What is your favorite figure from mythology? Human, god, or non-human, and from any mythological/religious system in the world.

Prometheus... Not myself, the other one. A God who was willing to sacrifice everything in order to bring fire to mankind, a God who refused to obey orders that he thought were FUBARD, and who even had the foresight to warn Pandora and Epimetheus not to open the box...

Ishtar

I would have to say artimis and athena

Leannan Sidhe, naturally. Also spelled in a variety of ways.

Leannan means mistress or female lover, sidhe (shee) is fae, fairy, whatever

The Leannan Sidhe is a celtic muse, she only takes artists or musicians as her lovers and she acts as their inspiration. However, she also sucks the life and soul out of them, and the only way they can escape ruin or death is by finding another man to take their place.

So there you have it. A beautiful Irish Vampire. Or, a morose British lady who is only attracted to creative people, pisses them off immensely, and then rapidly moves on to the next guy. :D

Lemuel, the Archangel turned vampire. (My literary creation, so I'm slightly biased).

Strangely enough, after I studied Greek Mythology I found myself loving Ajax from the story of the Trojan War. Heartbreaking story of someone who felt they were cheated. Read the play Ajax -- but don't read it if you're suicidal.

I am a bit even on many, depending on the culture.

Native American Coyote (the god version).

Japan (Amaterasu)

Nordic (Thor and Loki) Loki is so under-appreciated I feel.

Greek (Nyx) seldom mentioned but was the real head hancho of the gods, even Zeus was afraid of her.

Egypt (Isis, Anubis, Bast, and Sehkmet).

Anubis, Bastet, Eros, Morpheus

if mythology included cartoons, i'd go with he-man or beastmaster, but i'm thinkin'...i dunno...maybe hercules. i liked the tv show at least--lol.

Azazel. My favorite Fallen angel.

Proteous (sp) he was the God of prophecy. The problem was that he saw and told the future and was cursed with noone believing him. I believe that he was able to change form to escape people seeking his knowledge (it probably pissed him off to not be believed.) Hercules held on to him through all of his form changing long enough to question him about the future.

Sophia (also known as Baphomet).

was there more then one person with the gift of foresight and curse of not being believed? Cause Hellen of Troy had the same issue...or is this popular among the gods?

I don't think Proteteus had the curse of not being believed.

but Cassandra did (if i am remembering the right C name).

Joseph Campbell.

I liked Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes. Because in the pictures he always had those little wings on his shoes? I thought that would be awesome.

Really at the end of the day, whatever deity you pick, minor or not (even legendary human) there is a mirror image of them in another culture. They're all fun to learn about. Just some are prettier than others...if eight arms is your kinda thing.

I'm torn with this question, because so many of them I feel drawn to. At this point in time I'd like to say a duality of Odin and Loki. Woden's thirst for knowledge and wisdom, and Loki's rebellious trickster nature.

I have to choose Eris. She's the goddess of discordianism and she was, afterall, the reason for the Trojan War.

So all the gods but Eris had been invited to this wedding (as I recall it was a forced wedding), but Eris had not because she tended to be a troublemaker or to go against the status quo. So Eris, feeling snubbed (in discordianism this is called the original snub), decided to get back at them and she took a golden apple and inscribed Kallisti on it which means "to the most beautiful one" and tossed it into the party. Well Hera, Athena and Aphrodite got into an argument over who the apple should go to. They couldn't resolve it so they got Paris of Troy to decide, all three of them bribed him, Hera with political power, Athena with prowess in battle, and Aphrodite with the most beautiful woman in the world. Well Paris chose beauty and gave the apple to Aphrodite who in turn gave him Helen of Sparta wife of Menelaus. Helen quickly became Helen of Troy and the Trojan war began.

Batman

Odin/Wodan/Othinn names vary but this is god who sacrificed of himself for sake of knowledge. He always watches, and sometimes is considered trickster do to his ability to shapechange and appear as diffrent personas, be it old man and wanderer or powerful warrior. His food is knowledge which his ravens bring to him. Someone so dedicated to this one asspect is worth of respect for all power comes to him through that path.

Surprise, surprise. ;)




Yes, it was Cassandra.




That's an incredible reason! I want wings on my shoes.




Sounds a lot like you. "Trickster" side, and always seeking knowledge/wisdom.




Eris is awesome. I love that story.


I'm always changing, but at this point... my favorite mythological figure is Vedavati.

Mythology?

Bilbo Baggins totally gets my vote.

Mythos=greek for history

ology=study of.

Mythology while often regarded as meaning "not real" by modern people, is in its more proper use meant to refer to events and figures that at the very least "at one time" were regarded/believed as having happened or actually existed.

More often "Mythology" is used to refer to "religious figures and stories" such as the Gods, Demi-gods, creation of the world events, ect...

Below this would be "Legends" and "Folklore" events which are regarded as being closer to reality, or less religious and more local(human) in scope such as King Arthur. Folklore being less believable but possibly stemmed from a common tale or event added to along the lines.
(like younger smaller versions of Mythology).

a character, location, or event written intentionally as fiction with no claim to have been real or was believed by any group or religious faction to be real is not considered a "mythological figure".

Yes I know to (some) on the surface this may look like semantics, but beneath the surface especially when dug into more deeply its actually an important catagorizing skill.

this way we keep literary figures seperate that don't belong together.
Like Merlin,The Incredible Hulk, and Osiris.

Grandmother Hecate.

Isis~ For her magick and inspiration.

Basat~ For her guardianship.

Athena~ Power and Wisdom, the ability to judge situations swiftly and just.

Archangel Uriel~ For his strength and compassion.

Archangel Raphael~ For healing light and energy.

Bilbo was real

I would have to say most of the Egyptian gods.

