classical Mythology is known for being cursed to have no one believe her prophecies. Cassandra from WicDiv is in a world of prophecy and magic... and doesn't believe a bloody word of it. Even after becoming part of it.
• Irony: As Cass herself notes in Issue #43, she thought that Gods were bullshit, and that she could get everyone to understand that. In other words, she thought that she could get people to stop believing in miracles by creating her own.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Notably, Luci and Amaterasu really are gods, but Cass still calls them out on their pretentiousness.
  Cassandra: I see a wannabe who's never got past the Bowie in her parents' embarrassingly retro record collection. I see a provincial girl who doesn't understand how cosplaying a Shinto god is problematic at best and offensive at worst.
  • Later she calls out Amaterasu for her white privilege and her classism.
  Urðr: Privilege check: the idea that everyone can afford to travel to their country of ethnic origin is highly problematic, rich girl.
• Jerkass Realization: Realizes in Issue #33 that she's been acting like a Jerkass for cursing Persephone over her self-destructive behavior without trying to talk to her about the underlying reasons for it.
  • Reacts callously in Issue #42 upon realizing Woden has been killed, but quickly apologizes upon remembering Mimir is in the room.
    Cass: I am so fucking sorry.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: Baphomet, Woden and the Morrigan as Badb are the only ones who come close to swearing as much as she does, and none come all that close. When she and Persephone discover a secret entrance, Persephone remarks that she's unusually calm. Urðr replies that there isn't enough profanity in the universe to describe what she's thinking. Of course then she lets out an Atomic F-Bomb when they see what's inside.
• Naytheist: Refuses to accept that the Pantheon are gods, even after becoming one.
• Non-Action Snarker: Cass is the least action-oriented of the Pantheon and the snarkiest.
• Only Sane Man: She knows it both pre- and post-ascension, and she really doesn't like it. When Amaterasu realises the Pantheon needs a "grown-up", she goes to find Cass.
• Rage Quit: She storms off stage in a snit after one song because the fans didn't understand the nihilism and treated it like just another performance of the Pantheon. Laura comforts her by claiming some people out there did get the message she was saying, so it's good she said it.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Persephone in Issue #32, telling her that everyone would be better off if she'd never become a god, and that for someone who wanted it as much as Laura had, she hasn't even done much with it. She takes it back and calls herself a "bad friend" an issue later when Percy gives her her underlying reason for acting that way.
• Token Wholesome: A variant. Unlike most of the other gods who Really Gets Around and have sex scenes, Cass only sleeps with her girlfriends and her sex scene is even offscreen.
• Twofer Token Minority: Hardly token, given the diversity in orientations and races in WicDiv, but Cassandra is both Asian and transgender and also revealed to be a polyamorous lesbian.
• Snark Knight: She throws down sarcasm and Gallows Humor with the best of them.
• Walking Spoiler: Not only is she the last God, but her identity is a complete shock.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Inverted: she's the only member of the Pantheon who seems to realise that gods or not, they are still bound by society's laws, and while everyone else is of the attitude that they can just run off to wage war whenever they like, there's still these things called prison and evidence.
• You Are What You Hate: Of course the most outspoken critic of the Pantheon ends up being the last god.

Verðandi and Skuld

Verðandi on the left and Skuld on the right

Cass’s crew whom she ascends as the remainder of the Norns. They tend to let Cass take the spotlight in public while being her Dommes in the bedroom.

• Angst: They worriedly ask David Blake if the 2-year death sentence applies to them as well. It does... but only if they believe themselves to be Verðandi and Skuld.
• Brought Down to Normal: This happens when Cassandra was imprisoned, but then she brought then back up. This happens again when Cassandra follows Laura to the final confrontation, ensuring that both of them will survive regardless of what happens to Cassandra.
• Facial Markings: Verðandi and Skuld each have a diagonal patch of black over one eye; Verðandi's is on the right side of her face while Skuld's is on her left.
• Given Name Reveal: Their names (Meredith and Zoe) are eventually revealed to readers in the final issue, at Cass’s funeral.
• Lesser Star: Discussed in-universe by Verðandi and Skuld while away from Cass in terms of Destiny’s Child. When Cass is captured behind Woden’s firewall cage, Verðandi and Skuld lose their divine power and realize they’re both “the other one.”
• Your Mind Makes It Real: They are not indeed gods... they only believe they are gods thanks to Minervananke ascending Cassandra and making her believe she was Urðr, thus ensuring that Meredith and Zoe become Verðandi and Skuld, thanks to Cassandra believing it.

All Three Together

• Fridge Brilliance/Mythology Gag: Urðr is Norn of the Past; Cass, as a trans woman, discusses her past several times in the series. Verðandi, Norn of the Present, is the camera operator who is present with Cass from the beginning. Skuld, Norn of the Future and youngest Norn, shows up after Cass fires Beth.
• Hive Mind: Implied; Urðr expresses some Pronoun Trouble of the singular or plural kind and the three Norns snap their fingers as one. They also perform as one.
• In the Hood: Most (if not all) of their outfits include hoods for each.
• Polyamory: The Norns are in a stable relationship, with elements of BDSM.
• Prophet Eyes: Naturally, as Ananke describes Urðr as "queen of seers", their eyes are pure white when using their powers.
• Speech Bubbles: Theirs are black with a gothic-style white font.
• The Weird Sisters: They are the three Norns: seers of the past, present and future.

Ananke

Ananke

"I am necessity. And life is the last thing I have, boy."

The Greek goddess of destiny and fate. She is connected to the Recurrence, but she is not of the pantheon. Rather, Ananke is the one who appears before the next members of the Pantheon and gives them their godly powers. She also serves to aid the group, trying her best to protect them. She has no icon.

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• Ambiguously Evil: She has done terrible things, but she has reasons yet to be revealed. And being the caretaker for a bunch of god-powered teenagers does not appear to be enjoyable, especially when all of them will be (must be?) dead within two years.
  • The reveals in issue #43 remove any ambiguity. She created the story of the Pantheon, forcing the gifted children into godhood to power her own immortality through sacrifice, knowing it would mean they would, at best, die as gods in two years instead of living a full, gifted life.
• And I Must Scream: When she died, she experienced decades of total sensory deprivation before returning. This is one of the primary forces of her Mortality Phobia, although its implied she's wrong about that being the real afterlife.
• Animal Motifs: She has several butterfly elements in her 2014 outfit, mainly the mask.
• Bait-and-Switch: She makes it seem that Minerva will be her next sacrifice, when in truth Minerva is a younger Ananke reborn in each Recurrence.
• Been There, Shaped History: Back in the Middle Ages she turned the Black Plague into a pandemic. In the mid 1940s, she got drunk and told poet Robert Graves about her millennia of exploits, which the former heavily modified and turned into The White Goddess.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Claims to love and want to guide the Pantheon members, only acting against them when she has no other choice, but an unguarded moment with Woden in his spotlight issue shows how spiteful she can be. And that's without getting into her being behind the murders. The reveals of her origin cement it.
• Body Surf: Shown for certain in issue #35 and #36, with some hints prior to that.
• Character Catchphrase: "I love you. I'll miss you."
• Color Motif: Purple.
• Cool Mask: In both 1923 and 2014 she's worn a veil-like mask.
• Cool Old Lady: She appears in her 80s while all the other gods are in their teens. This is because the current Ananke is the adult version of the previous Minerva.
• Dark Secret: She's been killing members of the Pantheon and manipulating them into turning against each other as well. She's also the one who actually killed the judge in Luci's trial, framing her for it.
  • Issue #43 reveals the children had their own power all along. Ananke tricks them into godhood, which is merely a super-powered “cheat mode,” all to keep her own immortality through the sacrifice of the four heads.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ananke gets in quite a few barbs here and there, especially during her interview with Cassandra in Issue #9.
• Elderly Immortal: The first time Laura meets her, she says that Ananke has "skin like dust". Every century shows on her. She is actually just mortal-level old (~104 years old), having aged from Maiden into Crone between Recurrences.
• Enigmatic Empowering Entity: She gave all the gods their powers, but her personal motives are kept under wraps.
  • Issue #43 reveals the children always had their own power; Ananke just sells them godhood to power her immortality and keep them under her thumb.
• Evil Old Folks: She is behind the deaths of Luci's judge, Luci herself, Inanna, and Laura's family. She also burns Tara's suicide note to frame Baphomet, and has Woden do much of her legwork. "Evil" may be subjective though, as she views her actions as necessary to combat the Great Darkness. Turns out that the Great Darkness is her own permanent death, making the evil part pretty objectively true.
• Immortals Fear Death: She's sure she'll go to an eternal void of sensory deprivation after she dies, and she'll do anything to avoid it.
• Immortality Immorality: Her continuous cycle of rebirth requires the deaths of 12 people every 90 years at minimum, and that's not counting her other manipulations and atrocities to preserve her life.
• It's All About Me: She orchestrated everything—the Recurrence, the apparent oncoming disaster, everything—in order to propagate a twisted magical ritual meant to grant her immortality. She's killed countless people over the ages to stay alive.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Her treatment of 2014!Woden and 1831!Inanna, albeit in very different ways.
• Lack of Empathy: Ananke has basically no empathy for anyone around her, as the continuation of her immortality is the only thing that matters. This doesn't just apply to the dozen teenagers and young adults she uses as ritual sacrifices each century, either- she has repeatedly influenced Pantheons to disrupt society on a global scale, simply to ensure that no one is able to put together the truth of the Recurrence. Ordering the 455 sack of Rome is the least of it; she masterminded The Black Death, oversaw the creation of a zeitgeist which (may have) paved the way for fascist dictatorships, and attempted to cause a Zombie Apocalypse in the latest cycle.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Gets torn to shreds by Persephone, including at least one arm getting ripped off and an eye flying out of her head. It's hard to see exactly how much damage Persephone does due to the sheer amount of gore, but afterwards her remains are literally splattered on the walls.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Appropriately, as the most mystical and mysterious character in the series, Ananke has otherworldly purple eyes.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ananke has made incredible sacrifices because of the necessity (there's that word again) of the Recurrence—for instance, giving up her own divinity and ability to inspire to serve as a nanny for the various Pantheons. Issue #43 reveals this is all her own plot to gain immortality, so "well intentioned" doesn't quite apply. "Nanny" is more like "parasitic Stage Mom extreme".
• Pet the Dog: Allegedly spared some Persephones throughout history—the ones in Judea and Jerusalem seemingly being the only ones since 1657 BC she spared. Though it may be that she still killed them, just using the hug as an alternate strategy to lower their guard.
• Shoot the Dog: Her purpose. She's necessity. Attempts to kill Laura and does kill her parents, after killing Inanna who showed up to save Laura.
• The Reveal:
  • She is Inanna's real killer.
  • Following her supposed death by Persephone, she took over Minerva's body and has been quietly continuing her work under the remaining Pantheon's nose. Except she never actually takes over Minerva. Minerva is always Ananke.
  • Issue 35 reveals that this is how she's stayed alive for six thousand years. After obtaining all four heads, Minerva kills Ananke's old body (if Ananke isn’t already dead), performs the four head ritual, and then Minerva becomes the new Ananke, repeating the cycle during each recurrence.
  • It is later shown that all previous incarnations of Minerva are Ananke and always have been, with all her previous memories intact. A flashback dialogue between the two of them, when Ananke drags Minerva into the machine, shows that it was all a distraction to hide their real motivations and to make it seem like Ananke was sacrificing Minerva.
  • Issue #43 finally explains her origins and motivations: the children have their own power, and the story of the Recurrence is Ananke’s creation to trick the children into using godhood, burning them out in two years and letting her power her immortality.
• Tempting Fate: Ananke considered the Pantheon of 1923 to be "sloppy work," since she had to engineer all the deaths over one night, but reassured herself that "next time she'd do better." Cut to 2014 and, well...
• They Killed Kenny Again: Issue #35 reveals this is what happens to Ananke at the end of every Recurrence—though this sometimes happens before the end of the Recurrence.
  • It's revealed that she actually dies at the end of every cycle. Issue #36 shows that sometimes this happens prematurely—most notably in Wrangel Island and Egypt 2574 BC. Averted however, with 31st century BCE Pantheon: There was no Crone.
  • Furthermore, issue #42 reveals that the current Ananke and current Minerva share memories, up to the point when the current Minerva takes part of the Recurrence. After Ananke is killed, their memories merge together.
• Time Abyss: She deliberately defies Exposition of Immortality, but Ananke has been around since time immemorial. She's at least been around since Ancient Egypt, and the glimpse we get of her backstory appears neolithic.
• Would Hurt a Child: Intends to murder Minerva. Though because she and Minerva are the same being essentially, this was just a misdirection.

