| “ | This is the son of Prometheus. And he's cursed to suffer death every day. I must admit, I could never have conceived such a horrible fate for such a beautiful child. Just goes to show, we must all leave room for happy accidents. | ” |
— Zeus
in Remember the Titans | ||
Zeus was the chief pagan deity and king of the Greek Pantheon. He was the God of the sky, lightning, thunder, storms, law, order, justice, destiny, fate and kingship. He was a father to many other of the Olympian deities, including Artemis.
History[]
Background[]
Long ago in ancient Greece, the Olympian Gods ruled and Zeus was the king of all, but one day Zeus punished humanity by taking away the ability to make fire, leaving the submissive earth in darkness. The Titan Prometheus was not going to tolerate it so he went to Mount Olympus, stole the fire and gave it back to the humans. Zeus, outraged by such insolence, cast a curse on Prometheus that would force him to die in a horrible way and revive for all eternity tied to a rock with an eagle eating his entrails but he managed to escape. After finding out that Prometheus had escaped, Zeus sent his daughter, the Goddess Artemis, to hunt him down but what he did not know was that Artemis was secretly in love with Prometheus and each time she found him, she turned a blind eye to give him the necessary time to escape her father's wrath and so it was for many centuries.
Season 8[]
Zeus and Prometheus's demise.
After learning that Prometheus' son Oliver was cursed with the same immortality as his father, Sam and Dean summoned Zeus into a trap in order to force him to break the curse or die as they knew how to kill him. Zeus agreed to break the curse if they broke the trap, but they refused as they didn't believe him. However, Hayley broke the trap, desperate to save her son. Instead, Zeus stunned everyone and summons Artemis to deal with Sam and Dean while he made up for lost time by starting to kill Prometheus over and over again and doing the same to his son to make him feel pain. As he was about to kill Oliver, Artemis, who was secretly in love with Prometheus, intervened and threatened Zeus with one of her arrows, which could kill immortals. Zeus refused to stop and Artemis, who lamented that he was no longer the father she knew, fired on him. However, Zeus pulled Prometheus in front of the arrow, mortally wounding him. Zeus taunted his old enemy about how much he enjoyed seeing him die, then informed him that he intended to put Oliver on the mountain to die every day just as he did with him. Enraged, Prometheus took the opportunity to shove the arrow through himself into Zeus, killing them both in a blast of electricity. After briefly mourning Prometheus' permanent death, Artemis disappeared with Zeus' body and the curse on Oliver was broken.
Supernatural: Bone Key[]
In this non-canon novel, after learning that Sam and Dean killed the two gods Edward and Madge Carrigan, Bobby warns them that the only reason the stake worked is because no one believed in those gods for centuries, and as an example, he says that Zeus nowadays could "muster up" a lightning bolt at best, but a thousand years ago, he could fry Sam and Dean with just a mere look.
Personality[]
Like virtually all deities, Zeus was cruel and arrogant. He punished Prometheus for bringing fire to humanity by chaining him to a mountain and cursing him to die and have his liver eaten by an eagle every day. This showed that Zeus cared nothing for the well-being of humans, and only wished to rule the world; also, the fact that he inflicted a curse that saw the Titan suffered not just a single and painful death but multiple, and endlessly at that, inferred that Zeus held grudges to the grave. He believed that his actions were for the good of the deity race. He blamed Prometheus for the deities' fall from grace and power and held an overwhelming hatred for him.
Zeus proved to be unyielding and unwilling to negotiate unless he had the upper hand. Zeus showed the ability to remain calm even when trapped and surrounded by at least three stakes that could kill him.
Zeus was also sadistic, since he planned to kill Oliver, Prometheus' seven-year-old son, over and over again for all eternity and later stated that he was going to put the boy on the same mountain as his father just to make the Titan suffer. He admitted that he enjoyed watching Prometheus die.
Zeus may not have always been such a cruel and sadistic person. Before trying to kill him, Artemis stated that he was no longer the father she knew but someone else after failing to talk Zeus out of harming Oliver.
Physical Appearance[]
Zeus appeared as a fancy middle-aged adult man. His attire was of formal and business appearance.
Powers and Abilities[]
As a deity, Zeus possessed several abilities common to his kind, however, as the king of the Olympian deities, he was very powerful, more so than most pagan deities.
- Immortality - Zeus was thousands of years old and retains the appearance and health of a middle-aged man. He has an infinite lifespan and is not subject to old age.
- Super Strength - As the head god among the Olympians, Zeus was stronger than average, since he brutally beat Prometheus with his bare hands almost to the point of unconsciousness.
- Telekinesis - He seemed very proficient at this, as he tortured, overpowered, and moved Prometheus using this power with little to no effort.
- Invulnerability - Zeus was not subject to disease or any other natural causes of death.
Zeus using electrokinesis.
- Advanced Electrokinesis - As the Greek god of the sky, lightning and thunder, he had the ability to manipulate and generate lightning bolts. He used this offensively on multiple occasions, even using the electricity in the ground to electrocute and knock back Dean, Sam, and Prometheus and then torture the Titan further by sending strong bolts of electricity through his stomach.
- Electromagnetic Interference - His presence caused all the lights in the warehouse to flicker when he was summoned.
- Cursing - He was able to curse Prometheus so that he would die every day, and then resurrect physically healed so the curse would continue. Unbeknownst to even him, the curse could also be inherited by Prometheus' offspring. Consequently, he was also capable of lifting the same curse. However, the curse was tied to Zeus being alive and was broken by his death.
- Biokinesis - Zeus seemed to have some measure of this ability, as he was able to choke Hayley simply by turning his wrist. However, it seems he would need to focus in order to use this, as she recovered once he focused on something else.
- Teleportation - When Zeus was summoned, he appeared out of lightning bolts from above suggesting he may be able to teleport through lightning, and the summoning spell that brought him to Sam and Dean used his power to do so.
Weaknesses[]
- Magic - Zeus could be summoned through a ritual.
- A Wooden Stake From a Lightning Struck Tree - A stake made from a lightning struck tree could kill him.
- Divine Weaponry
- Artemis' Bow and Arrows - Prometheus killed him with one of Artemis' arrows.
- Artemis' Blade - Just as her arrows, her blade could kill him as well.
- Zeus' Trap - The Symbol of Infinity could imprison Zeus, much like a Devil's Trap could for demons.
Death[]
Killed By[]
After pulling Prometheus in front of one of Artemis' arrows to shield himself, Zeus taunted him that he was going to place Prometheus' son on the mountain to take his place. In response, Prometheus shoved the arrow through himself and into Zeus, killing them both.
Appearances[]
- Season 8
- Season 10
- Fan Fiction (mentioned only)
- Supernatural: Bone Key (mentioned only)
Trivia[]
- Zeus is the only pagan deity so far to blame his pantheon's downfall to an event other than the arrival of the Abrahamic faiths. Instead, he blamed their decline to the theft of fire by Prometheus as a gift to mankind.
- In The Gamblers, Fortuna mentioned Hercules. In classical mythology, Hercules was the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter) and the mortal Alcmene.