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[Opinions] Re: Hera
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Hera is a pretty name. It is firmly linked with the goddess. Being married to Zeus, she was forever getting cheated on, but she was one of the few gods/goddesses that were consistently faithful and could be trusted to keep her word. Overall, she was very loyal to those that became her champions. When she helped the Greeks during the Trojan War, she seemed like one of the few gods who actually cared about the soldiers under her protection (although proving Aphrodite's ineptitude was undoubtedly a bonus). One of my favorite events in mythology was when Hera and the other gods imprisoned Zeus until he swore to become a better ruler, then they let him go. They should have imprisoned him more often because he was still a rotten cad. Myths were very inconsistent in their portrayals of her. In one version of Greek mythology, Hera ejected Hephaestus from the heavens because he was "shrivelled of foot." He fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis. In other accounts, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus' mistreatment, was flung down from the heavens by Zeus. These accounts attributed his lameness as the consequence of falling after Zeus pushed him. The versions that have Hephaestus's injury as the result of Zeus's domestic violence seem more cannon because in other myths Hephaestus generally sides with his mother Hera, which wouldn't be the case if she rejected him. I like to think that the reason that the Greek and Roman myths ended was due to the fact that Hera eventually got tired of Zeus and ousted him. She now rules the gods in peace. Without Zeus impregnating people and causing mischief, Hera allows humans to pursue their own lives without all the interfering drama that pervaded past myths.
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