Woden

Woden/David Blake

"I'd kill to be any of them rather than me."

^{Click here to see him pre-Recurrence.}

Also known as Odin, Allfather of the Norse gods. He's always seen in a technologically-enhanced suit, usually in the company of one of his valkyries, and never removes his mask. During the recurrence he's made a sort of home-base for the gods - their very own Valhalla. His icon is a winged helmet. His identity before the Recurrence was David Blake, a Pantheon researcher.

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• Abusive Parents: Yes. David Blake backstabbed his son Jon by arranging for him to ascend to the Pantheon (which Jon did not want) and letting Ananke exploit his powers in exchange for enjoying two years of "godhood" without worrying about dying. And he did it to get back at Jon for taking away the "best years" of his life that he had to spend raising him.
• Asshole Victim:. Minerva takes over the Valkyries and uses them to gruesomely tear him apart. He won't exactly be missed.
• At Least I Admit It: Takes this route about his sleaziness. His spotlight issue shows that it does not excuse his behavior and that he really is a creep.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Forms one with Minerva in the final two arcs, until she murders him.
• Blessed with Suck: Woden's only power is to grant other people powers, namely his Valkyries. He cannot perform in the way the other gods perform, denying him the overwhelming joy they feel using their abilities. Trying to create a means by which he could feel it forced him to wear his suit, and he wishes desperately to be any other god.
  • Lampshaded when we see his Super-Empowering moment with Ananke. She usually says "you will be loved, you will be hated, you will be brilliant" but for him it was "you will not be loved, you will be hated, you should be hated" instead, with her commenting on how scummy he is. Later revealed that it was never a real ascension and he deserved every bit of that: to be Woden he backstabbed his son, who had ascended to become Mimir, and locked him away.
• Casting Couch: Sleeps with his Valkyries whenever he can get it up. Apparently he can't do it often.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
  • Threw the battle with the gods aligned with Persephone once it became clear Ananke would lose.
  • Turned on Dionysus and the Norns in order to seize control of Dio's hive mind for himself.
  • Sold out his own son Jon to Ananke in exchange enjoying the perks of "godhood" for two years.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: After Woden learns the truth about Minerva, she takes over the hive-mind of the Valkyries and uses them to tear his body apart.
• Dirty Coward: Woden won't hesitate to do anything to save his own skin, such as deliberately getting himself knocked out early in a fight to escape notice. He even tries to sell out his own son who just warned him of Minerva/Ananke just to save his own skin.
• Domestic Abuse: Kerry explicitly states this early on, and he never denies that his "relationships" with the Valkyries are coercive and fucked-up. He justifies this by saying that they need him, and they'd let him do worse if he wanted to. He calls Kerry an addict after she goes public about him after being kicked out. Also towards his son Jon, after making a deal with Ananke to sacrifice him and become Woden, and heavily implied to be the reason his wife left him.
• The Dragon: He does most of Ananke's legwork and helps her locate other gods, like Urðr.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Hinted when he's shown hiding someone resembling a Valkyrie from Ananke, implying he has an agenda of his own. Subverted when it turns out that someone is his son Jon, which he roped into godhood as part of a deal with Ananke, though he tells Jon that he doesn't trust her and will prevent her from sacrificing him.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He has his moments.
  • Woden is horrified that Minerva and Baal tried to kill 20,000 people and is actually thankful Laura saved them.
  Woden: You blew up the fucking O2!
  Baal: We blew up the O2.
  Woden: I didn't know you were trying to kill everyone! Thank fuck Wilson was there! She got everyone out.
  • Invoked by himself when Cass suspects he's just trying to recruit her as a Valkyrie.
  Woden: I can see why you're expecting the invite. I'd guess… 5'9'' ? Asian. You fit the job description. I'm many things, but I'm not transphobic.
• Evil Is Petty: Offers Kerry a new position with his Valkyries if she withdraws her sordid allegations against him, only to take it back in the most cruel way possible when she does. Also forced his son Jon into godhood and servitude to Ananke out of resentment for being forced to raise Jon in the middle of his own prime, which he gets to vicariously live again as a "god".
• Expy: In his early appearances as David Blake before his pseudo-divine identity is revealed, he looks very similar, and has a similar outlook, to Indie Dave from Gillen and McKelvie's earlier series Phonogram.
• The Faceless: He never takes his mask off...until Issue #33.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He feels having to take care of his son so young meant Jon essentially "stole" the best years of his life. So now he's stealing Jon's. Urðr and Persephone don't see it as justifying things at all.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He points out that his abilities are so focused on crafting that he couldn't have killed the judge and framed Luci, though admits he could have assisted someone else in doing so by giving them something to use. That turns out to be what happened: he made a ring to project the portal Ananke used to watch the trial and blow up the judge's head.
  • He also created Minerva's owl, a fact she doesn't like to acknowledge, presumably because of the rumors surrounding any "gifts" Woden gives. Unbeknownst to her, Woden can still access his creation. Though since Ananke knew he could access Owly, Minerva likely did as well and used it to play him.
  • He even made Baal a necklace to give him Baal Hadad's Shock and Awe instead of his actual Playing with Fire powers.
  • Subverted as of #33; he's not the builder, Jon is. He's been taking credit for his son's creations the whole time.
• Hate Sink: Woden is an unpleasant individual with few redeeming qualities. Sometimes he's slightly pitiable, but only in the "wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy" way. And even that pity evaporates when Laura and Cass find Jon/Mimir.
• He Knows Too Much: Said by Minerva, nearly verbatim, to Woden/David after revealing the true relationship between her (Minerva) and Ananke.
• I Just Want to Be Special: One of the few Pantheon members who still has to deal with this - his powers are only in crafting. As in, all he can do is build things and gift his powers to other people, and has no miraculous abilities like the other gods do due to not really being a god at all. He readily admits that if he could switch places with any god he would, because he'd rather be anybody but himself.
  All I have is my good name.
• It's All About Me: Admits to Cassandra he knows the patriarchal system most societies adhere to is fucked up, but since he won't be around to see the effects of any changes he could make, he's not going to bother trying. He also benefits from them by being the father of Jon, the real god, and teaming up with Ananke to exploit his son to get fame for himself.
• Jerkass: The most disgusting of the Pantheon seen so far - racist, misogynist, and emotionally abusive to his Valkyries. He promises to take an ex-Valkyrie back with a new costume if she recants all her allegations against him, only to immediately destroy it once she does. Cassandra flat out calls him evil.
  I'm a god, not a saint.
  • His spotlight issue is him simultaneously owning up to it and trying to somehow justify it, but even he knows there is no excuse good enough. Issue #33 takes it to a whole new level.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He gives a surprisingly deep speech (whether or not it's sincere is another matter) on how patriarchy is not rule by men, but rule by fathers, and will throw both women and men of inferior social standing under the bus "to keep the old man in port and cigars." Even Cass begrudgingly concedes the point.
  Cass: You're not stupid, are you ? Just evil.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Is torn to pieces by his own harem after they're taken over by Minerva.
• Never My Fault: Blames his son Jon for what he did to him, reasoning that since Jon took away the best years of his life (by having to raise him), forcing him to godhood and cutting his life short will balance things out.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His outfit is similar to the robot costumes of Daft Punk. His Valkyries owe a lot to Phil Spector's girl groups, and with his diminutive build and controlling attitude, he's a bit like Spector himself. Issue #14 heavily references the culture and style of EDM, and controversial record producers like Diplo, Dr. Luke, and deadmau5.
• Parents as People: Issue #27 shows that he knows he wasn't the best father, but tries to be better. Ends up averted, as it's all a mask.
• Pet the Dog: He didn't want Minerva to get killed. He also admits that while he has blackmail footage that could put the entire Pantheon in jail, he doesn't actually want to use it, nor does he want to put anyone in prison — though that could just be self-preservation talking.
• Politically Correct Villain / Politically Incorrect Villain: Played with. He's racist, sexist and condescending, but has no issue whatsoever with transidentity. He also gives a surprisingly nuanced speech on patriarchy, but whether or not it's sincere or just a ruse to woo Cass is not clear.
• Race Fetish: He's known to be very fond of East Asian girls, all his Valkyries are Asian and taller than he is, and it is hinted he is infatuated with Cass/Urðr for this reason. Doubles as Truth in Television, since "alt-right" men who share Woden's racism and misogyny are often known for idealising and lusting after East Asian women due to their stereotypical depiction in Western culture as both submissive and hypersexual.
• Resentful Guardian: He feels that Jon took the best years of his life from him.
• The Reveal: After seemingly revealed to be Jon Blake, it comes out that he's really David Blake and not a god at all. Jon is the god Mimir, and David backstabbed him for power, letting Ananke use his son's abilities while he masquerades as Woden. When the two years are up he won't die, and instead will just have to stop pretending to be a god.
• Speech Bubbles: Black with green text to match his outfit.
• Stalker with a Crush: Woden gives this impression towards Cassandra, as she's stated that she could feel him staring at her when she first mentions his Race Fetish and he spends the entirety of Dionysus's party staring at her before cornering her. It turns out that last bit was at Ananke's orders to draw Cassandra in to awaken her. Though it seems to be a little more true in the latest issues...
• The Smart Guy: He's a very intelligent person. Smart enough to record Persephone murdering Ananke and everyone else agreeing to cover it up as insurance, in case anyone decides to off him.
  • He's also invited into the secret trio of him, the Norns and Persephone, who are trying to work out what Ananke was up to and whether there was any truth in what she said. He says himself that while Baal is practical and Minerva is clever, he and Cassandra are the two that are both practical and clever.
  • This all probably stems from his occupation before his ascension: a scholar specializing in the Pantheon.
  • Not smart enough to follow his son's advice to get away from Minerva immediately with Woden telling Minerva he knows the truth about her. It doesn't end well for him.
• Stage Dad: Is a zig-zagged version of this. He arranged for Jon to become part of the Pantheon against the boy's will so he could reap the benefits that come with the role, the same way a traditional stage parent might force their child into the spotlight to benefit from their success. The variation is that Blake achieved this by presenting himself as the god while keeping Jon locked away in Valhalla and having him create the technology behind the Valkyries.
• Super-Empowering: Woden's only method of doing... anything. He can give a portion of his power to one of his followers and turn them into Valkyries - his own servants. He almost has to, since he cannot use his powers on himself. In reality he doesn't have any powers because he's not really a god.
• Take That!: The controversy over his Race Fetish and his rather weak responses to it are inspired by the one over Gwen Stefani's "Harajuku Girls" backing dance group at the time of her solo album. And to Mens' Rights Activists - if even Woden is critical of you, you might need to think about your life.
• Token Evil Teammate: Shares this position with Sakhmet. He is racist, sexist, a general douche and unapologetically so.
• Totally Radical: He symbolizes older people who exploitatively try to participate in and live off later generations' youth culture.
• Tron Lines: On the uniforms for himself and his Valkyries.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Mimir tries to warn his father about Minerva's true nature. Woden returns the favor by trying to sell out his son's life in exchange for his own. It doesn't work.
• Unknown Rival: He considers Dionysus to be his enemy. Dionysus doesn't seem to have any clue; he dislikes Woden on principle, but doesn't bother to antagonize him or really think much about him at all.
• Villainous Breakdown: Just as Minerva is about to kill him using his Valkyries he makes a last Plea of Personal Necessity, tries selling out his own son, and finally says he wants to pull a Screw This, I'm Outta Here on the entire pantheon.
  Woden: Wait! She needed four heads... So you need four heads. I... I can lure them here! [...] I can get [Mimir] to where you want. Just let me go. I take off the costume, and I'm out of this.

