| Gaia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Name: | Goddess of the Earth |
| Goddess: | Goddess of the Earth |
| Husband: |
Uranus (Husband) |
| Children: |
Cronus (Son) |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender: | Female |
| Hair color: | White |
| Eye color: | Light Blue |
| Character Information | |
| First appearance: | Mother Knows Best |
| GALLERY | |
- "But dear... I control the earth."
- —Gaia to her son Cronus in Mother Knows Best.
Gaia, or Mother Earth, is one of the most powerful gods and mother to Cronus and grandmother of Zeus and his siblings.
Physical Appearance[]
Gaia is a tall woman with a middle-aged appearance. She has long grey/white hair, wears a simple yet stylish black dress, gold tiara, and sandals.
Personality[]
Even as one of the most powerful deities and the one person Cronus is openly cautious of upsetting, she is not at all arrogant and very much cares about due credit, respect, and manners to the point she forced Zeus to thank her for saving him in front of Cronus.
Role in the Series[]
She comes to visit Cronus, who is annoyed with her unexpected visit, but soon uses her displeasure with Zeus to his advantage. The heroes find themselves attempting to protect Zeus against Gaia, who is setting off earthquakes around the world. As it turns out, Gaia only wanted Zeus to thank her for saving him from Cronus in The Titan War. After he reluctantly does this, she stops the quakes.
Mythology[]
Gaia and her husband Ouranos were two of the first Greek Gods, giants, and Titans to emerge at the beginning of the world. She was the Primordial Personification of the Earth, and he was the Primordial Personification of the Heavens. They became partners and brought forth the Titans, their children.
Gaia also gave birth to the first Cyclopes as well as the Hekatonkheires. She was also the mother of the Protogenos Pontus, the primordial personification of the ocean.
After Ouranos pushed the Hekatonkheires in Gaea's womb and the Cyclops into Tartarus, Gaia was furious. She asked her children to get rid of Ouranos so she could save her other children, and only Kronos was brave enough to do it. He took a scythe Gaia made and got rid of his father.
Cronus rescued his brothers, and Ouranos was angry with him. Ouranos then prophesied that Kronos in turn was destined to be overthrown by his own son, and so the Titan attempted to avoid this fate by devouring his young. Zeus, through deception by his mother Rhea, avoided this fate, and later rescues the Hekatonkheires from Gaea's womb and the Cyclops from Tartarus, and forced his father to vomit up his brothers and sisters.
A war then started between The Titans and The Gods, Hekatonkheires, and Cyclops. The young gods emerged victorious. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades used their father's scythe to chop Kronos into a thousand pieces as he did to Ouranos, and banished the other Titans who sided with Kronos into Tartarus with bonds that they will never break.
Gaia's first attempt to avenge the Titans was, with the spirit of Tartarus, giving birth to Typhon. Typhon, being the father of all monsters, was one of the worst enemies Zeus and the Olympians had to face. He, with the help of Echidna, was able to render Zeus helpless and (because Zeus is immortal) imprison him in a cave. However, with the help of the other gods, Zeus, with his lightning bolts, was able to trap Typhon under Mt. Etna. Gaia then made peace with the Olympians and promised not to bother the Olympians again.
However, that was not Gaia's last attempt to overthrow the Olympians. She prophesied that Zeus' wife Metis would bear two children, first Athena a daughter, and second a son who would eventually overthrow him. To avoid this fate, Zeus convinced Metis to transform into a fly, and then swallowed her. But it was too late. Metis already conceived a child. A few days later, Zeus received severe headaches. He convinced Hephaestus to axe his head open and out came a matured Athena. It is unknown if Metis escaped or not, but she never conceived the second child, so Gaia's plan, at least for a time, failed.
- Gaia was responsible for killing Orion the Hunter.
- She also grew a narcissus to help Hades attract Persephone into The Underworld.
Sometime later, Gaia used the Giants she has been harboring during the First Olympian War to avenge the Titans by attacking Mount Olympus, only for them to be defeated by the Olympian gods and demigods.
Powers[]
As the Goddess of Earth and one of the Protogenus, Gaia has power over the earth itself and dominion over the elements. As noted by Oddie and the The Techno-Greeks, Gaia’s own power far surpasses her son Cronos and her grandson Zeus and that she could easily destroy the world on a simple, angry whim.
- Immortality: Gaia is immortal and cannot die by conventional means.
- Geokinesis: Gaia boasts control over the earth. She could cause powerful earthquakes, felt even in places not along fault lines. As stated by Oddie, she could easily destroy the Earth by generating "god-quakes."
- Golem Creation: Gaia was able to create Antaeus out of mud and dirt.
- Chlorokinesis: Gaia could control plant life, being able to create them spontaneously at a whim.
- Limited Atomkinesis: Gaia showcased the ability to summon thunderstorms when angry.
Trivia[]
- Technically, Gaia should not be able to manipulate the weather, as that ability originally belonged to Zeus, and/or Ouranos.
- She claims in Mother Knows Best that she had a hand in raising the infant Zeus. The original myth does not state that Gaia had any involvement in Zeus' upbringing.