Persephone
Daughter of Demeter, Persephone is abducted by Hades and becomes queen of the underworld. Eating pomegranate seeds binds her to spend part of each year below, driving the seasonal cycle of winter and spring.
Story beats
- 1) Persephone picks flowers; the earth opens and Hades carries her to his realm.
- 2) Demeter’s grief halts harvests; people starve until Zeus negotiates her return.
- 3) Persephone eats six (or fewer) pomegranate seeds; she must spend those months each year in Hades.
- 4) Her emergence brings spring; her descent brings winter, balancing life and death.
Context & symbolism
Persephone’s dual role as maiden and queen mirrors cycles of growth and dormancy. The pomegranate embodies binding choices and shared marriage rites; her autonomy in later versions shows evolving views on consent.
Eleusinian Mysteries centered on her descent/ascent, promising initiates hope beyond death.
Motifs
- Pomegranate seeds as binding food
- Return of spring linked to her ascent
- Marriage/abduction tension
- Torches of Demeter searching
Use it in play
- Travel to negotiate time-splitting oaths between realms.
- Recover a pomegranate seed to free someone bound to the underworld.
- Run a festival marking her return; sabotage threatens the harvest.
- Parley with Persephone as a balanced sovereign—justice tempered by spring’s mercy.