Amaterasu

Amaterasu

"You spend your whole life wishing you were special. And then you find out you are."

The Shinto goddess of the sun. She was (and kinda still is) Laura's favourite member of the Pantheon prior to meeting Luci. Her icon is a sun. Before becoming a goddess, her name was Hazel (originally Emily) Greenaway.

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• A God Am I: Apart from the obvious, as of issue #27, she's started a new religion revolving around herself.
• Berserk Button: Anything she perceives as "taking" Amaterasu away from her. As a child, she knocked down and bit a boy who stole her plush Okami toy. As an adult, she threatens Urðr with death for questioning her actions at ShinTwo.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Admits to being as much when Laura is investigating the Pantheon with Cassandra, in order to see if Luci was framed. Nothing really comes of it, however... until she threatens Urðr for calling her out on ShinTwo.
  Amaterasu: I couldn't. Couldn't, couldn't, couldn't. But I could.
• Daddy's Girl: Her father is dead, and for all her protests to the contrary, it's clear that his death affected her very deeply.
• Dirty Coward:
  • When Ananke kills Minerva's parents, she teleports away, leaving Minerva behind.
  • When she enrages Sakhmet, she teleports away and leaves her followers to be murdered in her stead.
• Dies Wide Open: Happens after Sakhmet rips her throat out, causing her to wreck the British Museum with her eyebeams as she falls.
• Divine Race Lift: Amaterasu is a white girl representing a Japanese goddess. Cass has a big problem with this, and brings it up often.
• Eye Beams: Her Playing with Fire powers also manifest as these, as can be seen when she fights.
• Facial Markings: Rainbow-coloured face paint around her eyes.
• Fatal Flaw: Her insensitivity. Though she starts off Innocently Insensitive, she refuses to change when people point out her shallowness (such as Cass with the cultural appropriation). Fittingly for a fatal flaw, it's what gets her killed: when she is insensitive to Sakhmet's feelings at the museum.
• Fiery Redhead: Zig-zagged. She's actually quite calm and nice, and her concerts are a lot more joyful than some of the others. That being said, she does have bright red hair, and she is a goddess of the sun. Shows this side when she gets into a fight with Urðr.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Loves to wear white dresses and gold jewelry, and certainly believes she's divine.
• Good Is Dumb: She's... not the brightest character out there. Though her niceness is increasingly doubtful.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: In general, she doesn't use strong profanity, unlike the rest of the cast.
• Harmful to Minors: When she was a child, she entered a hospital morgue and peeked under a shroud to see what was implied to be her father's body.
• Hippie Name: Emily changed her name to Hazel Oak Ash Thorn Greenway while going through a "druid-y stage" before she became the goddess Amaterasu.
• Innocently Insensitive: She appears to have no idea how a white girl claiming to be Amaterasu could be offensive (however right she is), to say nothing of her impromptu trip to Hiroshima, where she shines like a sun above the city, unaware of what it looks like until Cassandra points it out to her.
  Cassandra: You are a literal artificial sun above Hiroshima! Fuck! Are you even aware of how offensive this is?
  • It's also what gets her killed, as she talks to Sakhmet about how important family is, seemingly without even realising that not everyone has good relationships with their family like she did.
• It's All About Me: Once she starts ShinTwo, she starts lacking in concern for anyone except herself
• Light 'em Up: As a sun goddess. She demonstrates it during her concert.
• Loose Lips: She could have prevented some unnecessary deaths and even lived longer herself if she'd learned to keep her mouth shut, especially around Sakhmet.
• Nice Girl: Luci says she's probably the nicest member of the Pantheon, and she's right until Amaterasu's ego gets the better of her.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Kate Bush. This gets more pronounced in issue 5 where she wears an outfit inspired by one of Bush's outfits during her 2014 live shows, and also of Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine with the long red hair and gauzy, hippie gowns.
• Occidental Otaku: Implied to have been one before the recurrence, with her interest in Japanese culture and the game Ōkami.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Amaterasu's aversion to strong profanity makes it more shocking when she says "Oh fuck, oh God, oh fuck, oh God" in response to Persephone tearing Ananke to pieces with her vines.
• Playing with Fire: As a sun goddess she has this power, which she demonstrates when in a rage in issue 15.
• The Pollyanna: Usually quite cheerful and optimistic. Even the character sheet at the start of each issue states she has a "sunny disposition". (God damn it, Kieron.)
• The Power of the Sun: She can travel via the sun's light in an instant. As long as it's daylight where she is, she can move to somewhere else where it's daylight.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Urðr accuses her of being this with regard to Japanese culture. It really doesn't help when she starts her own religion, called ShinTwo.
• Race Lift: A white girl who serves as a vessel for Amaterasu. This hasn't gone unnoticed by the media, the fans, or herself.
• Sedgwick Speech: She tries to talk down Sakhmet in the British Museum and gets her throat ripped out as a result.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: From a distance. Up close they're actually closer to solar eclipses inside her eyes.
• Token Religious Teammate: A devout follower of Shintoism, she prays to her father regularly.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: By #28, she has gone from taking and actually thinking about what Urðr says to just threatening her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Luci's tomboy.
• The Unintelligible: During her concert. Not that it matters, though, because Laura states the words, meaning nothing, can mean everything to the fans.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She insta-travels to Japan to declare her identity in the face of Cassandra's sneering... specifically, she travels to Hiroshima and makes herself shine like a sun above the city, and doesn't think about what that might look like until Cass points it out.

Lucifer

Lucifer

"Oh ye of too much faith."

The Prince of Lies and Christian devil. Early in the comic she is arrested for killing a judge, which she may or may not have been framed for. Her look is based off of David Bowie's Thin White Duke phase. She has an interesting relationship with Laura, a fan of the Pantheon, and tries to get the girl to help her prove her innocence. Before joining the Pantheon her name was Eleanor Rigby. Her icon is an inverted pentagram.

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• Amicable Exes: The final chapter reveals she and Laura were an item for a while, but ended up splitting, with Laura marrying Cassandra. Eleanor is still friends with her and is nothing but supportive after Cassandra's passing.
• Back from the Dead: After being stuck as a living head while believed dead for months, she returns to action with a new body from Badb via Nergal.
• Bifauxnen: Plays up the androgyny and the Gender Bender doesn't hurt.
• The Bus Came Back: Is given a body thanks to The Morrigan's sacrifice.
• Devil Complex: She isn't a god, she's Lucifer. This leads to a last-minute conflict in the final issues of the series when the other gods reject their divinity, as she claims she wasn't a god in the first place, but Lucifer.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite making a (possible) joke about being disappointed that Laura is legal, Luci explicitly says that "even [she] wouldn't" actually do anything sexual with the twelve-year-old Minerva.
• Fiery Redhead: Her hair turns red after she's resurrected with Babd's body.
• Genre Savvy: At one point in listing possible suspects, Lucifer says that Amaterasu (as her essentially closest friend in the Pantheon and one of the nicest of the bunch) couldn't possibly have killed the judge and pulled the frame-up, so convention dictates that she probably did.
• A God I Am Not: A dark example; In issue 43, when all the remaining members of the pantheon start to derail Ananke/Minerva's plan by accepting that they are not Gods, Lucifer begins to agree... only to state that she has never been a God - she's Lucifer, and no one is going to take that away from her.
• Hot as Hell: For someone who's supposed to be the devil, she's very attractive.
• I Have Many Names: Drops a few when she first meets Laura, including Father of Lies, The Adversary, Lord of the Flies, The Old Serpent, God of this World, Dragon, Lightbringer, and Apollyon.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Initially resists giving up her godhood because she thinks no one will love her if she returns to anonymity, until Laura assures her she loves her as Eleanor and proves it with a kiss.
• In-Series Nickname: She is also called "Luci".
• Killed Off for Real: Ananke kills her for using her powers on mortals, among other crimes. Gentle Annie confirms it to Laura, and Luci's icon switches to a skull at the end of the issue just to drive it home. However, her head lives on.
• The Lad-ette: Luci has some masculine aspects of her personality, and her look is distinctly butch/androgynous.
• Love Redeems: What gets her to give up the Lucifer persona? Laura's actual love for her, by literally pulling her out of Hell.
• Meaningful Name: Her real name is Eleanor Rigby.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her Bowieness is acknowledged in-universe by Cassandra describing her as "never (getting) past the Bowie in her parents' embarrassingly retro record collection" and made explicit by a variant drawn up to mimic his 1976 prison mugshot◊.
• Not Quite Dead: Revealed to be alive as a disembodied head along with Tara and Inanna.
• Playing with Fire: Comes with the territory of being a god from Hell.
• Really Gets Around: Has slept with both Inanna and Sakhmet and who knows how many other people.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes are normally blue, but they turn red when she's using her divine abilities.
• Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: Lucifer is a traditionally male god incarnated as a teenage girl. She uses female pronouns and goes by Luci most of the time despite her more masculine aesthetic and the god she is associated with.
• Satan: She is Lucifer, Lord of the Pit.
  • When she comes back, she keeps the black streak while the rest of her hair goes from blonde to red (as Nergal gave her Badb’s body), making her a literal Fiery Redhead.
• Smoking Is Cool: Was a smoker even before she became a god, and uses her cigarettes as part of her aesthetic. She also gets to use the Finger-Snap Lighter move.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Amaterasu's girly girl.
• Troll: Oh, so much. Luci is a god of rebellion, and one of her means of expressing it is riling people up. Unfortunately, it makes it easy to arrange things so that she looks guilty.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: She and Cassandra were never close, but they respect one another greatly, and Cassandra confesses genuine fondness in her eulogy, stating that Eleanor did her damndest to be Lucifer. "Nobody did worse better."
• Whole Costume Reference: To the aforementioned Thin White Duke phase of David Bowie.
• Your Head Asplode: How she deals with assassins. Also, how she dies.

Sakhmet

Sakhmet

"She's made of stone. She doesn't feel anything."

Egyptian goddess of fire, vengeance, war, and healing. She's infamous for acting like a cat. Her icon is a lion's head. Her name before the Recurrence was Ruth Clarkson.

