HECATE
Real
Name:
Hecate
Occupation:
Goddess of witchcraft and the underworld
Legal
Status:
Citizen of Tartarus
Identity:
The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Hecate except as a
mythological character.
Other
Aliases:
Parcae (Roman name), Trivia (Hecate was also confused with the goddesses Persephone and Artemis.)
Place
of Birth:
Unrevealed
Marital
Status:
Single
Known
Relatives:
Perses (father), Asteria (mother), Leto
(maternal aunt), Apollo,
Artemis
(cousins), Crius, Coeus (grandfathers), Eurybia, Phoebe (grandmothers), Scylla
(daughter by Phorcys),
Group
Affiliation:
The Gods of Olympus
Base
of Operations:
Tartarus
First
Appearance:
Ms Marvel #11
History:
Hecate is the daughter of the Titan Perses and Asteria, the goddess of night. A
Titan herself, she was one of the few Titans to remain in power after Zeus
conquered Olympus. Zeus came to her previously to seek her support and that of
the underworld in overthrowing his father, Cronus, from Olympus. She might have
been the mother of his first-born son, Zagreus, a role often confused with
Zeus’s daughter, Persephone. Zagreus was later killed by the Titans exiled to
Tartarus by Zeus, but Hecate showed Zeus how to restore him to life and Zagreus
was eventually reborn as Dionysus, the wine-god. (Later stories claimed Zagreus
was the son of Zeus and Persephone).
As an underworld goddess, Hecate was
convinced she was to rule the underworld as wife to Hades but was offended when
he abducted Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, to be his bride. She
retaliated by becoming a goddess of the occult and teaching the secrets of life
and death and revealing the natural anathema of the objects of earth to mortals
who would become the first practitioners of witchcraft. She also chose to make
things difficult for Hades by helping Demeter in her search for her missing
daughter. Her mortal priestess, Eidyia, had several children by King Aeetes of
Colchis; one of whom, Medea, became one of her most devout followers, but learned
much of her own magic from the goddess Circe herself, sister of her father.
Although Hecate’s affairs committed her
to the underworld, she was also devoted to the protection of Olympus and fought
on behalf of the Olympian gods on more than one occasion. She killed the Giant Clytius with flames of
brimstone as he tried to invade the home of the gods.
In recent years, Hecate became the
patroness of sorceresses, such as Agatha Harkness, Angelique Bouchard, Penelope
Halliwell and Sara Bailey of the Twentieth Century. In her prophetic visions, she
observed the Elementals Hydron, Magnum, Hellfire and Zephyr trapped in
inter-dimensional space and freed them. She learned they were seeking a powerful
ruby scarab and went to stop them. The costumed heroine, Ms Marvel, acting on a
premonition of her friend Salia Petrie's death on a space shuttle, encountered
the Elementals as well. Thinking she was after the scarab as well, Hecate and Ms
Marvel clashed as the Elementals found it first and used it’s powerful magicks
to levitate a small island and fling it on top of the feuding females. Hecate
blasted it with one mind beam, but the blast also killed Salia Petrie as Ms
Marvel had predicted. Realizing that Ms Marvel only cared for her friend, Hecate
and the heroine teamed up against the Elementals and defeated them. Ms Marvel,
however, regressed into Carol Danvers and took the scarab to use it against
Hecate. The scarab, however, merged the personalities of Danvers and Ms Marvel
that had been keeping her in turmoil. Before in a moment of peace, she forgave
Hecate upon realizing the blast had been an accident. She gave the ruby to
Hecate who then took it to keep it from falling further into the wrong hands.
Most recently, Hecate was invoked by the
extra-dimensional sorceress Clea in the creation of the being Ardina.
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 310 lbs.
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black
Strength Level:
Hecate possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) about
40 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers:
Hecate possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Olympian Gods. Like
all Olympian Gods, she is immortal. She has not aged since reaching adulthood
and cannot die by any known conventional means. She is immune to all known
terrestrial diseases and is invulnerable to conventional injury. If wounded, her
godly life force would enable him 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 him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for
Zeus or a number of gods of equal power working together to revive her. Hecate
does have some superhuman strength and her own Olympian metabolism gives her 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 Olympian’s superhuman strength and weight).
Hecate
also has exceptional power to tap into and manipulate considerable mystical
energies on a level equal or comparable to Zeus, Poseidon or even Hades. She has
some sort psionic ability to channel energy, fire explosive rays and turn her
thoughts into mass. She can conjure up the worst fears of her foes into their
real life solid counterparts. She has considerable power to perceive visions in
the form of premonitions. She can also bestow power upon certain beings or in
spells by anyone who knows how to summon her.
Comments:
Hecate is sometimes erroneously called the mother of the goddess Circe.
Clarifications:
Hecate should not be confused with:
Artemis, goddess of the moon and
the hunt, @ Thor #129
Erishkigel, a Deviant explorer who
impersonated Hecate, @ Thor I#284
Hecate, one of the steeds of Daimon
Hellstrom, @ Marvel Spotlight I#12
Hecate, founder of XSE in
Bishop’s alternate future, @ XSE#1
Persephone,
Queen of the Underworld, @ Avengers Annual 23