Zeus: Are you the father?

By Scarlet

To mark International Day of Genealogy, we asked the fandom their thoughts on recent revelations about the possible identity of Artemis' and Apollo's father. 

In the original myths, Zeus is cited as being the father of the twins, as well as the father of a whole raft of other deities and demi-gods throughout the realms. It looks as if things are shaping up similarly in Lore Olympus. Throughout the webcomic, there has only ever been mention of the twin's mother, and readers were recently introduced to her as Olympus' social pariah, the Titaness, Leto. However, from what we recall there has never been any mention of who their father, or who he might be.

The only specific piece of evidence we have is a cutaway panel of Apollo when Hecate and Demeter are discussing possible heirs to the throne of Olympus. Why would Apollo be relevant to a discussion about the heirs of Olympus? This touch of dramatic irony provides some insight that the characters themselves are not aware of based on how the discussion between Demeter and Hecate progresses. Whereas we the readers now know that there is some sort of connection between Zeus and Apollo, but at this stage, we are still to discern what that actual connection could be - although we have our suspicions. 

Think back on all the instances where we have seen Zeus react or respond to Apollo. When Hera asked Zeus what he thought of Apollo, he simply replied that Apollo reminded him of his younger self, and then continues to gaslight and redirect Hera whenever she brings Apollo up. We also know that when Aphrodite tries to lessen Eros' punishment for his unpermitted Act of Wrath, she mentions that Apollo and Artemis had a similar unpermitted Act of Wrath and did not suffer as severe a punishment as Eros. 

Now, we know that Eros and Zeus seem to have a good relationship as evidenced by the gossip call between the two in the early chapters of the comic, despite the fact that Zeus does not like his own son, Ares - Eros' father. What reason could Zeus have to punish his own grandson more severely than the other gods who carried out a similar act? 

We also find out in a recent episode that Leto is considered a social pariah after a mysterious falling out with Hera. It's odd that despite the fact their mother has been ostracised from Olympian society, Artemis and Apollo are still held in high esteem and considered to be prime examples of the Olympian pantheon.

“You ARE the father” (we think)

So with this in mind, we turned to the fandom to ask them their thoughts, and whether they thought that Zeus was Apollo's father. Of the 2502 participants, 2183 (87%) believed that Zeus is indeed the father of Apollo (and by extension Artemis) with the remaining 319 (13%) thinking it's not the case.

Other fandom theories re: Zeus/Apollo/Leto

We also asked the fandom to share some of their Zeus/Apollo/Leto theories with us. Here are some of the responses:

'Zeus and Leto were having an affair'

'Leto disguised herself as Hera and slept with Zeus resulting in the twins'

'The Leto/Hera fall out has nothing to do with a Zeus/Leto affair and was for something else entirely'

'Zeus is the dad and knows about it'

'Zeus is the dad but is unaware'

'At least Zeus is funny'

'Like father like son…' 

'Leto is definitely grooming Apollo to take over Olympus. Look at what Demeter said'

'They fit together very well, both are horrible' 

'It would explain why Apollo is so power hungry' 

'Apollo knows Zeus is easily manipulated because of his ego, and Zeus is just proving him right' 

'The son wants to overthrow the dad who abandoned his mother' 

'Leto was likely the first affair Zeus ever had which set up the bad blood between Hera and Leto' 

'I think it's a very strong theory but we could get a plot twist that changes everything' 

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Here we are with even more questions about what is potentially a dark and destructive secret. 

• Does Hera know, or have suspicions that the Twins are Zeus'? 

• If it wasn't because of an affair, what could have caused the rift between Hera and Leto, causing the latter to become a social pariah? 

• If Leto and Hera were as close as is suggested does that mean Leto knows about Hera's past affair with Hades?

• How will Artemis respond to discovering her father is Zeus? 

• As one of the only Titans who is able to wander around freely, does Leto know the fate of the other Titans?

• Will we ever get the answers we are looking for, or will we be left with more questions, Rachel?

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