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• Abusive Parents: Judging by the line, "everyone said he was a bad dad", she clearly had a crappy one. So she ate him.
• The Alcoholic: Seemingly enforced, as Woden yells at his Valkyries for letting her out of their sight and letting her get sober when he discovered she'd eaten her father. Given the mythological Sakhmet could only be stopped from slaughtering via drunkenness, it makes sense; the Morrigan claims it's used to keep Sakhmet caged and leashed. However, she was a heavy drinker before her divinity.
• Animal Motifs: Cats, obviously.
• Berserk Button: Don't lie to her or laugh at her. She will come for your throat.
• Beware the Silly Ones: After Urðr patronises her, Sakhmet threatens to eat her tongue if she does it again.
  • When Amaterasu reveals that everyone forgot to tell her what actually happened with Ananke, Sakhmet flips out and kills Amaterasu's followers.
• Catgirl: Not her appearance so much as actions. She's famous for acting like a cat, and once got distracted by a laser pointer.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied, nobody knows anything concrete about her life before becoming part of the Pantheon, but one rumour is that she spent time homeless, and she was an alcoholic before ascending to the Pantheon.
• Eye Scream: Sakhmet moves to gouge out Persephone's eyes with her claws. It's narrowly averted when Minerva blows up her head.
• Feel No Pain: Likes to claim this about herself, and seemingly idolized it in the statue of the goddess she would one day become when she was a child.
• Flat Character: Seemingly invokes this, insisting on the very basics of her station ("I am sex and war and death") being all anyone needs to know about her, and she completely stonewalls all attempts to learn anything else. Despite her attempts to prove the otherwise, she does have some depth.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Loves both getting drunk and large parties and orgies.
• The Hedonist: Very much so. Her only interests are sex, booze and violence. Anything that doesn't make her feel good, such as questions about her past or emotions, is immediately rejected.
• I'm a Humanitarian: She ate her father, and often claims she'll eat anyone the Pantheon deems a nuisance.
• It's All About Me: She doesn't seem to give a damn about anyone but herself, to the point that she'll kill and eat innocent people because someone else angered her, referring to them as vermin and later seeming annoyed that other people care.
• Lightning Bruiser: She's incredibly fast, so much so that being outnumbered is no problem to her- she can outspeed others' attacks and injure them before they can do anything.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her style, and especially her features, strongly resemble Rihanna. Lampshaded in issue #6 when Laura mentions that her Sakhmet fanart came out looking more like the singer.
• Patricide: Killed her dad and has no shame.
• Really Gets Around: Has been seen in orgies, and has many partners.
• Screw Destiny: When the Pantheon votes regarding the Great Darkness, she says she wants to just do whatever she wants without being dragged into things.
• Sexy Cat Person: She's cat-themed and is the most sexualised and sexually-voracious of all the gods, despite the stiff competition.
• Token Evil Teammate: Shares this position with Woden. She is quite violent and is very dangerous. Just ask the people at Amaterasu's party. Oh wait, you can't: they're dead.
• The Worf Effect: Given her badass cred, laying her out is a sign of strength by Persephone.
• Your Head Asplode: Her fate courtesy of Minerva.

Baphomet

Baphomet/Nergal

"I'm very deep and meaningful, me."

He was one of the unknown gods at the beginning of the series, and revealed himself by hijacking The Morrigan's concert while holding her (fake) severed head. He is the boyfriend of The Morrigan. In Issue #16 it is revealed that he and The Morrigan knew each other before they became gods. His icon is a goat skull with two scimitars crossed beneath it. Before becoming a god his name was Cameron. In reality, he is actually Nergal, Mesopotamian god of the underworld, the sun, lions, and war.

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• Animal Motifs: He has a goat skull in his icon and one worn around his neck. Subverted in that his actual motif is lions, which show up during his ascension and in several places on his original costume.
• Burning with Anger: Does this when antagonized by Cass in Issue #9. And then again in Issues #10 and #11.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Well, since the Morrigan did and she brought him to Ananke, yes. Much to his dismay; he thought he'd end up as a godly helper, not a god fated to die in two years.
• Cool Shades: A pair of aviators. He also uses them to hide the black eye Morrigan gave him.
  • Rule of Symbolism: After the Morrigan's death, he is never seen wearing his sunglasses, indicating that he's seeing situations more clearly/through his own perspective.
• Cowardly Lion: Baphomet is scared of killing anyone and scared of dying but still is dedicated to others so much that he sacrifices himself to revive Dionysus. Also is fitting because the lion is one of his symbols, as Nergal.
• Domestic Abuse: On the receiving end of this from the Morrigan, who seems to be keeping him prisoner as of Issue #29.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted hard. Morrigan beats him and it is never once treated lightly, the moment Persephone and Dionysus discover his bruised and clawed face being a textbook Wham Shot.
• Fangs Are Evil: He has very pronounced canines. Possibly because Nergal has lions as a symbolic animal.
• The Gadfly: In spades. Despite his claims to the contrary during his stunt in Morrigan's domain, he loves fucking with people, and just being a troll in general.
• None More Goth: Not as much as the Morrigan, but he's close.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yes, he can be an unbearable asshole at times, but if his interactions with Laura in Issue #7 are anything to go off of, he's still human enough to care at least a little bit. He realizes that Laura's going through a rough time after all that's happened to her recently, and tries to help her work through it. He even apologizes for lying to her so he could get her to his and Morrigan's hangout.
  Baphomet: (to Laura) You're in Hell. You need company. Morrigan and I aren't good company. But we're good bad company. And we've been there. I can't say that I care, but I do understand.
  • He didn't kill Inanna and they tried to save Persephone from Ananke. After Inanna's death he let Persephone hide with him for months.
• Genius Bonus: One of the more famous myth's regarding Nergal is the Marriage of Ereshkigal & Nergal, a Rape of Persephone-esque story about Nergal's forced marriage to the goddess of death and the underworld who traps him underground.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gives up his life to bring back the brain dead Dionysus.
• Manly Tears: Because he is so afraid of dying, Baphomet starts crying right before he revives Dionysus.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's not one for shirts, and his abs are very... distracting.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Andrew Eldritch and Nick Cave.
• Pet the Dog: He's very kind to Persephone after he rescues her.
• Playing with Fire: One of his main abilities, even more blatantly than Luci. Makes sense upon the reveal he is actually Nergal, who was also a sun god with a heavy fire motif in addition to being a underworld deity.
• Pungeon Master: He makes the Morrigan's severed head spout some puns, and drops one of his own shortly after.
  I just gave them excellent head. Who doesn't like excellent head?
  • Lampshaded in the second half of Issue #7, "Bad Company," where he refers to his and the Morrigan's underground hangout as "[his] pun-geon."
• The Reveal: He never killed Inanna; Ananke did while Baphomet fled with Persephone before they met the same fate.
  • He's not Baphomet at all, but Nergal, god of war, the underworld, the sun, and lions. He hid this to avoid being teased due to the world's general perception of Nergal, specifically the nerdier parts of the world.
  • He never wanted to be a god and thought he was in line to become a godly helper. When Ananke tells him Morrigan asked he be ascended, he flips out.
• Sad Clown/Stepford Snarker: Mixed with a bit of Gallows Humor. What with the gods all destined to die in two years time, Baphomet has dedicated himself to trolling just about everyone without distinction, sort of as a coping mechanism.
  Laura: Why are you such a prick?
  Baphomet: Because some people need to be annoyed. Most people, even. It's my own pre-emptive revenge, born of jealousy at everyone else's amazing continuing-to-breathe-in-two-years'-time power. Until then, I put the "fun" in funeral. I'm very deep and meaningful, me.
  • Taken to new levels during the Imperial Phase. Not only has the Morrigan physically abused him, we find out that he never wanted to be a god and thought he was in line to become a helper like one of the Valkyries. He lost it when Ananke revealed that Morrigan had asked for him to be ascended, dooming him to an early grave. No matter how much Dionysus tries to help him, Baphomet keeps his feelings behind a smile and snark about how he and the Morrigan are just two doomed nerds.
• Shadow Walker: Same as the Morrigan, can use shadows to “drop” into the Underground.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: He's got a pair behind his glasses, though they're red.
• Troll: Hijacks Morrigan's concert and has her fake decapitated head spout random silly facts to the gathered crowd. One of them being "Baphomet is definitely not fucking with you!" He later stages a "Valentine's Day Mascara" at the graveyard where Lucifer is buried and raises the dead to hold a dance party while declaring himself none more goth.
• Troubled, but Cute: Leather jacket? Check. Antisocial behavior? Check. Nothing but trouble? You betcha.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Baphomet almost always wears his leather jacket sans shirt. When he wore one for a few issues, fans expressed their disapproval and asked the author when he'd be ditching it again.
• Would Not Hurt A Child: When he starts giving serious consideration to killing other gods for a few more years, his disqualified choices are Baal because he couldn't and Minerva because he wouldn't.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Upon his ascension. More specifically, when Ananke declared he was Nergal. Done again when he finds out Morrigan asked for him to be ascended, intentionally cutting his lifespan short.

Minerva

Minerva

"I'm not going to be another teenage cautionary tale."

Roman Goddess of wisdom and artisans. She was incarnated into a twelve year old girl, the youngest of the Pantheon. Her icon is an owl.

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• Animal Motifs: Owls, standard for Minerva.
• Blow You Away: Seems to be the nature of her offensive powers. As a goddess of wisdom, she would be linked with the classical element of air. Plus, owls.
• Born as an Adult: Appears with a fully formed pre-teen body and Ananke’s mind/memories at the start of each Recurrence.
• Children Are Innocent: And because of this, she's hit hardest by the impending death sentence, as well as accidentally hospitalizing Kerry.
  • Later averted and revealed to have all been an act: Minerva appears in the world fully formed and, in this case, sought out a couple that felt like getting rich by pretending she was their child. She was in on Ananke's plans the entire time.
• Children Forced to Kill: She blows up Sakhmet's head to protect Persephone. Subverted in that it's revealed immediately after that it's Ananke who did the deed, as she and Ananke are the same being.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: When she saves Woden from Brunhilde, she sends her flying into a wall, breaking a lot of her bones by accident. Minerva weakly comments that she didn't mean to hurt her that much.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Directly tells Woden that using mind control to rape people is not morally acceptable.
• Evil All Along: Not only has she been in league with Ananke all along, but it's shown she (and other Minervas before her) is essentially a regenerated version of Ananke who takes over for her after she dies during the Recurrences.
  • She and Ananke are the same person and share the same memories up to a point. Near the end of each Recurrence, Minerva performs a Kill and Replace on the older Ananke (unless Ananke has already been killed).
• Happily Adopted: Baal and Persephone take her in after Ananke kills her parents. Subverted with The Reveal, as is turns out she was just using them.
• He Knows Too Much: Said by Minerva, nearly verbatim, to Woden/David after revealing the true relationship between her (Minerva) and Ananke. She then sics the Valkyries on him, killing him.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: She seems to be dealing with the "dead in two years" part of the Recurrence the worst, likely because she's so young. It's all an act as she knows she doesn't have to die with her fellow gods.
• Kill and Replace: Performs this on Ananke in each Recurrence, unless Ananke is already dead.
• Little Miss Badass: At only 12/13, she's incapacitated Kerry and killed Sakhmet.
• Little Miss Snarker: Is very good at this. Being the wisdom goddess doesn't hurt.
• Murder-Suicide: Becomes the "murder" to Valentine's "suicide."
• The Owl-Knowing One: Being a version of the goddess of the trope, she has one. See Robot Buddy below.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Looks a lot like Grimes.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: "I have been doing this longer than your civilization has existed. Do you think I would give you any power which I could not subvert?"
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Woden as she is using the Valkyries to execute him:
  Minerva: Oh, David. I have done many awful necessary things. But you had a choice. And even at this late date, all your choices were bad. I'll tell you this. I've been around a long long time. And I am oh so bored of men like you.
• The Reveal: Hoo boy. The "Mothering Invention" arc shows that everything from the first few arcs was nothing but an act. Minerva is never ascended; she just appears and in this case conned two people into pretending to be her parents so no one is suspicious. She was in on Ananke's plans all along and was never the innocent young girl she appeared. She uses the fact that she's assumed a child to manipulate everyone around her, from driving the Pantheon against each other to setting up the downfalls of various gods as she and Ananke planned.
  • Minerva is the younger version of Ananke, who eventually grows up to become the new Ananke after the previous one has died.
• Robot Buddy: An owl, called Owly, that was made for her by Woden.
  • In hindsight, Owly was likely a method of communication between Ananke and Minvera while their consciousnesses were split. Ananke shows intimate knowledge of the bot on several occasions, even using it to track Minvera in the Underground.
• The Smart Guy: As befits a goddess of wisdom, she's both smart and insightful.
• Stage Mom: Her parents make quite a bundle off her, much to Laura's disgust. Turns out they were brought into things to do just that, as they aren't her parents but just a cover to make it look like Minerva was ascended instead of just appearing.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: As of issue #27, she's started drinking. She's also coldly furious that her execution of Sakhmet didn't successfully forward whatever plan she and/or Ananke have set in motion. #38 shows she was always that way and was never human; she just appeared, and her parents were conned into working with her.
• Walking Spoiler: The revelations in the "Mothering Invention" arc have turned her into this.
• We Used to Be Friends: As shown in Issue #25, she is pissed at Amaterasu for leaving her behind to get caught by Ananke.
  • However, she votes to fight the Great Darkness, and doesn't object when Amaterasu also votes to fight.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Averted. Despite being the goddess of wisdom, Minerva still has a twelve year old's immaturity and feelings. However she can still notice things the others cannot, such as the significance of Woden building a god-proof cage for the Morrigan but not for Lucifer.
  • Later played straight because she's Ananke's reincarnation, has been in on this the whole time and is as cold and calculating as Ananke.
• Younger Than They Look: She appears twelve, but is only a few years old, appearing right before the Recurrence was to start.