Isis
Ra
Anubis

My favorite Egyptian goddess is Hathor.

Also the greek gods-
Aphrodite
and Apollo

Goddesses:
~Persephone/Kore
~Demeter
~Hekate
~Brighid
~Morrigan

Gods:
~Dionysos/Bacchus
~Prometheus
~Hermaphroditus
~Herne
~Cernunnos (sp?)
~Loki
~Melek Taus
~Dian y Glas

Heroes/Heroines:
~Medea
~Arthur
~Orpheus

one thing, Hermaphroditus wasn't a god, he/she was two lovers who were fussed into one being by a goddess who had a twisted idea of love.

Hermaphroditus was the son of of Hermes and Aphrodite, therefore a God (his name was Hermaphroditus before becoming androgynous).

Salmacious (sp???) was the nymph who he merged with.

I knew he had the name before becoming one (just like Arachnea).

His story was such a short one and obscure in my studies I guess I forgot his parentage. Guess I just grouped him with the rest of the form changed human victims of the gods.

the story. Although the version I remember had her jump into the spring while he was bathing, wrap herself around him and then merge with him.

HERMAPHRODITOS (or Hermaphroditus in Latin) was the god of hermaphrodites and of effeminate men. He was numbered amongst the winged love-gods known as Erotes.
Hermaphroditos was a son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the gods of male and female sexuality.

Some say he was once a handsome youth who attracted the love of a Naiad nymph named Salmakis. She prayed to to be united with him forever and a god, in answer to her prayer, merged their two forms into one. At the same time her spring acquired the property of making men who bathed in its waters soft and effeminate.

In Greek vase painting Hermaphroditos was depicted as a winged youth with male and female attributes: usually female thighs, breasts, and style of hair, and male genitalia.


edit: found the full story
HERMAPHRODI′TUS (Hermaphroditos). The name is compounded of Hermes and Aphrodite, and is synonymous with androgunês, gunandros, hêmiandros, &c. He was originally a male Aphrodite (Aphroditus), and represented as a Hermes with the phallus, the symbol of fertility (Paus. i. 19. § 2), but afterwards as a divine being combining the two sexes, and usually with the head, breasts, and body of a female, but with the sexual parts of a man. According to a tradition in Ovid (Met. iv. 285, &c.), he was a son of Hermes and Aphrodite, and consequently a great-grandson of Atlas, whence he is called Atlantiades or Atlantius. (Ov. Met. iv. 368; Hygin. Fab. 271.) He had inherited the beauty of both his parents, and was brought up by the nymphs of Mount Ida. In his fifteenth year he went to Caria; in the neighbourhood of Halicarnassus he laid down by the well Salmacis.

The nymph of the well fell in love with him, and tried to win his affections, but in vain Once when he was bathing in the well, she embraced him, and prayed to the gods that they might permit her to remain united with him for ever. The gods granted the request, and the bodies of the youth and the nymph became united in such a manner that the two together could not be called either a man or a woman, but were both. Hermaphroditus, on becoming aware of the change, prayed that in future every one who bathed in the well should be metamorphosed into an hermaphrodite. (Ov. l.c.; Diod. iv. 6; Lucian, Dial. Deor. 15. 2; Vitruv. ii. 8; Fest. s. v. Salmacis.) In this, as in other mythological stories, we must not suppose that the idea is based on a fact, but the idea gave rise to the tale, and thus received, as it were, a concrete body. The idea itself was probably derived from the worship of nature in the East, where we find not only monstrous compounds of animals, but also that peculiar kind of dualism which manifests itself in the combination of the male and female. Others, however, conceive that the hermaphrodites were subjects of artistic representation rather than of religious worship.

The ancient artists frequently represented hermaphrodites, either in groups or separately, and either in a reclining or a standing attitude. The first celebrated statue of an hermaphrodite was that by Polycles. (Plin. H. N. xxiv. 19, 20; comp. Heinrich, Commentatio qua Hermaphroditorum Artis antiquae Operibus insignium Origines et Causae explicantur, Hamburg, 1805; Welcker, in Creuzer and Daub's Studien, iv. p. 169, &c.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Morrigan and Dionysus.
I have intense love for both godforms.

Yet, a new one seems to be edging it's way into my heart.

I have a very confusing relationship with divinity.

christian: Lucifer

Egyptian: Anubis

Greek: Hephaestus, not sure if i spelled that right and Prometheus

Norse: Odin and Loki

Oh yes,

I am agreeing with some of these already.

I do love Odin, Isis, Anubis, Bast, Horus, Morrigan, Hecate, Brighid, Morrighan, Kali Ma, just to name a few that have figured in my life in the last decade or less. I like the Archangels of the four sacred directions also, especially Archangel Michael - definite connection with him. The others I also have some connection with also.

Egypt : Anubis

Norse : Tyr, Fenrir

Aztec : Quetzalcoatl

Japanese : The Tengu. Susanoo

Medieval English : King Arthur, Merlin

Islamic : Azrael

Hebrew : Azazel

Discworld : Death. Binky. Quezovercoatl. Fate. Ronnie Soak (Kaos). The Lady. Azrael

I would have to say Lucifer, the origional rebel. After that, Jaguars get a pretty good portrayal in Aztec Myth. They were basically the Chuck Norisi of their culture. If had to pick something semi-normal, I'd say Odin.

Well, I actually have lots.

Gods/Goddesses
- Athena
- Demeter
- Aphrodite
- Iris
- Hecate
- Diane
- Hades
- Zeus
- Hera
- Anubis

Others:

- Prometheus
- Pandora (Pandora's Box)
- Adelphine
- Hercules
- Odysseus
- Beowolf?

- Shinigami
- Loki
- Thanatos

...there's others... I just can't think right now... >.<

Nyarlathotep