HARMONIA

Real Name: Harmonia

Occupation: goddess of harmony, former Queen of Thebes

Legal Status: Citizen of Olympus

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Harmonia except as a mythological deity.

Other Aliases: Concordia (Roman name), Aneris ("opposite of discord")

Place of Birth: Samothrace (now part of modern Greece)

Marital Status: Widowed

Known Relatives: Ares (father), Aphrodite (mother), Deimos, Phobos (brothers), Cupid (half-brother), Cadmus (husband, deceased), Polydorus, Illyrius (sons, deceased), Otrera (daughter, possibly deceased), Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave (daughters, deceased), Dionysus (grandson), Actaeon, Melicertes, Learchus, Phrixus, Labdacus (grandsons, deceased), Helle (granddaughter, deceased), Oedipus, Hippolyta (descendants)

Group Affiliations: The Gods of Olympus

Base of Operations: Olympus, formerly Thebes, Greece

First Appearance: (behind the scenes) Thor I #301, (actual) War of the Gods #1

History: Harmonia is a member of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Olympians who were once worshipped as gods by the people of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Her exact parentage is uncertain; most sources believe she is the daughter of Ares through an adulterous relationship with Aphrodite, the wife of Hephaestus. Ares and Aphrodite had two sons known as Deimos and Phobos, but some sources count Harmonia as a daughter of Hephaestus. 

Sometime around the 15th Century, Cadmus, a Phoenician prince, invaded Greece, but instead of bringing his own customs, he honored the native religion of the Olympian gods and helped to promote worship of Zeus, making him the tutelary deity of Cadmeia, which later became known as Thebes. Zeus awarded him Harmonia as his wife with a wedding ceremony attended by the Olympian gods. Among her wedding presents, Harmonia received a necklace created by Hephaestus, but the necklace would end up bringing misfortune upon later owners. 

Harmonia conceived several children for Cadmus, but many of her children underwent or suffered great tragedies in their lives. Her daughter, Semele, was seduced by Zeus, and was burned alive after seeing him in his godly form; her son became the god, Dionysus. Ino and Autnoe took their lives for their duplicity in Semele's death, and Actaeon was mauled to death by his own dogs after watching Artemis bathing in a spring. Grief-stricken at the tragedies to befall their family, Cadmus and Harmonia retired to Illyria (modern Yugoslavia), conquered by their son Illyrius, after leaving their throne to their grandson, Pentheus. After their deaths, Ares granted them ever-lasting life in the Elysian Fields. 

After her departure from Earth, Harmonia's descendant, Polyneices, the son of Oedipus, used her necklace to bribe his daughter, Eriphyle, into persuading her husband, Amphiaraus, to undertake an expedition against Thebes. This lead to the death of Eriphyle, Alcmaeon, Phegeus and his sons. The necklace was left in a Temple to Athena, but was carried off in 352 BC by the Phocian leader Phylleus who gave it to his mistress, causing madness to her son who burned her home down around her.  

At some point, Harmonia became a goddess, recognized by the Romans as the antithesis to Bellona, the goddess of discord. After the Third Host of the Celestials, Hera, the Queen of the gods bequeathed Harmonia with the duty of protecting twelve youths of pure genetic potential who would become the Young Gods, later presented to the Celestials as representatives of humanity.

Sometime later, the Fates sent a vision to Harmonia to warn her of a threat to Earth. She traced the threat to Bellona (also known by the name Eris) working in tandem with a mortal sorceress named Circe (not to be confused with the goddess Circe) in demand for power and domination of Olympus. Harmonia was cast into the waters of the Styx by a mystical clone of Charon, the ferryman of the underworld, where she found the spirit of Halcibur Filius, the Son of Vulcan, a former champion of the gods, who rescued her. Harmonia enlisted his aid against Circe in order to cast her back into Tartarus, albeit briefly. However, in confronting Eris, Harmonia was struck down from behind by her brother, Phobos, working alongside Eris. Her body discovered by Ares, she was restored to life by Zeus.

Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 320 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Strength Level: Harmonia possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) 25 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Harmonia possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Olympian gods. Like all Olympians, she is immortal: she has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. She is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If she were somehow wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo or for a number of Olympian gods of equal power working together to revive her. Harmonia also possesses superhuman strength and her Olympian metabolism provides her with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Olympian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympians' superhuman strength and weight.)

Harmonia can also tap into and manipulate mystical energies on a level equal to any other Olympian goddess, but she has not yet reached her full potential. She can teleport between dimensions and conjure spheres of force to protect herself.

Comments: This bio largely describes Harmonia in the DC Universe with undertones of her counterpart in the Marvel Universe.

Some texts erroneously call Eris/Discord the sister of Harmonia.

Clarifications:  Harmonia is not to be confused with:  

Last updated: 10/05/07

 

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