The Morrigan

The Morrigan

"The underworld's a stage and we are playing badly."

Irish goddesses of war. The Morrigan is actually her default form, of which there are three. When angry she becomes the violent Badb, but when very calm she can become Gentle Annie. She's one of the most mysterious members of the Pantheon, and it is very difficult to get into her concerts. In Issue #16, it's revealed that she knew Baphomet before he became a god. Her name before the Recurrence was Marian. Her icon is a skull with a raven emblazoned across the eyes.

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• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Gentle Annie/Anand, Morrigan and Badb respectively.
• Charlie Brown Baldness: Gentle Annie is bald except for a small blond tuft on her forehead.
• Control Freak: As per Word of God, she's convinced that she knows best for everyone, and if they'd just do what she wants them to, they'd be much happier. Since they don't do that, she uses increasingly abusive tactics to make them do what she wants, and refuses to acknowledge how harmful she's being.
• Cute Little Fangs: Not actually, but Badb has a pair of lip piercings that give the impression of these.
• Dark Is Not Evil: One of the most sinister looking members of the Pantheon, but when Laura gets her alone she says that she'll always be there to help her. She even says that Badb will help Laura if things are dire enough, but she hopes that they never are.
  • She also saves Beth when Beth imitates Laura's stunt, though is noticeably more annoyed with her. This gets her captured by Baal.
• Dies Wide Open: Died this way after Annie gives her life to Baphomet.
• Domestic Abuse: She beat up Baphomet for cheating on her, and is actively isolating him from the rest of the Pantheon.
  • In addition, she asked he be ascended as a god, to be her "king" for only two years, cutting his life short and tying him to her through the Pantheon. Given this happened just after he'd cheated on her pre-ascension, it feels like a possessive grasp for control over him.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted. Everyone who cares treats her beating Baph as something serious and unacceptable.
• The Dreaded: She's associated with some disturbing rumours, but that just makes people even more eager to see her.
• Driven to Suicide: Technically speaking. The Morrigan kills herself in her Gentle Annie form to bring Baphomet back to life.
• Facial Markings: Morrigan and Badb both have raven-like designs over their eyes. Annie mixes it up, with a single black rectangle going down across her right eye.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: All versions of her have one long sleeve and one short one, with the latter showing off her raven tattoos.
• Fiery Redhead: As Badb.
• Freudian Trio: The Morrigan as ego, Badb as id, and Gentle Annie as superego.
• Goth: The Morrigan is none more goth moreso than Badb or Annie.
• If I Can't Have You…: Fights and kills Baphomet when he breaks off their relationship, though she (as Gentle Annie) ends up bringing him back to life at the expense of her own.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Annie is nice and pleasant, Babd is always angry, and Morrigan can be both.
• Not Afraid to Die: When she was young, she had a brush with death in the form of a critical illness... and found the prospect calming instead of fearful. This appears to be the most significant difference between her and Baphomet and their main point of contention.
• One to Million to One: One of her powers is the ability to split into a flock of dark birds. She uses it to move, distract, and attack.
• Shadow Walker: Can use or create shadows to enter her Underground, where she is empress.
• Spell My Name with a "The": As per usual with The Morrigan.
• Unstoppable Rage: Badb is always enraged and always ready to kill everyone around her. If the Morrigan needs to fight, Badb is the form she fights in.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Baphomet breaks up with her, she turns into Badb and attacks him, ultimately pecking him to death. She's left ranting over his corpse when Persephone finds her.
  Badb: Our story only ends when I decide. [...] We could have had it all! We could have had everything!
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Badb turns into a crow-human monster briefly during Issue #37 to peck Baphomet to death.
• Woman Scorned: When she was just Marian and Baphomet was just Cameron, he cheated on her and she broke up with him and later convinced Ananke to ascend him, cutting his lifespan short and tying him to her as part of the Pantheon. Later, when Baphomet cheated on her with Persephone and admitted it, she dragged him off into the dark and no one sees him for a long while. And when they do, he's bruised. She full on punches Baphomet through a tube station when he breaks things off with her, and goes on to peck him to death in her Badb form. She only stops when Gentle Annie brings Baphomet back to life at the expense of The Morrigan's.

Dionysus

Dionysus

"Making people happy for a night. That's not a small thing."

The Greek God of wine and chaos. He has been underground (both in the musical and literal sense) with Baphomet and The Morrigan for a long time, but decides to reveal himself during the London Fantheon. His Icon is a bundle of pills hanging from a grape vine. Before the Recurrence, his name was Umar.

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• The Anti-Nihilist: He believes that life is short, which is why he decides to specialize in 'making people happy for a night.'
• Ascended Fanboy: Dionysus started out as a fan of the Morrigan before becoming a God himself. He mentions having seen Laura's "Shakespeare in the Dark" performance on the night Baphomet was introduced back in the First Act. Because of this, he finds himself positioned against the rest of the Pantheon once the Morrigan is imprisoned.
• Back from the Dead: Baphomet gives up his life to revive Dionysus from being brain-dead.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Basically Dionysus could take control of his fans and use them to do whatever he wanted, as well as open tiny pocket dimensions and put things in there. But luckily for everyone else, all he wants to do is throw dance parties, make everyone happy, and have portable coat rooms.
• Blessed with Suck: Explains this to Laura after she tells him that he has the best abilities. He hasn't been alone in his head or slept for two months. After he reveals this, a panel shows his disturbingly bloodshot eyes. He's beginning to show more concerning symptoms.
• The Bus Came Back: Baphomet sacrifices himself to bring Dionysus back to life.
• Dance Battler: Unique variation. Dionysus isn't a fighter in his own words, but using his magic dancefloor powers, he can control people to fight for him.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Averted: He likes Cassandra, but makes no attempts to romance her and values her friendship highly.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He tries to fight back against Woden after Woden steals his hive mind, but is ultimately foiled. Doing so renders him brain dead, though his body is still alive.
• Fantastic Drug: His powers operate like this, allowing anyone who touches his bare skin that wants to join one of his raves/parties to get ridiculously high, as though on some altered version of Ecstasy — which he suggests trying before joining a party at one point, supposedly to heighten the experience. It also appears to be a voluntary experience as well, as those affected by it can "join the party when [they] want to and bail whenever." In his own words:
  Dionysus: Think "South American Frog."
  • Interestingly enough, Dionysus's powers can also affect other Gods, as Baal, Amaterasu, Inanna, the Morrigan, Baphomet, and Sakhmet are seen at his party/rave under the influence as well. He even speaks through them at one point.
  • Also crosses over with Lotus-Eater Machine and Year Outside, Hour Inside, as Laura finds out when she leaves the party.
  Laura: Wow. What time is it?
  Dionysus: 2am.
  Laura: That was only three hours? It feels like-
  Dionysus: (with a cheeky grin) 2am Monday morning.
• For Happiness: Seems to be his major theme, at least with his parties. People are allowed to join the experience and leave when they want to (both the party and "the trip"), everyone is encouraged to have fun and forget about their problems while there and be happy for at least a night. It might also be his way of coping with being Blessed with Suck as stated above, but he hardly ever shows it.
  Dionysus: In two years, I'll be gone. Even if they forget the details, they'll remember being happy for a night. It's not a small thing, to make each other's lives better. That's all we can do.
• Hive Mind: Played With. Everyone at one of Dionysus's parties are connected to one another, with him acting as the conduit. While they retain their own free will and can opt out of the party whenever they choose, Dionysus can exert some control over them whenever he feels the need, as seen when he puppeteers the bouncer at the door to let Laura enter. It turns out to be useful when he gets ready to throw down — his powers protect his dancers from injury.
• In-Series Nickname: He is sometimes called "Dio".
• Just Friends: With Cass. He's aware that she's in a closed lesbian relationship and would not reciprocate his feelings, and is fine with that.
• Messianic Archetype: Rarely eats nor sleeps in order to help others, to the point of self-destruction. In #32, he tries to attack Woden thinking "I can save everyone," but succumbs to his aneurysm.
• Non-Action Guy: He claims to be neither a fighter nor a lover, but a dancer. And then soundly gets his ass handed to him by Sakhmet.
• Self-Destructive Charge: Despite having an aneurysm, he unsuccessfully tries to stop Woden anyway.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Renders himself braindead trying to stop Woden and rescue Urðr... but Urðr and the other Norns were unaffected by Woden's powers and easily blasted him themselves, so Dionysus essentially killed himself for nothing.
• The Smart Guy: He unexpectedly votes to study the Great Darkness, pointing out that the alternatives are fighting something they know nothing about, or being selfish. He also points out that since anarchy won the majority vote, there's no rule that the Study faction can't convince the other gods to join them.
• Speech Bubbles: His are black with pink text.
• Superhero Sobriquets: "The Dancefloor That Walks Like A Man."
• Token Good Teammate: Is the least selfish and problematic of the Pantheon, only wanting to make others happy.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Refuses to deal with the other gods until Morrigan is released from captivity. He also angrily rebukes Woden about objectifying Tara after her death by claiming Woden only saw her as "hot meat."

Inanna

Inanna

"I've got no reason to be afraid anymore."

The Sumerian goddess of love, fertility, and warfare. His incarnation identifies as nonbinary, and is designated male at birth. His icon is the eight pointed star that is often associated with Inanna in mythology. His name before the Recurrence was Zahid.

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• Ambiguously Brown: Racially ambiguous, but certainly not white.
• Ambiguous Gender Identity: Word of God states that even though he's using he/him pronouns for the time being, he feels that they're not "big" enough for him, suggesting he's genderqueer. By the epilogue, 40 years on, Zahid is using "they" as a pronoun.
• Back from the Head: Everyone thought Baphomet killed him, but he was actually stuck as a living head. He returns to action with a new body from Gentle Annie via Nergal.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Luci vaguely mentions that he's meaner than some people realize, but ultimately he's still pretty nice.
• The Bus Came Back: Now has a body thanks to Laura, Nergal, and The Morrigan posthumously.
• Camp: He takes many fashion cues from his inspiration below, and when Laura tells him that he's not dressed as inconspicuously (in his purple and leopard print jacket) he tells her that he didn't realize his outfit even stood out.
• Camp Gay: While actually pansexual, fits the stereotype. He's not masculine, and is very flashy and bright.
• Ethical Slut: Invoked and certainly name-dropped by Lucifer, but not quite achieved - Inanna clearly believes in the pursuit of happiness and sexual bliss (and is really good at it, according to the Devil herself), but stumbles in execution. This results in a rift between Inanna and Baal when, inferring from context, Inanna went outside an established (or assumed) agreement of monogamy with Baal by having sex with Lucifer. He admitted to Baphomet that he loved Baal shortly before Ananke killed him.
• Facial Markings: His icon appears to be tattooed around his left eye.
• Glowing Eyes: His eyes seem to be glowing stars, similar to Amaterasu's eclipse eyes.
• Honour Before Reason: Refuses to go along with the rest of the Pantheon's plan to deal with Luci, and decides to get her himself. Then again, considering the plan was initially sit around and see how it plays out, and later became kill Luci, Inanna may not be so unreasonable after all.
• The Mourning After: He never got over losing Baal, not decades later.
• Off with His Head!: It's vaporized by Baphomet or so it seemed. What really happened was Ananke DID decapitate him...into a living head.
• Nice Guy: Meets with Laura to discuss a possible conspiracy going on within the pantheon, but first and foremost hugs her to make sure she's okay after Luci's death.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Prince. When he appears for the first time in a rainstorm, the rain around him briefly glows purple. His speech bubbles are also white text on purple.
• Not Quite Dead: Revealed to be alive as a disembodied head along with Lucifer and Tara.
• Really Gets Around: He's infamous for it.
• Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: Like Luci, Inanna's gender is different from the god he was an incarnation of.
• Speech Bubbles: His are indigo with white text, seemingly indicating a smooth and silky voice.
• Star Power: Can use the stars to practice divination and tell the past and future - to a certain extent. While talking with Baphomet he admits he doesn't know why Ananke's symbol is what it is, just that it is her. Also, he can travel via starlight. If the stars are visible from a given point on the Earth, he can go there instantly from any other point where stars can be seen.

Tara

Tara

"Try to be kinder."

Fucking Tara. There are several deities that have the name Tara, and not even she knows which one she's meant to be. Nobody likes her very much. Though she has held concerts before, it seems that she no longer sees anybody. Her icon is a tragedy/comedy mask split down the middle. Her name before the Recurrence was Aruna.

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• Ambiguously Brown: According to Kieron Gillen, "Tara's background is Hindu, and she's anglo-Indian." The ethnic slurs seen in various tweets to her in Issue #13 unfortunately reflect this.
• Attention Whore: She's often accused of being this, but she's actually very shy and reclusive due to the sheer amount of hatred aimed at her. Ultimately downplayed; she hates unwanted and negative attention, but she would have never become a god in the first place if she didn't want to try for some fame and regard.
• Blessed with Suck: She gets so much hate for the way she performs that the harassment is a large part of why she shies away from the rest of the pantheon. Her powers are cool, but instead of love and admiration, she is despised.
• Celebrity Is Overrated: Godly celebrity is, at least. She'd much rather be famous on her own merits, but she ends up being infamous, instead.
• Cool Mask: She wears one during several performances, especially when trying to show off her own talents.
• Driven to Suicide: She tried to show people her own talents rather than her divine ones, leading to an almost-riot that ended with everyone hating her and considering her an attention whore. By the end it became too much.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Jon builds her a new body, she spends many years performing and becomes a beloved figure, regardless of no longer being a "god".
• Facial Markings: The Issue #5 cover has the top half of her face painted blue. It's usually hidden by her mask, though.
• Fatal Flaw: She's terrible at reading situations and rooms, and is a Horrible Judge of Character. The former unfortunately leads to her being the most hated member of the Pantheon, and the latter ends up with Ananke using her suicide for her own purposes. Poor Tara just can't seem to win, no matter what she does.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: There doesn't seem to be anybody fond of fucking Tara, mainly due a disastrous concert that pissed off every fan she once had.
• The Ghost: For the first twelve issues, she only appears as a poster and in the obvious 'fucking Tara' mentions in conversation. Her absence in-story is especially conspicuous considers she's had a cover dedicated to her (though that might have been a Red Herring, considering that Lucifer dies in that same issue) when Gods present since the beginning still have not.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Trusting Ananke was her last mistake by assuming that she would allow Tara's suicide note to be released.
• I Choose to Stay: When Laura and Nergal have four heads but only three bodies to resurrect Luci, Innana, Tara, and Mimir with, Tara volunteers to remain a head, saying her body has always been "a horrorshow."
• It's All About Me: Luci quotes her saying "If you exist, you're staring at me". Turned on its head in issue #13, when it's revealed that she spent her whole life being noticed for all the wrong reasons, and figures that everyone around her has an ulterior motive. That said, she does stop performing a divine concert to play one of her own songs (and she outright states in her narrative that she's done it before), prompting one of her back-up dancers to call her a "selfish bitch". See Fatal Flaw.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Subverted. Most people are saddened by her death, but there are several who continue making lewd comments like they were before, and it's hinted that the only reason there's sympathy is because everyone thinks Baphomet did it, and nobody seems to realize that the horrible way they treated her is really what killed her.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Possibly of Lady Gaga, if Luci's comments about her thinking a meat dress is casual wear are anything to go by. Word of God is that she also has elements of Taylor Swift, namely her height and hatedom.
• Not Quite Dead: Revealed to be alive as a disembodied head along with Lucifer and Inanna.
• Reclusive Artist: In-Universe. She's forced to become this because she gets so much hate and death threats that it's for her own safety. While she does make her obligated public appearances and concerts, she pretty much doesn't see anyone, including the Pantheon.
• The Scrappy: In-Universe, she's easily the least liked member of the Pantheon. The horrific harassment she faces due to this causes her to commit Suicide by Cop.
• Sir Not Appearing In This Issue: Appears on the cover of #5, but the only thing close to an appearance is some graffiti on a wall that Luci vandalizes.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: She's drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, she's also faced sexual harassment since she was eleven. Then she received her divine powers, and it went From Bad to Worse.
• Statuesque Stunner: She's a good bit taller than Baal. Kieron Gillen noted, "Baal is about six foot. Tara is a little taller, and more so in heels."
• Suicide by Cop: She wants to die, and has Ananke kill her with a finger snap.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: On the Issue #5 cover.
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Despises being seen only for her beauty and/or her divinity, but has an obligation to fulfil as a god.
• Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: Presumably because Tara's original attractive body caused her nothing but grief, the robot body Mimir builds for her looks like a bunch of tusks glued together.
• Wangst: In-Universe, it's part of the reason she's The Friend Nobody Likes. It's also justified; not only is she severely depressed (and it's shown that she has very good reasons to be), but her narrative also serves as her suicide note.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Makes her first appearance in #13 and dies at the end.

Baal

Baal

"I do lightning. And I stop your heart if I look at you the right way."

The sky god from Hebrew Mythology. Like fucking Tara, there are a few Baals in the air, but this God is specifically clarified in-story as the Canaanite Baal Hadad, which means he has dominion over lightning and power in general. His icon is a ram. His name before the Recurrence was Valentine Campbell. He is eventually revealed to be Baal Hammon and his powers involve fire, not lightning.

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• A Million Is a Statistic: Part of his rationalization for sacrificing 20,000 Pantheon fans at the O2 to kill the Great Darkness, reasoning that it would be better than letting eight billion die.
• Badass Boast:
  • "I don't do fire, I do lightning. I do power. And I stop your heart if I look at you in the right way." Laura's reaction suggests he can back it up.
  • "All I do is win."
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Minerva, it would seem. He ends up adopting her.
• The Dandy: Wears brightly coloured suits, and is very particular about getting them damaged. He also starts wearing a thunderbolt chain Woden made for him.
• Dark Secret: Was told the only way to keep the Great Darkness at bay was child sacrifice. He's killed several children this way, one every four months. Why does he go along with it? The Great Darkness killed his father.
• Driven to Suicide: Being unable to live with the guilt of the child murders he was compelled to commit as Baal is what drives him to swan dive off Valhalla, taking Minerva with him.
• Electric Black Guy: Has Shock and Awe and is black. It's a front, his real power is fire.
• Holiday Motifs: His real name is Valentine Campbell, considering how emotional he is when it comes to the people he cares about, it's a fitting name.
• Intimate Marks: The variant cover for #19◊ shows that he has Inanna's sigil tattooed just above his pelvis. Though later issues seem to contradict this, and Gillen has stated that variant covers aren’t technically canon.
• It's All About Me: Incredibly selfish and self-absorbed, and rather apathetic to anything that doesn't concern him at the start. He eventually tones it down and truly cares for others.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: More empathetic than he lets on. He helps Laura deal with harassing fans, angrily refuses to go to Luci's funeral, knowing it would hurt her parents if the guy beating her up were to appear, and comforts Minerva after her powers knock Brunhilde too hard into a wall.
  • He also insists that everyone the Pantheon employs — most notably the Valkyries — gets paid a wage and gets a contract.
  • He views the child sacrifices as the only thing staving off the Great Darkness, after it killed his father. He did all he could to make sure the kids don't suffer more than necessary by having them heavily drugged unconscious.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He can be very crass and rude, but he's often doing it while making very valid arguments.
• Heel Realization: After being told the truth of Ananke/Minerva and the Great Darkness, he quickly realizes he had been in the wrong.
• The Nicknamer: He tends not to refer to anybody by their name, instead calling them things like "Dead-From-The-Waist-Down" (Cassandra), "Queen Bitch" (Luci) and "Fangirl-From-Hell" (Laura).
• Murder-Suicide: In Issue #44, he jumps off a Valhalla with Minerva, both to kill the latter and because he just can't deal with the guilt of murdering children.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Once he learns the Great Darkness was a Red Herring all along and that the child sacrifices were All for Nothing.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His facial features and especially his mannerisms are very similar to Kanye West.
  • Baal's most frequently seen in a red suit similar to the one Kanye wore◊ during promotion for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
  • A fresco of him is framed almost identically to the music video for "POWER".
• Official Couple: First with Inanna, then with Persephone until they break up.
• Playing with Fire: His real power as Baal Hammon.
• Promotion to Parent: He invokes it himself by taking in Minerva after Ananke murders her parents.
• The Reveal: By doing child sacrifices, this reveals that he is Baal Hammon.
  • He's doing the sacrifices to stave off the Great Darkness, as Ananke told him to do, because when he didn't the Great Darkness killed his father.
• Replacement Goldfish: Minerva says he's using Persephone as one for Inanna, because she was his friend and he's not over Inanna.
• Shock and Awe: Dominion over thunderstorms kinda does that. He can charge various things with lightning (from his fists to his car), and can travel instantaneously anywhere in the form of electrical current.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Prior to becoming a god. Afterwards, it was something closer to Big Name, Bigger Ego.
• Speak of the Devil: He materializes next to Laura and Cassandra after the latter states her reasoning for why he could be the murderer.
• Taking You with Me: Grabs Minerva/Ananke before falling to his death from Valhalla.
• Would Hurt a Child: Because he's Baal Hammon, he regularly engages in child sacrifices.

Mimir

Mimir/Jon Blake

"I'm one who builds."

The member of his family who really is a god, as opposed to his father who poses as Woden (and as him). Revealed in issue #33 after Persephone and Urðr find him. His name before the recurrence was Jon Blake, the son of David Blake/Woden.

• Abusive Parents: Hell to the yes on this one. His father doesn't even care that he'll be dead in two years, just that it means David can't play Woden anymore.
• A God I Am Not: Very upset upon ascending, running to his father in a blind panic. He did not want to be in the Pantheon.
• All Therapists Are Muggles: Subverted to horrible affect: the woman he thought was his weird therapist was really Ananke feeling him out for godhood and working with his father to manipulate him. Upon his ascension, they both turned on him.
• The Bus Came Back: Now has a body thanks to Laura, Nergal, and The Morrigan posthumously.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Does so in his intro issue, calling David on stealing his "story" from him.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Can be seen sitting on the steps of the 2013 Ragnarock convention stage way back in Issue #6
• Facial Markings: He has circuit lines on his forehead and the sides of his face.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He's been the one making the machines Woden and Ananke use.
• Nice Guy: Definitely nicer than his father. And even despite David's betrayal, Jon loves him enough to send a warning to him that Ananke and Minerva are the same person; he is very distraught when David is killed.
• Off with His Head!: Happens as soon as Ananke ascends him, but by his own father! Being Mimir, it wasn't really unexpected.
  • First done in the series timeline by Dionysus when he (and the reader) thinks Mimir is just a mechanical golem.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: All of Ananke and Woden's stuff is powered by his powers of creation, all while he's locked away in a secret room in Valhalla.
• Take a Third Option: His conversation with Ananke shows that he makes this a goal:
  Ananke: There are those who bend. There are those who break. Which are you?
  Jon: I'm one who builds.
  Ananke: That was not an option.
  Jon: I'm one who's never going to accept that the two options I'm offered are the only ones, so I'm one who builds.
• Teen Genius: See Gadgeteer Genius above.
• Tron Lines: In blue. Woden copied his aesthetic, as a part of the whole identity theft thing.
• Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to discuss him without giving away several major Reveals regarding Woden.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Comes with the territory of being a god of knowledge and the son of David Blake.
  Laura: I think you're more grown-up than your dad.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: In Issue #35, Cassandra takes his head with them as she, the Norns, and Persephone escape Woden’s dungeon. Jon gets a minute to appreciate the fresh air before his head is recalled by Woden and he’s back to being imprisoned.

Humans

Brunhilde

"And under the mask? Oh, it is such a mess."

One of Woden's former Valkyries, kicked out for getting recorded confirming the unsavoury rumours surrounding them. She talks smack about him at the Fantheon as revenge. Her real name is Kerry.

---

• Brought Down to Normal: After being kicked out of the Valkyries, she became a normal girl again.
• The Bus Came Back: Leading up to the gig by the Study group, Woden brings Kerry back into the Valkyries.
• I Just Want to Be Special: And she doesn't care how. After being kicked out of the Valkyries, she trades in on her time as one just to stay in the spotlight. When Woden takes that from her, she steps it up by trying to kill him and steal his powers via the alleged Prometheus Gambit.
• Malicious Slander: The reveal of Woden’s identity throws most of what Kerry said on stage during Fantheon into question. Woden likely never removed his mask for the Valkyries (even if he removed other sections of his suit) as it would have given away his identity. Kerry supports the public story that Woden’s face is ruined.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Talks trash about Woden to a crowd of thousands, mainly for attention but also for revenge against him for tossing her out of the Valkyries. When Woden stops her doing that, she steps it up by trying to kill him. That also fails.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Valkyrie hive mind is taken over by Minerva and then dispelled by Dionysus, the Valkyries decide to call it quits. ^note  Kerry is the only Valkyrie given lines in the series, so it seems likely she is the one who gives voice to their misgivings.
• Touched by Vorlons: Formerly one of Woden's many, many (12) Asian Valkyries.

Laura's Parents

"I hope someone's looking out for them."

Laura's mixed couple parents. They really don't mind her going to see the gods.

---

• Former Teen Rebel: Implied.
• Good Parents: Really care for Laura and vice versa.
• Mama Bear: Laura's mom is worried about Laura, even if she's grown to trust that she's okay when she's with the gods. She also worries about the gods themselves, hoping that they too have somebody looking out for them.
• Open-Minded Parent: They really don't mind Laura sneaking out late to go to Pantheon concerts, or getting into other trouble involving the gods. Subverted, though, in that Laura is a wannabe rebel who wishes they weren't as understanding as they are.
  Laura's Mother: (after watching Inanna fly off with Laura to Ragnarock) You know, he's a sweet kid, but I will never get used to that.
• Papa Wolf: When Laura's dad sees Laura looking distressed at the end of issue #9, he immediately thinks that somebody roughed her up and prepares to take them out.

Beth, Robin, and Toni

"Now, let's get out of here before we get blamed for any of this."

A former intern of Cass who was unceremoniously fired for accepting a bribe for information from Baal, Beth and her friends/colleagues Robin and Toni pick up where Cass left off and study the Recurrence. Beth has Cass's cynicism and determination, but lacks Cass's personal integrity.

---

• Ascended Extra: They are recurring extras as a film crew, and they get their own version of Ascension when Woden gives them tech to make them new gods: Beth becomes Nike, Toni becomes Eros, and Robin becomes Phobos.
• Butch Lesbian: Beth is not feminine, and confirms she likes women in #12.
• Deadpan Snarker: Beth, like her predecessor.
  Beth: Cassandra taught me that a documentary about public grief can never show too many crowds freaking out about people they've never met.
  Toni: You are a bit of a bitch, Beth.
  Beth: I was Cass's intern. I learned a lot.
• Green-Eyed Monster: There are tiny little hints that Beth is bitter about getting fired because it means she missed out on becoming one of the Norns. More obvious once they are upgraded by Woden into tech-reliant new gods.
• Intrepid Reporter: Like Cass, Beth is Going for the Big Scoop, so she keeps in contact with Baal on Twitter and is willing to rush into the railroad to find Morrigan. Unlike Cass, her approach is a little less about finding the truth and more about getting what the most people will want to see.
• Jerkass: Beth is not evil or even unsympathetic, but she is unpleasant.
• No True Scotsman: Beth prides herself on being a "gold standard" lesbian (i.e. she's never had sex with a man)... which just means Baal bribed her with information rather than leveraging his personal attractiveness. Yep, that certainly proves she's trustworthy.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Toni quits in #21 after seeing Ananke disintegrate Minerva's parents - while the crew was hidden behind the door in the same room. Turns out to be a 10-Minute Retirement or just sarcastic hyperbole.
    Toni: Hey, Beth. You can consider the shit in my pants as my letter of resignation.
  • Both Toni and Robin do this again in issue #43.
• Token Good Teammate: Robin seems considerably nicer than the other two. In issue #39, while Toni gives Laura a ridiculous Badass Boast, Robin realizes that Laura just had her pregnancy terminated and expresses sympathy.
  • This also foreshadows her Freak Out in issue #43 when Minerva takes them over and Dionysus breaks them out of it.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Beth was already not a nice person to begin with, but she gets considerably worse when she and her film crew become new gods.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Beth swears at her partners, but they are truly a team. Until they get mind-controlled by Minerva, and Toni and Robin call it quits, Robin going so far as to punch out Beth when the latter tries to stop them leaving.
• Worth It: Beth risks her life and gets hurt in the fight between Baal and Morrigan but doesn't mind thanks to the incredible footage she got.

Previous Pantheons

The Pantheon of 1923

"Au revoir. Just au revoir."

The members of the previous Recurrence, which ended on December 31, 1923. All twelve of them lived to the final day; but only four of them survived to the end of the night and were seen in the prologue. Susanoo, Amaterasu, Amon-Ra, and Minerva were the last four standing. The rest died prior to the end, literally in the same night. The other gods were Neptune, Baal, Set, the Norns, Dionysus, Woden, Morrigan and Lucifer.

---

• The Alcoholic: Susanoo suggests a drink or forty before they off themselves.
• Bald of Evil: This pantheon's incarnation of Woden.
• Body Horror: Dionysus's body keeps turning Cubist as he has visions of the future. When he dies, he's stuck in a Cubist form as well.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Played With. Susanoo and Amaterasu are in love, but they are a little reluctant because their gods were siblings.
• Characters Dropping Like Flies: All of them survived until near the end of the Recurrence, but once the killings get started, gods are dying every few pages.
• Devilish Hair Horns: Lucifer, fitting for the devil.
  "... dual flicks of his hair giving him the faintest hint of horns."
• Face Death with Dignity: When they are counting down just before blowing themselves up, Minerva smiles and Amon-Ra remains stoic. The other two are both obviously scared.
• Facial Markings: This incarnation of Minerva has a solid white face with a Domino Mask pattern over her eyes. It disappears once she grows up and becomes Ananke.
• False Friend: Skuld and Urðr turn on Verðandi after Baal and Set explain their plan, stomping him to death without a pause.
• The Flapper: Amaterasu, Set, and Persephone fulfill this role, naturally for the '20s.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The special makes it pretty clear that none of the other gods liked Lucifer or wanted him around. He set up the location of the special to impress the others in a bid for acceptance, but once he dies, none of the gods so much as express regret that he's dead. When Set asks who hated Lucifer, she has to amend it to 'who hated Lucifer enough to kill him?'
• Hard Light: Amaterasu can create and shape it.
• History Repeats:
  • The first of the 1920s pantheon to die is Lucifer. Of course, guess who is the first to die in the 2010s pantheon?
  • Minerva is an expy of Shirley Temple. Guess who the 2010s Minerva is compared to?
  • Woden is a total Jerkass in this pantheon. Guess who the 2010s Woden thought to aspire. Also, the 1920's Woden stole his powers from the true god, like the 2010's Woden.
  • Ananke sets up other gods as fall guys... just as she did to Baphomet when she murdered Inanna.
  • The youngest god, Minerva, has been working with Ananke, takes a head of her own and eventually pulls a Kill and Replace on Ananke.
• Improbable Weapon User: Amaterasu uses a weaponised train from her eye beams against Set.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Susanoo asks if they can have another drink, or forty.
• Irony: Neptune is drowned to death. And he never learned to swim.
• Kick the Dog: Minerva takes Susanoo's head. Sure, that alone is bad enough, but considering this is SUSANOO... that takes some extra evil.
• Kill and Replace: Minerva kills off this era's Ananke and takes her place. She eventually grows up to become the Ananke seen interacting with the 2010 Pantheon.
• Kill the Poor: Baal and Set's main motivation: the poor and illiterate are getting their hands on art, therefore they must kill the poor and illiterate so their precious art cannot be debased.
• Love Triangle: Amaterasu and Amon-Ra used to date, but she left him for Susanoo. Amon-Ra still loves her, though.
• Nice Guy: Susanoo. Apart from some mild snarking, he's a friendly guy who just wants to make people happy with his acting/miracles. Upon discovering Baal and Set's Kill the Poor scheme, he attempts to reason with them, and he doesn't really participate in the final fight apart from distracting Baal with a Wall Run. In Issue #35, after a second of panic, he comforts Minerva when she says she couldn't go through with the final four's sacrifice, giving her a hug and a reassurance that it's for the greater good. Too bad Minerva had other plans for him.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: As usual with this series. They all evoke creatives of the Jazz Age.
  • Baal: T. S. Eliot and/or Ezra Pound
  • Amaterasu: Louise Brooks and/or Anna May Wong, with several of her Hard Light designs evoking Georges Méliès‘ works
  • Lucifer: F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Susanoo: Sessue Hayakawa, Buster Keaton and/or Charlie Chaplin
  • Morrigan: James Joyce
  • Neptune: Ernest Hemingway
  • Norns: George Orwell, H. G. Wells, and Aldous Huxley
  • Set: Virginia Woolf
  • Amon-Ra: Langston Hughes
  • Woden: Joseph Goebbels
  • Minerva: Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, and/or Shirley Temple
  • Dionysus: Pablo Picasso
  • Ananke: In a particularly meta twist, Agatha Christie. (This is Kieron Gillen we're talking about.)
  • Persephone: Possibly Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, or Josephine Baker
• Past-Life Memories: Set constantly talks about conversations she had from the distant past.
• Playing with Fire: Blow up the building they sit in.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Baal is an incredibly elitist bigot, looking down on nearly everyone who he deems incapable of creating what he thinks is true art.
• Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex:
  • The Morrigan is male in this Recurrence.
  • Set is female in this Recurrence.
  • The Norns are male.
• The Roaring '20s: Most definitely. As a form of stylism, the graphic elements in their issue are done in black and white (much like how footage would plausibly be) and many of the gods represent aspects of the twenties, such as this incarnation of Amaterasu being "The dramatic screen goddess of light" (and The Flapper), Dionysus being the god of Wine and Cubism, and The Morrigan speaking in stage directions.
• Seers: Dionysus can see the future by shifting into a cube-like form temporarily, though it doesn’t seem to be voluntary. The Norns can also envision possible futures, though don't go through such physical changes. All of them are dreading the visions of a second world war on the horizon.
• Snobs Vs Slobs: Writers Baal and Set look down on 'lesser' forms of media like singing, performing and acting, and try to wipe them out.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: Morrigan speaks like he's reading a script aloud, which means he also describes the scene, the inner thoughts of those around him, and stage directions.
• Third-Person Person: Morrigan talks as though he's reciting a script.
• War Is Hell: Neptune was in the First World War, and suffered greatly from it. The gods discuss the likelihood of another war, though their opinions on its likelihood are mixed.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The plot takes influence from Agatha Christie novels, especially And Then There Were None.
• Your Head Asplode: Dionysus and Morrigan seem to meet their deaths this way. Until it's revealed Morrigan has his head merely teleported away. Lucifer was also decapitated by Set, who later plays with his head like a cat with a ball of yarn.
  • In Issue #35, we learn Minerva hit Susanoo with it, too, teleporting his head to complete her and Anake's ritual collection.

The Pantheon of 1831

"You are a dead woman. Of course you are 'cold.'"

The members of a previous Recurrence, which ended on March 19, 1831. Much like the recurrence afterwards, four of them lived to the end, though three met their ends one fateful night and the last one was killed some time after. They are Expies of the Romantics and are each analogous to a real-life figure from that era. The members of the Pantheon were Inanna, Lucifer, Woden, Morrigan, Hades, the "angel of Soho," the "sisters of the Parsonage", Morpheus, Thoth, Hestia and Perun.

---

• Ascended Fangirl: Claire Claremont who later became Innana.
• Come Back to Bed, Honey: How Inanna and Lucifer are introduced.
• A Day in the Limelight: The 1831 one-shot focuses on the final days of this Pantheon.
• Deal with the Devil: Inanna killed Woden's three children in exchange for Ananke uplifting her into the Pantheon.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Inanna is terribly jealous of her step-sister and her husband.
• An Ice Person: Woden has subtle ice powers in this incarnation. The Creature that takes on her form also has them, and is able to freeze an entire lake as it leaves Lucifer's estate.
• I Have Many Names: The "angel of Soho" has apparently donned multiple monikers such as Orc and Urizen, all taken from William Blake's own mythology.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Inanna's story tells of how her step-sister and her step-sister's husband ascended to the Pantheon but she remained mortal and feared that she was just "dirt" compared to her step-sister. She gains godhood in exchange for killing Woden's children.
• Jerkass:
  • As Word of God says, Lord Byron-inspired Lucifer is a "steaming pile of shit of a person."
  • Inanna is a nasty piece of work, having killed her step-sister's children because she wanted to become a god.
• Karmic Death: No one escapes, as Ananke says. Especially Inanna.
• Killed Off for Real: As expected of every past Pantheon.
• Messy Hair: The Morrigan takes Percy Shelley's untidy locks to ridiculous degrees.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: As mentioned, each member of the Pantheon is a stand-in for a figure in Romanticism.
  • Inanna is Claire Clairmont^note Mary Shelley's stepsister, who was also a writer but never became as famous as her sister.
  • Lucifer is Lord Byron
  • Woden is Mary Shelley
  • Morrigan is Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • Hades is John Keats
  • The "angel of Soho," also known as Urizen/Orc/Enitharmon, is William Blake
  • The "sisters of the Parsonage" are the Brontë sisters.
  • Morpheus is Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • Thoth is Edgar Allan Poe
  • Hestia is Jane Austen
  • Perun is Alexander Pushkin
• Non-Human Head: Thoth has one, much like his mythological counterpart, but due to his connection to Poe has a raven-head rather than an ibis.
• Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: In this Recurrence, Woden is female while the Morrigan is male.
• Screw Destiny: Lucifer, much like his 2014 counterpart, refuses to bow down to their fate. And like the modern counterpart, it doesn't end well.
• Whole-Plot Reference:
  • Thoth's death is a combination of his role in Egyptian mythology (weighing a deceased's heart to see if they were worthy of the afterlife) with The Murders in the Rue Morgue, (A mysterious ape rips his heart out).
  • The entire story is a reference to the infamous night in Switzerland wherein Lord Byron dared Percy and Mary Shelley to write ghost stories, leading to the creation of Frankenstein. This is further symbolized by the ice creature that Lucifer, Morrigan and Woden create in their attempts to create life from death.
• Women Are Wiser: Of the three Wodens that have appeared in the comics, this version, the only female one, is also the only one who wasn't an unspeakable piece of shit.
• Would Hurt a Child: Inanna killed her sister's children to become a god.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Woden has completely accepted their fate and chides Lucifer and the Morrigan for trying to forestall the inevitable.

The Pantheon of 1373

Members of a previous recurrence, the stars of the very last special. Only Lucifer and two others ^note Minerva and Persephone are known.

General Tropes for this Pantheon:

• Doomed by Canon: We know they're not going to survive to the end of the special. Excepting Minerva.
• Fingore: Minerva's hands are heavily disfigured as a result of the bubonic plague.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ananke deliberately spread the Black Plague to see what would happen. The disease ends up taking such a toll on her body that she's left bedridden by the time Lucifer confronts her and admits the plan was a mistake.
• They Killed Kenny Again: Once again, Lucifer and Persephone meet their demise.

Lucifer

A nun who heard the confessions of Ananke. Her icon was a demon face with several slashes across it.

---

• Abusive Parents: She was born to a mother who died in childbirth, leaving a healthy baby behind. Her father believed she was sent from Hell as a result, and never let her forget it, leading to her becoming convinced that she was Lucifer. And then she got incarnated as Lucifer...
• Death by Childbirth: Her mother died giving birth to Lucifer, who survived.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Lucifer is an upright and pious nun, but as she lived in the 14th Century, her views on repentance and salvation don't necessarily mesh with those of the modern day. She has no real issue with the self-mortification of the flagellants, only calling them to task for hypocrisy, and states with complete sincerity that it would be good for Ananke's soul to burn.
• Determinator: As is typical of Lucifer. She survived past her designated two years and was undaunted by anything- the plague, flagellants, the madness that usually comes upon gods who live that long. Ananke said she'd lived longer than any of the other gods who'd survived past their two years.
• Fingore: Cuts a bone out of her hand and feeds it to Ananke in a grisly reference to Holy Communion.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: This particular incarnation had scars all over her back. Whether they were inflicted by her abusive father or came with the incarnation is unknown.
• Horned Humanoid: She was incarnated with them, but later sawed them off, leaving only the stumps.
• It's All My Fault: Blamed herself for her mother's death and believed that her birth caused the Black Plague. She was wrong about the second one. That was Ananke.
• The Immune: She was completely immune to the Black Plague.
• Madness Mantra: "Father, forgive me. Father, forgive me. Father, forgive me." Fitting for a Catholic nun who considers herself an Antichrist.
• Oxymoronic Being: She's a nun who happens to be an incarnation of Lucifer, but who devoutly believes in God.
• Playing with Fire: As befits Lucifer.
• Taking You with Me: She dies by setting both herself and Ananke on fire, taking out a whole village in the process.
• Technicolor Eyes: Gold irises, but the whites are red.
• Unstoppable Rage: She was going to leave Ananke to die and go on with her life, but upon finding out that the Black Plague was created by members of the previous pantheon and deliberately spread by Ananke, who had the disease but could not die from it, she became so enraged that she killed herself and Ananke, along with a plague-ridden village.

The Pantheon of 455

"I must be a good emperor."

Members of a previous Recurrence, which existed up to the second sack of Rome in June 455 and the fall of the Roman Empire. By the end of this Recurrence, only one of its members was left standing. Some of the members of the Pantheon include Lucifer, Bacchus/Dionysus, Baal, Mithras, the Morai, Minerva and Inanna.

---

• Official Couple: Lucifer and Bacchus/Dionysus.
• Out with a Bang: Inanna kills Attila the Hun in bed on their wedding night.
• Screw Destiny: A recurring aspect to every Lucifer seen so far. This one tries to just bludgeon against Ananke's warnings that his very nature as a god will consume him in madness, ruling over Rome by force.
• Shrouded in Myth: The events of this Recurrence, according to David Blake in modern times, is said to have been lost to history. Ananke invokes this trope, allowing the Vandal king Geiseric to sack Rome and wipe away Lucifer's rule and this Pantheon from history.

Lucifer

A former actor, who outlived the rest of the Pantheon simply by refusing to die. His icon was an upside-down Chi-Rho.

---

• The Caligula: Lucifer invokes this trope, saying that whatever his failings as emperor may be, at least he's no Nero or Caligula. Though outright burning down Rome "for some atmosphere" and creating a harp from the bodies of assassins and senators might put the lie to that.
• Determinator: Lucifer just flat out refused to die.
• Drunk with Power: As "Julius," Lucifer slowly goes mad as he tries to cope with being the last god left whilst ruling over the decaying remnants of the Roman Empire.
• Eye Scream: Lucifer inadvertently burns out his eyes during his final breakdown.
• Lonely at the Top: Lucifer has no friends or confidants as Emperor.
• One-Man Army: He took on at least two groups of invading Vandals alone and won.
• Playing with Fire: Lucifer, as always.
• Rage Against the Heavens: In his final moments, Lucifer rages at his "father" Jupiter as he tries to sacrifice himself in a funeral pyre to let Rome live. Unfortunately, his powers fail him and he dies, his eyes burnt out.
• Rags to Riches: Lucifer, who goes from a catamite^note Roman slang for a man who was the bottom in gay sex. Being on top was fine, but being on the bottom made someone unmanly and carried Greek overtones, and was usually reserved for women or slaves. actor^note a profession that was generally looked down upon, though some actors of note were celebrated- though they were not generally men of high social standing to the Emperor.
• Sanity Slippage: He started his reign as Emperor determined to do good. Two weeks later, he's making people into instruments and setting buildings on fire because he feels like it.
• Sole Survivor: By the end of this Recurrence, Lucifer is the only one left.
• That Man Is Dead: Lucifer claims that "that Christian dog" is dead and he is now Julius Caesar reborn.
• Wicked Cultured: He started out as an actor and played the harp, and lamented that culture was something deemed unbecoming of Emperors.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Ananke warns Lucifer that he will die like the rest of the Pantheon for the sake of everyone's suffering. She's right.

The Original Pantheon SPOILERS

Ananke's Sister

Bronze Age Catwalk

Ananke's sister during the first known Recurrence, who laid out the rules with Ananke to control the future ones.

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• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In each Recurrence, she is Persephone and in the issue 36 montage, Ananke is seen embracing her in some Recurrences.
• Loophole Abuse: The fourth and final rule is if Persephone (the mother) becomes pregnant and gives birth, that child will become the "maiden" of The Hecate Sisters. This would negate Rule 1, since Ananke is the maiden, stopping the game and giving Ananke to “a Great Darkness.” Later in the same issue (#39), a scene between her and her grandchild takes place before her confrontation with her sister in which she states this is a lie to distract Ananke from the true way to end the game.
• The Hecate Sisters: The Mother, while Ananke gets Maiden and Crone. She also had a grandson, whom she shooed so Ananke wouldn't kill him.
• No Name Given: Even her quote on the back of issue #34 is unattributed. While her god is Persephone (or the Ur-Example, predating the Greeks), her name is never mentioned, and she seems to delineate between herself and her god. Word of God says this is on purpose. With Laura giving up her godhood, this may act as foreshadowing, showing that the “children” and gods are distinct and the only way to beat Ananke is to realize this and give up godhood.
  • Issue #43 finally reveals the name of her god, She-in-Thirds.
• They Killed Kenny Again: Issue #36 reveals that she (Persephone) is present and killed in every recurrence. Though some either manage to take Ananke with them, or fight back and get Ananke instead.
• The Unreveal: We don't learn the fourth and final rule (until later), just that she gave it.
  • The Reveal: The 4th Rule: If Persephone gives birth, the game is over and Ananke is taken by the darkness. However, she says this is a lie to fool Ananke.
• Walking Spoiler: Her issue reveals that whatever is going on with the gods involves a struggle between her and Ananke deciding the rules of the game millennia ago. She's also the first Persephone, as "her god" is the one that appears last every cycle. This is also why Ananke fears Persephone and always tries to collect her head immediately upon rebirth. It's also implied she is the originator of the Recurrence, and Ananke has changed her work.

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